Word.ws English Dictionary

iron

/ˈaɪ.ən/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈɑjən/

iron noun: a common, inexpensive metal, silvery grey when untarnished, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel: a chemical element having atomic number 26 and symbol Fe.

Noun

iron (countable and uncountable, plural irons)

  1. (uncountable) A common, inexpensive metal, silvery grey when untarnished, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel: a chemical element having atomic number 26 and symbol Fe.
    • Today we studied about metals — including iron — at school.
    • They gather one by one, trickling into the shady courtyard, the familiar hum of Mass. Ave. wafting in from behind brick buildings and iron gates.2005 June 9, Michael M. Grynbaum, “An Entryway That Eats Together Stays Together”, in The Harvard Crimson, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2025
    Synonyms:
    ferrum
  2. Any material, not a steel, predominantly made of elemental iron.
  3. (countable) A tool or appliance made of metal, which is heated and then used to transfer heat to something else; most often a thick piece of metal fitted with a handle and having a flat, roughly triangular bottom, which is heated and used to press wrinkles from clothing, and now usually containing an electrical heating apparatus.
  4. Any of several other tools traditionally made of wrought iron, now usually of steel.
  5. (plural-normally, irons) Shackles.
  6. (slang) A firearm, either a long gun or a handgun.
    • It's many niggas now totin' iron.
    • Ah, throw that old iron over here! We'll pick it up and go on our way.1948, John Huston, Treasure of the Sierra Madre
    Synonyms:
    shooting iron
  7. (uncountable) A dark shade of the color silver.
  8. (Cockney, countable, offensive, slang, shortened from iron hoof, rhyming with poof) A male homosexual.
    Synonyms:
    poof, queer
  9. A golf club used for middle-distance shots.
    • The brassey much resembled the driver, but the iron opened out quite a new field of practice; […]1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major
  10. (figuratively, uncountable) Used as a symbol of great strength or toughness, or to signify a very strong or tough material.
    • ironman; a will of iron
    • He appeared easygoing, but inside he was pure iron.
  11. Weight used as resistance for the purpose of strength training.
    • He lifts iron on the weekends.
    • I wanted Beauty, and what Nature had failed to supply, Iron would.1986, Paul Reed, “Serenity”, in Eric E. Rofes, editor, Gay Life: Leisure, Love, and Living for the Contemporary Gay Male, page 10
  12. (countable) A meteorite consisting primarily of metallic iron (mixed with a small amount of nickel), as opposed to one composed mainly of stony material.
    • Irons and stony irons can be much larger than stony meteorites and are much more visually striking, but make up only a few percent of all meteorites.
  13. A safety curtain in a theatre.
  14. (slang) A dumb bomb, one without guidance systems.

Adjective (1)

iron (not comparable)

  1. Made of the metal iron.
  2. (figuratively) Strong (as of will), inflexible.
    • She had an iron will.
    • He held on with an iron grip.

Verb

iron (third-person singular simple present irons, present participle ironing, simple past and past participle ironed)

  1. (transitive) To pass an iron over (clothing or some other item made of cloth) in order to remove creases.
    • You'd be wise to iron that shirt before you wear it.
    • Out of that tub had come the day before - Tess felt it with a dreadful sting of remorse - the very white frock upon her back which she had so carelessly greened about the skirt on the damping grass - which had been wrung up and ironed by her mother's own hands.1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 30
    Synonyms:
    press
  2. (intransitive) To engage in such pressing of clothing.
    • They were washing and ironing all morning.
  3. (archaic, transitive) To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.
    • [...] is it he who is ironed like a malefactor—who is to be dragged on a hurdle to the common gallows—to die a lingering and cruel death, and to be mangled by the hand of the most outcast of wretches?1814, Walter Scott, Waverley
  4. (transitive) To furnish, clad, or arm with iron.
    • to iron a wagon

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Iron

Iron

  1. The 57th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Iron

Iron

  1. A group of Ossetians of the northern Caucasus who speak the Iron Ossetian dialect.

Adjective (2) capitalized: Iron

Iron (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to the Iron people.

iron meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

iron in Hindi

chemical element Fe
लोहा lohā, आहन āhan

iron in Tamil

chemical element Fe
இரும்பு irumpu
to pass an iron over clothing
இஸ்திரி போடு istiri pōṭu

