What does socket mean?
A socket is a hollow opening, fitting, or cavity made to receive and hold something else. It may be the recessed place in a wall where an electrical plug goes, the shaped opening in a tool set, or a natural cavity in the body, such as an eye socket. The word also has a less common verb meaning: to fit something into a socket or provide something with one. In British English, socket is especially familiar as a synonym for a wall electrical outlet, although the same sense is understood in American English, where outlet and receptacle are often preferred. Socket suggests a purposeful, shaped recess that secures or supports an inserted object. This makes it useful not only in descriptions of plumbing, electricity, machinery, and anatomy, but also figuratively, when writers speak of a metaphorical place for something to fit.
A hollow fitting, opening, or cavity made to receive and hold another object; an electrical outlet; a recess into which a tool fits; or a cavity in the body.
"He tightened the bolt with a socket wrench."
The anatomical sense is standard in medical and anatomical contexts. In British English, socket is also a common everyday term for a wall electrical outlet.
To fit or connect something into a socket, or to furnish something with a socket.
"She socketed the plug into the extension lead."
This use is less common than the noun and is most often found in technical contexts.
The regular plural is used for individual fittings, openings, or cavities, as in “electrical sockets” and “eye sockets.”
"The technician tested all the sockets before replacing the faulty cable."
One little word covers the hole in the wall, the hollow in a tool, and the cavity in your skull—the shape that keeps everything in place.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does socket come from?
The word entered Middle English in the form socquet, borrowed from Anglo-French socquet, a diminutive of Old French soc meaning “socket” or hollow fitting. Its ultimate origin is uncertain. The modern form socket developed as the older borrowing became established in English, and the word was extended from mechanical and anatomical uses to electrical fittings.
Related word forms
How socket is actually used
In everyday British English, socket often means a wall electrical outlet, while American speakers are more likely to use outlet or receptacle. The noun is standard in technical, mechanical, medical, and anatomical contexts. The verb is comparatively uncommon and is chiefly used in technical or descriptive writing.
Easily confused with socket
A socket is the receptacle or fitting that receives a connection, whereas a plug is the projecting piece inserted into it.