Word.ws English Dictionary

axes

/ˈæksəz/US/ˈæksiz/

axes is the plural of ax.

axes is the plural of axe.

axes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of ax.

axes is the third-person singular simple present indicative of axe.

axes is the plural of axis.

Meaning of axe

Noun

axe (plural axes)

  1. A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it.
  2. An ancient weapon consisting of a head that has one or two blades and a long handle.
  3. (informal) A dismissal or rejection.
    • His girlfriend/boss/schoolmaster gave him the axe.
    Synonyms:
    chop, pink slip, sack, boot
  4. (figuratively) A drastic reduction or cutback.
    • the Beeching Axe
  5. (slang) A gigging musician's particular instrument, especially a guitar in rock music or a saxophone in jazz.
  6. A position, interest, or reason in buying and selling stock, often with ulterior motives.
    • A financial dealer has an axe in a stock that his buyers don't know about, giving him an advantage in making the most profit.

See all 12 meanings of axe

Meaning of axis

Noun

axis (plural axes or (rare) axiis)

  1. An imaginary line around which an object spins (an axis of rotation) or is symmetrically arranged (an axis of symmetry).
    • A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place.2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3
  2. A fixed one-dimensional figure, such as a line or arc, with an origin and orientation and such that its points are in one-to-one correspondence with a set of numbers; an axis forms part of the basis of a space or is used to position and locate data in a graph (a coordinate axis)
  3. The second cervical vertebra of the spine
    Synonyms:
    epistropheus
  4. An imaginary, visualized plane separating two morphologically similar parts of an organism
  5. A form of classification and descriptions of mental disorders or disabilities used in manuals such as the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)
  6. The main stem or central part about which organs or plant parts such as branches are arranged

See all 10 meanings of axis

Origin of axes

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Borrowed from Latin axēs.

Phrases with axes

25 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about axes

What is axes the plural of?
Axes is the plural of ax.
How do you pronounce axes?
Axes is pronounced /ˈæksəz/ (UK).

Words near axes in the dictionary

  1. axenizes
  2. axenizing
  3. axenous
  4. Axente Sever
  5. axerophthol
  6. axes
  7. axes of evil
  8. axes of rotation
  9. axes of symmetry
  10. axes to grind
  11. axestone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: axes (page history and authors); axe (page history and authors); axis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-axes (ax).wav.

Cite this entry: “axes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/axes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.