English > plural: 3 senses > noun 1, communication| Meaning | The form of a word that is used to denote more than one. |
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| Synonym | plural form |
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| Broader | form, word form, signifier, descriptor | The phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something |
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| Opposite | singular, singular form | The form of a word that is used to denote a singleton |
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| Usage | Augean stables | (Greek mythology) the extremely dirty stables that were finally cleaned by Hercules who diverted two rivers through them |
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| Bermuda shorts, Jamaica shorts | short pants that end at the knee |
| Epsom salts | (used with a singular noun) hydrated magnesium sulfate used as a laxative |
| Ludi Saeculares, secular games | The centennial rites and games of ancient Rome that marked the commencement of a new generation (100 years representing the longest life in a generation) |
| Napier's bones, Napier's rods | A set of graduated rods formerly used to do multiplication and division by a method invented by John Napier |
| Sabaoth | (plural) hosts or armies |
| Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Seven Wonders of the World | impressive monuments created in the ancient world that were regarded with awe |
| Stations, Stations of the Cross | (Roman Catholic Church) a devotion consisting of fourteen prayers said before a series of fourteen pictures or carvings representing successive incidents during Jesus' passage from Pilate's house to his crucifixion at Calvary |
| Ummah, Umma, Muslim Ummah, Islamic Ummah, Islam Nation | The Muslim community or people, considered to extend from Mauritania to Pakistan |
| accounts receivable | A creditor's accounts of money owed to him |
| alms | money or goods contributed to the poor |
| ambages | (archaic) roundabout or mysterious ways of action |
| ancients | People who lived in times long past (especially during the historical period before the fall of the Roman Empire in western Europe) |
| appointment, fitting | (usually plural) furnishings and equipment (especially for a ship or hotel) |
| archeological remains, remains | A relic that has been excavated from the soil |
| arts and crafts | The arts of decorative design and handicraft |
| assets | Anything of material value or usefulness that is owned by a person or company |
| authority | (usually plural) persons who exercise (administrative) control over others |
| backstairs | A second staircase at the rear of a building |
| badlands | Deeply eroded barren land |
| bare bones | (plural) the most basic facts or elements |
| basic, staple | (usually plural) a necessary commodity for which demand is constant |
| bath salts | A preparation that softens or scents a bath / bath |
| bedspring | (usually plural) one of the springs holding up the mattress of a bed |
| bellbottom trousers, bell-bottoms, bellbottom pants | trousers with legs that flare |
| bellows | A mechanical device that blows / blows a strong current of air |
| bifocals | eyeglasses having two focal lengths, one for near vision and the other for far vision |
| bikini pants | small and tight-fitting underpants |
| binoculars, field glasses, opera glasses | An optical instrument designed for simultaneous use by both eyes |
| bleachers | An outdoor grandstand without a roof |
| bloomers, pants, drawers, knickers | underpants worn by women |
| boards | The boarding that surrounds an ice hockey rink |
| boards | The stage of a theater |
| bones, castanets, clappers, finger cymbals | A percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance |
| boxcars | (usually plural) an expression used when two dice are thrown and both come up showing six spots |
| brace, suspender, gallus | elastic straps that hold trousers up (usually used in the plural) |
| brass knucks, knucks, brass knuckles, knuckles, knuckle duster | A small metal weapon |
| breeches, knee breeches, knee pants, knickerbockers, knickers | trousers ending above the knee |
| brethren | (plural) the lay members of a male religious order |
| briefs, Jockey shorts | short tight-fitting underpants (trade name Jockey shorts) |
| britches | informal term for breeches |
| brussels sprouts | The small edible cabbage-like buds growing along a stalk of the brussels sprout plant |
| buckskins | breeches made of buckskin |
| cafeteria facility | (usually plural) facilities for providing food for employees or visitors |
| calisthenics, callisthenics | light / light exercises designed to promote general fitness |
| chain tongs | A pipe wrench used for turning large pipes |
| channel, communication channel, line | (often plural) a means of communication or access |
| chap | (usually in the plural) leather leggings without a seat |
| chart | (usually plural) a listing of best-selling recorded music |
| chinos | (plural) trousers made with chino cloth |
| churidars | tight trousers worn by people from the Indian subcontinent (typically with a kameez or kurta) |
| civies, civvies | civilian garb as opposed to a military uniform |
| cleaners, dry cleaners | shop where dry cleaning is done |
| cleats | shoes with leather or metal projections on the soles |
| clews | The cords used to suspend a hammock |
| close quarters | A situation of being uncomfortably close to someone or something |
