What's the difference between afoul and foul?

Afoul


Definition:

  • (adv. & a.) In collision; entangled.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He said similar “name and shame” legislation had run afoul of the first amendment and that the rule may be unconstitutional.
  • (2) But some legal experts believe government officials can’t stop all marriage to avoid wedding same-sex couples without running afoul of the constitution.
  • (3) The Justice Department argues that the law still runs afoul of the Voting Rights Act but now faces the higher threshold of proving intentional discrimination to prevail in court.
  • (4) Unfortunately, that assumption may be running afoul of, or fouling up, the way in which most investors construct their portfolios.
  • (5) Torture was rife; officials and entrepreneurs who had run afoul of Bo were targeted, their assets seized and redistributed.
  • (6) Governor Bush believes harnessing innovation and fostering technology can help us grow at 4% once again.” Clinton’s tough talk was not reserved just for Republicans – sounding ever the progressive, the former first lady also vowed to go after individuals and corporations on Wall Street that run afoul of the law.
  • (7) If there is one, we don’t want to run afoul of it.
  • (8) Critics have accused Watson of being a pirate or even eco-terrorist because of his aggressive exploits and he has run afoul of the powers that be before.
  • (9) The sorority runs afoul of new dean of students Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis, getting back to her horror roots) who forces Kappa to accept any pledges who apply or else they will lose their charter.
  • (10) Plans by supporters of marijuana legalisation for "smoke ins" in Vancouver were nixed by local health officials who said they fell afoul of cigarette smoking laws and a provision on the new regulations that only permit the use of marijuana in private.
  • (11) Romney has, throughout his presidential campaign, espoused positions that are to the right of the median American voter: he wants to cut taxes on the wealthy; he would fundamentally transform Medicare; he wants to repeal Obamacare fully; and his position on choice and immigration run afoul of women and Hispanic voters.
  • (12) He says that definition leaves out legally married same-sex couples, and runs afoul of a June supreme court ruling.
  • (13) Both Ferozi and Farnood spent time in Moscow in the 1980s, running businesses that occasionally ran afoul of the criminal underworld.
  • (14) Once Russia's largest portfolio investor, and one of President Vladimir Putin's biggest foreign fans, Browder appeared to have run afoul of the Kremlin after picking up stakes in some of the country's largest state-run companies.
  • (15) While the company has run afoul of US law for its lackadaisical approach to questions of real estate ownership, it has in Cuba an opportunity to start fresh with a government newly open to American businesses.
  • (16) Prime minister Ahmed Davutoglu, a key Erdogan ally, decried the chaos, which also included attacks on a number of offices belonging to newspapers that had fallen afoul of the AKP.
  • (17) They reviewed them several months ago, concluded that, in fact, there was nothing afoul in terms of the process that we had used.
  • (18) Although it is now legal under state law for anyone over 21 to possess up to one ounce of the drug, there is still no legal means to buy it, and officials were grappling with how to administer the new law without falling afoul of national legislation.
  • (19) To achieve this "single sign-on" the company needed to consolidate all its policies or risk running afoul of trade and privacy regulators.
  • (20) Indeed, these youths at risk most frequently may be identified and helped when they run afoul of the law and enter the judicial system.

Foul


Definition:

  • (n.) A bird.
  • (superl.) Covered with, or containing, extraneous matter which is injurious, noxious, offensive, or obstructive; filthy; dirty; not clean; polluted; nasty; defiled; as, a foul cloth; foul hands; a foul chimney; foul air; a ship's bottom is foul when overgrown with barnacles; a gun becomes foul from repeated firing; a well is foul with polluted water.
  • (superl.) Scurrilous; obscene or profane; abusive; as, foul words; foul language.
  • (superl.) Hateful; detestable; shameful; odious; wretched.
  • (superl.) Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease.
  • (superl.) Ugly; homely; poor.
  • (superl.) Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road; cloudy or rainy; stormy; not fair; -- said of the weather, sky, etc.
  • (superl.) Not conformed to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating; as, foul play.
  • (superl.) Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; -- opposed to clear; as, a rope or cable may get foul while paying it out.
  • (v. t.) To make filthy; to defile; to daub; to dirty; to soil; as, to foul the face or hands with mire.
  • (v. t.) To incrust (the bore of a gun) with burnt powder in the process of firing.
  • (v. t.) To cover (a ship's bottom) with anything that impered its sailing; as, a bottom fouled with barnacles.
  • (v. t.) To entangle, so as to impede motion; as, to foul a rope or cable in paying it out; to come into collision with; as, one boat fouled the other in a race.
  • (v. i.) To become clogged with burnt powder in the process of firing, as a gun.
  • (v. i.) To become entagled, as ropes; to come into collision with something; as, the two boats fouled.
  • (n.) An entanglement; a collision, as in a boat race.
  • (n.) See Foul ball, under Foul, a.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Earlier recognition of foul-smelling mucoid discharge on the IUD tail, or abnormal bleeding, or both, as a sign of early pelvic infection, followed by removal of the IUD and institution of appropriate antibiotic therapy, might prevent the more serious sequelae of pelvic inflammation.
  • (2) I hope this two days off gives him the stimulus.” The omissions left a manager who cherishes control at risk of falling foul of the “law of Murphy” that he had already bemoaned this season.
  • (3) In some ways, the Gandolfini performance that his fans may savour most is his voice work in Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are (2009), the cult screen version of Maurice Sendak 's picture book classic – he voiced Carol, one of the wild things, an untamed, foul-mouthed figure.
  • (4) Sow had a couple of chances and the substitute Emmanuel Emenike drew a sharp last-minute save out of Szczesny but Giroud's penalty, after Kadlec's foul on Walcott, represented Arsenal's emphatic final word.
  • (5) The home team's defence had been undermined by naivety and it was in evidence when Stepanov, already on a yellow card for a foul on McGeady and having been played into trouble, lunged for the ball only to be beaten to it by Keane.
  • (6) 1.56am GMT 49ers 17-13 Seahawks, 2:47, 3rd quarter Andy Lee is hit as he kicks and it's a five yard penalty rather than the personal foul you would get for crushing the punter.
  • (7) Anything that good for you might be expected to smell foul and come in a medicine bottle, but the Mediterranean diet is generally considered to be delicious, except by those who hate olive oil.
  • (8) Both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are believed to have fallen foul of the FFP rules with sponsorship deals related to each clubs' owners.
  • (9) Already, opposition parties are crying foul over the draw-down of more than 80% of the national foreign reserves that were set up in 2012.
  • (10) The lecture worked and one of his substitutes, James Ward-Prowse, opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 56th minute following a reckless foul on Shane Long by Alex Bruce.
  • (11) Apart from that, nothing much to write home about, except that Whelan was lucky to escape a booking when he trod on Olivier Giroud's ankle and Erik Pieters possibly took the rap a few minutes later, picking up a caution for a less obvious foul on the same player.
  • (12) Williams said: "There is no doubt in my mind that you are a paedophile who has for some time harboured sexual and morbid fantasies about young girls, storing on your laptop not only images of pre-pubescent and pubescent girls, but foul pornography of the gross sexual abuse of young children."
  • (13) He's fouled out on the right, and takes the free kick very quickly, taking advantage of a wandering Krol, but the referee deems the kick was not take from the right place, and was probably moving as well.
  • (14) Guardian US environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg looked at the role cities would have to play in reducing emissions: At-risk cities hold solutions to climate change: UN report It is already taking shape as the 21st century urban nightmare: a big storm hits a city like Shanghai, Mumbai, Miami or New York, knocking out power supply and waste treatment plants, washing out entire neighbourhoods and marooning the survivors in a toxic and foul-smelling swamp.
  • (15) Business leaders sometimes fall foul of the regime in autocratic countries such as China, and when they do, they risk having their assets appropriated by the state .
  • (16) The Brazilians could delight in keep-ball thereafter, Benítez pointing to time-wasting tactics and plenty of rolling around at hints of fouls, with frustration eventually bubbling over.
  • (17) That would be strike out it seems, as Napoli foul-tips one into the catcher's mitt, the first strikeout for Matt Moore.
  • (18) Resembling a billhook, with Foule Crag its wickedly curved tip, this final flourish looks daunting but can be skirted to one side, up awkward slabs.
  • (19) 12.17am GMT Cardinals 0 - Red Sox 0, bottom of the 1st Dustin Pedroia hits a long long fly that's hooking hooking... foul.
  • (20) 1.06am GMT Red Sox 0 - Cardinals 0, bottom of the 3rd And Clay faces Lance Lynn to start off the third, and the Superman-character named pitcher works a decent at-bat, working the count to 2-2 and then fouling off the next two pitches and taking ball three to a full count.

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