FOIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does foil mean? 

• FOIL (noun)
  The noun FOIL has 5 senses:

1. a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal

2. anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities

3. a device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through

4. picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector

5. a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button

  Familiarity information: FOIL used as a noun is common.

• FOIL (verb)
  The verb FOIL has 3 senses:

1. enhance by contrast

2. hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of

3. cover or back with foil

  Familiarity information: FOIL used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A piece of thin and flexible sheet metal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

the photographic film was wrapped in foil

Hypernyms ("foil" is a kind of...):

sheet metal (sheet of metal formed into a thin plate)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "foil"):

aluminium foil; aluminum foil; tin foil (foil made of aluminum)

chaff (foil in thin strips; ejected into the air as a radar countermeasure)

gold foil (foil made of gold)

tin foil; tinfoil (foil made of tin or an alloy of tin and lead)

Derivation:

foil (cover or back with foil)

foliate (coat or back with metal foil)

foliate (hammer into thin flat foils)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

enhancer; foil

Context example:

pretty girls like plain friends as foils

Hypernyms ("foil" is a kind of...):

attention (a general interest that leads people to want to know more)

Derivation:

foil (enhance by contrast)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

foil; hydrofoil

Context example:

the fins of a fish act as hydrofoils

Hypernyms ("foil" is a kind of...):

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

foil; transparency

Hypernyms ("foil" is a kind of...):

icon; ikon; image; picture (a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "foil"):

lantern slide; slide (a transparency mounted in a frame; viewed with a slide projector)

overhead; viewgraph (a transparency for use with an overhead projector)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A light slender flexible sword tipped by a button

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("foil" is a kind of...):

fencing sword (a sword used in the sport of fencing)

Domain category:

fencing (the art or sport of fighting with swords (especially the use of foils or epees or sabres to score points under a set of rules))

• FOIL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they foil    ... he / she / it foils   
Past simple: foiled   
Past participle: foiled   
-ing form: foiling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Enhance by contrast

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

In this picture, the figures are foiled against the background

Hypernyms (to "foil" is one way to...):

contrast; counterpoint (to show differences when compared; be different)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

foil (anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

baffle; bilk; cross; foil; frustrate; queer; scotch; spoil; thwart

Context example:

foil your opponent

Hypernyms (to "foil" is one way to...):

forbid; foreclose; forestall; preclude; prevent (keep from happening or arising; make impossible)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "foil"):

disappoint; let down (fail to meet the hopes or expectations of)

dash (destroy or break)

short-circuit (hamper the progress of; impede)

ruin (destroy or cause to fail)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

foiling (an act of hindering someone's plans or efforts)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cover or back with foil

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

foil mirrors

Hypernyms (to "foil" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

foil (a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal)

 Context examples 

If the cued side changed color, the monkey should release the lever, but if the non-cued (foil) side changed color, the monkey should ignore it.

(Researchers discover neural code that predicts behavior, National Institutes of Health)

He added that the team tested other materials such as aluminum foils and Teflon, but after all the tests, they found that silicon was able to produce more charge than the other materials.

(Nanogenerator Creates Electricity from Snowfall, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They then took a word recognition test with 32 targets from the study list and 32 “foils” that weren’t on the list.

(Storing memories of recent events, NIH)

Whenever I marry, she continued after a pause which none interrupted, I am resolved my husband shall not be a rival, but a foil to me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It is used in medicine and dentistry and in many products such as foil, cans, pots and pans, airplanes, siding, and roofs.

(Aluminum, NCI Dictionary)

Suppositories that are strip packed between two layers of foil are also considered a blister pack.

(Blister Pack, NCI Thesaurus)

The crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between layers of lead foil.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Other examples include aluminum foil packets into which alcohol swabs and pledgets are placed.

(Packet, NCI Thesaurus)

These boots, an old foil, and a slashed doublet once used by an artist for some picture, were Jo's chief treasures and appeared on all occasions.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He provided foils for us, and Steerforth gave me lessons in fencing—gloves, and I began, of the same master, to improve in boxing.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)