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Americanism

Americanism

1 7.4
A word or phrase used mainly in American English
  • noun
  • /əˈmɛrɪkənɪzəm/
  • US
translation icon : americanismo
  • I hate the insidious way Americanisms are creeping into English usage.

Examples

  • Reviewing the syllabus, I waxed poetic about the readings we'd be doing and how they exemplify Americanism.

    Blog text (27)

  • Is this an Americanism?

    Blog text (8)

  • The word "underdog" is an Americanism.

    Blog text (28)

  • I'm not selling anything but plain old-fashioned Americanism.

    The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

  • More and more Americanisms dilute the English language daily.

    Blog text (17)

  • The writer included several examples of Americanism to highlight the differences between American and British English.

  • Linguists often study Americanism to understand how language evolves in different regions.

  • Many phrases considered to be Americanism can confuse non-native speakers of English.

Surface Forms

Americanism singular
Americanisms plural

Morphology

Americanism = American (transparent) = American + ism

Formed by adding the productive noun-forming suffix '-ism' to 'American', yielding meanings referring to things characteristic of America or Americans.

Etymology

Americanism is made of American and the ending -ism, where -ism means 'a feature or style'. American comes from America, a name taken from the explorer Amerigo, so an Americanism is a word or phrase that is a style 'from America'.