mortar
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A relatively lightweight.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mawrterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɔɹtɚ
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
countablemilitary
A relatively lightweight, often portable indirect fire weapon which transmits recoil to a base plate and is designed to lob explosive shells at very steep trajectories.
uncountable
A mixture of lime or cement, sand and water used for bonding building blocks.
countable
A hollow vessel used to pound, crush, rub, grind or mix ingredients with a pestle.
countable
In paper milling, a trough in which material is hammered.
verb
transitive
To use mortar or plaster to join two things together.
transitive
To pound in a mortar.
To fire a mortar (weapon).
To attack (someone or something) using a mortar (weapon).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A relatively lightweight, often portable indirect fire weapon which transmits recoil to a base plate and is designed to lob explosive shells at very steep trajectories.
Used this way, mortar 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
- Moderate
- 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.
More ways to use mortar
- “The soldiers fired the mortar, sending shells high into the air.”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.
Artillery fire delivered by a mortar.
Building material consisting of bricks laid with mortar between them.
A muzzle-loading high-angle gun with a short barrel that fires shells at high elevations for a short range.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Mortar fire intended to destroy or neutralize enemy weapons.
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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.