prick
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prikIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹɪk
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 small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.
The experience or feeling of being pierced or punctured by a small, sharp object.
An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object.
A feeling of remorse.
The footprint of a hare.
verb
transitive
To pierce or puncture slightly.
transitive
To form by piercing or puncturing.
To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
To cause a sharp emotional pain
“The thought of her unhappiness pricked his conscience.”
To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
transitive
To make acidic or pungent.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.
Used this way, prick is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- 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 prick
- “The nurse pricked my finger to get a small blood sample.”verb
- “The thought of her unhappiness pricked his conscience.”verb
- “The dog pricked up his ears.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any of a number of trees or shrubs of the genus Zanthoxylum having spiny branches.
Small tropical American tree bearing large succulent slightly acid fruit.
A leaf having prickly margins.
Obstruction of the sweat ducts during high heat and humidity.
European annual wild lettuce having prickly stems.
Cacti having spiny flat joints and oval fruit that is edible in some species.
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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.