cup
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A concave vessel for drinking, usually made of opaque material and with a handle.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhpIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkʌp
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 concave vessel for drinking, usually made of opaque material (as opposed to a glass) and with a handle.
The contents of said vessel.
US
A United States liquid unit equal to 8 fluid ounces
A trophy in the shape of an oversized cup.
A contest for which a cup is awarded.
A container in which dice are held and shaken before being thrown.
verb
transitive
To form into the shape of a cup, particularly of the hands.
Put into a cup
transitive
To hold something in cupped hands.
transitive
To pour (a liquid, drink, etc.) into a cup.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A concave vessel for drinking, usually made of opaque material (as opposed to a glass) and with a handle.
Used this way, cup is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a nautical use: it is standard at sea and largely unfamiliar ashore.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Sailing/maritime
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- loving cup , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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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.