What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Rope vs Lace - What's the difference?

rope | lace |

As nouns the difference between rope and lace

is that rope is (uncountable) thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line while lace is cheapness.

As a verb rope

is to tie (something) with something.

rope

English

Alternative forms

* (all obsolete)

Noun

(wikipedia rope)
  • (uncountable) Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.
  • Nylon rope is usually stronger than similar rope made of plant fibers.
  • (countable) An individual length of such material.
  • The swinging bridge is constructed of 40 logs and 30 ropes .
  • A cohesive strand of something.
  • * {{quote-book, 2003, (Dennis Lehane), Mystic River, page=138 citation
  • , passage=Jimmy began to scream and ropes of spit shot from his mouth.}}
  • (dated) A continuous stream.
  • * {{quote-book, 1852, John Bourne, 3= A Treatise on the Screw Propeller: With Various Suggestions of Improvement, page=38
  • , passage=The principle of any such device should be to pull on the vessel by a rope of water passing in at the bow and out at the stern. }}
  • (baseball) A hard line drive.
  • He hit a rope past third and into the corner.
  • (ceramics) A long thin segment of soft clay, either extruded or formed by hand.
  • (computer science) A data structure resembling a string, using a concatenation tree in which each leaf represents a character.
  • (Jainism) A unit of distance equivalent to the distance covered in six months by a god flying at ten million miles per second.(jump)
  • * {{quote-book, 2001, , editor=Nagendra Kr. Singh, chapter=Review of Metaphysical Teaching, Encyclopaedia of Jainism, citation
  • , passage=The central strip of the loka , the Middle World, represents its smallest area, being only one rope wide and one hundred thousand leagues high,
  • (jewelry) A necklace of at least 1 meter in length.
  • (nautical) Cordage of at least 1 inch in diameter, or a length of such cordage.
  • (archaic) A unit of length equal to 20 feet.
  • (slang) Flunitrazepam, also known as Rohypnol.
  • (in the plural) The small intestines.
  • the ropes of birds

    Synonyms

    * twine, line, cord; see also * (jump) rajju, infinitude

    Derived terms

    * jump rope * know the ropes * learn the ropes * money for old rope * on the ropes * rope ladder * Rope Monday * rope tow * rope-band * rope-dancer * rope-dancing * rope-end * ropefull * rope-house * rope-like * rope-maker * ropemanship * rope-over * ropery * rope-ripe * rope's end * rope-sick * rope-tide * ropewalk, rope-walk * ropework, rope-work * ropey, ropy * rope-yard * show one the ropes * teach one the ropes * skipping rope * wire rope

    Verb

    (rop)
  • To tie (something) with something.
  • The robber roped the victims.
  • To throw a rope around (something).
  • The cowboy roped the calf.
  • To be formed into rope; to draw out or extend into a filament or thread.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Let us not hang like roping icicles / Upon our houses' thatch.

    Synonyms

    * (to tie something) tie, bind, secure * (throw a rope around) lasso

    Derived terms

    * ropable, ropeable * rope-a-dope * roped * roper * rope together

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    lace

    English

    Noun

  • (uncountable) A light fabric containing patterns of holes, usually built up from a single thread.(w)
  • * (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • Our English dames are much given to the wearing of costly laces .
  • * , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace , […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.}}
  • *
  • Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. […]  Frills, ruffles, flounces, lace , complicated seams and gores: not only did they sweep the ground and have to be held up in one hand elegantly as you walked along, but they had little capes or coats or feather boas.
  • (countable) A cord or ribbon passed through eyelets in a shoe or garment, pulled tight and tied to fasten the shoe or garment firmly.(w)
  • A snare or gin, especially one made of interwoven cords; a net.
  • * (Geoffrey Chaucer) (c.1343-1400)
  • Vulcanus had caught thee [Venus] in his lace .
    (Fairfax)
  • (slang, obsolete) Spirits added to coffee or another beverage.
  • (Addison)

    Synonyms

    * (cord) ** (for a shoe) shoelace ** (for a garment) tie

    Verb

    (lac)
  • (label) To fasten (something) with laces.
  • * (Matthew Prior) (1664-1721)
  • When Jenny's stays are newly laced .
  • (label) To add alcohol, poison, a drug or anything else potentially harmful to (food or drink).
  • (label) To interweave items. (lacing one's fingers together)
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=8 , passage=Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: or anon we shot into a clearing, with a colored glimpse of the lake and its curving shore far below us.}}
  • (label) To interweave the spokes of a bicycle wheel.
  • To beat; to lash; to make stripes on.
  • * (w, Roger L'Estrange) (1616-1704)
  • I'll lace your coat for ye.
  • To adorn with narrow strips or braids of some decorative material.
  • (Shakespeare)

    Derived terms

    * enlace * lace into * lace-up shoes / lace-ups * lacy

    Anagrams

    * ----