pangrammaticadj.
/ˌpanɡrəˈmatɪk/, /ˌpaŋɡrəˈmatɪk/, U.S. /ˌpænɡrəˈmædɪk/, /ˌpæŋɡrəˈmædɪk/ 1. Of a sentence, verse, etc.: that contains every letter of the alphabet.
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society > communication > writing > written text > an inscription > [adjective] > sentence containing all letters of alphabet
pangrammatic1833
1833 Christian Examiner & Church of Ireland Mag. May 334 Gessner gives half-a-dozen Pangrammatic lines, in Greek Hexameters and Jambics, at the beginning of his edition of ‘Heraclidis Allegoriæ Homericæ’.
1860 C. C. Bombaugh Gleanings 15 The stanza subjoined is a specimen of both lipogrammatic and pangrammatic ingenuity, containing every letter of the alphabet except e.
1933 M. E. Ohaver Cryptogram Solving 31 Pangrammatic, containing all the letters of the alphabet.
1958 N. J. Jacobs Naming-day in Eden viii. 52 A pangrammatic affectation is Hucbald's eclogue on baldness addressed to Charles the Bald.
1977 Word Ways Feb. 44 A pangrammatic crossword..can be viewed as a word list containing all the letters of the alphabet, together with a few repeated letters.
1982 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 16 Aug. b3/1 Mr. Reagle made the puzzle pangrammatic.
2014 E. Hirsch Poet's Gloss. 439 A pangrammatic line or song also contains all the letters of the alphabet, as in Pascasio di San Giovanni's Poesis artificiosa (1674).
2. Relating to or designating a sentence, verse, etc., in which successive words begin with the same letter. rare.
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1953 W. R. Trask tr. E. R. Curtius European Lit. xv. 283 The ‘pangrammatic’ [Ger. pangrammatische] affectation, which consists in having as many successive words as possible begin with the same letter.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1833