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.

Nearby words

anaglypta, anagnorisis, anagoge, anagogic, anagogy, anagram, anagrammatize, anagrammer, anaheim, anakim, anal

Origin of anagram

1580–90; probably < Middle French anagramme < New Latin anagramma. See ana-, -gram¹

Related forms

an·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 anagrams

Upon opening The Warsaw Anagrams, I thought: why am I reading another Holocaust novel?
Must Read Novels|Lucy Scholes, John Wilwol, Randy Rosenthal, Nina MacLaughlin|August 4, 2011|DAILY BEAST
There is another near relation of the anagrams and acrostics, which is commonly called a chronogram.
Essays and Tales|Joseph Addison
I discovered two anagrams on his name, which are quite conclusive; the notion of gravitation was not new; but Newton went on.
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I (of II)|Augustus De Morgan
As for the Anagrams he could do no more than his best and that he was resolved to do.
Kipps|H. G. Wells

There is even a reference to a bibliographer of books of anagrams.
A History of Bibliographies of Bibliographies|Archer Taylor
I have never met with it in any collection of anagrams hitherto published.
Notes and Queries, Number 220, January 14, 1854|Various

British Dictionary definitions for anagrams

anagram

/ (ˈænəˌɡræm) /

noun

a word or phrase the letters of which can be rearranged into another word or phrase

Derived Forms

anagrammatic (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