deaf
adjective
Simple meaning
Unable to hear.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehfIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɛf
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.
adjective
Unable (or partially able) to hear.
Of or relating to the community of deaf people.
Unwilling to listen or be persuaded; determinedly inattentive.
Of or relating to the culture surrounding deaf users of sign languages.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Unable (or partially able) to hear.
Used this way, deaf 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
Nearby words
- profoundly deaf , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use deaf
- “She learned sign language to communicate with her deaf friend.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Partial or complete loss of hearing.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A deaf person who is unable to speak.
Congenital deafness that results in inability to speak.
A deaf person who is unable to speak.
A person with a severe auditory impairment.
An electronic device that amplifies sound and is worn to compensate for poor hearing.
Congenital deafness that results in inability to speak.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- blindadjective
- deafnessnoun
- disabilitynoun
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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.