hit
verb · noun · adjective
Simple meaning
To administer a blow to, directly or with a weapon or missile.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hitIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɪt
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.
verb
Hit with a missile from a weapon
transitive
To administer a blow to, directly or with a weapon or missile.
headingphysical
To strike.
intransitive
To strike against something.
transitive
To come into contact with forcefully and suddenly.
figuratively
To attack.
noun
A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything.
Something very successful, such as a song, film, or video game, that receives widespread recognition and acclaim.
figuratively
A blow; a calamitous or damaging occurrence.
An attack on a location, person or people.
A collision of a projectile with the target.
In the game of Battleship, a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is.
adjective
Very successful.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Hit with a missile from a weapon
Used this way, hit 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
- No strong connotation
- 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 hit
- “We were hit by really bad weather.”verb
- “He hit his fist on the table.”verb
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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.