dangle
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To hang loosely with the ability to swing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dangguhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdæŋɡəl
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.
verb
intransitive
To hang loosely with the ability to swing.
transitive
To hang or trail something loosely.
transitivefigurativeby extension
To put forth as a possibility.
noun
A dangling ornament or decoration.
An agent of one intelligence agency or group who pretends to be interested in defecting or turning to another intelligence agency or group.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To hang loosely with the ability to swing.
Used this way, dangle 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
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use dangle
- “He dangled the ornaments from the Christmas tree.”verb
- “The ornaments dangled from the tree.”verb
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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.
The act of suspending something (hanging it from above so it moves freely).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A word or phrase apparently modifying an unintended word because of its placement in a sentence: e.g., `when young' in `when young, circuses appeal to all of us'.
A participle (usually at the beginning of a sentence) apparently modifying a word other than the word intended: e.g., `flying across the country' in `flying across the country the Rockies…
Huckleberry of the eastern United States with pink flowers and sweet blue fruit.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: dangling ornament or decoration
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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.