superfund
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A large amount of money designated for environmental cleanup by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sooperfuhndSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
supɚˈfʌnd
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
us
A large amount of money designated for environmental cleanup by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.
verb
ustransitive
To fund (a college payment plan) with a large payment, more than the usual annual payment.
ustransitive
To fund (environmental cleanup) by means of a Superfund.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A large amount of money designated for environmental cleanup by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.
Used this way, superfund 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 superfund
- “Some have intimated that the Superfund's money may have turned into a political slush fund.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The federal government's program to locate and investigate and clean up the worst uncontrolled and abandoned toxic waste sites nationwide.
A site where toxic wastes have been dumped and the Environmental Protection Agency has designated them to be cleaned up.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “superfund” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.