envowel
/ɛnˈvaʊəl/
envowel verb: to replace a portion of a person's name with a dash in printing, in order to avoid libel.
Verb
envowel (third-person singular simple present envowels, present participle (US) envoweling or (UK) envowelling, simple past and past participle (US) envoweled or (UK) envowelled)
- to replace a portion of a person's name with a dash in printing, in order to avoid libel.
- In this dress I intend to abuse the *** and the ***; I intend to lash not only the m―stry, but every man who hath any p―ce or p―ns―n from the g―vernm―t, or who is entrusted with any degree of power or trust under it, let his r―nk be ever so high, his f―rt―ne never so great, or his ch―r―cter never...1747-1748, Henry Fielding, the Jacobite's Journal
Forms of envowel
| third-person singular present | envowels |
|---|---|
| present participle US | envoweling |
| present participle UK | envowelling |
| past participle US | envoweled |
| past US | envoweled |
| past participle UK | envowelled |
| past UK | envowelled |
| alternative form | emvowel |
Origin of envowel
Blend of embowel + vowel with assimilation the m of embowel to the following v of vowel. Compare to disenvowel.
Words that rhyme with envowel
Questions about envowel
- What does envowel mean?
- Envowel means to replace a portion of a person's name with a dash in printing, in order to avoid libel.
- What part of speech is envowel?
- Envowel is a verb.
- How do you pronounce envowel?
- Envowel is pronounced /ɛnˈvaʊəl/.
- What is the past tense of envowel?
- The past tense of envowel is envoweled.
Words near envowel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: envowel (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: “envowel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/envowel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.