noun
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the act or process of writing words by using the letters conventionally accepted for their formation; orthography
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the art or study of orthography
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the actual way in which a word is spelt
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the ability of a person to spell
John's spelling is good
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of spelling
Vocabulary lists containing spelling
TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Research Report
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Selecting and Evaluating Sources and Research Report
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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:
The 90-second video, uploaded to Instagram by content creator Ed Choi, was shot Sunday at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, where Raman held a rally spelling out her plan for her first 100 days as mayor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
They are not just talking about adding on a few cells here and there, but spelling out a monumental increase in the numbers of people that the country locks up.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
"Charging parents just to sit with their children is a rip-off, plain and simple," he added, and being "hit with a hefty fee for a simple spelling mistake on a booking form isn't right either".
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Meta is reassuring potential Musers by spelling out “first-of-its-kind privacy, safety, and security protections,” including “Sentinel” agents to approve each Muse agent’s work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Mr. Smollet’s spelling misled me, as I asked for Poter’s Court instead of Potter’s Court.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Noah Webster, the creator of the first American dictionary of English, championed the spellings “opake,” “soop” and “spunge”—all of which now look like howlers waiting for a red pen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025
The so-called invading force of my generation assimilated to the point where our kids are named Brandon and Ashley in all sorts of spellings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2025
And because Jefferson's original moniker was spelled as Megalonyx, any other subsequent spellings of the name, like some that utilize the -onix suffix, are incorrect.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2024
"In some of our electronic communications, we've now dropped into phonetic spellings rather than the actual spellings," Mr Chard added.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2023
It seems all the cities I have heard of, except Shanghai, have changed their spellings.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
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.
