AFOUL
What does "AFOUL" mean?
Into conflict, entanglement, or trouble, usually in the phrase 'run afoul of'.
Meanings
- Into a state of conflict or entanglement, typically with rules, the law, or another person. The startup ran afoul of privacy regulators within a year.
- Of a ship or rope, tangled or in collision; not running clear. The two boats lay afoul of each other in the narrow channel. technical
Word origin
From the prefix 'a-' ('on, in') plus 'foul' in its nautical sense of 'entangled, obstructed'; originally a sailors' term for ropes or vessels caught up in one another.
Remember it
AFOUL = you've gone 'a-foul', stepped onto a FOUL - the same way a sports foul puts you in trouble.
A little poem
Two anchored hulls, all night, swung side to side,
and woke afoul - one rope, two ships, one tide.
couplet
What it teaches
You rarely set out to run afoul of anyone; entanglement is what happens while you weren't watching the rope.
Quick facts
What does AFOUL mean?
Into conflict, entanglement, or trouble, usually in the phrase 'run afoul of'.
Is AFOUL a valid word?
Yes — AFOUL is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is AFOUL?
AFOUL has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does AFOUL come from?
From the prefix 'a-' ('on, in') plus 'foul' in its nautical sense of 'entangled, obstructed'; originally a sailors' term for ropes or vessels caught up in one another.
What can AFOUL teach us?
You rarely set out to run afoul of anyone; entanglement is what happens while you weren't watching the rope.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.