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look

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Perceive with attention.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

luuk
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈlʊk

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.

verb

  1. Perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards

    “She looked over the expanse of land.”

  2. To try to see, to pay attention to with one's eyes.

  3. intransitive

    As an intransitive verb, often with "at".

  4. intransitiveoften with "for"

    To search for, to try to find.

  5. transitiveoften with "to"

    To make sure of, to see to.

  6. transitivecolloquial

    As a transitive verb, often in the imperative; chiefly takes relative clause as direct object.

noun

  1. The action of looking; an attempt to see.

  2. Physical appearance

    “I don't like the looks of this place.”

  3. A facial expression.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards

Used this way, look is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“She looked over the expanse of land.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
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.

How It’s Used

The word’s distinct uses, one example each.

  • Perceiveverb

    “She looked over the expanse of land.”

  • Physicalnoun

    “I don't like the looks of this place.”

More ways to use look

  • “She looked over the expanse of land.”verb
  • “We looked all day and finally found the child in the forest.”verb
  • “He went out to have a look.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

look afterlook backlook forwardcloser looknow look

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • lookingnounInflected form

    The act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • look atverbCompound term

    Take into consideration for exemplifying purposes.

  • look awayverbCompound term

    Avert one's gaze.

  • look backverbCompound term

    Look towards one's back.

  • look backwardverbCompound term

    Look towards one's back.

  • look down onverbCompound term

    Regard with contempt.

  • look forverbCompound term

    Try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: perceive with attention

attend

Common Forms & Phrases

  • look forward to , Feel pleased about something coming.
  • look up to , Admire and respect someone.

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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.