anagram

1 of 2

noun

an·​a·​gram ˈa-nə-ˌgram 

1

: a word or phrase made by transposing the letters of another word or phrase

The word "secure" is an anagram of "rescue."

2

anagrams plural in form but singular in construction : a game in which words are formed by rearranging the letters of other words or by arranging letters taken (as from a stock of cards or blocks) at random

anagrammatic

ˌa-nə-grə-ˈma-tik 

adjective

or less commonly anagrammatical

ˌa-nə-grə-ˈma-ti-kəl 

anagrammatically

ˌa-nə-grə-ˈma-ti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

anagram

2 of 2

verb

anagrammed; anagramming

transitive verb

1

: anagrammatize

anagrammed the letters of "battle" to form "tablet"

2

: to rearrange (the letters of a text) in order to discover a hidden message

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The duo’s Sire Records — the name of which was an anagram of the first two letters in the partners’ first names — set up shop in the Brill Building, Manhattan’s music-biz hub, later that year. —Chris Morris, Variety, 2 Apr. 2023

It’s made using the same method as Champagne, with the second fermentation in the bottle, and with the classic grapes of cava, parellada, macabeu and xarello, of which Loxarel is an anagram. —New York Times, 21 July 2022

Lydia’s surname is an anagram for art — and also, as a disaffected acolyte notes, for rat. —A.o. Scott, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2022

To begin with, Senay asked 53 psychology students to solve an anagram task, rearranging the letters of ten words into ten new ones. —Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 19 Mar. 2010

Even so, all the subjects performed about the same on their anagram-solving test. —Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 15 Mar. 2013

The accented anagram of the film’s title hints at Field’s first mission: getting inside the definitions of art and artist. —Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 19 Nov. 2022

Much like Cheung’s fish-out-of-water star, Vikander’s Mira (dig that anagram) is caught in a cultural vortex that both excites and confuses her. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 20 June 2022

Cravotta's simple anagram game—whose gameplay closely resembled PikPok's popular, pre-existing Four Letters—received a few updates in the months after its release, but then sat untouched and largely unnoticed for years. —Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 5 May 2022

Verb

Every time someone joins (several people a week) the Devs commence to anagram the newbie’s name in every which way but the real one — sometimes dozens. —Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2020

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Word History

Etymology

Noun

probably from Middle French anagramme, from New Latin anagrammat-, anagramma, modification of Greek anagrammatismos, from anagrammatizein to transpose letters, from ana- + grammat-, gramma letter — more at gram

Verb

derivative of anagram entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1589, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1622, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

anagram

noun

ana·​gram

ˈan-ə-ˌgram

: a word or phrase made out of another by changing the order of the letters

"rebate" is an anagram of "beater"