English Dictionary |
HEAD WORD
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
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Dictionary entry overview: What does head word mean?
• HEAD WORD (noun)
The noun HEAD WORD has 2 senses:
1. a content word that can be qualified by a modifier
2. (grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent
Familiarity information: HEAD WORD used as a noun is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A content word that can be qualified by a modifier
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Synonyms:
head word; headword
Hypernyms ("head word" is a kind of...):
content word; open-class word (a word to which an independent meaning can be assigned)
Holonyms ("head word" is a part of...):
phrase (an expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Synonyms:
head; head word
Hypernyms ("head word" is a kind of...):
word (a unit of language that native speakers can identify)
Domain category:
grammar (the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology (and sometimes also deals with semantics))
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