afoul
pronunciation
How to pronounce afoul in British English:
UK [əˈfaʊl]
How to pronounce afoul in American English:
US [əˈfaʊl]
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- Adjective:
- especially of a ship's lines etc
Word Origin
- afoul (adv.)
- 1809, originally nautical, "in collision or entanglement," from a- (1) + foul (adj.). From 1833 in general sense of "in violent or hostile conflict," mainly in phrases such as run afoul of.
Example
- 1. The paternal longing ran afoul of her own desire .
- 2. As transgendered woman we constantly run afoul of social norms and religious ideology .
- 3. The cowboy tried to throw a lasso but the rope ran afoul of a branch .
- 4. Since the financial crisis , many us banks , such as wachovia and citigroup , have run afoul of laundering rules .
- 5. It would have run afoul of jupiter and been chucked into interstellar space .