Word.ws English Dictionary

neologisms

neologisms is the plural of neologism.

Meaning of neologism

Noun

neologism (countable and uncountable, plural neologisms)

  1. (countable) A word or phrase which has recently been coined; a new word or phrase.
    • These neologisms demonstrate the cumulative quality of language, in which we use the known to describe the unknown.2015 July 15, Roc Morin, “How to Say Everything in a Hundred-Word Language”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 03 Feb 2017
    Synonyms:
    coinage, neoterism
  2. (broadly, countable) An existing word or phrase which has gained a new meaning.
  3. (uncountable) The act or instance of coining, or uttering a new word.
    • Neologizing, the practice of coining new words, may seem to be an arcane, specialized activity, but it's everywhere -- and the skillful employment of neologism is what gives English much of its verve.2002 August 25, Erin McKean, “THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: 8-25-02: ON LANGUAGE; Neologist”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 23 Mar 2021
  4. The newly coined, meaningless words or phrases of someone with a psychosis, usually schizophrenia.
  5. (historical) Synonym of neology.
    Synonyms:
    neology

Questions about neologisms

What is neologisms the plural of?
Neologisms is the plural of neologism.

Words near neologisms in the dictionary

  1. neologiser
  2. neologisers
  3. neologises
  4. neologising
  5. neologism
  6. neologisms
  7. neologist
  8. neologistic
  9. neologistical
  10. neologistically
  11. neologists

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: neologisms (page history and authors); neologism (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: “neologisms.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/neologisms. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.