Most definitions for one word - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

If you are going to answer a trivia question about which English word has the most definitions, your answer might depend on when the question was written. The old champion was the word «set,» which had 430 definitions in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary published in 1989. This record was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records.

In that edition of the OED, the entry for set runs 60,000 words. It beats the others. Here are the runners-up for that edition:

Here’s how the others stack up:

Run — 396 (definitions)
Go — 368
Take — 343
Stand — 334
Get — 289
Turn — 288
Put — 268
Fall — 264
Strike — 250

A New Champion for Number of Definitions

Language doesn’t stand still. While «set» was the champion since the first edition of the OED in 1928 (when it had a meager 200 meanings), it has been overtaken by the word «run.» However, since the next edition of the OED won’t be out until 2037, it hasn’t made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the champion.

According to the OED’s chief editor, John Simpson, «run» has continued to evolve new meanings and had 645 as of 2011. In the interim, the word «put» has outpaced «set» in any case, and even replaces it in many usages. You might «put» something on a table rather than «set» it on a table.

How Should You Answer the Trivia Question?

This brings up a dilemma. How should you answer the question about which English word has the most definitions? If it’s possible to ask what authority has determined the answer, go with the word «set» if it is the second edition of the OED or the Guinness Book of World Records. If not, you may worry that the question is based on the New York Times interview with John Simpson in 2011 or a newer source.

Should You Use This Question in a Trivia Quiz?

If you are designing trivia or word game questions, it’s best just to drop this one as it is a moving target. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, «Modern English includes words from a wide variety of different sources around the world. Patterns of word-borrowing over time reflect the changing demography of its speakers; cultural and economic influences on Britain; the spread of English-speaking explorers, traders, and settlers; and encounters with other cultures.»

The English language has one of the largest vocabularies of all the languages of the world. The Oxford English Dictionary contains more than 600,000 words. They are all in a race to have more and more meanings. Even as new ones are added, older ones fall out of favor. You may not even recognize many of the uses of the words.

If you choose to use this as a question, you should cite which authority you are basing the answer on. Check the current Guinness World Record for a readily-accessible source.

Источник

Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have multiple meanings.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Though the English language has many quirks, one of its most interesting is homographs: words that are spelled identically but have different meanings or definitions.
There are at least 10 words with hundreds of definitions each, like «go» and «put.»
«Run» is anticipated to have approximately 645 different meanings in the next Oxford English Dictionary, set for a 2037 release.

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The English language is, indeed, a quirky one: it’s notoriously difficult to learn, and often words have more than one meaning.

Some of these words are called homographs. They’re spelled identically but have vastly different definitions. «Go» has 368, for instance, and «set» has 430. The word «run» is anticipated to have approximately 645 different meanings in the next Oxford English Dictionary, set for a 2037 release.

Keep scrolling to see which 10 words in the English language have the most definitions.

Run: 645 definitions

«Running» can be a verb.

Syda Productions/Shutterstock

Though there is some debate surrounding the first place position of «run,» as one of the top homographs it has (an anticipated) 645 different definitions, according to a New York Times article from 2011.

The word is widely used to describe various activities: a computer runs a program, a car runs on gas, a candidate runs for office, etc. Of course, as with the rest of the English language, the word continues to evolve.

Set: 430 definitions

TV «set.»

Keystone Features/Getty Images

Referred to as the «old chestnut» in the same New York Times article, «set» previously held the top position for the English word with the most definitions.

But «set» «hasn’t undergone as much development in the 20th and 21st centuries as has ‘run,'» Gilliver told the Times. Regardless, «set» holds strong at 430 definitions, per the 1989 O.E.D.

Go: 368 definitions

Green signifies «go.»

Prisma by Dukas/UIG via Getty Images

«Go» is one of the most ubiquitous everyday words in the English language. Like many others on this list, it can be a noun, adjective, and verb. It clocked in at 368 definitions in 1989’s O.E.D.

Its top meaning as a verb is «to move from one place to another; travel,» but it can also be «said in various expressions when angrily or contemptuously dismissing someone.» Used in a sentence: «Go and get lost!»

Take: 343 definitions

Take out.

iStock

The word «take» is described by Merriam-Webster as «to get into one’s hands or into one’s possession, power, or control.» But its meanings stretch across a vast terrain: to «take something in» could also mean «to consider or view in a particular relation.»

It comes in a close fourth place, roughly 20 definitions less than «go:» 343 in the 1989 O.E.D.

Get: 289 definitions

«Getting» dolled up.

Nicky J Sims/Getty Images

Like «go,» «getting» is one of those commonplace words that we use so much, we don’t even realize how much we use it. We «get» coffee.» We are «getting» dolled up for a date. We «got» a bad grade on that test.

According to the 1989 O.E.D., it has 289 definitions, to be exact.

Turn: 288 definitions

Figure skaters turning.

