SOLE (soles)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: soles   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sole mean? 

• SOLE (noun)
  The noun SOLE has 4 senses:

1. the underside of footwear or a golf club

2. lean flesh of any of several flatfish

3. the underside of the foot

4. right-eyed flatfish; many are valued as food; most common in warm seas especially European

  Familiarity information: SOLE used as a noun is uncommon.

• SOLE (adjective)
  The adjective SOLE has 2 senses:

1. not divided or shared with others

2. being the only one; single and isolated from others

  Familiarity information: SOLE used as an adjective is rare.

• SOLE (verb)
  The verb SOLE has 1 sense:

1. put a new sole on

  Familiarity information: SOLE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The underside of footwear or a golf club

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

bottom; underside; undersurface (the lower side of anything)

Meronyms (parts of "sole"):

shank; waist (the narrow part of the shoe connecting the heel and the wide part of the sole)

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

half sole (shoe sole extending from the shank to the toe)

innersole; insole (the inner sole of a shoe or boot where the foot rests)

outsole (the outer sole of a shoe or boot that is the bottom of the shoe and makes contact with the ground)

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

footgear; footwear (covering for a person's feet)

club-head; club head; clubhead; golf-club head ((golf) the head of the club which strikes the ball)

Derivation:

sole (put a new sole on)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lean flesh of any of several flatfish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

fillet of sole; sole

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

flatfish (sweet lean whitish flesh of any of numerous thin-bodied fish; usually served as thin fillets)

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

gray sole; grey sole (greyish-white flesh of a flatfish)

English sole; lemon sole (highly valued almost pure white flesh)

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

sole (right-eyed flatfish; many are valued as food; most common in warm seas especially European)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The underside of the foot

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

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

area; region (a part of an animal that has a special function or is supplied by a given artery or nerve)

Meronyms (parts of "sole"):

ball (a more or less rounded anatomical body or mass)

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

foot; human foot; pes (the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Right-eyed flatfish; many are valued as food; most common in warm seas especially European

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

flatfish (any of several families of fishes having flattened bodies that swim along the sea floor on one side of the body with both eyes on the upper side)

food fish (any fish used for food by human beings)

Meronyms (parts of "sole"):

fillet of sole; sole (lean flesh of any of several flatfish)

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

European sole; Solea solea (highly valued as food)

lemon sole; Solea lascaris (small European sole)

English sole; lemon sole; Parophrys vitulus (popular pale brown food flatfish of the Pacific coast of North America)

Psettichthys melanostichus; sand sole (a common flatfish of the Pacific coast of North America)

hogchoker; Trinectes maculatus (useless as food; in coastal streams from Maine to Texas and Panama)

Holonyms ("sole" is a member of...):

family Soleidae; Soleidae (soles)

• SOLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not divided or shared with others

Synonyms:

exclusive; sole

Context example:

sole rights of publication

Similar:

unshared (not shared)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Being the only one; single and isolated from others

Synonyms:

lone; lonesome; only; sole; solitary

Context example:

a solitary speck in the sky

Similar:

single (existing alone or consisting of one entity or part or aspect or individual)

• SOLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sole    ... he / she / it soles   
Past simple: soled   
Past participle: soled   
-ing form: soling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put a new sole on

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

resole; sole

Context example:

sole the shoes

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

bushel; doctor; fix; furbish up; mend; repair; restore; touch on (restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

sole (the underside of footwear or a golf club)

 Context examples 

‘No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,’ he cried.

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

Lady Frances, he continued, is the sole survivor of the direct family of the late Earl of Rufton.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Poor things! it was the sole consolation they had.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But, perhaps, his sister does as well for the present, and, as she is under his sole care, he may do what he likes with her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The findings caution against using species counts as the sole measure of success for conservation efforts.

(Diverse Bee Communities Best for Apple Orchards, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Miss Mills and her journal were my sole consolation at this period.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But he begged so hard that the king let him go; and the prince thought to himself, “If I bring my father this water, he will make me sole heir to his kingdom.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A disorder characterized by redness, marked discomfort, swelling, and tingling in the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet.

(Palmar-Plantar Erythodysthesia, NCI Thesaurus/CTCAE)

No article of value was taken, as it is probable that the criminals were men of good position, whose sole object was to prevent social exposure.

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

Mina if she survive is my sole heir.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)