slew
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A large number or amount or extent.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
slooIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈslu
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
often followed by `of'
A large number or amount or extent
A crowd or large number of people.
The act, or process of slewing.
A device used for slewing.
A change of position.
A wet or swampy place; a river inlet.
verb
Turn sharply; change direction abruptly
Move obliquely or sideways, usually in an uncontrolled manner
transitive
To veer a vehicle.
intransitive
To pivot.
intransitive
To skid.
transitive
To insert extra ticks or skip some ticks of a clock to slowly correct its time.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A large number or amount or extent
Used this way, slew 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
Nearby words
- whole slew , rarer, so it draws attention
- hatful , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
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.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Thoroughbred that won the triple crown in 1977.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.