orthographic
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of orthographic
First recorded in 1660–70; orthograph(y) + -ic
Explanation
Something related to orthography — the conventional spellings of a language — can be described as orthographic. Orthographic comes from the Greek roots ortho, meaning correct, and graphos, meaning writing. You have made several orthographic errors if you write "alot of peeple came two the skool." The spelling of "a lot," "people," "to," and "school" are all incorrect. If you tend to spell this way, it's possible that you have an orthographic processing problem, or trouble visualizing the correct patterns for spelling words, which can also affect how well you can read. English has so many odd spellings that almost everyone makes the occasional orthographic mistake.
Vocabulary lists containing orthographic
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.
He tested ChatGPT and, although the result “was perfectly written, from a syntactic, orthographic point of view,” it lacked poetry.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
The orthographic debate the bill seeks to settle is older than the bridge itself.
From New York Times ● Jun. 7, 2018
Their ambitions of orthographic engineering are likely to be frustrated.
From Time ● Feb. 17, 2016
The ə is an orthographic representation of the schwa, a ubiquitous and bland vowel sound—it’s the uh in dull.
From Slate ● May 28, 2014
Eighteenth-century orthographic practice would have permitted such spellings.
From Atalantis Major by Defoe, Daniel
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.
