111
votes
Accepted
Why is there no "autumntime" or "falltime"?
The Anglo-Saxon calendar only had two seasons, winter and summer, each six months long. They had words for other periods of the year, but they weren't considered seasons.
At some point near the ...
- 81.2k
73
votes
Accepted
Why can’t I turn “fast-paced” into a quality noun by adding the “‑ness” suffix?
Why sure you can, and indeed you have just done so!
I really cannot imagine what it is that makes you think you cannot do what you have just yourself done. Do you mistrust your own eyes? What’s the ...
- 127k
53
votes
Why is there no "autumntime" or "falltime"?
TL;DR:
The premise that autumntime “is not a word” is faulty: it is a word.
Unlike most dictionaries, the OED does include autumn-time.
It is quite rare in comparison with the other seasons’ ...
- 127k
49
votes
How do I express "clockwisality"?
A chemist would formally call it chirality in a molecule and, by exentsion, there'd be a high-likelihood of chirality being used for similar phenomena in the sciences and other formal contexts.
More ...
- 4,279
41
votes
Accepted
Is versionize a real word?
Whateverize is always a word
Yes, of course versionize is a “real word” — and no disparaging remarks about its parentage should be made in polite company.
This is because ‑ize is a productive suffix ...
- 127k
37
votes
Accepted
How do I express "clockwisality"?
In mathematics, the word orientation is used to talk about clockwise versus counterclockwise. Using this, one might phrase your question as:
How are the arms of the swastika oriented?
or
Which ...
- 502
37
votes
Accepted
Is there a word "dramaticness"?
The root word drama fits: "This is due to the drama of the day."
Drama
3 a : a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces
b : dramatic state, ...
- 37.7k
36
votes
What does “covfefe” exactly mean?
It's too soon to tell for sure...
This is an unprecedented situation where a head of state's typo became a widely mocked online meme. Essentially, Trump coined a new word and then openly challenged ...
- 22k
33
votes
Antonym for "discombobulate"
The current antonym appears to be recombobulate, as least as this sign from Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin would have you believe (image via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel):
...
- 127k
33
votes
Accepted
Is "giffy" (meaning airborne salt spray) a real word?
Okay, it seems to mean cloudy or damp. American Dialect Society's South Carolina Word List has an entry.
giffy [ˈɡɪfɪ]: adj. Cloudy and damp, applied to the weather. Origin undetermined, possibly ...
- 14.3k
28
votes
Accepted
Why is "ailer" not a word?
Scrabble's standard for what constitutes a word, as Janus Bahs Jacquet notes in a comment, is whether or not it appears in a dictionary. For organized play, specifically, the word must appear in an ...
- 42.7k
26
votes
What is wrong with the word "performant"?
The word performant is engineering jargon for something that may not be objectively efficient or optimal/fast but meets the performance expectations for which it was created. When an engineer uses the ...
- 767
26
votes
Accepted
Is "tnetennba" a real word?
I'm afraid it's not a real word, and the inability to find it any dictionary will confirm that.
Richard Ayoade used the 9 letters on the countdown board in a humorous manner as, had it been a real ...
- 14k
25
votes
What does “covfefe” exactly mean?
It's most likely to be a typo for coverage given the context, though by most metrics there are plenty of more likely typos.
Based on an analysis of error distances, and taking into account QWERTY ...
- 21k
22
votes
Accepted
"unaccept" Is it a correct word?
Unaccept is not a word? I find that unacceptable! :P
(rare) To rescind one's acceptance of - Wiktionary.org
See?
The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary - Merriam-Webster.com
Oh rats.
(...
- 9,736
19
votes
Accepted
Antonym for Nourish
Consider drain [MWD]
to exhaust physically or emotionally: feeling drained at the end of a long workday
You could say
Working all day in the hot sun had quickly drained her.
- 5,324
18
votes
Is "giffy" (meaning airborne salt spray) a real word?
According to The Dictionary of American Regional English, giffy (page 672) is a variant of the more common term givey (page 684), meaning:
(of things) be covered with moisture; become moist or ...
- 60k
17
votes
Accepted
Word for something that can be obsolete in the future, obsolete-able
You might consider, obsolescence-prone and obsolescent-/obsolete-prone
If you're concerned about the problems of owning or maintaining rundown, obsolescence-prone freight equipment, talk it over with ...
- 42.6k
17
votes
Is there a word to describe a feeling of devotion or love to or being a fanatic to a country that is not my own?
Generally, when one has excessive fondness for a country or culture that is not one's own, one would employ a specific term like any of the following:
Anglophile - an admirer of Great Britain or ...
- 17.7k
16
votes
Accepted
Antonym for "discombobulate"
If a person is anything but discombobulated, quite the opposite, are they clear headed, enlightened, in control? Or is there a more fitting description?
I think that "clear headed" and "in control" ...
- 436
16
votes
Accepted
Can "rentee" be used to refer to one who rents an item?
"er/ee" and used to describe the person or thing doing something, and the person or thing it is done to. So, for example, an "employer" is someone who employs people, and an "employee" is someone who ...
- 35.1k
16
votes
What does “covfefe” exactly mean?
(update) It was a typo
Donald Trump has an unfortunate history of typos and misspellings in his tweets:
From the original source cited by the OP, posted 31 May 2017, come the following The ...
16
votes
Is recepted a word?
If you wish to use recept as a verb, you’re a bit late to the party:
Where it is said, that whosoever shall recept the thing stoln willingly and knowingly, he shall be punished as the principal ...
- 27.5k
15
votes
Antonym for Nourish
The word famish when used transitively would seem to me an exact antonym of nourish.
There is nothing in the OED which suggests it is archaic - and it would seem appropriate to use in a sentence ...
- 63.7k
14
votes
Accepted
Is the word "psithurism" really used in English?
It appears to be an obsolete rare term.
Fom the OED Online:
Psithurism (rare)
Whispering; a whispering noise, as of leaves moved by the wind.
1872 M. COLLINS Pr. Clarice II. xix. 218 Psithurism of ...
- 60k
14
votes
Why can’t I turn “fast-paced” into a quality noun by adding the “‑ness” suffix?
I can think of lots of possible alternatives, e.g.
alacrity,
briskness,
dispatch,
haste,
hurry,
hustle, etc.
However I don't think that is what you are asking. fast-pacedness sounds okay to me. I ...
- 36.1k
14
votes
Is "giffy" (meaning airborne salt spray) a real word?
The word may be related to givey, a South Midland dialect word with several related meanings (here from Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English (2021), via Word Reference):
(esp. of ...
- 32.9k
13
votes
Is "solutioning" a correct word?
First, this is a specialist term. Much like vocabulary in medicine, engineering, math and sciences, software development, etc. The same term may be used across these domains with radically different ...
- 312
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