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lime

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

A bright yellow-green color.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

lym
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈlaɪm

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. A bright yellow-green color.

  2. chemistry

    Any inorganic material containing calcium, usually calcium oxide (quicklime) or calcium hydroxide (slaked lime).

  3. chemistry

    A white crystalline oxide used in the production of calcium hydroxide

  4. The green acidic fruit of any of various lime trees

  5. Any of the trees that bear limes, especially Key lime, Citrus aurantiifolia.

  6. The wood of this tree.

verb

  1. Spread birdlime on branches to catch birds

  2. transitive

    To smear with birdlime.

  3. transitive

    To treat with calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide (lime).

  4. transitive

    To apply limewash.

adjective

  1. Containing lime or lime juice.

  2. Lime-green.

  3. Having the aroma or flavor of lime.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: a bright yellow-green color.

Used this way, lime 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

  • burnt lime , rarer, so it draws attention
  • calcium hydroxide , a specialist term, precise but narrower
  • slaked lime , rarer, so it draws attention

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

More ways to use lime

  • “She squeezed a fresh lime into her drink for a tangy flavor.”

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: bright yellow-green color

burnt limeRarecalcium hydroxideTechnicalquicklimeslaked limeRarecalcium oxide

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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.