REUTERS/David Gray

The word «turn» is nestled closely behind, with only one less definition than «get.» It can take on many other meanings beyond «moving in a circular direction,» including «passing the age or time of» something. In a sentence: «I turned 40 last year.»

Put: 268 definitions

«Putting» lemon into a drink.

Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

«In terms of sheer size, the entry for ‘run’ is half as big again as that for ‘put,'» said the New York Times article. But that doesn’t make «put» any less impressive, with exactly 268 definitions in total.

«Put» also may be a reason for «set»‘s decline in popularity, as we tend to use the former in favor of the latter these days. For example: we «put» the drinking glass down, rather than «set» it down.

Fall: 264 definitions

A model «falling» on the runway.

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Perhaps the most embarrassing of the list (in verb form, that is), «fall» clocks in at about 264 definitions in the O.E.D.

Though we all know fall’s most common definition as a verb — «to descend freely by the force of gravity» — it’s interesting to note that «fall» is also used to refer to lambs giving birth, according to Merriam-Webster.

Idioms about word

at a word, in immediate response to an order or request; in an instant: At a word they came to take the situation in hand.

be as good as one’s word, to hold to one’s promises.

eat one’s words, to retract one’s statement, especially with humility: They predicted his failure, but he made them eat their words.

have a word, to talk briefly: Tell your aunt that I would like to have a word with her.

have no words for, to be unable to describe: She had no words for the sights she had witnessed.

in a word, in summary; in short: In a word, there was no comparison.Also in one word.

in so many words, in unequivocal terms; explicitly: She told them in so many words to get out.

keep one’s word, to fulfill one’s promise: I said I’d meet the deadline, and I kept my word.

man of his word / woman of her word, a person who can be trusted to keep a promise; a reliable person.

(upon) my word! (used as an exclamation of surprise or astonishment.)

of few words, laconic; taciturn: a woman of few words but of profound thoughts.

of many words, talkative; loquacious; wordy: a person of many words but of little wit.

put in a good word for, to speak favorably of; commend: He put in a good word for her with the boss.Also put in a word for.

take one at one’s word, to take a statement to be literal and true.

take the words out of one’s mouth, to say exactly what another person was about to say.

weigh one’s words, to choose one’s words carefully in speaking or writing: It was an important message, and he was weighing his words.

Origin of word

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English; cognate with Dutch woord, German Wort, Old Norse orth, orð, Gothic waurd, waúrd, all from Germanic wurdam (unattested); akin to Latin verbum “word,” Greek rhḗtōr (dialect wrḗtōr ) “public speaker, orator, rhetorician,” Old Prussian wirds “word,” Lithuanian var̃das “name”

OTHER WORDS FROM word

in·ter·word, adjectiveout·word, verb (used with object)well-word·ed, adjective

Words nearby word

Worcester china, Worcester sauce, Worcestershire, Worcestershire sauce, Worcs, word, word accent, wordage, word association, word association test, word-blind

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to word

conversation, talk, account, advice, announcement, comment, expression, information, message, news, remark, report, rumor, saying, speech, concept, name, phrase, sound, term

How to use word in a sentence

In other words, the large-scale burning this summer shows that these campaigns have yet to effectively prevent deforestation or the subsequent uncontrolled wildfires in Brazil.
In this example, I went with the word “shoes” as this is a product listing for shoes.
That may feel like a strange word to describe a perennial 50-game winner — one that’s been so good, and so close — with a generational scoring talent.
Think of good synonyms or words connected to the brand, without compromising your Google ranking.

If you mouse over the word, you’ll see original English word.
This is acting in every sense of the word—bringing an unevolved animal to life and making it utterly believable.
She vowed to repay the money—no official word, however, on whether she ever did that.
But news of the classes is spread mainly by word of mouth, and participants bring along their friends and families.
Still other people have moved away from the word “diet” altogether.
Back in Iran, he once got word that the Iranians were going to raid a village where his men were stationed.
Not a word now,” cried Longcluse harshly, extending his hand quickly towards him; “I may do that which can’t be undone.
Every word that now fell from the agitated Empress was balm to the affrighted nerves of her daughter.
When we were mounted Mac leaned over and muttered an admonitory word for Piegan’s ear alone.
Now for the tempering of the Gudgeons, I leave it to the judgment of the Workman; but a word or two of the polishing of it.
Huxley quotes with satirical gusto Dr. Wace’s declaration as to the word «Infidel.»

