scout
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Someone who assesses or recruits others.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skowtIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskaʊt
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
A member of any number of youth organizations belonging to the international scout movement, such as the Boy Scouts of America or Girl Scouts of the United States.
A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.
A person who assesses or recruits others; especially, one who identifies promising talent on behalf of a sports team.
An act of scouting or reconnoitering.
A person employed to monitor rivals' activities in the petroleum industry.
(Oxford University, Harvard University, Yale University, historical) A domestic servant, generally male, who would attend (usually several) students in a variety of ways, including cleaning; generally equivalent to a gyp at Cambridge University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.
verb
transitive
To observe, watch, or look for, as a scout; to follow for the purpose of observation, as a scout.
transitiveintransitive
To explore a wide terrain, as if on a search.
transitive
To reject the ideas or beliefs of (a person).
transitive
To reject with contempt.
intransitive
To scoff.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person who assesses or recruits others; especially, one who identifies promising talent on behalf of a sports team.
Used this way, scout is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Hopeful and forward-looking
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Where it naturally appears
- Sports
- News/reporting
- Everyday conversation
Nearby words
- guide , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use scout
- “The scout carefully looked for signs of animals in the dense forest.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Exploring in order to gain information.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A unit of Girl or Boy Scouts.
A unit of Girl or Boy Scouts.
Fast armored military vehicle with four-wheel drive and open top.
An expedition undertaken to gain information.
A Boy Scout who has earned many merit badges.
A girl who is a member of the Girl Scouts.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to observe or watch or or look for
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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.