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 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 Rae, John
Never before or since, I fancy, has the air of the Adirondack wilderness vibrated more repugnantly to a vocable than it did that night to the word "academicism."
From Memories and Studies by James, Henry
Nothing human was alien to him, nor inhuman, for he rejected as quite meaningless the latter vocable, as he rejected such clichés as "organic and inorganic."
From Unicorns by Huneker, James
Ideas breed vocables; but seldom, except among rhymesters, does a vocable give birth to a popular idea: and in Arabic “Sibr,” as well as “Sabr,” is the name of the Aloe.
From Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
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
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.
