Anthimeria Examples

Anthimeria refers to the creation of a new word by using a word that is typically one part of speech as another part of speech. While this sounds confusing, it is quite simple. We do it often when we use nouns as verbs or adjectives as nouns.

Example: adulating

When someone says they are "adulting," it means that they are acting like an adult or fulfilling "adult" responsibilities. When we use this term, we have used anthimeria. We have taken the noun "adult" and created an entirely new word, "adulting."

She was mean-mugging me. (making a mean face)

You enjoy hashtagging, don't you?

If you want to know, just Google it. (Google has gone from being a noun to a verb in many cases.)

She dogged me until I gave in to her pleading. (Dog is a noun, but dogged is a verb.)

Come here, handsome, and give me a hug. (Handsome is an adjective that becomes a noun when used to refer to someone by name.)

Advertisers often use anthimeria:

Where Awesome Happens (Xfinity)
Come TV with Us (Hulu)

Examples of Anthimeria from Literature:

Examples of verbs turned into adjectives from Thomas Hardy's Under the Greenwood Tree:

"The parishioners about here," continued Mrs. Day, not looking at any living being, but snatching up the brown delf tea-things, "are the laziest, gossipest, poaches, jailest set of any ever I came among."

Example of a noun turned into a verb from William Shakespeare's King Lear:

The thunder would not peace at my bidding.

Example of a noun used as a verb from Jane Austen's Emma:

"Let me not suppose that she dares go about Emma Woodhouse-ing me!"

Example of a noun used as a verb from William Shakespeare's Hamlet:

"My sea gown scarf'd about me."

From The Wizard of Oz, when the wicked witch says to Dorothy, "I'll get you, my pretty."