Meaning & use
shoulder-length
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Reaching down to about the shoulders.
Grammar: Used before a noun (shoulder-length hair); it can also follow 'be': her hair is shoulder-length.
Patterns
- shoulder-length hair
- shoulder-length curls
- be shoulder-length
She came back from the salon with glossy shoulder-length hair.
He likes his hair shoulder-length in summer but cuts it short in winter.
A young woman with shoulder-length dark curls opened the door.
adjectivebefore a noun
Of a piece of clothing or jewelry, ending around the level of the shoulders.
Grammar: Before a noun, as in a shoulder-length veil or shoulder-length earrings.
Patterns
- a shoulder-length veil
- shoulder-length earrings
- a shoulder-length jacket
The bride wore a simple shoulder-length veil.
She chose shoulder-length earrings to match the dress.
Common combinations
- shoulder-length hair
- She has straight shoulder-length hair.
- shoulder-length blonde hair
- The actor is known for her shoulder-length blonde hair.
- shoulder-length curls
- Her shoulder-length curls bounced as she walked.
- grow something to shoulder-length
- He's growing his hair to shoulder-length.
- shoulder-length bob
- She asked for a shoulder-length bob.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mid-length
- More general: it can mean anything of medium length, not specifically reaching the shoulders.
- collarbone-length
- Slightly shorter than shoulder-length, ending at the collarbone.
Opposites
Word family
- shoulder noun
- The part of the body where the arm joins the neck.
- length noun
- How long something is.
- full-length adjective
- Reaching all the way to the floor or covering the whole body.
- knee-length adjective
- Reaching down to the knees.
Commonly confused: shoulder-length or shoulder width?
shoulder-length vs shoulder width
'Shoulder-width' describes how wide something is, as in 'shoulder-width apart'; 'shoulder-length' describes how far something hangs down.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'shoulder-length' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Shoulder-length' follows 'be' to describe hair: her hair is shoulder-length. It is not gradable, so 'more shoulder-length' is wrong; '-ly' does not attach to it; and 'has shoulder-length' needs a noun after it, as in 'has shoulder-length hair'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shoulder-length”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.