foul

adjective

/faʊl/

(comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

Idioms

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dirty and smelling bad
- foul air/breath
- a foul-smelling prison
- Foul drinking water was blamed for the epidemic.
Synonyms disgusting
disgusting
- foul
- revolting
- repulsive
- offensive
- gross
These words all describe something, especially a smell, taste or habit, that is extremely unpleasant and often makes you feel slightly ill.
- disgusting extremely unpleasant and making you feel slightly ill:
  What a disgusting smell!
- foul dirty, and tasting or smelling bad:
  She could smell his foul breath.
- revolting extremely unpleasant and making you feel slightly ill:
  The stew looked revolting.
disgusting or revolting?Both of these words are used to describe things that smell and taste unpleasant, unpleasant personal habits and people who have them. There is no real difference in meaning, but disgusting is more frequent, especially in spoken English.
- repulsive (rather formal) extremely unpleasant in a way that offends you or makes you feel slightly ill. Repulsive usually describes people, their behaviour or habits, which you may find offensive for physical or moral reasons.
- offensive (formal) (especially of smells) extremely unpleasant.
- gross (informal) (of a smell, taste or personal habit) extremely unpleasant.
Patterns
- disgusting/repulsive/offensive to somebody
- to find somebody/something disgusting/revolting/repulsive/offensive
- to smell/taste disgusting/foul/gross
- a(n) disgusting/foul/revolting/offensive/gross smell
- a disgusting/revolting/gross habit
- disgusting/offensive/gross behaviour
- a disgusting/revolting/repulsive man/woman/person
Extra Examples
- She could smell his foul breath.
- The air in the cell was foul.
(especially British English) very unpleasant; very bad
- She's in a foul mood.
- His boss has a foul temper.
- This tastes foul.
(of language) including rude words and swearing synonym offensive
- She exploded in a torrent of foul language.
- I'm sick of her foul mouth (= habit of swearing).
- He called her the foulest names imaginable.
(of weather) very bad, with strong winds and rain
- a foul night
Topics Weatherc2
(literary) very evil or cruel synonym abominable
- a foul crime/murder
[only before noun] (British English) done against the rules of a sport
- Harper was penalized for a foul tackle.

Word OriginOld English fūl, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse fúll ‘foul’, Dutch vuil ‘dirty’, and German faul ‘rotten, lazy’, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pus, Greek puos ‘pus’, and Latin putere ‘to stink’.

Idioms

by fair means or foul

using dishonest methods if honest ones do not work
- She’s determined to win, by fair means or foul.

cry foul

(informal) to complain that somebody else has done something wrong or unfair

fall foul of somebody/something

to get into trouble with a person or an organization because of doing something wrong or illegal
- to fall foul of the law

foul

verb

/faʊl/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they foul	/faʊl/ /faʊl/
he / she / it fouls	/faʊlz/ /faʊlz/
past simple fouled	/faʊld/ /faʊld/
past participle fouled	/faʊld/ /faʊld/
-ing form fouling	/ˈfaʊlɪŋ/ /ˈfaʊlɪŋ/

Phrasal Verbs

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[transitive] foul somebody (in sport) to do something to another player that is against the rules of the game
- He was fouled inside the penalty area.
Topics Sports: ball and racket sportsc1
[intransitive, transitive] foul (something) (in baseball) to hit the ball outside the playing areaTopics Sports: ball and racket sportsc1
[transitive] foul something to make something dirty, especially with waste matter from the body
- Do not permit your dog to foul the grass.
- More and more beaches are being fouled by oil leakages.
[transitive, intransitive] to become caught or twisted in something and stop it working or moving
- foul something (up) The rope fouled the propeller.
- The line became fouled in (= became twisted in) the propeller.
- foul (up) A rope fouled up (= became twisted) as we pulled the sail down.

foul

noun

/faʊl/

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(in sport) an action that is against the rules of the game
- It was a clear foul by Ford on the goalkeeper.
- (North American English) to hit a foul (= in baseball, a ball that is too far left or right, outside the lines that mark the side of the field)
see also professional foul, technical foul
Extra Examples
- He drew a fourth foul on Camby.
- He was sent off for a blatant foul on Giggs.
- The referee did not call a foul on the player.
Topics Sports: ball and racket sportsc1
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- blatant
- clear
- deliberate
- …
verb + foul
- commit
- draw
- call
- …
preposition
- foul on
See full entry
Word OriginOld English fūl, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse fúll ‘foul’, Dutch vuil ‘dirty’, and German faul ‘rotten, lazy’, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin pus, Greek puos ‘pus’, and Latin putere ‘to stink’.

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