anagram
[ an-uh-gram ]
/ ˈæn əˌgræm /
noun
a word, phrase, or sentence formed from another by rearranging its letters: “Angel” is an anagram of “glean.”
anagrams, (used with a singular verb) a game in which the players build words by transposing and, often, adding letters.
verb (used with object), an·a·grammed, an·a·gram·ming.
to form (the letters of a text) into a secret message by rearranging them.
to rearrange (the letters of a text) so as to discover a secret message.
RELATED CONTENT
What Was Scrabble’s Original Name?Great things can come out of hard times — take Scrabble. During the Great Depression, architect Alfred Mosher Butts couldn’t find work. So he decided to create a board game that required the vocabulary skills of anagrams and crossword puzzles but also had an element of chance. Butts hand-drew the original board with architectural drafting equipment. He also hand-lettered the tiles. He studied the front page of …
Nearby words
anaglypta, anagnorisis, anagoge, anagogic, anagogy, anagram, anagrammatic, anagrammatize, anagrammer, anaheim, anakim
Origin of anagram
Related formsan·a·gram·mat·ic [an-uh-gruh-mat-ik] /ˌæn ə grəˈmæt ɪk/, an·a·gram·mat·i·cal, adjectivean·a·gram·mat·i·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for anagram
British Dictionary definitions for anagram
anagram
/ (ˈænəˌɡræm) /
noun
a word or phrase the letters of which can be rearranged into another word or phrase
Derived Formsanagrammatic (ˌænəɡrəˈmætɪk) or anagrammatical, adjectiveanagrammatically, adverb
Word Origin for anagram
C16: from New Latin anagramma, shortened from Greek anagrammatismos, from anagrammatizein to transpose letters, from ana- + gramma a letter
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for anagram
anagram
transposition of letters in a word so as to form another, 1580s, from French anagramme or Modern Latin anagramma (16c.), both from Greek anagrammatizein "transpose letters," from ana- "up, back" (see ana-) + gramma (genitive grammatos) "letter" (see grammar). Related: Anagrammatical; anagrammatically.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper