forward pass
noun
Simple meaning
A pass in the forward direction, advancing toward the goal, generally illegal except in American football, once per play, from behind the line of scrimmage.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fawrwerdpasSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɔɹwɚdˈpæs
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
rugby and American football
A pass in the forward direction, advancing toward the goal, generally illegal except in American football, once per play, from behind the line of scrimmage.
rugby and American football
A pass to a receiver downfield from the passer
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: (rugby and American football) A pass in the forward direction, advancing toward the goal, generally illegal except in American football, once per play, from behind the line of scrimmage.
Used this way, forward pass is a word tied to one variety of English with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Regional
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Sports
- News/reporting
- Everyday conversation
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.