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If a word conforms to a certain rule, I call it a Veteran Word™.

Use the following examples below to find the rule:

Veteran words

Here is a CSV version:

Veteran WordsTM, Not Veteran WordsTM

AGENT, ASSISTANT*
ALPHABET, FUNDAMENTALS
BUDGET, ALLOCATION*
JEANS, TROUSERS
LASER, BEAM
PAUSE, HALT*
RADIO, RECEIVER
SAUCE, FLAVOURING
TAXI, CARRIAGE
VETERAN**, WISE

*Half a Veteran WordTM
**Only just a Veteran WordTM
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  • $\begingroup$ I made it blue for uniqueness $\endgroup$ – Beastly Gerbil Sep 11 '16 at 14:11
  • $\begingroup$ RECEIVER or RECEIEVER? $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Sep 11 '16 at 14:22
  • $\begingroup$ @randal'thor, typo it should be receiver but it doesn't make a difference $\endgroup$ – Beastly Gerbil Sep 11 '16 at 14:27
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    $\begingroup$ "CSV" means "comma-separated value", and is a recognized, standard format for information. It's not just a plaintext version of a table. Please don't call things CSV unless they're really CSV. $\endgroup$ – Nic Hartley Oct 2 '16 at 17:13
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As suggested by the tag, I think a Veteran Word™ may be

something to do with foreign languages: specifically, a word which is the same in English, French, and German.

All the words in the left-hand column, according to

my knowledge of French, supported by Google Translate for the rarer words and the German,

satisfy this criterion. VETERAN is "only just" a Veteran Word™ because

the French for "veteran" is "vétéran", which is only the same word if we ignore diacritics.

The words in the right-hand column which are "half a Veteran Word™" are so because

the English word is the same in one of French and German but not both: the German for "halt" is "Halt" but the French is "halte"; the French for "assistant" is "assistant" but the German is "Assistent"; the French for "allocation" is "allocation" but the German is "Zuweisung".

They're called Veteran Words™ because

They are 'war veterans' as the 3 countries all fought in WWI and WWII

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