What does "scoop" mean?
Any cup-shaped or bowl-shaped tool, usually with a handle, used to lift and move loose or soft solid material.
Scoop
/skuːp/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Any cup-shaped or bowl-shaped tool, usually with a handle, used to lift and move loose or soft solid material.
- Grammar: scoop is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: exclusive, account, acquaintance, alveolation.
- Useful contrasts: drop, dump, fill.
- Usage evidence: What's the scoop on your new boyfriend?
How to use "scoop"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "scoop" 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 "scoop" 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 "scoop" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "scoop" 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 "scoop" is acting as 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 "exclusive" 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 "scoop", 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 cup-shaped or bowl-shaped tool, usually with a handle, used to lift and move loose or soft solid material.
"She kept a scoop in the dog food."
- 2 a large ladle wordnet
- 3 The amount or volume of loose or solid material held by a particular scoop.
"Use one scoop of coffee for each pot."
- 4 the shovel or bucket of a dredge or backhoe wordnet
- 5 The act of scooping, or taking with a scoop or ladle; a motion with a scoop, as in dipping or shovelling.
"with a quick scoop, she fished the frog out of the pond."
Show 17 more definitions
- 6 street names for gamma hydroxybutyrate wordnet
- 7 A story or fact; especially, news learned and reported before anyone else.
"He listened carefully, in hopes of getting the scoop on the debate."
- 8 a news report that is reported first by one news organization wordnet
- 9 An opening in a hood/bonnet or other body panel to admit air, usually for cooling the engine.
- 10 the quantity a scoop will hold wordnet
- 11 The digging attachment on a front-end loader.
- 12 a hollow concave shape made by removing something wordnet
- 13 A place hollowed out; a basinlike cavity; a hollow.
"Some had lain in the scoop of the rock."
- 14 A spoon-shaped surgical instrument, used in extracting certain substances or foreign bodies.
- 15 A special spinal board used by emergency medical service staff that divides laterally to scoop up patients.
- 16 A sweep; a stroke; a swoop.
- 17 The peak of a cap. Scotland
- 18 A hole on the playfield that catches a ball, but eventually returns it to play in one way or another.
- 19 The raised end of a surfboard.
"This brings the scoop into play as additional wetted surface and slows the board due to its fore-and-aft curvature"
- 20 A kind of floodlight with a reflector.
- 21 A haul of money made through speculation. dated, slang
- 22 A note that begins slightly below and slides up to the target pitch.
"Jazz symbols include many contoured articulations and inflections, such as doits, fall-offs, and scoops."
Verb
- 1 To lift, move, or collect with a scoop or as though with a scoop. transitive
"He used both hands to scoop water and splash it on his face."
- 2 get the better of wordnet
- 3 To make hollow; to dig out. transitive
"I tried scooping a hole in the sand with my fingers."
- 4 take out or up with or as if with a scoop wordnet
- 5 To report on something, especially something worthy of a news article, before (someone else). transitive
"The paper across town scooped them on the City Hall scandal."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To begin a vocal note slightly below the target pitch and then to slide up to the target pitch, especially in country music. often
- 7 To pick (someone) up slang
"You have a car. Can you come and scoop me?"
- 8 To win the entire pot in a hand in which the pot was split. slang
Example
"What's the scoop on your new boyfriend?"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "scoop"?
Common synonyms include: exclusive, account, acquaintance, alveolation, alveolus, announcement.
How do you use "scoop" in a sentence?
What's the scoop on your new boyfriend?
How do you pronounce "scoop"?
Pronounced /skuːp/.
Etymology
From Middle English scope, schoupe, a borrowing from Middle Dutch scoep, scuep, schope, schoepe (“bucket for bailing water”) and Middle Dutch schoppe, scoppe, schuppe ("a scoop, shovel"; > Modern Dutch schop (“spade”)), from Proto-Germanic *skuppǭ, *skuppijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (“to cut, to scrape, to hack”). Cognate with Old Frisian skuppe (“shovel”), Middle Low German schōpe (“scoop, shovel”), German Low German Schüppe, Schüpp (“shovel”), German Schüppe, Schippe (“shovel, spade”). Related to English shovel.