Lump Meaning
/lʌmp/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounSomething that protrudes, sticks out, or sticks together; a cluster or blob; a mound or mass of no particular shape.
nounA swelling or nodule of tissue under the skin or in an internal part of the body.
Sentence Examples
One lump of sugar, please.
Please put a lump of sugar in my coffee.
CEFR Practice Quiz
When I stirred the paint, I found a hard ____ of dried pigment in the bottom of the can.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She found a small ____ on her arm and decided to go to the doctor to have it checked out today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English lumpe, from a Germanic base akin to Proto-Germanic *limpaną (“to glide, go, hang loosely”). Compare Dutch lomp (“rag”), German Low German Lump (“rag”), German Lumpen (“rag”) and Lump (“ragamuffin”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
""Thou great Norman lump!" he muttered. "If I conjure till Doomsday, I cannot make thee gold.""
— 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 7:
"Komer admitted that the United States would probably suffer "short term lumps" as a result of Johnson's brusque decision."
— 1994, Robert J. McMahon, The cold war on the periphery: the United States, India, and Pakistan, page 323:
"Mr. Katzenberg is now taking his commensurate lumps, particularly because contributors feel he helped disabuse donors’ concerns about Mr. Biden’s physical state."
— 2024 July 11, Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Bernstein, Reid J. Epstein, “How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"You roast him [the fish] […] just like a lump."
— 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
"“A lump,” explained The Whimperer […] “is wot a kin’ lady slips youse w’en youse batter de back door. If she invites youse in and lets youse t’row yer feet unner de table, it’s a set-down. If she slips youse a lunch in a poiper bag, it’s a lump. See? […]”"
— 1923, Arthur Preston Hankins, chapter 12, in Cole of Spyglass Mountain, New York: Grosset & Dunlap:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
When I stirred the paint, I found a hard ____ of dried pigment in the bottom of the can.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She found a small ____ on her arm and decided to go to the doctor to have it checked out today.