Link Centre Dictionary

word

UK/wɜːd/ US/wɝd/ very common slang
noun (10) verb (1)

noun

1.

a unit of language that native speakers can identify

  • “words are the blocks from which sentences are made”
  • “he hardly said ten words all morning”
2.

a brief statement

  • “he didn”
3.

new information about specific and timely events

  • “they awaited news of the outcome”
Synonyms
4.

the divine word of God; the second person in the Trinity (incarnate in Jesus)

Synonyms
5.

a promise

  • “he gave his word”
Synonyms
6.

a secret word or phrase known only to a restricted group

  • “he forgot the password”
Synonyms
7.

an exchange of views on some topic

  • “we had a good discussion”
  • “we had a word or two about it”
Synonyms
8.

the sacred writings of the Christian religions

  • “he went to carry the Word to the heathen”
Synonyms
9.

a verbal command for action

  • “when I give the word, charge!”
10.

a word is a string of bits stored in computer memory

  • “large computers use words up to 64 bits long”

verb

1.

put into words or an expression

  • “He formulated his concerns to the board of trustees”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English word, from Old English word, from Proto-West Germanic *word, from Proto-Germanic *wurdą (“word”), from Proto-Indo-European *werdʰom (“word”), from *werh₁- (“to say, speak”). Doublet of verb, verve, and vort; further related to vrata. Cognates Cognate with Scots wird (“word”), North Frisian uurd, Uurt, wurd, wårde, wür (“word”), Saterland Frisian Woud, Wud (“word”), West Frisian wurd (“word”), Alemannic German wort, wourd, wuart, wòrt, wört (“word”), Bavarian boart, bort, bört, Wurt (“word”), Cimbrian bóart, bort (“word”), Dutch woord (“word”), German Wort (“word”), German Low German Woord, Woort (“word”), Limburgish waord, Woërt (“word”), Luxembourgish Wuert (“word”), Mòcheno bourt (“word”), Vilamovian wiüt, wuyt (“word”), Yiddish וואָרט (vort, “word”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish ord (“word”), Elfdalian uord (“word”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Scanian orð (“word”), Gutnish ård (“word”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd, “word”); also Ancient Greek ῥητός (rhētós, “spoken, stipulated”); also Latin verbum (“word”), Umbrian 𐌖𐌄𐌓𐌚𐌀𐌋𐌄 (uerfale, “temple”), Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “to say, speak, tell”), Latgalian vuords (“name; word”), Latvian vārds ...

Phrases

  • action word words, types of word, and wordlike units
  • babble word words, types of word, and wordlike units
  • bad word words, types of word, and wordlike units
  • big word words, types of word, and wordlike units
  • brunch word words, types of word, and wordlike units
  • buzz word words, types of word, and wordlike units
  • catch-all word words, types of word, and wordlike units
  • Champernowne word words, types of word, and wordlike units
  • compound word
  • set phrase
  • word it

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.