Headword
/ˈhɛdwɜːd/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A word (or compound term) used as the title of a list entry or section, particularly in a dictionary, encyclopedia, or thesaurus.
- 2 a word placed at the beginning of a line or paragraph (as in a dictionary entry) wordnet
- 3 The head of a phrase.
"In "a very discerning car shopper", "shopper" is the headword."
- 4 a content word that can be qualified by a modifier wordnet
Example
More examples"In this dictionary the pronunciation comes right after the headword."
Etymology
From head + word. Compare West Frisian haadwurd (“noun, substantive, headword”), Dutch hoofdwoord (“headword”), German Hauptwort (“noun, substantive, headword”), Swedish huvudord (“headword, keyword”).