wuss

«wuss» in Mova's school dictionary: seen as weak, scared or not brave — 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 (wuss, wusses); adjective (wussy, informal)

meaning for a pupil

1) (slang, mildly rude) A person who is seen as weak, scared or not brave. tree →

2) Wuss is an old country way of saying worse. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday talk among children or in stories, calling someone a «wuss» teases them for being scared. It is mildly insulting and can be unkind; being careful or scared of danger is often sensible, not weak.

examples

• Don't be a wuss, the water's not that cold! tree →
• He called me a wuss for not going on the big ride. tree →
• I'm a total wuss about spiders. tree →
• Stop calling your brother a wuss. tree →
• Only a wuss would quit now, said the bully. tree →
• It's not wussy to wear a helmet, it's smart. tree →
• An' dey got wuss nex' day. tree →

note

Slang, mainly US. Plural: wusses. It is a teasing insult; avoid it in school writing. Saying it about yourself («I'm a wuss about needles») is friendly.

In the corpora

• Worcestershire is said "WUSS-ter-sher", Leicester "LES-ter" and Gloucester "GLOS-ter".

Trees and pragmatics

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