cstr/en-wiktionary-extracted-all huggingface dataset:
waxwork
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: waxworks
Etymology: From wax + work.
Senses: examples: text: The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies / All desire to shirk, / Shall during off-hours, / Exhibit his powers / To Madame Tussaud's waxwork.
ref: 1885, Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado:
glosses: A figure made of wax, especially an effigy of a famous person.
examples: text: Waxwork is a fine art, but it differs from all other fine arts in that its main purpose is one that is expressly rejected by all those other arts.
ref: 1926, R. Austin Freeman, The D'Arblay Mystery:
glosses: The art of producing such figures.
Derived terms: Roxbury waxwork
waxworker
waxwork-man
waxworks
Related terms: wax museum
waxworks
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: glosses: plural of waxwork
waxworks
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: waxworks
Senses: examples: text: There is nothing so fascinating for a human being as others of the species. What is gripping about a waxworks like Tussaud's is that the models are full size and the visitor can gaze at celebrities as familiar equals, a dream (or nightmare) come true.
ref: 2006, Pamela Pilbeam, Madame Tussaud: And the History of Waxworks, page 221:
glosses: An exhibition of waxwork figures; a wax museum.
way in
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /weɪ ˈɪn/
homophone: weigh in
Forms: form: ways in
Senses: glosses: an entrance
Related terms: way out
way out
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /weɪ ˈaʊt/
homophone: weigh out
Forms: form: ways out
Senses: examples: text: The way out is along this corridor.
glosses: A means of exit.
examples: text: Lock the door on your way out.
glosses: An act or instance of departure.
examples: text: This is a real mess. I need a way out.
text: The plight of the elderly plagued with mental decline, such as Alzheimer's dementia, is particularly poignant because at the point where the decline in mental capacity may make life no longer worth living to them, they are incapable of choosing suicide as a way out.
ref: 1999, Robert L. Solso, Mind and Brain Sciences in the 21st Century, page 199:
glosses: A solution to a problem; an escape.
Derived terms: take the easy way out
way out
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /weɪ ˈaʊt/
homophone: weigh out
Forms: form: more way out
form: most way out
Senses: examples: text: This modern art is too way out for me.
glosses: Unconventional, eccentric.
way out
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /weɪ ˈaʊt/
homophone: weigh out
Senses: examples: text: He lives way out in the middle of nowhere.
glosses: Far away; to or at a great distance.
way-out
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Senses: glosses: unusual, unconventional or strange
examples: text: Hector is one, way-out guy.
text: Jenny is a way-out kinda gal.
glosses: out of the mainstream of society
Related terms: far-out
lifestyle
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlaɪfˌstaɪl/
enpr: līfʹstīl'
Forms: form: lifestyles
form: life style
form: life-style
Etymology: From life + style.
Senses: examples: text: The Neolithic Revolution (about 8000-3000 B.C.E.) was characterized by people moving from nomadic lifestyles to agricultural lifestyles.
ref: 2004, Monty Armstrong, David Daniel, Abby Kanarek, Cracking the AP World History Exam, 2004-2005, The Princeton Review, page 328:
text: I ended my aimless-roaming-short-term-odd-jobs lifestyle and joyfully went to work at a local restaurant in Langley Park, Maryland, as a carhop.
ref: 2005, H Reese Scott, Embracing Emily:
text: As we scroll through the curated lifestyles of the influencers we follow on Instagram or YouTube, it can seem like they have it all together and never had to suffer a day in their lives.
ref: 2023 January 19, Kristen Rogers, Megan Marples and Rachel Fadem, “Life lessons from 6 money and lifestyle coaches”, in CNN:
text: And yet queer and transgender people are finding a place in a lifestyle that, at least online, often occupies the same digital space as content from conservative creators, said Devin Proctor, an assistant professor of anthropology at Elon University in North Carolina who studies how we construct identities online.
ref: 2025 March 30, Scottie Andrew, “Queer and trans homesteaders are conquering the social media frontier”, in CNN:
synonyms: lifeway
way of life
glosses: A style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group.
topics: business
marketing
glosses: The totality of the likes and dislikes of a particular section of the market, especially when expressed in terms of the products and services that they would buy; a marketing strategy based on the self-image of such a group.
Derived terms: alternative lifestyle
lifestyle block
lifestyle creep
lifestyle disease
lifestyle drug
lifestyle inflation
lifestyler
lifestylism
lifestylist
wifestyle
wayfarer
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈweɪˌfɛəɹ.ə(ɹ)/
Forms: form: wayfarers
Etymology: From Middle English weyfarere, weifarere; equivalent to way + farer.
Senses: examples: text: English travellers are sometimes found grumbling because the señor who keeps a wayside posada, or even a more pretentious inn in one of the towns, does not stand, hat in hand, bowing obsequiously to the wayfarer who deigns to use the accommodation provided.
ref: 1904, L. Higgin, Eugène E. Street, Spanish Life in Town and Country:
text: ESTRAGON: That would be too bad, really too bad. (Pause.) Wouldn't it, Didi, be really too bad? (Pause.) When you think of the beauty of the way. (Pause.) And the goodness of the wayfarers. (Pause. Wheedling.) Wouldn't it, Didi?
ref: 1954 [1948], Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot […] , New York: Grove Press, translation of En attendant Godot, page 11:
glosses: A traveller, especially one on foot.
