contumacy
/ˈkɒntjʊməsi/
"contumacy" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contumacy” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a noun - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Disobedience, resistance to authority.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | contumacy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɒntjʊməsi/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contumacy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for contumacy is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɒntjʊməsi/. 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: "Disobedience, resistance to authority.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for contumacy, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin contumācia, from contumāx (“refusing to appear in a court of law in disobedience of a summons; insolent, obstinate, stiff-necked”). The correct English form is contumacy, spelled C-O-N-T-U-M-A-C-Y.
Definition
- 1Disobedience, resistance to authority.
Etymology
From Latin contumācia, from contumāx (“refusing to appear in a court of law in disobedience of a summons; insolent, obstinate, stiff-necked”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “contumacy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-T-U-M-A-C-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɒntjʊməsi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.