spray
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A dispenser that turns a liquid into a fine mist.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sprayIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈspɹeɪ
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
A dispenser that turns a liquid (such as perfume) into a fine mist
A fine, gentle, dispersed mist of liquid.
countable
A pressurized container; an atomizer.
countable
Any of numerous commercial products, including paints, cosmetics, and insecticides, that are dispensed from containers in this manner.
Flower arrangement consisting of a single branch or shoot bearing flowers and foliage
countable
A small branch of flowers or berries.
verb
transitive
To project a liquid in a dispersive manner toward something.
transitivefigurative
To project many small items dispersively.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A dispenser that turns a liquid (such as perfume) into a fine mist
Used this way, spray 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 spray
- “Water sprayed all over the floor.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The dispersion of fungicides or insecticides or fertilizer on growing crops (often from a low-flying aircraft).
A worker who applies spray to a surface.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Dried by bringing a sprayed substance (e.g. milk or soap) into contact with hot air and recovering it in the form of a powder.
Dry by bringing into the form of a spray, through contact with a hot gas.
An applicator resembling a gun for applying liquid substances (as paint) in the form of a spray.
Paint applied with a spray gun.
Applying paint with a sprayer.
A dispenser that holds a substance under pressure and that can release it as a fine spray (usually by means of a propellant gas).
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: dispenser that turns a liquid (such as perfume) into a fine mist
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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.