30 Hilarious Made Up Words You’ll Want to Start Using
Updated: Dec. 16, 2022Just remember, people might not understand you if you start using these.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” —Through the Looking Glass
I agree with Mr. Dumpty: Words have meaning. But surely we can seize upon a meaning and then create a word to match it. The following words—some culled from the crowdsourced online dictionary urbandictionary.com and others I’ve concocted myself—don’t exist according to Merriam-Webster … but should. I call them “worderfuls.”
Blamestorming
(‘blaym-stohr-ming)n.—The act of attempting to identify the person who is most at fault for a plan’s failure.
Cellfish
(‘sel-fish) n.—Someone who talks on the phone to the exclusion of those he or she is with.
Destinesia
(des-tuh-‘nee-zhuh) n.—When you get to where you intended to go but forget why you wanted to go there.
Dudevorce
(‘dood-vohrs) n.—When two bros end their friendship. These words are so funny that they sound made up.
Illiteration
(il-lih-tuh-‘ray-shuhn) n.—The mistaken impression that you know more about rhetorical devices than you really do.
Unlighten
(uhn-‘ly-ten) v.—To learn something that makes you dumber. Next, read about these words that don’t mean what you think they do.