tall
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Having its top a long way up.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tawlIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɔl
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.
adjective
of a person
Having a vertical extent greater than the average. For example, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be considered to be tall.
of a buildingetc.
Having its top a long way up; having a great vertical (and often greater than horizontal) extent.
of a story
Hard to believe, such as a tall story or a tall tale.
noun
A tall serving of a drink, especially one from Starbucks, which contains 12 ounces.
A clothing size for taller people.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (of a person) Having a vertical extent greater than the average. For example, somebody with a height of over 6 feet would generally be considered to be tall.
Used this way, tall 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
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- gangly , rarer, so it draws attention
- gangling , rarer, so it draws attention
- tallish , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use tall
- “My brother is very tall and can reach the top shelf easily.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A score in baseball made by a runner touching all four bases safely.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Coarse perennial Eurasian grass resembling oat.
An oil derived from wood pulp and used in making soaps or lubricants.
A formidable task or requirement.
Very tall American perennial of central and the eastern United States to Canada having edible tuberous roots.
An improbable (unusual or incredible or fanciful) story.
Tall North American perennial with heart-shaped leaves and white flowers with purple streaks.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: having a vertical extent greater than the average. For example
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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.