English Dictionary — Definitions & Meanings

letters

noun

Literature and the study of writing, especially as an academic subject; scholarly or literary knowledge.

lettice

name

A female first name of Latin, variant of Letitia origin.

Lettie

name

A diminutive of the feminine given names Letitia or Lettice.

letting

noun

The renting out of a property to a tenant, or the property itself.

lettish

adj

Connected with the Latvian people or their language.

lettuce

noun

A leafy green vegetable, or its leaves, commonly eaten raw in salads.

Letty

name

A diminutive of the female given name Letitia.

letup

noun

A brief pause or slackening in something.

leu

noun

The main unit of money in Romania, made up of one hundred bani.

leukaemia

noun

Alternative British and Commonwealth spelling of leukemia.

leukemia

noun

A type of cancer that affects blood cells, usually causing the body to produce abnormal white blood cells.

leukocyte

noun

A white blood cell, one of a group of blood cells that take part in the body's immune defences.

Leung

name

A Chinese (Cantonese) surname.

lev

noun

The basic monetary unit of Bulgaria, divided into 100 stotinki.

levant

name

A cultural region of West Asia, consisting of the countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, namely Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus (and sometimes, especially in a historical context, also including Turkey and Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire).

levee

noun

An embankment built along a river to prevent flooding.

leveful

adj

Allowed, permitted or lawful.

level

adj

Flat and even; at the same height throughout, or matching a given height.

leveller

noun

A person or thing that makes something level.

lever

noun

A rigid bar that pivots on a fixed point, used to lift or move something with less effort.

leverage

noun

Power or influence used to get an advantage or achieve a desired result.

leveraged

adj

Financed largely through borrowed money in order to boost potential returns.

leveraging

verb

Present participle of leverage: using something you already have to get the greatest possible benefit or advantage from it.

leveret

noun

A young hare that is less than a year old.

Levi

name

In the Bible, the third son of Jacob, ancestor of the Israelite tribe of Levi.

leviathan

noun

A huge and immensely powerful sea creature, often from Biblical or mythological tradition.

levin

noun

Lightning, or a flash of bright light (a poetic or archaic word).

Levine

name

A Jewish surname derived from Hebrew.

Levinson

name

A Jewish surname originating as a patronymic meaning "son of Levin".

levitate

verb

To make something rise and float in the air, seemingly without support.

levitating

verb

Present participle of levitate: rising and floating in the air with no visible means of support.

levitation

noun

The apparent raising of a person or object into the air without any visible physical support.

Leviticus

name

The third book of the Torah and of the Old Testament, dealing largely with priestly law.

levity

noun

A lighthearted, joking attitude, especially when a situation calls for seriousness.

levulose

noun

The scientific name for fructose, specifically the form of it that bends light to the left.

levy

verb

To officially impose and collect a tax, fine, or other charge.

Lew

name

A diminutive of the male given name Lewis.

lewd

adj

Sexually indecent or vulgar in a crude, offensive way.

lewdity

noun

Behaviour or language that is rude and sexually indecent.

lewdness

noun

The quality of being sexually indecent or vulgar in behaviour.

Lewicki

name

A Polish surname.

Lewis

noun

A metal clamp or pin fitted into a slot cut in a large stone block, used to lift it with a crane.

Lewton

name

A surname.

lewy

name

A nickname for the surname Lewis.

lex

noun

A law, especially one from ancient Roman legal tradition.

Lexa

name

A feminine given name, a short form of Alexa or Alexandra.

lexeme

noun

A word, or a group of related word forms, treated as one unit of vocabulary sharing a basic meaning.

Lexi

name

A diminutive of the feminine given names Alexa, Alexandra, Alexia, or Alexis.

lexical

adj

Relating to a language's vocabulary, words, sentences or morphemes.

lexicographer

noun

a person who writes or compiles a dictionary.

lexicography

noun

The skill or work of putting together and writing dictionaries.

lexicology

noun

The branch of linguistics concerned with words: their nature and meaning, the parts they are made of, the relations between words including relations of meaning, groups of words, and the lexicon as a whole.

lexicon

noun

The full stock of words in a language, in a field, or known to a particular person.

lexiconophilia

noun

A strong love of dictionaries and similar word books.

lexiconophilist

noun

A person who loves dictionaries and similar word books.

