Meaning & use
king cobra
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Meanings
nouncountablebiology
A very large venomous snake of southern and southeastern Asia that eats other snakes.
Grammar: Countable: one king cobra, two king cobras; it can also be used before another noun, as in 'king cobra venom'.
Patterns
- a king cobra
- king cobra venom
The zookeeper warned visitors to keep away from the king cobra.
A king cobra can raise the front of its body and look a person in the eye.
Researchers studied how king cobra venom affects the nervous system.
noununcountabletechnical
The venom of this snake, used in medicine and research.
Grammar: Uncountable when it means the substance: 'king cobra' stands for the venom itself, as in 'a dose of king cobra'.
Patterns
- a dose of king cobra
- be treated with king cobra
In the lab, a small amount of king cobra was used to test the new antivenom.
Some traditional remedies claim that king cobra can ease pain, though evidence is limited.
Word forms
| plural | king cobras |
|---|
Common combinations
- a king cobra bite
- A king cobra bite can kill an adult within hours without treatment.
- king cobra venom
- King cobra venom attacks the nerves rather than the blood.
- be bitten by a king cobra
- The farmer was bitten by a king cobra while clearing brush.
- a king cobra's hood
- When threatened, the snake spreads its hood, a king cobra's most famous feature.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cobra
- A general name for many hooded snakes; 'king cobra' is one specific, much larger kind.
- hamadryad
- An older, literary name for the same snake; it is rare outside older books.
Word family
- cobra noun
- Any of various venomous snakes that can spread a hood.
Commonly confused: king cobra or black mamba?
king cobra vs black mamba
Another famous dangerous snake, but it is African, thinner, and even faster; the king cobra is Asian and feeds mainly on other snakes.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'king cobra' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'King cobra' is a singular countable noun, so 'the king cobra is' is correct. The first and fourth options use the wrong verb form, and snakes bite rather than sting, so the third fails on both grammar and meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “king cobra”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.