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mule

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

myool
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmjul

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. Hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse; usually sterile

  2. slang

    A person paid to smuggle drugs.

  3. The generally sterile hybrid offspring of any two species of animals.

  4. informal

    A stubborn person.

  5. Any shoe with an upper covering the front of the foot but without a back flap or strap, leaving the heel exposed.

  6. Any of a group of cocktails involving ginger ale or ginger beer, citrus juice, and various liquors.

verb

  1. transitiveslang

    To smuggle (illegal drugs).

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse; usually sterile

Used this way, mule 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 mule

  • “The farmer used a strong mule to pull the heavy cart.”noun

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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.