brace
/bɹeɪs/noun, verb
brace is spelled B-R-A-C-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.2 times per million words in written English, the 10,843rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brace means “A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brace is braces.
How many letters and syllables are in brace?
| Letters | 5: B-R-A-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.2 times per million words; the 10,843rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is brace?
Brace appears 5.2 times per million words in written English, the 10,843rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce brace?
- /bɹeɪs/
Brace has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-brace.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with brace?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as brace.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: caber.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of brace
- braces plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- bracing participle, present
- braced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does brace mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock.
a brace and bit
- 2
That which holds anything tightly or supports it firmly; a bandage or a prop.
- 3
A cord, ligament, or rod, for producing or maintaining tension.
- 4
A thong used to regulate the tension of a drum.
- 5
The state of being braced or tight; tension.
- 6
Harness; warlike preparation.
- 7
A curved, pointed line, also known as "curly bracket": { or } connecting two or more words or lines, which are to be considered together, such as in {role, roll}; in music, used to connect staves.
- 8
A pair, a couple; originally used of dogs, and later of animals generally (e.g., a brace of conies) and then other things, but rarely human persons. (In British use (as plural), this is a particularly common reference to game birds.)
Coordinate term: leash
verb
- 1
To prepare for something bad, such as an impact or blow.
All hands, brace for impact!
- 2
To place in a position for resisting pressure; to hold firmly.
He braced himself against the crowd.
- 3
To swing round the yards of a square rigged ship, using braces, to present a more efficient sail surface to the direction of the wind.
to brace the yards
- 4
To stop someone for questioning, usually said of police.
- 5
To confront with questions, demands or requests.
- 6
To furnish with braces; to support; to prop.
to brace a beam in a building
- 7
To draw tight; to tighten; to put in a state of tension; to strain; to strengthen.
to brace the nerves
- 8
To bind or tie closely; to fasten tightly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Brace in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | toise , paire, couple , fiche , bretelles , doublé |
| German | Klafter, Armspanne , Klammer, Spange, Klemme, Zwinge |
| Portuguese | braça |
| Spanish | braza , pareja , tirantes , abrazadera , tensor, tirante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does brace come from?
From Middle English brace, from Old French brace (“arm”), from Latin bracchia, the nominative and accusative plural of bracchium (“arm”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).