Definition

Noun: 1. A word game or puzzle in which the objective is to form new words or phrases by rearranging all the letters of a given word or phrase. The activity itself. 2. (Often used with a singular verb) A game whose object is to form words from a group of randomly chosen letters.

Usage and Examples

• As a singular/uncountable noun for the game: "We spent the evening doing anagrams." (Here, 'anagrams' refers to the game activity.)
• As a plural noun for specific puzzles: "The newspaper publishes three new anagrams every day." (Here, 'anagrams' refers to individual puzzles.)
• Example of solving: "The anagram for 'listen' is 'silent'."

Advanced Usage

• "To solve/unscramble an anagram": To figure out the word formed by rearranging the letters.
  • Can you solve this anagram: 'R E F O R M'? (Answer: 'former' or 'reform').
• "To be an anagram of": Describes the relationship between the original word and the rearranged word.
  • 'Astronomer' is an anagram of 'moon starer'.

Variants and Related Words

• Anagrammatic (adjective): Relating to or involving anagrams.
  • The clues had an anagrammatic quality.
• Anagrammatize (verb, less common): To rearrange letters to form an anagram.
  • You can anagrammatize 'the eyes' to get 'they see'.

Synonyms

• Word scramble
• Letter puzzle
• Jumble (a specific brand name for a type of anagram puzzle)

Related Phrases and Idioms

• "To make an anagram of": To create an anagram from a given word.
  • The poet loved to make anagrams of his friends' names.
• Anagram solver: A tool or person who finds solutions to anagram puzzles.

Noun

1. a game whose object is to form words from a group of randomly chosen letters