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
After a time this "progressive" logomachy had reached a crisis of tedium; Lord Galloway got up also and sought the drawing-room.
From The Innocence of Father Brown by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
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
The balderdash of philosophers and scholars, the logomachy of the Middle Ages, thenceforth held absolute sway.
From Against the Grain by Huysmans, J.-K. (Joris-Karl)
Can any words more exactly describe the political reasonings of Mr Mill than those in which Lord Bacon thus describes the logomachies of the schoolmen?
From Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches — Volume 2 by Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
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)
They wander wearily through the mazes of psychological detail or wage almost childish logomachies over the interpretation of each other's essays.
From Essays Towards a Theory of Knowledge by Philip, Alexander
Wit is not thy strong point, friend Arnelm; and yet it is strange that in the sharp encounter of ready tongues and idle logomachies thou hast sometimes the advantage.
From Vivian Grey by Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield
Sweeping the subject-matter clear of all logomachies, he lets the light of common day fall upon it.
From Pioneers of Evolution from Thales to Huxley With an Intermediate Chapter on the Causes of Arrest of the Movement by Clodd, Edward
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.
