across
adverb
Simple meaning
From one side to the other.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhkrawsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əkˈɹɔs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
From one side to the other.
To the opposite side
“The football field was 300 feet across.”
In a particular direction.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: From one side to the other.
'Across' often implies movement from one side to another, or being on the opposite side. It's similar to 'over,' but 'across' more strongly suggests covering a width or distance.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where you'll really hear it
Daily directions
“Walk across the street to find the coffee shop.”
Sports commentary
“She dribbled the ball quickly across the court.”
Describing location
“His office is right across the hall from mine.”
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use across
- “The football field was 300 feet across.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Extending throughout an entire nation.
Including all.
Extending throughout an entire nation.
Find unexpectedly.
Travel across or pass over.
Communicate successfully.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.