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orthographic

American  
[awr-thuh-graf-ik] / ˌɔr θəˈgræf ɪk /
Sometimes orthographical

adjective

  1. of or relating to orthography.

  2. orthogonal.


orthographic British  
/ ˌɔːθəʊˈɡræfɪk /

adjective

  1. of or relating to spelling

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • nonorthographic adjective
  • nonorthographical adjective
  • nonorthographically adverb
  • orthographically adverb
  • unorthographical adjective
  • unorthographically adverb

Etymology

Origin of orthographic

First recorded in 1660–70; orthograph(y) + -ic

Explanation

Something related to orthography — the conventional spellings of a language — can be described as orthographic. Orthographic comes from the Greek roots ortho, meaning correct, and graphos, meaning writing. You have made several orthographic errors if you write "alot of peeple came two the skool." The spelling of "a lot," "people," "to," and "school" are all incorrect. If you tend to spell this way, it's possible that you have an orthographic processing problem, or trouble visualizing the correct patterns for spelling words, which can also affect how well you can read. English has so many odd spellings that almost everyone makes the occasional orthographic mistake.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing orthographic

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He tested ChatGPT and, although the result “was perfectly written, from a syntactic, orthographic point of view,” it lacked poetry.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 12, 2024

In attempting to devise an alphabetic system with which to transliterate Chinese, Mr. Zhou was continuing an orthographic tradition that went back at least to the 16th century.

From New York Times • Jan. 14, 2017

Their ambitions of orthographic engineering are likely to be frustrated.

From Time • Feb. 17, 2016

The ə is an orthographic representation of the schwa, a ubiquitous and bland vowel sound—it’s the uh in dull.

From Slate • May 28, 2014

R. Cr.,' and it supplies these various readings: line 1, 'will:' line 7, 'call back:' line 16, 'my' for 'mine;' line 20-21, 'winge' and 'bringe:' line 40, 'treasures:' other orthographic differences only.

From The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume I (of 2) by Crashaw, Richard