mold
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A hollow form or matrix for shaping a fluid or plastic substance.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mohldIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmoʊld
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 hollow form or matrix for shaping a fluid or plastic substance.
A natural substance in the form of a furry or woolly growth of tiny fungi that appears when organic material lies for a long time exposed to (usually warm and moist) air.
A distinctive nature, character, or type
“A leader in the mold of her predecessors.”
A frame or model around or on which something is formed or shaped.
A fixed or restrictive pattern or form.
General shape or form.
verb
intransitive
To become moldy; to be covered or filled, in whole or in part, with a mold.
transitive
To cause to become moldy; to cause mold to grow upon.
transitive
To shape in or on a mold; to form into a particular shape; to give shape to.
Shape or influence; give direction to
transitive
To guide or determine the growth or development of; influence
Fit tightly, follow the contours of
“The dress molds her beautiful figure.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
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How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Distinctivenoun
“A leader in the mold of her predecessors.”
Fitverb
“The dress molds her beautiful figure.”
More ways to use mold
- “The furniture molded in the old house.”verb
- “A leader in the mold of her predecessors.”noun
- “The dress molds her beautiful figure.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of creating something by casting it in a mold.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Salad of meats or vegetables in gelatin.
Soil composed mainly of decaying leaves.
A slime mold of the class Myxomycetes.
A blight of potatoes.
A molding having a small groove in it.
A naked mass of protoplasm having characteristics of both plants and animals.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: hollow form or matrix for shaping a fluid
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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.