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mine

noun · verb

Simple meaning

An excavation from which ore or solid minerals are taken.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

myn
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmaɪn

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. An excavation from which ore or solid minerals are taken, especially one consisting of underground tunnels.

  2. Excavation in the earth from which ores and minerals are extracted

  3. figurative

    Any source of wealth or resources.

  4. Demeanor; facial expression or attitude, especially one which is intended by its bearer.

verb

  1. ambitransitive

    To remove (rock or ore) from the ground.

  2. To dig into, for ore or metal.

  3. To dig away, or otherwise remove, the substratum or foundation of; to lay a mine under; to sap; to undermine.

  4. intransitive

    To dig a tunnel or hole; to burrow in the earth.

  5. by extensionfigurative

    To ruin or destroy by slow degrees or secret means.

  6. by extensionfigurative

    To tap into.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An excavation from which ore or solid minerals are taken, especially one consisting of underground tunnels.

Used this way, mine 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 mine

  • “This old car is mine, and I have owned it for years.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

gold minecoal minelike minemine eyes

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • minernounInflected form

    Laborer who works in a mine.

  • minedadjectiveInflected form

    Extracted from a source of supply as of minerals from the earth.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • mine detectornounCompound term

    Detector consisting of an electromagnetic device.

  • mine disposalnounCompound term

    The disposal of explosive mines.

  • mine fieldnounCompound term

    A tract of land containing explosive mines.

  • mine pignounCompound term

    Pig iron made entirely from ore.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • minefieldnounRelated term

    A region in which explosives mines have been placed.

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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.