minefield
noun
Simple meaning
An area in which land mines or naval mines have been laid.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mynfeeldSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmaɪnfild
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
An area in which land mines or naval mines have been laid.
figurativelyby extension
A matter or situation presenting multiple risks, dangers, complications or difficulties.
cricket
A pitch that has dried out and crumbled and on which the ball is bouncing and spinning unpredictably.
A quiz that terminates when the test-taker answers a question incorrectly.
A region in which explosives mines have been placed
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An area in which land mines or naval mines have been laid.
Used this way, minefield is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Military
- Historical writing
- News/reporting
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.