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pound

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

pownd
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpaʊnd

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.

noun

  1. The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence. Symbol £.

  2. A unit of currency in various currency systems.

  3. A unit of apothecary weight equal to 12 ounces troy

  4. A symbol for a unit of currency (especially for the pound sterling in Great Britain)

  5. Formerly the basic unit of money in Ireland; equal to 100 pence

  6. informal

    Various non-English units of currency not officially called pounds.

verb

  1. transitive

    To strike hard, usually repeatedly.

  2. (intransitive, of a body part, generally heart, blood, or head) To beat strongly or throb.

  3. To advance heavily with measured steps.

  4. transitive

    To crush to pieces; to pulverize.

  5. transitiveslang

    To eat or drink very quickly.

  6. To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The unit of currency used in the United Kingdom and its dependencies. It is divided into 100 pence. Symbol £.

Used this way, pound is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is about measurement, so it is used where accuracy is the point.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Technical/specialist writing
  • Academic writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use pound

  • “He got a hernia when he tried to lift 100 pounds.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Symbol / unit

pound sterlingpound weighthalf pound

Other combinations

pound cakepound notehundred poundthousand poundfive pound

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • poundingnounInflected form

    Repeated heavy blows.

  • poundernounInflected form

    Something weighing a given number of pounds.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • pound signnounCompound term

    A symbol for a unit of currency (especially for the pound sterling in Great Britain).

  • pound sterlingnounCompound term

    The basic unit of money in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

  • pound upverbCompound term

    Shut up or confine in any enclosure or within any bounds or limits.

  • pounds per square inchnounCompound term

    A unit of pressure.

  • pound cakenounCompound term

    Rich loaf cake made of a pound each of butter and sugar and flour.

  • pound netnounCompound term

    Trap consisting of an arrangement of nets directing fish into an enclosure.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to strike hard or usually repeatedly

ramhammer

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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.