What does "pool" mean?
A small and rather deep area of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream or river; a reservoir for water.
Pool
/puːl/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A small and rather deep area of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream or river; a reservoir for water.
- Grammar: pool is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: kitty, pond, a pond, accumulate.
- Useful contrasts: board games, disperse, divide.
- Usage evidence: The school drains the pool once a month.
How to use "pool"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "pool" 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 "pool" 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 "pool" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "pool" 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 "pool" is acting as name, noun, verb 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 "kitty" 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 "pool", 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 A small and rather deep area of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream or river; a reservoir for water.
"the pools of Solomon"
- 2 A supply of resources.
"The 4-BEP and 4-CEP stock is maintained in a common pool for both Chatham and South Eastern fast main-line services."
- 3 any of various games played on a pool table having 6 pockets wordnet
- 4 Any small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
- 5 A supply of resources.; A number of people when considered as a resource.
"dating pool"
Show 24 more definitions
- 6 an excavation that is (usually) filled with water wordnet
- 7 Ellipsis of swimming pool. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 8 A game at billiards, in which each of the players stakes a certain sum, the winner taking the whole; also, in public billiard rooms, a game in which the loser pays the entrance fee for all who engage in the game. uncountable
- 9 an association of companies for some definite purpose wordnet
- 10 A set of resources that are kept ready to use. broadly
- 11 A cue sport played on a pool table. There are 15 balls, 7 of one colour or solids, 7 of another color or stripes, and the black ball (also called the 8 ball). A player must pocket all their own colour balls and then the black ball in order to win.
"He plays pool at the billiard-houses, and may be seen engaged at cards and dominoes of forenoons."
- 12 an organization of people or resources that can be shared wordnet
- 13 Any group of like things. broadly
- 14 In rifle shooting, a contest in which each competitor pays a certain sum for every shot he makes, the net proceeds being divided among the winners.
- 15 something resembling a pool of liquid wordnet
- 16 A small amount of liquid on a surface.
"a pool of blood"
- 17 A group of fencers taking part in a competition.
- 18 a small lake wordnet
- 19 A localized glow of light.
"He walked slowly, passing through one pool of light after another, his shadow running tall across the fronts of the barber shop, the Western Auto, the video-rental shop."
- 20 A set of teams playing each other in the same division, while not during the same period playing any teams that belong to other sets in the division.
- 21 a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid wordnet
- 22 Any gambling or commercial venture in which several persons join.
- 23 the combined stakes of the betters wordnet
- 24 The stake played for in certain games of cards, billiards, etc.; an aggregated stake to which each player has contributed a share; also, the receptacle for the stakes.
- 25 any communal combination of funds wordnet
- 26 A combination of persons contributing money to be used for the purpose of increasing or depressing the market price of stocks, grain, or other commodities; also, the aggregate of the sums so contributed.
"The pool took all the wheat offered below the limit."
- 27 A set of players in quadrille etc.
- 28 A mutual arrangement between competing lines, by which the receipts of all are aggregated, and then distributed pro rata according to agreement.
- 29 An aggregation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities.
Verb
- 1 To form a pool. intransitive
- 2 To put together; contribute to a common fund, on the basis of a mutual division of profits or losses; to make a common interest of. transitive
"We must pool our resources."
- 3 join or form a pool of people wordnet
- 4 To combine or contribute with others, as for a commercial, speculative, or gambling transaction. intransitive
- 5 combine into a common fund wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A village in Carn Brea parish, Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SW6641).
- 2 Ellipsis of Pool-in-Wharfedale. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 3 A civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, also known as Pool in Wharfedale.
- 4 An unincorporated community in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States.
- 5 A department of the Republic of the Congo.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"The school drains the pool once a month."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "pool"?
Common synonyms include: kitty, pond, a pond, accumulate, aggregate, aggregates.
How do you use "pool" in a sentence?
The school drains the pool once a month.
How do you pronounce "pool"?
Pronounced /puːl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English pool, pole, pol, from Old English pōl (“pool”), from Proto-West Germanic pōl, from Proto-Germanic *pōlaz (“pool, pond”), from Proto-Indo-European *bōlos (“bog, marsh”). Cognate with Scots puil (“pool”), Saterland Frisian Pol (“pool”), West Frisian poel (“pool”), Dutch poel (“pool”), German Low German Pohl, Pool, Pul (“pool”), German Pfuhl (“quagmire, mudhole”), Danish pøl (“puddle”), Swedish pöl (“puddle, pool”), Icelandic pollur (“puddle”), Lithuanian bala (“puddle”), Latvian bala (“a muddly, treeless depression”), Russian боло́то (bolóto, “swamp, bog, marsh”). For the meaning development to a supply of resources compare typologically Russian пруд пруди́ (prud prudí) (< пруд (prud)).
Etymology 2
1. From French poule (“collective stakes in a game”). The French word "poule" in this context is an abbreviation of "poulain, pouliche" (foal, filly), and referred to races with female horses under 3 years old. It then became used by punters to designate bets on that race, and started to be used from the racetrack to the stadiums. 2. The OED suggests that this may be a transferred use of poule (“hen”), which has been explained anecdotally as deriving from an old informal betting game in France - 'jeu de poule' - Game of Chicken (or Hen, literally) in which poule became synonymous with the combined money pot claimed by the winner.
Etymology 3
In all likelihood from the noun pool.