Meaning & use
shock of hair
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Meaning
nouncountable
A large, thick mass of hair that looks untidy or wild.
Grammar: Almost always used with an or his/her and a describing word: a shock of red hair.
Patterns
- a shock of hair
- a shock of curly hair
The boy had a shock of red hair that no comb could tame.
He walked in with a shock of white hair standing straight up.
Even at ninety, she kept a shock of silver hair.
Word forms
| plural | shocks of hair |
|---|
Common combinations
- a shock of red hair
- A shock of red hair poked out from under his cap.
- a shock of white hair
- The conductor's shock of white hair bounced as he waved the baton.
- a shock of dark hair
- A shock of dark hair fell across her forehead.
- a shock of curly hair
- The toddler had a shock of curly hair like a dandelion.
- a shock of unruly hair
- A shock of unruly hair made him easy to spot in the crowd.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mop
- Mop is more informal and suggests hair that looks like a floor mop, often on a young person.
- mane
- Mane suggests long, thick and impressive hair, often admired, while shock of hair stresses thickness and untidiness.
- thatch
- Thatch compares thick hair to a straw roof, and often suggests coarse or messy hair.
Opposites
Word family
- shock noun
- here, a thick untidy mass of something
- shock-headed adjective
- having a thick untidy mass of hair
- hairdo noun
- a style of arranging hair
Commonly confused: shock of hair or shock?
shock of hair vs shock
In other contexts shock means a sudden surprise or an electric jolt. In this phrase it only means a thick bunch, as in a bunch of hair.
Practice
When he took off his hat, a ___ of curly hair sprang free.
Choose one answer.
A shock of hair is the fixed phrase for a thick untidy mass of hair. Batch, stack and group are normal words for other things, but none is used with hair in this way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shock of hair”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.