warden
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The chief official in charge of a prison.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wawrduhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɔɹdən
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
The chief official in charge of a prison
A chief administrative officer of a prison.
An official charged with supervisory duties or with the enforcement of specific laws or regulations; such as a game warden or air-raid warden.
A governing official in various institutions
A variety of pear.
A village and civil parish in south Northumberland, England (OS grid ref NY9166).
verb
To carry out the duties of a warden.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The chief official in charge of a prison
Used this way, warden is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Official and authoritative
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.