portmanteau
noun
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Definition of portmanteau
(Entry 1 of 2)
portmanteau
adjectiveDefinition of portmanteau (Entry 2 of 2)
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Synonyms for portmanteau
Synonyms: Noun
carry-on, carryall, grip, handbag, holdall [chiefly British], suitcase, traveling bag, wallet
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Examples of portmanteau in a Sentence
Noun
carried her possessions with her in an old portmanteauRecent Examples on the Web: Noun
Pitch a tent at one of the many campgrounds or cozy up in a hillside yurt at Treebones, which has been offering glamorous camping since well before someone coined the clever portmanteau. — Sarah Feldberg, SFChronicle.com, "How to do Big Sur the right way," 3 July 2019 Juneteenth, a portmanteau of the date June 19, recognizes the abolition of slavery in Texas in 1865, effectively ending the practice in the United States. — Trevor Fraser, orlandosentinel.com, "Juneteenth a reason to celebrate in Orlando and Kissimmee," 12 June 2019 Mayochup, a portmanteau of mayonnaise and ketchup, means something decidedly less tasty, or tasteful for that matter, in a dialect of the language spoken by the Cree, a large First Nations group. — Zlati Meyer, USA TODAY, "Holy mayo! Heinz's new condiment Mayochup includes a bad word," 4 June 2019 One of his most lasting contributions to design was the concept of tensegrity, a portmanteau of tensional integrity. — Popular Mechanics, "The Squishy Robots That Could Save the World," 13 May 2019 Chris is a sales trainer, a funny portmanteau of Bachelor professions. — Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, "The Bachelorette Season 14 Premiere Recap: Not Gonna Say It," 29 May 2018 Her name is a portmanteau of Van Gogh and Madonna; her true identity is unknown. — Meagan Fredette, refinery29.com, "Say It With Art: Get Your Bae The Same Painting Prince Harry Gave Meghan Markle," 7 July 2018 Like Brangelina of yore and the most recent on-again off-again Jelena situation, every A-List celebrity couple has been given a custom portmanteau (a.k.a a joint nickname that combines the letters and sounds of two separate names). — Kathryn Lindsay, refinery29.com, "So, What Do We Call Ariana Grande & Pete Davidson?," 11 June 2018 Like laze, this portmanteau sews together two words—volcano and smog—to describe the acidic haze that commonly forms due to volcanic emissions. — Maya Wei-haas, Smithsonian, "A Brief Glossary of Volcano Vocab," 25 May 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
So many of the words created our dozens of neologism contests over the decades are portmanteau words, the combination of two words. — Washington Post, "Style Conversational Week 1341: Greetings from our wits’ den," 18 July 2019 So many of the words created our dozens of neologism contests over the decades are portmanteau words, the combination of two words. — Washington Post, "Style Conversational Week 1341: Greetings from our wits’ den," 18 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'portmanteau.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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