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wool

noun

Simple meaning

The hair of the sheep, llama and some other ruminants.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wuul
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwʊl

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.

noun

  1. The hair of the sheep, llama and some other ruminants.

  2. A fabric made from the hair of sheep

  3. A cloth or yarn made from such hair.

  4. Fiber sheared from animals (such as sheep) and twisted into yarn for weaving

  5. A fine fiber obtained from the leaves of certain trees, such as firs and pines.

  6. britishnew zealand

    Yarn, including that made from synthetic fibers.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The hair of the sheep, llama and some other ruminants.

Used this way, wool 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

Nearby words

  • woollen , used mainly in Regional English
  • woolen , used mainly in Regional English

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

More ways to use wool

  • “She wore a warm wool sweater on the chilly autumn morning.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

cotton woolsteel woolglass woolraw woolwool tradewhite woolenglish woolwool production

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • woolly adelgidnounCompound term

    An insect that feeds on hemlocks.

  • woolly alder aphidnounCompound term

    Attacks alders.

  • woolly aphidnounCompound term

    Secretes a waxy substance like a mass of fine curly white cotton or woolly threads.

  • woolly apple aphidnounCompound term

    Primarily a bark feeder on aerial parts and roots of apple and other trees.

  • woolly bearnounCompound term

    Caterpillar of numerous moths characterized by a dense coat of woolly hairs.

  • woolly bear caterpillarnounCompound term

    Caterpillar of numerous moths characterized by a dense coat of woolly hairs.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • linsey-woolseynounRelated term

    A rough fabric of linen warp and wool or cotton woof.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: hair of the sheep

fleece

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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.