vocabulary

[ voh-kab-yuh-ler-ee ]

noun

, plural vo·cab·u·lar·ies.

1. the stock of words used by or known to a particular people or group of persons:

   His French vocabulary is rather limited. The scientific vocabulary is constantly growing.

2. a list or collection of the words or phrases of a language, technical field, etc., usually arranged in alphabetical order and defined:

   Study the vocabulary in the fourth chapter.

3. the words of a language.
4. any collection of signs or symbols constituting a means or system of nonverbal communication:

   vocabulary of a computer.

5. any more or less specific group of forms characteristic of an artist, a style of art, architecture, or the like.

vocabulary

/ vəˈkæbjʊlərɪ /

noun

1. a listing, either selective or exhaustive, containing the words and phrases of a language, with meanings or translations into another language; glossary
2. the aggregate of words in the use or comprehension of a specified person, class, profession, etc
3. all the words contained in a language
4. a range or system of symbols, qualities, or techniques constituting a means of communication or expression, as any of the arts or crafts

   a wide vocabulary of textures and colours

Other Words From

• vo·cabu·laried adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vocabulary¹

1525–35; < Medieval Latin vocābulārium, noun use of neuter of vocābulārius of words, equivalent to Latin vocābul ( um ) vocable + -ārius -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of vocabulary¹

C16: from Medieval Latin vocābulārium, from vocābulārius concerning words, from Latin vocābulum vocable

Example Sentences

They have oddly expansive vocabularies and eminently quotable catchphrases, one of which — “Be Excellent to Each Other” — was posted on the marquee on my local movie theater when the pandemic shut it down in March.

From Vox

Instead, the teen wrote tens of thousands of articles in English with a put-on Scottish accent, ignoring actual Scots grammar and vocabulary.

From Quartz

You speak in the voice and register that belongs to your old self—well-enunciated, resonant, its statements infiltrated by a formal, lawyerly vocabulary.

From MIT Technology Review

You know, so much of learning vocabulary is just word-definition, word-definition, word-definition.

From Everything After Z

The slightly modified version of Gödel’s scheme presented by Ernest Nagel and James Newman in their 1958 book, Gödel’s Proof, begins with 12 elementary symbols that serve as the vocabulary for expressing a set of basic axioms.

From Quanta Magazine

My Arabic is limited to a vocabulary of my favorite foods, such as “I love chicken and rice.”

From The Daily Beast

In an uncanny way, that describes the precise definition of the hipster, when the term first appeared in the American vocabulary.

From The Daily Beast

Here, the vocabulary of fast food for many young Brazilians is temaki (hand rolls) instead of burgers and fries.

From The Daily Beast

Without the freedom to act on moral values, there is not even a vocabulary for public virtue.

From The Daily Beast

Off camera, Rooney was growing up fast, ditching school and developing an impressive vocabulary of curse words.

From The Daily Beast

I hope you are able to bear the brunt of the battle, for my vocabulary will scarcely carry me through ten words.

From Project Gutenberg

This word, as well as the one last-named, is very expressive in the vocabulary of the vulgar.

From Project Gutenberg

The strength, the originality, the true raison d'être of the Provençal speech resides in its rich vocabulary.

From Project Gutenberg

We remark elsewhere the lack of independence in the dialect of Avignon, that its vocabulary alone gives it life.

From Project Gutenberg

But in Scotland you will hear the people using numbers of modern French words, which are no part of the English vocabulary.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dictionary
• glossary
• jargon
• terminology