lick
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To stroke with the tongue.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
likIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɪk
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
transitive
To stroke with the tongue.
transitive
To lap; to take in with the tongue.
Pass the tongue over
colloquial
To do anything partially.
noun
The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue.
Touching with the tongue
A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue.
A place where animals lick minerals from the ground.
A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream.
An instance or opportunity to earn money fast, usually by illegal means, thus a heist, drug deal etc. or its victim; mostly used in phrasal verbs: hit a lick, hit licks
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To stroke with the tongue.
Used this way, lick 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 lick
- “We licked the other team on Sunday!”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
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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.