What does "soul" mean?
The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death.
Soul
/səʊl/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death.
- Grammar: soul is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: individual, person, adamite, afflatus.
- Useful contrasts: the body, apathy, body.
- Usage evidence: Not a soul was to be seen in the street.
How to use "soul"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "soul" 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 "soul" 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 "soul" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "soul" 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 "soul" is acting as 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 "individual" 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 "soul", 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 The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death. countable, uncountable
"1836, Hans Christian Andersen (translated into English by Mrs. H. B. Paull in 1872), The Little Mermaid "Among the daughters of the air," answered one of them. "A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny. But the daughters of the air, although they do not possess an immortal soul, can, by their good deeds, procure one for themselves."
- 2 a human being; person, singular, assertive existential pronoun; pronoun, person, singular; quantifier: assertive existential wordnet
- 3 The spirit or essence of anything. countable, uncountable
"From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied."
- 4 the human embodiment of something wordnet
- 5 Life, energy, vigor. countable, uncountable
"That he vvants Algebra he muſt confeſs. / But not a ſoul to give our arms ſucceſs."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 a secular form of gospel that was a major Black musical genre in the 1960s and 1970s wordnet
- 7 Soul music. countable, uncountable
- 8 deep feeling or emotion wordnet
- 9 A person, especially as one among many. countable, uncountable
"18 January 1915, D. H. Lawrence, letter to William Hopkin I want to gather together about twenty souls and sail away from this world of war and squalor and found a little colony where there shall be no money but a sort of communism as far as necessaries of life go, and some real decency."
- 10 the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life wordnet
- 11 An individual life. countable, uncountable
"Fifty souls were lost when the ship sank."
- 12 A kind of submanifold involved in the soul theorem of Riemannian geometry. countable, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To endow with a soul or mind. obsolete, transitive
- 2 To feed or nourish. obsolete
"During my Stay here, I was going to take Pot-Luck with Colonel Ingram, and accidentally meeting him in the Way, I told him I deſigned to ſoul a Plate with him, [...]"
- 3 To beg on All Soul's Day.
"All Souls' Day was celebrated by souling, a custom going back to pre-Reformation days: soul cakers and mummers toured the village begging for a soul cake — a plain, round, flat cake seasoned with spices."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Not a soul was to be seen in the street."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "soul"?
Common synonyms include: individual, person, adamite, afflatus, alma, an existence.
How do you use "soul" in a sentence?
Not a soul was to be seen in the street.
How do you pronounce "soul"?
Pronounced /səʊl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English soule, sowle, saule, sawle, from Old English sāwol (“soul, life, spirit, being”), from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō (“soul”), of an uncertain ultimate origin (see there for further information). Cognates Cognate with Scots saul, sowel (“soul”), Saterland Frisian Seele (“soul”), West Frisian siel (“soul”), Alemannic German Seel (“soul”), Central Franconian Siel (“soul”), Dutch ziel (“soul”), German Seele (“soul”), German Low German Seel (“soul”), Luxembourgish Séil (“soul, spirit”), Vilamovian zejł, zəjł, zyił (“soul”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌰 (saiwala, “soul”). Scandinavian homonyms seem to have been borrowed from Old Saxon sēola. Modern Danish sjæl (“soul”), Icelandic sál (“soul”), Norwegian Bokmål sjel (“soul”), Norwegian Nynorsk sjel, sål (“soul”), Swedish själ (“soul”), Finnish sielu (“soul”) may have come from Old English sāwol.
Etymology 2
Borrowed from French souler (“to satiate”).