vocable
Americannoun
-
a word; term; name.
-
a word considered only as a combination of certain sounds or letters, without regard to meaning.
adjective
noun
-
any word, either written or spoken, regarded simply as a sequence of letters or spoken sounds, irrespective of its meaning
-
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.
Since Steam’s 1969 hit and “Hey Jude” both employ a common non-lexical vocable, it follows that sports fans in their home countries have adopted each for their own purposes.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
The same vocable is preserved to our day in the name borne by one of the provinces of Persia, Khouzistan.
From A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1 by Sir Walter Armstrong
The philanthropic spectator suffers from no scarcity of words to express his particular attitude if he desires to do so; why then should he not leave socialists the enjoyment of their vocable?
From Contemporary Socialism by John Rae
Often I had wished to test in speech the widely alleged merits of this vocable.
From Somewhere in Red Gap by Harry Leon Wilson
The word, which Littleton called "an heptastic vocable," comprehended the names of the seven Lord Mayors in whose mayoralties the Monument was begun, continued, and completed.
From Old and New London Volume I by Walter Thornbury
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.
