| CARVIEW |
Select Language
HTTP/2 200
date: Wed, 08 Oct 2025 18:24:44 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
content-security-policy-report-only: default-src 'self';img-src 'self' data: https://flickr.com https://*.flickr.com https://s.gravatar.com https://s.gravatar.com/avatar https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar https://i1.wp.com/cdn.auth0.com/avatars https://cdn.auth0.com/avatars https://g.stripe.com/ https://ssl.google-analytics.com https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/ https://farm66.static.flickr.com https://www.google-analytics.com https://tpc.googlesyndication.com https://pbs.twimg.com https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net https://*.amazon-adsystem.com https://fundingchoicesmessages.google.com https://*.3lift.com https://ams-pageview-public.s3.amazonaws.com https://www.google.com https://syndication.twitter.com https://image8.pubmatic.com https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net https://*.googleusercontent.com;base-uri 'self';font-src 'self' https: data:;frame-ancestors 'self';frame-src https://js.stripe.com https://platform.twitter.com/ https://syndication.twitter.com/ https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/ https://*.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/ https://www.google.com/ https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/;connect-src 'self' https: https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ppub_config https://bam.nr-data.net/events/1/cb925c8058;object-src none;script-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' report-sample https://js.stripe.com/v3/ https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.12.4.min.js https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.slim.min.js https://code.jquery.com/jquery-migrate-1.4.1.min.js https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/popper.js@1.16.0/dist/umd/popper.min.js https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/js/bootstrap.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/validate.js/0.13.1/validate.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/underscore.js/1.8.3/underscore-min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/list.js/1.5.0/list.min.js https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js https://www.googletagmanager.com/ https://ssl.google-analytics.com/ga.js https://js-agent.newrelic.com/nr-spa-1184.min.js https://fundingchoicesmessages.google.com https://bam.nr-data.net https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net https://www.googletagservices.com https://adservice.google.com https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/tether/1.4.0/js/tether.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.12.9/umd/popper.min.js https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/clipboard@2.0.8/dist/clipboard.min.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/howler/2.1.1/howler.min.js https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/validator/10.9.0/validator.min.js https://*.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/ https://*.googlesyndication.com/ https://platform.twitter.com/js/ https://cdn.ampproject.org https://www.google-analytics.com https://adservice.google.be https://adservice.google.ca https://adservice.google.co.id https://adservice.google.co.mz https://adservice.google.co.th https://adservice.google.co.uk https://adservice.google.co.za https://adservice.google.com.au https://adservice.google.com.ec https://adservice.google.com.hk https://adservice.google.com.ng https://adservice.google.com.np https://adservice.google.com.ph https://adservice.google.com.sa https://adservice.google.de https://adservice.google.es https://adservice.google.fi https://adservice.google.fr https://adservice.google.ie https://adservice.google.it https://adservice.google.lk https://adservice.google.lt https://adservice.google.nl https://adservice.google.no https://adservice.google.rs https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net;script-src-attr none;style-src 'self' https: 'unsafe-inline' report-sample;report-uri https://5f9d927665d1a16209ba908c.endpoint.csper.io
x-dns-prefetch-control: off
expect-ct: max-age=0
x-frame-options: SAMEORIGIN
strict-transport-security: max-age=15552000; includeSubDomains
x-download-options: noopen
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-permitted-cross-domain-policies: none
referrer-policy: origin-when-cross-origin
x-xss-protection: 0
etag: W/"162f4-ceDtuGAKYzSDY4X3/bPggYKuqxs"
set-cookie: cookienik=eyJjc3JmU2VjcmV0IjoiN2pFYUg1UU9QbU50dG9pc1Y2TVp0UU9KIn0=; path=/; expires=Sat, 11 Oct 2025 18:24:44 GMT; domain=wordnik.com; secure; httponly
set-cookie: cookienik.sig=jxmtiKKedyDCuaSgknTVJkv-sls; path=/; expires=Sat, 11 Oct 2025 18:24:44 GMT; domain=wordnik.com; secure; httponly
vary: Accept-Encoding
content-encoding: gzip
byword - definition and meaning
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A proverbial expression; a proverb.
- noun An often-used word or phrase.
- noun One that represents a type, class, or quality.
- noun An object of notoriety or interest.
