Country Dictionary

A fork of Rural Dictionary

argumentum ad dictionarium

Using a language dictionary to argue your points, to justify your actions, and/or to claim that all uses of a given word outside of a given dictionary are incorrect. Fallacious as English dictionaries do not prescribe usage, but merely describe how words are used by society.

Person 1: Stop treating your 35 year old son like a child. He's not a child anymore.
Person 2: But the dictionary says so. *pulls out Oxford* A child is "a son or daughter of any age". My 35 year old is my son, therefore he is a child. That means my 35 year old is not ready to watch anything but G rated movies, cannot drink beer, must obey my commands at all times, isn't old enough for a job, and...
Person 1: Classic argumentum ad dictionarium.

by udusers1 August 18, 2016

dictionariumness

a word that you think means something but is acutally the word almost meaning the one you said, for example, you said flinch but you mean twitch

my dictionariumness was wrong

by maddie.jerri May 28, 2008