Said-bookism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A verb (such as "explained", "shouted", or "uttered") used to indicate dialogue when writing fiction, chosen so as to avoid using the word "said". rare
"Jim Blish once dedicated a book to me. He introduced me to the music of Charles Ives, to the taste of Vander Flip, to the urgency of avoiding the said-bookism, to the concept of the watershed, to the pleasures of Indo-Ceylonese food."
- 2 The studious avoidance, in writing dialogue, of the word "said". uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Jim Blish once dedicated a book to me. He introduced me to the music of Charles Ives, to the taste of Vander Flip, to the urgency of avoiding the said-bookism, to the concept of the watershed, to the pleasures of Indo-Ceylonese food."
Etymology
From The Said Book + -ism; coined by James Blish, writing under the pen name William Atheling Jr., after The Said Book, the title of a booklet for aspiring writers listing countless alternatives to the word “said” in writing dialogue.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.