Is there a term for when a word is still widely used but few people know its exact meaning?

“Pragmatic” is the word I have in mind. Most people probably can’t define it without a dictionary, so we infer its meaning from context.

Maybe “semantic dilution”, like the opposite of semantic saturation? Sorry if this is better for r/linguistics but I’ve contributed here a few times so I’m hoping you all can return the favor.

For the curious - here are modern definitions of pragmatic:

• of or relating to a practical point of view or practical considerations

• of or relating to pragmatics (the branch of semiotics dealing with the casual relations between words)

• treating historical phenomena with special reference to their causes, antecedent conditions, and results.

• of or relating to the affairs of state or community

Is there a word that describes those alliterative numbers?

I just want confirmation if this word exists or if I’ve been combining the two/using “commensuration” wrong for all these years.

"WTW

unprecedented doesn't sound right here. any ideas for better words? also, i don't really like the way of describing how my peers and I are sharing this "joy". any ideas for rephrasing it?

At school, I helped my classmates with in-class assignments, which allowed me to identify flaws in my own understanding. I became better at identifying bugs, and by explaining my thought process, I allowed my classmates to learn how I would go about solving an error. The joy of debugging a defect felt like finding the answer to a challenging calculus or physics problem, and I wanted to share this unprecedented joy with my friends - the enjoyment was unlike anything else. I also joined Coding Power, a non-profit organization that aims to teach young children coding. By seeing these children solve problems on their own, they were able to share “the joy” with me.

I’ve got a character on her deathbed and I can’t recall the right word I want to use. It’s on the tip of my tongue! She’s regretting her actions leading up to it, since her death was entirely her fault and avoidable and she knew better, and basically grieving what she’s leaving behind if that helps?

This has been bugging me, and I'm not sure if I've deluded myself into thinking there was or if it actually exists and I've lost it in my vocabulary.

Is there a adjective for almost perfect? Like, it's almost right, but not quite? It fits but a tiny, inconsequential thing is just slightly off?

I hope how I worded this makes sense. Thank you!

Instead of saying “I need you.” they’ll say “I have need of you.”

Instead of saying “Don’t be scared.” they’ll say “Fear not.”

Instead of saying “It doesn’t matter.” they’ll say “It matters not.”

Instead of saying “I didn’t ask for this.” they’ll say “I asked not for this.”

Instead of saying “I don’t care.” they’ll say “I care not.”

Instead of saying “I won’t allow it.” they’ll say “I shall not allow it.”

Instead of saying “It hasn’t always been like this.” they’ll say ”It has not always been thus.”

Instead of asking “You think I’m a fool?” they’ll ask “You think me a fool?”

They’ll also say things like “So long did I stand at the gates between this life and the next, trapped at the nexus of what was and what wasn’t.”

These are just a few examples. There has to be some sort of term for talking like this, right?

In college, the teacher would give us a stapled packet of badly scanned reading materials. Snippets across various books all compiled into one. It had a specific name.

It wasn't compilation, collection, anthology, treasury, companion, omnibus, compendium. I already used Google to look up synonyms for the aforementioned.

E.g. someone needs surgery, but refuses to allow the best available surgeon to operate, because it's their old schoolfriend and not a 'real' doctor.

Or someone needs legal representation and spends a fortune on a mediocre, but 'real' lawyer, instead of accepting their Harvard Law-educated son/daughter's help pro bono.

Or when a criminal thinks they can resist arrest because "you're my cousin, you're not a real police officer!"

Edit: Solved! "Familiarity Bias".

By one person or even a group of people, violently hitting the victim all over their body with fists, weapons (specifically hand-to-hand combat, ig. spiked bats, brass knuckles, pipe wrench, etc.), knees, elbows, feet and anything else that can damage the person physically to the point of debilitation, but not necessarily death. This beating being carried out violently/angrily to the point of bone breaking, bleeding, etc. Almost cartoonish how bad/violently the person is beat, but that they may still be alive. The word can be used to describe the violent/physical nature of beating, or the result of the beating considering the state of the victim.

Barborous, bash, batter, bludgeon, cruel, devilish, gruesome, lambaste, macabre, unspeakable, and vicious are probably the closest to my explanation by defintion, but I guess I want to see if there is any word that may be more specific to what I described above, and a word that also sounds as bad as the beating (because as I specify below, some words sound soft or comical)

Some of the words I've come across, and how I feel like they dont really fit, or doesn't go far enough in relaying how bad, and the beating :

maul (not intentional enough, like not human to human with the intention of causing pain and suffering) , clobber (too singular and not far enough), thrash (too specific with kind of weapon which by definition is stick/whip and also doesn't go far enough), abusive (too general), cruel (too general), batter (sounds somewhat less intense than what I described), assault (too general), wallop (sounds comical), slog (not specific/far enough), pummel (too specific with fists as weapon/ doesn't go far enough), sadisitic (too specific about the culprit getting pleasure from it).

If you got this far, thank you!

for example batman 2 is a sequel to batman 1 but what is batman 1 to batman 2?