British Dictionary definitions for word (1 of 3)

noun

one of the units of speech or writing that native speakers of a language usually regard as the smallest isolable meaningful element of the language, although linguists would analyse these further into morphemesRelated adjective: lexical, verbal

an instance of vocal intercourse; chat, talk, or discussionto have a word with someone

an utterance or expression, esp a brief onea word of greeting

news or informationhe sent word that he would be late

a verbal signal for action; commandwhen I give the word, fire!

an undertaking or promiseI give you my word; he kept his word

an autocratic decree or utterance; orderhis word must be obeyed

a watchword or slogan, as of a political partythe word now is «freedom»

computing a set of bits used to store, transmit, or operate upon an item of information in a computer, such as a program instruction

as good as one’s word doing what one has undertaken or promised to do

at a word at once

by word of mouth orally rather than by written means

in a word briefly or in short

my word!

an exclamation of surprise, annoyance, etc
Australian an exclamation of agreement

of one’s word given to or noted for keeping one’s promisesI am a man of my word

put in a word for or put in a good word for to make favourable mention of (someone); recommend

take someone at his word or take someone at her word to assume that someone means, or will do, what he or she sayswhen he told her to go, she took him at his word and left

take someone’s word for it to accept or believe what someone says

the last word

the closing remark of a conversation or argument, esp a remark that supposedly settles an issue
the latest or most fashionable design, make, or modelthe last word in bikinis
the finest example (of some quality, condition, etc)the last word in luxury

the word the proper or most fitting expressioncold is not the word for it, it’s freezing!

upon my word!

archaic on my honour
an exclamation of surprise, annoyance, etc

word for word

(of a report, transcription, etc) using exactly the same words as those employed in the situation being reported; verbatim
translated by substituting each word in the new text for each corresponding word in the original rather than by general sense

word of honour a promise; oath

(modifier) of, relating to, or consisting of wordsa word list

verb

(tr) to state in words, usually specially selected ones; phrase

(tr often foll by up) Australian informal to inform or advise (a person)

Word Origin for word

Old English word; related to Old High German wort, Old Norse orth, Gothic waurd, Latin verbum, Sanskrit vratá command

British Dictionary definitions for word (2 of 3)

noun the Word

Christianity the 2nd person of the Trinity

Scripture, the Bible, or the Gospels as embodying or representing divine revelationOften called: the Word of God

Word Origin for Word

translation of Greek logos, as in John 1:1

British Dictionary definitions for word (3 of 3)

n combining form

(preceded by the and an initial letter) a euphemistic way of referring to a word by its first letter because it is considered to be in some way unmentionable by the userthe C-word, meaning cancer

Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with word

In addition to the idioms beginning with word

word for word
word of honor
word of mouth, by
words fail me
words of one syllable, in
words stick in one’s throat
words to that effect
word to the wise, a

also see:

actions speak louder than words
at a loss (for words)
at a word
break one’s word
eat one’s words
famous last words
fighting words
four-letter word
from the word go
get a word in edgewise
give the word
go back on (one’s word)
good as one’s word
hang on someone’s words
have a word with
have words with
in brief (a word)
in other words
in so many words
keep one’s word
last word
leave word
man of his word
mark my words
mince matters (words)
mum’s the word
not breathe a word
not open one’s mouth (utter a word)
of few words
picture is worth a thousand words
play on words
put in a good word
put into words
put words in someone’s mouth
swallow one’s words
take someone at his or her word
take the words out of someone’s mouth
true to (one’s word)
weasel word
weigh one’s words

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Источник

I am not a native speaker and it sometimes surprise me how many different meanings some words have. An example is the word call — when I was learning English I thought it was only «shout» or «to ring someone» but the list of meanings is almost endless: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/call .

What are some other such words so that I can be careful when interpreting their meaning? As if I could execute the query «give me a top ten list of words with most definition lines on TheFreeDictionary».

asked Sep 19, 2011 at 22:43

For a long time, «set» had the most meanings in the OED, but now it is «run». From the New York Times of 25th May 2011:

Which is the most lustrously complex word among the three quarters of
a million or so words and senses that make up this vast mongrel tongue
we know as the English language?

Well, according to the O.E.D.’s chief editor, John Simpson, we now
have a winner — and a winner that may well say something about the
current state of English-speaking humankind. For while in the first
edition of the O.E.D., in 1928, that richest-of-all-words was “set”
(75 columns of type, some 200 senses), the victor in today’s rather
more frantic and uncongenial world is, without a doubt, the
three-letter word “run.”

… Mr. Gilliver has finally calculated that there are for the verb-form alone of “run” no fewer than 645 meanings. A record.

In terms of sheer size, the entry for “run” is half as big again as that for “put,” a word on which Mr. Gilliver also worked some years ago. But more significantly still, “run” is also far bigger than the old chestnut “set,” a word that, says Mr. Gilliver, simply “hasn’t undergone as much development in the 20th and 21st centuries as has ‘run.’ ”

answered Sep 20, 2011 at 12:33

HugoHugo

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This is what I get using WRI curated data. Click to see a larger image.

For the record, the script used is:

r = SortBy[{Length[#[[2]]], #[[1]]}&/@({#, WordData[#]} & /@ DictionaryLookup[]), -First@# &]
BarChart[Transpose[r1][[1]], 
 ChartLabels -> 
  Placed[Text[Style[#, Italic, 24]] & /@ Transpose[r1][[2]], Center, Rotate[#, Pi/2] &]]

Edit

Just answering comments and other answers, here are the 76 meanings of break according to WRI.

