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Word of the Day:

May 19, 2017

rebus

noun REE-bus

What it Means

: a representation of syllables or words by means of pictures or symbols; also : a riddle made up of such pictures or symbols

Rebus in Context

The answer to yesterday's rebus, which showed a man on an ark, a spider web, and a spoon stirring coffee, was "Noah Webster."

"The books are rebuses: They combine normally written words with emojis that substitute for words or parts of words." — Jessica Roy, The Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2016

More example sentences

Did You Know?

A rebus communicates its message by means of pictures or symbols whose names sound like various parts of a word, phrase, or sentence. For example, a picture of a can of tomatoes followed by the letters UC and a picture of a well means "Can you see well?" In Latin, the word rebus means "by things"; rebus is a form of the Latin word res, which means "thing." English speakers started using the word rebus for picture writing in the early 1600s.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a word for a letter, symbol, or sign used to represent an entire word, such as $ for dollar: lo _ _ g _ a _.

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