HEAD WORD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does head word mean? 

• HEAD WORD (noun)
  The noun HEAD WORD has 2 senses:

1. a content word that can be qualified by a modifier

2. (grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent

  Familiarity information: HEAD WORD used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HEAD WORD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A content word that can be qualified by a modifier

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

head word; headword

Hypernyms ("head word" is a kind of...):

content word; open-class word (a word to which an independent meaning can be assigned)

Holonyms ("head word" is a part of...):

phrase (an expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(grammar) the word in a grammatical constituent that plays the same grammatical role as the whole constituent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

head; head word

Hypernyms ("head word" is a kind of...):

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

Domain category:

grammar (the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology (and sometimes also deals with semantics))