mouthful

[ mouth-foo l ]

/ ˈmaʊθˌfʊl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mouthful ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural mouth·fuls.

the amount a mouth can hold.

the amount taken into the mouth at one time.

a small quantity.

Informal. a spoken remark of great truth, relevance, effectiveness, etc.: You said a mouthful!

a long word or group of words, especially one that is hard to pronounce.

Nearby words

mouth-watering, mouthbreeder, mouthbrooder, mouthed, mouthfeel, mouthful, mouthing, mouthpart, mouthpiece, mouthwash, mouthwatering

Origin of mouthful

1375–1425; late Middle English. See mouth, -ful

Usage note

See -ful.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for mouthful

It was 4:30 in the morning, I had a mouthful of blood and raw chicken and it just—you get yourself into a very strange place.
‘The Walking Dead’ Star Andrew Lincoln on the Terminus Cannibals Theory & Season Finale|Melissa Leon|March 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Swedish plane has got a mouthful of a name: the JAS 39E Gripen.
The Planet’s Best Stealth Fighter Isn’t Made in America|Bill Sweetman|March 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was a mouthful of a lesson, but after learning it once, you never had to memorize it again.
China’s Schools Teaches Kids to Take Tests, Obey the State, and Not Much More|Junheng Li|November 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Food in Calabria was pride, self-sufficiency and community all mixed together in one mouthful.
A Young Chef Travels to Calabria, Italy, and Learns the Old Ways of Cooking|Curtis Stone|November 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST

But also somebody who could handle a mouthful of exposition and make the words understandable and compelling.
Homeland’s Tracy Letts, Writer of ‘August: Osage County,’ Says Oscar Mania Is Frustrating|Jason Lynch|November 5, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Just a mouthful of bread, and even that I do not get a chance to eat!
The Memoirs of Victor Hugo|Victor Hugo
Thus she was conducted almost without a mouthful of food to the frontier of France.
A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times|Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot
He was at least sixteen feet in length, and would have made but a mouthful of poor me.
Perseverance Island|Douglas Frazar
But our big double-ended thirty-footer was more of a mouthful.
Down the Columbia|Lewis R. Freeman
We waited an hour, and gave him a mouthful of water and a handful of hay from his own pack-saddle.
From Pole to Pole|Sven Anders Hedin

British Dictionary definitions for mouthful

mouthful

/ (ˈmaʊθˌfʊl) /

noun plural -fuls

as much as is held in the mouth at one time

a small quantity, as of food

a long word or phrase that is difficult to say

British informal an abusive response

informal, mainly US and Canadian an impressive remark (esp in the phrase say a mouthful)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with mouthful

mouthful

see say a mouthful.