- counterword
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A word whose new meaning is overused, and not intended for what the original meaning is.
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counterword
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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 … Universalium
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
