spell-check

American  

[spel-chek] / ˈspɛlˌtʃɛk /

Or spellcheck

verb (used with object)

spell-checks, present (3rd person singular) spellchecks, present (3rd person singular) spell-checked, past participle, past spellchecked, past participle, past spell-checking, present participle spellchecking present participle

1. to process (a document) with a spell checker; check the spelling of.

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noun

1. a check for misspellings by using a spell checker.

Usage

What does spell-check mean? Spell-check is computer software that identifies and corrects spelling errors in digital documents and messages. It’s also a noun and verb for the act of checking for misspellings.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• spell-checking
  present
• spellchecking
  present
• spell-checked
  past
• spellchecked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• spell-check
  simple
• spell-checks
  simple
• spellchecks
  simple
• have spell-checked
  perfect
• have spellchecked
  perfect
• has spell-checked
  perfect
• has spellchecked
  perfect
• am spell-checking
  progressive
• am spellchecking
  progressive
• are spell-checking
  progressive
• are spellchecking
  progressive
• is spell-checking
  progressive
• is spellchecking
  progressive
• have been spell-checking
  perfect progressive
• have been spellchecking
  perfect progressive
• has been spell-checking
  perfect progressive
• has been spellchecking
  perfect progressive

Past

• spell-checked
  simple
• spellchecked
  simple
• had spell-checked
  perfect
• had spellchecked
  perfect
• was spell-checking
  progressive
• was spellchecking
  progressive
• were spell-checking
  progressive
• were spellchecking
  progressive
• had been spell-checking
  perfect progressive
• had been spellchecking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will spell-check
  simple
• will have spell-checked
  perfect
• will have spellchecked
  perfect
• will be spell-checking
  progressive
• will be spellchecking
  progressive
• will have been spell-checking
  perfect progressive
• will have been spellchecking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of spell-check

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spell-check spellchecks spell-checked spell-checking

I can confirm it takes even Arnold Schwarzenegger a full two seconds to spell-check his own name, before he looks up and smiles: "Yes."

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2023

With the benefit of spell-check, we can lose our own spelling proficiency.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 29, 2023

Love can be the wrongly meaningful typo spell-check puts into your text.

From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2018

Ironically, what explanation has been used far more often since the advent of spell-check?

From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2017

But good old spell-check doesn’t always come through.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

These visual spellchecks also commonly do not check words beginning with capitals.

From The Project Gutenberg FAQ 2002 by Tinsley, Jim

Williams, a religion professor at the University of Southern California and a Buddhist priest, says Ancestry will have names that have been assiduously spell-checked.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2024

It’s hard to tell when you’re reading Marche and when you’re reading A.I., but it’s good to know there might still be humor, of a sort, in the spell-checked world of our digital-language overlords.

From New York Times ● May 1, 2023

The PGA Tour heads to Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship, aka the most spell-checked event of the year by U.S. golf writers.

From Golf Digest ● Aug. 30, 2016

I found the ball and threw it back to him, *** Quick tidied and spell-checked to here—page 155 *** “What are you doing?”

From Sketches in Lavender, Blue and Green by Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)

Grammarly, the popular grammar and spell-checking tool, explicitly states that any text you place in its system can be used to train AI systems in perpetuity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2023

He also developed his own software products, including one of the first programs to provide automatic spell-checking and language translation.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 25, 2022

Google says the feature works on-device, and joins its existing spell-checking functionality.

From The Verge ● Mar. 10, 2022

Autocorrect, spell-checking, and other assistive devices are disabled. Headphones are not allowed; you must use your device’s speakers and microphone.

From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2016

Students do everything by computer, use Gaelic spell-checking, a Gaelic online terminology database.

From The Internet and Languages [around the year 2000] by Lebert, Marie