Cupertino effect

noun

The replacement, by a spell checker, of words that are real (such as proper nouns or alternate spellings), but missing from its internal dictionary, with words that are starkly incorrect in context.

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Meanings

noun
  1. originallycomputingThe replacement, by a spell checker, of words that are real (such as proper nouns or alternate spellings), but missing from its internal dictionary, with words that are starkly incorrect in context.

    Although computer dictionaries have improved, the Cupertino effect still creates havoc.

    2015, Arhlene A. Flowers, Global Writing for Public Relations, Routledge, →ISBN
  2. broadlyThe failure of spell checkers to replace incorrectly spelled words with the actually intended words, resulting in miscorrections.

Origin

Named for the fact that some older computer spellcheckers did not include the form cooperation and would automatically replace it not with co-operation, but with Cupertino, a name of a city in northern California and headquarters of Apple Inc.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Cupertino effect. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cupertino%20effect

MLA

“Cupertino effect.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cupertino%20effect. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Cupertino effect,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cupertino%20effect.

Source: Cupertino effect on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.