foursquare

1 of 2

adjective

four·​square ˈfȯr-ˈskwer How to pronounce foursquare (audio)
1
: square
The benchlike frames have foursquare horizontal slats and either dowel-shaped or foursquare uprights.Janet Malcom
A magnificent foursquare house built by Col. Jonathan Hamilton on a promontory of the Salmon Falls River overlooking his wharves and warehouses.John Deedy
2
: marked by boldness and conviction : forthright
Disillusionment is used to give the antihero glamour and hipness, but then the movie wants him to be a foursquare hero with heart.Pauline Kael
… bassist Jeremy Toback and drummer Regan Hagar rarely stray from foursquare hard-rock propulsion.Mark Coleman
foursquare adverb
The A.M.A spoke for the great majority of doctors in the years preceding Medicare when it stood foursquare against anything that could even remotely be called socialized medicine. Robert Sherrill

four square

2 of 2

noun

: a children's game for four players in which each player stands in a quadrant of a square court, the server strikes a large ball so that it bounces in the quadrant of another player, the receiving player strikes it to bounce in another quadrant, and so on, with players being eliminated for failing to hit and direct the ball properly
At Grant Elementary School, I played four square with the children of immigrants from the Philippines, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, and Lebanon.Héctor Tobar

Examples of foursquare in a Sentence

Adjective her foursquare support for the proposal it's no time to be foursquare if you're asked whether a certain outfit makes a person look fat
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
The first structure was unusual enough to become a local attraction: a large foursquare house with a center hall and verandahs on all sides. Mark Lamster, Dallas News, 15 Apr. 2020 This is an earnest, foursquare, if extremely well-made, melodrama. Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 16 Mar. 2020 The foursquare drill is meant to hone pitchers’ reaction time fielding comebackers and making awkward throws. Henry Schulman, SFChronicle.com, 16 Feb. 2020 From today’s viewpoint, its most familiar American manifestations were possibly the comfortably foursquare domestic architecture and furnishing designs produced by Gustav Stickley in the early 20th century. Barrymore Laurence Scherer, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2018 Oddly enough, these statements are foursquare at odds with these legislators’ voting records. Deroy Murdock, National Review, 11 Dec. 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'foursquare.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1955, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of foursquare was in the 14th century

Podcast

Dictionary Entries Near foursquare

four square

foursquare

foursquareness

Cite this Entry

“Foursquare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foursquare. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

foursquare

adjective
four·​square ˈfōr-ˈskwa(ə)r How to pronounce foursquare (audio)
-ˈskwe(ə)r,
ˈfȯr-
1
2
: marked by boldness and firmness : forthright
foursquare adverb
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