castor
noun
Simple meaning
A container with a perforated cap for sprinkling its contents.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kasterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkæstɚ
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 pivoting roller attached to the bottom of furniture or trucks or portable machines to make them movable
A pivoting roller attached to the bottom of furniture to allow it to be moved.
A container with a perforated cap for sprinkling its contents, especially salt, pepper, etc.
A hat made with the fur of a beaver (or similar material)
A heavy quality of broadcloth for overcoats.
Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Ariadne, of Africa and Asia.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A container with a perforated cap for sprinkling its contents, especially salt, pepper, etc.
Used this way, castor 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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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A worker who casts molten metal into finished products.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The toxic seed of the castor-oil plant.
Large shrub of tropical Africa and Asia having large palmate leaves and spiny capsules containing seeds that are the source of castor oil and ricin.
A variety of beaver found in almost all areas of North America except Florida.
A European variety of beaver.
A purgative extracted from the seed of the castor-oil plant.
Large shrub of tropical Africa and Asia having large palmate leaves and spiny capsules containing seeds that are the source of castor oil and ricin.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Very finely granulated sugar that was formerly sprinkled from a castor.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: pivoting roller attached to the bottom of furniture
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.