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pencil

verb · noun

Simple meaning

A writing utensil with a graphite shaft, usually blended with clay, clad in wood, and sharpened to a taper.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pehnsuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɛnsəl

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. Write, draw, or trace with a pencil

  2. transitive

    To write (something) using a pencil.

  3. transitive

    To mark with, or as if with, a pencil.

noun

  1. A writing utensil with a graphite (commonly referred to as lead) shaft, usually blended with clay, clad in wood, and sharpened to a taper.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
General and technical use

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A writing utensil with a graphite (commonly referred to as lead) shaft, usually blended with clay, clad in wood, and sharpened to a taper.

Used this way, pencil 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.

More ways to use pencil

  • “The words were scribbled in pencil.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Write

pencil drawingpencil sketch

Family

pencil point

Cosmetic

hair pencil

Other combinations

grease pencilblue pencilred pencilpencil line

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • pencil cedarnounCompound term

    Any of several junipers with wood suitable for making pencils.

  • pencil cedar treenounCompound term

    Any of several junipers with wood suitable for making pencils.

  • pencil erasernounCompound term

    An eraser made of rubber (or of a synthetic material with properties similar to rubber).

  • pencil leadnounCompound term

    Mixture of graphite with clay in different degrees of hardness.

  • pencil pushernounCompound term

    A clerk who does boring paperwork.

  • pencil sharpenernounCompound term

    A rotary implement for sharpening the point on pencils.

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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.