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Reverse Search
Reverse Search allows you to search within the full text of dictionary entries for words, word parts, and phrases.
Search for entries that contain:
Exact matches of any of the individual words entered in the search box.
Example: Searching for "apple orange" identifies all entries that contain the word "apple" or the word "orange."
Any form of any of the individual words entered in the search box.
Example: Searching for "apple orange" identifies all entries that contain the word "apple" or "apples" or "orange" or "oranges."
Exact matches of all of the individual words entered in the search box.
Example: Searching for "apple orange" identifies all entries that contain the word "apple" and the word "orange."
The exact sequence of words and/or characters entered in the search box (for example, a fragment of a word, a single word, multiple words, or even a phrase containing punctuation)
Example: Searching for "a variety of apple" identifies all entries that contain that phrase. Searching for "app" identifies all entries that contain the letters "app," such as occurrences of "apple," "application," and "apply."
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Limit by part of speech:
| abbreviation |
a shortened form of a word or phrase used in writing. [1/2 definitions] |
| ablative1 |
a word or phrase in the ablative case. [1/3 definitions] |
| acceptation |
the generally accepted meaning of a word, phrase, or the like. [1/2 definitions] |
| acrostic |
a sequence of written lines in which particular letters, usu. the first letter of every line, form an independent word or phrase. [1/2 definitions] |
| adv. |
abbreviation of "adverb," in grammar, a word that modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb or adverbial phrase. |
| adverb |
in grammar, a word that modifies a verb, adjective, other adverb, adverbial phrase, or sentence. |
| adversative |
an adversative word or phrase, such as "but" or "on the contrary". [1/2 definitions] |
| alliteration |
repetition of the same consonant sound in the stressed or initial syllables of words in a phrase or sentence. |
| Americanism |
a word, phrase, or usage originating in, characteristic of, or peculiar to American English. [1/3 definitions] |
| anagram |
a word or phrase formed by the transposition of letters of a different word or phrase. |
| anagrammatize |
to change (a word or phrase) into a new word or phrase by transposing the letters. |
| anaphora |
the repeating of a word or phrase at the beginnings of several successive sentences, paragraphs, or the like. |
| appositive |
in grammar, a word, phrase, or clause that functions as a noun and is placed, without a conjunction, immediately after a noun or noun equivalent that refers to the same person, place, or thing, such as "a devoted scholar" in "my mother, a devoted scholar". [1/2 definitions] |
| Atticism |
(sometimes l.c.) an expression or turn of phrase that is strikingly concise and elegant. [1/2 definitions] |
| attributive |
in grammar, a word or phrase expressing an attribute. [1/3 definitions] |
| augmentative |
in grammar, of or pertaining to a word, word element, or phrase that signifies an increase in size, intensity, or the like, such as "super-" in "superheated". [2/3 definitions] |
| Briticism |
a word, phrase, or idiom characteristic of or belonging exclusively to the English language as used in Great Britain. |
| buzzword |
a fashionable, short-lived word or phrase that originates either in media use or in a specialized group, and that is intended to impress or exclude the hearer, because of its apparent profundity or significance. |
| byname |
a surname or descriptive phrase following a name that identifies an individual but is not handed down to offspring. [1/2 definitions] |
| byword |
a common or proverbial phrase or saying. [1/2 definitions] |
| catch phrase |
a phrase that gains wide public currency, esp. by being frequently repeated. |
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