Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cotton on to

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.35 in modern English

Syllables: cot-ton on -to
IPA

12

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To come to know or understand (something).

Slang

verb

Synonym of cotton to (“like, tolerate”).

Archaic; Slang

Example Sentences

"Buuut the Kamchatka eventually showed up, with news: whilst the main fleet had almost triggered a war with the British Empire, she'd managed to outdo them all, by reporting that, not only had she fired three hundred shells in an engagement with three Japanese ships, but, in fact, had shot at a Swedish merchantman, a German trawler, and a French schooner, putting the Russians at odds with almost every other major European fleet in existence. Fortunately, everyone else seemed to cotton on to the truly-appalling level of captaincy on the Kamchatka, and those incidents were quietly dropped. This was coupled with the fact that Kamchatka's truly-appalling levels of gunnery prevented it from having started several new wars, by not actually hitting anything."

Usage

Inflected Forms

cottons on to (present, singular) cottoning on to (participle, present) cottoned on to (participle, past) cottoned on to (past) cotton onto (alternative)

Synonyms

cotton to

Questions

What does cotton on to mean?: To come to know or understand (something).

How to pronounce cotton on to

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