Meaning & use
aircon
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Meaning
noununcountableinformalBritish
Air conditioning, or the machine that cools and dries the air in a room or vehicle.
Grammar: Uncountable; do not use 'a' or 'an'. Say 'the aircon is broken', not 'an aircon is broken'.
Patterns
- turn on the aircon
- the aircon is on
It's so hot in here—can you turn on the aircon?
The car's aircon isn't working, so we opened the windows.
They installed aircon in all the offices last summer.
Common combinations
- turn on the aircon
- Please turn on the aircon; it's boiling in here.
- the aircon is broken
- We couldn't sleep because the aircon was broken.
- install aircon
- The hotel plans to install aircon in every room.
- aircon unit
- There's an aircon unit mounted on the wall.
Synonyms and how they differ
- air conditioning
- Air conditioning is the full, more formal term; aircon is the short, informal version used mainly in British English.
- AC
- AC is the common American abbreviation; aircon is more common in British English.
Opposites
Word family
- air conditioning noun
- The full form; the system or process of cooling and drying air.
Commonly confused: aircon or air condition?
aircon vs air condition
Air condition is not a noun; the noun is 'air conditioning'. Aircon is the informal short form.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
Aircon is uncountable, so you say 'the aircon' without 'a' or 'an', and it takes a singular verb. Option 0 wrongly uses 'an', option 1 has a plural verb, and option 3 gives a wrong definition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “aircon”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.