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Antonyms for spell out

Grammar : Verb
Spell : spel
Phonetic Transcription : spɛl

Definition of spell out

Origin :
  • "name the letters of," Old English spellian "to tell, speak," infl. by Old French espeller "declare, spell," from Frankish *spellon "to tell;" both Old English and Frankish from Proto-Germanic *spellan (cf. Old High German spellon "to tell," Old Norse spjalla, Gothic spillon "to talk, tell"), from PIE *spel- "to say aloud, recite." Related: Spelled; spelling.
  • Meaning "write or say the letters of a word" is c.1400, from notion of "read letter by letter, read with difficulty" (c.1300). Spell out "explain step-by-step" is first recorded 1940, American English. Spelling bee is from 1878 (earlier simply spelling, 1860).
  • verb clarify, explain
Example sentences :
  • They have not to spell out temperaments slowly and laboriously.
  • Extract from : « One Of Them » by Charles James Lever
  • Within a month he was able to spell out most of the verses for himself.
  • Extract from : « At the Back of the North Wind » by George MacDonald
  • They form groups from which any one with imagination may spell out names.
  • Extract from : « The Book of Hallowe'en » by Ruth Edna Kelley
  • I managed to spell out the name on her stem; it was the old Helen.
  • Extract from : « Jim Spurling, Fisherman » by Albert Walter Tolman
  • Let us go on all the same, and see what they mean to spell out.
  • Extract from : « Seen and Unseen » by E. Katharine Bates
  • But he knew his letters when we began, and could spell out a few words.
  • Extract from : « My Doggie and I » by R.M. Ballantyne
  • I mean to say that I have got to spell out every word on the key.
  • Extract from : « Secret Service » by Cyrus Townsend Brady
  • Spell out the names of days of the week, as well as names of months.
  • Extract from : « The Magazine Style-Code » by Leigh H. Irvine
  • But in time we learn by rote the lessons which we had to spell out in our youth. '
  • Extract from : « Hours in a Library » by Leslie Stephen
  • He was too weak and lame to spell out a message, like we did on Bob's Hill.
  • Extract from : « The Boy Scouts of Bob's Hill » by Charles Pierce Burton

Synonyms for spell out

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019