word

Less common meanings

9. 9
   short conversationnouncountable or uncountable

   A brief conversation, often private, sometimes to give a mild warning or reprimand ('Can I have a word?').

   The director asked for a word with the new hire before the meeting.

   Before signing, she had a brief word with her lawyer in the hallway.

   UsageUsually singular in have a word with someone or a quick word.

   Similarchat, talk, conversation

10. 10
    ordernouncountable or uncountable

    A command, request, or instruction; a statement of what someone wants done.

    Just say the word, and the movers will begin loading the truck.

    The troops held their positions until the general gave the word to advance.

    UsageUsually say the word or give the word.

    Similarorder, command, signal

    Note

    Here the word carries authority. Give the word means signal that something may begin, and say the word offers to act the moment someone asks. Sent word that belongs here when what is sent is an instruction rather than information. That is the line between this sense and the 'news' meaning.

11. 11
    true thatinterjectionslang

    Slang reply expressing agreement, approval, or acknowledgment of what someone has said; truth, indeed.

    "Nobody works harder than your mom does." "Word."

    Word, that game last night was unbelievable.

    UsageOften used on its own. A rising Word? asks 'Really?'

    Similarexactly, facts

    Note

    Spoken as a reply, it stakes the speaker's honor on agreement, and intonation does the grammar. It is short for my word is my bond: a rising "Word?" asks whether something is true, and a flat "Word." confirms it. Its close cousin is the longer word up.

12. 12
    meaningless unitnouncountable or uncountable

    A sequence of letters, characters, or sounds considered as a single unit, even if it belongs to no language or carries no meaning.

    The experiment asked volunteers to memorize invented words like 'taspo' and 'mivven.'

    Each access code is a pronounceable but meaningless word, like 'vorbet', generated at random by the software.

    UsageOften a nonsense word, a made-up word, an invented word.

    Note

    What counts here is shape rather than meaning: any string of letters or sounds that behaves like a unit qualifies. Its usual partner is nonsense word, which can be the invented string a reading teacher asks a child to sound out, or the garble a copying scribe creates by dropping letters. Matt Ridley's Genome (1999) stretches it to runs of DNA letters, setting it off with punctuation to flag the borrowing. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Nonsense words can be used in teaching children to identify sounds. en.wiktionary.org
    • A copying scribe can create a nonsense word by dropping letters. en.wiktionary.org
    • Matt Ridley wrote Genome, first published in 1999. pdfcoffee.com
    • Genome uses 'words' for DNA-letter sequences and marks that borrowing with quotation marks. pdfcoffee.com
13. 13
    argumentnouncountable or uncountableplural

    An exchange of angry remarks; an argument. Used only in the plural, as in 'have words'.

    They had words over the inheritance and never fully reconciled.

    The two drivers exchanged words at the intersection before pulling away.

    UsageUsually have words or exchange words with someone. Compare have a word with, a short talk.

    Similarargument, quarrel, row

    Note

    This meaning is always plural and usually appears in have words or exchange words, often with over and the cause: they had words over the inheritance. Like many quiet idioms for conflict, it reports a row without saying what was actually shouted.

14. 14
    Christnouncountable or uncountable

    In Christian theology, Christ as the Logos, the eternal divine expression of God; usually capitalized.

    John's Gospel opens by presenting the Word as existing before all creation.

    Medieval theologians debated how the Word could be at once fully divine and fully human.

    SimilarLogos

    Note

    William Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 already reads 'that worde was made flesshe, and dwelt amonge vs.' Tennyson still uses the title in 1850 in In Memoriam: 'And so the Word had breath.' The capital and the personal verbs separate this sense from Scripture and the gospel. Here the Word is someone who acts, not a message delivered. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • William Tyndale's New Testament was published in 1526. loc.gov
    • Tyndale's rendering of John 1:14 contains 'that worde was made flesshe, and dwelt amonge vs' (with punctuation normalized). tha.de
    • Alfred Tennyson's In Memoriam was first published in 1850. en.wikisource.org
    • Tennyson uses the capitalized Word in In Memoriam, section XXXVI: 'And so the Word had breath' (an excerpt from a longer sentence). victorianweb.org
15. 15
    group of bitsnouncountable or uncountable

    In computing, a fixed-size group of bits handled by a processor as a unit, typically the size of a register; in Intel and Windows programming, conventionally exactly 16 bits.

    On a 64-bit processor, each word holds eight bytes of data.

    The compiler aligns data on word boundaries for faster memory access.

    Note

    The size of this word depends on the machine. It has no fixed number of bits and usually matches the width of the processor's registers. David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy's Computer Organization and Design explains that MIPS registers hold 32 bits, so a MIPS word is 32 bits. Hence word size describes a processor, and it clashes with the fixed 16-bit word of Intel and Windows usage. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts

    • The size of a word depends on the machine rather than having one universal bit count. studylib.net
    • Word size often matches general-purpose register width, but this is not universal. MIPS64 defines a word as 32 bits despite having 64-bit general-purpose registers. ece.ualberta.ca
    • David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy wrote Computer Organization and Design. studylib.net
    • Computer Organization and Design explains that MIPS registers hold 32 bits and calls groups of 32 bits words. studylib.net
    • MIPS32 has 32-bit general-purpose registers; MIPS64 has 64-bit general-purpose registers. Both define a word as 32 bits. ece.ualberta.ca
    • Intel conventionally defines a word as exactly 16 bits. cdrdv2-public.intel.com
    • Windows defines WORD as exactly 16 bits. learn.microsoft.com
16. 16
    nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

    A proverb or motto; a brief saying taken as a guide to conduct.

