foil
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Thin aluminium/aluminum used for wrapping food.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
foylIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɔɪl
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
chiefly uncountable
Thin aluminium/aluminum (or, formerly, tin) used for wrapping food.
A piece of thin and flexible sheet metal
“The photographic film was wrapped in foil.”
A very thin sheet of metal or plastic.
A thin layer of metal put between a jewel and its setting to make it seem more brilliant.
figuratively
Anything that acts by contrast to emphasise the characteristics of something.
mnemonic
An acronym for the algorithm for multiplying two binomials.
verb
Hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
To prevent (something) from being accomplished.
To blunt; to dull; to spoil.
transitive
To apply the FOIL algorithm to.
Cover or back with foil
transitive
To cover or wrap with foil.
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: Thin aluminium/aluminum (or, formerly, tin) used for wrapping food.
Used this way, foil 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 foil
- “In this picture, the figures are foiled against the background.”verb
- “The photographic film was wrapped in foil.”noun
- “Pretty girls like plain friends as foils.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Foil made of gold.
Foil made of tin or an alloy of tin and lead.
Foil made of aluminum.
Foil made of aluminum.
A plant of the genus Hottonia.
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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.