Meaning & use
wick
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Meanings
nouncountable
The thin cord in a candle or oil lamp that soaks up melted wax or oil so the flame keeps burning.
Grammar: A countable noun: a candle with a short wick, three wicks.
Patterns
- trim the wick
- light the wick
She trimmed the wick so the candle would not smoke.
The lamp went out because the wick had burned down too far.
He held the match to the wick and the room slowly brightened.
verbtransitive or intransitivetechnical
To draw liquid away or along through a material by tiny gaps in its fibers.
Grammar: Often used with away: sports fabric wicks sweat away from the skin.
Patterns
- wick something away
- wick moisture from something
This thin shirt wicks sweat away from your skin.
The cloth wicked up the spilled water in seconds.
Good hiking socks wick moisture so your feet stay dry.
Word forms
| plural | wicks |
|---|---|
| third person singular | wicks |
| past tense | wicked |
| past participle | wicked |
| -ing form | wicking |
Common combinations
- candle wick
- Cut the candle wick to about a quarter of an inch.
- trim the wick
- Trim the wick before you relight the lamp.
- lamp wick
- The old lamp wick was soaked in oil.
- wick away moisture
- The fabric wicks away moisture during exercise.
- wicking fabric
- Runners prefer wicking fabric in hot weather.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fuse
- A fuse is a cord that carries fire to an explosive, while a wick is meant to burn steadily for a long time.
- cord
- Cord is any twisted string and tells you nothing about its use, whereas wick specifically carries fuel to a flame.
- draw
- As a verb, draw is the general word for pulling liquid in, while wick refers specifically to fibers carrying it by capillary action.
- absorb
- Absorb means to take something in and keep it, while wick means to move liquid along and away.
Word family
Commonly confused: wick or whick? wick or wicked?
wick vs whick
Whick is not a word. The correct spelling for the cord in a candle is wick.
wick vs wicked
The past tense of the verb wick is wicked, pronounced with a final t sound, /wɪkt/. The adjective wicked meaning evil has two syllables.
Practice
The sports shirt is designed to ____ sweat away from your body.
Choose one answer.
To wick is to carry liquid away through fabric. Whisk means to mix quickly or move fast and does not describe fabric action.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wick”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.