sickle

noun

Simple meaning

An edge tool for cutting grass or crops.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sikuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɪkəl

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

agriculture
An edge tool for cutting grass or crops; has a curved blade and a short handle
agriculture
An implement having a semicircular blade and short handle, used for cutting long grass and cereal crops.
Anything resembling a sickle, especially
A sickle faether, any of the sickle-shaped rear feathers of the domestic cock.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency: Uncommon
Formality: Technical
Typical Use: Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An edge tool for cutting grass or crops; has a curved blade and a short handle

Used this way, sickle 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.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Edge / implement

sharp sicklehomozygous sicklesickle blade

Deform / red

sickle cellsickle hemoglobinsickle shape

Crescent

sickle moon

Other combinations

van sickle

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

sickle cellnounCompound term
An abnormal red blood cell that has a crescent shape and an abnormal form of hemoglobin.
sickle-cell anaemianounCompound term
A congenital form of anemia occurring mostly in blacks.
sickle-cell anemianounCompound term
A congenital form of anemia occurring mostly in blacks.
sickle-cell diseasenounCompound term
A congenital form of anemia occurring mostly in blacks.
sickle feathernounCompound term
One of the long curved tail feathers of a rooster.
sickle lucernenounCompound term
European medic naturalized in North America having yellow flowers and sickle-shaped pods.

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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.