    The old word is, 'What the eye views not, the heart rues not.'

    1646, Joseph Hall, The Balm of Gilead

    Let the word be 'Not without mustard'. Your crest is very rare, sir.

    1599, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour

    Note

    Early modern writers used this sense, and modern English has dropped it. In John Skelton (c. 1499) it is a motto lettered in gold on a throne. In Ben Jonson (1600) it is the saying that goes with a crest. Joseph Hall's "the old word is" introduces a proverb. Read it this way only in older texts, where "the word" may be a whole sentence. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Early modern writers used word to mean a proverb or motto. en.wiktionary.org
    • Skelton uses word for a motto written in gold on a throne. otago.ac.nz
    • Jonson uses word for a saying accompanying a crest. gutenberg.org
    • Joseph Hall's phrase the old word is introduces a proverb. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To ply or overpower someone with words; to wear a person down by sheer volume of talk.

    Similarharangue

    Note

    It turns up almost always in the passive, and almost always fatally: to be worded to death. James Howell, writing to Francis Bacon from Turin in 1621, judged Italian the fittest language for the job. The North American Review of 1829 quoted Howell elsewhere giving the honor to High Dutch instead, calling it being 'stoned to death by words.' Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Howell's letter to Francis Bacon was written from Turin and dated 1621. archive.org
    • Howell judged Italian the fittest language for wording someone to death. archive.org
    • The April 1829 review quotes Howell giving that honor to High Dutch. upload.wikimedia.org
    • The review contains the wording stoned to death by words. upload.wikimedia.org
18. 18
    computing (strings)nouncountable or uncountable

    In mathematics and computing, a finite sequence of symbols from a given set, such as a product of group generators.

    The automaton accepts a word only if it ends in the same symbol it began with.

    Concatenating two words over the alphabet {0, 1} yields another word.

    Note

    Computer science keeps only the outline of the everyday word: a finite run of symbols, with meaning left out. That makes it a formal cousin of the nonsense-word sense. The line it draws is structural: any finite string over a fixed alphabet counts, though some computing usage narrows it to strings that are not commands or operators. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • A formal word is a finite sequence of symbols. portal.cs.umbc.edu
    • Meaning is outside the formal definition; words can subsequently be assigned meanings. kwarc.info
    • The definition is structural, not functional. Commands, operators and entire programs can themselves be formal words when represented as finite symbol sequences. courses.compute.dtu.dk
19. 19
    five-letter unitnouncountable or uncountable

    A unit of text length equal to five characters plus one space, used to measure transmission speed and message length in telegraphy.

    Amateur radio licenses once required copying Morse code at thirteen words per minute.

    For timing Morse operators, PARIS serves as the standard word: five letters plus the space after it.

    UsageUsually in words per minute.

    Note

    Telegraphers counted this word by length rather than by language: six character spaces, whatever fills them. On that count 'telegraphy' is nearly two words and 'I am' is less than one. Counting this way is what lets a figure in words per minute compare fairly from one operator or message to the next. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The specified telegraphic unit measures length as five characters plus one space, independently of linguistic word boundaries. files.eric.ed.gov
    • On the six-character count, 'telegraphy' has 10 characters, approximately 1.67 units, while 'I am' has four characters including its space, approximately 0.67 units. files.eric.ed.gov
    • A standardized word length allows speed comparisons without differences caused by the linguistic lengths of words in different messages. en.wikipedia.org
20. 20
    verbarchaicintransitive

    To speak or use words; to converse or hold discourse with another.

    Note

    It means talking itself, not phrasing something, and that separates it from the everyday 'phrase it' verb. John Keats uses it in Hyperion (1820): 'Thus wording timidly among the fierce.' Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • John Keats wrote Hyperion, which was first published in 1820. en.wiktionary.org
    • The publication year of Hyperion is 1820. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quotation occurs in Hyperion; it is narration describing Clymene speaking. gutenberg.org
21. 21
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To flatter or cajole someone with words; to coax through smooth talk.

    He words me, girls, he words me, that I should not / be noble to myself.

    1607, William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra

    Note

    In William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (1623), the line 'He words me, girls, he words me' recognizes smooth talk as a trap: the flattery is meant to stop the speaker being 'noble to myself.' It charms rather than wears down, unlike the 'overpower with words' sense. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • William Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra, first printed in 1623. folger.edu
    • Cleopatra speaks the quoted words and recognizes that Caesar's persuasive words are intended to prevent her from being 'noble to myself.' folger.edu
22. 22
    create by magicverbraretransitive

    To conjure or call something into existence by speaking a word.

    In the novel, the enchanters word entire palaces into being.

    In the old legend, the sorceress spoke to the barren hillside and worded a spring into being.

    UsageUsually word something into being or into existence.

    Similarconjure, summon

    Note

    Robert South's sermon describes one who could 'word heaven and earth out of nothing.' Recent critics say a concept was worded into existence when only its name holds it up. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Robert South's sermon contains the quoted phrase, referring to God's creative power. ccel.org
    • Modern criticism supplies an example of a concept described as brought into existence by its own name. en.wiktionary.org
23. 23
    nounarchaic

    A watchword or rallying cry; a verbal signal agreed on in advance, even when it consists of several words.

    Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!

    1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III