word (English, noun)
Pronunciation: tags: Received-Pronunciation
ipa: /wɜːd/
tags: General-American
enpr: wûrd
ipa: /wɝd/
tags: General-American
tags: Canada
ipa: /wəɹd/
tags: Canada
ipa: [wɚ(ɹ)d]
tags: Scotland
ipa: /wʌrd/
tags: New-Zealand
ipa: /wøːd/
note: Liverpool, fair–fur merger
ipa: /weːd/
note: Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
ipa: /wɛːd/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d
homophone: whirred (wine–whine merger)
homophone: wared (fair–fur merger)
Etymology: From Middle English word, from Old English word, from Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurdą, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥dʰh₁om. Doublet of verb and verve; further related to vrata.
Definitions: examples: text: Then all was silent save the voice of the high priest, whose words grew louder and louder, […]
ref: 1894, Alex. R. Mackwen, “The Samaritan Passover”, in Littell's Living Age, volume 1, number 6:
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text: Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
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text: I can't believe you want me back.
You've got Jen to thank for that. Her words the other day moved me deeply. Very deeply indeed.
Really? What did she say.
Like I remember! Point is it's the effect of her words that's important.
ref: 2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
semantics
glosses: The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.)
The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
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text: The name was a confused gift of love from her father, who could not read the word but picked it out of the Bible for its visual shape, […]
ref: 2003, Jan Furman, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: A Casebook, →ISBN, page 194:
type: quote
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text: Well-meaning academics even introduced spelling absurdities such as the “s” in the word “island,” a misguided Renaissance attempt to restore the etymology of the [unrelated] Latin word insula.
ref: 2009, Stanislas Dehaene, Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read, →ISBN:
type: quote
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topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
semantics
glosses: The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.)
The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: “Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t a word?”
ref: 1896, Israel Zangwill, Without Prejudice, page 21:
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text: Fisherwoman isn’t even a word. It’s not in the dictionary.
ref: 1999, Linda Greenlaw, The Hungry Ocean, Hyperion, page 11:
type: quote
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topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
semantics
glosses: The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.)
A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by an authority or native speaker (compare non-word).
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: But every word, whether written or spoken, which urges the woman to antagonism against the man, every word which is written or spoken to try and make of her a hybrid, self-contained opponent of men, makes a rift in the lute to which the world looks for its sweetest music.
ref: 1897, Ouida, “The New Woman”, in An Altruist and Four Essays, page 239:
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text: The word, whether written or spoken, does not look like or sound like its meaning — it does not resemble its signified. We only connect the two because we have learnt the code — language. Without such knowledge, 'Maggie' would just be a meaningless pattern of shapes or sounds.
ref: 1986, David Barrat, Media Sociology, →ISBN, page 112:
type: quote
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text: Brian and Abby signed the word clothing, in which the thumbs brush down the chest as though something is hanging there. They both spoke the word clothing. Brian then signed the word for change, […]
ref: 2009, Jack Fitzgerald, Viva La Evolucin, →ISBN, page 233:
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text: Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.
ref: 2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:
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topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
semantics
glosses: The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.)
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: In still another variation, the nonsense word is presented and the teacher asks, "What sound was in the beginning of the word?" "In the middle?" and so on. The child should always respond with the phoneme; he should not use letter labels.
ref: 1974, Thinking Goes to School: Piaget's Theory in Practice, →ISBN, page 183:
type: quote
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text: All 15.5 million ‘words’ (or so–the exact length depends on the repeat sequences, which vary greatly) in the twenty-second chapter of the human autobiography have been read and written down in English letters: 47 million As, Cs, Gs and Ts.
ref: 1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Collins, →ISBN, page 301:
type: quote
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text: I wrote a nonsense word, "umbalooie," in the Input Panel's Writing Pad. Input Panel converted it to "cembalos" and displayed it in the Text Preview pane.
ref: 2003, How To Do Everything with Your Tablet PC, →ISBN, page 278:
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text: Here the scribe has dropped the με from καθημενος, thereby creating the nonsense word καθηνος.
ref: 2006, Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse, →ISBN, page 141:
type: quote
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text: If M. V. has sustained impairment to a phonological output process common to reading and repetition, we might anticipate that her mispronunciations will partially reflect the underlying phonemic form of the nonsense word.
ref: 2013, The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Language, →ISBN, page 91:
type: quote
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glosses: Something like such a unit of language:
A sequence of letters, characters, or sounds, considered as a discrete entity, though it does not necessarily belong to a language or have a meaning.
tags: countable
uncountable
topics: communications
electrical-engineering
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
telecommunications
telegraphy
glosses: Something like such a unit of language:
A unit of text equivalent to five characters and one space.
