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word

n. countable
A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈwɝd// UK //wˈɜːd// word Archaic General-service Slang

n. a single unit of language that has a specific meaning. You use words to build sentences when you speak or write.

n. a distinct, meaningful element of speech or writing, typically used with others to form sentences. In computing, it refers to a fixed-sized unit of data handled by a processor.


SIMPLE

I do not know the meaning of this word.

CONTEXTUAL

The teacher asked the students to write down every word they heard during the short audio clip.

COMPLEX

Linguistic analysis often begins by categorising each word according to its grammatical function within the broader syntactic structure of the sentence.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

Semantic loan from Koine Greek λόγος (lógos).

Etymology 2

Ellipsis of Microsoft Word; from word.

Usage

Commonly used with the preposition 'for' when asking about translations or definitions.

Pitfall

I have many words to tell you.I have a lot to tell you.Learners often use 'words' to mean 'information' or 'things to say', but 'word' in the singular is used for news or messages.

Idioms33 entries

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