Word.ws English Dictionary

tool

US/tul/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

England/tuːl/

tool noun: any physical device meant to ease or do a task.

tool: any physical device meant to ease or do a task
Image: Per Erik Strandberg sv:PER9000, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

tool (plural tools)

  1. Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.
    • Several prehistoric tools, including a stone ax, were found during the dig.
    • A screwdriver is a tool that no household should be without.
    1. Any piece of equipment used in a profession, such as a craftsman's.
      • the tools of the trade
      • Rakes, shovels, hoes, and spades are some of the tools of the gardener's trade.
  2. Anything that aids someone to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.
    • Idleness is a tool of the devil.
    • A spreadsheet app and a bookkeeping app are some of the principal tools of a bookkeeper.
  3. A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations.
    • The software engineer had been developing lots of EDA tools.
    • a tool for recovering deleted files from a disk
  4. A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group, a pawn.
    • She was a tool of the pharmaceutical lobby.
    • He was a tool of a foreign influence operation.
  5. A particular skill pertaining to baseball (such as hitting, running, etc.).
    • a five-tool player
    • When asked what he liked about Youk [Kevin Youkilis], former Boston scout Matt Haas says, "At first glance, not a lot." (Mind you, this is one of the few scouts who actually wanted the kid.) "He was unorthodox," says Haas, who now scouts for the Arizona Diamondbacks. "He had an extreme crouch—his...2007 November 7, Mark Bechtel, “"there's Something Fun About Yooouuuk"”, in Sports Illustrated, archived from the original on 14 Oct 2008
  6. (informal, vulgar) A penis, notably with a sexual or erotic connotation.
    • Or haue wee some strange Indian with the great Toole, come to Court, the women so besiege vs?1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)...
    • She wanna hang with the goons
      She wanna party midnight till noon
      She wanna play with my tool2019 January 2, Burna Bandz, “Goons” (track 13), in Compact Burna
  7. (broadly, derogatory, slang, vulgar) An obnoxious or uptight person.
    • He won't sell us tickets because it's 3:01, and they went off sale at 3. That guy's such a tool.
  8. (Canada, Multicultural-London-English, US, slang, and possibly wider) A handgun.
    • In my city keep a tool
      Lil nigga you know the rules2019 January 2, Burna Bandz, “Goons” (track 13), in Compact Burna
    • Three waps up and a couple of shanks (Just in case)
      But I got faith that these tools won't jam2020 November 19, (67) PR SAD, “One Wish” (1:41 from the start)
    Synonyms:
    weapon, arm, armament

Verb

tool (third-person singular simple present tools, present participle tooling, simple past and past participle tooled)

  1. (transitive) To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.
  2. (transitive) To equip with tools.
  3. (intransitive) To work very hard.
    • Do this lab and read this book, now tool, one and all,
      And be sure and pass that final quiz or be screwed right to the wall.1965, Matt Fichtenbaum, Dan Murphy, “The Institute Screw”, in The Broadside of Boston, volume III, number 22
  4. (slang, transitive) To put down another person (possibly in a subtle, hidden way), and in that way to use him or her to meet a goal.
    • Dude, he's not your friend. He's just tooling you.
  5. (transitive) To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds.
  6. (UK, dated, slang, transitive) To drive (a coach or other vehicle).
  7. (UK, dated, slang, transitive) To carry or convey in a coach or other vehicle.
    • Among those who seemed disposed to join in this opinion was the Jehu of the Warwickshire coach, who expressed his conviction to our hero, that "he wos a young gent as had much himproved hisself since he tooled him up to the Warsity with his guvnor."1850s, Cuthbert M. Bede, The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green
  8. (intransitive, slang) To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive.
    • March 8, 1890, Byron P. Stephenson, "My Trip to Brazil", in Illustrated American
      boys on their bicycles tooling along the well-kept roads
    • These are the guys that tool around in Mercedes Sprinter vans with equipment lockers stuffed with everything from riot helmets to tasers.2011, Ben Aaronovitch, Rivers of London, Gollancz, published 2011, page 324