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: The size of a register in the MIPS architecture is 32 bits; groups of 32 bits occur so frequently that they are given the name word in the MIPS architecture.
ref: 1997, John L. Hennessy with David A. Patterson, Computer Organization and Design, 2nd edition, San Francisco, California: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., §3.3, page 109:
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topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Something like such a unit of language:
A fixed-size group of bits handled as a unit by a machine and which can be stored in or retrieved from a typical register (so that it has the same size as such a register).
tags: countable
uncountable
topics: computer
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
science
sciences
glosses: Something like such a unit of language:
A finite string that is not a command or operator.
tags: countable
uncountable
topics: group-theory
mathematics
sciences
glosses: Something like such a unit of language:
A group element, expressed as a product of group elements.
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: […] she believed them still so very much attached to each other, that they could not be too sedulously divided in word and deed on every occasion.
ref: 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility:
type: quote
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text: As they fell apart against Austria, England badly needed someone capable of leading by word and example.
ref: 2004 September 8, Richard Williams, The Guardian:
type: quote
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glosses: The fact or act of speaking, as opposed to taking action. .
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 26:75:
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text: She said; but at the happy word "he lives", / My father stooped, re-fathered, o'er my wound.
ref: 1847, Alfred Tennyson, The Princess:
type: quote
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text: There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark.
ref: 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House:
type: quote
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text: "The Kaiser laid down his arms at a quarter to twelve. In me, however, they have an opponent who ceases fighting only at five minutes past twelve," said Hitler some time ago. He has never spoken a truer word.
ref: 1945 April 1, Sebastian Haffner, The Observer:
type: quote
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text: Despite appearances to the contrary [...] dragomans stuck rigidly to their brief, which was not to translate the Sultan's words, but his word.
ref: 2011, David Bellos, Is That a Fish in Your Ear?, Penguin, published 2012, page 126:
type: quote
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text: In what sense is God's Word living? No other word, whether written or spoken, has the power that the Bible has to change lives.
ref: 2011, John Lehew (senior), The Encouragement of Peter, →ISBN, page 108:
type: quote
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qualifier: now rare outside certain phrases
glosses: Something that someone said; a comment, utterance; speech.
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
ref: 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III:
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text: I have the word : sentinel, do thou stand; […]
ref: c. 1623, John Fletcher, William Rowley, The Maid in the Mill, published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio), published 1647, scene 3:
type: quote
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text: mum's the word
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type: example
qualifier: obsolete outside certain phrases
glosses: A watchword or rallying cry, a verbal signal (even when consisting of multiple words).
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: Among all other was wrytten in her trone / In golde letters, this worde, whiche I dyde rede: / Garder le fortune que est mauelz et bone.
ref: 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Court:
type: quote
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text: Let the word be 'Not without mustard'. Your crest is very rare, sir.
ref: 1599, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour:
type: quote
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text: The old word is, 'What the eye views not, the heart rues not.'
ref: 1646, Joseph Hall, The Balm of Gilead:
type: quote
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glosses: A proverb or motto.
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: text: Have you had any word from John yet?
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type: example
text: I've tried for weeks to get word, but I still don't know where she is or if she's all right.
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type: example
text: Word had gone round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals.
ref: 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
type: quote
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glosses: News; tidings.
tags: uncountable
examples: text: He sent word that we should strike camp before winter.
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type: example
text: Don't fire till I give the word
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type: example
text: Their mother's word was law.
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type: example
glosses: An order; a request or instruction; an expression of will.
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: I give you my word that I will be there on time.
