Mound Meaning

/maʊnd/
B2

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

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nounAn artificial hill or elevation of earth; a raised bank; an embankment thrown up for defense

nounA natural elevation appearing as if thrown up artificially; a regular and isolated hill, hillock, or knoll.

Five pitchers are to take the mound in rotation.
The Takamatsuzuka burial mound is located in Asukamura, Nara prefecture.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The gardener made a small ____ of soil to plant the rose bush.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children spent the entire afternoon building a large ____ of sand at the edge of the playground, hoping to make a tall castle.

From earlier meaning "hedge, fence", from Middle English mound, mund (“protection, boundary, raised earthen rampart”), from Old English mund (“hand, hand of protection, protector, guardianship”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundu, from Proto-Germanic *mundō (“hand”), *munduz (“protection, patron”), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂-nt-éh₂ (“the beckoning one”), from *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon”). Cognate with Old Frisian mund (“guardianship”), Middle Dutch mond (“protection”), Old High German munt (“hand, protection”) German Mündel (“ward”), Vormund (“guardian”)), Icelandic and Old Norse mund (“hand”), and possibly Latin manus (“hand”), Ancient Greek μάρη (márē, “hand”). Not related to mount.

"When a wave mounds on the outside and takes its shape, a surfer quickly paddles to the peak, positions himself in its evolving momentum, swings his board around, aligns with the peak, and thrusts himself into its cascading shape." — 2011, Rick Hansen, Leadership and The Art of Surfing, page xi:
"Tonka was created in 1946 by a gardening supply company in Mound, Minnesota called Mound Metalcraft, which later become Tonka Toys Incorporated." — 2020 February 20, “Basic Fun! and Shaquille O'Neal Announce Tonka Collaboration”, in PR Newswire, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2025:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The gardener made a small ____ of soil to plant the rose bush.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The children spent the entire afternoon building a large ____ of sand at the edge of the playground, hoping to make a tall castle.

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