Funnel Meaning

/ˈfʌnəl/
B2

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Listen pronunciation

nounA utensil in the shape of an inverted hollow cone terminating in a narrow pipe, for channeling liquids or granular material; typically used when transferring said substances from any container into ones with a significantly smaller opening.

nounA passage or avenue for a fluid or flowing substance; specifically, a smoke flue or pipe; the chimney of a steamship or the like.

I find funnel cake a bit too sweet.
You can pour the liquid by using a funnel.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She used a ____ to pour the oil into the bottle.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He used a ____ to carefully pour the oil into the small opening of the car's engine.

From Middle English funell, fonel, probably through Old French *founel (compare Middle French fonel, Old Occitan fonilh, enfounilh), from Latin fundibulum, infundibulum (“funnel”), from infundere (“to pour in”); in (“in”) + fundere (“to pour”); compare Breton founilh (“funnel”), Welsh ffynel (“air hole, chimney”). See fuse.

"Then there's the funnel. Marketing usually spends most of their time at the top of the funnel with a quantity strategy. On the other hand, Sales spends their time trying to convert, accelerate, or close accounts that are in the middle or bottom of the funnel." — 2019, Chris Golec, Peter Isaacson, Jessica Fewless, Account-Based Marketing: How to Target and Engage the Companies That Will Grow Your Revenue, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 41:
"Like so many others, I was awestruck by the first season, which captured a moment in time and successfully funnelled its rage outwards at a world in which women are indeed silenced, controlled and killed by men." — 2018 June 16, Fiona Sturges, “Cattleprods! Severed tongues! Torture porn! Why I’ve stopped watching the Handmaid’s Tale”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Feb 2020:
"The Soviet Union had a substantially larger land army, considerably larger than NATO and the U.S.,” Sharpless said. […]So, one strategy was to block various access routes and perhaps funnel them into an area where you could use larger weapons against them." — 2019 January 7, Paul Srubas, “His job was to place atomic bombs. Place them, not drop them. Set the timer. Run like hell.”, in Green Bay Press-Gazette:
"He was alive to every creak and dunt, the thinness of the walls, as if the tenement block was a kind of aural panopticon that funnelled every sound to the other residents, let everyone eavesdrop on their business." — 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 274:
"The first time he did it was to this freshman Kevin Ryers and we all just burst out laughing, watching Kevin try to funnel a beer." — 2013, Jonathan Caren, The Recommendation, page 31:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
She used a ____ to pour the oil into the bottle.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He used a ____ to carefully pour the oil into the small opening of the car's engine.

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