The

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

word ''antidisestablishmentarianism'' (, , ) is notable for its unusual length of 28 letters and 12 syllables, and is one of the

longest words in the English language The identity of the longest word in the English language depends upon the definition of what constitutes a word in the English language, as well as how length should be compared. Words may be derived naturally from the language's roots or form ...

.What is the longest English word?
Oxford Dictionaries Online It has been cited as the longest word in the English language (excluding coined and technical terms), although some dictionaries do not recognize it because of its low usage in everyday lexicon. The longest word found in a major dictionary is ''

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'', but this is a technical term that was coined specifically to be the longest word.Cole, Chris. (1989.
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. '' Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics'', via wordways.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-08. The word became known in the public realm in the United States via a popular television show in the 1950s, ''

The $64,000 Question ''The $64,000 Question'' was an American game show broadcast in primetime on CBS-TV from 1955 to 1958, which became embroiled in the 1950s quiz show scandals. Contestants answered general knowledge questions, earning money which doubled as the ...

'', when a young contestant correctly spelled it to win. A slightly longer but less commonly accepted variant can be found in the

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

song "You're Just an Old Antidisestablishmentarianismist".

Meaning

Antidisestablishmentarianism Antidisestablishmentarianism (, ) is a position that advocates that a state Church (the "established church") should continue to receive government patronage, rather than be disestablished. In 19th century Britain, it developed as a politica ...

is a political position that originated in 19th century Britain. The position opposed proposals at that time to remove the

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

's status as the

established church A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...

of England, Ireland, and Wales, but not in Scotland, which had and still has its own separate national church.

Recognition

There is varied recognition of ''antidisestablishmentarism'' among major English dictionaries.

Merriam Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as G ...

notably does not recognize the word due to practically no use in the modern era, although they do include disestablishmentarism and antiestablishmentarism. The American Heritage, Chambers, and Oxford English similarly exclude antidisestablishmentarianism, but keep smaller variations. Dictionaries that do include the word are the Cambridge Dictionary, Collins English, and Dictionary.com.

Construction of the word

The word construction is as follows (succeeded by the number of letters in the word): ;''establish (9)'': to set up, put in place, or institute (originally from the Latin ''stare'', to stand) ;''dis-establish (12)'': to end the established status of a body, in particular a church, given such status by law, such as the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

;''disestablish-ment (16)'': the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

(specifically, the goal of the political movement of the 1860s in Britain) ;''disestablishment-arian (21)'': one who subscribes to said movement ;''anti-disestablishmentarian (25)'': one who opposes said movement ;''antidisestablishmentarian-ism (28)'': the movement or ideology that opposes disestablishment The word construction could be lengthened further in many ways, for example: ;''antidisestablishmentarian-istically (34)'': doing something with antidisestablishmentarian intentions.

Meaning

Recognition

Construction of the word

See also

Notes

References

External links