tool meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

tool in Hindi

mechanical device intended to make a task easier
उपकरण upakraṇ, औज़ार auzār
equipment used in a profession
उपकरण upakraṇ

tool in Tamil

ஆய்தம், கருவி

tool in Marathi

tool, instrument
हत्यार hatyār

tool in Urdu

mechanical device intended to make a task easier
آلَہ āla, اَوزار auzār
More languagesFewer languages
tool in Bengali
সাধনী śadhoni
tool in Telugu
పనిముట్టు panimuṭṭu
tool in Malayalam
കരിവി karivi, ഉപകരണം upakaraṇaṁ, കരു karu
tool in Kannada
ಸಲಕರಣೆ salakaraṇe, ಆಯುಧ āyudha
tool in Punjabi
ਸੰਦ, ਟੂਲ
tool in Gujarati
સાધન, સાધન-સાધન
tool in Sanskrit
उपकरण upakaraṇa
tool in Assamese
সঁজুলি xõzuli, আহিলা ahila
tool in Nepali
औजार aujār
tool in Pashto
اوزار awzār, آله āla, اوړی oṛay, سامان sāmān
tool in Arabic
أَدَاة ʔadāh, آلَة ʔāla, عُدَّة ʕudda
tool in Malay
alat, perkakas
tool in Indonesian
alat, burung
tool in Thai
เครื่อง krʉ̂ʉang, อุปกรณ์ ù-bpà-gɔɔn, เครื่องมือ krʉ̂ʉang-mʉʉ
tool in Vietnamese
dụng cụ, đồ dùng
tool in Myanmar
ကိရိယာ ki.ri.ya

Examples of tool in a sentence

  • A stapler is a tool for attaching papers to others.
  • I don't have the right tools to start fiddling around with the engine.
  • A timing light is a tool that only an automotive mechanic, professional or amateur, would have.
  • "One stick at a time;" if Ned could not do that, he was a poor tool.1867, The Masonic Trowel, volume 6, page 44:
  • Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 11 May 2017:
  • But the more I watched him, the more I just thought, Throw the tools out the window.2007 November 7, Mark Bechtel, “"there's Something Fun About Yooouuuk"”, in Sports Illustrated, archived from the original on 14 Oct 2008:

All 40 example sentences with tool

Synonyms of tool

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of tool

Forms of tool

Noun
pluraltools
Verb
third-person singular presenttools
present participletooling
past participletooled
pasttooled

Plural of tool: tools

Origin of tool

From Middle English tool, tol, from Old English tōl (“tool, implement, instrument”, literally “that with which one prepares something”), perhaps borrowed from Old Norse tól, but at any rate ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą (“that which is used in preparation, tool”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to tie to, secure”), equivalent to taw (“to prepare”) + -le (agent suffix). Cognate with Scots tuil (“tool, implement, instrument, device”), Icelandic tól (“tool”), Faroese tól (“tool, instrument”). Related to Old English tāwian (“to make, prepare, or cultivate”); see taw, and tow ("fibres used for spinning").

Words formed from tool

Phrases with tool

21 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with tool

42 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tool

What does tool mean?
Tool means any physical device meant to ease or do a task.
What is tool in Hindi?
Tool in Hindi is उपकरण (upakraṇ), औज़ार (auzār). See Tool meaning in Hindi.
How do you use tool in a sentence?
A stapler is a tool for attaching papers to others.
What part of speech is tool?
Tool can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce tool?
Tool is pronounced /tuːl/ (England).
What is the plural of tool?
The plural of tool is tools.

Words near tool in the dictionary

  1. tookies
  2. Tooks
  3. tookst
  4. tookus
  5. tookuses
  6. tool
  7. tool and die
  8. tool around
  9. tool bar
  10. tool bars
  11. tool chest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tool (page history and authors); tool (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); हत्यार (Marathi) (page history and authors); ഉപകരണം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಆಯುಧ (Kannada) (page history and authors); tool (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tool (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-tool.wav.

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