Word.ws English Dictionary

inkhornisms

inkhornisms is the plural of inkhornism.

Meaning of inkhornism

Noun

inkhornism (countable and uncountable, plural inkhornisms)

  1. Pedantry; a preference for inkhorn terms.
    • But the virus of unrestrained inkhornism lurks today, ready to damage the prose of writers who think there are no words in the language sufficiently refined to communicate their ideas and who believe that long, impressive-sounding words must represent impressive ideas.1993, Kenneth G. Wilson, The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, page 248
  2. (countable) An inkhorn term.
    • Mr. Will, whose inkhornisms remain a weekly treat, has had tough words for former White Housers who write tell-all books, so the younger George had better watch his tongue.1997 February 1, Walter Goodman, “The Role of Partisans in a Neutral Business”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Questions about inkhornisms

What is inkhornisms the plural of?
Inkhornisms is the plural of inkhornism.

Words near inkhornisms in the dictionary

  1. inkhorn terms
  2. inkhorn word
  3. inkhorn words
  4. inkhornish
  5. inkhornism
  6. inkhornisms
  7. inkhornist
  8. inkhornists
  9. inkhornize
  10. inkhornized
  11. inkhornizes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inkhornisms (page history and authors); inkhornism (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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