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wipe

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To remove by rubbing.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wyp
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwaɪp

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. transitive

    To remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; usually followed by away, off, or out.

  2. transitive

    To move an object over, maintaining contact, with the intention of removing some substance from the surface.

  3. transitive

    To smear (a substance) with this kind of motion.

  4. figurative

    To remove an expression from one's face.

  5. transitive

    To deperm (a ship).

noun

  1. The act of rubbing or wiping

  2. A soft piece of cloth or cloth-like material used for wiping.

  3. A kind of film transition where one shot replaces another by travelling from one side of the frame to another or with a special shape.

  4. A lapwing, especially a northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To remove by rubbing; to rub off; to obliterate; usually followed by away, off, or out.

Used this way, wipe 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
No strong connotation
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 wipe

  • “Wipe the blackboard.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

wipe away

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • wipernounInflected form

    A worker who wipes.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • wipe outverbCompound term

    Use up (resources or materials).

  • wipe upverbCompound term

    To wash or wipe with or as if with a mop.

  • wipe offverbCompound term

    Remove by wiping.

  • wipe awayverbCompound term

    Remove by wiping.

  • wiper armnounCompound term

    Contact consisting of a conducting arm that rotates over a series of fixed contacts and comes to rest on an outlet.

  • wiper bladenounCompound term

    A mechanical device that cleans the windshield.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to remove by rubbing

rub

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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.