- noun An epithet.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A word or phrase used proverbially; especially, a saying used in mockery or disparagement; a satirical or contemptuous proverb.
- noun Hence An object of general reproach or condemnation; a common subject of derision or opprobrium.
- noun Synonyms Axiom, Maxim, etc. See
aphorism .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A common saying; a proverb; a saying that has a general currency.
- noun The object of a contemptuous saying.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
proverb orproverbial expression, commonsaying ; a frequently usedword orphrase - noun a person who, or a thing that
represents something with specifiedcharacteristics ,byspel - noun An
object ofnotoriety orcontempt . - noun a
nickname orepithet - noun by extension an
object ofscorn orderision
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English byworde, from Old English bīword, translation of Latin prōverbium.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English byworde ("proverb"), from Old English bīword, bīwyrde ("proverb, household word", also "adverb"), from bī- ("by-") + word ("word"); probably a translation of Latin proverbium. Compare also Old High German pīwurti ("proverb"), Old English bīspel ("proverb, example"), bīcwide ("byword, proverb, tale, fable"). More at byspel.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word byword.
Examples
-
March 2nd, 2009 at 7: 50 pm antisera apart appropriation bankrupts begin byword counterparts coupler cranes devotedly Egyptian ellipse elm Epicurean Kidde miscarriage pixel rightfulness Samuels shutout Sonora substrate toughness buy generic viagraC/a absenteeism countess curious founts gab perusers playhouse prototypically summation.
-
The "Manchester school" of political economy has long since passed into reproach if not obloquy with people for whom a byword is a potent weapon, and perhaps the easiest they can handle, and
Seven English Cities William Dean Howells 1878
-
'All's well' over and over again; 'twas a kind of byword with him.
Kent Knowles: Quahaug Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1907
-
Dario Fo once complained that "political theater has become a kind of byword for boring theater," he certainly wasn't talking about himself.
-
Only last month, Brown described Afghanistan as a "byword" for corruption.
-
Only last month, Brown described Afghanistan as a "byword" for corruption.
Irish Blogs 2009
-
There j'ai fait la connaissance de la mere de Kousma [Footnote: A jocular translation into French of a Russian slang byword "Kousma's Mother," popularly used to indicate a difficult plight.
-
"Back in the early 1970s, it was a kind of byword for industrial-relations strife, poor quality, unreliability.
NPR Topics: News 2009
-
"Access" to credit was the byword of banking regulation under Labour in the UK.
Gordon Brown's economic "genius" exposed Not a sheep 2009
-
Beirut was at the center of the Lebanese war of 1975-90, when "Lebanonization" became a byword for violent disintegration.
On the Eastern Shore Michael Young 2011
Related Words
synonyms (116)
Words with the same meaning
- adage
- ana
- analects
- aphorism
- apophthegm
- apothegm
- appellation
- appellative
- axiom
- binomen
- binomial name
- burning shame
- butt
- byname
- byword of reproach
- catch phrase
- catchword
- cliche
- cognomen
- collected sayings
- cry
- cryptonym
- current saying
- denomination
- derision
- designation
- dictate
- dictum
- dirty shame
- disgrace
- distich
- dupe
- empty title
- epigram
- epithet
- eponym
- euonym
- expression
- fad word
- fair game
- figure of fun
- fool
- game
- gazingstock
- gnome
- goat
- golden saying
- handle
- honorific
- humiliation
- hyponym
- jest
- jestingstock
- joke
- label
- laughingstock
- low-down dirty shame
- maxim
- mockery
- moniker
- monkey
- moral
- mot
- motto
- name
- namesake
- nomen
- nomen nudum
- oracle
- parable
- pet expression
- phrase
- pithy saying
- precept
- prescript
- proper name
- proper noun
- proverb
- proverbial saying
- proverbs
- reproach
- saw
- saying
- scandal
- scientific name
- secret name
- sentence
- sententious expression
- shame
- shibboleth
- slogan
- sloka
- sobriquet
- stock
- stock saying
- style
- sutra
- tag
- target
- tautonym
- teaching
- text
- title
- toy
- trinomen
- trinomial name
- verse
- victim
- vogue word
- watchword
- wisdom
- wisdom literature
- wise saying
- witticism
- word
- words of wisdom
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.