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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.
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Example: Searching for "apple orange" identifies all entries that contain the word "apple" or the word "orange."
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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."
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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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| Americanism |
a word, phrase, or usage originating in, characteristic of, or peculiar to American English. [1/3 definitions] |
| archaism |
an archaic usage. [1/2 definitions] |
| barbarous |
violating accepted word usage. [1/3 definitions] |
| common law |
law based on custom or usage and on court decisions and opinions, rather than on statute. (Cf. statute law.) |
| context |
the setting or situation surrounding a thing which can determine or contribute to its interpretation, esp. the language surrounding a particular usage of a word, phrase, or sentence, or the situation in which a piece of language is used. [1/3 definitions] |
| convention |
a practice or procedure that is established by usage and widely accepted; custom. [1/4 definitions] |
| conventional |
established by custom or usage; traditional. [1/3 definitions] |
| corpus |
a compilation of written or spoken texts in electronic format analyzed as linguistic data in order to learn about word meaning and usage, word frequency, and language patterns. [1/4 definitions] |
| Creole |
(l.c.) a mixed language developed when two groups having different languages, after an extensive period of time and interaction, combine the vocabulary, grammar, and usage of the two languages into a third dialect in which one of the first is usu. dominant. [1/6 definitions] |
| custom |
in law, such traditional practices of a social group regarded as legally binding because of long usage. [1/8 definitions] |
| dialect |
a variety of a language that is peculiar to a region, social class, or occupation and that differs from the standard language in pronunciation, usage, and vocabulary. [1/2 definitions] |
| Erin |
in literary usage, Ireland. |
| French Academy |
an association of forty scholars and writers devoted to maintaining the purity of the French language and establishing rules of usage. |
| idiomatic |
of an expression or usage of words, peculiar within a particular language itself, esp. having a meaning that cannot be understood from the individual meanings of elements. [1/4 definitions] |
| illegitimate |
not in good usage; inappropriate. [1/6 definitions] |
| misusage |
incorrect or improper usage, as of a word. [1/2 definitions] |
| naturalize |
to bring (something foreign or new) into common usage. [1/4 definitions] |
| neologism |
a new word, phrase, or usage. [1/2 definitions] |
| reputable |
considered proper usage, esp. of words. [1/2 definitions] |
| sempiternal |
in literary usage, lasting forever; perpetual; eternal. |
| sic2 |
thus; so (used parenthetically when citing a quotation in a written text to indicate that an apparently incorrect usage or misprint has been faithfully copied from the original and is not an error on the part of the present writer). |
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