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# ballpoint

«ballpoint» in Mova's school dictionary: **A pen with a tiny metal ball at its tip that rolls and…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a ballpoint, ballpoints); adjective (ballpoint)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A pen with a tiny metal ball at its tip that rolls and spreads ink as you write; also called a ballpoint pen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/#m1)

2) (adjective) Of this kind of pen: «ballpoint ink». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In school, pupils often move from pencils to ink pens; some schools prefer fountain or handwriting pens, others allow ballpoints. In the UK a ballpoint is often called a «biro», after its inventor László Bíró. Ballpoint ink cannot be rubbed out like pencil.

### examples

- Can I borrow a blue ballpoint? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/#x1)
- The ballpoint pen ran out of ink in the middle of my test. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/#x2)
- Ballpoint ink dries quickly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/#x3)
- Write your answer in ballpoint, not pencil. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/#x4)
- The tiny ball in a ballpoint rolls as you write. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/#x5)
- My ballpoint leaked in my pencil case. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/#x6)

### note

One word: ballpoint. UK informal word: biro; US: pen. Countable. A felt-tip and a fountain pen are different kinds.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ballpoint» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ballpoint/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.