abecedarian

plural abecedarians · alternative abecedary

1. Someone who is learning the alphabet.First known use Early 17ᵗʰ century.
2. An elementary student, a novice; one in the early steps of learning.First known use Early 17ᵗʰ century.

   A man may alwaies continue his studie, but not schooling. O fond-foolish for an old man to be ever an Abcedarian [translating abecedaire].

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 28, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 404

3. archaicSomeone engaged in teaching the alphabet; an elementary teacher; one that teaches the methods and principles of learning.First known use Early 17ᵗʰ century.
4. rhetoricA work which uses words or lines in alphabetical order.

   An Abecedarian is any poem constrained by alphabetical order.

   2008, Erich J. Goller, Groovy, page 165

   2 more examples

   This formal organization is most likely to create obscurity in such elaborate and artificial forms as: palindromes (words, phrases, or verses which read the same backward or forward), abecedarians (poems in which the initial letters of lines or stanzas are arranged to[…])[…].

   1996, Mediaevalia, volume 19, Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies of the State University of New York at Binghamton, page 133

   Abecedarian verses are chanted stichoi/stichera verses in which the first letter of each verse follows an alphabetical order.[…]The Amomos, an abecedarian, is the longest psalm in the Psalter[…].

   2007, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music Collection of the National Library, →ISBN, page 590

comparative more abecedarian · superlative most abecedarian · alternative abecedary

1. archaicPertaining to someone learning the alphabet or basic studies; elementary; rudimentary.First known use Mid 17ᵗʰ century.
2. Pertaining to the alphabet, or several alphabets.First known use Mid 17ᵗʰ century.

   The professor [...] had several other translations or feats of antiquarian deciphering to his credit. Indeed, I was extremely fortunate to find him in at the museum, for he planned to fly within the week to Peru where yet another task awaited his abecedarian talents.

   1971, Brian Lumley, Rising with Surtsey

3. Arranged in an alphabetical manner.First known use Mid 17ᵗʰ century.
4. Relating to or resembling an abecedarius.

plural Abecedarians

1. historicalA member of a 16th-century Anabaptist sect, follower of the Zwickau prophets (and specially of Thomas Storch), who believed that any kind of knowledge (even basic reading and writing) would keep one from obtaining salvation.First known use 19th c.

   Behind the stable doors, where competitors frenziedly shine tack and polish hooves, Donna McNulty busies herself with her horse, Abecedarian.

   1990 August 27, Cynthia B. Hanson, “HORSE PLAY”, in The Christian Science Monitor, archived from the original on 14 Jan 2025

   1 more example

   Heckman has been analyzing data from two famous early-childhood intervention programs, the Abecedarian Project of the ’70s and the Perry Preschool project of the ’60s. Both have furnished ample evidence that, if you enroll very young children from poor families in programs that give both them and their parents an extra boost, then they grow up to be wealthier and healthier than their counterparts—less fat, less sick, better educated, and, for men, more likely to hold down a job.

   2013 May 13, Judith Shulevitz, “The Lethality of Loneliness”, in The New Republic, archived from the original on 31 Mar 2015