Words similar to back-formation
Example sentences for: back-formation
How can you use “back-formation” in a sentence? Here are some example sentences to help you improve your vocabulary:
The alteration of tsk to tisk is like the back-formation of certain words.
Nowadays, of course, the overbriefed newcomers are orientated , a longer verb that sounds suspiciously like a back-formation from orientation . Similarly, derivate looks like an up-and-coming contender for derive . Proceeding analogously, a classmate of mine in junior high school once talked of improvisating, but somehow her neologism never caught on.
Oxford would probably call that an ignorant back-formation, as it does the useful and unambiguous enthuse .
In general, back-formation of new singulars from plurals is a sign that the plural is textually more frequent than the singular (indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary lists only frijoles and no singular form whatsoever for English).
If houses sink into the earth, the cause is no longer subsidence , pronounced SUB'sidence, it is subSIDE\?\ence, an obvious back-formation from the verb subside .