Related terms: wayfare
wayfaring
wayside
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈweɪsaɪd/
Forms: form: waysides
Etymology: From Middle English waye syde, equivalent to way + side.
Senses: examples: text: Many wild flowers grew on the wayside.
glosses: The side of a road or path.
glosses: A rest area.
Derived terms: fall by the wayside
go by the wayside
wayside cross
wayside pulpit
wayside
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈweɪsaɪd/
Etymology: From Middle English waye syde, equivalent to way + side.
Senses: examples: text: We stopped at a wayside pub.
text: Many of the wayside stations have staggered platforms, a common arrangement on the S.E.R.
ref: 1957 August 24, H. P. White, “The Tonbridge-Hastings Line and its Traffic”, in Railway Magazine, page 529:
glosses: Situated near the side of a road or path.
wayward
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈweɪwə(ɹ)d/
enpr: wā'wərd
rhymes: -eɪwə(ɹ)d
Forms: form: more wayward
form: most wayward
Etymology: Shortening of away + -ward.
Senses: examples: text: He is a brilliant fellow when he chooses to work—one of the brightest intellects of the University, but he is wayward, dissipated, and unprincipled.
ref: 1904 June, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Three Students”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC:
text: Fancies are like shadows . . . you can’t cage them, they’re such wayward, dancing things.
ref: 1909 September, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Pointing of Duty”, in Anne of Avonlea, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, →OCLC, page 66:
text: The Ig Nobel awards are arguably the highlight of the scientific calendar. The prizes, which are the wayward son of the more righteous Nobels, are supposed to reward research that makes people laugh, then think.
ref: 2004 October 1, Helen Pilcher, “Laughter in the lab”, in Nature, →DOI:
glosses: Given to wilful, perverse deviation from the expected norm; tending to stray.
synonyms: word: adamant
word: ardent
word: bent on
word: bloody-minded
word: bullheaded
word: certain
word: chronic
word: confirmed
word: determined
word: diehard
word: dogged
word: hard-hearted
word: hard-nosed
word: hardheaded
word: headstrong
word: immovable
word: incalcitrant
word: inflexible
word: irrefragable
word: insistent
word: intractable
word: intransigent
word: intrepid
word: inveterate
word: mulish
word: obdurate
word: obstinate
word: obstreperous
word: peevish
word: peremptory
word: persistent
word: pertinacious
word: pigheaded
word: recalcitrant
word: refractory
word: resolute
word: resolved
word: rigid
word: self-willed
word: stalwart
word: staunch
word: steadfast
word: steady
word: stubborn
word: stubborn as a mule
word: sullen
word: tenacious
word: terminal
word: thran
word: thwart
word: tough
word: truculent
word: unbending
word: uncompromising
word: unyielding
word: vehement
word: wilful
word: willful
glosses: Obstinate, contrary and unpredictable.
examples: text: Bulgaria's only attacking weapon was the wayward shooting of Martin Petrov, whereas England's attacking options were awash with movement in the shape of Rooney, Young and Walcott.
ref: 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Not on target.
Synonyms: vagabond
vagrant
Derived terms: waywardness
waywardly
absurda
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əbˈsɜː.də/
ipa: /æbˈsɜː.də/
ipa: /əbˈsɜː.də/
Senses: glosses: plural of absurdum
zebec
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: zebecs
Senses: examples: text: Soon after this time he [John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent] was put into the Experiment as acting captain, on account of a ſhort indiſpoſition which attacked ſir Richard Strachan, and ſignalized himſelf in the moſt remarkable manner during an action with a very large zebec, carrying 26 heavy guns and 400 men.
ref: 1798, John Charnock, “ST. VINCENT, Sir John Jervis, K.B. Earl of”, in Biographia Navalis; or, Impartial Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of Officers of the Navy of Great Britain, from the Year 1660 to the Present Time; Drawn from the Most Authentic Sources, and Disposed in a Chronological Arrangement, volume VI (Being the Second Volume of the Continuation), London: Printed for R. Faulder, Bond-Street, →OCLC, footnote ‡, page 406:
glosses: Alternative spelling of xebec.
zebeck
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: zebecks
Senses: examples: text: On the 18th October, about five leagues from Gibraltar, we were boarded by a zebeck of 20 guns, belonging to this place, who after coming within musket-shot, kept up a constant firing with small arms, until they manned our yards from theirs, then the firing ceased, and they came down sword in hand, spared our lives, but nothing else, having stripped us of the clothes we had on, and put us on board the zebeck, […]
ref: 1793 November 13, attributed to Mathew Carey, “[Appendix.] No. IV. Extract of a Letter from John M‘Shane, Captain of the Minerva, to William Bell, dated Algiers, November 13, 1793”, in A Short History of Algiers, with a Concise View of the Origin of the Rupture between Algiers and the United States. To which is Added a Copious Appendix: Containing Letters from Captain Penrose, M‘Shane, and Sundry Other American Captives, with a Description of the Treatment Those Prisoners Experienced, 3rd improved edition, New York, N.Y.: Published by Evert Duyckinck, 110 Pearl-street; W[illiam] W. Vermilye, printer, published 1805, →OCLC, page 82:
glosses: Alternative spelling of xebec.
veg*n
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more veg*n
form: most veg*n
Etymology: Also spelled 'veg*an', derived from vegan and vegetarian and the use in computer languages of * as a wildcard
Senses: glosses: Vegetarian and/or vegan.
veg*n
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: veg*ns
Etymology: Also spelled 'veg*an', derived from vegan and vegetarian and the use in computer languages of * as a wildcard
Senses: glosses: Vegetarian and/or vegan; a person who may either eat no animal flesh or eat no animal products at all.
