counterword

counterword
/kown"teuhr werrd'/, n.
1. a word, often of short-lived popularity, widely used as an almost meaningless, automatic response.
2. a word that has come to be used with a meaning much less specific than that which it had originally, as swell, awful, or terrific.
[1670-80; COUNTER1 + WORD]

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • counterword — noun A word whose new meaning is overused, and not intended for what the original meaning is …   Wiktionary

  • counterword — n. word widely used as an almost insignificant automatic response; word that is used with its meaning being much less particular than its original meaning (such as terrific, awful and more) …   English contemporary dictionary

  • counterword — count·er·word …   English syllables

  • counterword — count•er•word [[t]ˈkaʊn tərˌwɜrd[/t]] n. ling. a word that has come to be used with meanings much less specific than that which it had originally, as swell, awful, or terrific[/ex] • Etymology: 1670–80 …   From formal English to slang

  • counterword — /ˈkaʊntəwɜd/ (say kowntuhwerd) noun a word that has come to be used with a meaning less specific than it had originally, as awful, terrific, etc …  

  • counterword — ˈkau̇ntə(r)+ˌ noun Etymology: counter (I) (object used in reckoning) + word : a word that has a broad and vague range of meaning through widespread use in many markedly different situations (as case, awfully, fix, job, payoff) * * * /kown teuhr… …   Useful english dictionary

  • ambiguity — Synonyms and related words: Janus, ambivalence, amphibologism, amphibology, amphiboly, antinomy, asymmetry, biformity, bifurcation, cavil, conjugation, counterword, dichotomy, disproportion, disproportionateness, dodge, double entendre, double… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • double entendre — Synonyms and related words: ambiguity, ambiguousness, amphibology, belly laugh, blue story, complexity of meaning, counterword, dirty joke, dirty story, double meaning, double reference, equivocacy, equivocal, equivocality, equivocalness,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • equivocation — Synonyms and related words: ambiguity, ambivalence, amphibology, antinomy, apparent soundness, avoidance, avoiding reaction, bickering, boggling, captiousness, casuistry, caviling, chicane, chicanery, circularity, circumvention, coloring,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • portmanteau word — Synonyms and related words: ambiguity, amphibology, blend, contamination, counterword, double entendre, equivocal, equivocality, equivocation, equivoque, hybrid, hybrid word, hybridism, macaronic, macaronicism, polysemant, portmanteau,… …   Moby Thesaurus

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