| clothes | clothing in general |
| coffee grounds | The dregs remaining after brewing coffee |
| colors, colours | A flag that shows its nationality |
| colors, colours | A distinguishing emblem |
| condition, strings, term | (usually plural) a statement of what is required as part of an agreement |
| conditions | The set of circumstances that affect someone's welfare |
| conditions | The prevailing context that influences the performance or the outcome of a process |
| confines | A bounded scope |
| congratulation, felicitation | (usually plural) an expression of pleasure at the success or good fortune of another |
| connection | (usually plural) a person who is influential and to whom you are connected in some way (as by family or friendship) |
| consumer goods | Goods (as food or clothing) intended for direct use or consumption |
| contretemps | An awkward clash |
| cords, corduroys | cotton trousers made of corduroy cloth |
| craps | A gambling game played with two dice |
| crown jewels | regalia (jewelry and other paraphernalia) worn by a sovereign on state occasions |
| curiosa | books on strange or unusual subjects (especially erotica) |
| deep pockets | (plural) a source of substantial wealth |
| deliberation | (usually plural) discussion of all sides of a question |
| depth | (usually plural) a low moral state |
| depths | (plural) the deepest and most remote part |
| desert | (usually plural) a person's deservingness of or entitlement to reward or punishment |
| devotion | (usually plural) religious observance or prayers (usually spoken silently) |
| diggings, digs | An excavation for ore or precious stones or for archaeology |
| dirty tricks | underhand commercial or political behavior designed to discredit an opponent |
| down | (usually plural) a rolling treeless highland with little soil |
| drawers, underdrawers, shorts, boxers, boxershorts | underpants worn by men |
| dregs, settlings | sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid / liquid |
| dress blues, dress whites | A dress uniform for formal occasions |
| drusen | (plural) an eye disease resulting from small accumulations of hyaline bodies underneath the retina |
| drygoods, soft goods | textiles or clothing and related merchandise |
| durables, durable goods, consumer durables | consumer goods that are not destroyed by use |
| eaves | The overhang at the lower edge of a roof |
| exercise | (usually plural) a ceremony that involves processions and speeches |
| fancy goods | Goods that are chiefly ornamental |
| fatigues | military uniform worn by military personnel when doing menial labor |
| fedayeen | (plural) Arab guerrillas who operate mainly against Israel |
| fire tongs, coal tongs | tongs for taking hold of burning coals |
| firework, pyrotechnic | (usually plural) a device with an explosive that burns at a low rate and with colored flames |
| fixings, trimmings | The accessories that normally accompany (something or some activity) |
| flannel, gabardine, tweed, white | (usually in the plural) trousers made of flannel or gabardine or tweed or white cloth |
| flats | footwear (shoes or slippers) with no heel (or a very low heel) |
| flinders | Bits and splinters and fragments |
| flying colors, flying colours | complete success |
| folks | Your parents |
| footlights | theater light at the front of a stage that illuminate the set and actors |
| forceps | An extractor consisting of a pair of pincers used in medical treatment (especially for the delivery of babies) |
| furnishing | (usually plural) the instrumentalities (furniture and appliances and other movable accessories including curtains and rugs) that make a home / home / home (or other area) livable |
| furnishing, trappings | (usually plural) accessory wearing apparel |
| gallows | An instrument of execution consisting of a wooden frame from which a condemned person is executed by hanging |
| gasworks | The workplace where coal gas is manufactured |
| goggles | Tight-fitting spectacles worn to protect the eyes |
| grass roots | The common people at a local level (as distinguished from the centers of political activity) |
| greeting, salutation | (usually plural) an acknowledgment or expression of good will (especially on meeting) |
| grocery, foodstuff | (usually plural) consumer goods sold by a grocer |
| head | (usually plural) the obverse side of a coin that usually bears the representation of a person's head |
| headquarters, HQ, military headquarters | The military installation from which a commander performs the functions of command |
| headquarters, central office, main office, home office, home base | (usually plural) the office that serves as the administrative center of an enterprise |
| headquarters | (plural) a military unit consisting of a commander and the headquarters staff |
| heroics | ostentatious or vainglorious or extravagant or melodramatic conduct |
| hiccup, hiccough, singultus | (usually plural) the state of having reflex spasms of the diaphragm accompanied by a rapid closure of the glottis producing an audible sound |
| hot pants | skin-tight very short pants worn by young women as an outer garment |
| houselights | lights that illuminate the audience's part of a theater or other auditorium |
| hustings | The activities involved in political campaigning (especially speech making) |
| ice tongs | tongs for lifting blocks of ice |
| incidental expense, incidental, minor expense | (frequently plural) an expense not budgeted or not specified |
