lave
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Wash one's face and hands.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
layvIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈleɪv
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.
verb
Wash one's face and hands
transitive
Of a river or other water body: to flow along or past (a place or thing); to wash.
Wash or flow against
transitive
To bathe or wash (someone or something).
transitivefigurative
To remove (something), as if by washing away with water.
transitivefigurative
To surround or gently touch (someone or something), as if with water.
noun
An act of bathing or washing; a bath or bathe, a wash.
That which is left over; a remainder, a remnant, the rest.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Wash one's face and hands
Used this way, lave 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
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use lave
- “The waves laved the shore.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: bathing or washing
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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.