mound
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Structure made up of an artificial heap or bank usually of earth or stones.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mowndIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmaʊnd
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
Structure consisting of an artificial heap or bank usually of earth or stones
“They built small mounds to hide behind.”
An artificial hill or elevation of earth; a raised bank; an embankment thrown up for defense
A natural elevation appearing as if thrown up artificially; a regular and isolated hill, hillock, or knoll.
baseball
The slight elevation on which the pitcher stands
baseball
Elevated area of dirt upon which the pitcher stands to pitch.
A ball or globe forming part of the regalia of an emperor or other sovereign. It is encircled with bands, enriched with precious stones, and surmounted with a cross.
verb
Form into a rounded elevation
transitive
To fortify with a mound; add a barrier, rampart, etc. to.
transitive
To force or pile into a mound or mounds.
intransitive
To form a mound.
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: Structure consisting of an artificial heap or bank usually of earth or stones
Used this way, mound is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in finance or economics contexts.
“They built small mounds to hide behind.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Finance/economics
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “mound to …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Nearby words
- heap , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Natural pattern: mound to …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use mound
- “They built small mounds to hide behind.”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.
Large-footed short-winged birds of Australasia.
Prehistoric Amerindians who built altar mounds.
Form mounds over.
Having a wound formed over it.
Ground beef mixed with raw egg and e.g. onions and capers and anchovies.
A heap of earth placed over prehistoric tombs.
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.