Home UK English antidisestablishmentarianism

Meaning of antidisestablishmentarianism in English:

antidisestablishmentarianism

Pronunciation /?ant?d?s??stabl??m(?)n?t??r??n?z(?)m/

noun

mass nounrare

  • Opposition to the disestablishment of the Church of England.

    • ‘Those who opposed disestablishmentarians, and there were many, particularly in Ireland and Wales, were thus supporters of antidisestablishmentarianism.’

Usage

Antidisestablishmentarianism is very occasionally found in genuine use, but it is most often cited as an example of a very long word. Other similar curiosities are
floccinaucinihilipilification
and
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
(the longest word in this dictionary). The longest word to be encountered in Britain is the Welsh place name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which is generally abbreviated to Llanfair PG; this name was created in the 19th century