Here are 20 examples of words we can thank Shakespeare for:

1. ADDICTION: OTHELLO, ACT II, SCENE II

It is Othello's pleasure, our noble and valiant general, that, upon certain tidings
now arrived, importing the mere perdition of the Turkish fleet, every man put
himself into triumph; some to dance, some to make bonfires, each man to what
sport and revels his addiction leads him. Herald
If not for that noble and valiant general and his playwright, our celebrity news
coverage might be sorely lacking.

2. ARCH-VILLAIN: TIMON OF ATHENS, ACT V, SCENE I

You that way and you this, but two in company; each man apart, all single and
alone, yet an arch-villain keeps him company. Timon
With the added prefix of arch-, meaning more extreme than others of the same
type, Shakespeare was able to distinguish the baddest of the bad.

3. ASSASSINATION: MACBETH, ACT I, SCENE VII

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly: if the
assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease
success. Macbeth
Though the term assassin had been observed in use prior to the Scottish play,
it seems apt that the work introduced yet another term for murder most foul.

4. BEDAZZLED: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, ACT IV, SCENE V

Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes, that have been so bedazzled with the
sun that everything I look on seemeth green. Katherina
A word first used to describe the particular gleam of sunlight is now used to sell
rhinestone-embellished jeans. Maybe poetry really is dead.

5. BELONGINGS: MEASURE FOR MEASURE, ACT I, SCENE I

Thyself and thy belongings are not thine own so proper as to waste thyself
upon thy virtues, they on thee. Duke Vincentio
People prior to Shakespeares time did own things; they just referred to them by
different words.

6. COLD-BLOODED: KING JOHN, ACT III, SCENE I

Thou cold-blooded slave, hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side, been
sworn my soldier, bidding me depend upon thy stars, thy fortune and thy
strength, and dost thou now fall over to my fores? Constance

Beyond its literal meaning, the 17th-century play initiated a metaphorical use
for the term that is now most often used to describe serial killers and vampires
two categories which, of course, need not be mutually exclusive.

7. DISHEARTEN: HENRY V, ACT IV, SCENE I

Therefore when he sees reason of fears, as we do, his fears, out of doubt, be of
the same relish as ours are: yet, in reason, no man should possess him with any
appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it, should dishearten his army. King
Henry V
The opposite of hearten, a word already extant at the time of Shakespeares
writing, dishearten was most appropriately first utilized in print by King Henry
V, who didnt let insurmountable odds at the Battle of Agincourt get him down.

8. EVENTFUL: AS YOU LIKE IT, ACT II, SCENE VII

Last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful history, is second childishness
and mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. - Jaques
If all the worlds a stage, its safe to assume that an event or two is taking place.

9. EYEBALL: THE TEMPEST, ACT I, SCENE II

Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject to no sight but thine and
mine, invisible to every eyeball else. Prospero
Shakespeares protagonist Prospero, though no medical doctor, can claim to be
the first fictional character to name those round objects with which we see.

10. FASHIONABLE: TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, ACT III, SCENE III

For time is like a fashionable host that slightly shakes his parting guest by the
hand, and with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly, grasps in the comer:
welcome ever smiles, and farewell goes out sighing. Ulysses
And with just 11 letters, centuries of debate over whats hot or not began.

11. HALF-BLOODED/HOT-BLOODED: KING LEAR, ACT V, SCENE

III/ ACT III, SCENE III
Half-blooded fellow, yes. Albany
Why, the hot-blooded France, that dowerless took our youngest born, I could as
well be brought to knee his throne, and, squire-like; pension beg to keep base
life afoot. Lear
As is the tradition in Shakespearean tragedy, nearly everyone in King Lear dies,
so the linguistic fascination here with blood is unsurprising, to say the least.

12. INAUDIBLE: ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL, ACT V, SCENE

III
Let's take the instant by the forward top; for we are old, and on our quick'st
decrees the inaudible and noiseless foot of Time steals ere we can effect them.
King of France
One of a number of words (invulnerable, indistinguishable, inauspicious, among
others) which Shakespeare invented only in the sense of adding a negative inprefix where it had never been before.

13. LADYBIRD: ROMEO AND JULIET, ACT I, SCENE III

What, lamb! What, ladybird! God forbid! Where's this girl? What, Juliet!
Nurse
Although the Oxford English Dictionary notes that this particular term of
endearment has fallen into disuse, maybe its about time for its comeback.
Valentines Day is coming up, after all.

14. MANAGER: A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM, ACT V, SCENE

I
Where is our usual manager of mirth? What revels are in hand? Is there no play
to ease the anguish of a torturing hour? King Theseus
If not for Shakespeare, workday complaining in the office break room just
wouldnt be the same.

15. MULTITUDINOUS: MACBETH, ACT II, SCENE II

No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas in incarnadine, making the
green one red. Macbeth
Multitudinous may not be the most appropriate synonym when the phrase a
lot starts to crop up too often in your writing, but its certainly the one with the
most letters.

16. NEW-FANGLED: LOVES LABOURS LOST, ACT I, SCENE I

At Christmas I no more desire a rose than wish a snow in May's new-fangled
mirth. Biron
Ironically, this word sounds old-fashioned if used today.

17. PAGEANTRY: PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE, ACT V, SCENE II

This, my last boon, give me, for such kindness must relieve me, that you aptly
will suppose what pageantry, what feats, what shows, what minstrelsy, and
pretty din, the regent made in Mytilene to greet the king. Gower

Although modern scholars generally agree that Shakespeare only appears to

have written the second half of the play, this newly invented term for an
extravagant ceremonial display appears in the section definitively authored by
the Bard.

18. SCUFFLE: ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, ACT I, SCENE I

His captain's heart, which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst the buckles
on his breast, reneges all temper, and is become the bellows and the fan to cool
a gipsy's lust. Philo
Another example of an existing verb that Shakespeare decided could stand up
just as well as a noun.

19. SWAGGER: HENRY V, ACT II, SCENE IV/A MIDSUMMER

NIGHTS DREAM, ACT III, SCENE I
An't please your majesty, a rascal that swaggered with me last night.
Williams
What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here, so near the cradle of the
fairy queen? Puck
By transitive property, Shakespeare is responsible for Justin Biebers swag.

20. UNCOMFORTABLE: ROMEO AND JULIET, ACT IV, SCENE V

Despised, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd! Uncomfortable time, why camest
thou now to murder, murder our solemnity? - Capulet
Un- was another prefix Shakespeare appended to adjectives with a liberal hand.
In the case of Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy in which a father mourns his
daughters suicide, uncomfortable seems to have originated with a slightly
more drastic sense than how we use it now.
Of course, just because the first written instances of these terms appeared in
Shakespeares scripts doesnt preclude the possibility that they existed in the
oral tradition prior to his recording them, but as Shakespeare might have said, it
was high time (The Comedy of Errors) for such household words (Henry V).