FORK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fork mean? 

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

1. cutlery used for serving and eating food

2. the act of branching out or dividing into branches

3. the region of the angle formed by the junction of two branches

4. an agricultural tool used for lifting or digging; has a handle and metal prongs

5. the angle formed by the inner sides of the legs where they join the human trunk

  Familiarity information: FORK used as a noun is common.

• FORK (verb)
  The verb FORK has 4 senses:

1. lift with a pitchfork

2. place under attack with one's own pieces, of two enemy pieces

3. divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork

4. shape like a fork

  Familiarity information: FORK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cutlery used for serving and eating food

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

cutlery; eating utensil (tableware implements for cutting and eating food)

Meronyms (parts of "fork"):

prong (a pointed projection)

tine (prong on a fork or pitchfork or antler)

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

carving fork (a large fork used in carving cooked meat)

salad fork (a fork intended for eating salads)

tablefork (a fork for eating at a dining table)

toasting fork (long-handled fork for cooking or toasting frankfurters or bread etc. (especially over an open fire))

Derivation:

fork (shape like a fork)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of branching out or dividing into branches

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

branching; fork; forking; ramification

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

division (the act or process of dividing)

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

bifurcation (the act of splitting into two branches)

trifurcation (the act of splitting into three branches)

divarication (branching at a wide angle)

fibrillation (act or process of forming fibrils)

Derivation:

bifurcate (divide into two branches)

bifurcate (split or divide into two)

fork (divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The region of the angle formed by the junction of two branches

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

crotch; fork

Context example:

he climbed into the crotch of a tree

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

branch; leg; ramification (a part of a forked or branching shape)

Derivation:

fork (shape like a fork)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An agricultural tool used for lifting or digging; has a handle and metal prongs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Meronyms (parts of "fork"):

prong (a pointed projection)

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

hayfork (a long-handled fork for turning or lifting hay)

Derivation:

fork (lift with a pitchfork)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The angle formed by the inner sides of the legs where they join the human trunk

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

crotch; fork

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

angle (the space between two lines or planes that intersect; the inclination of one line to another; measured in degrees or radians)

Holonyms ("fork" is a part of...):

body; organic structure (the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being))

• FORK (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lift with a pitchfork

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

fork; pitchfork

Context example:

pitchfork hay

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

lift (take hold of something and move it to a different location)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fork (an agricultural tool used for lifting or digging; has a handle and metal prongs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Place under attack with one's own pieces, of two enemy pieces

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

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

aggress; attack (take the initiative and go on the offensive)

Domain category:

chess; chess game (a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Divide into two or more branches so as to form a fork

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

branch; fork; furcate; ramify; separate

Context example:

The road forks

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

diverge (move or draw apart)

Verb group:

branch; ramify (grow and send out branches or branch-like structures)

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

arborise; arborize (branch out like trees)

twig (branch out in a twiglike manner)

bifurcate (divide into two branches)

trifurcate (divide into three)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

fork; forking (the act of branching out or dividing into branches)

forking (the place where something divides into branches)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Shape like a fork

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

She forked her fingers

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

form; shape (give shape or form to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fork (cutlery used for serving and eating food)

fork (the region of the angle formed by the junction of two branches)

 Context examples 

This Y-shaped region is referred to as a replication fork.

(DNA Replication Fork, NCI Thesaurus)

I took back Captain Hopkins's knife and fork early in the afternoon, and went home to comfort Mrs. Micawber with an account of my visit.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This process may be involved in lengthening telomeres and in resolving breaks induced by radiation, mutagenic chemicals and collapsed replication forks.

(Mitotic Recombination, NCI Thesaurus)

The activated Mcm complex functions as a replicating helicase and moves along with the replication fork to bring the origins to the unlicensed state.

(CDK Regulation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

But at last he had made it, and was seated alongside of Her. The array of knives and forks frightened him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The spoons, forks, and other instruments, were all in the same proportion.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I put the forked metal to my ears and listened.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A part of a forking structure; a division or offshoot from a main stem.

(Branch, NCI Thesaurus)

At the forks he took the turning to the left, where he found the lair of the lynx with whom his mother and he had fought long before.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

"No, it's the toasting fork, with Mother's shoe on it instead of the bread. Beth's stage-struck!" cried Meg, and the rehearsal ended in a general burst of laughter.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)