lure
noun · verb
Simple meaning
An artificial bait attached to a fishing line to attract fish.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
luurIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlʊɹ
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.
noun
fishing
An artificial bait attached to a fishing line to attract fish.
also figurative
Something that tempts or attracts, especially one with a promise of reward or pleasure.
Something used to lure fish or other animals into danger so they can be trapped or killed
A velvet smoothing brush.
verb
transitive
To attract by temptation, appeal, or guile.
transitive
To attract fish with a lure.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (fishing) An artificial bait attached to a fishing line to attract fish.
Used this way, lure 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
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use lure
- “He lured me into temptation.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any bright artificial bait consisting of plastic or metal mounted with hooks and trimmed with feathers.
Any bright artificial bait consisting of plastic or metal mounted with hooks and trimmed with feathers.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to attract by temptation or appeal or or guile
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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.