noun
- A piece of thin and flexible sheet metal.
- usage: "the photographic film was wrapped in foil"
- Anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing's good qualities.
- usage: "pretty girls like plain friends as foils"
- synonyms: enhancer
- A device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through.
- usage: "the fins of a fish act as hydrofoils"
- synonyms: hydrofoil
- Picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector.
- synonyms: transparency
- A light slender flexible sword tipped by a button.
verb
- Enhance by contrast.
- usage: "In this picture, the figures are foiled against the background"
- Hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of.
- usage: "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge"; "foil your opponent"
- Cover or back with foil.
- usage: "foil mirrors"
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). Foil. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/foil/definitions/1204162 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "Foil" http://smartdefine.org/foil/definitions/1204162 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, Foil, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/foil/definitions/1204162>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "Foil" 23 October 2010. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/foil/definitions/1204162> |