VocabauraVOCABAURA

batter

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To hit or strike violently and repeatedly.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

bater

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbætɚ

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. To hit or strike violently and repeatedly.

  2. cooking

    To coat with batter (the food ingredient).

  3. figurative

    To defeat soundly; to thrash.

  4. ukslangusually in the passive

    To intoxicate.

noun

  1. A paste of clay or loam.

  2. countableslang

    A binge; a heavy drinking session.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (cooking) To coat with batter (the food ingredient).

Used this way, batter is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a food and cooking use: everyday in kitchens and recipes.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Cooking/food
  • Everyday conversation

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “batter”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Coat

pancake battercake batter

Other combinations

batter boardsnext batter

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • clobber

    Strike violently and repeatedly.

  • knock about

    To hit (someone or something) all over repeatedly.

  • buffet

    To affect as with blows.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • batteringnounInflected form

    The act of subjecting to strong attack.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • batter breadnounCompound term

    Soft bread made of cornmeal and sometimes rice or hominy.

  • battering ramnounCompound term

    A ram used to break down doors of fortified buildings.

  • fritter batternounCompound term

    Batter for making fritters.

  • pancake batternounCompound term

    Batter for making pancakes.

  • puff batternounCompound term

    Batter for making light hollow cases to hold various fillings.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • battingnounRelated term

    The batter's attempt to get on base.

  • batting averagenounRelated term

    A measure of a batter's performance.

  • batter's boxnounRelated term

    An area on a baseball diamond (on either side of home plate) marked by lines within which the batter must stand when at bat.

  • batting ordernounRelated term

    A list of batters in the order in which they will bat.

  • batting helmetnounRelated term

    A helmet worn by the batter in baseball.

  • batting glovenounRelated term

    A glove worn by batters in baseball to give a firmer grip on the bat.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “batter” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

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.