English Words Starting With O

• ostia

  nounLow (in English contexts); Very High (in colloquial Peninsular Spanish).
  /ˈɒstɪə/A vulgar Spanish expletive expressing surprise, anger, or emphasis, literally meaning 'the host' (Eucharistic wafer).
• ostiary

  nounRare / Archaic
  /ˈɒstɪəri/A doorkeeper, particularly for a church or cathedral.
• ostinato

  nounC2
  /ˌɒstɪˈnɑːtəʊ/A continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm.
• ostiole

  nounC2 (Very Low)
  /ˈɒstɪəʊl/A small opening or pore in a biological structure, such as a plant or fungus, often serving as an outlet for spores or fluids.
• ostium

  nounC1
  /ˈɒstɪəm/A small opening, orifice, or entrance, especially into a tubular structure.
• ostler

  nounC2
  /ˈɒslə/A person employed to look after the horses of people staying at an inn.
• ostmark

  nounVery Low
  /ˈɒst.mɑːk/The former currency unit of East Germany (the German Democratic Republic), in circulation from 1948 until 1990.
• ostomy

  nounLow
  /ˈɒstəmi/A surgical operation in which an artificial opening is made in the body to allow the passage of waste (faeces or urine) from an internal organ to the outside.
• ostosis

  nounVery Low
  /ɒˈstəʊsɪs/The process of bone formation; ossification.
• ostpolitik

  nounC2 (Very Low Frequency/Specialist)
  /ˈɒstpɒlɪˌtiːk/A political strategy of improving relations with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, particularly pursued by West Germany in the late 1960s and 1970s.
• ostpreussen

  nounC2/Rare
  /ˈɒstˌprɔɪsən/The historical name for East Prussia, a former province of Prussia and later Germany, located in the eastern Baltic region.
• ostracism

  nounC1
  /ˈɒs.trə.sɪ.zəm/The act of deliberately excluding someone from a group or society.
• ostracization

  nounLow
  /ˌɒs.trə.saɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/The act of excluding someone from a society or group.
• ostracize

  verbverb-transitiveC2
  /ˈɒs.trə.saɪz/To exclude someone from a society or group, either formally or by social consent.
• ostracod

  nounC2 (Specialist)
  /ˈɒstrəkɒd/A small aquatic crustacean of the subclass Ostracoda, having a bivalve shell.
• ostracoderm

  nounVery Low
  /ˈɒstrəkə(ʊ)ˌdɜːm/Any member of an extinct group of primitive, jawless, bony-plated fish, ancestors of modern vertebrates.
• ostracon

  nounLow
  /ˈɒstrəkɒn/A piece of pottery, stone, or other material, typically broken from a vase or other earthenware vessel, used in antiquity as a surface for writing or drawing.
• ostrakon

  nounRare
  /ˈɒstrəkɒn/A potsherd used in ancient Athens for voting in the procedure of ostracism.
• ostranenie

  nounLow
  /ˌɒstrəˈneɪni/A technique in art and literature of presenting familiar things in a strange or unfamiliar way to provoke new perception.
• ostrava

  nounLow
  /ˈɒstrəvə/A city in the Czech Republic.

Showing 2261–2280 of 3187 words.