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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Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture?
My 1-year kid has a plastic ball that is decorated with all 26 letters from the English alphabet and besides each letter is an image. I suppose the images are of words in English that begin with each ...
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Is there a word or phrase for the feeling you get after looking at a word for too long?
Sometimes after looking at a word for a while, I become convinced that it can't possibly be spelled correctly. Even after looking it up, sounding it out, and realizing that there's simply no other ...
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What do you call a disk with a hole in the middle?
Compact Discs, washers and Aerobie frisbees are all disks with a hole in the middle. Is there a word (either mathematical or not) to describe this shape? I mean the specific case of a round hole in a ...
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Alternative terms to "Blacklist" and "Whitelist"
My company is developing a management tool for managing SIM cards. One of the features of the tool is to block the SIM card if it's put into a disallowed device by device IMEI validation.
The feature ...
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What is the word for things that work even when they aren't working (e.g. escalators)?
I'm looking for a word (or phrase) to describe mechanisms that are perfectly functional even when they aren't functioning as expected.
Examples of these include:
Escalators & Electric Walkways: ...
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9
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Is there a word for a person with only one head?
Reading this article by the fantastic Douglas Adams I came across this interesting quote:
‘[I]nteractivity’ is one of those neologisms that Mr Humphrys likes to dangle between a pair of verbal ...
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What is the word for "the smell of rain"?
I've always noticed that sometimes rain can have a pretty distinct smell.
Do we have a word describing the smell of rain? How can we describe the smell of rain?
"The rain smelt like..."
"The rain ...
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How to say that food is hot (temperature) without the listener thinking that I mean "spicy"?
There is an excellent discussion of spicy vs. hot at this question.
However, having read it, I did not see any answer that tells how to say unambiguously that food is hot (temperature) without being ...
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A word for a value between 0 and 1 (inclusive) [closed]
I'm a programmer. I'm so sick of writing documentation for things that should be explainable in a word.
When you write a function in a programming language, you get to name its parameters. Most things ...
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Is there a single term for "nieces and nephews"?
I find it handy when talking about my sons and daughters I can just say my children. It's nice to say nieces instead of sibling's daughters. I wonder if there is a similar term for nieces and nephews ...
- 1,053
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7
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Is there a gender neutral equivalent of “manspreading”?
Who knew that the term manspreading is considered deeply sexist? I didn't
A nameless user proposed to delete the term from an answer of mine. His explanation was “remove misandry”. I had written
...
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Is there really no English equivalent to German's “Fachidiot”?
There was the following paragraph in the article that came under the title, “GOP and the rise of Anti-knowledge” written by Mike Lofgren in Consortiumnews.com (October 29, 2015):
“English ...
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Equivalent of "both" when referring to three or more items?
What would be the correct word to use when referring to three or more items, in the same manner as the word both?
For example, using two words, with the word both:
"There are several ...
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24
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What is a word for making something seem not as bad as it actually is?
Some examples:
Instead of admitting that I'm an alcoholic, I just say I had one too many drinks.
Instead of the bank admitting that it has lots of loans that are in arrears and are likely to default, ...
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Idiom or word for a very crowded place
There is a popular idiom in Russian for describing a really crowded place: "(there's) no room for an apple to fall" ("яблоку негде упасть").
I struggle to think of anything similar in English, and ...
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10
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Word meaning both create and update? [closed]
I'd like to know if someone has a better word than authored or produced, for both creating and updating something.
Context:
I'm a software developer and I'm trying to think of a clever way to name ...
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What is deliberately using complex sentences to confuse people called?
I'm wondering if there's a word, phrase, or idiom to describe the action of deliberately confusing people by using complex sentences. For example, some politicians will throw out some big words and ...
- 1,632
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14
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Word for fake religious people
Is there any word for calling people who pretend to be religious in the religious group they’re in? I mean, the people who lost their belief but can’t say they’re not religious anymore because people ...
user211560
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Is there a word for "air can pass through it"?
If light can pass through an object, or if you can see through it, it is transparent.
Is there a similar word for "air can pass through", or you can breathe through an object? This adjective would be ...
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11
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Derogatory word, describing person (a pupil) who memorizes instead of learning?
Apologies if I am asking something that is well known, but I am not a native English speaker, and I could not find an answer so far.
In my native language, there exists a (derogatory) word for pupils,...
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What is the error called when two letters are mistakenly swapped?
Generally this may be called typo but when particularly two letters of a word are mistakenly swapped, what is this error called? Some examples:
teh > the
fromat > format
comptuer > computer
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Is there a polite alternative to "No thanks, I'm full"?
English is not my native language, but when I was studying in the US, I was always trying to find an alternative to
I'm full!
I felt that it was a very improper way to express that I have eaten ...
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What is the correct word for "dependee"?
What is the correct word for "dependee"?
In other words, what is the word for something that is depended upon? The relationship here is in the context of software engineering
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What is a word similar to "amateur" yet having a strong connotation of someone who likes something?
The etymology of "amateur", according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, is:
1784, "one who has a taste for (something)," from French amateur "lover of," from Latin amatorem (nominative amator) "...
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Is there a word for a non-geek?
I am looking for a term which clearly defines somebody as a non-geek, without being derogatory. The best example I have seen is muggle, but it needs context to be understood, as in "You don't meet ...
- 2,001
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Word for someone who really has their act together
Is there a word for someone who really has their act together?
