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fence

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

fehns
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɛns

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.

  2. A barrier that serves to enclose an area

  3. figuratively

    A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.

  4. A guard or guide on machinery.

  5. by extension

    The place whence such a middleman operates.

  6. informal

    A dealer in stolen property

verb

  1. transitive

    To defend or guard.

  2. Receive stolen goods

  3. transitive

    To engage in the selling or buying of stolen goods.

  4. intransitive

    To conceal the truth by giving equivocal answers; to hedge; to be evasive.

  5. transitive

    To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
General and technical use

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.

Used this way, fence 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
Matter-of-fact
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 fence

  • “They painted the wooden fence white to brighten up the yard.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

picket fencerail fencefence postfence linewire fenceiron fencelink fencehigh fence

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • fence linenounCompound term

    A boundary line created by a fence.

  • fence lizardnounCompound term

    Spiny lizard often seen basking on fences in the United States and northern Mexico.

  • fence mendingnounCompound term

    Social action to improve poor relations (especially in politics).

  • fence railnounCompound term

    A rail that is split from a log.

  • fence-sitternounCompound term

    A person who won't take sides in a controversy.

  • fence inverbCompound term

    Enclose with a fence.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • fencer's masknounRelated term

    A face mask made of fine mesh that is worn over a fencer's face.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to defend or guard

fence in

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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.