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type: example
synonyms: promise
glosses: A promise; an oath or guarantee.
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: Can I have a word with you?
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type: example
glosses: A brief discussion or conversation.
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: I had a word with him about it.
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type: example
glosses: A minor reprimand.
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: There had been words between him and the secretary about the outcome of the meeting.
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type: example
glosses: See words.
tags: countable
in-plural
uncountable
examples: text: Her parents had lived in Botswana, spreading the word among the tribespeople.
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type: example
topics: lifestyle
religion
theology
synonyms: word of God
Bible
qualifier: sometimes Word
glosses: Communication from God; the message of the Christian gospel; the Bible, Scripture.
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: text: And that worde was made flesshe, and dwelt amonge vs, and we sawe the glory off yt, as the glory off the only begotten sonne off the father, which worde was full of grace, and verite.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John:
type: quote
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text: And so the Word had breath, and wrought
⁠With human hands the creed of creeds
⁠In loveliness of perfect deeds,
More strong than all poetic thought; […]
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXVI, page 56:
type: quote
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topics: lifestyle
religion
theology
synonyms: God
Logos
qualifier: sometimes Word
glosses: Logos, Christ.
tags: countable
uncountable
Forms: form: words
tags: plural
form: worde
tags: alternative
Synonyms: word: vocable
word: word
word: lexeme
Hypernyms: word: linguistic unit
word: term
word: sign
word: symbol
word: lexical item
word: lexical unit
Hyponyms: word: SAT word
tags: figuratively
word: swear word
word: buzzword
word: noun
word: adjective
word: pronoun
word: numeral
word: verb
word: adverb
word: preposition
word: conjunction
word: interjection
word: article
word: particle
word: demonstrative
word: determiner
word: clitic
word: classifier
word: quantifier
word: function word
word: content word
word: monosyllable
word: disyllable
word: trisyllable
word: tetrasyllable
word: polysyllable
word: multisyllable
word: loanword
word: borrowing
word: calque
word: loan translation
word: blend
word: frankenword
word: portmanteau
word: compound
word: neo-classical compound
Meronyms: word: syllable
word: character
word: letter
word: morpheme
word: affix
word: prefix
word: suffix
word: combining form
Holonyms: word: sentence
word: phrase
word: clause
word: statement
word: vocabulary
Derived terms: actions speak louder than words
action word
afterword
all one word
an image is worth a thousand words
a picture is worth a thousand words
a picture paints a thousand words
arrowword
at a loss for words
a-word
babble-word
babble word
backword
bad word
bag of words
bandy words
bareword
baseword
beyond words
big word
book of words
book-word
book word
break one's word
breathe a word
brunch word
bug-word
buzz-word
buzz word
buzzword
b-word
byword
catchword
Champernowne word
choice word
codeword
code word
compound predicate word
compound word
connecting word
content word
continuous bag of words
counterword
cranberry word
crossword
crutch word
curse word
cuss word
c-word
C-word
description word
directed acyclic word graph
dirty word
doubleword
drunken words are sober thoughts
drunk words are sober thoughts
D-word
dword
d-word
Dyck word
eat one's words
empty word
empty words
e-word
eye-word
facts speak louder than words
famous last words
fighting word
fighting words
filler word
final words
fine words butter no parsnips
five-dollar word
foreword
fossil word
four-letter word
frankenword
the word go
full word
function word
fuzzword
F-word
F word
f word
f-word
gainword
gallipot word
gamer word
get a word in
get a word in edgeways
get a word in edgewise
get the word out
ghostword
ghost word
give one's word
give the word
good as one's word
good word
grammatical word
guide word
guideword
G-word
g-word
halfword
hang on every word
hard word
have a quiet word
have a word
have a word in someone's ear
have a word with oneself
have words
headword
honeyword
hotword
household word
