ass
noun
Simple meaning
Any of several species of horse-like animals.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
asIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæs
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
Any of several species of horse-like animals, especially Equus asinus, the domesticated of which are used as beasts of burden.
Hardy and sure-footed animal smaller and with longer ears than the horse
synecdochicallycountable
A person; the self; (reflexively) oneself or one's person, chiefly their body. By extension, one's personal safety, or figuratively one's job, prospects, etc.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any of several species of horse-like animals, especially Equus asinus, the domesticated of which are used as beasts of burden.
Used this way, ass is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: any of several species of horse-like animals
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “ass” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.