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illocution

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 "illocution", 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 "illocution" 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 "illocution" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

illocution is aEnglishnoun. It means: The aim of a speaker in making an utterance as opposed to the meaning of the terms used. Pronounced /ˌɪləˈkjuːʃn/.

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Key facts for illocution
PropertyValue
Headwordillocution
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌɪləˈkjuːʃn/
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for illocution is 10 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌɪləˈkjuːʃn/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No misspelling variants are generated for illocution in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns.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 il- (“in”) (an assimilated version of in-) + locution (“speech”), from Latin loquor. 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 illocution, spelled I-L-L-O-C-U-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 aim of a speaker in making an utterance as opposed to the meaning of the terms used.
  2. 2
    A type of speech act being made by a speaker, i.e., the purpose of the statement in terms of how the addressee is to interpret either its truth-value, or its requirements and demands upon the speaker in terms of a physical or psychological response.

Etymology

From il- (“in”) (an assimilated version of in-) + locution (“speech”), from Latin loquor.

This word in other languages

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "illocution"?
"illocution" is spelled I-L-L-O-C-U-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌɪləˈkjuːʃn/.
What does "illocution" mean?
As a noun, "illocution" means: The aim of a speaker in making an utterance as opposed to the meaning of the terms used.
How do you pronounce "illocution"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "illocution" is /ˌɪləˈkjuːʃn/. 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 "illocution"?
From il- (“in”) (an assimilated version of in-) + locution (“speech”), from Latin loquor. 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.

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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.