Lexie

name

A diminutive female nickname for Alexis, Alexia, Alexandra or Alexandria.

Lexington

name

The site of one of the opening battles of the American Revolutionary War, in Massachusetts, and the name of several cities and towns across the United States named after it.

Lexus

noun

A brand of luxury car made by Toyota, often used loosely to mean any high-end automobile.

ley

adj

Left unplanted or given over to grass and pasture rather than crops, of farmland.

Leyla

name

A feminine given name of Arabic origin, a variant of Leila.

Leyland

name

A town in Lancashire, England; also an English surname and the name of a former truck and bus manufacturer.

Leyton

name

A suburban area of Waltham Forest in Greater London, England; also a surname and unisex given name.

lez

name

A diminutive of the male given name Leslie.

LFG

interjection

An enthusiastic shout of excitement, determination or celebration, used online and in sport to mean roughly "let's go".

LG

abbreviation

Large, used on clothing labels, menus, packaging and size charts.

LGBT

adj

Relating to or describing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people collectively.

lgbtq

noun

A person who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.

LGBTQIA

adjective

Relating to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual or aromantic; used as an inclusive umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities.

Lhasa

name

The capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China.

li

noun

A traditional Chinese unit of distance, now standardized at about half a kilometer.

liabilities

noun

Debts or financial obligations that a person or company must eventually pay.

liability

noun

A legal or financial responsibility for a debt, loss, or obligation.

liable

adj

Legally or financially responsible for something.

liaise

verb

To communicate and work with another person or group in order to coordinate or reach agreement.

liaison

noun

A person who acts as a link between two groups, passing information back and forth.

Liam

name

A male given name, originally an Irish short form of William, now widely used across the English-speaking world.

Lian

name

A surname, of either Chinese or Norwegian origin.

liana

noun

A long, woody vine that climbs up trees, typically found in tropical rainforests.

liang

noun

A traditional Chinese unit of weight, roughly 40 grams, historically also used to measure silver currency.

liao

particle

(Chinese, and in Singlish/Manglish) A word placed at the end of a sentence to show that an action is finished or a situation has changed.

Liaoxi

name

A former province in northeast China (1949-1954), now part of Liaoning and Jilin provinces.

liar

noun

A person who tells lies, especially someone who does so often.

lib

noun

Shortened, informal form of "liberation," especially in political or social movements.

libation

noun

The act of pouring out a drink, usually wine, as an offering to a god.

Libby

name

A diminutive of the feminine given names Elizabeth or Isabel; also a surname and a city in Montana, US.

libel

noun

A false published statement — written, printed, or pictured — that damages someone's reputation.

libelous

adj

Defamatory or libelling: describing something that harms someone's reputation, especially through malice or carelessness.

liberal

adj

Generous, open-handed, or given freely and in large amounts.

liberalise

verb

A non-Oxford British English standard spelling of liberalize.

liberalism

noun

A political philosophy centred on individual freedom, equal rights, and government by consent, often paired with support for reform.

liberally

adv

Generously and without holding back.

Liberals

name

Short for a Liberal Party, especially the Liberal Party of Australia or of the UK.

liberate

verb

To set someone or something free from confinement, control, or oppression.

liberated

adj

Freed from restrictive traditional attitudes, especially around social or sexual matters.

liberating

adj

Freeing, especially in a way that opens the mind to new possibilities.

liberation

noun

The act of setting someone or something free, or the state of having been freed.

liberator

noun

A person who frees others from captivity or oppression.

