butter
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
buhterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbʌtɚ
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 soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
cooking
Any of various foodstuffs made from other foods or oils, similar in consistency to, eaten like or intended as a substitute for butter (preceded by the name of the food used to make it).
An edible emulsion of fat globules made by churning milk or cream; for cooking and table use
Any of various substances made from other (especially plant-based) oils or fats, used in moisturizers, cosmetics, etc.
Someone or something that butts in; a busybody.
verb
transitive
To spread butter on.
To spin on skis or a snowboard using only the tips or tails being in contact with the snow
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
Used this way, butter 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.
More ways to use butter
- “Please pass the butter so I can put some on my toast.”
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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.