cat
- 01 A1 Beginner
n.a small animal with fur, four legs, and a tail that people often keep as a pet.
n.the domestic feline mammal, Felis catus, commonly kept as a companion animal or for catching mice.
Simple“The cat sat on the windowsill and watched the birds in the garden.”
In context“The domestic cat has lived alongside humans for thousands of years, valued for its predatory instincts and companionship.”
Synonymsfelinepussycat - 02 B1 Intermediate
n.any large wild animal in the same family, such as a lion or tiger.
n.any of various carnivorous mammals of the family Felidae, including both small and large species.
Simple“Lions and tigers are the largest cats in the world.”
In context“Conservationists are working to protect the habitats of big cats like leopards and jaguars from further encroachment.”
Synonymsfelid - 03 C1 Advanced
n.a person, especially someone who likes jazz music.
n.a person, particularly a man; historically associated with jazz subculture and beatnik slang.
Simple“He was a cool cat who knew everything about the local jazz scene.”
In context“The club was filled with hip cats who spent the entire night discussing the nuances of bebop.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
n.a short way of saying catamaran, which is a boat with two hulls.
n.A shortened form of catamaran, referring to a multi-hulled watercraft with two parallel hulls of equal size.
Simple“We spent the weekend sailing a small cat around the bay.”
In context“The racing cat proved much faster than the traditional monohulls during the regatta's opening leg.”
Synonymscatamaran - 05 C1 Advanced
v.to show the contents of a computer file on the screen.
v.To use the Unix 'cat' utility to concatenate and display the contents of files.
Simple“You can cat the log file to see the latest errors.”
In context“The developer decided to cat the configuration files into a single output for easier debugging.”
Synonymsconcatenatedisplay - 06 C2 Proficiency
adj.very bad or terrible.
adj.Used to describe something of very poor quality or a disastrous situation.
Simple“The weather was absolutely cat during our holiday in the west.”
In context“The traffic on the motorway was cat, causing us to miss the start of the performance.”
Teacher's tipThis usage is specific to Hiberno-English (Ireland) and is rarely understood outside of that region.