This tag is for questions seeking a single word that fits a meaning. If you actually seek a phrase, or don't care, see the "phrase requests" tag too.
14
votes
4answers
578 views
What is the translation of the French word “erre”?
In French, there is a word erre which is the residual speed of a train, a ship or a car (or whatever is moving and needs propulsion).
For example, if you see a red light in your car, you stop ...
14
votes
3answers
532 views
14
votes
14answers
949 views
Is there a single word for “money-mindedness”?
I'm looking for a single word for describing a person "whose motive is dictated by money"...I seem to recall there was an elegant word for this, but I can't remember it now...can someone help?
14
votes
8answers
1k views
What should I call a place that sells “street food”?
Today I went sightseeing in my city. After I got home I wrote the diary in English, but I didn't know what to call a place that sells "street food". Should I call it restaurant, cafe or something ...
14
votes
6answers
512 views
What is the noun to refer to the 64- or 32-bit -ness of an operating system
I know that "processor architecture" can be used to refer to whether the processor is 32-bit or 64-bit (or something else), but what word can be used for the operating system? Note that it's not ...
14
votes
13answers
1k views
Is there a word for “clever fool?”
What do you call a person who despite being very clever in one field, e.g. math or physics, behaves very unwisely or impractical in real life?
I know some people who are very well educated and can ...
14
votes
4answers
5k views
What's the name for people with black hair?
There are blonde, brunette and redhead. What's the name for people with black hair?
14
votes
6answers
2k views
Is there a term for simultaneous snow and rain?
I'm from Australia where we don't have so many kinds of precipitation. I'm familiar with these:
rain
hail
snow
sleet
As I understand it, sleet refers to frozen rain but I'm not totally familiar ...
14
votes
6answers
957 views
Is there a name for the emotional response to cuteness?
What do you feel when you see this?
We all know the feeling of seeing something adorable, of wanting to hug it, take care of it, and let our speech degenerate into mindless babble and squealing. ...
14
votes
6answers
6k views
Word for person who loves to share knowledge
What is a word for a person who loves to share knowledge? So far I have educator in mind. Is there any other word?
14
votes
4answers
504 views
What is the term for pricing items just below a significant value (e.g. $19,995)
What is the name for the pricing strategy where the item price is just below a psychologically significant amount? For example $199 instead of $200, $2.95 instead of $3, $49,990 instead of $50,000.
14
votes
2answers
1k views
Weekly, Daily, Hourly — Minutely…?
What is the correct word for "happening every minute"? How do you pronounce it?
14
votes
5answers
1k views
What's the most accurate term for phrases such as “storm in a teacup” and “making mountains out of molehills”?
Are phrases such as "storm in a teacup" and "making mountains out of molehills" best described by one of these terms:
anecdote
proverb
saying
expression
metaphor
If not, which term is the right ...
14
votes
4answers
624 views
“Anachronism” is to “time” as what is to “space”?
Is there a noun for something that is "out of place" in space, like an anachronism is "out of place" in time? E.g., an old-timey barber shop in a chic neighborhood.
14
votes
4answers
355 views
Name of the trade(s) that are involved in making animal-drawn carriages
What are the terms for tradesmen involved in making carriages? One specific vocation comes to mind: wheelwright or, simply, wheeler. But, obviously, that name implies narrow focus of the profession. ...
14
votes
4answers
375 views
Is there a name for the assumption that people in past ages were less able to reason?
In arguments involving past decisions or tradition, people frequently blow off a claim to tradition by using the (false) assumption that people in days gone by, or even ancient history were less able ...
14
votes
5answers
3k views
Term for something that appears complex but is actually very simple
The Japanese have a term for something that appears simple but is actually very complex in detail: Shibui. It should be said that this is only one aspect of Shibui, as with many Japanese ...
14
votes
1answer
407 views
Is there a word for capitalizing in the middle of a word, as in “eBay”?
Usually this sort of word is a trademarked name, such as eBay or BlackBerry. Is there a word that describes capitalization mid-word?
14
votes
4answers
754 views
What is it called when words are deliberately written wrong but pronunciation is kept unchanged?
For example,
Night -> Nite
Nite even appears in some dictionaries as having the same meaning as night.
What is it called when words are deliberately written incorrectly but the pronunciation ...
14
votes
2answers
400 views
Is there an equivalent of 'onomatopoeia' for words inspired by the appearance of thing?
'Onomatopoeia' is a reasonably common word used to describe words that sound like the sounds they're used to describe. I was wondering whether there was an analogous term for words that sound like ...
13
votes
7answers
2k views
What is the word that means to offer to be in a relationship?
There is a word that means to offer to be in a relationship. For example, it could be used in the following dialogue:
A: Let's go over to my apartment.
B: Are you [] me?
However, I can't think ...
13
votes
10answers
10k views
What is a good replacement for “ununderstandable”?
I want to tell a colleague of mine I'm doing something that will prevent her from getting "ununderstandable" errors. I have:
...so that you will not get unnecessary, [ununderstandable] errors.
...
13
votes
7answers
1k views
What do you call an indoor water tap?
I always thought water sources were called taps in kitchens, bathrooms etc, but a Google search only returned outdoor taps.
So my question is, what are indoor taps really called? Like this one: ...
13
votes
9answers
1k views
Simple English for “filling hunger”
I'm looking for a (preferably) one-word term to describe a meal that's filling.
I'd like to avoid ambiguity with the substance put inside cakes, also called filling.
Satiating appears to be too ...
13
votes
7answers
4k views
What is the opposite of “steep”?
In rock-climbing, we describe an incline as "steep" (which is anything from 90 degrees to overhanging) but we don't have a good word to mean "not steep". At least I've never heard anyone use one; ...
