foul

adjective

/faʊl/

(comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

Idioms

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dirty and smelling bad肮髒惡臭的；難聞的
- foul air/breath污濁難聞的空氣／氣息
- a foul-smelling prison臭烘烘的監獄
- Foul drinking water was blamed for the epidemic.人們把這次的流行病歸咎於污濁的飲用水。
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!這氣味真難聞！
- foul dirty, and tasting or smelling bad:
  She could smell his foul breath.她聞得到他的口臭。
- revolting extremely unpleasant and making you feel slightly ill:
  The stew looked revolting.這煨菜看上去令人作嘔。
disgusting or revolting?用 disgusting 還是 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. 指使人厭惡的、令人反感的、十分討厭的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.她聞得到他的口臭。
- The air in the cell was foul.牢房裏的空氣臭烘烘的。
(especially British English) very unpleasant; very bad很令人不快的；很壞的
- She's in a foul mood.她的情緒很糟。
- His boss has a foul temper.他的老板脾氣很壞。
- This tastes foul.這個味道很差。
(of language語言) including rude words and swearing充滿髒話的；辱罵性的；下流的 synonym offensive
- She exploded in a torrent of foul language.她滔滔不絕地說着髒話。
- I'm sick of her foul mouth (= habit of swearing).我討厭她一開口就罵人的那張臭嘴。
- He called her the foulest names imaginable.他用最下流的話辱罵她。
(of weather天氣) very bad, with strong winds and rain惡劣的；風雨交加的
- a foul night風雨交加的夜晚
Topics Weatherc2
(literary) very evil or cruel邪惡的；殘忍的 synonym abominable
- a foul crime/murder邪惡的罪行；惡毒的謀殺
[only before noun] (British English) done against the rules of a sport犯規
- Harper was penalized for a foul tackle.哈珀因犯規鏟球而受到處罰。

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不擇手段
- She’s determined to win, by fair means or foul.她決心要赢，那怕是不擇手段。

cry foul

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

fall foul of somebody/something

to get into trouble with a person or an organization because of doing something wrong or illegal（因做錯事或不法行爲）與…發生麻煩，與…産生糾葛，冒犯
- to fall foul of the law觸犯了法律

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體育運動) to do something to another player that is against the rules of the game對（對手）犯規
- He was fouled inside the penalty area.在禁區内對方隊員對他犯規。
Topics Sports: ball and racket sportsc1
[intransitive, transitive] foul (something) (in baseball棒球) to hit the ball outside the playing area擊（球）出界Topics Sports: ball and racket sportsc1
[transitive] foul something to make something dirty, especially with waste matter from the body（尤指用糞便）弄髒，污染
- Do not permit your dog to foul the grass.禁止狗在草地便溺。
- More and more beaches are being fouled by oil leakages.越來越多的海灘被漏油污染了。
[transitive, intransitive] to become caught or twisted in something and stop it working or moving（被）纏住
- foul something (up) The rope fouled the propeller.繩索纏住了螺旋槳。
- The line became fouled in (= became twisted in) the propeller.纜繩纏在螺旋槳上了。
- foul (up) A rope fouled up (= became twisted) as we pulled the sail down.我們收帆時有一根繩索纏住了。

foul

noun

/faʊl/

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(in sport體育運動) an action that is against the rules of the game犯規
- It was a clear foul by Ford on the goalkeeper.這明顯是福特對守門員犯規。
- (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)（棒球）擊球出界
see also professional foul, technical foul
Extra Examples
- He drew a fourth foul on Camby.他第四次對康比犯規。
- He was sent off for a blatant foul on Giggs.他因對吉格斯的一次公然犯規而被罰下場。
- The referee did not call a foul on the player.裁判沒有吹哨判那名球員犯規。
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’.