Definition of "word"

word¹

/wɜːd/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural words
1. 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.)
  Quotations
  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.
  1897, Ouida, “The New Woman”, in An Altruist and Four Essays, page 239
  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.
  1986, David Barrat, Media Sociology, page 112
  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, […]
  2009, Jack Fitzgerald, Viva La Evolucin, page 233
  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.
  2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37
  1. The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes
    Quotations
    Then all was silent save the voice of the high priest, whose words grew louder and louder, […]
    1894, Alex. R. Mackwen, “The Samaritan Passover”, in Littell's Living Age, volume 1, number 6
    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.
    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.
    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.
    2006 Feb. 17, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 4
  2. The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes
    Quotations
    Polonius: What do you read, my lord?Hamlet: Words, words, words.
    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, [Act II, scene ii]
    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, […]
    2003, Jan Furman, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: A Casebook, page 194
    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.
    2009, Stanislas Dehaene, Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read
  3. A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by an authority or native speaker (compare non-word).
    Quotations
    “Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t a word?”
    1896, Israel Zangwill, Without Prejudice, page 21
    Fisherwoman isn’t even a word. It’s not in the dictionary.
    1999, Linda Greenlaw, The Hungry Ocean, Hyperion, page 11
2. Something like such a unit of language:
  1. 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
    Quotations
    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.
    1974, Thinking Goes to School: Piaget's Theory in Practice, page 183
    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.
    2003, How To Do Everything with Your Tablet PC, page 278
    Here the scribe has dropped the με from καθημενος, thereby creating the nonsense word καθηνος.
    2006, Scribal Habits and Theological Influences in the Apocalypse, page 141
    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.
    2013, The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Language, page 91
  2. (telegraphy) A unit of text equivalent to five characters and one space.
  3. (computing) 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).
    Quotations
    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.
    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
  4. (computer science) A finite string that is not a command or operator.
  5. (group theory) A group element, expressed as a product of group elements.
3. The fact or act of speaking, as opposed to taking action.
  Quotations
  […] 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.
  1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
  As they fell apart against Austria, England badly needed someone capable of leading by word and example.
  2004 September 8, Richard Williams, The Guardian
4. (now rare outside certain phrases) Something that someone said; a comment, utterance; speech.
  Quotations
  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Matthew 26:75
  She said; but at the happy word "he lives", / My father stooped, re-fathered, o'er my wound.
  1847, Alfred Tennyson, The Princess
  There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark.
  1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House
  "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.
  1945 April 1, Sebastian Haffner, The Observer
  Despite appearances to the contrary [...] dragomans stuck rigidly to their brief, which was not to translate the Sultan's words, but his word.
  2011, David Bellos, Is That a Fish in Your Ear?, Penguin, published 2012, page 126
  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.
  2011, John Lehew (senior), The Encouragement of Peter, page 108
5. (obsolete outside certain phrases) A watchword or rallying cry, a verbal signal (even when consisting of multiple words).
  Quotations
  Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
  1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III
  I have the word : sentinel, do thou stand; […]
  c. 1623, John Fletcher, William Rowley, The Maid in the Mill, published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio), published 1647, scene 3
6. (obsolete) A proverb or motto.
  Quotations
  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.
  1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Court
  Let the word be 'Not without mustard'. Your crest is very rare, sir.
  1599, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour
  The old word is, 'What the eye views not, the heart rues not.'
  1646, Joseph Hall, The Balm of Gilead
7. (uncountable) News; tidings.
  Quotations
  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.
  1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg
8. An order; a request or instruction; an expression of will.
9. A promise; an oath or guarantee.
10. A brief discussion or conversation.
11. (meiosis) A minor reprimand.
12. (in the plural) See words.
13. (theology, sometimes Word) Communication from God; the message of the Christian gospel; the Bible, Scripture.
14. (theology, sometimes Word) Logos, Christ.
  Quotations
  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.
  1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], John ]
verb
third-person singular simple present words, present participle wording, simple past and past participle worded
1. (transitive) To say or write (something) using particular words; to phrase (something).
2. (transitive, obsolete) To flatter with words, to cajole.
  Quotations
  He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not / be noble to myself.
  1607, William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, act 5, scene 2
3. (transitive) To ply or overpower with words.
  Quotations
  […] if one were to be worded to death, Italian is the fittest Language [for that task]
  1621 November 30, James Howell, letter to Francis Bacon, from Turin
  […] if a man were to be worded to death, or stoned to death by words, the High-Dutch were the fittest [language for that task].
  1829 April, “Webster's Dictionary”, in The North American Review, volume 28, page 438
4. (transitive, rare) To conjure with a word.
  Quotations
  Against him […] who could word heaven and earth out of nothing, and can when he pleases word them into nothing again.
  c. 1645-1715, Robert South, Sermon on Psalm XXXIX. 9
  "Postcolonialism" might well be another linguistic construct, desperately begging for a referent that will never show up, simply because it never existed on its own and was literally worded into existence by the very term that pretends to be born from it.
  1994, “Liminal Postmodernisms”, in Postmodern Studies, volume 8, page 162
  The being of each person is worded into existence in the Word, […]
  2013, Carla Mae Streeter, Foundations of Spirituality: The Human and the Holy, page 92
5. (intransitive, archaic) To speak, to use words; to converse, to discourse.
  Quotations
  Thus wording timidly among the fierce: / "O Father, I am here the simplest voice, […] "
  1818–1819, John Keats, “Hyperion, a Fragment”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, page 181
interjection
1. (slang) Truth, indeed, that is the truth! The shortened form of the statement "My word is my bond."
2. (slang, emphatic, stereotypically, African-American Vernacular) An abbreviated form of word up; a statement of the acknowledgment of fact with a hint of nonchalant approval.
  Quotations
  " […] Know what I'm sayin'?" / "Word!" the other man strongly agreed. "Let's do this — "
  2004, Shannon Holmes, Never Go Home Again: A Novel, page 218
  " […] Not bad at all, man. Worth da wait, dawg. Word." / "You liked it?" I asked dumbly, stoned still, and feeling victorious. / "Yeah, man," said Oral B. "Word up. […] "
  2007, Gabe Rotter, Duck Duck Wally: A Novel, page 105
  " […] I mean, I don't blame you... Word! […] "
  2007, Relentless Aaron, The Last Kingpin, page 34

word²

/wɜːd/

verb
1. Alternative form of worth (“to become”).

Definition of "word"

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verb

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interjection

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