back-formation

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The definition of back-formation is a word created by removing a part of another word, or the process of how this new word is made.

(noun)

An example of back-formation is the word babysit from babysitter.

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See back-formation in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. a word actually formed from, but seeming to be the base of, another word (Ex.: burgle from burglar)
  2. the process of forming such a word

See back-formation in American Heritage Dictionary 4

or back formation

noun
  1. A new word created by removing an affix from an already existing word, as vacuum clean from vacuum cleaner, or by removing what is mistakenly thought to be an affix, as pea from the earlier English plural pease.
  2. The process of forming words in this way. See Note at baby-sit.

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© 1996-2013 LoveToKnow, Corp. All Rights Reserved. Audio pronunciation provided by LoveToKnow, Corp.