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lather

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The foam made by rapidly stirring soap and water.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

lather

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈlæðɚ

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. countableuncountable

    The foam made by rapidly stirring soap and water.

  2. The foam resulting from excessive sweating (as on a horse)

  3. Agitation resulting from active worry

  4. countable

    A state of agitation.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To form lather or froth, as a horse does when profusely sweating.

  2. Beat severely with a whip or rod

  3. Exude sweat or lather

  4. transitive

    To cover with lather.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The foam made by rapidly stirring soap and water.

Used this way, lather 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

Nearby words

  • soapsuds , rarer, so it draws attention

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

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

good lathersoap latherwhite latherpermanent lathershaving latherthick lathersoapy lather

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • lathenounBase word

    Machine tool for shaping metal or wood.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: foam made by rapidly stirring soap and water

sudssoapsudsRare

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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.