soul
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The spiritual part of a person, or the true essence of something
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sohlIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsoʊl
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
religionfolklore
The immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
The spirit or essence of anything.
A person, especially as one among many.
Life, energy, vigor.
religionfolklore
The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death.
verb
To beg on All Soul's Day.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
Used this way, soul is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a religious use: it carries the weight of tradition and ceremony.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Religion/spirituality
- Historical writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use soul
- “She poured her heart and soul into creating the perfect meal.”noun
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: immaterial part of a person
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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.