What does "nut" mean?
Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.
Nut
/nʌt/ intj, name, noun, verb, slang
intj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.
- Grammar: nut is listed as intj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: acorn, addict, addict, adjusters.
- Useful contrasts: bolt, bolts, dabbler.
- Usage evidence: He's a car nut. Ask him anything.
How to use "nut"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "nut" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "nut" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "nut" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "nut" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "nut" is acting as intj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "acorn" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "nut", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants. broadly
"There are many sorts of nuts: peanuts, cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts and more."
- 2 Alternative form of nuth (“Indian nose ring”). alt-of, alternative
- 3 a small (usually square or hexagonal) metal block with internal screw thread to be fitted onto a bolt wordnet
- 4 Any of various hard-shelled seeds or hard, dry fruits from various families of plants.; Such a fruit that is indehiscent. broadly
- 5 one of the two male reproductive glands that produce spermatozoa and secrete androgens wordnet
Show 23 more definitions
- 6 A piece of hardware, typically metal and typically hexagonal or square in shape, with a hole through it having internal screw threads, intended to be screwed onto a threaded bolt or other threaded shaft.
"As the bolt tightens into the nut, it pulls the tenon on the side rail into the mortise in the bedpost and locks them together. There are also some European beds that reverse the bolt and nut by setting the nut into the bedpost with the bolt inserted into a slotted area in the side of the rail."
- 7 someone who is so ardently devoted to something that it resembles an addiction wordnet
- 8 The head. slang
"Off one's nut—crazy; mad. S. Nut is a slang term for the head."
- 9 a whimsically eccentric person wordnet
- 10 A crazy person. slang
"He was driving his car like a nut."
- 11 usually large hard-shelled seed wordnet
- 12 An extreme enthusiast. colloquial
"a fashion nut — a gun nut — a sailing nut"
- 13 half the width of an em wordnet
- 14 An extravagantly fashionable young man. Ireland, UK, dated, slang
"‘You are not going to be what they call a Nut, are you?’ she inquired with some anxiety, partly with the idea that a Nut would be an extravagance which her sister's small household would scarcely be justified in incurring …."
- 15 Senses related to male genitalia.; The glans (structure at the extremity of the penis or of the clitoris). archaic
"[...] The Tentigo, head or Nut of the Clitoris, covered by the Nymphes, as by a foreskin and the impaſſable paſſage of it [...]"
- 16 Senses related to male genitalia.; A testicle, often used in the plural form. plural, slang, vulgar
"I kicked him in the nuts."
- 17 Senses related to male genitalia.; Semen, ejaculate, cum. slang, uncountable, vulgar
"As loudmouthed lovermen, these Lil Jon-endorsed ATLiens denigrate women from the window to the wall, generously offering to "make nut come out your nose.""
- 18 Senses related to male genitalia.; Orgasm, ejaculation; especially release of semen; cumshot countable, slang, vulgar
"He just needs a good nut to make himself feel better."
- 19 Monthly expense to keep a venture running. US, slang
"$8,000 a month? I had no idea my nut was that big."
- 20 The amount of money necessary to set up some venture; set-up costs. US, slang
"My attorney was waiting in a bar around the corner. “This won't make the nut,” he said, “unless we have unlimited credit.”"
- 21 A stash of money owned by an extremely rich investor, sufficient to sustain a high level of consumption if all other money is lost. US, slang
- 22 On stringed instruments such as guitars and violins, the small piece at the peghead end of the fingerboard that holds the strings at the proper spacing and, in most cases, the proper height.
- 23 En, a unit of measurement equal to half of the height of the type in use. slang
- 24 A shaped piece of metal, threaded by a wire loop, which is jammed in a crack in the rockface and used to protect a climb. (Originally, machine nuts [sense #2] were used for this purpose.)
"When placing nuts, always look for constrictions within the crack, behind which the nut can be wedged."
- 25 The best possible hand of a certain type. Compare nuts (“the best possible hand available”). attributive
"nut straight, nut flush, nut full house"
- 26 The tumbler of a gunlock.
- 27 A projection on each side of the shank of an anchor, to secure the stock in place.
- 28 A small rounded cake or cookie.
"dough-nut"
Verb
- 1 To gather nuts.
"I will no more a-nutting go ; That journey caused all this woe."
- 2 gather nuts wordnet
- 3 To hit deliberately with the head; to headbutt. UK, slang, transitive
"One night, we were fumbling each other out by the toilets when a Rocker in full leathers came out of the Gents and, without breaking stride or saying a word, nutted me square between the eyes. I went down as though shot..."
- 4 To orgasm; to ejaculate. mildly, slang, vulgar
"I got a bitch that suck my dick 'til I nut"
- 5 To hit in the testicles. slang
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To defeat thoroughly. slang
Intj
- 1 No. Scotland, colloquial
"Did you like them boys? I goes. Nut. She shook her hair. Neither? Nut. Right townies."
Proper Noun
- 1 Initialism of National Union of Teachers. UK, abbreviation, alt-of, historical, initialism
- 2 The goddess who serves as the personification of the sky. Egyptian
Example
"He's a car nut. Ask him anything."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "nut"?
Common synonyms include: acorn, addict, addict, adjusters, aficionado, aficionado.
How do you use "nut" in a sentence?
He's a car nut. Ask him anything.
How do you pronounce "nut"?
Pronounced /nʌt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English note, nute, from Old English hnutu, from Proto-West Germanic *hnut, from Proto-Germanic *hnuts (“nut”), from a root *knu- possibly shared with Proto-Celtic *knūs and Latin nux (“nut”). Based on the form of the nouns and the restriction of the root to Germanic, Celtic and Italic, it has been argued to be of non-Indo-European (substrate) origin. See also West Frisian nút, Dutch noot, German Nuss, Danish nød, Swedish nöt, Norwegian nøtt.
Etymology 2
Variant of not.
Etymology 3
Borrowed from Egyptian nwt (“Nut, sky”).