What does "spoon" mean?
An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
Spoon
/spuːn/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
- Grammar: spoon is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: spoonful, address, administer, bail.
- Useful contrasts: accumulate, chopstick, detach.
- Usage evidence: Donna was born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
How to use "spoon"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "spoon" 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 "spoon" 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 "spoon" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "spoon" 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 "spoon" 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 "spoonful" 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 "spoon", 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 An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
"He must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil."
- 2 a piece of cutlery with a shallow bowl-shaped container and a handle; used to stir or serve or take up food wordnet
- 3 An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.
- 4 formerly a golfing wood with an elevated face wordnet
- 5 A measure that will fit into a spoon; a spoonful.
"While Ms. Fly was with Sharon in the kitchen, Sharon asked the defendant for a “spoon of drugs.” Defendant refused and stated that he did not know where drugs could be obtained."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 as much as a spoon will hold wordnet
- 7 A wooden-headed golf club with moderate loft, similar to the modern fairway wood. archaic
- 8 An oar. slang
"To this class college rowing offers no attractions or place, nor are they generally looked upon by the artists of the "spoons" as a desirable addition […]"
- 9 A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.
- 10 A spoon excavator. informal
- 11 A South African shrub of the genus Spatalla.
- 12 A simpleton, a spoony. archaic, figuratively, slang
"To get all the advantages of being with men of this sort, you must know how to draw your inferences and not be a spoon who takes things literally."
- 13 A safety handle on a hand grenade, a trigger. US
- 14 A metaphoric unit of finite physical and mental energy available for daily activities, especially in the context of living with chronic illness or disability. slang
"We therefore have to meticulously plan out each day with the small amount of spoons we have. Each task will cost us at least one spoon."
Verb
- 1 To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.
"Sarah spooned some apple sauce onto her plate."
- 2 Alternative form of spoom. alt-of, alternative
"We might have spooned before the wind as well as they."
- 3 snuggle and lie in a position where one person faces the back of the others wordnet
- 4 To flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously. dated, intransitive
"By the light of the silvery moon, / I want to spoon, / To my honey I'll croon love's tune, […]"
- 5 scoop up or take up with a spoon wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons. informal, intransitive, transitive
"(transitive or intransitive, informal, of persons, by extension) To have sex in such a position."
- 7 To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.
"Rosol spurned the chance to finish off a shallow second serve by spooning into the net, and a wild forehand took the set to 5-4, with the native of Prerov required to hold his serve for victory."
- 8 To fish with a concave spoon bait. intransitive
- 9 To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait. transitive
"He had with him all the tackle necessary for spooning pike."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Donna was born with a silver spoon in her mouth."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "spoon"?
Common synonyms include: spoonful, address, administer, bail, bill and coo, blockhead.
How do you use "spoon" in a sentence?
Donna was born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
How do you pronounce "spoon"?
Pronounced /spuːn/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English spōn (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-West Germanic *spānu, from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peH- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”). Cognate with Scots spun, spon (“spoon, shingle”), West Frisian spoen (“chip”), Dutch spaan (“chip, flinders”), German Span (“chip, flake, shaving”), Swedish spån (“chip, flake”), Norwegian Nynorsk spon (“chip, spoon”), Faroese spónur (“wood chip; spoon”), Ancient Greek σφήν (sphḗn, “wedge”)(though the connection to the Greek is likely impossible by modern reconstructions of PIE). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cuculer, coclear (“spoon”), from Old English cuculer, cuceler, cucler, borrowed from Latin cochlear (“spoon”). The "metaphoric unit of personal energy" sense was coined by writer and disability advocate Christine Miserandino in 2003 (see spoon theory).
Etymology 2
Uncertain. Compare spoom.