"fence" meaning in English

See fence in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /fɛns/ Audio: en-us-fence.ogg [US] Forms: fence [singular], fences [plural]
Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A fence is like a thin wall that is not part of a building. It stops people or animals from going from one outdoors place to another. It may have many big holes that you can see through, but not big enough for people to walk through.
    Sense id: simple-fence-en-noun-~YTdN1F1
  2. A fence is a person who buys things from people who stole the things, and then sells the things again to other people.
    Sense id: simple-fence-en-noun-4sEuWbch

Verb

IPA: /fɛns/ Audio: en-us-fence.ogg [US] Forms: fence [canonical], fences [third-person, singular], fenced [past], fenced [past, participle], fencing [present, participle]
Head templates: {{verb|fenc|e}} [POS TABLE]
  1. When someone fences a piece of land, they put up a fence around it.
    Sense id: simple-fence-en-verb-75xRNhUc
  2. When someone fences, they fight with swords as a sport.
    Sense id: simple-fence-en-verb-vNVJY8~H Categories (other): Verbs
  3. When someone fences something, they sell it to a fence.
    Sense id: simple-fence-en-verb-oVBhWm6J
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fence",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
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    },
    {
      "form": "fences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We put up a tall fence around the yard so that the dog couldn't get out."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fence is like a thin wall that is not part of a building. It stops people or animals from going from one outdoors place to another. It may have many big holes that you can see through, but not big enough for people to walk through."
      ],
      "id": "simple-fence-en-noun-~YTdN1F1",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I don't think anyone will steal this, because they wouldn't get much money for it. They'd have to sell it to a fence."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fence is a person who buys things from people who stole the things, and then sells the things again to other people."
      ],
      "id": "simple-fence-en-noun-4sEuWbch",
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛns/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/fEn(t)s/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-fence.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fence"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fence",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fences",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fenced",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fenced",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fencing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fenc",
        "2": "e"
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      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "This field has been fenced for years, because they used to keep cows here."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone fences a piece of land, they put up a fence around it."
      ],
      "id": "simple-fence-en-verb-75xRNhUc",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Verbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can hear the sound of the swords hitting each other, from people fencing in the gym."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone fences, they fight with swords as a sport."
      ],
      "id": "simple-fence-en-verb-vNVJY8~H",
      "raw_tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We can't give you back what we stole. We fenced it."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone fences something, they sell it to a fence."
      ],
      "id": "simple-fence-en-verb-oVBhWm6J",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛns/"
    },
    {
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      "audio": "en-us-fence.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
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{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fence",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
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      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We put up a tall fence around the yard so that the dog couldn't get out."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fence is like a thin wall that is not part of a building. It stops people or animals from going from one outdoors place to another. It may have many big holes that you can see through, but not big enough for people to walk through."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Countable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I don't think anyone will steal this, because they wouldn't get much money for it. They'd have to sell it to a fence."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A fence is a person who buys things from people who stole the things, and then sells the things again to other people."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "countable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛns/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/fEn(t)s/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-fence.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fence"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fence",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fences",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fenced",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fenced",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fencing",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fenc",
        "2": "e"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "This field has been fenced for years, because they used to keep cows here."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone fences a piece of land, they put up a fence around it."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Intransitive verbs",
        "Verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can hear the sound of the swords hitting each other, from people fencing in the gym."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone fences, they fight with swords as a sport."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "We can't give you back what we stole. We fenced it."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone fences something, they sell it to a fence."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fɛns/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/fEn(t)s/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-fence.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fence"
}

Download raw JSONL data for fence meaning in English (2.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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