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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

Shakespeare.

A surname.

11 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

name/ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ/General-American/ˈʃeɪkspɪə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈʃɛjkspɪː/British, Southern, Standard/ˈʃɛjkspɪə/British, Southern, Standard
  1. A surname.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A surname. William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

    countable · uncountable
  3. William Shakespeare's works or media adaptations of his works.

    countable · metonymically · uncountable
    He is reading Shakespeare.
    I'm surprised that even the allusion to Hamlet flew over his head. Even someone who barely knows Shakespeare might catch that one!
  4. A place name: A village in Perth East township, Ontario, Canada, named after the playwright.

    countable · uncountable
  5. A place name: A ghost town in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

A common Middle English surname meaning spearman, corresponding to shake (“to brandish a weapon”) + spear.

noun/ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ/General-American/ˈʃeɪkspɪə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈʃɛjkspɪː/British, Southern, Standard/ˈʃɛjkspɪə/British, Southern, Standard
  1. Any form or style of language that is eloquent, especially in English; poetry.

    uncountable
  2. A playwright of the standing of William Shakespeare.

    countable
Where this word comes from

A common Middle English surname meaning spearman, corresponding to shake (“to brandish a weapon”) + spear.

verb/ˈʃeɪkspɪɹ/General-American/ˈʃeɪkspɪə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈʃɛjkspɪː/British, Southern, Standard/ˈʃɛjkspɪə/British, Southern, Standard
  1. To act or perform in a play of the works of Shakespeare.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

A common Middle English surname meaning spearman, corresponding to shake (“to brandish a weapon”) + spear.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.