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boa

noun

Simple meaning

A long thin fluffy scarf of feathers or fur.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

bohuh

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈboʊə

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.

noun

  1. A long thin fluffy scarf of feathers or fur

  2. A type of long scarf; typically made from synthetic or real feathers (or occasionally fur), and usually worn by being draped across the shoulders with the ends hanging low, sometimes also with a loop around the neck.

  3. A member of a Bwa-speaking ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A long thin fluffy scarf of feathers or fur

Used this way, boa 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

  • feather boa , 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.

Long

feather boa

Any

boa constrictor

Other combinations

boa vistatree boasand boarubber boafur boapet boa

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: long thin fluffy scarf of feathers or fur

feather boaRare

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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.