word

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Written communication

Nouns

1. word, term, expression, locution, linguistic unit or form, word form, lexeme; homonym, synonym, antonym, heteronym, homophone; syllable, monosyllable, polysyllable; stem, root, derivative, inflected form (see grammar); particle, article; affix, prefix, suffix, combining form, element, proclytic, enclitic. See writing, nomenclature, language, news, information, promise.

2. compound, back formation, phrase, cognate, etymon, ghost word, holophrase; phone, ideophone, phoneme, utterance (see speech); neologism, neoterism, coinage, nonce word, sniglet; archaism; borrowing, paronym, loanword, calque, loan translation, pochismo; ink-horn term; portmanteau word, macaronicism, hybrid; colloquialism, informalism, localism, dialect, slang; barbarism, spoonerism, corruption (see error); password, watchword (see indication); technical term, jargon, cant. Informal, jawbreaker.

3. dictionary, lexicon, glossary, vocabulary, thesaurus, word treasury, word hoard, lexis, direct or linguistic atlas; concordance; definiens, definiendum.

4. lexicography, lexicology; [folk] etymology, derivation, comparative linguistics.

5. lexicographer, lexicologist, etymologist; neologist; phrasemaker; word-smith, writer (see writing).

Verbs — coin a word or phrase; put into words, express.

Adjectives — verbal; lexicographical, lexicological, etymological; neological; morphological, inflectional, derivative.

Phrases — all words are pegs to hang ideas on; sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me; talk is cheap; one picture is worth ten thousand words; the pen is mightier than the sword.

Quotations — Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind (Rudyard Kipling), Words are chameleons, which reflect the color of their environment (Learned Hand), There is no use indicting words, they are no shoddier than what they peddle (Samuel Beckett), Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that he sometimes has to eat them (Adlai Stevenson).

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [A unit of expression]

Syn. term, name, expression, designation, concept, vocable, utterance, sound, a voicing, form of speech, speech, locution, free morpheme, morpheme word, lexeme.

Classes of words include: common noun, proper noun, personal pronoun, possessive pronoun, demonstrative pronoun, relative pronoun, interrogative pronoun, indefinite pronoun, definite article, indefinite article, transitive verb, intransitive verb, phrasal verb, descriptive adjective, quantitative adjective, participial adjective, adverb, coordinating conjunction, subordinate conjunction, relative conjunction, interjection, gerund, preposition, modifier, subject, predicate, loan word, root, primitive word, parent word, source word, etymon, synonym, antonym, cognative word, analogous word, derivative, slang, colloquialism, jargon, slang word, vulgarism, four-letter word*, dialect word, provincialism, translation, native word, foreign word, idiom, connotative word, denotative word, acronym, eponym.

2. [Promise]

Syn. pledge, commitment, oath, word of honor; see declaration 2 , promise .

3. [Tidings]

Syn. report, news, information, advice, message, intelligence, announcement, account.

4. [A brief discourse]

Syn. talk, introduction, statement; see speech 3 .

• a good word,

Syn. favorable comment, recommendation, support; see praise 2 .

• be as good as one's word,

Syn. keep faith, be faithful, fulfill one's promise, live up to a promise; see achieve 1 , complete 1 .

• by word of mouth,

Syn. orally, verbally, through the grapevine, spoken; see oral .

• hang on someone's words,

Syn. listen to, adore, look up to; see admire 1 , listen 1 , 2 .

• have words with,

Syn. argue with, differ with, differ from, bicker; see argue 1 , fight 1 , 2 .

• in so many words,

Syn. succinctly, cursorily, economically; see briefly 1 .

• man or [m1]• woman of his or [m1]• her word,

Syn. honorable man, honorable woman, trustworthy person, good risk; see gentleman 1 , lady 2 .

• take at one's word,

Syn. trust in, have faith in, have confidence in, put one's trust in; see believe 1 .

• the word*,

Syn. information, the facts, the lowdown*; see knowledge 1 , truth 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

1. term noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, expression, name, lexeme, morpheme. Words soul's ambassadors.''— James Howell. ''The dress of thoughts; which should no more be presented in rags, tatters, and dirt, than your person should.''—Lord Chesterfield.

WORD FIND

• acceptable word used in place of socially unacceptable one: euphemism

• antiquated word: archaism

• arrangement, construction of words and sentences: syntax

• baby words: lallation

• backwards, reads the same: palindrome

• book: lexicon, dictionary, thesaurus

• characterizing: epithet

• coiner: neologist

• combining words or word parts to form new word: agglutination

• confusion, transposition of letters: dyslexia

• contradictory juxtaposition of: oxymoron

• difficult to pronounce correctly: *jawbreaker

• disgust for certain words: logomasia

• exact or appropriate word: mot juste

• incorrect use of word confused with another: catachresis, malapropism

• incorrect word that sounds like another: catchfool

• individual word stock: ideolect

• informal: colloquial, colloquialism

• invention of new word: coinage

• figurative: metaphor, simile, trope

• foreign word sound English, make: Anglicize

• forgotten word, obsession to remember: loganamnosis

• humorous transposition of word sounds, such as ‘‘Hoobert Heever’’ for ‘‘Herbert Hoover’’: spoonerism

• initials, word constructed of: acronym

• local: localism

• loss for words, at a: aporia

• new: neologism

• nonstandard use: barbarism, corruption

• opposite in meaning: antonym

• origin of: etymology

• pronounce clearly: enunciate

• pronunciation, poor: cacology

• recall word on tip of one’s tongue, inability to: lethologica

• restate in different words: paraphrase

• reversal of standard meaning, such as ‘‘bad’’ meaning ‘‘good’’: melioration

• showing off one’s knowledge of words: pedantry

• similar in meaning: synonym

• sounding like the thing it names: onomatopoeia

• sounding the same but having different meanings: homonym, homophone

• study of meanings: semantics

• wrong title, wrong name: misnomer

2. news report, communication, announcement, communique, dispatch, bulletin, intelligence, information.

3. talk chat, meeting, consultation, conversation, discussion.

4. remark statement, comment.

5. promise pledge, solemn word, oath, word of honor, vow, assurance, guarantee.

II

v.

put into words, frame, phrase, rephrase, paraphrase.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. A sound or combination of sounds that symbolizes and communicates a meaning: expression, locution, term. See WORDS. 2. Something said: saying, statement, utterance. See WORDS. 3. Something communicated, as information: communication, message. See WORDS. 4. A declaration that one will or will not do a certain thing: assurance, covenant, engagement, guarantee, guaranty, pledge, plight2, promise, solemn word, vow, warrant, word of honor. See OBLIGATION. 5. An authoritative indication to be obeyed: behest, bidding, charge, command, commandment, dictate, direction, directive, injunction, instruction (often used in plural), mandate, order. See OVER, WORDS. 6. New information, especially about recent events and happenings: advice (often used in plural), intelligence, news, tiding (often used in plural). Informal: scoop. See KNOWLEDGE, WORDS. 7. Idle, often sensational and groundless talk about others: gossip, gossipry, hearsay, report, rumor, talebearing, tattle, tittle-tattle. Slang: scuttlebutt. See WORDS. 8. A discussion, often heated, in which a difference of opinion is expressed. Used in plural: altercation, argument, bicker, clash, contention, controversy, debate, difficulty, disagreement, dispute, fight, polemic, quarrel, run-in, spat, squabble, tiff, wrangle. Informal: hassle, rhubarb, tangle. See CONFLICT. II verb To convey in language or words of a particular form: couch, express, formulate, phrase, put. See WORDS.