iron in Marathi

chemical element Fe
लोखंड lokhaṇḍa

iron in Urdu

chemical element Fe
لوہا lohā, آہَن āhan
More languagesFewer languages
iron in Bengali
লোহা lōha
iron in Telugu
ఇనుము inumu
iron in Malayalam
ഇരുമ്പ് irumpŭ, തേയ്ക്കുക tēykkuka, ഇസ്തിരിയിടുക istiriyiṭuka
iron in Kannada
ಕಬ್ಬಿಣ kabbiṇa
iron in Punjabi
ਲੋਹਾ lohā
iron in Gujarati
લોખંડ lokhaṇḍ
iron in Odia
ଲୁହା luhā
iron in Sanskrit
लोह loha, दृढ dṛḍha, कृष्णायस् kṛṣṇāyas, श्यामायस् śyāmāyas
iron in Sinhala
යකඩ yakaḍa, අයස් ayas
iron in Assamese
লো lü, লোহা lüha
iron in Nepali
फलाम phalām
iron in Pashto
وسپنه wəspəna, اوسپنه óspəna, آهن āhán
iron in Tagalog
bakal
iron in Arabic
حَدِيد ḥadīd, حَدِيدِيّ ḥadīdiyy, كَوَى kawā
iron in Malay
besi, ferum, gosok, seterika
iron in Indonesian
besi, setrika, menyetrika
iron in Persian
آهنین âhanin, آهنی âhani, اتو کردن otu kardan, اتو کشیدن otu kašidan, otu kešidan
iron in Thai
เหล็ก lèk, รีด rîit
iron in Vietnamese
sắt, ủi, là
iron in Myanmar
သံ sam
Dhivehi
ދަގަނޑު dagaⁿḍu
Kashmiri
ژٕمُر ċụmur, شیٚستٕر śestụr
Dzongkha
ལྕགས lcags

Examples of iron in a sentence

  • an iron constitution
  • the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip1959, Marty Robbins, “Big Iron”:
  • Whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him, or give it up.1980 December 19, PAP election rally at Fullerton Square, spoken by Lee Kuan Yew:
  • […]the fruit-garden, where every tree and walk had a remembrance—those iron links of affection.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […]...
  • The faces of the gods are iron and their mouths set hard.1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 64:

All 40 example sentences with iron

Synonyms of iron

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of iron

Forms of iron

Noun
pluralirons
Verb
third-person singular presentirons
present participleironing
past participleironed
pastironed

Past tense of iron: ironed

Plural of iron: irons

Origin of iron

From Middle English iren, from Old English īsern, īsærn, īren, īsen, from Proto-West Germanic *īsarn, from Proto-Germanic *īsarną (“iron”), from Proto-Celtic *īsarnom (“iron”), possibly a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”). Cognates Cognate with Scots airn, ern (“iron”), Yola eeren (“iron”), Saterland Frisian Iersen (“iron”), West Frisian izer (“iron”), Bavarian Eisn (“iron”), Cimbrian aizarn (“iron”), Dutch ijzer (“iron”), German, Luxembourgish Eisen (“iron”), German Low German Isen (“iron”), Alemannic German Ise (“iron”), Limburgish iezer (“iron”), Mòcheno aisn (“iron”), Vilamovian ȧjza (“iron”), West Flemish yzer (“iron”), Yiddish אײַזן (ayzn, “iron”), Danish jern, jærn (“iron”), Faroese jarn (“iron”), Icelandic járn (“iron”), Jamtish járn, jáðn (“iron”), Norwegian Bokmål jern (“iron”), Norwegian Nynorsk jarn, jern, jønn (“iron”), Swedish jern, jaͤrn, järn (“iron”), Gothic 𐌴𐌹𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌽 (eisarn, “iron”).

Translation of the Arabic حديد (ḥadīd, “iron”).

From Ossetian Ирон (Iron), a derivation (with the adjective suffix Ossetian -он (-on) from the historical genitive plural Proto-Indo-Iranian *-ānaHam) of Ossetian Ир (Ir). Ossetian Ир (Ir) probably reflexes Proto-Indo-Iranian *wiHrás. Because the Digoron ethnonym for the Ir is Ossetian Ирӕ (Iræ), Cheung (2002) has suggested a derivation from the plural Proto-Indo-Iranian *wiHrā́s. Ossetian Ирон (Iron) is unrelated to Iran despite the superficial similarity in form. Borrowed into the Vainakh languages (and some Dagestani languages) as their exonym for the Ossetes, cf. Chechen Хӏири (Hiri), Ingush Хӏире (Hire).

Words formed from iron

Phrases with iron

169 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about iron

What does iron mean?
Iron means a common, inexpensive metal, silvery grey when untarnished, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel: a chemical element having atomic number 26 and symbol Fe.
What is iron in Hindi?
Iron in Hindi is लोहा (lohā), आहन (āhan). See Iron meaning in Hindi.
How do you use iron in a sentence?
an iron constitution
What part of speech is iron?
Iron can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce iron?
Iron is pronounced /ˈaɪ.ən/ (UK).
What is the plural of iron?
The plural of iron is irons.

Words near iron in the dictionary

  1. iroijs
  2. iroko
  3. irokos
  4. Irom
  5. iromba
  6. iron
  7. Iron Acton
  8. iron age
  9. iron bacteria
  10. iron bacterium
  11. iron band

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: iron (page history and authors); Iron (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Tesco250-iron.wav, En-us-iron.ogg.

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