patch
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A small piece of material used to fix or cover a hole in clothing
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pachIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpætʃ
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
A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.
A small piece of anything used to repair damage or a breach; as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc.
A piece of any size, used to repair something for a temporary period only, or that it is temporary because it is not meant to last long or will be removed as soon as a proper repair can be made, which will happen in the near future.
A small, usually contrasting but always somehow different or distinct, part of something else (location, time, size)
A local region of professional responsibility.
A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting.
verb
To mend by sewing on a piece or pieces of cloth, leather, or the like.
To mend with pieces; to repair by fastening pieces on.
To join or unite the pieces of
Repair by adding pieces
To employ a temporary, removable electronic connection, as one between two components in a communications system.
generally with the particle "up"
To repair or arrange in a hasty or clumsy manner
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.
Used this way, patch 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
Nearby words
- eyepatch , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use patch
- “She sewed a colorful patch onto her worn backpack.”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.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of mending a hole in a garment by sewing a patch over it.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A flat pocket sewn to the outside of a garment.
A test to determine allergic sensitivity by applying small pads soaked with allergen to the unbroken skin.
Mend by putting a patch on.
Any of several lymph nodes in the walls of the intestines near the junction of the ileum and colon.
Patch worn on the shoulder of a military uniform to indicate rank.
A medicated adhesive pad placed on the skin for absorption of a time released dose of medication into the bloodstream.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A quilt made by sewing patches of different materials together.
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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.