logomachy
Americannoun
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a dispute about or concerning words.
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an argument or debate marked by the reckless or incorrect use of words; meaningless battle of words.
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a game played with cards, each bearing one letter, with which words are formed.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of logomachy
First recorded in 1560–70; from Greek logomachía; see origin at logo-, -machy
Explanation
A fight about words is called logomachy. You don't have to be an etymologist to find yourself caught up in logomachy, but you have to care about words and their meanings. You and your word-loving friends might engage in logomachy, if you argue about the Latin and Sanskrit roots of your favorite words. There's not much to disagree on when it comes to the rare word logomachy itself, though — in Greek, logos means "word," and the suffix -machy always means "battle" or "contest," from the Greek makhe, or "fight."
Vocabulary lists containing logomachy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This was just the beginning of the logomachy.
From Slate ● Jan. 4, 2012
We are today solid enough, balanced enough, sure enough of ourselves not to be impressed either by logomachy* or gesticulations ...
From Time Magazine Archive
A similar logomachy has marked the course of Milton's champions; words like sharp swords have been wielded by ignorance, and have injured the poet's true fame.
From English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction by Coppee, Henry
Later Lutherans treated the controversy as a useless logomachy.
From Church History, Vol. 3 of 3 by Kurtz, J. H.
The debate thus turns on a question of terminology—that is to say, on a vain and barren logomachy.
From Outlines of a Philosophy of Religion based on Psychology and History by Sabatier, Auguste
Sometimes, perhaps, they will lose themselves in endless subtleties and logomachies and construct cobwebs of the brain, predestined to the rubbish-heap of extinct philosophies.
From Social Rights and Duties, Volume I (of 2) Addresses to Ethical Societies by Stephen, Leslie, Sir
He had exploded the scholastic system, which had become a mere mass of logomachies and an incubus upon scientific progress.
From The English Utilitarians, Volume I. by Stephen, Leslie, Sir
These theologians were, on the one hand, opposed to all unnecessary logomachies i.e., controversies involving no doctrinal differences, and, at the same time, were most careful not to fall into any extreme position themselves.
From Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church by Bente, F. (Friedrich)
Abstract discussions about person, nature and union of natures soon degenerate into logomachies.
From Monophysitism Past and Present A Study in Christology by Luce, A. A. (Arthur Aston)
Both the adverse parties triumphed; that is usual in these logomachies; but the Romanists account for the success of the Reformed by the circumstance that their judges were Reformers.
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Disraeli, Isaac
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
