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knoll

/noʊl/
IPA guide

Other forms: knolls

A knoll is a small hill or mound of earth, which makes a shady knoll a perfect spot for a summer picnic.

The word knoll is associated with the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who was shot in Dallas just as his motorcade passed a grassy knoll. At first people thought that was where the shots had come from, but it was later determined that the assassin had fired from a nearby building instead. The "grassy knoll” became symbolic of a theory that others had participated in the assassination, and the term has become shorthand for any conspiracy theory.

Definitions of knoll
  1. noun
    a small natural hill
    synonyms: hammock, hillock, hummock, mound
    see moresee less
    types:
    anthill, formicary
    a mound of earth made by ants as they dig their nest
    kopje, koppie
    a small hill rising up from the African veld
    molehill
    a mound of earth made by moles while burrowing
    type of:
    hill
    a local and well-defined elevation of the land
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