6 N‑SING If you say that someone does not hear, understand, or say a word , you are emphasizing that they hear, understand, or say nothing at all. [EMPHASIS ] □ I can't understand a word she says. □ Not a word was spoken.
7 N‑UNCOUNT [oft the N ] If there is word of something, people receive news or information about it. □ [+ from ] There is no word from the authorities on the reported attack. □ Word has been spreading fast of the incidents on the streets.
8 N‑SING If you give your word , you make a sincere promise to someone. □ …an adult who gave his word the boy would be supervised. □ He simply cannot be trusted to keep his word.
9 N‑SING If someone gives the word to do something, they give an order to do it. □ I want nothing said about this until I give the word.
10 VERB To word something in a particular way means to choose or use particular words to express it. □ [V n adv/prep] If I had written the letter, I might have worded it differently. ● -worded COMB □ …a strongly-worded statement. □ …a carefully-worded speech.
11 → see also code word , four-letter word , play on words , printed word , spoken word , wording , written word
12 PHRASE If you say that people consider something to be a dirty word , you mean that they disapprove of it. □ So many people think feminism is a dirty word.
13 PHRASE If you do something from the word go , you do it from the very beginning of a period of time or situation. □ It's essential you make the right decisions from the word go.
14 PHRASE You can use in their words or in their own words to indicate that you are reporting what someone said using the exact words that they used. □ Even the Assistant Secretary of State had to admit that previous policy did not, in his words, produce results.
15 PHRASE You use in a word to indicate that you are giving a summary of what you have just been saying, or are giving a reply, in as brief a way as possible. □ 'Shouldn't he be given the leading role?'—'In a word–No.'
16 PHRASE If someone has the last word or the final word in a discussion, argument, or disagreement, they are the one who wins it or who makes the final decision. □ She does like to have the last word in any discussion. □ The final word will still come from the Secretary of State.
17 PHRASE If you say that something is the last word in luxury, comfort, or some other quality, you are emphasizing that it has a great deal of this quality. [EMPHASIS ] □ The spa is the last word in luxury and efficiency.
18 PHRASE If you say that someone has said something, but not in so many words , you mean that they said it or expressed it, but in a very indirect way. □ 'And has she agreed to go with you?'—'Not in so many words. But I read her thoughts.'
19 PHRASE If news or information passes by word of mouth , people tell it to each other rather than it being printed in written form. □ The story has been passed down by word of mouth.
20 PHRASE You say in other words in order to introduce a different, and usually simpler, explanation or interpretation of something that has just been said. □ The mobile library services have been reorganised–in other words, they visit fewer places.
21 PHRASE If you say something in your own words , you express it in your own way, without copying or repeating someone else's description. □ Now tell us in your own words about the events of Saturday.
22 PHRASE If you say to someone ' take my word for it ', you mean that they should believe you because you are telling the truth. □ You'll buy nothing but trouble if you buy that house, take my word for it.
23 PHRASE If you repeat something word for word , you repeat it exactly as it was originally said or written. □ I don't try to memorize speeches word for word.
24 not get a word in edgeways → see edgeways
25 not mince your words → see mince
26 the operative word → see operative
27 war of words → see war
-word /-wɜː r d/ (-words ) COMB You can use -word after a letter of the alphabet to refer politely or humorously to a word beginning with that letter which people find offensive or are embarrassed to use. □ It was the first show to use the F-word and show nudity on stage. □ Politicians began to use the dreaded R-word: recession.
wo rd class (word classes ) N‑COUNT A word class is a group of words that have the same basic behaviour, for example nouns, adjectives, or verbs.
word|ing /wɜː r d I ŋ/ N‑UNCOUNT [oft a N ] The wording of a piece of writing or a speech are the words used in it, especially when these are chosen to have a particular effect. □ [+ of ] The two sides failed to agree on the wording of a final report. □ The wording is so vague that no one actually knows what it means.
word|less /wɜː r dləs/
1 ADJ You say that someone is wordless when they do not say anything, especially at a time when they are expected to say something. [LITERARY ] □ She stared back, now wordless. □ The two women live in wordless isolation. ● word|less|ly ADV [ADV with v] □ Gil downed his food wordlessly, his attention far away.
2 ADJ [usu ADJ n] If someone makes a wordless sound, they make a sound that does not seem to contain any words. [LITERARY ] □ …a wordless chant. □ He shrieked a long, wordless cry.