noun
- words printed at the top of a page in a dictionary, thesaurus, or reference book to indicate the first and last entries on that page
Usage: typically plural; also called running heads or page headers in some contexts
Examples
- The guidewords at the top of the dictionary page showed 'apple' and 'apricot'.
- Students use guidewords to quickly locate words in a dictionary without reading every entry.
- Most printed dictionaries include guidewords to help readers navigate efficiently.
- The guidewords 'happy' and 'harvest' told me the word I was looking for was on that page.
- Guidewords save time when you're searching through a thick reference book.