dwell
verb
Simple meaning
To abide; to remain.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dwehlIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdwɛl
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 abide; to remain; to continue.
intransitivenow literary
To live; to reside.
intransitive
To linger (on); to remain fixated.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To abide; to remain; to continue.
Used this way, dwell 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 dwell
- “The problems dwell in the social injustices in this country.”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.
Housing that someone is living in.
A person who inhabits a particular place.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Delay.
Housing that someone is living in.
Someone who lives in a cottage.
An inhabitant of an island.
Dwelling built on piles in or near a lake.
Dwelling built on piles in or near a lake.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to abide
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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.