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turtle

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Any land or marine reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

turtuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtɝtəl

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. zoologyuscanada

    Any land or marine reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.

  2. Any of various aquatic and land reptiles having a bony shell and flipper-like limbs for swimming

  3. computing

    A type of robot having a domed case (and so resembling the reptile), used in education, especially for making line drawings by means of a computer program.

  4. A member of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles, a drinking club.

  5. An extinct town in Dent County, Missouri, United States.

  6. zoologyUSCanadaAustraliaBritishspecifically

    A marine reptile of that order.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To flip over onto the back or top; to turn upside down.

  2. intransitive

    To move along slowly.

  3. intransitive

    To turn and swim upside down.

  4. Hunt for turtles, especially as an occupation

  5. intransitive

    To hunt turtles, especially in the water.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
General and technical use

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Any land or marine reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.

Used this way, turtle 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 turtle

  • “We saw a small turtle slowly crossing the road today.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Marine / land

sea turtle

Robot / various

green turtle

Small

turtle dove

Other combinations

turtle soupbox turtleturtle shellmock turtlepainted turtle

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • turtle beannounCompound term

    Black-seeded bean of South America.

  • turtle soupnounCompound term

    Soup usually made of the flesh of green turtles.

  • alligator snapping turtlenounCompound term

    Large species having three ridges on its back.

  • bastard turtlenounCompound term

    Grey sea turtle of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of North America.

  • box turtlenounCompound term

    Chiefly terrestrial turtle of North America.

  • common snapping turtlenounCompound term

    Large-headed turtle with powerful hooked jaws found in or near water.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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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.