Word.ws English Dictionary

E-Prime

E-Prime proper noun: a modified form of English that eliminates the verb be and thus avoids the passive voice, intended to reduce the dogmatism of language and the likelihood of misunderstanding and conflict.

Proper noun

E-Prime

  1. A modified form of English that eliminates the verb be and thus avoids the passive voice, intended to reduce the dogmatism of language and the likelihood of misunderstanding and conflict.

Origin of E-Prime

Clipping of English-Prime. Coined by its inventor, D David Bourland, Jr. (1928-2000).

Questions about E-Prime

What does E-Prime mean?
E-Prime means a modified form of English that eliminates the verb be and thus avoids the passive voice, intended to reduce the dogmatism of language and the likelihood of misunderstanding and conflict.
What part of speech is E-Prime?
E-Prime is a proper noun.

Words near E-Prime in the dictionary

  1. e-postage
  2. e-postcard
  3. e-postcards
  4. e-prescription
  5. e-prescriptions
  6. E-Prime
  7. e-print
  8. e-prints
  9. e-privacy
  10. e-procurement
  11. e-publication

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: E-Prime (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.

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