Meaning & use
word stock
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
All the words that a person knows and uses, or all the words in a language.
Grammar: Usually used with 'the' or a possessive: 'the English word stock', 'a child's word stock'.
Patterns
- the word stock of a language
- a person's word stock
- build up your word stock
Reading widely helps you expand your word stock.
The word stock of English includes words from many languages.
nouncountablespecialist
The total set of words used in a particular subject, book, or period.
Grammar: Often followed by 'of': 'the word stock of science'.
Patterns
- the word stock of something
The word stock of legal English is very specialized.
Shakespeare's word stock was unusually large.
Word forms
| plural | word stocks |
|---|
Common combinations
- expand your word stock
- She reads a lot to expand her word stock.
- limited word stock
- His limited word stock made writing difficult.
- common word stock
- These words belong to the common word stock of English.
- the word stock of a language
- The word stock of a language changes over time.
Synonyms and how they differ
- vocabulary
- Much more common in everyday English; 'word stock' is more technical and often refers to the whole set of words in a language.
- lexicon
- More formal and technical; often refers to the complete set of words in a language or a dictionary.
Word family
Commonly confused: word stock or stock word?
word stock vs stock word
Not a common phrase; 'stock word' would mean a word that is kept in stock, which is not the same as 'word stock'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'word stock' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase is 'a word stock of a language'. The other prepositions do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “word stock”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.