Synonyms: veg(etari)an
Derived terms: veg*nism
veg*anism
Related terms: Wikipedia:Vegetarianism
Wikipedia:Veganism
weakening
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of weaken
weakening
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: weakenings
Senses: examples: text: That immortal creature had gone over the proofs with great pains — had of course taken out the stiflings — hard-plungings, lungeings, and other convulsions — and had also taken out her weakenings and damagings of her own effects.
ref: 1855, Charles Dickens, Household Words:
glosses: An instance or process of loss of strength.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: A structural principle of mathematical logic that states that the hypotheses of any derived fact may be freely extended with additional assumptions.
weak-kneed
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more weak-kneed
form: most weak-kneed
form: weak in the knees
Senses: examples: text: It is incontrovertible that the children grow up into rotten adults, without virility or stamina, a weak-kneed, narrow-chested, listless breed, that crumples up and goes down in the brute struggle for life.
ref: 1903, Jack London, chapter 5, in The People of the Abyss:
text: What these teenagers are weighing is at the very heart of Gandhian philosophy: "His absolute insistence on nonviolence, which young men see as pussyfooted and weak-kneed and — dare I say — feminine and hence not macho enough," says Guha, the biographer.
ref: 2019 October 2, Lauren Frayer, “Gandhi Is Deeply Revered, But His Attitudes On Race And Sex Are Under Scrutiny”, in NPR:
glosses: Lacking will power or strength of character; timid.
glosses: Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see weak, kneed.
zeugma
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈzjuːɡ.mə/
ipa: /ˈzuːɡ.mə/
Forms: form: zeugmata
form: zeugmas
Etymology: Borrowed from Ancient Greek ζεῦγμα (zeûgma, “yoking; a bond, a band”), from ζεύγνυμι (zeúgnumi, “to yoke; to join”), from ζεῦγος (zeûgos, “a yoke”).
Senses: glosses: The act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one.
examples: text: The existence of zeugmas suggests the rule of transitivity. Zeugmas appear incorrect because they embody an allegedly univocal use of a term in a way which violated^([sic]) the rule of transitivity.
ref: July 1963, Fred Sommers, “Types and Ontology”, in The Philosophical Review, volume LXXII, Bobbs-Merrill Reprint Series in Philosophy, page 343:
text: Thus I would describe 'He took his leave and the wrong umbrella' as zeugma, but not 'He took his hat and umbrella'. Zeugma is an important element in Chaucer's poetic technique, not because he uses it, but because he so regularly turns it down.
ref: 2008, Amanda Holton, The Sources of Chaucer's Poetics, page 104:
glosses: Syllepsis.
Hypernyms: brachylogy
Coordinate terms: syllepsis
Related terms: diazeugma
hypozeugma
mesozeugma
prozeugma
protozeugma
weakly
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwiːkli/
rhymes: -iːk.li
homophone: weekly
Forms: form: weaklier
form: weakliest
Etymology: From Old English wāclīċe (“weakly”), equivalent to weak + -ly (adjectival suffix); compare Old English wāclīċ (“weak; ignoble; mean”), and Old Norse veikligr (“weakly; sick”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waikalīkaz (“weakly; weak”).
Senses: examples: text: I lay in weakly case and confined to my bed for four months before I was able to rise and health returned to me.
ref: 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 18:
text: I'd always been but weakly, / And my baby was just born; / A neighbour minded her by day, / I minded her till morn.
ref: 1889, WB Yeats, The Ballad of Moll Magee:
text: "Oh, a huge crab," Jacob murmured—and begins his journey on weakly legs on the sandy bottom.
ref: 1922, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Jacob's Room:
glosses: Frail, sickly or of a delicate constitution; weak.
Derived terms: weaklily
weakliness
weakly
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwiːkli/
rhymes: -iːk.li
homophone: weekly
Forms: form: more weakly
form: most weakly
Etymology: From Middle English weykly, equivalent to weak + -ly (adverbial suffix). Compare Old High German weihlīcho (“weakly”), Middle English wocliche, wokli, wacliche (both from Proto-Germanic *waikalīkō).
Senses: examples: text: The basitemporal platform is flat in posterior view because the mamillar tuberosities are very weakly developed.
ref: 2002, T. H. Worthy, The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric Life of New Zealand, page 128:
glosses: With little strength or force.
