- foul
- [[t]fa͟ʊl[/t]]
fouler, foulest, fouls, fouling, fouled1) ADJ-GRADED If you describe something as foul, you mean it is dirty and smells or tastes unpleasant.
...foul polluted water...
The pot-pourri of smells in the air was quite foul.
Syn:2) ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n Foul language is offensive and contains swear words or rude words.He was sent off for using foul language in a match last Sunday...
He had a foul mouth.
Syn:3) ADJ-GRADED: usu ADJ n If someone has a foul temper or is in a foul mood, they become angry or violent very suddenly and easily.Collins was in a foul mood even before the interviews began.
Syn:4) ADJ-GRADED Foul weather is unpleasant, windy, and stormy.5) VERB If a place is fouled by someone or something, they make it dirty.[be V-ed] A village's entire beach and harbor can be fouled by a single rotting whale...
[V n] Two oil-related accidents near Los Angeles have fouled the ocean and the skies there.
6) VERB If an animal fouls a place, it drops faeces onto the ground.[V n] It is an offence to let your dog foul a footpath.
7) VERB If a machine or vehicle fouls part of its mechanism or if something such as a rope fouls the mechanism, the mechanism can no longer work properly because something has become twisted or knotted around it.[V n] The freighter fouled its propeller in fishing nets.
8) VERB In a game or sport, if a player fouls another player, they touch them or block them in a way which is not allowed according to the rules.[V n] Middlesbrough's Jimmy Phillips was sent off for fouling Steve Tilson.
9) N-COUNT: oft N on n A foul is an act in a game or sport that is not allowed according to the rules.He picked up his first booking for a 45th-minute foul on Bull.
ADJ: ADJ nFoul is also an adjective....a foul tackle.
10) PHRASE: V inflects If you cry foul, you claim that someone, especially an opponent or rival, has acted illegally or unfairly.Deprived of the crushing victory it was confidently expecting, the party cried foul.
11) PHRASE: PHR after v If someone tries to achieve something by fair means or foul, they use every means possible in order to achieve it, and they do not care if their behaviour is dishonest or unfair.They will only be satisfied if they regain control - by fair means or foul.
12) PHRASE: V inflects, PHR n If you fall foul of someone or run foul of them, you do something which gets you into trouble with them. [mainly BRIT]He had fallen foul of the FBI.
...teenagers who run foul of the law.
Phrasal Verbs:- foul upSyn:run afoul of
English dictionary. 2008.