I’ve been trying to find a word to describe this. Ex: (person 1)”you’ve gained some weight” (Person 2) “yeah I’m a fat pig aren’t I”

The tone would be as if it were regular response.

Thank you in advance

Edit: thank you all for the quick responses! All good responses but hyperbole seemed to fit it the best. It’s like a mix of sarcasm, irony and hyperbole though. A lot of responses were saying passive aggressive which I can see but the response isn’t meant to be mean spirited towards the other person but instead really leaning into it like how a user said.

In all thanks 🙏

Like after putting on chapstick and you rub your lips together or like yknow..? Or when you apply lipstick/gloss on another girl and you do the thing and they do it back. If you know you know, i just need to know what the action is called😭

Eg: All-male parliament making policies about woman

There’s a Chinese phrase that goes “standing while you’re talking doesn’t hurt your back” which roughly means someone standing and talking about things from a “high ground”, being out of touch, not being able to see things from the perspective those kneeling, yet having a strong opinion on these things they don’t understand.

Prefer an idiom over a word.

I could say "in the near future" or "in the distant future", but is there a good word that would describe a future "in the middle" sort of way, between these two?

I could say "in the not so near future" or "in the not so distant future" but I wonder if there is a word that would work nicely on its own, without using near or distant.

This includes knowledge of how to start a fire, forage, purify water, find a shelter (anything from erecting a pre-fab tent, to building a tree-nest, or making a cave cozy), and more

At a more advanced level it includes surveying the land, animal handling and safety, climbing and hiking, trapping and hunting, and more

I initially thought it was Survival-craft but searches online only turn up Maritime boat safety, and a Minecraft-like video-game.

I don't know where I learned Survival-craft? Is that the actual word and Google is just stupid? Is there even a word for this? I feel like I've learned that there is.

It’s a word I learned in English class, used with another word meaning the direct meaning. I think they both ended with “-tion”. It’s not meant to indicate a hidden meaning necessarily, more an implied mutual understanding.

Heard that word last week in a webpage about a First-Wave feminist (edit: I mentioned two famous people in the parenthesis, but mentioning them are of no help as of now). Single word, describes the doctrine of "one person, one vote", sounds smart

I don’t know if this would be better fit for tip of my tongue or not, there is a specific word I am thinking of but it is not coming to mind. It starts with the letter C but google has not come up with any words that are what I am thinking of. Words I can think of that are in the same vein are mediate, negotiation, debate. It is not confer or converse, or to have compassion.

How would you describe a girl like this girl that is modest, simple and is genuinely content with doing house work.

Sorry, had to start the title with "ITAW for"

I want to write: "The untamability of nature" but according to the dictionary, there is no such word as "untamability".

Untamable in the sense of not possible to dominate. Indomitability? Untamableness?

This is really hard to explain, its basically a 'man on the inside' but a different phrase. At first I thought it was a mole but I dont think so, I think the phrase has something to do with animals but its not a 'rat' bc rats are just snitches with no other motive

So I find it really strange how people openly share with their family who their crushes are or who their dating or just any implication of them having any sexual or romantic attraction at all. Because to my mother and older sister, I am basically an aromantic asexual. Even tho that’s just not at all what I am, but I want them to think that. Because one day if I were to get married which I don’t want to btw, just the fact that my mum and older sister and nanna and family knows what I’m about to do that night literally makes me want to jump off a cliff. I’m suprised it doesn’t even have a word, like it’s like this gross feeling of uncomfortableness and shame idk what to call it.

Disingenuous seems close but that seems more like pretending you don't know about something or feigning ignorance? I'm mostly thinking of pundits who knowingly try to manipulate peoples' opinions.

Trying to describe the almost 'monotonous' but not bad monotonous flow of a cul de sack or street. Where there's a patterned flow.

Not tranquility or serenitity because it's not always that but a level of predictability or familiarity with it.

Can anyone help me better than familiarity or predictability?

I was watching scream 3 earlier and a major complaint was that the voice changer in that movie that can copy anyone's voice perfectly broke, immersion? Realism? It's like those words. It broke..... I just can't think of it it's driving me insane

Something that is lazily forcing you to have an emotional response. Getting the audience to cry without really making a statement about the subject. Like throwing Sarah McLachlan over a few sad images you pulled out of the first Google results you found for "sad + [noun]." Often used to describe poor theatrical performances and writing for stage.

I’ve been trying to explain this to my therapist and I don’t think there’s a word for it but I wish there was.

It’s the feeling like when:

-a dog dies in a book or movie. It’s more than sadness and different than a human character dying; it’s sadness but kind of more unbearable and squeezes my heart. “Sadness” doesn’t do it justice

Or

-if you see a young child who you love experience their first big loss maybe, you feel sad for them but again there’s that extra kind of unbearable heart squeezing p we at that makes “sad” or “sorrow” not enough

I think grief is better than sorrow maybe but it’s still different than grief at, say, losing a parent or friend.

For example “blood is thicker than water” is actually supposed to be “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”. What’s the term for that language phenomenon?