in a word
"in-a-word" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“in a word” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In summarization: briefly, concisely, summarily, in short; to sum up
Corpus desk
Index EN-in-a-word · in a word · English
in a word · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "I" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | in a word |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “in a word” in English
Rare enough to double-check
in a word is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for in a word in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is in a word, spelled I-N- -A- -W-O-R-D.
Definition
- 1In summarization: briefly, concisely, summarily, in short; to sum up
- 2In summation: all in all, altogether, in total, overall, to sum up
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how in a word appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
In order to deliver the news of Greek victory to Athens, Pheidippides covered the distance there from the plain of Marathon as quickly as his two legs could carry him, and did so without making any stops; in a word, he ran the entire distance.
Man, I got here by putting one foot in front of the other; in a word, I walked.
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.