List Of English Words With Disputed Usage
Some English words are often used in ways that are contentious between writers on usage and prescriptive commentators. The contentious usages are especially common in spoken English. While in some circles the usages below may make the speaker sound uneducated or illiterate, in other circles the more standard or more traditional usage may make the speaker sound stilted or pretentious.
| Abbrev. | Dictionary | Further details |
|---|---|---|
| AHD4 | American Heritage Dictionary | fourth edition |
| CHAMBERS | Chambers 21st Century Dictionary | 2006 |
| COD11 | Concise Oxford English Dictionary | 11th edition |
| COED | Compact Oxford English Dictionary | AskOxford.com |
| ENCARTA | Encarta World English Dictionary | online |
| FOWLER | The New Fowler's Modern English Usage | Revised Third Edition (1998) |
| M-W | Merriam-Webster | online |
| OED | Oxford English Dictionary | online |
| RH | Random House Unabridged Dictionary | 2006; at Dictionary.com |
| Contents: |
Top 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
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Read more about List Of English Words With Disputed Usage: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, W
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“The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.”
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“I made a list of things I have
to remember and a list
of things I want to forget,
but I see they are the same list.”
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“As words go crying after themselves, leaving the dream
Upended in a puddle somewhere
As though “dead” were just another adjective.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“I am using it [the word ‘perceive’] here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)