word

Noun

word (countable and uncountable, plural words)

1. The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language. (contrast morpheme.)
   • But every word, whether written or spoken, which urges the woman to antagonism against the man, every word which is written or spoken to try and make of her a hybrid, self-contained opponent of men, makes a rift in the lute to which the world looks for its sweetest music.1897, Ouida, “The New Woman”, in An Altruist and Four Essays, page 239
   • The word, whether written or spoken, does not look like or sound like its meaning — it does not resemble its signified. We only connect the two because we have learnt the code — language. Without such knowledge, 'Maggie' would just be a meaningless pattern of shapes or sounds.1986, David Barrat, Media Sociology, →ISBN, page 112
   1. The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes.
      • Then all was silent save the voice of the high priest, whose words grew louder and louder, […]1894, Alex. R. Mackwen, “The Samaritan Passover”, in Littell's Living Age, volume 1, number 6
      • Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
   2. The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes.
      • Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
        Hamlet: Words, words, words.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
      • The name was a confused gift of love from her father, who could not read the word but picked it out of the Bible for its visual shape, […]2003, Jan Furman, Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: A Casebook, →ISBN, page 194
   3. A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by an authority or native speaker (compare non-word).
      • “Ain’t! How often am I to tell you ain’t ain’t a word?”1896, Israel Zangwill, Without Prejudice, page 21
      • Fisherwoman isn’t even a word. It’s not in the dictionary.1999, Linda Greenlaw, The Hungry Ocean, Hyperion, page 11
   4. A sign used in a sign language.
2. A sequence of letters, characters, or sounds, considered as a discrete entity, though it does not necessarily belong to a language or have a meaning.
   • In still another variation, the nonsense word is presented and the teacher asks, "What sound was in the beginning of the word?" "In the middle?" and so on. The child should always respond with the phoneme; he should not use letter labels.1974, Thinking Goes to School: Piaget's Theory in Practice, →ISBN, page 183
   • All 15.5 million ‘words’ (or so–the exact length depends on the repeat sequences, which vary greatly) in the twenty-second chapter of the human autobiography have been read and written down in English letters: 47 million As, Cs, Gs and Ts.1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Collins, →ISBN, page 301
3. A unit of text equivalent to five characters and one space.
4. A fixed-size group of bits handled as a unit by a machine and which can be stored in or retrieved from a typical register (so that it has the same size as such a register).
   • The size of a register in the MIPS architecture is 32 bits; groups of 32 bits occur so frequently that they are given the name word in the MIPS architecture.1997, John L. Hennessy with David A. Patterson, Computer Organization and Design, 2nd edition, San Francisco, California: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., §3.3, page 109
5. With regards to Intel or Intel-compatible hardware and/or in the context of Windows programming, a group of exactly 16 bits regardless of the actual processor capabilities; a fossilized unit referring to the small word size of historical CPUs.
6. A finite string that is not a command or operator.
7. A group element, expressed as a product of group elements.
8. The fact or act of speaking, as opposed to taking action. .
   • […] she believed them still so very much attached to each other, that they could not be too sedulously divided in word and deed on every occasion.1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
   • As they fell apart against Austria, England badly needed someone capable of leading by word and example.2004 September 8, Richard Williams, The Guardian
9. (now rare outside certain phrases) Something that someone said; a comment, utterance; speech.
   • And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 26:75
   • She said; but at the happy word "he lives", / My father stooped, re-fathered, o'er my wound.1847, Alfred Tennyson, The Princess
10. (obsolete outside certain phrases) A watchword or rallying cry, a verbal signal (even when consisting of multiple words).
    • mum's the word
    • Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III
11. (obsolete) A proverb or motto.
    • Among all other was wrytten in her trone / In golde letters, this worde, whiche I dyde rede: / Garder le fortune que est mauelz et bone.1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Court
    • Let the word be 'Not without mustard'. Your crest is very rare, sir.1599, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour
12. (uncountable) News; tidings.
    • Have you had any word from John yet?
    • I've tried for weeks to get word, but I still don't know where she is or if she's all right.

Verb

word (third-person singular simple present words, present participle wording, simple past and past participle worded)

1. (transitive) To say or write (something) using particular words; to phrase (something).
   • strongly worded letter
   • I’m not sure how to word this letter to the council.

   Synonyms:

   express, phrase, put into words, state

2. (obsolete, transitive) To flatter with words, to cajole.
   • He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not / be noble to myself.1607, William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra, act 5, scene 2

   Synonyms:

   blandish, butter up, inveigle, blandander, cajole, sweeten, fast-talk, canoodle, carny, coax

3. (transitive) To ply or overpower with words.
   • […] if one were to be worded to death, Italian is the fittest Language [for that task]1621 November 30, James Howell, letter to Francis Bacon, from Turin
   • […] if a man were to be worded to death, or stoned to death by words, the High-Dutch were the fittest [language for that task].1829 April, “Webster's Dictionary”, in The North American Review, volume 28, page 438
4. (rare, transitive) To conjure with a word.
   • Against him […] who could word heaven and earth out of nothing, and can when he pleases word them into nothing again.c. 1645-1715, Robert South, Sermon on Psalm XXXIX. 9
   • "Postcolonialism" might well be another linguistic construct, desperately begging for a referent that will never show up, simply because it never existed on its own and was literally worded into existence by the very term that pretends to be born from it.1994, “Liminal Postmodernisms”, in Postmodern Studies, volume 8, page 162
5. (archaic, intransitive) To speak, to use words; to converse, to discourse.
   • Thus wording timidly among the fierce: / "O Father, I am here the simplest voice, […]"1818–1819, John Keats, “Hyperion, a Fragment”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, page 181

   Synonyms:

   chat, jaw, moot, common, confab, confabulate, conversate, converse, convo, discourse

Interjection

1. (slang, African-American Vernacular) Truth, indeed, that is the truth! The shortened form of the statement “My word is my bond.”
   • "Yo, that movie was epic!" / "Word?" ("You speak the truth?") / "Word." ("I speak the truth.")
2. (emphatic, slang, African-American Vernacular) An abbreviated form of word up; a statement of the acknowledgment of fact with a hint of nonchalant approval.
   • "[…] Know what I'm sayin'?" / "Word!" the other man strongly agreed. "Let's do this — "2004, Shannon Holmes, Never Go Home Again: A Novel, page 218
   • "[…] Not bad at all, man. Worth da wait, dawg. Word." / "You liked it?" I asked dumbly, stoned still, and feeling victorious. / "Yeah, man," said Oral B. "Word up. […]"2007, Gabe Rotter, Duck Duck Wally: A Novel, page 105

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Word

the Word

1. Scripture; the Bible.
   • In one of our first meetings, I explained to President Jiang that faith was a vital part of my life and that I studied the Word every day. I told him I planned to raise freedom of worship in our conversations. "I read the Bible," he replied, "but I don’t trust what it says."2010, George W. Bush, Decision Points, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 428
   • Mad Prophet: Repent! Repent and restore your souls to glory before it is too late! This great station has fallen, and all within shall fall with it!
     Mad Prophet: For the blight that is humanity stains all within its path, and the only chance at redemption lies in the Word!2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3: Omega (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Gozu District
2. The creative word of God; Logos.
   • In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1.1
   • And so the Word had breath, and wrought
     ⁠With human hands the creed of creeds
     ⁠In loveliness of perfect deeds,
     More strong than all poetic thought; […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 56

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Word

Word

1. Microsoft Word, word processor software developed by Microsoft.
   • You have to type that up in Word.