1   Noun     Flight
2   Noun     Open Frame
3   Noun     Dash
4   Noun     Change Of Integrity
5   Noun     Holdup
6   Noun     Break Of Serve
7   Noun     Shot
8   Noun     Pause
9   Noun     Modification
10  Noun     Breach
11  Noun     Fortuity
12  Noun     Breakup
13  Noun     Occurrent
14  Noun     Crevice
15  Noun     Hurt
16  Noun     Interval
17  Verb     Weaken
18  Verb     Diminish
19  Verb     Injure
20  Verb     Fall
21  Verb     Domesticate
22  Verb     Change
23  Verb     Turn
24  Verb     Damage
25  Verb     Change Integrity
26  Verb     Divide
27  Verb     Check
28  Verb     Develop
29  Verb     Break Off
30  Verb     Interrupt
31  Verb     Deaden
32  Verb     Break Down
33  Verb     Change Voice
34  Verb     Go
35  Verb     Lick
36  Verb     Destroy
37  Verb     Diphthongize
38  Verb     Disrupt
39  Verb     Pause
40  Verb     Tell
41  Verb     Get Out
42  Verb     Outstrip
43  Verb     Penetrate
44  Verb     Become Punctured
45  Verb     Detach
46  Verb     Crumble
47  Verb     Bust
48  Verb     Disunite
49  Verb     Shoot
50  Verb     Modify
51  Verb     Exchange
52  Verb     Express Feelings
53  Verb     Trip The Light Fantastic Toe
54  Verb     Give Way
55  Verb     Founder
56  Verb     Appear
57  Verb     Scatter
58  Verb     Take Flight
59  Verb     Get Away
60  Verb     Change Direction
61  Verb     Impoverish
62  Verb     Designate
63  Verb     Split
64  Verb     Invalidate
65  Verb     Break Away
66  Verb     Ruin
67  Verb     Disrespect
68  Verb     Trespass
69  Verb     Come About
70  Verb     Emerge
71  Verb     Violate
72  Verb     Quit
73  Verb     Give Up Habit
74  Verb     Vary
75  Verb     Finish
76  Interjection

answered Sep 20, 2011 at 1:45

Dr. belisariusDr. belisarius

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This trivia has already been studied. The top five words in the list are:

set (464 definitions)
run (396 definitions)
go (368 definitions)
take (343 definitions)
stand (334 definitions)

answered Apr 24, 2012 at 5:45

BravoBravo

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I believe the answer is set. It has more than 200 definitions in the OED, organised thus:

To cause to sit, seat; to be seated, sit.
To sink, descend.
To put in a definite place (the manner of the action being implied either in the verb itself or in the context).
To place or cause to be in a position, condition, relation, or connection. (This group embraces a large number of uses in which the precise implication of sense depends mainly on the kind of construction employed.)
To appoint, prescribe, ordain, establish.
To arrange, fix, adjust.
To place mentally, suppose, estimate.
To put or come into a settled position or condition.
To put in the way of following a course, cause to take a certain direction.
Senses perhaps arising from reversal of construction or from ellipsis (their origin being often obscure).
With prepositions in specialized senses.
With adverbs in specialized senses.

This is just for the verb usage, set is also used as an adjective, noun, conjunction and comb. form.

answered Apr 24, 2012 at 4:52

J D OConalJ D OConal

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The most polysemous word in the OED is set.

answered Sep 20, 2011 at 4:57

ShoeShoe

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Just to concur with Shoe, I remember reading long long ago — in the Guinness Book of Records of all places — that set has the most (22) distinct different meanings in English.

Another common problem among non-native users of English are phrasal verbs which can appear very similar but have quite different meanings, eg set up, set out, set off, set about, set on, set down, etc. Often native speakers will use these verbs in an attempt to simplify their language when talking to non-native speakers (eg, by using «set up» instead of «establish»), often having the opposite effect.

answered Sep 20, 2011 at 12:13

MattMatt

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In practical usage rather than dictionary definitions, thingamy probably has the most different meanings — it can mean any noun, depending on context, and I think there are more nouns than other parts of speech. There are other four-letter words which also take multiple meanings depending on context.

Another word which can take multiple meanings is ‘buffalo’ which can act as a noun ( the animal ), and adjectival phrase ( pertaining to the city ) and a verb ( to harass ) so ‘Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo’ is possibly the longest sentence made of the same word repeated, parsed in a similar way to ‘London cats annoy London cats’

answered Dec 5, 2014 at 22:38

Источник

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One Word

«One Word» is a song by British singer Kelly Osbourne, released as the first and only single from her second studio album, Sleeping in the Nothing (2005), in May 2005. Unlike the pop-punk sound Osbourne sported in the past, «One Word» is a synthpop song that showed Osbourne embracing dance music. To date it is Osbourne’s last single release.

FreebaseRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

One Word

«One Word» is the first and only single from Kelly Osbourne’s second album Sleeping in the Nothing. Unlike the pop/punk sound Osbourne sported in the past, «One Word» was a synthpop song that showed Osbourne embracing dance music. The single sounded very reminiscent of the 1980s Visage song «Fade to Grey», which caused some controversy over copyright issues, which was finally settled out of court when Osbourne’s writing team agreed to give Visage a share of the royalties.

How to pronounce ONE WORD?

How to say ONE WORD in sign language?

Numerology

Chaldean Numerology

The numerical value of ONE WORD in Chaldean Numerology is: 9
Pythagorean Numerology

The numerical value of ONE WORD in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of ONE WORD in a Sentence

Dan Quayle:

One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is to be prepared.
Wang Jingbo:

If there is one word to describe (China’s) geology, it’s complicated.
Charles de LEUSSE:

One look, all is said. One word, all is lived. (Un regard, tout est dit. — Une parole, tout se vit.)
Dr. Robert Schuller:

Yes, you can be a dreamer and a doer too, if you will remove one word from your vocabulary impossible.
Indiana State Teachers Association:

It all comes back to one word, which is respect, teaching and education in general are not respected the way they used to be.

Translation

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Are we missing a good definition for ONE WORD? Don’t keep it to yourself…

Источник

Although
the borderline between various linguistic units is not always sharp
and clear, we shall try to define every new term on its first
appearance at once simply and unambiguously, if not always very
rigorously. The approximate definition of the term word
has already been given in the opening page of the book.

The
important point to remember about
definitions
is that they should indicate the most essential characteristic
features of the notion expressed by the term under discussion, the
features by which this notion is distinguished from other similar
notions. For instance, in defining the word one must distinguish it
from other linguistic units, such as the phoneme, the morpheme, or
the word-group. In contrast with a definition, a description
aims at enumerating all the essential features of a notion.

To
make things easier we shall begin by a preliminary description,
illustrating it with some examples.

The
word
may be described as the basic unit of language. Uniting meaning and
form, it is composed of one or more morphemes, each consisting of one
or more spoken sounds or their written representation. Morphemes as
we have already said are also meaningful units but they cannot be
used independently, they are always parts of words whereas words can
be used as a complete utterance (e. g. Listen!).
The
combinations of morphemes within words are subject to certain linking
conditions. When a derivational affix is added a new word is formed,
thus, listen
and
listener
are
different words. In fulfilling different grammatical functions words
may take functional affixes: listen
and
listened
are
different forms of the same word. Different forms of the same word
can be also built analytically with the help of auxiliaries. E.g.:
The
world should listen then as I am listening now (Shelley).

When
used in sentences together with other words they are syntactically
organised. Their freedom of entering into syntactic constructions is
limited by many factors, rules and constraints (e. g.: They
told me this story but
not *They
spoke me this story).

The
definition of every basic notion is a very hard task: the definition
of a word is one of the most difficult in linguistics because the

simplest
word has many different aspects. It has a sound form because it is a
certain arrangement of phonemes; it has its morphological structure,
being also a certain arrangement of morphemes; when used in actual
speech, it may occur in different word forms, different syntactic
functions and signal various meanings. Being the central element of
any language system, the word is a sort of focus for the problems of
phonology, lexicology, syntax, morphology and also for some other
sciences that have to deal with language and speech, such as
philosophy and psychology, and probably quite a few other branches of
knowledge. All attempts to characterise the word are necessarily
specific for each domain of science and are therefore considered
one-sided by the representatives of all the other domains and
criticised for incompleteness. The variants of definitions were so
numerous that some authors (A. Rossetti, D.N. Shmelev) collecting
them produced works of impressive scope and bulk.

A
few examples will suffice to show that any definition is conditioned
by the aims and interests of its author.

Thomas
Hobbes (1588-1679),
one
of the great English philosophers, revealed a materialistic approach
to the problem of nomination when he wrote that words are not mere
sounds but names of matter. Three centuries later the great Russian
physiologist I.P. Pavlov (1849-1936)
examined
the word in connection with his studies of the second signal system,
and defined it as a universal signal that can substitute any other
signal from the environment in evoking a response in a human
organism. One of the latest developments of science and engineering
is machine translation. It also deals with words and requires a
rigorous definition for them. It runs as follows: a word is a
sequence of graphemes which can occur between spaces, or the
representation of such a sequence on morphemic level.

Within
the scope of linguistics the word has been defined syntactically,
semantically, phonologically and by combining various approaches.

It
has been syntactically defined for instance as “the minimum
sentence” by H. Sweet and much later by L. Bloomfield as “a
minimum free form”. This last definition, although structural in
orientation, may be said to be, to a certain degree, equivalent to
Sweet’s, as practically it amounts to the same thing: free forms
are later defined as “forms which occur as sentences”.

