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 are antonyms of "tolerant" or synonyms of "cautious"?

I posted the following on Meta Stack Overflow, and I believe that there was a better word that I could have used rather than "a little too harsh". Considering that my post fails all but possibly ...
waiwai933's user avatar
  • 14.5k
0 votes
7 answers
3k views

Word that means common element

What's a word that means "common element"? Cars and Bikes share the common element that they are both wheeled vehicles.
Mark's user avatar
  • 145
2 votes
1 answer
24k views

a word like "visual", "auditory", except for touch

for smell it would be "olfactory". What is it for touch?
Claudiu's user avatar
  • 10.9k
4 votes
4 answers
2k views

Superlative version or synonym of "Versatile"

I'm looking for comparative/superlative versions of versatile - synonyms which should mean "more versatile" and "extremely versatile" Here's the background: Over on meta.so, I've proposed a new 3-...
JoseK's user avatar
  • 8,056
23 votes
1 answer
39k views

Words pertaining to the senses and the corresponding disabilities

I need help on finding words relating to the senses/perception. I mean this in a neuronic/biological or philosophy-of-mind kind of way. A word for... pertaining to the senses (Is it sensory?) ...
user3035's user avatar
  • 231
12 votes
11 answers
2k views

Word or phrase for writing that "reads fast"

Is there a word or phrase to describe technical writing that is quick to read? Some technical writing is so clear and concise, even a novice at the material will find himself flying through it. For ...
bobobobo's user avatar
  • 1,767
17 votes
12 answers
46k views

What is a word/phrase for using a term for a popular special case instead of a generic term?

Some people use a term for a popular special case in place of a generic term. (Often this popular special case is a particular product in that category.) I think that this is a common phenomenon. ...
Tsuyoshi Ito's user avatar
  • 6,339
9 votes
6 answers
6k views

Helping someone climb

I know this is kinda stupid but what is the word for "helping someone climb by allowing him to stand on your hands" (to allow him/her see above some wall or climb something)?
Omar Ali's user avatar
  • 305
7 votes
2 answers
991 views

Terms for duplicated words

I can't recall term used for duplicating extraneous words e.g. VIP person (Very Important Person Person), first question what is this term? Second question, is the same term used when the duplicated ...
Lie Ryan's user avatar
  • 824
18 votes
4 answers
1k 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.
DrStalker's user avatar
  • 283
3 votes
7 answers
7k views

Alternatives to "hypocrite"

I'm trying to accurately describe a person who acts in one way and does another but knowingly and openly accepts that his actions also include him in the same group he criticizes. This differs from a ...
Workman's user avatar
  • 193
9 votes
7 answers
3k views

What's the word for 'online-extrovert-offline-introvert'?

What is the exact word (not necessarily a single noun) to use for a person who seems to be introvert when in real-life, but is very much extroverted and free when they talk to you online?
ykombinator's user avatar
19 votes
7 answers
64k views

What do you call a bunch of garlic (when you don't remove the cloves)?

I can't seem to find the word that refers to this: I usually end up saying "bunch of garlic" and have to explain "the garlic bunch before you peel the cloves apart". What is it called?
Ramon Tayag's user avatar
5 votes
8 answers
42k views

Word for person interested in latest technology programming-wise

What is a word to describe a person who is really interested in learning new aspects and new things in a specific programming language? (We could call this person a seeker.)
xkeshav's user avatar
  • 1,179
58 votes
2 answers
116k views

Is there a word for four times as much, analogous to once, twice, and thrice?

Is there a word for 'four times as much', analogous to once, twice, and thrice?
Claudiu's user avatar
  • 10.9k
3 votes
2 answers
408 views

Classification of culinary related item called?

Related to this question, what is the classification of culinary items like (ingredients, spices, cooking materials called?)
Quintin Par's user avatar
22 votes
4 answers
51k views

What word means what many people think 'ironic' means?

'Ironic' is often used to mean an unusual coincidence rather than its true meaning which is closer to sarcastic. That being said, is there a word that would be a good replacement for what many people ...
dave's user avatar
  • 3,745
12 votes
4 answers
11k views

What do you call a person who collects recipes, ingredients or other cooking related materials?

