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derailment

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 "derailment", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "derailment" 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 "derailment" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

derailment is aEnglishnoun. It means: The action of a locomotive or train leaving the rails along which it runs.

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Key facts for derailment
PropertyValue
Headwordderailment
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#41,592
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for derailment is 10 letters long, classified as anoun. Corpus data places it at rank #41,592 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for derailment, with forms such as "dderailment", "dearilment", and "derailemnt". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.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: From French déraillement. 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 derailment, spelled D-E-R-A-I-L-M-E-N-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The action of a locomotive or train leaving the rails along which it runs.
  2. 2
    An instance of diverting a conversation or debate from its original topic.
  3. 3
    An instance of thwarting or frustrating something.
  4. 4
    A pattern of discourse (in speech or writing) that is a sequence of unrelated or only remotely related ideas.

Etymology

From French déraillement.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: dderailment,dearilment,derailemnt,deraillment,derailmennt,derailmentt,derailmetn,derailmment,derailmnet,deraimlent,deraliment,derialment,derrailment,dreailment,edrailment

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for derailment

Misspelling Variants of "derailment"

dderailment11dearilment10derailemnt10deraillment11derailmennt11derailmentt11derailmetn10derailmment11
Misspelling Variants of "derailment"

Frequency rank: #41,592 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "derailment"?
"derailment" is spelled D-E-R-A-I-L-M-E-N-T.
What does "derailment" mean?
As a noun, "derailment" means: The action of a locomotive or train leaving the rails along which it runs.
What are common misspellings of "derailment"?
Common misspellings include "dderailment", "dearilment", "derailemnt", "deraillment", "derailmennt". The correct spelling is "derailment".
What is the origin of the word "derailment"?
From French déraillement. 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 D in our English index:

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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.