E.
Sapir takes into consideration the syntactic and semantic aspects
when he calls the word “one of the smallest completely satisfying
bits of isolated ‘meaning’, into which the sentence resolves
itself”. Sapir also points out one more, very important
characteristic of the word, its indivisibility:
“It cannot be cut into without a disturbance of meaning, one or two
other or both of the several parts remaining as a helpless waif on
our hands”. The essence of indivisibility will be clear from a
comparison of the article a
and
the prefix a-
in
a
lion and
alive.
A lion is
a word-group because we can separate its elements and insert other
words between them: a
living lion, a dead lion. Alive is
a word: it is indivisible, i.e. structurally impermeable: nothing can
be inserted between its elements. The morpheme a-
is
not free, is not a word. The

situation
becomes more complicated if we cannot be guided by solid spelling.’
“The Oxford English Dictionary», for instance, does not
include the
reciprocal pronouns each
other and
one
another under
separate headings, although
they should certainly be analysed as word-units, not as word-groups
since they have become indivisible: we now say with
each other and
with
one another instead
of the older forms one
with another or
each
with the other.¹

Altogether
is
one word according to its spelling, but how is one to treat all
right, which
is rather a similar combination?

When
discussing the internal cohesion of the word the English linguist
John Lyons points out that it should be discussed in terms of two
criteria “positional
mobility”
and
“uninterruptability”.
To illustrate the first he segments into morphemes the following
sentence:

the
—
boy
—
s
—
walk
—
ed
—
slow
—
ly
—
up
—
the
—
hill

The
sentence may be regarded as a sequence of ten morphemes, which occur
in a particular order relative to one another. There are several
possible changes in this order which yield an acceptable English
sentence:

slow
—
ly
—
the
—
boy
—
s
—
walk
—
ed
—
up
—
the
—
hill
up —
the
—
hill
—
slow
—
ly
—
walk
—
ed
—
the
—
boy
—
s

Yet
under all the permutations certain groups of morphemes behave as
‘blocks’ —
they
occur always together, and in the same order relative to one another.
There is no possibility of the sequence s
—
the
—
boy,
ly —
slow,
ed —
walk.
“One
of the characteristics of the word is that it tends to be internally
stable (in terms of the order of the component morphemes), but
positionally mobile (permutable with other words in the same
sentence)”.²

A
purely semantic treatment will be found in Stephen Ullmann’s
explanation: with him connected discourse, if analysed from the
semantic point of view, “will fall into a certain number of
meaningful segments which are ultimately composed of meaningful
units. These meaningful units are called words.»³

The
semantic-phonological approach may be illustrated by A.H.Gardiner’s
definition: “A word is an articulate sound-symbol in its aspect of
denoting something which is spoken about.»⁴

The
eminent French linguist A. Meillet (1866-1936)
combines
the semantic, phonological and grammatical criteria and advances a
formula which underlies many subsequent definitions, both abroad and
in our country, including the one given in the beginning of this
book: “A word is defined by the association of a particular meaning
with a

¹Sapir
E. Language.
An Introduction to the Study of Speech. London, 1921,
P.
35.

²Lyons,
John. Introduction
to Theoretical Linguistics. Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1969.
P. 203.

³Ullmann
St. The
Principles of Semantics. Glasgow, 1957.
P.
30.

⁴Gardiner
A.H. The
Definition of the Word and the Sentence //
The
British Journal of Psychology. 1922.
XII.
P. 355
(quoted
from: Ullmann
St.,
Op.
cit., P. 51).

particular
group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment.»¹

This
definition does not permit us to distinguish words from phrases
because not only child,
but
a
pretty child as
well are combinations of a particular group of sounds with a
particular meaning capable of a particular grammatical employment.

We
can, nevertheless, accept this formula with some modifications,
adding that a word is the smallest significant unit of a given
language capable of functioning alone and characterised by positional
mobility
within
a sentence, morphological
uninterruptability
and semantic
integrity.²
All these criteria are necessary because they permit us to create a
basis for the oppositions between the word and the phrase, the word
and the phoneme, and the word and the morpheme: their common feature
is that they are all units of the language, their difference lies in
the fact that the phoneme is not significant, and a morpheme cannot
be used as a complete utterance.

Another
reason for this supplement is the widespread scepticism concerning
the subject. It has even become a debatable point whether a word is a
linguistic unit and not an arbitrary segment of speech. This opinion
is put forth by S. Potter, who writes that “unlike a phoneme or a
syllable, a word is not a linguistic unit at all.»³
He calls it a conventional and arbitrary segment of utterance, and
finally adopts the already mentioned
definition of L. Bloomfield. This position is, however, as
we have already mentioned, untenable, and in fact S. Potter himself
makes ample use of the word as a unit in his linguistic analysis.