how do you pronounce this word
how do you spell this word
Humpty Dumpty word
h-word
H-word
in a word
in every sense of the word
inkhorn word
in other words
in so many words
interword
in words of one syllable
i-word
Janus word
joey word
j-word
kangaroo word
keep one's word
key word
key-word
keyword
kiloword
k-word
last-wordism
last word
last words
lexical word
loaded word
loan word
loanword
longword
lost for words
l-word
Lyndon word
machine word
magic word
man of few words
mark my word
mark my words
McWord
measure word
megaword
metaword
midword
mince one's words
mince words
money and fair words
mouth the words
multi-word
multi-word expression
mum's the word
M-word
m-word
my word
oh my word
nameword
naughty word
noise word
nonce word
none of these words are in the Bible
nonsense word
non-word
not a word of a lie
not to put too fine a word on it
no word of a lie
no word of lie
N-word
n-word
N-word pass
n-word pass
octoword
of one's word
one's word is law
one-word
one word leads to another
operative word
or words to that effect
overword
oword
o-word
partword
pass one's word
password
pass-word
patchword
pattern word
phantom word
phoneword
phonological word
pillow word
place word
play of words
play on words
play upon words
polyword
portmanteau word
power word
procedure word
proword
protoword
pseudoword
purr word
put in a good word
put in a word
put into words
put to words
put words in someone's mouth
p-word
P-word
quadword
question word
qword
Q-word
q-word
reduced word
reserved word
re-word
root word
r-word
R-word
safe word
safeword
SAT word
say the word
say word one
semiword
send word
seven dirty words
sight word
single-word
small words
snarl word
songword
spelling word
spellword
spoken word
spread the word
startword
star word
stopword
stop word
subword
suit the action to the word
swallow one's words
swear word
s-word
syncword
tableword
take someone at their word
take someone's word for it
take the words out of someone's mouth
telescope word
ten-cent word
ten-dollar word
the word is go
thunder word
true to one's word
turn of words
twenty-five cent word
twist someone's words
two-dollar word
T-word
t-word
type-word
underword
upon my word
urword
ur-word
use your words
u-word
vocabulary word
vogue word
v-word
V-word
wake word
wanderword
war of words
watchword
weasel word
weigh one's words
wh-word
winged word
without a word of a lie
woman of few words
Wonderword
wordage
wordaholic
word art
word association
word balloon
word-blind
word-blindness
word blindness
wordbook
word-bound
word box
word break
word-break
word bubble
wordbuilding
wordcel
word chain
word class
word cloud
word count
wordcraft
word-deafness
word divider
wordfact
word family
wordfast
wordfest
wordfilter
wordfinal
word-final
wordfinding
wordflow
wordform
word formation
word-formation
word-formational
word for word
word-for-word
wordful
word game
word gets around
word golf
word has it
word-hoard
word hole
wordhood
wordie
wording
word-initial
wordinitial
word is
word is bond
wordish
word ladder
wordlength
wordless
wordlet
wordlike
word line
wordline
word list
wordlist
wordlore
word-lover
wordly
wordmaker
wordmaking
word mark
wordmark
wordmaster
wordmeal
word method
word-mincer
wordmonger
word music
word name
word nerd
wordness
wordnet
WordNet
wordnik
Word of Allah
word of faith
word of finger
Word of God
word of God
God's word
word of honor
word of honour
word of life
word-of-mouth
word of mouth
Word of Wisdom
wordoid
wordology
word on the street
word on the wire
word order
word painter
word painting
word-perfect
word-picture
word play
wordplay
wordpool
word problem
wordprocess
word processing
word processor
word-salad
word salad
words-as-words distinction
wordscape
words cut deep
word search
word-search
word separator
words fail someone
wordshaping
wordship
wordsize
word sketch
wordsmith
word snake
words of institution
words of one syllable
wordsome
word sound
word space
word-spelling alphabet
word square
wordster
word-stock
wordstring
word time
word to conjure with
word to the wise
word vector
word vomit
word-wheeling
wordwise
word wrap
wordy
workword
wow word
write as separate words
wug word
W-word
w-word
x-word
you get more with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone
y-word
z-word
Related terms: word: animacy
word: aspect
word: clusivity
word: comparison
word: definiteness
word: evidentiality
word: focus
word: grammatical case
word: grammatical gender
word: grammatical number
word: grammatical person
word: lemma
word: mirativity
word: modality
word: mood
word: polarity
word: tense
word: topic
word: transitivity
word: voice