howler

«howler» in Mova's school dictionary: a silly, obvious mistake, especially a funny one in… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a howler, howlers)

meaning for a pupil

1) (informal) A howler is a silly, obvious mistake, especially a funny one in writing or an exam. tree →

2) A howler is an animal or person that howls, such as a howler monkey. tree →

3) A howler monkey is a large South and Central American monkey with a very loud call. tree →

4) (UK, old-fashioned) A howler was a letter that shouted at its reader; in the Harry Potter books a Howler is a magic red letter that yells. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school it means a big, laughable error: writing «the Pacific Ocean is in Paris» is a howler. In science lessons howler monkeys are known as among the loudest land animals, heard kilometres away. In stories a howler can be a ghostly wind or a wolf. Phrases: «make a howler», «a real howler», «howler monkey».

examples

• Writing that Shakespeare invented the telephone was a real howler. tree →
• The goalkeeper made a howler and let the ball roll between his legs. tree →
• Howler monkeys shout to each other across the rainforest at dawn. tree →
• Our teacher collects the funniest howlers from exam papers. tree →
• The wind was a howler that night, rattling every window. tree →
• Ron got a Howler from his mum, and it screamed at him in the Great Hall. tree →
• Check your answer twice so you don't make a howler. tree →

note

Countable: one howler, two howlers. Comes from the verb «howl» (a long loud cry). «Howler» for a mistake is informal but not rude. A howler monkey is a real animal, not a made-up one.

In the corpora

• Howlers rest most of the day, because their leafy food gives little energy.

Trees and pragmatics

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