Questions tagged [single-word-requests]
This tag is for questions seeking a single word that fits a meaning. To ensure that your question is not closed as off-topic, please be specific about the intended use of the word. INCLUDE A SAMPLE SENTENCE demonstrating how the word would be used. Click on "Info", or "View Tag" and "Learn more..." for more information. Please use the [phrase-requests] tag if you seek a phrase and the [terminology] tag if you seek a term in a specialized subject also.
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What’s the name of a fallacy where a proposed solution is only discussed in terms of benefits?
As an example, mandating that every single car driver wears a motorcycle helmet would probably reduce the number of deaths and head injuries from car accidents. But of course it would be highly ...
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What is a hypernym for artificial regions, like cities, states or unions?
I am building a database of sorts and came across this question. I am looking for a word that includes every region that is declared and made up by humans. So no natural regions like forests or ...
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"Exegesis" but for the unbeliever?
The definition of exegesis is Bible leaning and thus is not a word many outside of the church are familiar with. And yet people can understand the idea of trying to interpret a text as the author or ...
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Phobia is now a word-weapon , so what about philia? [closed]
So, as we all know, if you are against something nowadays you are phobic, used as a weapon because they disarm you, if you are not rational, get out of here.
So times have come to a word-shield, here ...
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How to be 'ornery' in BE?
I'm looking for the best BE substitute for the AmE word "ornery" in the phrase "an ornery bunch".
Complicating the task for this second-language speaker of English is that ...
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Is there a word for the act of carrying out the subject of a particular web comic drawing or sketch offline? [duplicate]
In the section "Inspired Activities" of the wikipedia article on the web comic xkcd, there are a number of occasions during which people have carried out the subject of one of the comics ...
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To which category the word "Signature" belongs? [closed]
How do I categorize the word "Signature"?
For example:
It doesn't belong to "Finance".
It doesn't belong to "Medical"/"Health".
It doesn't belong to "...
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What is an object (talisman, amulet, salt circle etc.) that hinders or stops an evil spirit called?
What is an object that hinders or stops a spirit (specifically evil) called? I.e. a talisman, salt circle, or any other enchanted object.
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Adjective for something pertaining to one’s values
I am looking for the adjective word that means “pertaining to one’s values”
The word I’m looking for would be analogous to the way the word ‘emotional’ pertains to one’s emotions.
As in: “We are ...
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Word Implying Lack of Caring Because You're Already (Wrong/Losing/a Failure/Behind/Insignificant)
Question: Looking for a word that implies lack of caring about the results / perception of others / ect... because you're already so far behind that you'll never really be significant.
It's not really ...
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Is there a word or expression that describes a situation where a person repetitively "comes and goes"?
In Levantine Arabic, the expression "siri miri" (سِرِّي مِرِّي) is used for someone who continually and incessantly comes and goes, or passes by, such as like near your house or just about ...
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Specific type of deception or logic error
The word I'm looking for should describe a case where, during a logical argument, a person uses a word with multiple definitions in sense (1) in one part of the argument, but in another part of the ...
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Is there a neat way to say the hour equivalent of 'today' or 'this week'?
I'm writing an online game, and I want to tell users what their highscore is since the beginning of the hour. But I don't want to say something wordy like:
Your highscore since the beginning of the ...
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Idiomatic word/expression for someone ‘who has no feeling for the game’ - Translation of Spanish ‘pechofrío’
I'm having trouble translating the expression pechofrío (pecho frío, ‘cold chest’) from Spanish—specially Argentinian Spanish, I don't know if it's used in other countries. It means:
s. masc. Persona ...
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Meaning of "she has hern" in Faulkner's 'As I Lay Dying' [duplicate]
I am reading "As I Lay Dying" and have usually been able to look up the meaning behind the choice of words that Faulkner uses. However, I am unable to find a satisfactory definition of the ...
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What is the word for wanting something bad to happen to make life exciting?
In a book I am writing, a girl wants to have PTSD or abuse so her life is exciting. Like, she wants to live in a book or TV show trope. What is the word for wanting a little kink in a boring life to ...
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Word for dangerous semi-knowledge, equivalent of German "gefährliches Halbwissen" [duplicate]
In German, there is a phrase like "dangerous semi-knowledge" gefährliches Halbwissen. Wiktionary definition:
a degree of superficial knowledge that becomes dangerous or deceptive because it ...
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What is it called when you "buy" something for free?
For example, imagine some food company decides to make their fruits permanently free.
Online, you can "order" them (for free), but in person, what do you do? What would be the professional ...
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A term for mixture used for palatography
When doing palatography, one needs something to paint the tongue with. It is usually a mixture of olive/sunflower oil and powdered charcoal. The question is, what can this substance be called? Is it a ...
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Word for "being happy that someone else is jealous of me" [closed]
I'm looking for a word that means "when someone else being jealous of you makes you happy".
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Word to describe someone who is skilled at inspecting the inner qualities or state of another [duplicate]
Description
Hi, I'm looking for an adjective that can be used to describe someone who is skilled at easily identifying the thoughts, abilities, and perspectives of another.
The first sample sentence ...
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What is the trade of an electrician called?
For example, a carpenter works in carpentry and a plumber works in plumbing. So what trade does an electrician work in? Electrical?
I searched the definition for "electrical" and found that ...
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Verb for putting a stick through a hole [migrated]
Imagine a doughnut. Imagine a stick. Imagine using the stick to lift it by [pushing/putting] the stick through the hole in that doughnut. What is the correct verb for the act of putting the stick ...
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Simping {on/in/for}? [closed]
Pretty straight forward question. Which of the following sentences is/are "correct"?
