nut
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Any of different hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from different families of plants.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nuhtIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnʌt
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
foodloosely
Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.
hardware
A piece of hardware, typically metal and typically hexagonal or square in shape, with a hole through it having internal screw threads, intended to be screwed onto a threaded bolt or other threaded shaft.
foodloosely
Usually large hard-shelled seed
hardware
A small (usually square or hexagonal) metal block with internal screw thread to be fitted onto a bolt
botanystrictly
Such a fruit that is indehiscent.
colloquial
An extreme enthusiast.
verb
mostly in the form "nutting"
To gather nuts.
uktransitiveslang
To hit deliberately with the head; to headbutt.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (hardware) A piece of hardware, typically metal and typically hexagonal or square in shape, with a hole through it having internal screw threads, intended to be screwed onto a threaded bolt or other threaded shaft.
Used this way, nut is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a computing use: it carries a fixed technical meaning inside software and systems work.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technology
- Technical/specialist writing
- Business/professional
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 nut
- “I love adding a few nuts to my breakfast oatmeal.”
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard
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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.