VocabauraVOCABAURA

inches

noun · verb

Form of inch , plural of inch.

Simple meaning

A depth of one inch on the ground, used as a measurement of rainfall.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

inchuhz

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɪntʃəz

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. plural of inchmeteorology

    A depth of one inch on the ground, used as a measurement of rainfall.

  2. plural of inch

    Any very short distance.

  3. plural of inch

    A depth of one inch in a glass, used as a rough measurement of alcoholic beverages.

  4. plural of inch

    Any of various similar units of length in other traditional systems of measurement.

verb

  1. third-person singular of inch

    Advance slowly, as if by inches

  2. third-person singular of inch

    To drive by inches, or small degrees.

  3. third-person singular of inch

    To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (meteorology) A depth of one inch on the ground, used as a measurement of rainfall.

Used this way, inches is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is about measurement, so it is used where accuracy is the point.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Technical/specialist writing
  • Academic writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “inches”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

cubic inchessix inchestwo inchesthree inchesfour incheseight inchesfive inchesten inches

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • inchnounBase word

    A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • by inchesadverbCompound term

    By a short distance.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Keep learning “inches” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.

Know the meaning? Practice vocabulary in real situations.

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.