Glossism
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A focus on the translated meaning of a word or phrase, ignoring all other linguistic attributes such as syntax and phonology. uncountable
"This kind of language, obviously, was not a language for writing, and, indeed, not much documentation has been preserved. What little has survived is, again, literary and, again, due to glossism, i.e., the literary exigencies of color, fun, and satire."
Example
More examples"This kind of language, obviously, was not a language for writing, and, indeed, not much documentation has been preserved. What little has survived is, again, literary and, again, due to glossism, i.e., the literary exigencies of color, fun, and satire."
Etymology
From gloss + -ism.
More for "glossism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.