A. Conan Doyle

1 6.1

A British author who created the detective Sherlock Holmes

proper noun

: A. Conan Doyle

A. Conan Doyle is celebrated worldwide for his stories featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes.

Examples

The works of A. Conan Doyle continue to inspire adaptations in film and television.
Many scholars have analyzed the literary style of A. Conan Doyle.
A. Conan Doyle was a great writer.
Many people love the stories by A. Conan Doyle!
A. Conan Doyle is celebrated worldwide for his stories featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes.
The works of A. Conan Doyle continue to inspire adaptations in film and television.
Many scholars have analyzed the literary style of A. Conan Doyle.

Synonyms

Conan Doyle

vsA. Conan Doyle

10 3.8

A British writer who created the detective Sherlock Holmes

uses an initial plus surname rather than only the surname

Arthur Conan Doyle

vsA. Conan Doyle

6 4.8

A British writer who created the detective Sherlock Holmes

uses an initial instead of the full first name

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

vsA. Conan Doyle

4 2.4

A British writer who created the detective Sherlock Holmes

omits the honorific and uses an initial for the first name

Surface Forms

A. Conan Doyle main

Morphology

A. + Conan + Doyle

This is a personal name (initial + given name + surname), so the meaning 'British author who created Sherlock Holmes' is an arbitrary referent that cannot be derived from the constituent tokens. Proper names are language-specific labels rather than compositional phrases, so learners must know the name itself rather than infer it from its parts.

Etymology

A. Conan Doyle is the name the writer Arthur Conan Doyle often used on his books, because he showed the first letter A. for Arthur and his middle name Conan to make the name stand out. So A. Conan Doyle now refers to the famous writer who created 'Sherlock Holmes'.