What is the longest word in the English language, and what does it mean?

Question

I want the definition so I know it's real.
Please use the correct spelling!

Answer 1

The longest word in any major English language dictionary is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word supposed to refer to a lung disease, but research has discovered that this word was originally intended as a hoax. It has since been used in a close approxmation of its originally intended context, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim. See the separate article for details.

The Guinness Book of Records, in its 1992 and subsequent editions, declared the "longest real word" in the English language to be floccinaucinihilipilification at 29 letters. Defined as "the act of estimating (something) as worthless", its usage has been recorded as far back as 1741. In recent times its usage has been recorded in the proceedings of the United States Senate by Senator Robert Byrd [1], and at the White House by Bill Clinton's press secretary Mike McCurry, albeit sarcastically. It is the longest non-technical word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Antidisestablishmentarianism (a 19th century movement in England opposed to the separation of church and state) at 28 letters is one of English's longest words.

The longest word which appears in William Shakespeare's works is the 27-letter honorificabilitudinitatibus, appearing in Love's Labour's Lost. This is arguably an English word (rather than Latin), but only because he used it.

The humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua‘a, or reef triggerfish, is Hawaii's official state fish [1]. At 21 letters (22 counting the okina) it is one of the best known very long one-word names for an animal. It is often asserted that "the name is longer than the fish."

Although only fourteen letters long, sesquipedalian deserves a mention. It is derived from a nonce word used by the Roman author Horace, in his work Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry). The quote is as follows: "Proicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba," which means, "He throws aside his paint pots and his words that are a foot and a half long". The Oxford English dictionary[2] lists sesquipedalianism ("the practice of using words one and a half feet long"), and further derivations can be created as described in the Constructions section below.

Answer 2

The word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is defined as "a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, mostly found in volcanos". It was originally postulated by Everett M. Smith, simply to serve as the longest English word, but has been used in several sources as an approximation of it's originally intended definition. The plural of this word, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses is equally long.

Answer 3

from wikipedia:

The longest word in any major English language dictionary is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word supposed to refer to a lung disease, but research has discovered that this word was originally intended as a hoax. It has since been used in a close approxmation of its originally intended context, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim. See the separate article for details.

The Guinness Book of Records, in its 1992 and subsequent editions, declared the "longest real word" in the English language to be floccinaucinihilipilification at 29 letters. Defined as "the act of estimating (something) as worthless", its usage has been recorded as far back as 1741. In recent times its usage has been recorded in the proceedings of the United States Senate by Senator Robert Byrd [1], and at the White House by Bill Clinton's press secretary Mike McCurry, albeit sarcastically. It is the longest non-technical word in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Antidisestablishmentarianism (a 19th century movement in England opposed to the separation of church and state) at 28 letters is one of English's longest words.

The longest word which appears in William Shakespeare's works is the 27-letter honorificabilitudinitatibus, appearing in Love's Labour's Lost. This is arguably an English word (rather than Latin), but only because he used it.

The humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua‘a, or reef triggerfish, is Hawaii's official state fish [1]. At 21 letters (22 counting the okina) it is one of the best known very long one-word names for an animal. It is often asserted that "the name is longer than the fish."

Although only fourteen letters long, sesquipedalian deserves a mention. It is derived from a nonce word used by the Roman author Horace, in his work Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry). The quote is as follows: "Proicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba," which means, "He throws aside his paint pots and his words that are a foot and a half long". The Oxford English dictionary[2] lists sesquipedalianism ("the practice of using words one and a half feet long"), and further derivations can be created as described in the Constructions section below.

tho my favorite word is higgledy-piggeldy, which means state of utter disored or confusion.....

Answer 4

The longest word in any major English language dictionary is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a 45-letter word supposed to refer to a lung disease, but research has discovered that this word was originally intended as a hoax. It has since been used in a close approxmation of its originally intended context, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim

Answer 5

answer to the "longest word" question is the word smiles, credited as the longest word because there is a mile between each s

Answer 6

Now that you have the longest word. There is another that is even longer. you will find it in a science dictionary. It is not in any general dictionary. 72 letters long.

Answer 7

Antidisestablishmentarianism...whew! I believe it has to do with being a person who has issues with the establishment as a whole. It's been a while since I spelled it or saw the meaning, so verify it before you quote me.

Answer 8

'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis',

defined by the OED as "a factitious word alleged to mean 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust' but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word")

Answer 9

As far as I know, and I have actually never measured, but
...........SMILES......is over a mile long (by two s's).

If you do not know the definition of smiles, simply tell a joke.

Answer 10

Antidisestablishmenterianism. (anty-dis-establushmun-tery-anism). It means to be against uniting church with government/state.