wall

UK /wɔːl/ US /wɔl/

name 9noun 7verb 6intj 1

Collocations

(noun.)

ADJ

high, low | long, short | thick, thin | massive | back, front, side

bare, blank

The bedroom felt depressing with its bare walls and no decorations.

exterior, external, outer, outside | inner, inside, interior, internal | adjoining | dividing, partition, party | boundary, perimeter

retaining

The hillside needed a retaining wall to prevent soil from sliding down during heavy rain.

load-bearing

The architects had to be careful not to damage the load-bearing wall during the renovation.

pannelled | bathroom, kitchen, etc. | brick, masonry, stone, etc. | city, garden, harbour, sea

VERB + WALL

build, erect, put up | demolish, destroy, pull down

climb (over), scale

The children climbed over the garden wall to retrieve their lost ball.

jump down from, jump over

cover, line, paint, paper, plaster

The living room looks much brighter now that we painted the walls white.

WALL + VERB

stand | enclose sth, surround sth

face sth

The brick wall facing our garden needed fresh paint last summer.

WALL + NOUN

clock, light | cupboard, unit | covering, decoration, hanging, tile

PREP

against a/the ~

The old wooden door was built against the wall of the ancient house.

behind a/the ~

The children were playing hide-and-seek and found a secret garden behind the wall.

on a/the ~

The children drew colorful pictures on the wall of their classroom.

~ along

The narrow brick wall along the garden path needed repairs after the storm.

~ around/round

The old castle had thick stone walls around it to protect the people inside.

~ of

A wall of people blocked the entrance to the concert venue.

Definitions

noun

A rampart of earth, stones etc. built up for defensive purposes.

A structure built for defense surrounding a city, castle etc.

The town wall was surrounded by a moat.

From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

Each of the substantial structures acting either as the exterior of or divisions within a structure.

We're adding another wall in this room during the remodeling. The wind blew against the walls of the tent.

[…] St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London. Close-packed, crushed by the buttressed height of the railway viaduct, rendered airless by huge walls of factories, it at once banished lively interest from a stranger's mind and left only a dull oppression of the spirit.

A point of desperation.

A point of defeat or extinction.

They want Abramovich out for obvious reasons, including the optics, and they do not want to send Chelsea to the wall as they consider the club to be of cultural significance to the country.

verb

To enclose with, or as if with, a wall or walls.

He walled the study with books.

To use a wallhack.

To wallbang.

I walled her. She's low [health].

verb

To boil.

To well, as water; spring.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes

noun — (anatomy) a layer (a lining or membrane) that encloses a str

paries

verb — surround with a wall in order to fortify

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

balls to the wall

With maximum effort or commitment.

I told the staff...the day before the hurricane struck that I expected them to cut every piece of red tape, do everything they could, that it was balls to the wall, that I didn't w

writing on the wall

An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck.

He could see the writing on the wall months before the business failed.

back to the wall

A very difficult situation with no beneficial options available for action.

From this place—so he told himself—had emanated that policy of extortion, oppression and injustice that little by little had shouldered the ranchers from their rights, till, their

fly on the wall

A quiet, non-participating, or unseen observer; an eavesdropper or witness.

James W. Gerard, ex-Ambassador to Germany, the first speaker of the evening, said that at that moment he would like to be a fly on the wall of the palace at Potsdam to hear what th

fourth wall

The imaginary invisible wall at the front of the stage in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play.

This is a flat, unnecessary, and strangely disturbing denial of the fourth-wall convention, that unwritten agreement between playwright and playgoer whereby you think of yourself a

Example Bank

The town wall was surrounded by a moat.

Wiktionary

We're adding another wall in this room during the remodeling. The wind blew against the walls of the tent.

Wiktionary

He walled the study with books.

Wiktionary

I walled her. She's low [health].

Wiktionary

Wall, they spoke up, 'n' says to her, s'd they, "Why, look a-here, aunty, Wus't his skin, 't was rock?" so s's she, "I guess not." (Well, they spoke up and says to her, said they, "Why look a-here, au

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, wall is marked as slang, US. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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