brush
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Brushing your hair.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bruhshIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbɹʌʃ
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
The act of brushing your hair
“He gave his hair a quick brush.”
The act of brushing your teeth
“The dentist recommended two brushes a day.”
An implement that has hairs or bristles firmly set into a handle
An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair.
A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
A short, possibly recurrent encounter or experience.
verb
transitive
To remove with a sweeping motion.
Rub with a brush, or as if with a brush
“Johnson brushed the hairs from his jacket.”
intransitive
To clean one's teeth by brushing them.
“She brushed the suit before hanging it back into the closet.”
Remove with or as if with a brush
transitive
To untangle or arrange with a brush.
transitive
To apply with a brush.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of brushing your hair
Used this way, brush is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“He gave his hair a quick brush.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- 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.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Brushingnoun
“He gave his hair a quick brush.”
Rub / applyverb
“Johnson brushed the hairs from his jacket.”
Cleanverb
“She brushed the suit before hanging it back into the closet.”
More ways to use brush
- “He gave his hair a quick brush.”noun
- “I had a brush with danger on my way to work.”noun
- “Johnson brushed the hairs from his jacket.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of brushing your teeth.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Reprimand.
An uncontrolled fire that consumes brush and shrubs and bushes.
Medium to large butterflies found worldwide typically having brightly colored wings and much-reduced nonfunctional forelegs carried folded on the breast.
Any of various small or medium-sized kangaroos.
A curt or disdainful rejection.
Apply with a brush.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A toothbrush with an electric motor in the handle that vibrates the head of the brush.
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What Does It Mean Here?
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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.