albatross
noun
Simple meaning
Large web-footed birds of the southern hemisphere having long narrow wings.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
albuhtrahsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈælbətɹɑs
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.
noun
Large web-footed birds of the southern hemisphere having long narrow wings; noted for powerful gliding flight
Any of various large seabirds of the family Diomedeidae ranging widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific and having a hooked beak and long narrow wings.
figurative
A long-term impediment, burden, or curse.
golf
A double eagle, or three under par on any one hole, except a par 3 hole.
Any of various African and Asian pierid butterflies of the genus Appias. Some species of this genus are also known as puffins.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Large web-footed birds of the southern hemisphere having long narrow wings; noted for powerful gliding flight
Used this way, albatross is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use albatross
- “She was an albatross around his neck.”noun
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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.