vocabulary

American  

[voh-kab-yuh-ler-ee] / voʊˈkæb jəˌlɛr i /

noun

• vocabularies
  plural

1. the stock of words used by or known to a particular people or group of persons.

   His French vocabulary is rather limited. The scientific vocabulary is constantly growing.

2. a list or collection of the words or phrases of a language, technical field, etc., usually arranged in alphabetical order and defined.

   Study the vocabulary in the fourth chapter.

3. the words of a language.

4. any collection of signs or symbols constituting a means or system of nonverbal communication.

   vocabulary of a computer.

5. any more or less specific group of forms characteristic of an artist, a style of art, architecture, or the like.

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vocabulary British  

/ vəˈkæbjʊlərɪ /

noun

1. a listing, either selective or exhaustive, containing the words and phrases of a language, with meanings or translations into another language; glossary

2. the aggregate of words in the use or comprehension of a specified person, class, profession, etc

3. all the words contained in a language

4. a range or system of symbols, qualities, or techniques constituting a means of communication or expression, as any of the arts or crafts

   a wide vocabulary of textures and colours

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• vocabularied
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vocabularies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of vocabulary

1525–35; < Medieval Latin vocābulārium, noun use of neuter of vocābulārius of words, equivalent to Latin vocābul ( um ) vocable + -ārius -ary

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Explanation

Vocabulary is all about words — the words in a language or a special set of words you are trying to learn. Vocabulary is so important, we even created a web site to help expand yours. First used in the 1500s to mean a list of words with explanations, the noun vocabulary came to refer to the “range of language of a person or group” about two hundred years later. A lot of hobbies, like fishing or knitting, require that you learn their unique vocabulary before you can get the most out of them. If you're in a rush, vocab is a faster way to say vocabulary.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vocabulary vocabularies

Comprehension-knowledge refers to the vocabulary, concepts and background information a child has accumulated through learning and everyday experiences.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026

In addition to field trips, there are also digital teaching resources about the attacks, such as "OOPA's World of Words," an online series of videos to build vocabulary and social literacy for younger readers.

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

Now that term is barred from everyone’s vocabulary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

More than a century later, the vocabulary has modernized, but the underlying idea has barely budged.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

No, I know a better vocabulary word: scowled.

From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

In totalitarian regimes, censored vocabularies create the illusion of consensus and the impossibility of dissent.

From Salon ● May 3, 2025

The works by Dennis are so faithful to existing vocabularies of infrastructure that they defy classification as art objects.

From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2024

Toossi’s script handles this duality elegantly: The actors speak unaccented, colloquial English when they’re speaking Farsi; when they’re speaking English, their vocabularies scale back, and syntax becomes stilted, indefinite articles get forgotten.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 8, 2024

On average, children with several ear infections before three years of age had smaller vocabularies and a harder time matching similar sounding words than children with few or no ear infections.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 3, 2024

We've searched our vocabularies for the name of the wood and settled on mahogany.

From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour

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Related Words

• dictionary
• glossary
• jargon
• terminology

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