Derived terms: super weakly interacting massive particle
ultraweakly
weakly cardinal
weakly contractible
weakly interacting massive particle
weakly symmetric matter
weakly-typed
wear and tear
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɛəɹ ən ˈtɛəɹ/
Senses: examples: text: The washing machine flooded the basement due to wear and tear, so Margaret was not eligible for insurance.
text: The main obstacles to increasing traffic, in fact, are the heavy gradients and sharp curves on the approaches to the Gotthard Tunnel. Wear-and-tear of the track necessitates frequent attention by the civil engineers and possessions are hard to obtain without reducing the throughput of trains.
ref: 1962 July, “Beyond the Channel: Switzerland: Increasing Swiss Federal route capacities”, in Modern Railways, page 58:
glosses: Damage or depreciation resulting from ordinary use (normally as something excluded from a guarantee or warranty of quality, or as justifying a write-down in a set of accounts).
weariness
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɪəɹinɪs/
ipa: /ˈwɪ(ə)ɹinɪs/
Forms: form: wearinesses
Etymology: From Middle English werynes, werinesse, from Old English wēriġnes (“weariness”), equivalent to weary + -ness.
Senses: examples: text: Now when he had reached the King's capital wherein was Alaeddin, he alighted at one of the Kháns; and, when he had rested from the weariness of wayfare, he donned his dress and went down to wander about the streets, where he never passed a group without hearing them prate about the pavilion and its grandeur and vaunt the beauty of Alaeddin and his lovesomeness, his liberality and generosity, his fine manners and his good morals.
ref: 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
glosses: Exhaustion, fatigue or tiredness.
examples: text: “From the end of the Bush years up through 2013 and ’14, there was a war weariness that was permeating even Republicans,” said David Boaz, author of a new book “The Libertarian Mind.” “However, the videos of ISIS beheading Americans and other people have certainly made it more difficult to stick to a noninterventionist argument.”
ref: 2015 April 8, Stephen Collinson, “Has Rand Paul missed his moment?”, in CNN:
glosses: A lack of interest or excitement.
Synonyms: defatigation
fatigue
languor
Related terms: war-weariness
world-weariness
wearing
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: wĕrʹĭng
ipa: /ˈwɛɹɪŋ/
ipa: /ˈwɛəɹɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɛəɹɪŋ
homophone: waring
homophone: Waring
Forms: form: more wearing
form: most wearing
Senses: examples: text: Clothes used to be called wearing apparel.
glosses: Intended to be worn.
examples: text: [The biography] also displays a rather wearing fidelity to chronology that gives rise to too many summer holidays at the beginning of the book and too many royalty statements towards the end.
ref: 2014 August 17, Jonathan Beckman, “Chasing Lost Time: the Life of C K Scott Moncrieff, Soldier, Spy and Translator by Jean Findlay, review”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):
synonyms: word: draining
word: tiresome
word: draining
word: exhausting
word: exhaustive
word: fatiguing
word: tiresome
word: tiring
word: weariful
word: wearing
word: wearisome
word: weary
glosses: Causing tiredness; trying to a person's patience.
glosses: Causing erosion.
examples: text: Comparison of the four bogie designs shows that the Rugby-built A.E.I. bogie has the least number of components and a minimum of metallic wearing surfaces.
ref: 1960 December, “The first hundred 25 kV a.c. electric locomotives for B.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 727:
glosses: That wears (deteriorate through use), and may eventually wear out.
wearing
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: wĕrʹĭng
ipa: /ˈwɛɹɪŋ/
ipa: /ˈwɛəɹɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɛəɹɪŋ
homophone: waring
homophone: Waring
Forms: form: wearings
Senses: glosses: The mechanical process of eroding or grinding.
examples: formal crown-wearings
glosses: The act by which something is worn.
examples: text: Give me my nightly wearing and adieu.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
glosses: That which is worn; clothes; garments.
wearing
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wĕrʹĭng
ipa: /ˈwɛɹɪŋ/
ipa: /ˈwɛəɹɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɛəɹɪŋ
homophone: waring
homophone: Waring
Senses: glosses: present participle and gerund of wear
Derived terms: hard-wearing
wearing apparel
wearisome
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɪəɹisəm/
note: mirror–nearer merger
ipa: /ˈwɪɹisəm/
rhymes: -ɪəɹisəm
Forms: form: more wearisome
form: most wearisome
Etymology: From Middle English werisom, equivalent to weary + -some.
Senses: examples: text: Gardening can be wearisome work.
text: Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics.
ref: 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714:
synonyms: word: draining
word: monotonous
word: draining
word: exhausting
word: exhaustive
word: fatiguing
word: tiresome
word: tiring
word: weariful
word: wearing
word: wearisome
word: weary
glosses: Tiresome, tedious or causing fatigue.