Someone who has their time well-managed, is focused, works out, has ambitions, eats right, etc. Not necessarily successful, but there's a ...
user50210
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10
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X, Y, Z — horizontal, vertical and ...?
When working in a 2D coordinate system you could say that X is the horizontal axis and Y is the vertical axis.
Extending this to 3D, is there a similar word for the Z axis?
(I'm aware of Width, ...
- 1,105
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votes
4
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Is there a term for the type of misleading joke comedians such as Stephen Colbert often use?
The Late Show host, Stephen Colbert (an American talk show host, don't mind that, just think of him as some random guy you don't have to care about) quite often uses a type of joke whereby he ...
- 5,390
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What is worse than "mediocre"?
What is worse than mediocre? Is it bad, or is there a level between mediocre and being pure bad?
Is mediocre slightly better than bad, and bad better than pathetic?
I want to use this in my prose ...
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Is there an idiom or typical expression for an unfunny joke? [closed]
Could you tell me some suitable idioms to express this situation:
A guy told you a joke, but it's not funny at all.
In Japanese, we say "He slipped" or "His joke was so cold that the air got ...
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8
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What is it called when you search for something on the internet and end up looking for other and it goes in endless meander? [duplicate]
What am I doing when I search for something on the internet and the search provides for some other interesting stuff apart from what I was looking for and I end up opening an infinite number of ...
- 3,084
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Help, the "onus" is on me! What do you call whatever it is I'm supposed to do with it?
We all know the phrase: "The onus of proof is on you" or "The onus is on you to do some thing or the other."
Ok, so the onus was put on me and I have done that thing or the other. Now, with respect ...
- 3,425
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22
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The company I work at has this thing we have to say every morning. What is it called?
The company I work at (a US branch of a Japanese firm) has a thing we have to say every morning. We stand up and each take turns reading a line from the poster on the wall. It goes like this:
We meet ...
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Is there an English phrase for an inability to actually *leave* already?
There is a Hungarian expression, küszöbgörcs, which literally means "threshold-cramp", and is used to describe that long conversation you have in the entryway, with all the guests awkwardly holding ...
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If cow = beef, pig = pork, and deer = venison, then where is the word for human = [flesh as food source]?
Maybe it's the season of Halloween, because it's kind of a grim question, but I have seriously wondered from a language point of view - is there a word for human as 'food-meat', or has there ever been,...
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What is the word for always YES (100%) or always NO (0%), never in-between
For example:
1) In statistics, this attribute will always either be 0% or 100%, never in-between.
2) The boundary is either safe or destroyed, because there is never a state where it is only '...
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What is the name of a small unluxurious restaurant?
Is there a name for this kind of restaurant? Searching Google, I can't find any synonym of restaurant. I've tried to search for images of unluxurious restaurant, small restaurant or mundane restaurant,...
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Is there a general word or phrase to describe the things you do after getting up, such as face-washing?
I'm looking for a more general word or phrase to describe the things like face-washing, tooth-brushing and gargling together.
The word or phrase is to these things as doing sports is to playing ...
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You quench your thirst. What do you do with your hunger?
What is the equivalent of "quench" when speaking of hunger? Is it appropriate to say you quenched your hunger?
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What is the first part of a joke called?
How does one refer to the first part of a joke?
The follow up is often referred to as a punchline but I'm unsure how to refer to the first part. Is it a 'joke' or does a 'joke' include the punchline?
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Are there any words I can use to disambiguate "biweekly"?
We have two words for events occurring in periods of years - biannual meaning twice a year, and biennial meaning once every two years.
However, my colleagues talk about having meetings biweekly. This ...
- 6,907
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If a ship sinks, what does an airship do?
We were having a discussion at work about airships (zeppelins, blimps, etc.) and someone spoke about them sinking when they crash. Someone else said they can't sink because they're not descending ...
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The act of baiting someone into (incorrectly) calling bullshit
Is there a single word, or commonly-used term, to describe the act of baiting another person into calling bullshit, when in fact you're not bullshitting?
Conceptually, this either a sub-type, or the ...
- 28.7k
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What is the opposite of Optimal?
Obviously something can be sub-optimal or poor, minimal, bad or terrible... But is there a word that means the exact opposite, the antonym, of optimal?
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"To camouflage" is to sight as "to ____" is to sound
I am looking for a word that describes disguising or hiding sound with other sound. Much in the same way that camouflage acts in hiding visual objects.
I ______ our conversation with loud music to ...
- 1,511
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You "show" someone a picture. You "---" someone a song?
In Maltese, we have a verb meaning "to show" corresponding to "to see/to look", and we have a different verb corresponding to "to hear/to listen":
inti tara stampa (you ...
- 1,058
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8
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What do you call the interconnecting bits of a puzzle piece in English?
This is hard to describe, but I'm curious about what the proper word is for these thingies in English.
So I searched for a picture on Google and circled what I'm referring to with red:
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votes
3
answers
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Name of the cut-outs in the side of a printed dictionary at each letter
Paper dictionaries often have cut-outs in the pages that make it easier to turn to (words beginning with) each letter. Here's a picture:
I know there's a name for these things but I can't remember ...
- 3,355
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3
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What word denotes a belief that apparently inanimate objects actually express a malicious, autonomous will?
I came across this word a few years ago, but can't find it now. I do not mean deodand, animism, pathetic fallacy, scapegoating, anthropomorphism, or personification (Word for attaching blame to ...
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