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pulp

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Any soft or soggy mass.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

puhlp
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpʌlp

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. Any soft or soggy mass

    “He pounded it to a pulp.”

  2. A soft, moist, shapeless mass or matter.

  3. A soft moist part of a fruit

  4. The soft center of a fruit.

  5. A mixture of cellulose fibers

  6. A mixture of wood, cellulose and/or rags and water ground up to make paper.

verb

  1. Remove the pulp from, as from a fruit

  2. transitive

    To deprive of pulp; to separate the pulp from.

  3. transitiveslang

    To beat to a pulp.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Any soft or soggy mass

Used this way, pulp is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“He pounded it to a pulp.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
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 pulp

  • “He pounded it to a pulp.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Mixture / mass

wood pulppulp cavitykraft pulp

Other combinations

pulp chamberpulp millpulp fictionred pulpbeet pulp

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • pulp cavitynounCompound term

    The central cavity of a tooth containing the pulp (including the root canal).

  • pulp magazinenounCompound term

    An inexpensive magazine printed on poor quality paper.

  • wood pulpnounCompound term

    Wood that has been ground to a pulp.

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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.