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globe

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A spherical model of Earth or other planet.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

glohb
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɡloʊb

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 spherical model of Earth or other planet.

  2. The 3rd planet from the sun; the planet we live on

  3. Any spherical (or nearly spherical) object.

  4. An object with a spherical shape

  5. A part of a device, often a lamp.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To become spherical.

  2. transitive

    To make spherical.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A spherical model of Earth or other planet.

Used this way, globe 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.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Land

terrestrial globe

City

toronto globe

Other combinations

globe theatrecongressional globewhole globeentire globeglass globegreat globe

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • earth

    Any planet similar to the Earth (our earth): an exoplanet viewed as another earth, or a potential one.

  • orb

    A spherical body; a sphere, especially one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star.

  • world

    The Earth, especially in a geopolitical or cultural context, or as the physical planet.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • globallyadverbDerived adverb

    With respect to the whole earth.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • globe thistlenounCompound term

    Any of various plants of the genus Echinops having prickly leaves and dense globose heads of bluish flowers.

  • globe-trotverbCompound term

    Travel all over the world for pleasure and sightseeing.

  • globe amaranthnounCompound term

    Tropical American herb having rose to red or purple flowers that can be dried without losing color.

  • globe artichokenounCompound term

    Mediterranean thistlelike plant widely cultivated for its large edible flower head.

  • globe flowernounCompound term

    Any of several plants of the genus Trollius having globose yellow flowers.

  • globe lilynounCompound term

    Any of several plants of the genus Calochortus having egg-shaped flowers.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: spherical model of Earth or other planet

earth

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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.