orthoepy
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of orthoepy
First recorded in 1660–70; from Greek orthoépeia “correctness of diction,” equivalent to ortho- “straight, correct, right” + epe- (stem of épos “word”) + -ia noun suffix; see origin at ortho-, -y 3
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.
But then these people spoke good English—better, perhaps, than common English nursery-maids, the greatest of their abuses in orthoepy being merely to teach a child to call its mother a "mare."
From Recollections of Europe by Cooper, James Fenimore
It is true that the pedantry of scholarship has put its sovereign veto against the practice of writing words as they are spoken, even could the orthoepy ever have been settled by an unquestioned standard.
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Disraeli, Isaac
Let him chant the Vedas, offending at each step against the rules of orthoepy!
From The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 Books 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 by Ganguli, Kisari Mohan
One affords a quaint definition of the combination of orthoepy with orthography, for he would teach “how to write or paint the image of man’s voice like to the life or nature.”
From Amenities of Literature Consisting of Sketches and Characters of English Literature by Disraeli, Isaac
Orthography addresses itself to the eye, orthoepy to the ear.
From A Handbook of the English Language by Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
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.
