Cacology
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Poor diction or choice of words. uncommon, uncountable, usually
"My lord's sayings and doings are most amusing. As I mentioned his cacology, I will give you a sample. His second wife took great pains to improve him, but in vain. When he came here under her tutelage, she watched his words, and always corrected him, even before company. One day, being asked to take some lunch, he declined, saying ‘I have been eating selvedges all day.’ My Lady, correcting, said, ‘Sandwiches, my Lord.’ He replied, ‘Ah, my Lady, I wish you'd be quiet, you're always rebuting me.’"
Example
More examples"My lord's sayings and doings are most amusing. As I mentioned his cacology, I will give you a sample. His second wife took great pains to improve him, but in vain. When he came here under her tutelage, she watched his words, and always corrected him, even before company. One day, being asked to take some lunch, he declined, saying ‘I have been eating selvedges all day.’ My Lady, correcting, said, ‘Sandwiches, my Lord.’ He replied, ‘Ah, my Lady, I wish you'd be quiet, you're always rebuting me.’"
Etymology
From caco- + -logy.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.