coughing
noun
Simple meaning
A repetitive vocalisation of a bird or other animal that resembles human coughing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahfingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑfɪŋ
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 repetitive vocalisation of a bird or other animal that resembles human coughing.
A cough; the act of coughing.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A repetitive vocalisation of a bird or other animal that resembles human coughing.
Used this way, coughing 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.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Exhale abruptly, as when one has a chest cold or congestion.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The act of expelling (food or phlegm) by coughing.
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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.