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Comprehension of idioms. Comprehension of idioms is the act of processing and understanding idioms. Idioms are a common type of figure of speech. Based on common linguistic definitions, an idiom is a combination of words that contains a meaning that cannot be understood based on the literal definition of the individual words. [1]
[6] Most reference works, including the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, supply an origin date of 1940–1944, generally attributing it to the United States Army. [citation needed] Rick Atkinson ascribes the origin of SNAFU, FUBAR, and a bevy of other terms to cynical G.I.s ridiculing the Army's penchant for acronyms. [7]
An American-style crossword grid layout. A crossword (or crossword puzzle) is a word game consisting of a grid of black and white squares, into which solvers enter words or phrases ("entries") crossing each other horizontally ("across") and vertically ("down") according to a set of clues. Each white square is typically filled with one letter ...
"Gerrymander," "blue states," and "red tape." These words populate headlines and newspaper articles regularly, with many writers taking their meaning for granted, but a look through history can ...
Meaning Origin language and etymology Example(s) dacry(o)-of or pertaining to tears: Greek δάκρυ, tear dacryoadenitis, dacryocystitis-dactyl(o)-of or pertaining to a finger, toe Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos), finger, toe dactylology, polydactyly: de-from, down, or away from Latin de-dehydrate, demonetize, demotion dent-
It maintains a consistent meaning regardless of the context, [3] with the intended meaning of a phrase corresponding exactly to the meaning of its individual words. [4] On the contrary, figurative use of language (a later offshoot being the term figure of speech ) is the use of words or phrases with a meaning that does make literal sense but ...
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
Foreign-language influences in English. The English language descends from Old English, the West Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons. Most of its grammar, its core vocabulary and the most common words are Germanic. [ 1] Around 70 percent of words in a randomly chosen piece of text [clarification needed] derive from Old English, even if ...