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afoot

adverb · adjective

Simple meaning

In motion; in action.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhfuut

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈfʊt

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adverb

  1. figurative

    In motion; in action; astir; stirring; in progress.

  2. On foot. (means of locomotion, walking)

  3. On foot. (support of the body, standing)

adjective

  1. predicative

    That is on foot, in motion, in action, in progress.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Rare
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: In motion; in action; astir; stirring; in progress.

Used this way, afoot is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use afoot

  • “They went to the village afoot.”adverb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

now afoot

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: in motion

underway

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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.