cockle
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The shell of such a mollusk.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahkuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑkəl
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 shell of such a mollusk.
Common edible, burrowing European bivalve mollusk that has a strong, rounded shell with radiating ribs
directly from French coquille
A wrinkle, pucker
figurativein the plural
Chiefly in cockles of someone's heart: a person's innermost feelings.
Any of several field weeds, such as the common corncockle (Agrostemma githago) and darnel ryegrass (Lolium temulentum).
uk
The dome of a heating furnace.
verb
transitive
To cause to contract into wrinkles or ridges, as some kinds of cloth after a wetting; to pucker.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The shell of such a mollusk.
Used this way, cockle 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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