Meanings
- not comparablehuman sciencesConcerned with or relating to the ways in which a term's frequency may vary across different contexts and situations.
a diafrequential usage label
1 more example
According to Hausmann (1977, Ch. 8), lexically relevant units can receive — typically by means of labels or usage notes — any or all of the following types of diasystematic marking: diachronic (e.g. archaic, neologism); diatopic (e.g. American English for elevator 'lift', British English for loo); diaintegrative for foreign borrowings used in English (e.g. German for Weltanschauung); diastratic (e.g. informal for loo, formal for perambulator); diaconnotative (e.g. from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (W9), often used disparagingly for dyke); diatechnical (e.g. law for tort, anatomy for clavicle; diafrequential (e.g. rare); dianormative (e.g. substandard for ain't).
1991, “Lexicography”, in Kirsten Malmkjær, editor, The Linguistics Encyclopedia, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 295, column 2
Origin
Cite this entry
diafrequential. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diafrequential
“diafrequential.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diafrequential. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “diafrequential,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diafrequential.
Source: diafrequential on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.