Feet: meaning, definitions and examples

Commonly used to refer to both of the bottom limbs of a person or animal collectively.

• Her feet were sore after the long hike.
• He washed his feet before bed.

Used to refer to one of the bottom limbs of a person or animal or as a measurement unit of length.

• He injured his left foot during the game.
• The height of the table is three feet.

More formal and technical term, often used in medical or anatomical contexts to refer to the entire lower limb, including the thigh, leg, and foot.

• The patient suffered an injury to the lower extremity in an accident.
• Lower extremity exercises are important for overall fitness.

Use 'feet' when referring to the plural form of 'foot,' which is often used to describe both the body parts at the end of a person's legs and a unit of measurement (plural).

• Her feet were sore after the long walk.
• The building is fifty feet tall.

Used when referring to a single body part at the end of a person's leg, or a single unit of measurement.

• He injured his left foot during the soccer match.
• The table is three feet long, so each foot measures a foot.

Note that 'feet' used here is the same word and spelling, but it serves different contexts as mentioned previously.

Use in poetry and prosody to refer to the basic unit of meter, consisting of a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables.

• A common metrical foot in English poetry is the iamb, which consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
• Understanding the different types of metrical feet can help with poetry analysis.