trap

CEFRB1

/tɹæp/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A device or situation designed to catch or hold someone or something.

  2. 02

    verb

    To prevent someone or something from escaping.

Examples

  • Cheese often lures a mouse into a trap.

  • The old man freed the little fox from the trap.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [t̠ɹ̠̊˔ap]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A trick or arrangement designed to catch someone in a more general sense; a snare.

  2. A machine or other device designed to catch (and sometimes kill) animals, either by holding them in a container, or by catching hold of part of the body.

  3. A (usually fictional) location or feature originally added to a map to detect plagiarism and copyright violations by other map makers or map services.

More examples

In context

  • A fox with its leg in a trap

  • I put down some traps in my apartment to try and deal with the mouse problem.

  • Unfortunately she fell into the trap of confusing biology with destiny.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The hunter set a steel blank in the forest to catch a big rabbit for dinner.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English trappe, from Old English træppe, treppe (“trap, snare”) (also in betræppan (“to trap”)) from Proto-West Germanic *trappjā (“trap, snare”), from Proto-West Germanic *trappjan (“to step”), from Proto-Germanic *trapjaną (“to tread, stamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *drebʰ- (“to step, trip, trample”). Cognate with Dutch trap (“step, stair”), German Low German Trapp (“step, stair”). Akin also to West Frisian traap (“stepping, treading, stairway”), German Treppe (“step, stair”), Old English træppan (“to step, tread”). Connection to "step" is "that upon which one steps". French trappe and Spanish trampa are ultimately borrowings from Germanic.