| innings | The batting turn of a cricket player or team |
| intention | (usually plural) the goal with respect to a marriage proposal |
| interest, interest group | (usually plural) a social group whose members control some field of activity and who have common aims |
| irons, chains | metal shackles |
| ironworks | The workplace where iron is smelted or where iron goods are made |
| jeans, blue jeans, denim | (usually plural) close-fitting trousers of heavy denim for manual / manual work or casual wear |
| jinks, high jinks, hijinks, high jinx | noisy and mischievous merrymaking |
| jodhpurs, jodhpur breeches, riding breeches | Flared trousers ending at the calves |
| just deserts | an outcome / outcome in which virtue triumphs over vice (often ironically) |
| knockout drops | chloral hydrate in combination with alcohol |
| last respects | The act of expressing respect for someone who has died |
| last rites | rites performed in connection with a death or burial |
| lees | The sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage |
| liabilities | Anything that is owed to someone else |
| limbers | A channel or gutter on either side of a ship's keelson |
| links, golf links | A golf course that is built on sandy ground near a shore |
| lion-jaw forceps | A type of forceps |
| liquid assets, current assets, quick assets | assets in the form of cash (or easily convertible into cash) |
| living quarters, quarters | housing available for people to live in |
| locking pliers | pliers that can be locked in place |
| long johns | warm underwear with long legs |
| manners | social deportment |
| military quarters | living quarters for personnel on a military post |
| mouse-tooth forceps | A type of forceps |
| needlenose pliers | small pliers with long thin jaws for fine work |
| nerves | Control of your emotions |
| nightclothes | garments designed to be worn in bed |
| oat | seed of the annual grass Avena sativa (spoken of primarily in the plural as 'oats') |
| odds | The likelihood of a thing occurring rather than not occurring |
| operations, trading operations | financial transactions at a brokerage |
| order | (often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed |
| overtone | (usually plural) an ulterior implicit meaning / meaning or quality |
| packaged goods | groceries that are packaged for sale |
| pajama, pyjama, pj's, jammies | (usually plural) loose-fitting nightclothes worn for sleeping or lounging |
| pantie, panty, scanty, step-in | short underpants for women or children (usually used in the plural) |
| parallel bars, bars | gymnastic apparatus consisting of two parallel wooden rods supported on uprights |
| paring | (usually plural) a part of a fruit or vegetable that is pared or cut off |
| pedal pushers, toreador pants | snug trousers ending at the calves |
| people | (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively |
| peoples | The human beings of a particular nation or community or ethnic group |
| pliers, pair of pliers, plyers | A gripping hand tool with two hinged arms and (usually) serrated jaws |
| plus fours | men's baggy knickers hanging below the knees |
| poor people, poor | People without possessions or wealth (considered as a group) |
| props | Proper respect |
| pruning shears | shears with strong blades used for light pruning of woody plants |
| public works | structures (such as highways or schools or bridges or docks / docks / docks) constructed at government expense for public use |
| pump-type pliers | A type of pliers |
| punch pliers | punch consisting of pliers for perforating paper or leather |
| rabbit ears | An indoor TV antenna |
| rariora | (plural) rare collector's items |
| ravage, depredation | (usually plural) a destructive action |
| receivables | money that you currently expect to receive from notes or accounts |
| regard, wish, compliments | (usually plural) a polite expression of desire for someone's welfare |
| regimentals | The military uniform and insignia of a regiment |
| relation | (usually plural) mutual dealings or connections among persons or groups |
| remains | Any object that is left unused or still extant |
| reparation | (usually plural) compensation exacted from a defeated nation by the victors |
| reserve assets | Capital held back from investment in order to meet probable or possible demands |
| residual | (often plural) a payment that is made to a performer or writer or director of a television show or commercial that is paid for every repeat showing |
| rib joint pliers | A type of pliers |
| rich people, rich | People who have possessions and wealth (considered as a group) |
| right | (frequently plural) the interest possessed by law or custom in some intangible thing |
| rings | gymnastic apparatus consisting of a pair of heavy metal circles (usually covered with leather) suspended by ropes |
| round | (often plural) a series of professional calls (usually in a set order) |
| rudiments, first principles, alphabet, ABC, ABC's, ABCs | The elementary stages of any subject (usually plural) |
| saltworks | A plant where salt / salt is produced commercially |
| scablands | (geology) flat elevated land with poor soil and little vegetation that is scarred by dry channels of glacial origin (especially in eastern Washington) |
| scissors, pair of scissors | An edge tool having two crossed pivoting blades |
| scraping | (usually plural) a fragment scraped off of something and collected |
| secateurs | small pruning shears with a spring that holds the handles open and a single blade that closes against a flat surface |
