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humpback

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Large whalebone whale with long flippers noted for arching or humping its back as it dives.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

huhmpbak

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈhʌmpbæk

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. Large whalebone whale with long flippers noted for arching or humping its back as it dives

  2. by extension

    A hump or protuberance on the shoulders or back of an animal.

  3. A humpback whale.

  4. A humped back (deformity in humans caused by abnormal curvature of the upper spine).

  5. A person whose back is hunched because of abnormal curvature of the upper spine

  6. figurative

    A rounded topographical feature, such as a mountain or hill.

verb

  1. To hunt humpback whales.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Large whalebone whale with long flippers noted for arching or humping its back as it dives

Used this way, humpback 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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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.