Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ËŒwɪkɪˈpiːdɪə/
• US enPR: wÄ­'kÄ“pēʹdÄ“É™, IPA: /ËŒwɪkiˈpiːdiÉ™/
• Rhymes: -iːdiÉ™

Origin

wikiencyclopedia, coined by .

Full definition of Wikipedia

Proper noun

1. (Wiktionary and Wikimedia Foundation jargon) A version of the encyclopedia Wikipedia (a free-content online encyclopedia, collaboratively developed over the World Wide Web) in a particular language.
• 2005, Financial Times, December 14.Work in the open-source software community or contribute to wikipedias on your favourite subjects.
• There are over three million articles on the English Wikipedia.
2. A heterogeneity which encompasses this encyclopedia in its many language versions, the community that develops it and the process of its development.
• 2011, The Guardian, January 12.Civility – translated as savoir-vivre in the French version – is one of the five "pillars" of Wikipedia.
• 2011, The New York Times, May 23.In August 2009, Wikipedia announced that it planned a move that many saw as a step away from its freewheeling ethos of anyone can edit.
• 2012, Reuters, January 19.Wikipedia mounted a 24-hour protest starting at midnight by converting their English page to a shadowy black background and warning readers that "the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet."
3. (neologism) A main-belt asteroid (No. 274301).

Derived terms

• Wikipedian

Related terms

Noun

1. (figuratively) A source of abundant encyclopedic knowledge.
• 2009, Baze Mpinja, "Six Beauty Secrets Every Model Knows", Glamour magazine on Msn.comRules and insights from some of the hottest new faces in the biz—they’re walking Wikipedias of hair, skin and makeup knowledge.

Verb

1. To consult Wikipedia for information.
1. Used intransitively.
• 2004 January 7, Mike Pitt, "Re: (Non-Euros/SAs Only) How did you become a lover of football?", in rec.sport.soccer

• Did a bit of Wikipediaing: ...
• 2005 August 18, Edward Cherlin, "Re: Slow Re-entry", in rec.arts.sf.science

• Is everybody in this group incapable of arithmetic, Googling, and Wikipediaing?
1. Used with an object denoting the information sought or obtained.
• 2006 November 17, Rachel Maddow, on Paula Zahn Now:I mean, it's true, if Katie Holmes had not become engaged to Tom Cruise, we'd all still be Wikipeidaing her, looking her up, trying to figure out exactly why do I know her, what was she in, is she famous?
• 2009, Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2010, Andrews McMeel Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7407-8536-8, page 363:He made me curious enough that I Wikipediaed Bob Satterfield and found out, yes, he was a real fighter, nicknamed the Bombadier, and was KO'd by the Raging Bull himself in a 1946 fight in Wrigley Field.
• 2010 April 7, "Jeff K.", "Like a Drunk One Legged Pirate Stores His Rum, The aTable Stores Your Cords" (blog post), in CraziestGadgets.com:That’s a true fact, you can Wikipedia that shizz.
• 2010, Rachel Cohn, Very Lefreak, Random House, ISBN 9780375895524, chapter 3:... her mother was "homeschooling" her via the Internet (basically, Wikipediaing the Important Facts from the History of the World, and ordering appropriate-level math textbooks from Amazon) ...
2. Used with an object denoting the specific article consulted.I wikipediaed the article on science and learned about the scientific method.