nails
noun · verb
Form of nail , plural of nail.
Simple meaning
The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
naylzIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈneɪlz
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
plural of nail
The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
plural of nail
The terminal horny plate on the beak of ducks, and other allied birds.
plural of nail
The basal thickened portion of the anterior wings of certain hemiptera.
plural of nail
A spike-shaped metal fastener used for joining wood or similar materials. The nail is generally driven through two or more layers of material by means of impacts from a hammer or other device. It is then held in place by friction.
verb
third-person singular of nail
To fix (an object) to another object using a nail.
third-person singular of nail
To drive a nail.
third-person singular of nail
Attach something somewhere by means of nails
third-person singular of nail
To stud or boss with nails, or as if with nails.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.
Used this way, nails 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
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Attach something somewhere by means of nails.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A worker who attaches something by nailing it.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A cosmetic lacquer that dries quickly and that is applied to the nails to color them or make them shiny.
A cosmetic lacquer that dries quickly and that is applied to the nails to color them or make them shiny.
A cosmetic lacquer that dries quickly and that is applied to the nails to color them or make them shiny.
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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.