Meaning of the word 'vocabulary'?

Question

1 2

I know that "vocabulary" means all the words which exist in a particular langauge. However, it seems that many people use it to mean a new or difficult word. Even in English learning sites, I can see sentences like:

A list of commonly-used vocabulary with a recording of the words in RealMedia format.

Has the meaning of 'vocabulary' changed or is the above sentence wrong?
Thanks.

Ricky

Junior Member53

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rishonly: · Answer 1

rishonly:

Ricky06 I know that "vocabulary" means all the words which exist in a particular langauge. However, it seems that many people use it to mean a new or difficult word.
Ricky

Hi Ricky06,

I don't think "vocabulary" means a new or difficult word. It is just a collection of words or phrases. However, let us wait for natives' opinion on this.

Nef: · Answer 2

Nef:

Ricky06I know that "vocabulary" means all the words which exist in a particular langauge. However, it seems that many people use it to mean a new or difficult word. Even in English learning sites, I can see sentences like:

A list of commonly-used vocabulary with a recording of the words in RealMedia format.

Has the meaning of 'vocabulary' changed or is the above sentence wrong?
Thanks.

Ricky

Both of you are right about one meaning of vocabulary. But vocabulary can also be more specific. Individuals have vocabularies. Also, there are vocabularies associated with many areas of work, study, entertainment, and so on. Think of the vocabulary associated with art, medicine, sports, information technology, music, grammar, linguistics, and so on.

I think the ad featured vocabulary of interest to people wanting to improve their English.

Rodrook: · Answer 3

Rodrook:

NefBoth of you are right about one meaning of vocabulary. But vocabulary can also be more specific. Individuals have vocabularies. Also, there are vocabularies associated with many areas of work, study, entertainment, and so on. Think of the vocabulary associated with art, medicine, sports, information technology, music, grammar, linguistics, and so on.

I think the ad featured vocabulary of interest to people wanting to improve their English.

Nef's explanation appears to be in sync with the Longman Web Dictionary.

vocabulary
1 [uncountable and countable] all the words that someone knows or uses
2 [countable] all the words in a particular language
3 [uncountable and countable] the words that are typically used when talking about a particular subject

Nef: · Answer 4

Nef:

Thank you, Rodrook. That helps clarify things for me, too.

yunus: · Answer 5

yunus:

and vocabulary means word knowledge.

Ricky06: · Answer 6

Ricky06:

Rodrook vocabulary
1 [uncountable and countable] all the words that someone knows or uses
2 [countable]all the words in a particular language
3 [uncountable and countable]the words that are typically used when talking about a particular subject

If meaning 3 is adopted in my example, is the sentence still wrong? i.e. instead of

A list of commonly-used vocabulary with a recording of the words in RealMedia format.

It should be:

A list of commonly-used vocabularies with a recording of the words in RealMedia format.

because it's a collection of words for a particular subject, which should be countable.

Also, does the phrase "vocabulary word" refer to a word that is new and difficult, or just any word in the the collection of words?

Thanks.

Ricky

Anonymous: · Answer 7

Anonymous:

Ezra is writing on the keyboard. for example, Arial Bold is 12 sizes?

Anonymous: · Answer 8

Anonymous:

look im 13 and not a clue what vocabulary means, if one person could put what vocabulary means in to few but useful words it would realy help so please, if you dont know the answer and you only think you know, then dont put what you think. all i want is a few words explaining what vocabulary means ok!!

Meaning of the word 'vocabulary'?

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