needle
A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing as in sewing, embroidery, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, sutures, etc; or a blunt but otherwise similar implement used for forming loops or knots in crafts such as darning, knitting, tatting, etc.
Noun 4 meanings
A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing as in sewing, embroidery, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections, sutures, etc; or a blunt but otherwise similar implement used for forming loops or knots in crafts such as darning, knitting, tatting, etc.
“The seamstress threaded the needle to sew on a button.”
Any slender, pointed object resembling a needle, such as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.
A fine measurement indicator on a dial or graph.
“a compass needle”
A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.
“Ziggy bought some diamond needles for his hi-fi phonograph.”
Verb 3 meanings
To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.
To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.
“Billy needled his sister incessantly about her pimples.”
To form, or be formed, in the shape of a needle.
“to needle crystals”
Etymology
From Middle English nedle, from Old English nǣdl, from Proto-West Germanic *nāþlu, from Proto-Germanic *nēþlō, from pre-Germanic *neh₁-tleh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- (“to spin, twist”).
Similar and opposite words
NEEDLE at a glance
NEEDLE has 6 letters and scores 7 points in Scrabble (N 1 + E 1 + E 1 + D 2 + L 1 + E 1) and 9 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #7,252 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with needle
All rhymesOne letter away
- NEEDLY10
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