walking dictionaries
Living reference books
Walking dictionaries are people with exceptional vocabularies who can define words on demand.
The term playfully imagines someone as a reference book you can consult: My grandmother was a walking dictionary—she knew every word in the crossword.
The pattern extends to other knowledge: walking encyclopedia, walking database.
Marked by serious learning
- learnedHaving much knowledge
- professorialBefitting an academic lecturer
- academicRelating to education or theory
- bookishDevoted to reading
pedantic · well-read · lettered · studious · intellectual · cultivated · highbrow · donnish
Person of profound learning
- polymathMulti-domain expert
- expertHighly skilled practitioner
- authorityPower to enforce obedience
- specialistExpert in one field
maven · connoisseur · aficionado · pundit · guru · sage · master · whiz
Condensed reference collection
- lexiconVocabulary of a language
- referenceDirecting attention elsewhere
- repositoryPlace for storing things
- encyclopediaComprehensive subject-matter collection
database · archive · glossary · thesaurus · anthology · catalogue · compilation · digest
Mind's retention capacity
- retentionContinued holding or possession
- recollectionRecalled mental image
- memorizationCommitting information to recall
- triviaUnimportant miscellaneous facts
factoids · minutiae · esoterica · arcana · details · data · information · facts
scholarly
Marked by serious learning
- learnedHaving much knowledge
- professorialBefitting an academic lecturer
- academicRelating to education or theory
bookish · pedantic · well-read · lettered · studious · intellectual · cultivated · highbrow · donnish · cerebral
savant
Person of profound learning
specialist · maven · connoisseur · aficionado · pundit · guru · sage · master · whiz · buff
compendium
Condensed reference collection
- lexiconVocabulary of a language
- referenceDirecting attention elsewhere
- repositoryPlace for storing things
encyclopedia · database · archive · glossary · thesaurus · anthology · catalogue · compilation · digest · almanac
memory
Mind's retention capacity
- retentionContinued holding or possession
- recollectionRecalled mental image
- memorizationCommitting information to recall
trivia · factoids · minutiae · esoterica · arcana · details · data · information · facts · tidbits
walking dictionariesignoramuses
Profoundly uninformed persons
know-nothings · illiterates · dunces · dimwits · dullards
walking dictionariesanti-intellectuals
Those opposing learned discourse
walking, dictionaries, walked, walks, walker, walkers, walkable, dictionary, diction