Synonyms: word: drudgerous
word: irksome
word: longsome
word: monotonous
word: tedious
word: torporific
word: wearing
word: tiresome
word: wearisome
Hypernyms: word: boring
word: fatiguing
word: soporific
Derived terms: wearisomely
wearisomeness
Related terms: word: repetitive
word: slow
word: fatigue
wear off
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: wears off
form: wearing off
form: wore off
form: worn off
Senses: examples: text: The effect of the injection will gradually wear off.
text: […] the decline in passengers was attributed to the uncertainty of the weather, but one suspects it was really due to the novelty of a ride on the railway having worn off.
ref: 1953 March, C. R. Clinker, “New Light on the Leicester Swannington Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 197:
glosses: to diminish in effect
examples: text: The silver plating on that cheap silverware will wear off.
glosses: to disappear because of being abraded, over-polished, or abused
wear out
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: wears out
form: wearing out
form: wore out
form: worn out
Senses: examples: text: You're going to wear out that game if you keep playing so rough with it.
text: He wears a pair of tennis shoes out every summer.
text: "You never take the trouble to see if he will go without it; your whip is always going as if you had the St. Vitus' dance in your arm; and if it does not wear you out, it wears your horse out; you know you are always changing your horses, and why? because you never give them any peace or encouragement."
ref: [1877], Anna Sewell, “Jerry Barker”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part III, page 175:
text: That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
coordinate_terms: wear down
wear through
wear in
;
break in
glosses: To cause (something) to become damaged, useless, or ineffective through continued use, especially hard, heavy, or careless use.
examples: text: The old tractor finally wore out.
text: My shoes wear out quickly now that I walk to work.
text: Mr. Simpson adds that the station at Stanmore appears practically unchanged from the time of its opening, even to the L.N.W.R. rubber doormat, which "shows no signs of wearing out."
ref: 1942 September and October, “Notes and News: The Stanmore Branch”, in Railway Magazine, page 311:
coordinate_terms: wear down
wear through
wear off
wear in
;
break down
break in
glosses: To deteriorate or become unusable or ineffective due to continued use, exposure, or strain.
examples: text: You kids are wearing me out!
text: Trying to keep up with politics wears me out.
text: Our physical advantage allowed us to wear the other team out and win.
glosses: To exhaust; to cause or contribute to another's exhaustion, fatigue, or weariness, as by continued strain or exertion.
examples: text: I'm wearing out, guys. Time to go to sleep.
text: They built our railways, but they wore themselves out in the process.
ref: 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Lancaster (1860)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 58:
glosses: To become exhausted, tired, fatigued, or weary, as by continued strain or exertion.
examples: text: Those sweatpants are great for loafing around the house, but they're not meant to be worn out.
glosses: Of apparel, to display in public.
examples: text: A dress shirt should be tucked in, but a t-shirt can be worn out.
glosses: Of a shirt, to not tuck into the pants; to wear in a casual manner.
glosses: To punish by spanking.
Synonyms: outwear
Derived terms: wear out one's welcome
Related terms: outworn
wear away
wear down
wear off
wear thin
worn-out
worn out
borrower
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɔɹəʊə/
ipa: /ˈbɑɹoʊɚ/
Forms: form: borrowers
Etymology: From Middle English borower, borewer, borwere, equivalent to borrow + -er (agent suffix).
Senses: examples: text: a library borrower’s card
text: But if other negative factors are operating simultaneously, or if the borrower's financial status is weak to start with, then one extra adverse development is more likely to affect returns on the loan.
ref: 1984, Journal of Banking & Finance, volume 8, page 158:
text: This term became popular from the late 1960s onwards, languages being neatly divided between borrowers and calquers.
ref: 2002, Manfred Görlach, Still More Englishes, page 144:
text: For most student loan issues, borrowers work with loan servicers hired by the department rather than directly with FSA staff.
ref: 2025 October 1, Annie Ma, “How the government shutdown will affect student loans, FAFSA and the Education Department”, in AP News:
glosses: One who borrows.
Synonyms: word: borrower
word: leasee
word: lendee
word: loanee
Hypernyms: word: recipient
Hyponyms: word: debtor
word: microborrower
word: mortgager
word: scrounger
word: hirer
word: lessee
word: renter
word: tenant
Derived terms: microborrower
neither a borrower nor a lender be
nonborrower
Related terms: word: debtor
word: creditor
word: borrow
weary
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɪə̯ɹi/
note: General American, mirror–nearer merger
ipa: /ˈwɪɹi/
note: without the mirror–nearer merger
ipa: /ˈwɪɚi/
note: without the mirror–nearer merger
ipa: /ˈwiɹi/
ipa: /ˈwiːɹi/
ipa: /ˈwiə̯ɹi/
note: East Anglia, cheer–chair merger
ipa: /ˈwɛːɹi/
rhymes: -ɪəɹi
homophone: wary (cheer–chair merger)
Forms: form: wearies
form: wearying
form: wearied
form: wearied
Etymology: From Middle English wery, weri, from Old English wēriġ (“weary”), from Proto-West Germanic *wōrīg, *wōrag (“weary”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian wuurich (“weary, tired”), West Frisian wurch (“tired”), Dutch dialectal wurrig (“exhausted”), Old Saxon wōrig (“weary”), Old High German wōrag, wuarag (“drunken”).
Senses: examples: text: So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers,
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
text: I would not cease / To wearie him with my assiduous cries.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: His name was Henderland; he spoke with the broad south-country tongue, which I was beginning to weary for the sound of; and besides common countryship, we soon found we had a more particular bond of interest.
ref: 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC:
text: Next morning, as I stood motionless and with heavy eyes at the helm—for I had not slept well—I began to weary anxiously for daylight, and peered towards the horizon, where I thought I observed something like a black cloud against the dark sky.
ref: 1858, R M Ballantyne, The Coral Island:
text: Yet there was no time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so I groped with my hands against the side of the grave until I made out the bottom edge of the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with my fingers. But the earth, which the day before had looked light and loamy to the eye, was stiff and hard enough when one came to tackle it with naked hands, and in an hour's time I had done little more than further weary myself and bruise my fingers.
ref: [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: beleaguer
word: exhaust
word: fatigue
word: fordo
word: do for
word: gas out
word: get down
word: jade
word: knock up
word: poop
word: run someone ragged
word: tire
word: tire out
word: wear
word: wear down
word: wear out
word: weary
glosses: To make or to become weary.
