"spellcheck" meaning in English

See spellcheck in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: spellchecks [plural], spell check [alternative], spell-check [alternative]
Etymology: Back-formation from spellchecker. Etymology templates: {{back-form|en|spellchecker}} Back-formation from spellchecker Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} spellcheck (countable and uncountable, plural spellchecks)
  1. The act of spellchecking. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-spellcheck-en-noun-C65bln6b Categories (other): English back-formations, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English back-formations: 28 29 23 20 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 28 32 20 21 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 28 32 20 19 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 28 32 21 19
  2. A spellchecker. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-spellcheck-en-noun-VFEyo2hi Categories (other): English back-formations, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English back-formations: 28 29 23 20 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 28 32 20 21 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 28 32 20 19 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 28 32 21 19

Verb

Forms: spellchecks [present, singular, third-person], spellchecking [participle, present], spellchecked [participle, past], spellchecked [past], spell check [alternative], spell-check [alternative]
Etymology: Back-formation from spellchecker. Etymology templates: {{back-form|en|spellchecker}} Back-formation from spellchecker Head templates: {{en-verb}} spellcheck (third-person singular simple present spellchecks, present participle spellchecking, simple past and past participle spellchecked)
  1. To check that words in written text are properly spelled.
    Sense id: en-spellcheck-en-verb-2baWA3Y5 Categories (other): English back-formations, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English back-formations: 28 29 23 20 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 28 32 20 21 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 28 32 20 19 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 28 32 21 19
  2. (transitive) To run a spellchecker on (a document). Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-spellcheck-en-verb-QDJkA3q4 Categories (other): English back-formations, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English back-formations: 28 29 23 20 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 28 32 20 21 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 28 32 20 19 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 28 32 21 19

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "spellchecker"
      },
      "expansion": "Back-formation from spellchecker",
      "name": "back-form"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Back-formation from spellchecker.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spellchecks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spell check",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spell-check",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "spellcheck (countable and uncountable, plural spellchecks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "28 29 23 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English back-formations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 20 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 20 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 21 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              25,
              35
            ]
          ],
          "text": "You'd better run another spellcheck now that you've written that extra chapter.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The act of spellchecking."
      ],
      "id": "en-spellcheck-en-noun-C65bln6b",
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "28 29 23 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English back-formations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 20 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 20 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 21 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              39,
              49
            ]
          ],
          "text": "My wordprocessor is supposed to have a spellcheck, but I don't know how to use it.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              274,
              284
            ],
            [
              341,
              351
            ],
            [
              498,
              508
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1995 April 9, Diane Ketcham, “About Long Island; ‘If You Can’t Spell You Look Stupid’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 May 2015:",
          "text": "\"We want to make sure our children know how to spell in English.\" They will if they learn the Reading Reform way, Mrs. Goldberg told them. \"I've been teaching this method for 18 years,\" she said. And never once used a spelling aid? \"Well,\" she said, \"I am a recent user of 'spellcheck.' I thought I might make some typos on the computer and spellcheck would pick that up. So I started using it. Then the other day I found I made a serious error, and it hadn't been picked up. I had come to rely on spellcheck!\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spellchecker."
      ],
      "id": "en-spellcheck-en-noun-VFEyo2hi",
      "links": [
        [
          "spellchecker",
          "spellchecker"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spellcheck"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "spellchecker"
      },
      "expansion": "Back-formation from spellchecker",
      "name": "back-form"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Back-formation from spellchecker.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spellchecks",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spellchecking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spellchecked",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spellchecked",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spell check",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spell-check",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "spellcheck (third-person singular simple present spellchecks, present participle spellchecking, simple past and past participle spellchecked)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "28 29 23 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English back-formations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 20 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 20 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 21 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To check that words in written text are properly spelled."
      ],
      "id": "en-spellcheck-en-verb-2baWA3Y5",
      "links": [
        [
          "word",
          "word"
        ],
        [
          "spell",
          "spell"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "28 29 23 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English back-formations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "28 32 20 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 20 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 32 21 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To run a spellchecker on (a document)."
      ],
      "id": "en-spellcheck-en-verb-QDJkA3q4",
      "links": [
        [
          "spellchecker",
          "spellchecker"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To run a spellchecker on (a document)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spellcheck"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English back-formations",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "spellchecker"
      },
      "expansion": "Back-formation from spellchecker",
      "name": "back-form"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Back-formation from spellchecker.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spellchecks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spell check",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spell-check",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "spellcheck (countable and uncountable, plural spellchecks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              25,
              35
            ]
          ],
          "text": "You'd better run another spellcheck now that you've written that extra chapter.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The act of spellchecking."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              39,
              49
            ]
          ],
          "text": "My wordprocessor is supposed to have a spellcheck, but I don't know how to use it.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              274,
              284
            ],
            [
              341,
              351
            ],
            [
              498,
              508
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1995 April 9, Diane Ketcham, “About Long Island; ‘If You Can’t Spell You Look Stupid’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 May 2015:",
          "text": "\"We want to make sure our children know how to spell in English.\" They will if they learn the Reading Reform way, Mrs. Goldberg told them. \"I've been teaching this method for 18 years,\" she said. And never once used a spelling aid? \"Well,\" she said, \"I am a recent user of 'spellcheck.' I thought I might make some typos on the computer and spellcheck would pick that up. So I started using it. Then the other day I found I made a serious error, and it hadn't been picked up. I had come to rely on spellcheck!\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spellchecker."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spellchecker",
          "spellchecker"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spellcheck"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English back-formations",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "spellchecker"
      },
      "expansion": "Back-formation from spellchecker",
      "name": "back-form"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Back-formation from spellchecker.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "spellchecks",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spellchecking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spellchecked",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spellchecked",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spell check",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "spell-check",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "spellcheck (third-person singular simple present spellchecks, present participle spellchecking, simple past and past participle spellchecked)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "To check that words in written text are properly spelled."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "word",
          "word"
        ],
        [
          "spell",
          "spell"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To run a spellchecker on (a document)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spellchecker",
          "spellchecker"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To run a spellchecker on (a document)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "spellcheck"
}

Download raw JSONL data for spellcheck meaning in English (3.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). 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.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.