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toy

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

Something to play with.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

toy
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtɔɪ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Something to play with, especially as intended for use by a child.

  2. A thing of little importance or value; a trifle.

  3. A simple, light piece of music, written especially for the virginal.

  4. Any of several breeds of very small dogs kept purely as pets

verb

  1. intransitive

    To play (with) in an idle or desultory way.

  2. intransitive

    To ponder or consider.

adjective

  1. chiefly attributive

    Impractical or unsuitable for real-world use, due to being unrealistically small or simple.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Something to play with, especially as intended for use by a child.

Used this way, toy is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.

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

  • Family/home

Nearby words

  • fiddle , more casual, better suited to speech than writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use toy

  • “Private airplanes are a rich man's toy.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

toy storetoy shoptoy cartoy boxnew toyfavorite toytoy companytoy train

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • toy boxnounCompound term

    Chest for storage of toys.

  • toy businessnounCompound term

    An industry that manufactures and sells toys for children.

  • toy chestnounCompound term

    Chest for storage of toys.

  • toy industrynounCompound term

    An industry that manufactures and sells toys for children.

  • toy manchesternounCompound term

    Breed of small Manchester terrier.

  • toy manchester terriernounCompound term

    Breed of small Manchester terrier.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: something to play with

playthingfiddleInformal

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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.