driver's license
noun
Simple meaning
A document issued to a specific person by a government authority.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dryverzlysuhnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɹaɪvɚzˈlaɪsəns
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
American spelling
A document issued to a specific person by a government authority, permitting this person to drive one or more classes of motor vehicle on public roads and highways, often used as an identification document.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: (American spelling) A document issued to a specific person by a government authority, permitting this person to drive one or more classes of motor vehicle on public roads and highways, often used as an identification document.
Used this way, driver's license is a word tied to one variety of English that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Regional
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Uncommon in everyday speech
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Usage note
Mainly used in American English, so it may read as unusual elsewhere.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.