cruciverbalist

[ kroo-suh-vur-buh-list ]

noun

1. a designer or aficionado of crossword puzzles.

cruciverbalist

/ ˌkruːsɪˈvɜːbəlɪst /

noun

1. a crossword puzzle enthusiast

Word History and Origins

Origin of cruciverbalist¹

First recorded in 1975–80; from Latin cruci- + verbalist; cross

Word History and Origins

Origin of cruciverbalist¹

C20: from Latin crux cross + verbum word

Example Sentences

There is no doubt that Evan Birnholz is a brilliant professional cruciverbalist, who deserves a more focused and sophisticated audience with respect to crossword puzzles.

From Washington Post

If doing the Saturday crossword in pen seems like a magic trick, prepare yourself for David Kwong, a conjurer and a cruciverbalist.

From New York Times

If doing the Saturday crossword in pen seems like a magic trick, prepare yourself for David Kwong, a conjurer and a cruciverbalist.

From New York Times

“My mom. Her name is Siobhan, and she’s a cruciverbalist.”

From Literature

As she put it at the 2004 conference, she became a translator “by pure accident,” although her interest in literature began early, in a bookish household where her mother was a homemaker, her father was a cruciverbalist who devised puzzles for the Times of London, and her grandfather was a deputy editor of the Observer newspaper who steered her toward his Loeb collection of Greek and Latin classics.

From Washington Post