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sap

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The juice of plants of any kind.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sap
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsæp

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. uncountable

    The juice of plants of any kind, especially the ascending and descending juices or circulating fluid essential to nutrition.

  2. slangcountable

    A person who lacks good judgment

  3. slangcountable

    A naive person; a simpleton.

  4. figurative

    Vitality.

  5. uncountable

    The sapwood, or alburnum, of a tree.

  6. countableusslang

    A short wooden club; a leather-covered hand weapon; a blackjack.

verb

  1. transitive

    To gradually drain (someone's energy or vitality).

  2. transitivefigurative

    To exhaust the vitality of.

  3. transitive

    To drain, suck or absorb sap from (a tree, etc.).

  4. transitive

    To subvert by digging or wearing away; to mine; to undermine; to destroy the foundation of.

  5. transitiveslang

    To strike with a sap (with a blackjack).

  6. transitive

    To make unstable or infirm; to unsettle; to weaken.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

cell sapsap greenplant sapmaple sapxylem sapsap woodsap flowphloem sap

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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.