pencilnoun [ C or U ]
uk/ˈpen.səl/us/ˈpen.səl/A1 a long, thin object, usually made of wood, for writing or drawing, with a sharp black or coloured point at one end:
a box of coloured pencils
pens and pencils
He sat with his pencil poised, ready to take notes.
The pencil's blunt - you'd better sharpen it (= make its point sharp).
Write your comments in the margin in (= using) pencil.
a pencil sharpener
the form of some types of make-up:
an eyebrow pencil
a lip pencil
literary a thin beam of light:
A pencil of light showed as the door opened slightly.
More examples
- Please write in ink, not in pencil.
- It's in pencil, so you can rub it out if you need to.
- My pencil is blunt - I'll have to sharpen it.
- If you spot any mistakes in the article just mark them with a pencil.
- Are there enough pencils to go round?
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Publishing: paper & stationery
- A2
- A3
- A5
- acid-free
- assembler
- ballpoint pen
- grammage
- graph paper
- headed notepaper
- highlighter
- jotter
- keypad
- qwerty
- ream
- rice paper
- rough paper
- scrap paper
- slate
- tissue
- watermark
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Painting & drawing materials
Make-up & skin care
Quantities & units of light
Idiom(s)
put/set pencil to paper
penciladjective [ before noun ]
uk/ˈpen.səl/us/ˈpen.səl/used to describe something that has been drawn with a pencil:
pencil sketches/drawings
Cut on or just inside the pencil line.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Pictures
- -scape
- abstract
- aquatint
- balloon
- canvas
- caricature
- cartoon
- graphics
- halo
- identikit
- illustration
- infographic
- pixelated
- poster
- rough
- seascape
- self-portrait
- shade
- sketch
- speech bubble
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pencilverb [ T ]
uk/ˈpen.səl/us/ˈpen.səl/-ll- or US usually -l-to write something with a pencil
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Writing & typing
- asterisk
- borrow
- chalk
- co-author
- compose
- copy
- creative writing
- enter
- fair sth out
- fire
- ghostwrite
- misspell
- orthography
- record
- run
- scrawl
- transcription
- typing
- write
- write sth up
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pencilled
adjective US usually penciled uk/ˈpen.səld/us/ˈpen.səld/
pencilled comments/notes
Phrasal verb(s)
pencil sth/sb in