hawk
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A strong bird that hunts small animals during the day.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hawkIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɔk
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
Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon.
A diurnal predatory bird of the family Accipitridae, smaller than an eagle.
politics
An advocate of an aggressive policy on foreign relations
politics
An advocate of aggressive political positions and actions.
A noisy effort to force up phlegm from the throat.
A plasterer's tool, made of a flat surface with a handle below, used to hold an amount of plaster prior to application to the wall or ceiling being worked on: a mortarboard.
verb
Sell or offer for sale from place to place
intransitive
To make an attack while on the wing; to soar and strike like a hawk.
Clear mucus or food from one's throat
transitiveintransitive
To try to cough up something from one's throat; to clear the throat loudly; to cough heavily, especially causing uvular frication.
transitive
To hunt with a hawk.
“The tribes like to hawk in the desert.”
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: Any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks, such as a falcon.
Used this way, hawk 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.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Someone who travels about selling his wares (as on the streets or at carnivals).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any of various moths with long narrow forewings capable of powerful flight and hovering over flowers to feed.
A nose curved downward like the beak of a hawk.
Grey-and-white diurnal hawk-like owl of northern parts of the northern hemisphere.
Nontechnical term for any hawks said to prey on poultry.
Common harrier of North America and Europe.
Slender-bodied non-stinging insect having iridescent wings that are outspread at rest.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Pugnacious tropical sea turtle with a hawk-like beak.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: any diurnal predatory terrestrial bird of similar size and appearance to the accipitrid hawks
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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.