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nonce word

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English

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Etymology

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From for the nonce and word. Coined by James Murray, the influential first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Noun

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nonce word (plural nonce words)

  1. (lexicography) A word invented for the occasion; especially to create alliteration or a rhyme
    • 1974, Dr. Seuss, There's a Wocket in My Pocket!, Random House:
      Sometimes
      I feel quite CERTAIN
      there's a JERTAIN
      in my CURTAIN
    • 1889-1891, William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, et al., The Century Dictionary : an encyclopedic lexicon of the English language, The Century House, page 411:
      nonce-word (nons'wèrd) n. A word coined and used only for the nonce, for the particular occasion.

Synonyms

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Hypernyms

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Translations

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See also

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Anagrams

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