Transcription
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
-
- /ʰwaɪt, waɪt ˈe-lə-fənt/
- /waɪt ˈel.ɪ.fənt/
-
- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- /ʰwaɪt, waɪt ˈe-lə-fənt/
Definitions of white elephant words
- noun white elephant a possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of: Our Victorian bric-a-brac and furniture were white elephants. 1
- noun white elephant a possession entailing great expense out of proportion to its usefulness or value to the owner: When he bought the mansion he didn't know it was going to be such a white elephant. 1
- noun white elephant an abnormally whitish or pale elephant, usually found in Thailand; an albino elephant. 1
- noun white elephant unwanted item 1
- countable noun white elephant If you describe something as a white elephant, you mean that it is a waste of money because it is completely useless. 0
- noun white elephant a rare albino or pale grey variety of the Indian elephant, regarded as sacred in parts of S Asia 0
Information block about the term
Origin of white elephant
First appearance:
before 1850 One of the 32% newest English words
First recorded in 1850-55; from the perhaps apocryphal tale that the King of Siam would award a disagreeable courtier a white elephant, the upkeep of which would ruin the courtier
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for White elephant
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
white elephant popularity
A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 32% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.
white elephant usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for white elephant
adj white elephant
- catchpenny — designed to have instant appeal, esp in order to sell quickly and easily without regard for quality
- cheap — Goods or services that are cheap cost less money than usual or than you expected.
- cruddy — dirty or unpleasant
- glitzy — pretentiously or tastelessly showy: a glitzy gown.
adjective white elephant
- junky — of the nature of junk; trashy.
See also
Matching words
- Words starting with w
- Words starting with wh
- Words starting with whi
- Words starting with whit
- Words starting with white
- Words starting with whitee
- Words starting with whiteel
- Words starting with whiteele
- Words starting with whiteelep
- Words starting with whiteeleph
- Words starting with whiteelepha
- Words starting with whiteelephan
- Words starting with whiteelephant