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reed

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Any of different types of tall stiff perennial grass-like plants growing together in groups near water.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

reed
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹid

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. countable

    Any of various types of tall stiff perennial grass-like plants growing together in groups near water.

  2. A vibrator consisting of a thin strip of stiff material that vibrates to produce a tone when air streams over it

    “The clarinetist fitted a new reed onto his mouthpiece.”

  3. countable

    The hollow stem of these plants.

  4. countablemusic

    Part of an aerophone musical instrument, comprising a thin piece of wood or metal, which vibrates to produce sound when air passes through it.

  5. Straw prepared for thatching a roof.

  6. United States journalist who reported on the October Revolution from Petrograd in 1917; founded the Communist Labor Party in America in 1919; is buried in the Kremlin in Moscow (1887-1920)

verb

  1. transitive

    To thatch.

  2. To mill or mint with reeding.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A vibrator consisting of a thin strip of stiff material that vibrates to produce a tone when air streams over it

Used this way, reed 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
“The clarinetist fitted a new reed onto his mouthpiece.”
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 reed

  • “The clarinetist fitted a new reed onto his mouthpiece.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

broken reedreed bedsreed armyhenry reedjustice reed

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • reed buntingnounCompound term

    European bunting inhabiting marshy areas.

  • reed canary grassnounCompound term

    Perennial grass of marshy meadows and ditches having broad leaves.

  • reed grassnounCompound term

    Any of various tall perennial grasses of the genus Calamagrostis having feathery plumes.

  • reed instrumentnounCompound term

    A musical instrument that sounds by means of a vibrating reed.

  • reed macenounCompound term

    Tall marsh plant with cylindrical seed heads that explode when mature shedding large quantities of down.

  • reed meadow grassnounCompound term

    A pasture grass of moist places throughout North America.

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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.