waist
noun
Simple meaning
The narrowing of the body between the ribs and hips.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
waystIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈweɪst
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
anatomy
The narrowing of the body between the ribs and hips
anatomy
The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
A part of a piece of clothing that covers the waist.
The middle part of anything.
The narrow connection between the thorax and abdomen in certain insects (e.g., bees, ants and wasps).
The middle portion of the hull of a ship or the fuselage of an aircraft.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The narrowing of the body between the ribs and hips
Used this way, waist is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use waist
- “The belt cinched around her waist, giving the dress a nice shape.”
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: narrowing of the body between the ribs and hips
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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.