dove
noun
Simple meaning
A greyish, bluish, pinkish colour like that of the bird.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
duhvIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʌv
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
countable
A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than 300 species of the family Columbidae.
A greyish, bluish, pinkish colour like that of the bird.
countablepolitics
A person favouring conciliation and negotiation rather than conflict.
countable
Term of endearment for one regarded as pure and gentle.
A constellation in the southern hemisphere near Puppis and Caelum
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than 300 species of the family Columbidae.
Used this way, dove is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
- Family/home
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- squab , 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 dove
- “A white dove flew gracefully and landed on the windowsill.”noun
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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.