13
votes
9answers
471 views
A non-straight route
In informal speech, how would you describe a bus that travels from point A to point B by passing through every part of the city instead of using the straight way? When you give someone an advice which ...
13
votes
4answers
813 views
What is an alternative to “hairy” for things which don't have hair?
My 2-year-old son has to bring in interesting leaves and foliage into nursery this week.
We came across a leaf that we have been describing to him as "hairy". However, it occurred to me that it is ...
13
votes
5answers
3k views
Is there a word for a “promise breaker”?
I'm somewhat vexed in that I cannot think of a word that means a "promise breaker" or "person who breaks a promise". There are words that may subsume that, such as "miscreant" or "liar", but I cannot ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
Is there a single noun that describes “need not”?
There are four types of deontic modality, which can be expressed by the following modal expressions:
Can
Need not
Must not
Must
Out of these, 1, 3, and 4 respectively corresponds to the following ...
13
votes
14answers
5k views
What do you call someone who chooses to stay single for life?
Not necessarily a virgin, but someone that has consciously chosen to stay single for life (and is content with that decision). Hopefully, there is a single word for it. Example: Ralph Nader
UPDATE: ...
13
votes
10answers
684 views
What would a cult member call a non-believer?
I'm looking for a term that a crazy cult member would apply to an outsider, a term that implies that such a "non-believer" is ignorant and of lesser worth -- ideally, something that is humorous ...
13
votes
7answers
1k views
Is there a word similar to “racism” when referring to an ethnic group rather than a race?
I called out someone's comments as racist when someone decided to correct me and say that the term was incorrect. According to this person, the word racism only seems to apply when referring to ...
13
votes
14answers
870 views
What's a word that can be used when something, such as a document, is purposely bland?
The word may also be used when referring to really dull signage for a government organization.
13
votes
9answers
6k views
What would you call a person from India?
My guess would be "Indian", but that sounds like a guy with a feather on his head who hunts buffalo.
Is there a better name?
13
votes
5answers
10k views
What do you call a person who does/thinks the opposite of the crowd for just that reason?
Such a person does not hold in high regard the decisions taken by a group (not a team) of people. She believes that groups tend to be anarchic and don't serve their purpose.
An example would be - for ...
13
votes
5answers
805 views
A word to describe someone who has moved back to live in his/her home country?
If a person was born and brought up in country A, at some point went to live in country B (as an adult) for a few years and then moved back to country A, is there a single word to describe that ...
13
votes
7answers
403 views
What is the appropriate word for “following trail” or similar in English?
In this scenario, suppose someone gives me a down vote, for whatever reason. After that someone else comes and sees the down vote and thinks this should be down voted. Another down vote. Another ...
13
votes
5answers
472 views
Is there a word or phrase for a choice that ultimately leads to tragedy?
Examples of decisions that ultimately lead to the downfall of the deciders:
Troy accepted the gift of the Trojan horse
Aladdin doesn't immediately free the Genie when he is told he will become ...
13
votes
8answers
856 views
'Patriotism' is to 'Country' as _______ is to 'City'
The title's pretty self explanatory! I can't seem to find a word which means exactly this, but I would be amazed if it doesn't exist.
13
votes
10answers
1k views
What's the opposite of “omniscient”? [closed]
What's the opposite of omniscient, which means having infinite knowledge, or simply ...
13
votes
4answers
1k views
“Nose” is to “nasal” as “ear” is to what?
If the adjective relating to the nose is nasal then what is the adjective relating to the ear?
I don't think it's "aural". I think it begins with ot-.
13
votes
9answers
1k views
Word for someone who is extremely up-to-date with the latest facts (news or research)
I seek a word for one who is up-to-date, enlightened, and extremely well informed about the latest developments or research in a particular field.
An example is a person who complains about a recent ...
13
votes
9answers
2k views
Is there an English word that means “out of place”?
I am looking for a word or short phrase that best describes a scenario in which an author seems to have copiously placed uncommon or higher educated vocabulary in a lower reading level book. Meaning ...
13
votes
10answers
2k views
What is the correct word for “dependee”?
What is the word for something that is depended upon? The relationship here is in the context of software engineering
13
votes
2answers
368 views
Is there an American term for a group of elitist schools, similar to the abbreviation “Oxbridge”?
I saw the word, ‘Oxbridge’, a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, in a comment to a question asking for a better word for ‘invigilator’:
Whereas the situation is reversed in the UK, and one in a ...
13
votes
9answers
2k views
Is there an alternative to the word “coincidence” to describe when two say the same word spontaneously?
Is there a word to describe a scenario where two people having a conversation utter the same word/phrase together, simultaneously, and unconsciously? Something else than just a coincidence.
13
votes
3answers
239 views
Like ambidextrous, but for a thing
We know that "ambidextrous" describes (roughly) the ability to use both hands. Are there words in English the capture the idea of something that is "suitable for use by either hand"? Similarly, is ...
13
votes
5answers
2k views
What's the word for words that roll off the tongue?
I'm looking for a single word for words that are fun/easy/pleasant to say—words that roll off the tongue, so to speak.
13
votes
3answers
197 views
Is there a word like cardinal or ordinal but for the “single, double, triple” series?
The words one, two, three, and so on are the cardinal numbers.
Similarly, first, second, third, and so on are the
ordinal numbers.
Is there a similar term for the words single, double, triple, ...
13
votes
3answers
366 views
What’s the parent of a clone called?
Let’s say X is cloned to make Y and Y is cloned to make Z. Is there a word that uniquely identifies X in relation to Y? How about identifying X in relation to Z?
