muse
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Of a person: a source of inspiration.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
myoozIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmjuz
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
Of a person: a source of inspiration.
An act of musing; a period of thoughtfulness.
A gap or hole in a hedge, fence, etc. through which a wild animal is accustomed to pass; a muset.
One of the nine Ancient Greek deities of the arts.
verb
intransitive
To become lost in thought, to ponder.
transitive
To say (something) with due consideration or thought.
transitive
To think on; to meditate on.
transitive
To wonder at.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of a person: a source of inspiration.
Used this way, muse 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.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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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.