companion
noun
Simple meaning
A friend, acquaintance.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhmpanyuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəmˈpænjən
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
A friend, acquaintance, or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies
figuratively
A thing or phenomenon that is closely associated with another thing, phenomenon, or person.
attributive
An appended source of media or information, designed to be used in conjunction with and to enhance the main material.
A knight of the lowest rank in certain orders.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A friend, acquaintance, or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies
Used this way, companion is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in relationships contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Relationships
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use companion
- “Drinking companions.”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.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Someone you dine with.
A horse stabled with another or one of several horses owned by the same person.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.