mouthful
/ˈmaʊθfʊl/
mouthful noun: the amount that will fit in a mouth.
Noun
mouthful (plural mouthfuls or mouthsful)
- The amount that will fit in a mouth.
- He swallowed a mouthful of sea water when he fell in.
- Quite a bit.
- “Unquestionably his metabolism is unduly susceptible to stresses resulting from the interaction of external excitations,” he said, and Bobbie patted him on the shoulder in a maternal sort of way, a thing I wouldn't have cared to do myself though our relations were, as I have indicated, more cordial...1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII
- Something difficult to pronounce or say.
- “She sells sea shells” is a bit of a mouthful to say.
- Although there have been many examples of double names, three always have been uncommon. The L.S.W.R. had Horsley & Ockham & Ripley, but the South Yorkshire Railway produced a real mouthful in Smithley, Darley Main & Worsborough. This was soon found to be too much, and the name of the station...1951 March, M. D. Greville, “The Nomenclature of Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 196
- Synonyms:
- jawbreaker
- A tirade of abusive language.
- to give someone a mouthful
Adjective
mouthful (comparative more mouthful, superlative most mouthful)
- Bombastic or awkward.
- Once this happens to be the result, there is little reason for waxing over such mouthful phrases as 'grass-roots democracy', 'democratic decentralization' or 'panchayati raj'.1977, Asok Kumar Mukhopadhyay, The Panchayat Administration in West Bengal
- The sufferers are regaled with such mouthful promises by every party on the eve of the successive elections and thereafter they continue to be shouted with unabated vigour by the party occupying the saddle while the problems are relegated to the limbo of time to find out their own solutions.1980, The Economic Studies - Volume 21, page 7
mouthful meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu
mouthful in Hindi
- mouthful, morsel
- निवाला nivālā
- a mouthful, morsel
- हप्पा happā
mouthful in Tamil
- வாய்நிறைய, அதிகமான அளவு, உச்சரிக்கக் கடினமான
mouthful in Urdu
- mouthful, morsel
- نوالہ navāla
- a mouthful
- پھانک phāñk
mouthful in Telugu
- mouthful
- గ్రాసము grāsamu
- a mouthful, a bolus
- కబళము kabaḷamu
More languagesFewer languages
- mouthful in Malayalam
- വായിൽ കൊളളുന്നത്, ഉരുള, വായ് നിറയെ
- mouthful in Kannada
- ಬಾಯಿತುಂಬು, ಬಾಯಿ ಹಿಡಿಸುವಷ್ಟು, ಒಂದು ತುತ್ತು, ಮುಕ್ಕುಳಿ
- mouthful in Punjabi
- ਬੁਰਕੀ burkī, برکی burkī
- mouthful in Gujarati
- કોળિયો koḷiyo
- mouthful in Sanskrit
- कवक kavaka
- mouthful in Assamese
- গৰাহ gorah
- mouthful in Tagalog
- samuol
- mouthful in Arabic
- لُقْمَة luqma
- mouthful in Persian
- دهان پر dahān-e porr
- mouthful in Thai
- คำ kam
- mouthful in Myanmar
- လုပ် lup
Examples of mouthful in a sentence
- The L.S.W.R. had Horsley & Ockham & Ripley, but the South Yorkshire Railway produced a real mouthful in Smithley, Darley Main & Worsborough.1951 March, M. D. Greville, “The Nomenclature of Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 196:
- Roderick's rather a mouthful.” “Whichever you prefer.”1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X:
- If you thought Wytrzyszczka was a mouthful, wait till you try saying Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.2024 December 4, “This place in NZ has such a long name that most people can't pronounce it”, in Times of India, archived from the original...
- Angley then drifts into his hourful, mouthful extempore, accentuated with refrains of "cast the demon away with the power of the Lord."1981, The Diliman Review - Volume 29, page 74:
Synonyms of mouthful
Antonyms
Forms of mouthful
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | mouthfuls |
| plural | mouthsful |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more mouthful |
| superlative | most mouthful |
Origin of mouthful
From Middle English mouthful, mouth-full, mouthe full, from Old English *mūþfull, from Proto-West Germanic *munþafull, equivalent to mouth + -ful. Compare Dutch mondvol (“mouthful”), German Mundvoll (“mouthful”), Danish mundfuld (“mouthful”), Swedish munfull (“mouthful”), Icelandic munnfylli (“mouthful”). Compare also West Frisian mûlfol (“mouthful”).
From mouth + -ful.
Words formed from mouthful
Phrases with mouthful
Questions about mouthful
- What does mouthful mean?
- Mouthful means the amount that will fit in a mouth.
- What is mouthful in Hindi?
- Mouthful in Hindi is निवाला (nivālā), हप्पा (happā). See Mouthful meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use mouthful in a sentence?
- The L.S.W.R. had Horsley & Ockham & Ripley, but the South Yorkshire Railway produced a real mouthful in Smithley, Darley Main & Worsborough.
- What part of speech is mouthful?
- Mouthful can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce mouthful?
- Mouthful is pronounced /ˈmaʊθfʊl/.
- What is the plural of mouthful?
- The plural of mouthful is mouthfuls.
Words near mouthful in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mouthful (page history and authors); निवाला (Hindi) (page history and authors); mouthful (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); نوالہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); కబళము (Telugu) (page history and authors); mouthful (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mouthful (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); برکی (Punjabi) (page history and authors); कवक (Sanskrit) (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: En-au-mouthful.ogg.
Cite this entry: “mouthful.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mouthful. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.