sponge

1. 1.

   a porous mass of interlacing fibers that forms the internal skeleton of various marine animals and usable to absorb water or any porous rubber or cellulose product similarly used

   Broaderabsorbent material
2. 2.

   someone able to acquire new knowledge and skills rapidly and easily

   “she soaks up foreign languages like a sponge”

   Synonymsquick study

   Broaderlearner
3. 3.

   a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage

   Synonymsleechparasitesponger

   Broaderfollower
4. 4.

   primitive multicellular marine animal whose porous body is supported by a fibrous skeletal framework; usually occurs in sessile colonies

   Synonymsporiferanparazoan

   Broaderinvertebrate

   Narrowerglass sponge

   Part ofPorifera

Other forms of sponge

plural

sponges·

past tense

sponged·

present participle

sponging·

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.

Questions about sponge

What does sponge mean?

sponge means "wipe with a sponge, so as to clean or moisten". That is the primary sense; the word has 9 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in sponge?

sponge has 1 syllable: sponge. In IPA it is /ˈspʌndʒ/.

What is another word for sponge?

Close synonyms include mooch, bum, cadge, grub, quick study. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is sponge a common word?

sponge is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with sponge?

1 word rhymes with sponge. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.