pear-shaped

/'peəʃeipt/

Thân thiện

Her singing voice has a lovely, pear-shaped quality.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Having a shape that resembles a pear: Widest at the bottom and tapering toward the top.
   • (Of a sound, especially a voice or vowel) Full, rich, and resonant: Characterized by a round, clear, and often loud quality.

Examples of Usage

• Describing Shape:
  • The antique vase had a distinctive pear-shaped form.
  • The company's growth chart was pear-shaped, showing a wide base of initial users.
• Describing Sound:
  • The opera singer's pear-shaped tones filled the concert hall.
  • Linguists describe some vowel sounds as being more pear-shaped than others.

Advanced Usage

• "To go pear-shaped" (British, Australian, New Zealand informal idiom): To go wrong; to fail completely or disastrously.
  • Our carefully planned picnic went completely pear-shaped when it started to rain.
  • The business deal was going well until the negotiations went pear-shaped at the last minute.

Variants and Related Words

• Pear-shapedness (noun, rare): The quality or state of being pear-shaped.
• Pyriform (adjective, technical): Having a pear-like shape; a synonym used in scientific contexts like botany or anatomy.

Synonyms

• For shape: Ovoid, pyriform, bulbous (at one end), tapered.
• For sound: Rotund, sonorous, resonant, orotund, full-bodied.

Related Phrases

• "Pear-shaped figure": A description of a body shape characterized by wider hips and thighs compared to the shoulders and bust.
  • She has a classic pear-shaped figure.

Related Idioms

• "Go pear-shaped": As detailed in Advanced Usage, this is the primary idiom associated with the term. It implies a situation deteriorating from a state of order to one of chaos or failure.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. (of sounds) full and rich
   • orotund tones
   • the rotund and reverberating phrase
   • pear-shaped vowels
2. having a round shape tapered at one end

Từ đồng nghĩa

• orotund
• rotund
• round