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say it: PEN-suhl
pencil is a noun and verb meaning "a thin cylindrical pointed writing implement; a rod of marking substance encased in wood". It carries 5 recorded senses.
a thin cylindrical pointed writing implement; a rod of marking substance encased in wood
graphite (or a similar substance) used in such a way as to be a medium of communication
“the words were scribbled in pencil”
“this artist's favorite medium is pencil”
a figure formed by a set of straight lines or light rays meeting at a point
physics · geometry
a cosmetic in a long thin stick; designed to be applied to a particular part of the face
“an eyebrow pencil”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for pencil come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.