# Word with the most definitions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881 "2003-07-12T02:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/1 "2003-07-12T02:16:15Z")
Does anyone know what word has the most distinct definitions in the standard American English dictionary? Before we get into a debate on which dictionary, let’s just say the Cambridge Dictionary of American English. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/2 "2003-07-12T02:28:29Z")
Set. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/3 "2003-07-12T02:29:49Z")
[Cite](http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/s/set.html) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/4 "2003-07-12T05:02:26Z")
I thought RUN has the record but I think SET is in Guinness. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/5 "2003-07-12T05:33:58Z")
The entry for “Set” in the Oxford English Dictionary is the length of a small novel. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/6 "2003-07-12T08:11:17Z")
From a different dictionary: in Webster’s Third, **set** takes up a full page, but **take** consumes almost 2 pages. I didn’t figure out[sup]1[/sup] which has the most definititions, but I’m pretty sure **take** takes the cake there too. [sup]1[/sup]It’s more complicated than just looking at the number of the last definition. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/7 "2003-07-12T08:15:31Z")
PS Since when is a dictionary published by Cambridge University Press a “standard” **American** dictionary? ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/8 "2003-07-12T13:21:23Z")
Damn, somehow I knew this thread would turn into the “which dictionary” debate. I really don’t think the publisher of the dictionary matters as the site given by commasense shows, “set” blows away “run”. I too always thought it was “run”. OK, _now_ we can morph this thread into the “which dictionary is the _best_ dictionary for the American English language” thread 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/9 "2003-07-12T17:02:13Z")
Gee, I am away from my dictionary, but I thought “jack” was the winner. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/10 "2003-07-12T19:19:22Z")
Paul, here is something from the 1974 “Guinness Book”: \* **Most Meanings:** The most overworked word in English is the word “jack” which has 10 main substantive uses with 40 sub-uses and two verbal uses.\* I have NO idea what they are talking about but maybe this is the reference you were thinking of? Later editions of Guinness list “SET” as the record-holder. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/11 "2003-07-12T21:16:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ccwaterback \* > Damn, somehow I knew this thread would turn into the “which dictionary” debate. The problem was that you wanted to know about American English, but then selected a dictionary published by a British publisher. Yes, I know it was meant as a dictionary of American English, it’s still a British publisher. > [@](#): > > I really don’t think the publisher of the dictionary matters as the site given by commasense shows, “set” blows away “run”. The publisher does matter. As I indicated above, one major American dictionary publisher dedicates more space to **take** than to **set**. I will note that M-W continues to devote more space to ‘take’ than ‘set’ in their recent college dictionaries. Looking at a different American dictionary, Random House Unabridged (2nd ed), one finds that **run** has 179 definitions (just looking at the number of the last definition does work in RHUD), while **take** has 124 and **set** only 119. This may be where the idea of ‘run’ having the most comes from. The OED (as cited above) is a fine dictionary (in fact I own a CD version of it), but it’s also a historical dictionary. That means it contains definitions that have long been obsolete. It was also published in England and sometimes misses American words and definitions. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/12 "2003-07-13T01:37:39Z")
Well then shouldn’t Guiness (although British) be considered the definitive authority ? In that case “SET” is the word. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/13 "2003-07-13T04:34:32Z")
My point is that there is no definitive answer. It depends on which dictionary you choose. One thing to consider about definitions is that there’s a certain amount of variability about them. What I mean is that in unabridged dictionaries, the lexicographers like to make very fine distinctions between the various usages for a given word. This makes for lots and lots of definitions. However, if they need to conserve space for other words, they can remove two or more definitions with closely related meanings and replace them with a single, more generally-written one. Or they can leave out some of the older ones that haven’t been current in centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/14 "2003-07-13T08:05:47Z")
My small paperback **Random House Webster’s Dictionary** has 48 entries for **set** and 51 for **take** but what prompted me to open this thread was my guess that the teeny tiny two letter word **UP** would beat out all comers. Although **UP** checks in with a mere 38 entries it does beat **set** and **take** by the ratio of definitons per letter. Nineteen. English is such a funny language, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-with-the-most-definitions/187881/15 "2003-07-14T00:54:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dtilque \* > \*\* > Looking at a different American dictionary, Random House Unabridged (2nd ed), one finds that **run** has 179 definitions (just looking at the number of the last definition does work in RHUD), while **take** has 124 and **set** only 119. This may be where the idea of ‘run’ having the most comes from. > \*\* I stand corrected. Now I have learned something today, that fact that it does matter which dictionary you site when you ask the OP question.