marrow
noun
Simple meaning
The substance inside bones which produces blood cells.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mehrohSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɛɹoʊ
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
uncountable
The substance inside bones which produces blood cells.
figurative
The essence; the best part.
A kind of vegetable similar to a large courgette, zucchini or squash.
figurative
The inner meaning or purpose.
The pith of certain plants.
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: A kind of vegetable similar to a large courgette, zucchini or squash.
Used this way, marrow 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
- bone marrow , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use marrow
- “Bone marrow is an important part of the human immune system.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any of various squash plants grown for their elongated fruit with smooth dark green skin and whitish flesh.
Bone marrow of children and some adult bones that is required for the formation of red blood cells.
Bone marrow of children and some adult bones that is required for the formation of red blood cells.
Any of various squash plants grown for their elongated fruit with smooth dark green skin and whitish flesh.
Bone marrow that is yellow with fat.
The fatty network of connective tissue that fills the cavities of bones.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: substance inside bones which produces blood cells
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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.