channel
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Something through which another thing passes.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
chanuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʃænəl
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
Something through which another thing passes; a means of conveying or transmitting.
broadcasting
A specific radio frequency or band of frequencies, usually in conjunction with a predetermined letter, number, or codeword, and allocated by international agreement.
The hollow bed of running waters; (also) the bed of the sea or other body of water.
The natural or man-made deeper course through a reef, bar, bay, or any shallow body of water.
A passage for water (or other fluids) to flow through
“The fields were crossed with irrigation channels.”
A psychic or medium who temporarily takes on the personality of somebody else.
verb
Direct the flow of
“Channel information towards a broad audience.”
transitive
To direct or guide along a desired course.
Transmit or serve as the medium for transmission
transitive
To follow as a model, especially in a performance.
transitive
To make or cut a channel or groove in.
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: Something through which another thing passes; a means of conveying or transmitting.
Used this way, channel 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
- canal , a specialist term, precise but narrower
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.
Hollow / naturalnoun
“The fields were crossed with irrigation channels.”
Directverb
“Channel information towards a broad audience.”
More ways to use channel
- “The fields were crossed with irrigation channels.”noun
- “It must go through official channels.”noun
- “Possible distribution channels are wholesalers or small retailers or retail chains or direct mailers or your own stores.”noun
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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.
Official routes of communication.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Freshwater food fish common throughout central United States.
Freshwater food fish common throughout central United States.
Any of a group of British islands in the English Channel off the northern coast of France.
A national park in California featuring sea birds and marine life.
Switch channels, on television.
The railroad tunnel between France and England under the English Channel.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A recorder with two or more channels.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.