serpent
noun
Simple meaning
A snake-like monster, such as a dragon or sea serpent.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
surpuhntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɝpənt
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
now literary
A snake, especially a large or dangerous one.
mythologyfantasy
A snake-like monster, such as a dragon or sea serpent.
figurative
A subtle, treacherous, malicious person.
A firework that moves in serpentine manner when ignited
An obsolete bass cornet; resembles a snake
music
An obsolete wind instrument in the brass family, whose shape is suggestive of a snake (Wikipedia article).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A snake, especially a large or dangerous one.
Used this way, serpent is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It turns up most in literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Formal
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Literary and expressive
Where it naturally appears
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Comfortable in writing and prepared speech; in casual conversation a shorter everyday word usually sounds more natural.
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.
Tropical American fern with brown scaly rhizomes cultivated for its large deeply lobed deep bluish-green fronds.
An animal resembling a starfish with fragile whiplike arms radiating from a small central disc.
The worship of snakes.
Huge creature of the sea resembling a snake or dragon.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
East Indian climbing shrub with twisted limbs and roots resembling serpents.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: snake or especially a large or dangerous one
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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.