mold.

1. Fungal growth that forms a surface layer on damp organic material.

2. A hollow form used to give material a particular shape.

3. An established pattern of character, behavior, or design.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• black mold
• mold growth

On the page

Mold spread behind the torn wallpaper.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: Fungal growth normally uncountable; fungus types can be countable. Shaping tool or pattern: singular mold; plural molds. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: molds.