Meaning & use
ton
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Meanings
nouncountable
A unit of weight; in the United States it equals 2,000 pounds, and a metric version equals 1,000 kilograms.
Grammar: Counted with numbers and often left singular after a number in measures: a five-ton truck.
Patterns
- a ton of something
- weigh a ton
The delivery truck can carry up to five tons of gravel.
The whale weighed nearly forty tons.
The new bridge was designed to hold hundreds of tons.
nounusually pluralinformal
A very large amount or number; used to emphasize how much of something there is.
Grammar: Usually appears in tons of or a ton of with no verb change: tons of people were there.
Patterns
- a ton of something
- tons of something
I have a ton of homework this weekend.
There were tons of people at the market.
She makes tons of money from her online shop.
nouncountableBritishinformal
In British English, a score or total of one hundred, especially one hundred runs in cricket or a speed of one hundred miles per hour.
Grammar: British informal: score a ton.
Patterns
- score a ton
- do a ton
The batsman scored a ton before lunch.
The motorbike was doing a ton on the empty road.
He reached a ton in only seventy balls.
Word forms
| plural | tons |
|---|
Common combinations
- a ton of money
- The renovation cost a ton of money.
- weigh a ton
- This suitcase weighs a ton.
- tons of fun
- The trip was tons of fun for everyone.
- hit like a ton of bricks
- The bad news hit me like a ton of bricks.
- a metric ton
- The ship carries ten thousand metric tons of grain.
Synonyms and how they differ
- loads
- Loads is also informal and has almost the same meaning as tons, but it is more common in British English.
- heaps
- Heaps is informal and suggests a pile of something, while tons suggests weight or great quantity.
- a great deal
- A great deal means the same but sounds more formal and is not used with countable plural nouns.
Opposites
Word family
- tonnage noun
- The total weight in tons that something carries or holds.
- tonne noun
- A metric unit of 1,000 kilograms.
- ton-up adjective
- British informal word for travelling at one hundred miles per hour.
Commonly confused: ton or tonne?
ton vs tonne
A tonne is the metric unit of 1,000 kilograms, spelled differently in British English, while an American ton is 2,000 pounds.
Practice
I can't lift this box; it weighs a ______.
Choose one answer.
Weigh a ton is a common way to say something is very heavy. Tone is a sound quality and tun is a large cask, so neither fits.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ton”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.