OPEN-CLASS WORD

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

Meaning:

A word to which an independent meaning can be assigned

Synonyms:

content word; open-class word

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("open-class word" is a kind of...):

word (a unit of language that native speakers can identify)

Meronyms (parts of "open-class word"):

lexical meaning (the meaning of a content word that depends on the nonlinguistic concepts it is used to express)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "open-class word"):

head word; headword (a content word that can be qualified by a modifier)

noun (a content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or action)

verb (a content word that denotes an action, occurrence, or state of existence)

modifier; qualifier (a content word that qualifies the meaning of a noun or verb)