jaw-breaker
Definition
- Noun:
- A word that is difficult to pronounce: "jaw-breaker" refers to a word that is long, complex, or contains sounds that are challenging to articulate, often used informally.
- A hard candy: In informal contexts, "jaw-breaker" can also mean a very hard, round candy that is sucked or chewed with difficulty, especially by children.
Usage Examples
Noun (difficult word):
- The name of the chemical compound was a real jaw-breaker for the students. (The word was very hard to pronounce.)
- She struggled with the jaw-breaker "antidisestablishmentarianism" during the spelling bee. (The long word was difficult to say.)
Noun (hard candy):
- He bought a bag of jaw-breakers from the corner store. (A bag of hard, round candies.)
- The child sucked on a jaw-breaker until it slowly dissolved. (The candy was so hard it required prolonged sucking.)
Advanced Usage
- "to be a jaw-breaker": to describe a word or phrase that is exceptionally difficult to pronounce.
- The technical term "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" is a classic jaw-breaker. (The word is extremely long and hard to say.)
Variants and Related Words
- Jaw-breaking (adj): describing something that is very difficult to pronounce.
- The jaw-breaking term left the audience confused. (The word was hard to articulate.)
Synonyms
Tongue-twister: a word or phrase that is difficult to say quickly or correctly.
- "She sells seashells" is a famous tongue-twister. (A phrase designed to be hard to pronounce.)
Hard-to-pronounce word: a word that requires effort to articulate.
Related Idioms
Break one's jaw (rare): to struggle to pronounce a word.
- He nearly broke his jaw trying to say the jaw-breaker. (He had great difficulty pronouncing it.)
A mouthful: a word or phrase that is long and complicated.
- That's quite a mouthful of a word. (It is a difficult word to say.)