basil
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The leaves of this plant used as a herb.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bayzuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbeɪzəl
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The leaves of this plant used as a herb.
A plant (Ocimum basilicum).
The angle to which a joiner's tool is ground away.
The skin of a sheep tanned with bark.
Acronym of biphasic acid scavenging utilising ionic liquids.
verb
transitive
To grind the edge of a tool to an acute angle.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The leaves of this plant used as a herb.
Used this way, basil 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
Nearby words
- sweet basil , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Perennial herb of the eastern United States having inconspicuous greenish flowers and narrow leaves that are very aromatic when bruised.
Perennial herb of North America (New York to Illinois and mountains of Alaska) having aromatic leaves and clusters of yellowish-pink balls.
Fragrant European mint having clusters of small violet-and-white flowers.
Annual or perennial of tropical Asia having spikes of small white flowers and aromatic leaves.
Annual or perennial of tropical Asia having spikes of small white flowers and aromatic leaves.
Aromatic herb having heads of small pink or whitish flowers.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: leaves of this plant used as a herb
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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.