peanuts
noun
Form of peanut , plural of peanut.
Simple meaning
Usually of a salary: a very insufficient or small amount.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
peenuhtsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpinəts
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
informalfigurative
Especially of a salary: a very insufficient or small amount.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Especially of a salary: a very insufficient or small amount.
Used this way, peanuts is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use peanuts
- “Her salary is peanuts compared to his.”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.
Underground pod of the peanut vine.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Brittle containing peanuts.
A spread made from ground peanuts.
People whose criticisms are regarded as irrelevant or insignificant (resembling uneducated people who throw peanuts on the stage to express displeasure with a performance).
An oil from peanuts.
Bar of peanuts in taffy.
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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.