Mouthful

//ˈmaʊθfʊl// adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The amount that will fit in a mouth.

    "He swallowed a mouthful of sea water when he fell in."

  2. 2
    a small amount eaten or drunk wordnet
  3. 3
    Quite a bit. slang

    "“Unquestionably his metabolism is unduly susceptible to stresses resulting from the interaction of external excitations,” he said, and Bobbie patted him on the shoulder in a maternal sort of way, a thing I wouldn't have cared to do myself though our relations were, as I have indicated, more cordial than they had been at one time, and told him he had said a mouthful."

  4. 4
    the quantity that can be held in the mouth wordnet
  5. 5
    Something difficult to pronounce or say.

    "“She sells sea shells” is a bit of a mouthful to say."

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  1. 6
    A tirade of abusive language.

    "to give someone a mouthful"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Bombastic or awkward.

    "Once this happens to be the result, there is little reason for waxing over such mouthful phrases as 'grass-roots democracy', 'democratic decentralization' or 'panchayati raj'."

Synonyms

All synonyms
bellyfulbeltbitbitebolusbumper

Example

More examples

"Cough syrup. If I don't drink a mouthful before going on stage I can't settle down!"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English mouthful, mouth-full, mouthe full, equivalent to mouth + -ful. Compare Dutch mondvol (“mouthful”), German Mundvoll (“mouthful”), Danish mundfuld (“mouthful”), Swedish munfull (“mouthful”), Icelandic munnfylli (“mouthful”). Compare also West Frisian mûlfol (“mouthful”).

Etymology 2

From mouth + -ful.

Related phrases

mouthful of marblesyou said a mouthful

More for "mouthful"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.