1-Stop Dictionary Reference

Mothball

Acceptable For Game Play - US & UK word lists

This word is acceptable for play in the US & UK dictionaries that are being used in the following games:

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. A marble-sized ball, originally of camphor but now of naphthalene, stored with clothes to repel moths.

n. A condition of long storage for possible future use: put the battleship into mothballs.

n. A condition of being set aside or discarded: have put the plan into mothballs.

v. To remove (a ship, for example) from active service or use and put into protective storage.

v. To defer indefinitely; shelve: mothball a project.

Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. a small ball of chemical pesticide and deodorant placed in or around clothing and other articles susceptible to damage from mold or moth larvae in order to protect them from this damage; mothballs have either naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene as their active ingredient.

v. to store or shelve (something that is no longer used)

the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. A small sphere of camphor or naphthalene used to keep moths away from stored clothing.

v. To put into long-term storage.

WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

v. put into long-term storage

n. a small sphere of camphor or naphthalene used to keep moths away from stored clothing

Word Usage

""The so-called mothball option is not leadership - I think it kicks the can down the road," he said."

Verb Form

mothballed mothballing mothballs

Hypernym

Words that are more generic or abstract

store ball orb globe

Form

in mothballs mothballed

Synonym

Words with the same meaning

camphor ball shelve

Same Context

Words that are found in similar contexts

germicide lacker disinfect putrescence phrase book