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a-fortiori

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

10 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "a-fortiori", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "a-fortiori" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "a-fortiori" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

a fortiori is anEnglishadj. It means: With stronger or greater reason; as a corollary implied by a stronger claim; even more so; all the more so; so much the more. Pronounced /ˌeɪ ˌfɔːɹtiˈɔːɹaɪ/.

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Key facts for a fortiori
PropertyValue
Headworda fortiori
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdj
IPA/ˌeɪ ˌfɔːɹtiˈɔːɹaɪ/
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

a fortiori is not present in the top-100,000 ranked English corpus, typical for technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary.

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for a fortiori is 10 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌeɪ ˌfɔːɹtiˈɔːɹaɪ/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "With stronger or greater reason; as a corollary implied by a stronger claim; even more so; all the more so; so much the more.".

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for a fortiori in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from Medieval Latin ā fortiōrī. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is a fortiori, spelled A- -F-O-R-T-I-O-R-I, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    With stronger or greater reason; as a corollary implied by a stronger claim; even more so; all the more so; so much the more.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Medieval Latin ā fortiōrī.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "a fortiori"?
"a fortiori" is spelled A- -F-O-R-T-I-O-R-I. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌeɪ ˌfɔːɹtiˈɔːɹaɪ/.
What does "a fortiori" mean?
As an adj, "a fortiori" means: With stronger or greater reason; as a corollary implied by a stronger claim; even more so; all the more so; so much the more.
How do you pronounce "a fortiori"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "a fortiori" is /ˌeɪ ˌfɔːɹtiˈɔːɹaɪ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "a fortiori"?
Unadapted borrowing from Medieval Latin ā fortiōrī. See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.