wallow
noun · verb
Simple meaning
To roll oneself about in something dirty, for example in mud.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wahlohSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɑloʊ
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
A pool of water or mud in which animals wallow, or the depression left by them in the ground.
A puddle where animals go to wallow
An instance of wallowing.
A kind of rolling walk.
verb
Devote oneself entirely to something; indulge in to an immoderate degree, usually with pleasure
Roll around
“Pigs were wallowing in the mud.”
To roll oneself about in something dirty, for example in mud.
figurative
To immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with, metaphorically.
To move lazily or heavily in any medium.
To live or exist in filth or in a sickening manner.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A pool of water or mud in which animals wallow, or the depression left by them in the ground.
Used this way, wallow 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 wallow
- “Pigs were wallowing in the mud.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: pool of water
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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.