Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A word or phrase created because an existing term that was once used alone needs to be distinguished from a term referring to a new development, as acoustic guitar in contrast to electric guitar or analog watch in contrast to digital watch.
Wiktionary
- n. A new word or phrase coined for an old object or concept whose original name has become used for something else or is no longer unique (such as acoustic guitar where guitar used to mean this but can now also refer to an electric guitar).
WordNet 3.0
- n. a word introduced because an existing term has become inadequate
Etymologies
- retr(o)- + -onym.
Examples
“Now that cordless drills have become so common, I notice an example of what you call a retronym: corded drills.”
“I’ve heard the term retronym used for neologisms that are coined to refit old words that have since become ambiguous.”
Rambles at starchamber.com » Blog Archive » The word “virtual” is meaningless
“The competition was to for the best "retronym" a term for an old object needing clarification.”
“Then we could have retronym, meaning a word formed by reversing the spelling of another word.”
“The top retronym terms that were submitted for a non-Internet librarian were:”
“It's the Retronymy, Stupid In a 1992 "On Language" column, William Safire of the New York Times explained the concept of a retronym:”
“My uncle not Meta, if KTK is reading coined the term “retronym” to describe the phenomenon of labeling original terms as opposed to derivations thereof.”
“I tend to think of Orthodox Judaism as a retronym, or a new term for an old concept.”
“Because of wireless cell phones, a line now requires a retronym: landline.”
Simon & Schuster: The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time
“Is the oldest retronym not-forbidden fruit older than non-circumcised penis and kosher food?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘retronym’.
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Word Words
This used to be my nym list, but there are so many words about words, I think it's time to expand and open.
acronym, antonym, aptronym, autoantonym, autonym, bacronym, capitonym, contranym, contronym, eponym, exonym, heteronym and 120 more...
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Open List: Totally -Retro-
A list of terms containing the string -retro-.
Please feel free to help me populate this list!
retrolingual, retroversion, retrocession, retrocessional, retrograde, retrorse, retroflexion, retroflection, retrogradation, retrocede, retrospect, retrospection and 149 more...
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Wordplay & Pun
wordplay, pound, conceit, clinch, joke, quibble, equivoque, double-entendre, quillet, calembour, carriwitchet, paranomasia and 89 more...
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Fictional music genres
fudgepunk, whangboogie, electrogush, jizzbilly, glambient, queasy listening, chip shop, baroque'n'roll, prog folk, chemo, riant grrl, blingfolk and 556 more...
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-onym, -onymous, -onymic
denoting or relating to names
acronym, synonymous, patronymic, antonym, ananym, anonym, aptronym, autonym, caconym, cohyponym, cryptonym, dionym and 29 more...
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Nyms
synonym, antonym, eudonym, retronym, homonym, womonym, ananym, aptronym, autoantonym, bacronym, capitonym, endonym and 16 more...
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first list
whatever words
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