ballpoint

«ballpoint» in Mova's school dictionary: A pen with a tiny metal ball at its tip that rolls and… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (a ballpoint, ballpoints); adjective (ballpoint)

meaning for a pupil

1) A pen with a tiny metal ball at its tip that rolls and spreads ink as you write; also called a ballpoint pen. tree →

2) (adjective) Of this kind of pen: «ballpoint ink». tree →

sense in the lessons

In school, pupils often move from pencils to ink pens; some schools prefer fountain or handwriting pens, others allow ballpoints. In the UK a ballpoint is often called a «biro», after its inventor László Bíró. Ballpoint ink cannot be rubbed out like pencil.

examples

• Can I borrow a blue ballpoint? tree →
• The ballpoint pen ran out of ink in the middle of my test. tree →
• Ballpoint ink dries quickly. tree →
• Write your answer in ballpoint, not pencil. tree →
• The tiny ball in a ballpoint rolls as you write. tree →
• My ballpoint leaked in my pencil case. tree →

note

One word: ballpoint. UK informal word: biro; US: pen. Countable. A felt-tip and a fountain pen are different kinds.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «ballpoint» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.