Use this tag for questions that are about finding a single word to fit a meaning. Describe the word's intended meaning, its connotation (is it laudatory or derogatory?), and/or its context in as much detail as you can. Questions that show no research are likely to be closed. Include a sample sentence (or several) to show users how this single word fits in a sentence.
A few sample questions that definitely belong in this tag:
- What's the single-word for "left or right handed"?
- What is a word that means unforgettable but with a negative connotation?
- What do you call a note that gives preliminary information before the main part?
- Aren’t there English equivalents to Japanese word, Senpai (先輩) meaning a senior in school, career, or age?
- Derogatory term for a nobleman
- Is there a word, phrase, or idiom for a person who stays too late at an event such as a dinner party?
This tag should be distinguished from:
- phrase-requests, which is for questions specifically seeking multi-word phrases rather than single words, though both tags may be used in conjunction when you want a term but don't care if it's a single-word or multi-word term
- word-choice, which is for "versus" questions, when you already have several alternatives at your disposal, but are not sure which one to use
- vocabulary, which is for more broad questions, e.g. those that ask for lots of words at once
How to do research for a single word request
If you can think of a word with a similar meaning, you should look it up in a thesaurus as part of your research. If there are any synonyms that seem close to what you're looking for, but not quite right, mention them in your question and explain why you don't think these words would fit.
Relevant details you may want to include
- connotation: should the word be positive or negative?
- register or level of speech: should the word be formal or informal?
- part of speech: do you want a noun, a verb, or an adjective? Or would you be fine with a word in any of these grammatical categories?
Question Checklist
Before making a single-word request, ask yourself the following questions (taken from this meta topic about good request questions):
- Does the question describe exactly in what context you want to use a single word?
- Does the question specify the criteria by which the suggested word will be accepted? (How will you choose the best word? What is "best"?)
- Does the question list which words you didn't like, and why they aren't suitable?
- Does the question show that you searched for a suitable word before asking the question?
Note that there is no law that says that every concept has a single word that can be used to describe/identify it.
