{
    "term": "spell",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "a1",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "spell",
            "heSheIt": "spells"
        },
        "pastSimple": "spelt",
        "pastParticiple": "spelt",
        "ingForm": "spelling"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "to say or write the letters of a word in the correct order",
            "sensetop": "spell somethingspell something with something",
            "cefr": "a1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "How do you spell your surname?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "You've **spelt** my **name** wrong."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I thought her name was Catherine, but it's Kathryn spelt with a ‘K’.",
                    "contextForm": "spell something with something"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Should 'internet' be spelled with a capital or lower case i?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "‘Nevaeh’ is ‘heaven’ spelled backwards/​backward."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Is ‘necessary’ spelled with one ‘s’, or two?"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The article spelled ‘survey’ as ‘servay’."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["clearly", "explicitly", "fully"],
                "preposition": ["for", "to"],
                "verb + spell out": ["have to", "need to"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "to form words correctly from individual letters",
            "cefr": "a1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I've never been able to spell."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["clearly", "explicitly", "fully"],
                "preposition": ["for", "to"],
                "verb + spell out": ["have to", "need to"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "to form words when they are put together in a particular order",
            "sensetop": "spell something",
            "cefr": "a1",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "C—A—T spells ‘cat’."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Language"],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["clearly", "explicitly", "fully"],
                "preposition": ["for", "to"],
                "verb + spell out": ["have to", "need to"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "to have something, usually something bad, as a result; to mean something, usually something bad",
            "sensetop": "spell something (for somebody/something)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The crop failure spelt disaster for many farmers."
                },
                {
                    "text": "This defeat spelt the end of his hopes of winning the title again."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "to replace for a short time somebody who is doing a particular activity so that they can rest",
            "sensetop": "spell somebody",
            "labels": "(North American English, informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Carter will be here in an hour to spell you."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/spel/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spell__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/spelz/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spells__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/spelt/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spelt__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/speld/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spelled__gb_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈspelɪŋ/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spelling__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/spel/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spell__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/spelz/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spells__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/spelt/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spelt__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/speld/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spelled__us_2.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈspelɪŋ/",
                "audio": "sp/spell/spelling__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "verb Middle English: shortening of Old French espeller, from the Germanic base of spell (noun senses 3 and 4)."
}