They are simping on Korean players
They are simping in Korean players
They are simping for Korean ...
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What is a word to describe physically painful loneliness?
I'm looking for a word to describe the sensation of emptiness, an emptiness endured for so long that it has evolved into physical pain.: Like you cannot breathe but at the same time feel unable to ...
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What's the word for suicide motivated by positive emotion?
Spoilers for JoJo's Bizarre Adventures: Golden Wind
In JoJo, the gang has to deliver a mafia boss's daughter to him safely while they're being hunted down. One of the people helping them is an old man ...
user412872
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Is there a shorter expression for 'are not commonly discussed as much as'?
I am currently doing some writing, and constantly try to create smooth transition and ease of readability and linkage between sentences. This sentence feels like it kind of halts the reader a bit.
...
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What is a word for someone who does things to forget about painful things?
For example, if someone lost a family member and decides that instead of crying they're gonna rub off their pain by playing basketball for 8 hours of their day.
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Divisions for a city? [closed]
I'm writing (well, still conceptualizing) a fantasy novel and most of the setting takes place in a giant floating city, it is divided into five "islands", each island has a particular use, ...
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What is a term (or idiom) for someone who enters and exits without a request or order?
In Mesopotamian Arabic, the the idiom "khirri mirri" (خِرِّي مِرِّي) is used for those who haphazardly enter and exit a building like they own the place - Basically "in and out" in ...
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Can I use the phrase 'sororal twins' to describe a set of female twins?
Fraternal twins is what you call a set of twins who look different, but the word fraternal also has the meaning 'of or relating to brothers', and comes from a Latin root meaning 'brother'.
The ...
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I need a word like "cinematic universe" but for books/literature [closed]
I want to name a book "The Cow ____ Universe", but I don't know the word for it.
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Word for someone who is very well-spoken and eloquent, but shallow? [duplicate]
The word sophist/sophistry came to mind but after googling to make sure I’m not fully certain it matches up 100%, given that it’s more about fallacious arguments than the “weaponized eloquence” by ...
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What's a word for someone who's surpassed the teacher or master? [duplicate]
So the context is this: I taught my friend how to play a video game and he's gotten to a point where he's passed all of my stats and records. I'm looking for a word to use like ronin (samurai without ...
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Is there any synonym for 'stay in' that does not involve a preposition?
For example: "Since it was raining, he stayed in his car."
Is there a word not involving a preposition that could replace 'stayed in' in this sentence?
If not, is there a synonym for '...
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Adjective for "makes other people jealous"
How can you succinctly say that something is likely to draw the jealousy of others?
That would be ____
Especially if it's slightly negative too, attracting not only jealousy but also hate or dislike ...
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Another word or phrase for "foreign word"
As an English-speaking American, what I would call a foreign word is not a foreign word to someone from another place who speaks another language. Biblioteca is a foreign word to me, but to a person ...
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Is there a term for a subgenre of puns where a word or a part of a word is replaced by its opposite?
Which could exhume a response like, "Lul, nice term for this type of pun subgenre." A pun is
the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or ...
user486619
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What’s it called when you use more than the first letters of words in making an acronym?
I’ve noticed acronyms that aren’t the traditional first letters of a series of words. For example MOND Modified Newtonian Dynamics.
Is there a word to describe this different kind of acronym?
If not ...
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Is there a word for the fear of limited time offers that seem too good to be true?
Whenever I am offered something "for a limited time only" that seems too good to be true, I have a panic attack. It could be Buy One Get One Free, or Zero Percent Interest to Qualified ...
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Looking for a negative word for someone who puts too much effort into things
I need a negative term for someone who puts too much effort into unimportant things or assignments. I could only think of "overachiever", but I don't know if that is a good word for that ...
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"especially" without meaning more so?
I want to say something along the lines of "We must protect everyone, especially children".
But this doesn't exactly work for what I want to say. Because I do not mean that children are MORE ...
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How to say "gaslighting" in professional writing
I am writing an application in which I complain that every time I point out to the cooks or their supervisor that the meal is not up to the mark,and actually show them how it is, they say that no ...
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A forced 'bribe' payment i.e. an extortion payment is called what?
You get framed by corrupt police, go to jail or pay $10,000 ..........
This is extortion, but what is this payment called? It can't be called a bribe right? As bribery is the one paying trying to ...
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Word for when a life event (like a vacation) is coming to an end and you feel an immense feeling of sadness due to not wanting to leave
I get this feeling every time after I leave somewhere where I’ve gotten comfortable being in.
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Is there a term for words that are stronger than a similar counterpart? (e.g. Dislike vs. Hate)
Title says it all, but some more examples could be:
like vs love
pleasure vs euphoria
carelessness vs apathy
etc.
...essentially words that carry more weight than their counterpart despite having ...
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What does "Sandbagging" (or sometimes sandboxing) mean as an expression in startup or sales and where is it coming from?
I have heard one meaning of it in the context of a personal goal is to set a too-easy goal (i.e., that you know you can easily achieve). I also heard it is coming from golf. Can someone shed more ...
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Indispensable, Essential, "Tool of the trade", "Staple item"
I am looking for a term to use as the name of a software project that I am working on.
The project is a software tool, and this tool aims to be useful in virtually all software, so I am looking for a ...
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Word to describe false confidence in another person
As an example: Alice and Bob participated in a trust fall. As Bob falls, Alice fails to catch him (and Bob therefore falls straight to the ground)
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Looking for a word for animals that defecate anywhere
There is a word for animals like horses and cows that defecate wherever they happen to be when the need strikes them, versus animals like dogs and cats that seek out one place or another to do their ...
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