cups
noun · verb
Form of cup , plural of cup.
Simple meaning
The contents of said vessel.
Pronunciation
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
plural of cup
The contents of said vessel; a cupful.
“I drank two cups of water but still felt thirsty.”
plural of cup
A concave vessel for drinking from, usually made of opaque material (as opposed to a glass) and with a handle.
plural of cup
A trophy in the shape of an oversized cup.
plural of cup
A contest for which a cup is awarded.
verb
third-person singular of cup
To form into the shape of a cup, particularly of the hands.
third-person singular of cup
To hold something in cupped hands.
third-person singular of cup
To pour (a liquid, drink, etc.) into a cup.
third-person singular of cup
To make concave or in the form of a cup.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The contents of said vessel; a cupful.
Used this way, cups 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.
“I drank two cups of water but still felt thirsty.”
- 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.
Natural pattern: cups of …
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.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Plant growing in clumps with mostly basal leaves and cream-colored or pale pink fringed flowers in several long racemes.
Perennial bog herb having dark red flowers and decumbent broadly winged pitchers forming a rosette.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API (CC BY-SA 3.0). Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.