mat
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
A thick flat pad used as a floor covering.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
matIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmæt
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
A thick flat pad used as a floor covering
A flat piece of coarse material used for wiping one's feet, or as a decorative or protective floor covering.
A small pad of material that is used to protect surface from an object placed on it
A small flat piece of material used to protect a surface from anything hot or rough; a coaster.
athletics
A floor pad to protect athletes.
A thin layer of woven, non-woven, or knitted fiber that serves as reinforcement to a material.
verb
transitive
To cover, protect or decorate with mats.
intransitive
To form a thick, tangled mess; to interweave into, or like, a mat; to entangle.
To produce a dull, lustreless surface on (metal).
adjective
Dull; not reflective of light.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A thick flat pad used as a floor covering
Used this way, mat 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
- place mat , 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 mat
- “A mat of weeds and grass.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.