What do you call a person who collects recipes, ingredients or other cooking related materials? Is there a name for classifications like this (like taxonomy etc.)?
Quintin Par's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
195 views

Can I name one client of my application "tenant" if I have multitenancy?

I'm a software developer and want to add the feature "multitenancy" (German: Man­danten­fähig­keit, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitenancy) to my application. Each entity in my ...
Christian's user avatar
  • 111
95 votes
2 answers
96k views

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 ...
Paul Hildebrandt's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Disenrolled and Disenrollment

I'm having trouble finding "disenrolled", "disenrollment", and even "unenrolled" in a dictionary. Are any of these valid words? I'm looking for the noun and verb forms of reversing an enrollment.
Chris's user avatar
  • 12.4k
7 votes
5 answers
10k views

alternatives for "guy"

I'm working in an English big company in Germany. Everybody speak English but most of us as second, or third language. One thing I noticed is that we are all "guys" in the office: "Ask the guy up ...
Uberto's user avatar
  • 1,302
7 votes
12 answers
6k views

Need a word that has the opposite meaning of "nominal"?

I'm looking for a word that has the opposite meaning of the word nominal in the sense of in name only. Here's an example (fill in the blank). Brian was in charge of scheduling in his [  &...
JohnFx's user avatar
  • 7,434
270 votes
11 answers
107k views

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 ...
J.T. Grimes's user avatar
  • 6,813
8 votes
7 answers
15k views

Is there a word for a class of circular shapes?

I'm not sure if this belongs here, but I'm wondering if there is a word for a class of circular shapes? Thinking about this hierarchically: * Shape * Polygon * Square * Rectangle * ??????...
Bryan Downing's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

What do you call the words obtained by inversing the order of the sounds?

I'm trying to find out the name for a word that was obtained by inversing the sound in another word. Is there a word for it? Although cheat and teach would seem an easy example of such a pair, it is ...
Eldroß's user avatar
  • 4,047
6 votes
5 answers
4k views

"Wanting something to happen"

EDITED TO ADD PRECEDING SENTENCE At some point, we all ponder the workings of consciousness; but I pinpoint two catalysts which propelled such musings to a pursuit of brain understanding. The ...
user1823's user avatar
  • 511
5 votes
4 answers
2k views

Repeating the consonant in many words in a sentence or phrase

In the movie 'V for Vendetta' you have for example (bold part): Evey: Who are you? V. : Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask. Evey: ...
Wouter Dorgelo's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
7k views

What is the counterpart of an appendix? [closed]

The appendix is what is appended to something. What do we call something that is prepended to something else?
Jader Dias's user avatar
9 votes
6 answers
2k views

Preposition to follow "copy and paste"

The rows should be copied and pasted to the spreadsheet. Does that sound right? If not, how could we reword the sentence? I ask because "to" applies to "paste" but not to "copy". The logical ...
b.roth's user avatar
  • 21.7k
4 votes
4 answers
2k views

What word is complimentary, but sounds like "chunky"?

For a discussion I'm having with a colleague, we're trying to think of complimentary words that sound ugly. Any that rhyme with chunky (or anything else for that matter).
Kyle's user avatar
  • 212
16 votes
4 answers
87k views

How can I form a word like "quadruple" for any number I want?

I'm not sure what these are called, but how can I form a word like "quadruple" for any number I want? Like 5× as much is quintuple, what is 31× as much or 147× as much? I want to know how they are ...
Claudiu's user avatar
  • 10.9k
24 votes
6 answers
3k views

Word meaning coincidence of reference to the unusual

Most of us have had the experience of stumbling over a new fact or bit of knowledge and then finding several more references to it in the near future. For example, you see a strange word which you're ...
Dan J.'s user avatar
  • 241
1 vote
1 answer
4k views

How is "admire" used in "to admire them a great deal"?

