bag
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A container used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bagIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbæɡ
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 container used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women)
“She reached into her bag and found a comb.”
A soft container made out of cloth, paper, thin plastic, etc. and open at the top, used to hold food, commodities, and other goods.
A container made of leather, plastic, or other material, usually with a handle or handles, in which you carry personal items, or clothes or other things that you need for travelling. Includes shopping bags, schoolbags, suitcases, briefcases, handbags, backpacks, etc.
A portable rectangular container for carrying clothes
“He carried his small bag onto the plane with him.”
chiefly in the plural
A dark circle under the eye, caused by lack of sleep, drug addiction etc.
An activity that you like or at which you are superior
verb
transitive
To put into a bag.
“The supermarket clerk bagged the groceries.”
To gain possession of something, or to make first claim on something.
Take unlawfully
transitive
To take with oneself, to assume into one's score
transitive
To furnish or load with a bag.
To expose exterior shape or physical behaviour resembling that of a bag
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A container used for carrying money and small personal items or accessories (especially by women)
Used this way, bag is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“She reached into her bag and found a comb.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- traveling bag , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Container / portablenoun
“She reached into her bag and found a comb.”
Putverb
“The supermarket clerk bagged the groceries.”
More ways to use bag
- “He stuffed his laundry into a large bag.”noun
- “He carried his small bag onto the plane with him.”noun
- “She reached into her bag and found a comb.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.