thread

1. 1.

   a fine cord of twisted fibers (of cotton or silk or wool or nylon etc.) used in sewing and weaving

   Synonymsyarn

   Broadercord

   Narrowercottondental flossflossLastexligaturemetallicpilepurlsuturetinsel
2. 2.

   any long object resembling a thin line

   “a mere ribbon of land”

   “the lighted ribbon of traffic”

   “from the air the road was a grey thread”

   “a thread of smoke climbed upward”

   Synonymsribbon

   Broaderobject

   Narrowerblade
3. 3.

   the connections that link the various parts of an event or argument together

   “I couldn't follow his train of thought”

   “he lost the thread of his argument”

   Synonymstrain of thought

   Broaderthinking
4. 4.

   the raised helical rib going around a screw

   Synonymsscrew thread

   Broaderrib

   Part ofscrew

Other forms of thread

plural

threads·

past tense

threaded·

present participle

threading·

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 thread

What does thread mean?

thread means "to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course". That is the primary sense; the word has 9 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in thread?

thread has 1 syllable: thread. In IPA it is /ˈθɹɛd/.

What is another word for thread?

Close synonyms include weave, wind, meander, wander, string. 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 thread a common word?

thread is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.