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collar

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The part of an upper garment that fits around the neck and throat.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kahler

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkɑlɚ

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 part of an upper garment (shirt, jacket, etc.) that fits around the neck and throat, especially if sewn from a separate piece of fabric.

  2. A decorative band or other fabric around the neckline.

  3. A band that fits around the neck and is usually folded over

  4. Necklace that fits tightly around a woman's neck

  5. Clothes that encircle the neck.

  6. Anything worn or placed about the neck

    “The thief was forced to wear a heavy wooden collar.”

verb

  1. To surround or encircle.

  2. transitive

    To seize, capture or detain.

  3. transitive

    To roll up (beef or other meat) and bind it with string preparatory to cooking.

  4. figurativelytransitive

    To bind in conversation.

  5. transitive

    To steal.

  6. transitive

    To preempt, control stringently and exclusively.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A band of leather or rope that is placed around an animal's neck as a harness or to identify it

Used this way, collar 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 collar

  • “The thief was forced to wear a heavy wooden collar.”noun
  • “Asked for a collar on program trading in the stock market.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

blue collariron collarcollar bonecervical collarcollar crimeshirt collarhigh collarcollar worker

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • collar cellnounCompound term

    Any of the flagellated cells in sponges having a collar of cytoplasm around the flagellum.

  • collared lizardnounCompound term

    Any of several robust long-tailed lizards with collars of two dark bands.

  • collared peccarynounCompound term

    Dark grey peccary with an indistinct white collar.

  • collared pikanounCompound term

    Similar to little chief hare and may be same species.

  • collar blightnounCompound term

    A disease affecting the trunks of pear and apple trees.

  • dog collarnounCompound term

    A collar for a dog.

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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.