huddle
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
A brief meeting of all the players from one team that are on the field with the purpose of planning the following play.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
huhduhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhʌdəl
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
American football
A brief meeting of all the players from one team that are on the field with the purpose of planning the following play.
A small group of individuals in very close proximity to one another.
verb
transitive
To crowd (things) together; to mingle confusedly; to assemble without order or system.
intransitive
To curl one's legs up to the chest and keep one's arms close to the torso; to crouch; to assume a position similar to that of an embryo in the womb.
“They huddled outside in the rain.”
transitive
To do, make, or put, in haste or roughly; hence, to do imperfectly; usually with a following preposition or adverb (huddle on, huddle up, huddle together).
To get together and discuss a topic.
adjective
Huddled, confused, congested.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (American football) A brief meeting of all the players from one team that are on the field with the purpose of planning the following play.
Used this way, huddle is a word tied to one variety of English that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Regional
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Uncommon in everyday speech
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.
More ways to use huddle
- “They huddled outside in the rain.”verb
- “Let's huddle together--it's cold!”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
noun
Sense: brief meeting of all the players from one team that are on the field with the purpose of planning the following play
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