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I once discovered a word with a fascinating description but have forgotten it.

The word refers to nouns that at one time meant something very specific, but would now be ambiguous and needs an accompanying word to specify further. The best example is 'guitar'. Once, the word unequivocally referred to an acoustic guitar, but would now need 'acoustic' added, lest it be confused with electric guitar, bass guitar, etc.

Dara Dermody
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  • Good catch, @ermanen! Maybe today's just a bad day, but I was beginning to feel like I'm the only user who bothers to identify duplicates! – FumbleFingers Jul 14 '15 at 20:34
  • I don’t think the linked questions answers OP’s question here. The answer given there (retronym) is the term given to the *new* term, i. e., electric guitar OP’s question is asking about the word guitar which used to be unambiguous but now requires the retronym. – Jim Jul 14 '15 at 20:40

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