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bosom

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

The seat of one's inner thoughts.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

buuzuhm

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbʊzəm

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. The seat of one's inner thoughts, feelings, etc.; one's secret feelings; desire.

  2. A breast, one of a woman's breasts

  3. The protected interior or inner part of something; the area enclosed as by an embrace.

  4. The part of a dress etc. covering the chest; a neckline.

  5. Any thing or place resembling the breast; a supporting surface; an inner recess; the interior.

  6. A depression round the eye of a millstone.

verb

  1. To enclose or carry in the bosom; to keep with care; to take to heart; to cherish.

  2. To conceal; to hide from view; to embosom.

  3. transitive

    To belly; to cause to billow, swell or bulge.

adjective

  1. In a very close relationship.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The seat of one's inner thoughts, feelings, etc.; one's secret feelings; desire.

Used this way, bosom 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

  • heart , a specialist term, precise but narrower

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

More ways to use bosom

  • “His bosom was bursting with the secret.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

bosom friendbroad bosomample bosomhuman bosombosom likeheaving bosom

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • bosom of abrahamnounCompound term

    The place where the just enjoy the peace of heaven after death.

  • abraham's bosomnounCompound term

    The place where the just enjoy the peace of heaven after death.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: seat of one's inner thoughts or feelings

breastheartTechnical

verb

Sense: to enclose or carry in the bosom

embrace

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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.