sandpiper
noun
Simple meaning
Any of different small waders of the family Scolopacidae.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sandpyperSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsændpaɪpɚ
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
Any of various small waders of the family Scolopacidae.
Any of numerous usually small wading birds having a slender bill and piping call; closely related to the plovers
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any of various small waders of the family Scolopacidae.
Used this way, sandpiper is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.
Old World sandpiper with a curved bill like a curlew.
A variety of sandpiper.
Smallest American sandpiper.
Small common sandpiper that breeds in northern or Arctic regions and winters in southern United States or Mediterranean regions.
Common North American sandpiper.
Large plover-like sandpiper of North American fields and uplands.
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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.