skunked term
skunked term noun: a word that becomes difficult to use because it is transitioning from one meaning to another. Purists may insist on the old usage, while descriptivists are more open to newer usages.
Noun
skunked term (plural skunked terms)
- A word that becomes difficult to use because it is transitioning from one meaning to another. Purists may insist on the old usage, while descriptivists are more open to newer usages.
- It isn't a skunked term, but it's gradually becoming something like one.2000, Bryan A. Garner, “lady”, in The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, page 206
- When the skunked term has a different meaning, it's given in parentheses.2013, Ben Yagoda, How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and the Best Ways to Avoid Them, Penguin, →ISBN
Forms of skunked term
| plural | skunked terms |
|---|
Origin of skunked term
Coined by American lawyer, lexicographer, and teacher Bryan A. Garner, and since adopted by some other style guides.
Questions about skunked term
- What does skunked term mean?
- Skunked term means a word that becomes difficult to use because it is transitioning from one meaning to another. Purists may insist on the old usage, while descriptivists are more open to newer usages.
- What part of speech is skunked term?
- Skunked term is a noun.
- What is the plural of skunked term?
- The plural of skunked term is skunked terms.
Words near skunked term in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: skunked term (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: “skunked term.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/skunked_term. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.