Word.ws English Dictionary

ten-dollar words

ten-dollar words is the plural of ten-dollar word.

Meaning of ten-dollar word

Noun

ten-dollar word (plural ten-dollar words)

  1. (US, idiomatic) A long and uncommon word used in place of a shorter and simpler one with the intent to appear sophisticated.
    • Sometimes it pays to overcomplicate your simple messages. Make a list of ten-dollar words, scientific terms, and obscure niblets of jargon and find ways to use them. Your reputation and authority will soar.2018 June 13, Michael Schein, “Author Simon Sinek Is Full Of Hot Air (And Other Reasons You Should Follow His Lead)”, in Forbes
    Antonyms:
    ten-cent word

Questions about ten-dollar words

What is ten-dollar words the plural of?
Ten-dollar words is the plural of ten-dollar word.

Words near ten-dollar words in the dictionary

  1. ten-cent word
  2. ten-cent words
  3. ten-code
  4. ten-codes
  5. ten-dollar word
  6. ten-dollar words
  7. ten-eighty
  8. ten-fold
  9. ten-foot user interface
  10. ten-foot user interfaces
  11. ten-footer

Source and license

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