shampoo
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A commercial liquid soaplike product for washing hair or other fibers, such as carpets.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
shampooSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ʃæmˈpu
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
hygiene
A commercial liquid soaplike product for washing hair or other fibers, such as carpets.
The act of washing your hair with shampoo
An instance of washing the hair or other fibres with shampoo.
humorousslang
Champagne.
verb
transitive
To press or knead the whole surface of the body of (a person), and at the same time to stretch the limbs and joints, in connection with the hot bath.
Use shampoo on (hair)
intransitive
To wash one's own hair with shampoo.
transitive
To wash (i.e. the hair, carpet, etc.) with shampoo.
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: (hygiene) A commercial liquid soaplike product for washing hair or other fibers, such as carpets.
Used this way, shampoo 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 shampoo
- “I'm going to give the carpet a shampoo.”noun
- “My neat-freak of a friend has been compulsively shampooing for every bath he has taken.”verb
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “shampoo” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.