boa constrictor
noun
Simple meaning
A large tropical American snake, Boa constrictor, that kills its prey by squeezing them.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bohuhkuhnstrikterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈboʊəkənstˈɹɪktɚ
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 large tropical American snake, Boa constrictor, that kills its prey by squeezing them.
loosely
Very large boa of tropical America and West Indies
loosely
Any large boa or python.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: A large tropical American snake, Boa constrictor, that kills its prey by squeezing them.
Used this way, boa constrictor 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
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.