Derived terms: unwearied
unwearying
weariedly
Related terms: wary
concur
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kəŋˈkɝ/
ipa: /kəŋˈkɜː/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
Forms: form: concurs
form: concurring
form: concurred
form: concurred
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin concurro (“to run together, agree”).
Senses: examples: text: The jury concurs with the case put forward by the defence lawyer, that the defendant is undoubtedly innocent.
text: I do not concur that this is the best way forward.
text: We do not concur in that particular point.
glosses: To agree (in action or opinion); to have a common opinion; to coincide; to correspond.
examples: text: concurring plans
text: concurring lines of thought
glosses: To meet in the same point; to combine or conjoin; to contribute or help towards a common object or effect.
glosses: To run together; to meet.
glosses: To converge.
Synonyms: sense: to unite or agree
word: sympathize
word: accord
word: agree
word: coexist
sense: to meet in the same point
word: cooperate
sense: to meet in the same point
word: unite
sense: to run together
word: assemble
sense: to run together
word: congregate
sense: to run together
word: crowd
sense: to run together
word: flock
Derived terms: concurringly
disconcur
inconcurring
nonconcur
nonconcurring
unconcurring
Related terms: concourse
concurrence
weather forecast
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: weather forecasts
Senses: examples: text: Near-synonym: weather report
text: It may be sunny today, but the weather forecast is predicting rain for tomorrow.
topics: climatology
meteorology
natural-sciences
synonyms: weathercast
glosses: A prediction of future weather, often for a specific locality, in a newspaper or on the radio or television.
Derived terms: weather forecasting
weather forecasting
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Senses: topics: climatology
meteorology
natural-sciences
glosses: The science of using meteorology to predict future weather.
Related terms: weather forecast
inherent
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪnˈhɪəɹənt/
ipa: /ɪnˈhɛɹənt/
Forms: form: inhærent
Etymology: From Latin inhaerentem, accusative singular of inhaerēns, present active participle of inhaereō (“I am closely connected with; adhere to”).
Senses: examples: text: There is a stern melancholy in his dark features, inherent and engrossing, which rivets the attention.
ref: 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 244–245:
text: One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.[…]But out of sight is out of mind. And that, together with the inherent yuckiness of the subject, means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair.
ref: 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:
synonyms: word: inbuilt
word: ingrained
word: intrinsic
word: built-in
word: essential
word: immanent
word: inbuilt
word: infused
word: ingrained
word: inherent
word: instilled
word: integral
word: intrinsic
word: inwrought
word: radical
antonyms: word: extrinsic
word: intrinsic
glosses: Naturally as part or consequence of something.
Derived terms: inherently
inherent power
inherent vice
inherent vowel
noninherent
Related terms: adherent
coherent
inhere
inherence
inherency
inherently
foreshadow
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɔːˈʃadəʊ/
ipa: /fɔːɹˈʃædoʊ/
rhymes: -ædəʊ
Forms: form: foreshadows
form: foreshadowing
form: foreshadowed
form: foreshadowed
Etymology: From fore- + shadow.
Senses: examples: text: It all sounds to us remarkably nineteenth-century; Petrarch's romantic sentiments foreshadow with uncanny precision those of Dante Gabriel Rossetti or Alfred de Musset.
ref: 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 84:
text: If there is a significant or surprising event in the story, it must be foreshadowed earlier on. When the event that was foreshadowed occurs, that's the payoff.
ref: 2013, Heide Goody, Iain Grant, How to Write a Collaborative Novel, Pigeon Park Press, →ISBN:
glosses: To presage, or suggest something in advance.
Derived terms: foreshadower
unforeshadowed
malodor
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌmælˈəʊ.də(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˌmælˈoʊ.dɚ/
Forms: form: malodors
form: malodour
Etymology: From mal- (“bad”) + odor.
Senses: glosses: An offensive odor.
Derived terms: antimalodor
fish malodor syndrome
redder
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹɛdɚ/
rhymes: -ɛdə(ɹ)
Senses: glosses: comparative form of red: more red
reddest
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹɛdɪst/
Senses: glosses: superlative form of red: most red
brownish
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɹaʊnɪʃ/
rhymes: -aʊnɪʃ
Forms: form: more brownish
form: most brownish
Etymology: From brown + -ish.
Senses: examples: text: The Giraffe and the Zebra and the Eland and the Koodoo and the Hartebeest lived there; and they were 'sclusively sandy-yellow-brownish all over […]
ref: 1902, Rudyard Kipling, “How the Leopard Got His Spots”, in Just So Stories:
text: Two pumps stood side by side in our kitchen. One was for well water and one was a cistern pump—water from the former was hard and clear, from the cistern it was brownish and soft.
ref: 1942, Emily Carr, “Waterworks”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:
text: Watt wore, on his feet, a boot, brown in colour, and a shoe, happily of a brownish colour also.
ref: 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
glosses: Of a colour which resembles brown; somewhat brown.
