Word.ws English Dictionary

battologism

battologism noun: a sentence or phrase in which a syllable or short sequence of syllables is repeated, often with different meanings. Example: Wright did not write "rite" right.

Noun

battologism (plural battologisms)

  1. A sentence or phrase in which a syllable or short sequence of syllables is repeated, often with different meanings. Example: Wright did not write "rite" right.
    • 2001 February 1, Battologism alert: Silly cyber surfers can give their mouths a workout at the 1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters USA Today hotsites
  2. (informal) A tongue-twister.

Forms of battologism

pluralbattologisms

Origin of battologism

From battology + -ism.

Questions about battologism

What does battologism mean?
Battologism means a sentence or phrase in which a syllable or short sequence of syllables is repeated, often with different meanings. Example: Wright did not write "rite" right.
What part of speech is battologism?
Battologism is a noun.
What is the plural of battologism?
The plural of battologism is battologisms.

Words near battologism in the dictionary

  1. battologies
  2. battologise
  3. battologised
  4. battologises
  5. battologising
  6. battologism
  7. battologisms
  8. battologist
  9. battologists
  10. battologize
  11. battologized

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: battologism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “battologism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/battologism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.