scanning
noun
Simple meaning
The process of translating photographs into a digital form that can be recognized by a computer.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skaningSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskænɪŋ
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
The act of something being scanned.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of something being scanned.
Used this way, scanning 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
- 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 scanning
- “I am scanning the old photographs to create digital copies for the family album.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Someone who scans verse to determine the number and prosodic value of the syllables.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Biometric identification by automatically scanning a person's fingerprints electronically.
Biometric identification by scanning the iris of the eye.
Biometric identification by scanning the retina of the eye.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.