Synonyms: word: brownish
word: browny
word: brunneous
word: brunnescent
Hypernyms: word: tinted
Hyponyms: word: castaneous
word: fulvous
word: russet
word: tawny
Derived terms: brownishly
brownishness
maltase
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: maltases
Etymology: From malt + -ase.
Senses: topics: biochemistry
biology
chemistry
microbiology
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
synonyms: maltin
glosses: An enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of maltose to glucose; often associated with amylase.
Derived terms: amylomaltase
isomaltase
catalyze
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkætəˌlaɪz/
Forms: form: catalyzes
form: catalyzing
form: catalyzed
form: catalyzed
form: catalyse
Senses: topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To bring about the catalysis of a chemical reaction.
glosses: To accelerate a process.
glosses: To inspire significantly by catalysis.
Derived terms: autocatalyze
catalyzation
electrocatalyze
Related terms: catalysis
catalyst
catalytic
catalyzer
catalysis
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /kəˈtæləsɪs/
Forms: form: catalyses
Etymology: From Ancient Greek κατάλυσις (katálusis, “dissolution”), from καταλύω (katalúō, “I dissolve”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + λύω (lúō, “I loose”). By surface analysis, cata- + -lysis.
Senses: topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: The increase of the rate of a chemical reaction, induced by a catalyst.
Derived terms: allelocatalysis
aminocatalysis
autocatalysis
biocatalysis
chemocatalysis
cocatalysis
electrocatalysis
heterocatalysis
heterogeneous catalysis
homogeneous catalysis
nanocatalysis
organocatalysis
phase transfer catalysis
photocatalysis
pyrocatalysis
self-catalysis
sonocatalysis
Related terms: catalyst
catalytic
catalyze
catalyzer
putrefaction
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌpjuːtɹəˈfækʃən/
Forms: form: putrefactions
Etymology: First attested between 1350 and 1400 from Middle English putrefaccioun, from Old French putrefaccïon, from Latin putrefactiō, from putrefactus, perfect passive participle of putrefaciō (“become rotten”)
Senses: glosses: The act of causing to rot; the anaerobic splitting of proteins by bacteria and fungi with the formation of malodorous, incompletely oxidized products.
glosses: Rotten material.
glosses: The state of being rotten.
Related terms: putrescent
putrefactive
putrefacient
putrefy
putrid
stour
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
Forms: form: more stour
form: most stour
form: stoor
form: stoore
form: stoure
form: stowr
form: stuir
form: stur
form: sture
form: sturry
Etymology: From Middle English store, stoor, stour (“tall, powerful”), from Old English stōr (“tall, great, mighty, strong”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōr, from Proto-Germanic *stōraz, *stōrijaz (“great, big, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *stā-r-, *stō-r- (“steadfast, firm; standing tall; big, bulky”).
Cognates
Akin to Scots stour (“tall, large, great, stout”), Saterland Frisian stor (“great, many”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian stor (“large, great”), Icelandic stórr (“large, tall”), Polish stary (“old, ancient”), Albanian stër- (“big, huge”). Compare also stoor, steer, stately.
Senses: glosses: Tall; large; stout.
glosses: Strong; powerful; hardy; robust; sturdy.
glosses: Bold; audacious.
glosses: Rough in manner; stern; austere; ill-tempered.
glosses: Rough; hoarse; deep-toned; harsh.
raw_tags: of a voice
examples: text: A fenny gooſe, even as her fleſhe is blacker, ſtoorer, unholſomer, ſo is her feather, for the ſame cauſe, courſer, ſtoorer, and rougher, and therefore I have heard very good fletchers ſay, that the ſecond fether in ſome place is better than the pinion in other ſome.
ref: 1545, Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole of Shootinge […], London: […] Edouardi Whytchurch, →OCLC:
qualifier: land
glosses: Inflexible, stiff.
raw_tags: of cloth
glosses: Resolute; unyielding.
Derived terms: stourly
stourness
stour
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
Forms: form: stours
form: stoor
form: stoore
form: stoure
form: stowr
form: stuir
form: stur
form: sture
form: sturry
Etymology: From Middle English store, stoor, stour (“tall, powerful”), from Old English stōr (“tall, great, mighty, strong”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōr, from Proto-Germanic *stōraz, *stōrijaz (“great, big, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *stā-r-, *stō-r- (“steadfast, firm; standing tall; big, bulky”).
Cognates
Akin to Scots stour (“tall, large, great, stout”), Saterland Frisian stor (“great, many”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian stor (“large, great”), Icelandic stórr (“large, tall”), Polish stary (“old, ancient”), Albanian stër- (“big, huge”). Compare also stoor, steer, stately.
Senses: glosses: A blowing or deposit of dust; dust in motion or at rest; dust in general.
stour
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
Forms: form: more stour
form: most stour
form: stoor
form: stoore
form: stoure
form: stowr
form: stuir
form: stur
form: sture
form: sturry
Etymology: From Middle English store, stoor, stour (“tall, powerful”), from Old English stōr (“tall, great, mighty, strong”), from Proto-West Germanic *stōr, from Proto-Germanic *stōraz, *stōrijaz (“great, big, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *stā-r-, *stō-r- (“steadfast, firm; standing tall; big, bulky”).
