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round

adjective · noun · verb · adverb

Simple meaning

Circular or cylindrical.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

rownd
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹaʊnd

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.

adjective

  1. Circular or cylindrical; having a circular cross-section in one direction.

  2. physical

    Of shape

  3. Lacking sharp angles; having gentle curves.

  4. of a number

    Convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.

  5. Loosely or approximately circular.

  6. Complete, whole, not lacking.

noun

  1. A circular or spherical object or part of an object.

  2. A circular or repetitious route.

  3. An outburst of applause

    “There was a round of applause.”

  4. A general outburst from a group of people at an event.

  5. A serving to each of a group (usually alcoholic)

  6. A serving of something; a portion of something to each person in a group.

verb

  1. with "out"

    To finish; to complete; to fill out; see also round out.

  2. transitiveintransitive

    To approximate (a number, especially a decimal number) by the closest whole number, or some other close number, especially a whole number of hundreds, thousands, etc.; see also round down, round up.

  3. transitive

    To shape something into a curve.

  4. intransitive

    To become shaped into a curve.

  5. transitive

    To turn past a boundary.

  6. intransitive

    To turn and attack someone or something (used with on).

adverb

  1. So as to form a circle or trace a circular path, or approximation thereof.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Circular or cylindrical; having a circular cross-section in one direction.

Used this way, round 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
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • orbicular , rarer, so it draws attention

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

More ways to use round

  • “The doctor goes on his rounds first thing every morning.”noun
  • “There was a round of applause.”noun
  • “The story is going the rounds in Washington.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

round tableround trip

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • roundedadjectiveInflected form

    Curving and somewhat round in shape rather than jagged.

  • roundingnounInflected form

    A miscalculation that results from rounding off numbers to a convenient number of decimals.

  • roundernounInflected form

    A dissolute person.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • round-leaved rein orchidnounCompound term

    Orchid having a raceme of large greenish-white flowers on a single flower stalk growing between two elliptic or round basal leaves lying on the ground.

  • round ligament of the uterusnounCompound term

    Ligament attached to the uterus on either side in front of and below the opening of the Fallopian tube and passing through the inguinal canal to the labia majora.

  • round of drinksnounCompound term

    A serving to each of a group (usually alcoholic).

  • round of golfnounCompound term

    The activity of playing 18 holes of golf.

  • round offverbCompound term

    Make round.

  • round outverbCompound term

    Fill out.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: circular or cylindrical

full

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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.