Definitely Not Definately
Sorry to go off on a rant here, but I’m so tired of seeing the word “definitely” misspelled. There is no “A” in the word. I can’t believe how many people misspell the word. I find it funny when spell checkers suggest “defiantly” and the author accepts. Anyway, if I can help just one person to start spelling “definitely” correctly with this post, I’ll be happy.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Hi Matt. You’re definately right. Can’t believe people can’t spell definately. People like that should definately invest in a spellchecker.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
You know I don’t see that one misspelled as much… the one that bothers me the most is “calendar”. I seem to find it spelled “calender” way too often.
March 27th, 2008 at 11:39 am
it really annoys me when i see misspelled words that are easy and commonly used. i see “definately” OFTEN. calendar is one, also occurrence, absence, acceptable, whether, February, weird…the list goes on. sadly, i see these misspelled words in novels, too.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
i don’t know who you are but i just discovered that it’s spelt definitely and am completely shocked, i always thought it was definately!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:29 am
I have always been really good at spelling, but this is the ONE word in the English language that I have consistently spelled wrong for years without even realizing it, and so now the correct spelling just looks wrong and weird to me. I actually prefer the spelling definately, even tho I now know it’s wrong (by the way, I spelled “though” wrong on purpose. I am an advocate of at least limited spelling reform, starting with the dropping of “gh” where it is not pronounced). I guess I’ll just have to start getting used to spelling it definitely.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I’m generally an excellent speller, but this one trips me up every so often. My guess to the reason people mix it up has to do with mispronunciation, or maybe they mix it up with defiantly.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
this bothers me too.
along with effect/affect, accept/except, there/their/they’re, and most of all the idiots to type K-N-O-W for “no”
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:30 am
Amen, Matt. This gets on my nerves like nothing else, and even some of my educated friends make the “definately” mistake, as well as the errors Josh mentioned. Did everyone but us sleep through English classes?
When in doubt, always look for the root word - anyone ever heard of “finate?” ;oD