idiomatic expression
noun
Simple meaning
An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihdeeuhmatihkihksprehshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪdiəˈmætɪkɪkspˈɹɛʃən
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
An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: An expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up
Used this way, idiomatic expression 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.