watchword
/ˈwɒt͡ʃwɜː(ɹ)d/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.21 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A word used as a motto, as expressive of a principle, belief, or rule of action; a rallying cry.
Example Sentences
- ""How this perpetual gaiety," exclaimed Louis, "jars upon the ear! Good Heaven! is farewell to be said so gladly? I sometimes start when I think upon the hollowness of all that surrounds me. I often wish my eye had the power of searching the inmost depths of the bosoms whose watchword is my name.""
- "For-ward! be our watchword, Steps and voices joined; / Seek the things before us, Not a look behind."
- "Atrocities of the most vicious kind were justified by the watchwords: "This is war!" "Might is Right." "Necessity knows no law.""
- "We can repay the debt which we owe to our God, to our dead, and to our children only by work — by ceaseless devotion to the responsibilities which lie ahead of us. If I could give you a single watchword for the coming months, that word is: work, work, and more work."
- "It's a peel out the watchword / Just peel out the watchword"
- "The Esk Valley route to Whitby was a classic example: a basic four trains a day service has persisted for decades, with economy the watchword."
Etymology
From Middle English wacche word, wacchworde, morphologically as watch (“guard, sentinel, sentry”) + word.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: wacche word