I knew that admire can be used in phrases like "admire somebody" or "admire somebody for something", but recently I have found the following sentence in my Collins dictionary: If you emulate ...
fiktor's user avatar
  • 858
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

Shorter way to say "split [user story] into tasks"

In scrum (a project management methodology often used for software development), there are user stories (or items) which team members split into smaller tasks when they start working on them. To ...
Jonik's user avatar
  • 4,155
2 votes
1 answer
511 views

Is "gobload" a valid word?

This word just came naturally to me while writing some prose. Will it be understood by English speakers/readers?
Claudiu's user avatar
  • 10.9k
9 votes
2 answers
958 views

Word to describe "compliance with unspoken resistance"

What I'm looking for is a word to describe "compliance with unspoken resistance" or something of the like. In other words, one complies, unwillingly. However, the unwillingness, is not stated ...
Qcom's user avatar
  • 889
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to pronounce “derivative” in the phrase “f ′ is a derivative of f ”?

How should I pronounce derivative in the phrase “f ′ is a derivative of f ”? Should I read it as [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] or [dɪˈrɪv.ɪ.tɪv]? I have heard it as [dɪˈrɪv.ə.tɪv] in this context, but Cambridge ...
fiktor's user avatar
  • 858
2 votes
2 answers
6k views

What is the first stanza in a poem called?

Is there a specific term for the first stanza in a poem?
user avatar
8 votes
6 answers
13k views

Using or arguing a biased opinion as fact

I'm fairly sure there is a word or phrase to describe arguing emotively from an extreme, or biased, point of view as if your view is fact, but I can't remember what it may be. (I am wanting to use ...
johnc's user avatar
  • 961
4 votes
5 answers
4k views

A word for the meaning of "over-constrained"

I want to express that I constrained something too much such that it is contradictory now. At first sight, over-constrained seems to fit, but I am not sure whether it is fine to use in a scientific ...
Mathias Soeken's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
807 views

Word that means "obsession with publishing"

I once heard a word, derived from Latin or Greek elements, construed to describe a person who has an obsession with being published. What word might that have been? For example, what would you call ...
Ami's user avatar
  • 2,719
3 votes
2 answers
797 views

Is "dissatisfactorily" the correct adverb for not satisfying?

I want to express something like this: She had asked him why he had done it, but he had replied dissatisfactorily; he said that he didn't know. I also thought, maybe "dissatisfyingly?" I'd like ...
user1951's user avatar
  • 326
5 votes
1 answer
591 views

A Photoshop term for "body double" or "doppelgänger"

I saw a tutorial on TV. The tutorial was like this: Take your snap sitting on chair, another standing on left side of chair and then last one standing on the right side of the chair. Now, use ...
Rakesh Juyal's user avatar
10 votes
9 answers
8k views

Is there an English word meaning "the use of uncommon words"?

Is there an English word meaning "the use of uncommon words" or similar?
GeneticFallacy's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Word for referring to the arts of the carpenter

You can say "sartorial" to mean "of or pertaining to tailors of their trade." Is there an equivalent for carpenters?
Claudiu's user avatar
  • 10.9k
4 votes
3 answers
6k views

Infinitive of “may” and “might”?

What’s the infinitive of the verb I use when I say “I might go” or “May I come with you”? I think in German it’s dürfen. Is there one in English? If not, why not?
Claudiu's user avatar
  • 10.9k
3 votes
3 answers
9k views

Infinitive of 'shall', 'should'?

What's the infinitive of the verb when I say "I should go," or "I shall go"? Is it a verb actually, now that I think about it? If not, what is it?
Claudiu's user avatar
  • 10.9k
6 votes
5 answers
412 views

Word for "device that provides constant doses of a liquid/dust/substance"

Think of a sugar dispenser. It provides an equal "dose" of sugar every time you push its button. In my native language, Bulgarian, we have a specific word for this kind of object. The literal "...
Stefan Monov's user avatar
  • 1,113
9 votes
7 answers
68k views

What word means "to speak something into existence"?

If someone says "the Yankees are going to lose", and everyone starts believing it, including the players, and it actually happens — what is the word for that?
makerofthings7's user avatar