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clap

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Striking the palms of the hands, or any two surfaces.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

klap
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈklæp

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 act of striking the palms of the hands, or any two surfaces, together.

  2. Any loud, sudden, explosive sound made by striking hard surfaces together, or resembling such a sound.

  3. The explosive sound of thunder.

  4. A sudden very loud noise

  5. A single, sudden act or motion; a stroke; a blow.

  6. A slap with the hand, usually in a jovial manner.

verb

  1. Strike together so as to produce a sharp percussive noise

  2. intransitive

    To strike the palms of the hands together, creating a sharp sound.

  3. transitive

    To slap with the hand in a jovial manner.

  4. transitive

    To create or assemble (something) hastily (usually followed by up or together).

  5. transitive

    To set or put, usually in haste.

  6. transitive

    To applaud.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The act of striking the palms of the hands, or any two surfaces, together.

Used this way, clap 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.

Striking / loud

thunder claploud clap

Other combinations

president claphand clap

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • clappingnounInflected form

    A demonstration of approval by clapping the hands together.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • clapper valvenounCompound term

    A simple valve with a hinge on one side.

  • clap upverbCompound term

    Make hastily and carelessly.

  • clap togetherverbCompound term

    Make hastily and carelessly.

  • clap onverbCompound term

    Apply carelessly.

  • hand clappingnounCompound term

    A demonstration of approval by clapping the hands together.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: strike together so as to produce a sharp percussive noise

spat

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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.