lexical word

USAGE SUMMARY

The term "lexical word" is correct and commonly used in written English.
It refers to words that have a specific meaning in a language, as opposed to function words (such as articles, prepositions, and conjunctions) which serve mainly grammatical purposes. You can use the term "lexical word" when discussing the different types of words in a sentence, or when comparing and contrasting different types of words. For example: "In this sentence, the lexical words are 'cat' and 'chased', while the function words are 'the' and 'and'."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

9 human-written examples

And popular figures like Lil Jon are exactly the kind of forces that speed up language change.In any case, though some people recoil at this kind of thing (whether the swear-word, or the use of a lexical word "illogically" to mean "nothing"), shit is now doing almost exactly what pas did in the history of standard French.

The Economist

In the typical N400 space and time, the effect was independent of whether the lexical word meaning was dominant or subordinate.

Brain and Cognition

One can see that a lexical word in a PS produces a DR. Given a text corpus, a set of DRs R = { R 1, R 2, …, R l } can be extracted and compacted.

EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing

Verbal fluency was measured with semantic and lexical word generation [ 33].

BMC Psychiatry

On the contrary, the data suggest that orthographic, phonological and lexical word properties were processed in parallel between 200 and 400 ms post-stimulus.

Behavioral and Brain Functions

In the framework of pre-lexical phonological representations and lexical word form representations sketched by classical models of spoken word recognition, the facilitation effect exerted by syllable prosody might have at least two origins.

Brain and Language

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

51 human-written examples

But those ordinary ("lexical") words can become grammatical ones.

The Economist

They further comment that, since de and the verb or adjective "do not form a structural unit in the sense of lexical word-formation, the compounding pattern shown in [32] becomes irrelevant" (ibid.; emphasis added).

Lingua Sinica

In other words, Persian has only borrowed a large number of lexical words from Arabic.

EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing

An input vector of the SVM classifier contains 40,964 elements representing all lexical words and all POSs.

EURASIP Journal on Audio, Speech, and Music Processing

Adjectives are lexical words used to modify nouns and refer to physical and concrete properties as well as abstract properties denoted by nouns.

Journal of Neurolinguistics

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

In technical writing, specify the type of lexical word (e.g., noun, verb, adjective) for clarity and precision.

Common error

Avoid using "lexical word" interchangeably with "word" in general contexts. "Lexical word" is specifically used to contrast with function words, such as prepositions and articles, which primarily serve grammatical roles rather than carrying specific meaning.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "lexical word" functions as a noun phrase, referring to a type of word that carries semantic content, as opposed to function words. It's primarily used in linguistic and educational contexts to categorize words based on their role in a sentence. As Ludwig AI indicates, "lexical words" are essential for conveying meaning.

Expression frequency: Common

Frequent in

Science

66.67%

News & Media

20%

Formal & Business

13.33%

Less common in

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, the term "lexical word" is a grammatically correct and commonly used phrase, especially within scientific and news-related contexts. As Ludwig AI confirms, a "lexical word" denotes a word that carries specific meaning, contrasting with function words which serve primarily grammatical roles. Key related phrases include "content word" and "lexical unit". When writing, it’s important to distinguish between lexical and function words, avoiding the assumption that every word automatically counts as lexical. Common errors involve overgeneralizing the term's usage, highlighting the need for context-specific application.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

lexical unit

Refers to any element in the lexicon that functions as a single meaning-bearing item.

content word

Focuses on the word's role in carrying meaning rather than grammatical function.

vocabulary item

Emphasizes the word as an element within a language's lexicon.

lexical term

Highlights the word as a defined unit in a specific field or context.

dictionary word

Refers to the standard inclusion of the word in a dictionary.

open-class word

Indicates that the word belongs to a category that commonly accepts new words.

meaningful word

Highlights the semantic value of the word.

substantive word

Implies the word carries significant weight in a sentence.

root word

Highlights the basic form of a word, before any affixes are added.

lexical morpheme

Focuses on the smallest unit of meaning within a word.

FAQs

How does a "lexical word" differ from a function word?

A "lexical word" carries specific meaning (like nouns, verbs, adjectives), while a function word (like articles, prepositions, conjunctions) primarily serves grammatical purposes.

What are some examples of "lexical words"?

Examples of "lexical words" include nouns like "cat", verbs like "run", and adjectives like "happy". These words have distinct meanings.

Which word classes are considered "lexical words"?

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are typically considered "lexical words" because they contribute directly to the meaning of a sentence.

Why is it important to distinguish between "lexical words" and function words?

Understanding the difference helps in linguistic analysis, language teaching, and computational linguistics, as these categories behave differently in grammar and usage.