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bathe

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

bayth
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbeɪð

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water; to take a bath, have a bath.

  2. transitive

    To clean a person by immersion in water or using water; to give someone a bath.

  3. intransitive

    To immerse oneself, or part of the body, in water for pleasure or refreshment; to swim.

  4. transitive

    To apply water or other liquid to; to suffuse or cover with liquid.

  5. figurativelytransitive and intransitive

    To cover or surround.

  6. intransitive

    To sunbathe.

noun

  1. britishcolloquial

    The act of swimming or bathing, especially in the sea, a lake, or a river; a swimming bath.

  2. Britishcolloquial

    The act of swimming for pleasure or recreation

    “The Englishman said he had a good bathe.”

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To clean oneself by immersion in water or using water; to take a bath, have a bath.

Used this way, bathe 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
No strong connotation
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 bathe

  • “The room was bathed in sunlight.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

bathe beforebathe together

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • bathingnounInflected form

    Immersing the body in water or sunshine.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • bathing costumenounCompound term

    Tight fitting garment worn for swimming.

  • bathing machinenounCompound term

    A building containing dressing rooms for bathers.

  • bathing suitnounCompound term

    Tight fitting garment worn for swimming.

  • bathing trunksnounCompound term

    Swimsuit worn by men while swimming.

  • bathing tubnounCompound term

    A relatively large open container that you fill with water and use to wash the body.

  • bathing capnounCompound term

    A tight-fitting cap that keeps hair dry while swimming.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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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.