headword
Bold glossary term
A headword is the word or phrase that begins a dictionary entry, typically set in bold type, under which all definitions, usage notes, and examples are organized.
Each entry you look up is filed under its headword.
In linguistics and lexicography, the term also applies to the central word in a phrase that determines its grammatical category: in the old house, house is the headword.
Base form, or helper theorem
- rootUnderground absorbing structure
- stemPlant's central axis
- baseSupporting bottom structure
- lexemeFundamental dictionary unit
morpheme · inflection · conjugation · declension · prefix · suffix · affix · derivation
Alphabetical word reference
- entryAccess or submission
- definitionStatement of meaning
- lexiconVocabulary of a language
- glossaryAlphabetical list with definitions
thesaurus · reference · etymology · pronunciation · lemma · cross-reference · run-on · lexicographer
What something signifies
- definitionStatement of meaning
- sensePerception or judgment
- denotationWord's explicit dictionary meaning
- connotationImplied sense, not dictionary
synonym · antonym · nuance · polysemy · homonymy · context · usage · interpretation
Thick, dark lettering
- catchwordPopular recurring phrase
- alphabetizationSorting by letter sequence
- indentationInward cut or setback
- fontCharacter style set
capitalization · syllabification · stress mark · diacritical · pronunciation key
lemma
Base form, or helper theorem
lexeme · morpheme · inflection · conjugation · declension · prefix · suffix · affix · derivation · paradigm
dictionary
Alphabetical word reference
- entryAccess or submission
- definitionStatement of meaning
- lexiconVocabulary of a language
glossary · thesaurus · reference · etymology · pronunciation · lemma · cross-reference · run-on · lexicographer · concordance
meaning
What something signifies
- definitionStatement of meaning
- sensePerception or judgment
- denotationWord's explicit dictionary meaning
connotation · synonym · antonym · nuance · polysemy · homonymy · context · usage · interpretation · signification
boldface
Thick, dark lettering
- catchwordPopular recurring phrase
- alphabetizationSorting by letter sequence
- indentationInward cut or setback
font · capitalization · syllabification · stress mark · diacritical · pronunciation key
- vocabularywords, new words, term, terms, definition
- German-English dictionarytranslation, vocabulary, glossary, wordbook, entry
- dictionary featuresMerriam-Webster, thesaurus, glossary, lexicon, spellcheck
- dictionary partsdefinition, words, entry, definitions, part of speech
- dictionary termsOxford, Merriam-Webster, thesaurus, lexicon, glossary
- linguistic unitsmorpheme, phoneme, grapheme, syllable, letter
headworddefinition
Statement of meaning
explanation · gloss · subentry · etymology · example sentence
headwordbody text
Document's main prose
footnote · subheading · annotation · commentary · elaboration