vocable
Americannoun
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a word; term; name.
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a word considered only as a combination of certain sounds or letters, without regard to meaning.
adjective
noun
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any word, either written or spoken, regarded simply as a sequence of letters or spoken sounds, irrespective of its meaning
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a vocal sound; vowel
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of vocable
1520–30; < Latin vocābulum a word, a name, equivalent to vocā ( re ) to call + -bulum noun suffix
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.
The initial i in the particle -ile often affects the last or penultimate syllable of the verbal root, thereby causing one of the very rare changes which take place in this vocable.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" by Various
The primitive vocable now conveyed a lively resentment, but there was the pleading of a patient sufferer in what followed.
From Somewhere in Red Gap by Harry Leon Wilson
I regret to see that vile and barbarous vocable talented, stealing out of the newspapers into the leading reviews and most respectable publications of the day.
From Specimens of the Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Henry Nelson Coleridge
Suppose I have an idea to which I give utterance by the vocable 'skrkl,' claiming at the same time that it is true.
From Meaning of Truth by William James
There is no such Saxon vocable as dare, to stare.
From Notes and Queries, Number 188, June 4, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various
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.
