Briticism

American  

[brit-uh-siz-uhm] / ˈbrɪt əˌsɪz əm /

noun

1. a word, idiom, or phrase characteristic of or restricted to British English, especially as compared with American English, as lift compared with elevator or in hospital with in the hospital.

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Briticism British  

/ ˈbrɪtɪˌsɪzəm /

noun

1. a custom, linguistic usage, or other feature peculiar to Britain or its people

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Etymology

Origin of Briticism

1865–70, British + -ism, with -ic for -ish on the model of Gallicism, etc.

Example Sentences

She says this as a matter of consensus, though to gaze at Wright, looking glam in borrowed clothes from Zero + Maria Cornejo, is to consider the observation — to borrow a Briticism — rubbish.

From Washington Post • May 2, 2017

The rest of the week he invites his sensitive soul and ear, especially in pubs, picks up many a slow-spoken Briticism: "If only Gandhi would fast at our house we could have his ration book."

From Time Magazine Archive

Granted that it has slipped into the uncritical compendiums which pass for dictionaries nowadays, "Briticism" is a case of verbal illegitimacy at its worst.

From Time Magazine Archive

Only a well-worn Briticism was adequate to describe this summer's weather in Britain and a good part of Western Europe: it was "absolutely filthy."

From Time Magazine Archive

Another more recent Briticism is the growing habit of dropping the article, and saying that "ministers are," meaning thereby that the cabinet as a whole is about to take action.

From Americanisms and Briticisms with other essays on other isms by Matthews, Brander