body
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The entire physical structure of an organism.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bahdeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɑdi
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
countable
The physical structure of a human or animal seen as one single organism.
The entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
“He felt as if his whole body were on fire.”
Physical frame.
The fleshly or corporeal nature of a human, as opposed to the spirit or soul.
The main mass of a thing
Main section.
verb
transitive
To embody.
by extension
To utterly defeat someone.
Invest with or as with a body; give body to
transitiveoften with forth
To give body or shape to something.
To construct the bodywork of a car.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The physical structure of a human or animal seen as one single organism.
Used this way, body is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use body
- “He felt as if his whole body were on fire.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
The entire physical structure of an organism (especially an animal or human being).
The torso; especially, the human torso.
Body of a dead animal or person.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A count of troops killed in an operation or time period.
Any covering for the body or a body part.
A motion of the body by a player as if to make an object already propelled go in the desired direction.
The liquid parts of the body.
Represent in bodily form.
Accompany and protect from physical harm.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The exterior body of a motor vehicle.
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.