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furlough

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A period of unpaid time off, used by an employer to reduce costs.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

furloh

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɝloʊ

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 period of unpaid time off, used by an employer to reduce costs.

  2. us

    Especially one granted to a member of the armed forces, or to a prisoner.

  3. A leave of absence or vacation.

  4. A temporary leave of absence from military duty

  5. british

    Especially one granted to a missionary.

  6. The documents authorizing such leave.

verb

  1. transitive

    To have (an employee) not work in order to reduce costs; to send (someone) on furlough.

  2. Grant a leave to

    “The prisoner was furloughed for the weekend to visit her children.”

  3. transitive

    To grant a furlough to (someone).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A period of unpaid time off, used by an employer to reduce costs.

Used this way, furlough 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 furlough

  • “The prisoner was furloughed for the weekend to visit her children.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Period / employee

day furloughfirst furloughwork furloughlong furloughfurlough home

Other combinations

furlough programshort furloughsick furlough

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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.