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comb

verb · noun

Simple meaning

A toothed implement for grooming the hair or for keeping it in place.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kohm
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkoʊm

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.

verb

  1. transitiveespecially of hair or fur

    To groom with a toothed implement, especially a comb.

  2. Search thoroughly

    “They combed the area for the missing child.”

  3. Straighten with a comb

  4. transitive

    To separate choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.

noun

  1. A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place.

  2. The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.

  3. A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser.

  4. The fleshy red crest on the head of the domestic fowl and other gallinaceous birds

  5. A fleshy growth on the top of the head of some birds and reptiles; crest.

  6. by extension

    A crest (of metal, leather, etc) on a piece of armor, especially on a helmet.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Formality
Technical

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More ways to use comb

  • “They combed the area for the missing child.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Toothed

tooth comb

Crest

shell comb

Other combinations

comb throughcomb honeyivory comb

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • combedadjectiveInflected form

    Made tidy with a comb.

  • combingnounInflected form

    The act of drawing a comb through hair.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • comb-footed spidernounCompound term

    Spider having a comb-like row of bristles on each hind foot.

  • comb jellynounCompound term

    Biradially symmetrical hermaphroditic solitary marine animals resembling jellyfishes having for locomotion eight rows of cilia arranged like teeth in a comb.

  • comb-likeadjectiveCompound term

    Resembling a comb.

  • comb-outnounCompound term

    The act of removing tangles from you hair with a comb.

  • comb-platenounCompound term

    A locomotor organ consisting of a row of strong cilia whose bases are fused.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • combtooth blennynounRelated term

    Small usually scaleless fishes with comb-like teeth living about rocky shores.

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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.