Cognates
Akin to Scots stour (“tall, large, great, stout”), Saterland Frisian stor (“great, many”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian stor (“large, great”), Icelandic stórr (“large, tall”), Polish stary (“old, ancient”), Albanian stër- (“big, huge”). Compare also stoor, steer, stately.
Senses: glosses: Severely; strongly.
stour
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
ipa: /ˈstaʊə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊ.ə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɚ/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɹ/
rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)
rhymes: -aʊə
rhymes: -aʊɹ
ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
Forms: form: stours
Etymology: From Middle English stoure, stourre, from Old Norse staurr (“a stake, pale”), from Proto-Germanic *stauraz (“pole, support”), from Proto-Indo-European *stā- (“to stand, place”). Cognate with Icelandic staur (“a stake, pole”), Ancient Greek σταυρός (staurós, “a stake, cross”).
Senses: glosses: A stake.
glosses: A round of a ladder.
glosses: A stave in the side of a wagon.
glosses: A large pole by which barges are propelled against the stream; a poy.
stour
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
ipa: /ˈstaʊə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊ.ə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɚ/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɹ/
rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)
rhymes: -aʊə
rhymes: -aʊɹ
ipa: /ˈstʊ(ə)ɹ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə
rhymes: -ʊ(ə)ɹ
ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
ipa: /ˈstaʊə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊ.ə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɚ/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɹ/
rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)
rhymes: -aʊə
rhymes: -aʊɹ
Forms: form: stours
Etymology: From Middle English stour, stor (“conflict”) from Anglo-Norman estur (“conflict, struggle”), from Old French estour, estor, estorme, estourmie, estormie (“battle, assault, conflict, tumult”), from Vulgar Latin *estorma, *storma (“battle, conflict, storm”), from Frankish *sturm (“storm, commotion, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz (“storm”). Akin to Old High German sturm (“battle, storm”). More at storm.
Senses: examples: text: Then there began a passyng harde stoure, for the Romaynes ever wexed ever bygger.
ref: , Book V
text: This pair, who past have many a dreadful stour, / And proffer now to prove this venture stout, / Alone to this attempt let them go forth, / Alone than thousands of more price and worth.
ref: 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XII, xv
glosses: An armed battle or conflict.
examples: text: Then gan she waile and weepe, to see that woefull stowre.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: A time of struggle or stress.
glosses: Tumult, commotion; confusion.
stour
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
ipa: /ˈstaʊə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊ.ə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɚ/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɹ/
rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)
rhymes: -aʊə
rhymes: -aʊɹ
ipa: /ˈstʊ(ə)ɹ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə
rhymes: -ʊ(ə)ɹ
ipa: /ˈstɔː/
ipa: /ˈstʊə/
ipa: /ˈstɔɹ/
ipa: /ˈstʊɚ/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
ipa: /ˈstaʊə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊ.ə/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɚ/
ipa: /ˈstaʊɹ/
rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ)
rhymes: -aʊə
rhymes: -aʊɹ
Forms: form: stours
form: stouring
form: stoured
form: stoured
Etymology: From Middle English stour, stor (“conflict”) from Anglo-Norman estur (“conflict, struggle”), from Old French estour, estor, estorme, estourmie, estormie (“battle, assault, conflict, tumult”), from Vulgar Latin *estorma, *storma (“battle, conflict, storm”), from Frankish *sturm (“storm, commotion, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz (“storm”). Akin to Old High German sturm (“battle, storm”). More at storm.
Senses: glosses: Alternative form of stoor.
flippant
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈflɪp.ənt/
Forms: form: more flippant
form: most flippant
Etymology: 1595, from Northern English dialectal flippand (“prattling, babbling, glib”), present participle of flip (“to babble”), of North Germanic origin. Cognate with Icelandic fleipa (“to babble, prattle”), Swedish dialectal flepa (“to talk nonsense”). Alteration of -and suffix (a variant of the participial -ing) to -ant probably due to influence from words in -ant.
Senses: examples: text: a sort of flippant, vain discourse
ref: 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:
text: The conversations had grown more adult over the years—she was less flippant, at least.
ref: 1998, Sylvia Brownrigg, The Metaphysical Touch:
text: In the mid-1950s we both wrote for the same weekly, where her contributions were a good deal more serious and less flippant than mine.
ref: 2000, Anthony Howard, Jason Cowley, Decline and Fall, New Statesman, March 13, 2000:
text: Our society treats smoking flippantly as a slightly distasteful habit that can injure your health. It is not. It is drug addiction.
ref: 2004, Allen Carr, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking, page 147:
glosses: Showing disrespect through a casual attitude, levity, and a lack of due seriousness; pert.
examples: November 5, 1673, Isaac Barrow, sermon on the Gunpowder Treason
It becometh good men, in such cases, to be pleasantly flippant and free in their speech.
glosses: Loquacious; speaking with ease and rapidity.
glosses: Nimble; limber.
Derived terms: flippancy
flippantly
flippantness
unflippant
Related terms: irreverent
pert
facetious
frivolous