asphalt
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A sticky, black to brown and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid, composed almost entirely of bitumen with small mineral particles.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
asfawltSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæsfɔlt
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 sticky, black to brown and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid, composed almost entirely of bitumen with small mineral particles, that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits.
A material often used for road surfacing, composed of a hard, granular material such as crushed stone combined with asphalt as a binder.
Mixed asphalt and crushed gravel or sand; used especially for paving but also for roofing
verb
Cover with tar or asphalt
transitive
To pave with asphalt.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A sticky, black to brown and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid, composed almost entirely of bitumen with small mineral particles, that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits.
Used this way, asphalt is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It keeps things gentle rather than emphatic.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Calm and reassuring
- Usage feel
- Understated and gentle
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use asphalt
- “They are planning to repave the bumpy asphalt road next summer.”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.