: one that is a suitable object of (a specified action)
broiler
3
: one that is
foreigner
—in all senses -yer in a few words after w, -ier in a few other words, otherwise -er
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web
Interjection
From impressively scary to just scarily easy, these creepy and cute Halloween cake ideas take the... er, cake! Christopher Michel, Country Living, 12 Sep. 2022 Big Sky, er, Big Sky: Deadly Trails, is back for a third season, replete with its usual mystery, danger, and… death. Ew Staff, EW.com, 9 Sep. 2022 Bolch later became the first writer on record to covet trips to Spokane while serving a three-season sentence — er, stint — on USC basketball.Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2022 But not everybody shares Warren’s apparent capacity for such, er, nuance.BostonGlobe.com, 3 Sep. 2022 And Texas A&M boosters will celebrate by doubling the salaries, er, NIL payments of the entire roster. Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel, 30 Aug. 2022 The proximity of Lake Mead to Las Vegas — and that city's, er, colorful associations with organized crime — has not gone unnoticed. Joel Mathis, The Week, 12 Aug. 2022 Scott Adkins and Steve Howey steal their scene as vampire-hunting brothers — er, bros. Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2022 Aragorn, er, Viggo Mortensen, the Hollywood A-lister with three Oscar nominations. Paddy O'connell, Outside Online, 4 Aug. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Adjective suffix or adverb suffix
Middle English -er, -ere, -re, from Old English -ra (in adjectives), -or (in adverbs); akin to Old High German -iro, adjective comparative suffix, Latin -ior, Greek -iōn
Noun suffix
Middle English -er, -ere, -ier, -iere; partly from Old English -ere (from Latin -arius); partly from Old French -ier, -iere, from Latin -arius, -aria, -arium -ary; partly from Anglo-French -ere, from Latin -ator -or — more at -ary, -or