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wag

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Move from side to side.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wag
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwæɡ

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.

verb

  1. Move from side to side

    “The happy dog wagged his tail.”

  2. To swing from side to side, as an animal's tail, or someone's head to express disagreement or disbelief.

  3. intransitivecricketslang

    Of the tail (lower order of the batting lineup): to score more runs than expected.

  4. To move continually, especially in gossip; said of the tongue.

  5. UKAustraliaNew Zealandslang

    To play truant from school.

noun

  1. A witty amusing person who makes jokes

  2. An oscillating movement.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Move from side to side

Used this way, wag is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“The happy dog wagged his tail.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • waggle , rarer, so it draws attention

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

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

tail wagworld wag

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

verb

Sense: move from side to side

shakewaggleRare

noun

Sense: witty amusing person who makes jokes

witcardInformal

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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.