"Cupertino effect" meaning in English

See Cupertino effect in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: Named for the fact that some older computer spellcheckers did not include the form cooperation and would automatically replace it not with co-operation, but with Cupertino, a name of a city in northern California and headquarters of Apple Inc. Head templates: {{en-noun|?}} Cupertino effect
  1. (computing, software, originally) The replacement, by a spell checker, of words that are real (such as proper nouns or alternate spellings), but missing from its internal dictionary, with words that are starkly incorrect in context. Derived forms: Cupertino
    Sense id: en-Cupertino_effect-en-noun-9~b~9aKq Categories (other): Computing, Software, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 49 51 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences, software
  2. (by extension) The failure of spell checkers to replace incorrectly spelled words with the actually intended words, resulting in miscorrections. Tags: broadly
    Sense id: en-Cupertino_effect-en-noun-tEU0tvxy Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 53 47 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 49 51
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  "etymology_text": "Named for the fact that some older computer spellcheckers did not include the form cooperation and would automatically replace it not with co-operation, but with Cupertino, a name of a city in northern California and headquarters of Apple Inc.",
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          "_dis1": "81 19",
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          "ref": "2015, Arhlene A. Flowers, Global Writing for Public Relations, Routledge, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Although computer dictionaries have improved, the Cupertino effect still creates havoc.",
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  "etymology_text": "Named for the fact that some older computer spellcheckers did not include the form cooperation and would automatically replace it not with co-operation, but with Cupertino, a name of a city in northern California and headquarters of Apple Inc.",
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      ],
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  "wikipedia": [
    "Apple Inc."
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  "word": "Cupertino effect"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-06-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-06-01 using wiktextract (074e7de and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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