different between typographical vs dingbat

English

Etymology

From New Latin typographicus + -al.

Adjective

typographical (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to typography or printing.

   Synonym: typographic

2. Produced by typography; printed.

Derived terms

• typographically

Translations

English

Etymology

Unknown, US mid 19th century. The word-puzzle sense comes from the board game Dingbats, which is based on these puzzles.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?d???bæt/

Noun

dingbat (plural dingbats)

1. (informal) A silly, crazy or stupid person.

   Synonym: dingus
2. (typography) A special ornamental typographical symbol, such as a bullet, an arrow, a pointing hand etc.
   • 1982, The Elements of Editing: A Modern Guide for Editors and Journalists, Arthur Plotnik, p.8

     "The compulsive editor, when checking the specs on an article, can't help checking also for such items as initial capital and closing dingbat, if they are used routinely. These decorative items have a way of being forgotten..."

3. (architecture) An architectural style of apartment building, where the second storey overhangs an area for parking cars.
4. A kind of word puzzle involving pictures or typography that hint at the solution.

   Synonym: rebus

   • 2015, Georgia Holleran, Ian Gilbert, A Teacher’s Companion to Essential Motivation in the Classroom

     This can be a dingbat, anagram, word puzzle, riddle or other quick warm-up activity and demonstrates to your students that when they come into your lessons, you get them thinking right away.

   • 2016, Stephen Scoffham, Teaching Geography Creatively (page 17)

     A dingbat is a kind of picture puzzle. Each picture represents a word, phrase or name, and the picture can often be supplemented with a couple of letters to assist in the guessing.

5. (slang) Anything that can be thrown or swung with force against something else. [from 1838]
6. A small device or gadget, the correct term for which is forgotten or unknown.

   Synonyms: dingus, thingamabob, doohickey; see also Thesaurus:thingy

Related terms

• dingwad

See also

• wingdings
• ding

Further reading

• dingbat (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References