manicure

Everyday

1. A beauty treatment for the hands and fingernails: cutting, shaping and often painting the nails. tree →
2. (verb) To give someone a manicure. tree →
3. (adjective form: manicured) Very neat and carefully trimmed: a manicured lawn. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life people go to a nail salon for a manicure. In stories a «manicured lawn» or «manicured garden» tells the reader the place is very neat and probably rich. Phrases: have a manicure, get a manicure, manicure and pedicure.

Examples

• Mum had a manicure before the wedding. tree →
• My sister painted my nails and called it a manicure. tree →
• The salon offers manicures and pedicures. tree →
• The palace had perfectly manicured lawns. tree →
• He manicures his nails himself. tree →
• She got a sparkly manicure for her birthday. tree →
• The hedges were neatly manicured. tree →
• A manicure takes about half an hour. tree →

Note

Countable noun. A person who does manicures is a «manicurist». «Mani-» comes from a word for hand; a pedicure is for feet. Spelling: manICure.