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FOUL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An act that violates the rules of a sport
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("foul" is a kind of...):
infringement; violation (an act that disregards an agreement or a right)
Domain category:
athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "foul"):
foul ball ((baseball) a ball struck with the bat so that it does not stay between the lines (the foul lines) that define the width of the playing field)
personal foul (a foul that involves unnecessarily rough contact (as in basketball or football))
technical; technical foul ((basketball) a foul that can be assessed on a player or a coach or a team for unsportsmanlike conduct; does not usually involve physical contact during play)
Derivation:
foul (commit a foul; break the rules)
foul (hit a foul ball)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Especially of a ship's lines etc
Example:
a foul anchor
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
tangled (in a confused mass)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter
Example:
a nasty pigsty of a room
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
dirty; soiled; unclean (soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime)
Derivation:
foulness (a state characterized by foul or disgusting dirt and refuse)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Characterized by obscenity
Example:
smutty jokes
Synonyms:
cruddy; filthy; foul; nasty; smutty
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
dirty ((of behavior or especially language) characterized by obscenity or indecency)
Sense 4
Meaning:
(of a baseball) not hit between the foul lines
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
out-of-bounds (outside the foul lines)
Domain category:
ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)
Antonym:
fair ((of a baseball) hit between the foul lines)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Violating accepted standards or rules
Example:
fined for unsportsmanlike behavior
Synonyms:
cheating; dirty; foul; unsporting; unsportsmanlike
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unfair; unjust (not fair; marked by injustice or partiality or deception)
Derivation:
foulness (disgusting wickedness and immorality)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Offensively malodorous
Example:
the kitchen smelled really funky
Synonyms:
fetid; foetid; foul; foul-smelling; funky; ill-scented; noisome; smelly; stinking
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
ill-smelling; malodorous; malodourous; stinky; unpleasant-smelling (having an unpleasant smell)
Derivation:
foulness (the attribute of having a strong offensive smell)
Sense 7
Meaning:
(of a manuscript) defaced with changes
Example:
foul (or dirty) copy
Synonyms:
dirty; foul; marked-up
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
illegible ((of handwriting, print, etc.) not legible)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
Example:
a wicked stench
Synonyms:
disgustful; disgusting; distasteful; foul; loathly; loathsome; repellant; repellent; repelling; revolting; skanky; wicked; yucky
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
offensive (unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they foul ... he / she / it fouls
Past simple: fouled
Past participle: fouled
-ing form: fouling
Sense 1
Meaning:
Become soiled and dirty
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "foul" is one way to...):
change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Sense 2
Meaning:
Make unclean
Example:
foul the water
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "foul" is one way to...):
begrime; bemire; colly; dirty; grime; soil (make soiled, filthy, or dirty)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Spot, stain, or pollute
Example:
The townspeople defiled the river by emptying raw sewage into it
Synonyms:
befoul; defile; foul; maculate
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "foul" is one way to...):
attaint; disgrace; dishonor; dishonour; shame (bring shame or dishonor upon)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Sense 4
Meaning:
Make impure
Example:
The industrial wastes polluted the lake
Synonyms:
contaminate; foul; pollute
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "foul" is one way to...):
begrime; bemire; colly; dirty; grime; soil (make soiled, filthy, or dirty)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "foul"):
infect; taint (contaminate with a disease or microorganism)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sense 5
Meaning:
Commit a foul; break the rules
Classified under:
Verbs of fighting, athletic activities
Hypernyms (to "foul" is one way to...):
play (participate in games or sport)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "foul"):
hack (kick on the shins)
hack (kick on the arms)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
foul (an act that violates the rules of a sport)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Hit a foul ball
Classified under:
Verbs of fighting, athletic activities
Hypernyms (to "foul" is one way to...):
hit (cause to move by striking)
Domain category:
ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "foul"):
foul out (baseball: hit a ball such that it is caught from an out in foul territory)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
foul (an act that violates the rules of a sport)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Become or cause to become obstructed
Example:
The water pipe is backed up
Synonyms:
back up; choke; choke off; clog; clog up; congest; foul
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "foul" is one way to...):
block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude (block passage through)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "foul"):
gum up (stick together as if with gum)
crap up (become obstructed or chocked up)
block; choke up; lug; stuff (obstruct)
silt; silt up (become chocked with silt)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Context examples:
“I assure you that everything was perfectly normal and there was no room for foul play in the matter,” said he.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Foul bird! we found thee by the gallows like a carrion-crow.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His eyes especially were meshed round with wrinkles, as is natural for one who had puckered them all his life in facing foul wind and bitter weather.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
How long this horrible thing lasted I know not; but it seemed that a long time must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Of the foul German spectre—the Vampyre.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
And woe to the dog that at such times ran foul of him.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
“The old man’ll be wantin’ yer on deck, an’ this ayn’t no d’y to fall foul of ’im.”
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Everything that revolts other people, low company, paltry rooms, foul air, disgusting associations are inviting to you.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
His pride, in that direction, may be of service, if not to himself, to many others, for it must only deter him from such foul misconduct as I have suffered by.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Finding it was likely to overblow, we took in our sprit-sail, and stood by to hand the fore-sail; but making foul weather, we looked the guns were all fast, and handed the mizen.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
