Questions tagged [definition]
Definition is a statement of the exact meaning of a word or phrase, especially when given in a dictionary.
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What on earth is the "Head On Live Television"
This article has a headline,
A Man Who Threatened To Shoot Nancy Pelosi In The Head On Live TV Has Pleaded Guilty
Googling or googling on Yahoo image shows no concrete hint what exactly it is.
I ...
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2answers
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Can action and quality mean the same?
Action (verb) is not quality (adjective). But why is the definition of adjective “broken” verb “violently separated into parts”? Isn’t it proper to say adjective “broken” means “in a state of being ...
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Meaning of "of" in "the X 'of' Y"
engagement: the act of engaging : the state of being engaged
redness: the quality or state of being red or red-hot
negotiation: the action or process of negotiating or being negotiated
I’ve always ...
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Words with a negative definition
In my secret Asian language, it’s acceptable saying for example “very not comfortable” for “very uncomfortable” which is unacceptable in English.
What I wonder about is why for example “very ...
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Why does the difference happen between the dictionary and the usage?
high adjective (ABOVE AVERAGE)
B1
greater than the usual level or amount:
According to the dictionary, high water should mean lots of water, but why is it wrong in usage?
But high-tar means lots of ...
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Is a scholar of English language also uncertain of common sense? [closed]
For example:
legged: having legs (we use “legged” although a “legged” human has only one leg.)
son: a male child in relation to his parents (we use “son” although a son has only one parent.)
...
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1answer
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Conjunction "either ": no paraphrase with "any"
When either is used as a conjunction, no paraphrase with any is
available, and so either is unexceptionable even when it applies to
more than two clauses:
Either the union will make a counter-offer or
...
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penalized his drug possession
Is the following use of "penalize" natural?
The court penalized his drug possession.
Could you find its definition in a non-leanrer's dictionary?
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meaning of "help"
The Cambridge Dictionary has the following definition of "help":
to do something for someone
And the example sentence:
Dad always helps me with my homework.
I'm wondering this sentence ...
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She did nothing except that she complained
BUT (conjunction)
except: She did nothing but complain (= She did nothing except
that she complained).
https://www.wordreference.com/definition/but
Is the paraphrase given adequate in modern English?
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He works in like manner with a beaver
LIKE (prep.) in like manner with: He works like a beaver.
https://www.wordreference.com/definition/like
Is then He works in like manner with a beaver grammatical ?
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THEN: since that is so; therefore
in that case; in those circumstances: If you want to quit, then do so. If you're sick, then you should stay in bed. If traffic is heavy, then allow extra time.
since that is so; therefore: If the car ...
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definition of "no less a person than"
The Collins Dictionary has the following definition for "no less a person than":
a person of no lower importance, rank, etc. than
I'm wondering if it's an accurate definition.
It makes the ...
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3answers
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Why is sentence ‘a color has blue’ wrong?
Why is ‘a color has blue’ wrong but ‘a color is blue’ right?
If ‘blue’ and ‘color’ are defined, isn’t it ‘a color having blue’? A blue color’ is right though.
Or am I approaching it so mathematically?
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What's the meaning of the word 'wordstruck?'
I found this term reading a novel, Presumed Innocent:
“We’ve made some decisions here,” Raymond says. He turns to Della Guardia. Silence. Delay, in his first assignment as P.A., is wordstruck. “Well, ...
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What kind of verb is "is" in this sentence?
She is crying for help.
What kind of verb is the verb "is" in this sentence? Whether it is finite or helping verb or both?
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Can the dictionary definition have two different modifiers?
The following excerpt is the definition of ‘no’
no
not any
But, here’s a problem. Can ‘not’ modify determiner ‘any’? If not, does ‘any’ modify a noun, and ‘not’ modify a verb (that is, there are two ...
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Definition of ‘In a row’
The following definition is what ‘in a row’ is defined as, in the Cambridge dictionary.
In a row
one after another without a break
What does ‘without a break’ modify?
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is there any difference between social constructs and social norms?
is there any difference between social constructs and social norms? what would we call it when a society expects you to have a good job etc. or doing the same that is accepted to be the good by ...
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Can ‘10 minus 3’ be interchanged by ‘10 with the subtraction of 3’?
10 is subtracted by 3
Can ‘10 minus 3’ be interchanged by ‘10 with the subtraction of 3’?
https://www.lexico.com/definition/minus
Is Lexico wrong? The other dictionaries says ‘deducted by’ and so on
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2answers
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Which definition? "Run up debts of XXXXX"
This is the continuation of the last question.
There is a line saying,
Meanwhile, Florida’s Democratic Party ran up debts of up to $860,000 and had to cancel health insurance coverage for party ...
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Definition of adjectives
For example, ‘destruction’ means the act of destructing and the act is destructing.
Here is my question:
‘happiness’ means the quality of being happy.
Is the quality being happy? I mean, is being ...
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Meaning of "players" and "port of a bitt"
The Cotgrave Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611) has this definition for the word Babillon:
Babillon: m. The players that hang to the port of a bitt.
Can anyone shed some light ...
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1answer
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which sentence fits this definition of “when”?
The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English has the following definition of "when":
used to introduce a fact or statement that makes something seem surprising
I'd like to know which of ...
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1answer
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What's the meaning of "the big sort"?