The
weak point of all the above definitions is that they do not establish
the relationship between language and thought, which is formulated if
we treat the word as a dialectical unity of form and content, in
which the form is the spoken or written expression which calls up a
specific meaning, whereas the content is the meaning rendering the
emotion or the concept in the mind of the speaker which he intends to
convey to his listener.

Summing
up our review of different definitions, we come to the conclusion
that they are bound to be strongly dependent upon the line of
approach, the aim the scholar has in view. For a comprehensive word
theory, therefore, a description seems more appropriate than a
definition.

The
problem of creating a word theory based upon the materialistic
understanding of the relationship between word and thought on the one
hand, and language and society, on the other, has been one of the
most discussed for many years. The efforts of many eminent scholars
such as V.V. Vinogradov, A. I. Smirnitsky, O.S. Akhmanova, M.D.
Stepanova, A.A. Ufimtseva —
to
name but a few, resulted in throwing light

¹Meillet
A. Linguistique
historique et linguistique generate. Paris,
1926.
Vol.
I. P. 30.

²It
might be objected that such words as articles, conjunctions and a few
other words
never occur as sentences, but they are not numerous and could be
collected into a
list of exceptions.

³See:
Potter
S. Modern
Linguistics. London, 1957.
P.
78.

on this problem and achieved a
clear presentation of the word as a basic unit of the language. The
main points may now be summarised.

The
word
is the
fundamental
unit
of language.
It is a dialectical
unity
of form
and
content.
Its content or meaning is not identical to notion, but it may reflect
human notions, and in this sense may be considered as the form of
their existence. Concepts fixed in the meaning of words are formed as
generalised and approximately correct reflections of reality,
therefore in signifying them words reflect reality in their content.

The
acoustic aspect of the word serves to name objects of reality, not to
reflect them. In this sense the word may be regarded as a sign. This
sign, however, is not arbitrary but motivated by the whole process of
its development. That is to say, when a word first comes into
existence it is built out of the elements already available in the
language and according to the existing patterns.

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As children acquire language, they progress through four different stages. We’ll be looking at the second stage of child language acquisition called the ‘one-word stage’.

One-word stage definition

The one-word stage, also known as the holophrastic stage, is the second major phase in the child’s language acquisition process. It comes after the babbling stage and is characterised by the use of single words.

At this point, infants have learned a handful of convenient words to get attention, call for something, or simply interact with those around them. They will often utter a word while also using particular body language and tone of voice to express their needs. An example would be when a child says ‘food’ while pointing to what they want to eat. Here, the parent can deduce that the child is hungry and wants food based on word and gesture.

One-word stage age

The one-word stage typically occurs at the age of 12 to 18 months.

One word stage of language development

Upon entering the holophrastic stage, infants will have a few essential words in their vocabulary that are learned from the language around them. They continue to develop their ability to pronounce more individual sound segments which allow them to produce new words.

Development of sounds spoken.

Let’s look at the process by which children develop the ability to make sounds.

1. Pronunciation of vowels.

Infants will tend to acquire the ability to pronounce the full range of vowels in their language first. The pronunciation of vowels happens with an open configuration (the tongue isn’t involved in limiting or stopping the breath) of the vocal tract, which makes the pronunciation simpler than consonants.

Infants gain the ability to pronounce the full range of consonants in their language after vowels. The pronunciation of consonants happens when the vocal tract is either partly or fully obstructed, making them technically more difficult to pronounce than vowels.

Consonants tend to be acquired in the following order:

Nasals (n, m).
Glides (w, j).
Stops (p, b, t, d, k, g).
Liquids (l, r).
Fricatives (f, v, s, z).
Affricates (ch, j).

Labials (made with the lips).
Velars (made at the soft palate, behind the teeth).
Alveolars (made at the alveolar ridge, further behind the teeth).
Velars (made at the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth).
Palatals (made against the hard palate, the middle part of the roof of the mouth).

3. Pronunciation of new letters first.

The new consonants that infants learn will often be used in the first letter of a word.

If an infant learns the constant ‘d’, the first word they use will be a simple vowel-consonant combination, like ‘da’.

Once the infant has become familiar with the consonant and feels more confident, they may utter a new word with the constant letter in the middle or end of the word.

With the letter ‘d’, an infant at this stage may say the word ‘red’.

Examples of the one-word stage

Examples of children’s speech during the one-word stage include:

‘Milk’ (meaning ‘I want milk’, ‘it is milk’, etc.)

‘Daddy’ (meaning ‘I want daddy’, ‘it is daddy’, ‘daddy is gone’, etc.)

‘No’ (meaning ‘I don’t want it’, ‘don’t do that’, etc.)

Common mistakes in the one-word stage

Infants compensate for the inability to produce certain sounds by making small adjustments to communicate a word they cannot properly enunciate.