| services | performance of duties or provision of space and equipment helpful to others |
| shades | (plural) something that reminds you of someone or something |
| shears | large scissors with strong blades |
| short pants, shorts, trunks | trousers that end at or above the knee |
| silks | The brightly colored garments of a jockey |
| skivvies | men's underwear consisting of cotton T-shirt and shorts |
| slacks | (usually in the plural) pants for casual wear |
| slip-joint pliers | pliers with a joint adjustable to two positions in order to increase the opening of the jaws |
| small stores | personal items conforming to regulations that are sold aboard ship or at a naval base and charged to the person's pay |
| snips, tinsnips | (plural) hand shears for cutting sheet metal |
| snuffers | scissors for cropping and holding the snuff of a candlewick |
| soap flakes | soap that has been cut into flakes to make suds faster |
| spectacles, specs, eyeglasses, glasses | optical instrument consisting of a frame that holds a pair of lenses for correcting defective vision |
| spoil | (usually plural) valuables taken by violence (especially in war) |
| sporting goods | sports equipment sold as a commodity |
| stacks | storage space in a library consisting of an extensive arrangement of bookshelves where most of the books are stored |
| stairs, steps | A flight of stairs or a flight of steps |
| states' rights | The rights conceded to the states by the United States constitution |
| steps | The course along which a person has walked or is walking in |
| stocking | close-fitting hosiery to cover the foot and leg |
| stocks | A former instrument of punishment consisting of a heavy timber / timber frame with holes in which the feet (and sometimes the hands) of an offender could be locked |
| stocks | A frame for constraining an animal while it is receiving veterinary attention or while being shod |
| stocks | A frame that supports a boat while it is under construction |
| street clothes | ordinary clothing suitable for public appearances (as opposed to costumes or sports apparel or work clothes etc.) |
| stretch pants | trousers made of a stretchy fabric |
| sundries | Miscellaneous objects too numerous or too small to be specified |
| sunglasses, dark glasses, shades | spectacles that are darkened or polarized to protect the eyes from the glare of the sun |
| superficies | The purely external aspect of a thing |
| suspension point | (usually plural) one of a series of points indicating that something has been omitted or that the sentence is incomplete |
| swaddling clothes | restrictions placed on the immature |
| swaddling clothes, swaddling bands | A garment (a gown or narrow strips of cloth) for an infant |
| sweat pants, sweatpants | loose-fitting trousers with elastic cuffs |
| sweepstakes | A lottery in which the prize consists of the money paid by the participants |
| swimming trunks, bathing trunks | swimsuit worn by men while swimming |
| tail | (usually plural) the reverse side of a coin that does not bear the representation of a person's head / head |
| telecommunication | (often plural) the branch of electrical engineering concerned with the technology of electronic communication at a distance |
| telecommunication, telecom | (often plural) systems used in transmitting messages over a distance electronically |
| thinning shears | shears with one serrate blade |
| tights, leotards | skintight knit hose covering the body from the waist to the feet worn by acrobats and dancers and as stockings by women and girls |
| title | (usually plural) written material introduced into a movie or TV show to give credits or represent dialogue or explain an action |
| togs, threads, duds | informal terms for clothing |
| tongs, pair of tongs | Any of various devices for taking hold of objects |
| topside | (usually plural) weather deck |
| travel expense | (frequently plural) expenses incurred by an employee in the performance of the job and usually reimbursed by the employer |
| trews | Tight-fitting trousers |
| trousers, pair of trousers, pant | (usually in the plural) a garment extending from the waist to the knee or ankle, covering each leg separately |
| underpants | An undergarment that covers the body from the waist no further than to the thighs |
| undies | women's underwear |
| unemployed people, unemployed | people who are involuntarily out of work (considered as a group) |
| waders | waterproof hip boots (sometimes extending to the chest) worn by anglers |
| water wings | A life preserver consisting of a connected pair of inflatable bags that fit under a person's arms and provide buoyancy |
| waterworks | workplace where water is stored and purified and distributed for a community / community |
| weeds, widow's weeds | A black garment (dress) worn by a widow as a sign of mourning |
| white goods | large electrical home appliances (refrigerators or washing machines etc.) that are typically finished in white enamel |
| wings | A means of flight or ascent |
| works, deeds | performance of moral or religious acts |
| works, workings | The internal mechanism of a device |
| writing | (usually plural) the collected work of an author |
| yard goods, piece goods | merchandise in the form of fabrics sold by the yard |
| Spanish | forma plural, plural |
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| Catalan | forma plural, plural |
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