I'm listening to Brene Brown's podcast. The word "big sort" comes up, and i've tried to search for meaning on the internet but there was no definition :'(
Can you please explain it to me?
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Meaning of somewhere off?
What is the definition of "somewhere off" not just in this example but also the meaning in general
Example:
Potential infinity refers to a procedure that gets closer and closer to, but never ...
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1answer
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Can "annular" mean both rectangular ring and circular ring?
Some dictionaries define the term "annular" as ring-shaped.
So, I think both shapes shown above can be described as an annular shape.
If it is necessary to distinguish the two shapes, the ...
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0answers
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Definition of 'purpose' & relative adverbs
purpose (Cambridge)
Why you do something or why something exists.
purpose (Merriam)
The reason why something is done or used.
Does it mean 'why' can be replaced by 'the reason why'?
If so, is 'why' a ...
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1answer
33 views
Don't word defintions need to be in one of five phrase types?
There are noun phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases, verb phrases, prepositional phrases. Word definitions don't need to be in one of five types?
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1answer
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Can we really call them adverbs?
Only adv. :as recently as : not before
Merely adv. :nothing more than
I think 1 is more like a preposition and 2 is a noun+preposition.
Both are from a Merriam Webster dictionary.
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Some questions about "can (not) help"
It would be highly appreciated that one helps me to find an equivalent for sentences below:
In the OALD dictionary, it was written that: "sb can (not) help (doing) sth| sb cannot help but do sth&...
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What does an "abstract model" mean?
I came across the following sentence in a book on political theory:
Political theory stands for an abstract model of the political order…
a guide to the systematic collection and analysis of ...
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1answer
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What does "cosmologies" mean in this particular context?
Consider the following extract:
A skillful cook can make delectable dishes without quite being able to
tell us how. (Conversely, the possession of a good recipe book is not
sufficient to make a good ...
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1answer
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What does "abstraction" mean in this particular context?
"A theory aspires to some degree of generality and abstraction." The book where I found this sentence is a book in one of the disciplines of humanities. According to Merriam-Webster, "...
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1answer
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What is the meaning of "Life is true to form..."?
I've come to read this Mark Spitz' quote:
Life is true to form; records are meant to be broken.
Second part is 100% clear to me and surprisingly the first part is nearly none percent. I'm not good ...
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1answer
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What does "much to the displeasure of" mean?
But he stayed put, and so did Biron, much to the displeasure of the crowd.
Did he and Biron stay put because of the crowd's displeasure or the crowd was displeasured by Biron and him to stay put?
...
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1answer
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What's the exact meaning of the word "nows"?
I've been reading an article from Newsela, and there was a sentence that goes
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, changed its guidelines the week of March 16. It nows says ...
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half-column means terse?
In the opening paragraph to “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Watson writes:
The story has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers,
but, like all such ...
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1answer
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Definition of Forged
I am confused about how I can use the word 'forged' in my English essay.
Here is my sentence:
Through building an undying bond with his son, forged through the omnipotence of love, they survive even ...
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The difference between characteristic, feature, aspect, attribute and quality, their definitions are defined using each other
It's annoying the Dictionary always happens to me this absurdity:
Characteristic - distinguishing feature or quality
Feature - a distinctive attribute or aspect of something
Attribute - regard a ...
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1answer
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"They have harmed oneself" is wrong in this sentence?
They have harmed oneself? It should be better instead they have harmed themselves? Or it's referring to they are harming someone in the highlighted part?
retaliation NOUN
mass noun
1The action of ...
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2answers
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Pure meaning about people
-Thinking about the school festival's concert makes me happy
-You're so pure
What does "pure" means when we talk about people and what it means in this context?
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Not understanding the sentences with the formula 'word + out '
Exist a pattern that I already do not know to decipher each phrase with the formula word + out?
Work Out = Excercise
Deck Out = Decorate
Force out = Compel to leave
How does adding out is related to ...
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2answers
446 views
What is an entry in a dictionary?
I see the marketing on selling dictionaries "350,000 entries and meanings", I searched in the dictionary and I get
An entry is:
The description is too general, what is an item in a ...
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1answer
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What place is this quote referring to?
What is "Bankers' row and sleight of hand at Seventh Avenue fashion houses" referring to?
I searched Google Maps for Seventh Avenue and 6 Seventh Avenue in the US, awkward.
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Can we call Mathematics a kind of Art?
The dictionary says Art can refer to 'skill in conducting any human activity', and it also has an archaic usage 'science, learning, or scholarship'. So can we call Mathematics a kind of art or is it ...
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Science(s): natural sciences only?
What do the terms "science" and "the sciences" refer to: the natural sciences (physics, biology, ...) only or also all scholarly disciplines in general (including, e.g. psychology ...
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How many people/something would you imagine when you hear a phrase "a number of"?
Definitions of "a number of":
Collins Dictionary at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/a-number-of
an unspecified number of; several or many
Merriam-Webster at https://...
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Learning vocabulary is a journey wihout destination, but exist ways to accelerate?
Is a hassle to learn vocabulary, I'm not saying is the devil and needs to be avoided, it's worth-while but I have been learning for the past year and I feel it consume a lot of my time and energy that ...
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What does "libel act" mean?
What does "LIBEL ACT" mean? Does "the state of things was even more in evidence means that the situation was worse than England or not?
Even at the present day the air is charged with ...