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skirt

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A piece of clothing that hangs down from the waist.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

skurt
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈskɝt

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

  1. A garment hanging from the waist; worn mainly by girls and women

  2. A separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs.

  3. A similar part of a dress or robe, etc., that hangs below the waist.

  4. A loose edging to any part of a dress.

  5. A border; edge; margin; extreme part of anything.

  6. uncountableukcolloquial

    Women collectively, in a sexual context.

verb

  1. Form the edge of

  2. To be on or form the border of.

  3. To move around or along the border of; to avoid the center of.

  4. Avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)

  5. figurative

    To avoid or ignore (something); to manage to avoid (something or a problem); to skate by (something).

  6. To cover with a skirt; to surround.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A garment hanging from the waist; worn mainly by girls and women

Used this way, skirt 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 skirt

  • “He skirted the issue of which parties to attend by staying at home instead.”verb
  • “The plain was skirted by rows of trees.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

full skirtshort skirtblack skirtlong skirtblue skirtwhite skirtred skirtlength skirt

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • skirt chasernounCompound term

    A man who is aggressive in making amorous advances to women.

  • skirt of tassesnounCompound term

    Armor plate that protects the body below the waist.

  • skirting boardnounCompound term

    A molding covering the joint formed by a wall and the floor.

  • hobble skirtnounCompound term

    A long skirt very narrow below the knees, worn between 1910 and 1914.

  • ballet skirtnounCompound term

    Very short skirt worn by ballerinas.

  • full skirtnounCompound term

    A long skirt gathered at the waist.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: form the edge of

hedge

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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.