Liberia

name

A country on the west coast of Africa, officially the Republic of Liberia.

libertarian

noun

Someone who champions personal liberty and minimal government interference in people's lives and choices.

libertine

noun

A person, especially a man, who ignores conventional moral standards and pursues pleasure freely.

liberty

noun

Freedom from oppressive restriction or control; the state of being free to act, speak, or believe as one chooses.

libidinous

adj

Full of sexual desire; behaving in a lustful way.

libido

noun

Sexual desire or drive.

Libra

name

A zodiac constellation traditionally pictured as a set of scales.

librarian

noun

A person who manages, organizes, and helps people use a library's collection.

library

noun

A building or institution that holds books and other media for people to borrow or use.

libre

adj

Free from restriction, especially regarding software whose source code can be freely accessed and modified.

libretto

noun

The words written for a musical stage work such as an opera.

Libya

name

A country in North Africa, with Tripoli as its capital.

Libyan

adj

Relating to Libya, its people, or its culture.

liceity

noun

(law) Whether an act is lawful, as distinct from whether it is valid.

licence

noun

The standard British, Canadian, Australian, and Irish spelling of license (used as a noun).

license

noun

The American spelling of the noun licence: an official document or permission to own, use or do something. In British English the noun is spelled licence and license is the verb.

licensed

adj

Officially authorized by a licence to do something.

licensing

noun

The process of granting official permission or authorization to do something.

licensure

noun

The process of officially granting someone permission to carry out a particular activity.

licentious

adj

Behaving with no self-control, especially in sexual matters, and ignoring normal standards.

licentiously

adv

In a wild, uncontrolled way, giving in fully to one's urges, especially sexual ones.

licentiousness

noun

The quality of behaving with no self-control, especially sexually.

licey

adj

Covered in or full of lice.

lich

noun

A dead body brought back to life as an undead creature, especially one able to cast spells.

lichen

noun

A slow-growing organism formed by algae and fungi living together, often seen as pale or greenish patches on rocks, trees, or walls.

licit

adj

Allowed by law or by accepted rules.

licitly

adv

Legally, in a way that follows the law.

lick

verb

To pass the tongue over something.

licked

adj

Having been touched by a tongue.

lickerish

adj

Very eager to have or enjoy something; greedy for it.

licking

noun

The act of passing the tongue over something.

lickpenny

noun

Something that costs a great deal or eats up money quickly.

licorice

noun

A plant whose root has a strong, sweet flavour, or the flavour itself used in candy and other products.

lid

noun

A removable cover for the top of a container.

Lida

name

A feminine given name.

Liddell

name

A surname, from a valley name in the Scottish Borders.

Liddy

name

An affectionate short form of the female name Lydia.

Lidia

name

A female first name, a less common spelling of Lydia, ultimately from Ancient Greek.

lido

noun

An outdoor public swimming pool, or a section of beach set aside for swimming.

lidocaine

noun

A drug used as a local anaesthetic to numb pain, and also to treat irregular heartbeats.

lie

verb

To be in or move into a horizontal, resting position.

Lieberman

name

A surname of German and Jewish origin.

Liechtenstein

name

A tiny country in Central Europe between Switzerland and Austria, officially the Principality of Liechtenstein.

lied

noun

A German art song for solo voice and piano, typically setting a poem to music.

liefling

noun

A person who is loved dearly; a darling.

liege

noun

In feudal times, a lord entitled to service and loyalty from his subjects, or (less often) the subject who owed that loyalty.

liegeman

noun

A man who is loyal and owes service to a lord or ruler.

lien

noun

A legal right to hold or sell someone's property until a debt owed on it is paid off.

lies

verb

Third-person singular present tense of "lie" — says something untrue on purpose.

lieu

noun

Used in the phrase "in lieu of," meaning in place of or instead of.

lieutenant

noun

A junior commissioned officer rank in the army, air force, or marines, ranking below captain.

life

noun

The condition of being alive, as opposed to being dead or inanimate.

life-changing

adjective

Having such a strong effect on someone that it permanently alters how they live, think or feel.