limbs

Meanings

1. 1nounplural

   The arms and legs of a person or animal, or the wings and legs of a bird.

   Grammar: Plural form: her limbs ached; singular is limb.

   Patterns

   • stretch your limbs
   • lose a limb

   After the long flight, she stretched her limbs in the aisle.

   The cold made his limbs feel heavy and stiff.

   Frogs use their strong back limbs for jumping.

2. 2nounplural

   The large main branches of a tree.

   Grammar: Plural form; singular is limb: the tree's limbs were bare.

   Patterns

   • tree limbs
   • fallen limbs

   Heavy snow broke several limbs off the old oak.

   The children climbed along the thick limbs of the maple.

Word forms

Common combinations

stretch your limbs

He got out of the car to stretch his limbs.

artificial limbs

The clinic fits patients with artificial limbs.

aching limbs

She sank into a hot bath to soothe her aching limbs.

lose a limb

The accident meant that he lost a limb.

tree limbs

Fallen tree limbs blocked the road after the storm.

upper and lower limbs

The doctor checked both the upper and lower limbs.

Synonyms and how they differ

arms and legs

Arms and legs is the plain everyday phrase, while limbs is shorter and used in medical or formal contexts.

extremities

Extremities also covers hands, feet and fingertips, so it is a medical term about the far ends, not whole limbs.

branches

Branches fits trees in everyday talk; limbs suggests the larger main branches.

Opposites

Word family

limb noun

one arm, leg or large branch

limbless adjective

having no arms or legs

lissome adjective

literary word for moving with graceful, flexible limbs

Commonly confused: limbs or limbs?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “limbs”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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