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communication

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

Letters

13 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "communication", 13-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 "communication" 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 "communication" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

communication is aEnglishnoun. It means: The act or fact of communicating anything; transmission. Pronounced /kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/. It ranks #2,103 in English word frequency. Often confused with communicator and communicative.

Key facts for communication
PropertyValue
Headwordcommunication
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/
Letters13
Frequency rank#2,103
Misspellings tracked18
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of communication in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for communication is 13 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,103 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 18 documented wrong-spelling variants for communication, with forms such as "ccommunication", "cmomunication", and "commnuication". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "communicator", "communicative", "communications", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English comunicacioun, communicacion (“discussion, association”), from Old French communicacion, from Latin commūnicātiōnem, accusative singular of commūnicātiō (“imparting, communicating”), from commūnicō (“to share, to impart”). Morp… 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 communication, spelled C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act or fact of communicating anything; transmission.
  2. 2
    The concept or state of exchanging data or information between entities.
  3. 3
    A message; the essential data transferred in an act of communication.
  4. 4
    The body of all data transferred to one or both parties during an act of communication.
  5. 5
    An instance of information transfer; a conversation or discourse.
  6. 6
    A passageway or opening between two locations; connection.
  7. 7
    A connection between two tissues, organs, or cavities.
  8. 8
    Association; company.
  9. 9
    Participation in Holy Communion.
  10. 10
    A trope by which a speaker assumes that his hearer is a partner in his sentiments, and says "we" instead of "I" or "you".

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English comunicacioun, communicacion (“discussion, association”), from Old French communicacion, from Latin commūnicātiōnem, accusative singular of commūnicātiō (“imparting, communicating”), from commūnicō (“to share, to impart”). Morphologically communicate + -ion.

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccommunication,cmomunication,commnuication,commuincation,communciation,communiaction,communicaiton,communicasion,communicatino,communicationn,communicatoin,communicattion,communiccation,communictaion,communnication,comumnication,comunication,ocmmunication

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for communication

Misspelling Variants of "communication"

ccommunication14cmomunication13commnuication13commuincation13communciation13communiaction13communicaiton13communicasion13
Misspelling Variants of "communication"

Frequency rank: #2,103 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "communication"?
"communication" is spelled C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/.
What does "communication" mean?
As a noun, "communication" means: The act or fact of communicating anything; transmission.
What words are commonly confused with "communication"?
"communication" is commonly confused with "communicator", "communicative", "communications". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "communication"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "communication" is /kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/. 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 "communication"?
Inherited from Middle English comunicacioun, communicacion (“discussion, association”), from Old French communicacion, from Latin commūnicātiōnem, accusative singular of commūnicātiō (“imparting, communicating”), from commūnicō (“to share, to impa... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index:

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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.