stretch mark
noun
Simple meaning
Any of a series of red.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
strehchmahrkSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstɹɛtʃˈmɑɹk
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
dermatology
Any of a series of red (or purple or faded), irregular stripes on the surface of the skin caused by rapid growth of the tissues lying just underneath. They may appear as a result of pregnancy, puberty, obesity, rapid muscle growth or family history.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: (dermatology) Any of a series of red (or purple or faded), irregular stripes on the surface of the skin caused by rapid growth of the tissues lying just underneath. They may appear as a result of pregnancy, puberty, obesity, rapid muscle growth or family history.
Used this way, stretch mark is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It turns up most in historical writing and family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Where it naturally appears
- Historical writing
- Family/home
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.