Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. A word that is either not an acronym but is taken to be one and for which a full form is invented by back-formation, or is an acronym and for which an alternative full form is invented by back-formation.
Etymologies
- Blend of back and acronym (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Nope — although I’m not too far from Cary (and yes — that backronym is commonly used around these parts).”
“In some ways, USA Today's report is a rebuttal to Tea Partiers and others who have complained about their supposedly intolerable tax burdens — the Tea Party's name is sometimes portrayed as backronym for "taxed enough already" — except perhaps for those in the highest brackets.”
“EH: “TEA” is a backronym when said to mean, “taxed enough already.””
The Volokh Conspiracy » Connecticut “Racial Ridicule” Statute
““TEA” is a backronym when said to mean, “taxed enough already.””
The Volokh Conspiracy » Connecticut “Racial Ridicule” Statute
“That looks ... unfortunate, but hey, we didn't backronym it correctly, and now we're stuck with it.”
International Wear A Dress Day 2009 -- Save The Date - A Dress A Day
“Choose one and then manufacture a ridiculous backronym to explain it.”
“Tea" as used here is also a backronym for "Taxed enough already.”
“That's one of the catalysts for things like the GaME (Games and Media Event, a rather fine backronym) events, annual one-day conferences hosted by Imperial College London with a selection of speakers drawn from across both industry and academia.”
“I think that 2. 5G is sort of like a backronym, despite not being an acrynom.”
“The backronym "King Asiatic Nobody's Equal" is often applied”
WN.com - Articles related to 10 ways to profit from food inflation
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘backronym’.
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back phrases/hyphens/compounds
backache to backyard
back-ache, back-aching, back-acter, back-acting, back-answer, back-bar, back-basket, back beat, back-bias, back-blast, back-blowing, back-boiler and 342 more...
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INTERP - terminology management terms
Terms from the fields of terminology, lexicography, lexicology and corpus linguistics
reworder, rewording, parser, parsing, tagger, tagging, aligner, aligning, content analysis, content analyzer, corpus management, glossary and 546 more...
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Grammar, language, linguistics, rhetoric
backronym, Logogriph, logodaedaly, Acrostic, tmesis, pleonasm, sesquipedality, periphrasis, peroration, solecism, longueur, periphrastic and 15 more...
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chambers dictionary 12th edition
a list of whats new
anyone read the Chambers?agroterror, agroterrors, agroterrorist, agroterrorists, backronym, backronyms, bahookie, bahookies, beatboxed, beatboxing, biocomputer, biocomputers and 65 more...
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Words about Words
backronym, contranym, haplology, enallage, paronomasia, scripturient, ambigram, idioglossia, dysphemism, tmesis, panvocalic, caconym and 10 more...
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Best words ever
The most awesome words.
abacot, aristology, autohagiography, backronym, bafflegab, bodacious, boustrophedonic, brobdingnagian, bromopnea, cachinnatory, dactylonomy, eagre and 26 more...
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addendumb's Words
fey, cockshut, redact, beatific, melange, arcanum, rarefied, dissemble, capitulation, detritus, ennui, anodyne and 381 more...
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Carlos' Words
monstropolous, absquatulate
triffid, calque, pinguid, refulgent, monstropolous, Seanchaí, clinquant, Chryselephantine ..., peavey, milium, swage, Burtillon, Burtil... and 215 more...
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Logodaedalus' Lexical Locutionary
Discombobulating the illiterate since the middle of the last century.
adiaphora, agitprop, alliteration, apophthegm, autarky, bête noire, bezoar, biorhythm, braggadocio, canaille, confabulate, confrère and 332 more...
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Review
Words to study and become more familiar with.
phatic, tontine, backronym, polyptoton, fissiparous, deus ex machina, orrery, prolly, mad props, snog, oubliette, copyleft and 101 more...
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vmarinelli's Words
canard, gumption, inexorable, insouciance, inviolable, mordant, euphonious, sawbuck, carpe diem, pay dirt, adipocere, profligate and 496 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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sarahatlee's Words
pants, nekkid, schadenfreude, unseasonably, illicit, glaswegian, cripes, futz, drawers, scupper, coulrophobic, redacted and 254 more...
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nfrank's Words
antediluvian, equivocate, inchoate, denouement, effulgent, edify, endemic, palimpsest, apropos, circumnavigate, circumlocution, cognoscente and 484 more...
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Words otherwise of note
palinode, discubation, apophasis, agathokakological, lachrymose, superfluous, gerund, serendipity, avuncular, onomatopoeia, chagrin, copacetic and 100 more...
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Meta-words
synecdoche, metonymy, paronomasia, polyptoton, anacoluthon, anadiplosis, anaphora, anastrophe, antimetabole, antistrophe, antithesis, chiasmus and 9 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for backronym.
fbharjo Is there such a thing as a 'frontrownym'?
It would garner a lot of 'hindsight'. Aug 28, 2010
lampbane BUMP
(Backronym: Bring Up My Post) Nov 23, 2009
arby From the examples:
"N.O.R.E. is a backronym for Niggaz On (the) Run Eatin"
Ha! Nov 23, 2009
jeliot an acronym constructed from a pre-existing word or words Aug 14, 2009
pterodactyl I'm not a photic sneezer, but I enjoyed this article. Sep 29, 2008
dontcry You know, my son has an episode of sneezing almost every morning. I've always teased, telling him he's allergic to morning! I really thought it had something to do with real allergies and perhaps breathing differently (through the nose instead of the mouth), after a deep sleep, upon just awakening. Now I can tell him he just has ACHOO! He'll like that. Sep 29, 2008
frogapplause Thanks, bilby. Sep 28, 2008
bilby *passes a handkerchief* Sep 28, 2008
frogapplause I have a condition known by a stupid backronym: ACHOO Syndrome. Medically, it is Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helioophthalmic Outburst Syndrome or "photic sneezing". Photic sneezers begin sneezing soon after they're exposed to bright sunlight. Is anybody else on Wordie a photic sneezer? Sep 28, 2008
mialuthien backronym – the reverse of producing an acronym; taking a word which already exists and creating a phrase (usually humorous) using the letters of the word as initials, from backwards) + acronym; see also bacronym Jul 18, 2008
reesetee Brain. Hurts. Oct 6, 2007
neely2kx An example of a backronym from the word acronym is as follows.
Acronyms Condense Representations Of Neologisms You Memorize
In this example, because the word acronym itself is not an acronym, the phrase above is a pure backronym, not a replacement backronym. Also, because the word acronym itself appears in its backronym, the phrase is also a recursive-backronym. Oct 6, 2007