Substitution of sounds

Infants can perceive more sound contrasts than they can verbally utter during the one-word stage. Their speech won’t reveal their full understanding of phonology, but it can be observed when they substitute an easier sound for one they cannot produce yet.

The substitutions that they make are rule-governed: they always use the same sound as a substitute for a sound they can’t produce. ¹

The following table shows some common examples:

Word intended	Word produced	Letter substitution
Like	Wike	W for L
Leg	Path	W for L
Car	Gar	G for C
Can	Gan	G for C
Tea	Dee	D for T
Ten	The	D for T

Infants will eventually correct this mistake once they gain better control of their vocal tract and articulate more sounds.

Overextension and Underextension.

Infants often overextend the meaning of a word. This occurs when they give a word a broader meaning than its intended meaning.

If a child refers to any small animal it sees as a ‘rat’, even if it’s a squirrel, dog, or cat. The infant has extended the meaning of the word ‘rat’ because of the child’s limited vocabulary.

Overextensions are based on shape, size and texture, but never colour.

The opposite of overextending is called underextending. This is when an infant gives a word a narrower meaning than its intended meaning.

A child might ask for ‘juice’ anytime it wants its sippy cup.

Interpretation during the one-word stage

The challenge during the one-word stage comes in the interpretation of the child’s holophrases. The issue is that the infant’s intention may not be interpreted correctly by the adult, and finding evidence for what the infant wants to say isn’t easy. ²

When trying to understand the meaning of a word, an adult must interpret the infant’s body language and consider the context. Infants use hand gestures and display facial expressions which can often add helpful information to solve what the child wants to communicate in conjunction with the single word uttered.³

One-Word Stage — Key takeaways

The one-word stage is the second stage of language development.
Infants attempt to express complex ideas in a single word.
Infants begin by using easy speech sounds, such as vowels, followed by consonants.
Infants perceive more sound contrasts than they can utter.
Infants make mistakes since they aren’t able to enunciate all the sounds they can perceive.

Oller. D., et al., Infant babbling and speech, Journal of Child Language, 1976
JG de Villiers, PA de Villiers, Language Acquisition, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1980.
Lightfoot et al., The Development of Children, 2008.

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Noun

How do you spell that word?

“Please” is a useful word.

Our teacher often used words I didn’t know.

What is the French word for car?

Describe the experience in your own words.

The lawyer used Joe’s words against him.

She gave the word to begin.

We will wait for your word before we serve dinner.

Verb

Could we word the headline differently?

tried to word the declaration exactly right

Recent Examples on the Web

Despite the red flags, hundreds of investors were receiving their dividends on time and word was spreading.

—Lizzie Johnson, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Feb. 2023

For Lin, surviving sepsis left him determined to make sure that the word gets out about sepsis — and not just in English.

—Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2023

Hayes became the first woman to earn the honor in 1977, earning the title after her Grammy win for best spoken word recording for Great American Documents.

—Grace Gavilanes, Peoplemag, 5 Feb. 2023

The Clue: This word starts with a consonant and ends with a vowel.

—Erik Kain, Forbes, 4 Feb. 2023

The word comes in the wake a ransomware attack that diverted attention from the company’s plans to address lagging profitability.

—Eric Killelea, San Antonio Express-News, 4 Feb. 2023

Because such people possessed no special skill or status, the word gradually fell into disrepute.

—San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Feb. 2023

Detroit police on Monday called for help from the public – a week after Kemp on Jan. 23 reported Kelly missing and began spreading the word via social media and notifying news outlets.

—Andrea May Sahouri, USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2023

The word Tuesday was that more than 12,000 tickets had been sold.

—Mark Stewart, Journal Sentinel, 3 Feb. 2023

Tennessee passed a bill that is seen as possibly banning most drag performances in the state, although a federal judge temporarily blocked it last week on the basis that it was too vaguely worded to draw boundaries.

—Thania Garcia, Variety, 6 Apr. 2023

On Thursday, the meeting in New Delhi of the foreign ministers of the Group of 20, representing the world’s largest economies, failed to release a joint agreement due to opposition from China and Russia on wording about the Ukraine war.

—John Hudson, Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2023

Despite the changes, top Democrat in the Arkansas House said the bill was worded too vaguely.

—Fox News, 25 Feb. 2023

What that percentage is will need to be calculated on a basis aligned with the nature of the product, the nature of the generative AI app, and the nature of how the product placement is worded.

—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2023

Make sure to word your instructions carefully.

—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 22 Mar. 2023

How is the city’s referendum worded?

—Jim Riccioli, Journal Sentinel, 21 Mar. 2023

In addition, how a query was worded influenced the accuracy of the model’s response.

—Stephen Ornes, Quanta Magazine, 16 Mar. 2023

The players all share a loose but focused way about them, words infielder David Fletcher used to describe the clubhouse.

—Sarah Valenzuela, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2023

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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘word.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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