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Glite Dictionary
spelldown

spelldown

9.1
A contest where people spell words and leave if they spell one wrong
  • noun
  • /ˈspɛlˌdaʊn/
  • US
translation icon : competencia de ortografía
  • She was eliminated in the second round of the spelldown when she missed a tricky word.

Examples

  • Our school will host a spelldown next week to determine the best speller in each grade.

  • The annual spelldown attracted students from all over the district.

  • The school organized a spelldown for the students.

  • Did you participate in the spelldown last week?

  • Our school will host a spelldown next week to determine the best speller in each grade.

  • She was eliminated in the second round of the spelldown when she missed a tricky word.

  • The annual spelldown attracted students from all over the district.

Synonyms

spelling bee
vsspelldown
37 2.9

A contest where people say the letters of words and are out if they make a mistake

is the general descriptive term rather than the short event label
spelling contest
vsspelldown
1 1.6

A competition where people try to write words correctly and are out if they make a mistake

is the same concept but often used as a shorter event label

Surface Forms

spelldown singular
spelldowns plural

Morphology

spelldown = spell (transparent) = down + spell

Formed by 'spell' + 'down' in the sense of a contest (by analogy with compounds like 'showdown'), so the meaning is directly inferable from its parts. [Postprocessing: moved 'down' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Spelldown joins spell ('to say or write the letters of a word in the right order') and down ('to beat or remove'). So a spelldown is a spelling contest where people are sent out one by one when they make a mistake.