american
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A native or inhabitant of the United States.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhmehruhkuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əˈmɛɹəkən
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
A citizen or national of the United States of America.
informalhumorouscolloquial
The dialect of English spoken in and around the contiguous United States of America.
informalhumorouscolloquial
The English language as used in the United States
A native or inhabitant of the United States
Any inhabitant of the Americas.
adjective
Of or relating to the United States of America or its people or language or culture
Of, from, or pertaining to the United States of America, its people, or its culture.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A citizen or national of the United States of America.
Used this way, american 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
- Matter-of-fact
- 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 american
- “I enjoy listening to American folk music sometimes.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Loyalty to the United States and its institutions.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Small evergreen of eastern North America having tiny scalelike leaves on flattened branchlets.
Fleet antelope-like ruminant of western North American plains with small branched horns.
Large alligator of the southeastern United States.
An association of Northern Baptists.
Deciduous shrub of eastern North America whose leaves turn scarlet in autumn and having racemes of yellow flowers followed by ellipsoid glossy red berries.
Large American shade tree with large dark green leaves and rounded crown.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Widely cultivated American monocarpic plant with greenish-white flowers on a tall stalk.
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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.