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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Is “assumptory” an English word? [on hold]
What would be a good replacement in the case that "assumptory" is not a word?
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1answer
49 views
Does it feel natural to use 'several' to mean starting from 'two'? Can 'several' be 'two'?
My question is based on this post: Using 'several' and 'some'
Anyway, my question is this:
Does it feel natural for native speakers to use several to mean starting from two? Do you ...
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1answer
23 views
What is the exact definition of endeavor as a noun?
From Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's Dictinary | 8th ed (En-En):
endeavour
N-VAR [oft N to-inf ]
An endeavour is an attempt to do something, especially something new or original. [FORMAL ]...
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1answer
33 views
Is a plastron correctly defined as a neck-tie?
I had never heard of this word, and I'm suspicious that this is really its correct meaning.
As far as I can see the etymology leads from Greek roots to chest protection to the front decorative panel ...
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3answers
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Does a code snippet compile? Or does it get compiled?
I was completely surprised that the following snippet compiled and worked in both Visual Studio 2008 and G++ 4.4.
The following code does not compile:
By coding rigidly to the spec, you can ...
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23 views
Can anyone give an example that is “non-sequential index”, is (red, green, blue) a “non-sequential index”?
This post says
The insurance risk example illustrates how “time” n need not really be
time, but instead can be a sequential indexing of some kind of events.
which use "sequential" to describe "...
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1answer
22 views
Regarding a particular definition of “commission”
Does this definition (3rd entry) of the word "commission" :
The thing to be done as agent for another.
simply mean:
The thing to be done in place of another thing .
?
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21 views
blind as an adverb vs blindly - any difference at all?
Merriam-Webster's definition of blind as an adverb is
to the point of insensibility
without seeing outside an airplane
without knowledge of certain facts that could serve for guidance or ...
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1answer
22 views
Is there the word “over-preoccupation”?
I've seen “over-preoccupation” in a paragraph and searched for the meaning, but I only came across results with "preoccupation" - without the "over".
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49 views
what does “to riff” mean in this context?
Two players were playing a chess game. One play voiced "it looks ominous" after playing a move that he thought was brilliant. The other player responded "riffing".
What does the verb, to riff, or the ...
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1answer
24 views
eyes blazing with devilment
I've noticed a dictionary defines devilment as "wild or bad behaviour that causes trouble" but gives the following example:
eyes blazing with devilment
Does the example fit the definition?
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1answer
21 views
Regarding a certain definition of the verb “lock up”
The Wiktionary defines the verb lock up in the second entry as:
to invest in something long term.
Does it mean:
to invest in something that will become apparent later.
or:
to invest in ...
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1answer
37 views
“On-screen” usage as an adverb and/or prepositional phrase
I want to use the phrase "on-screen" correctly, so I have looked it up on online dictionaries and found it defined as an adverb or adjective but not a prepositional phrase which is a bit confusing ...
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2answers
84 views
What does this phrase “hit home” stand for in the context mentioned below?
I looked up the phrase "hit home" in the Oxford, Cambridge dictionary, and Webster online dictionaries but I didn't find anything that can help me to understand what this phrase "hit home" means in ...
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2answers
29 views
What kind of music has vocals but no words
There is a type of music that has vocals, but they don't actually sing words. An example is this: https://youtu.be/8Jc2j2cjoz4?t=10
Does anyone know what the name of this type of music this is?
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1answer
34 views
Explaining a definition of the pronoun
Could someone explain to me this part "used by itself" in the definition of a pronoun?
Pronoun: a word that can function as a noun phrase used by itself and that
refers either to the participants ...
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1answer
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definitional clarity: the university of life
The following is taken from Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. What does "the person gaining formal qualifications" stand in opposition to? Is the definition considered clear by the standards of ...
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2answers
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What do you call for repeatedly making a statement even when the statement has been proved wrong
Let's consider a situation were two persons, person A and person B are arguing about something.
Person A makes a statement as a point in his argument. Then person B proves person A's statement as ...
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2answers
29 views
What does “Implies each other” mean?
What does "Implies each other" or "Implying each other" mean?
The context is from:
"My body and I are not, therefore, mutually exclusive; rather, each implies the other."
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1answer
26 views
Meaning of “to lay off of someone”
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one of the meanings of "to lay off" is :
to lay off : to leave undisturbed.
How would this definition fit within the context "to lay off of him" for ...
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2answers
63 views
In Haruki Murakami's “Barn Burning”, I don't understand a quote involving the phrase “a priori” which I also only barely understand
Here's the quote:
“I was married, but that didn’t matter, either. She seemed to consider
things like age and income and family to be of the same a priori order
as shoe size and vocal pitch and ...
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2answers
32 views
How to express the goals of a project?
Let's say I am a project manager and I would like to state the goals/outputs of my project. I defined 3 project outputs 1), 2) and 3).
How can I say that?
I had the idea to do it like that, is it ...
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2answers
77 views
confusing term - “pulling a request”
To pull by the most common definition means (by Merriam-Webster)
to exert force upon so as to cause motion toward the force
so it is understandable (to me) that to pull a show/license indicates ...
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1answer
233 views
What is it called if a thing have different descriptions of the same phenomena?
Does anyone know what it is called when a thing have different descriptions of the same phenomena?
Some would say it would be called "paradoxical", but that would be if a thing had opposite ...
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1answer
20 views
Preceding means before the step I am on?
I have a question about the term preceding. When the term is used in a sentence like the follow:
turn off light only when the preceding light is on.
Does the preceding mean if the light before the ...
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2answers
5k views
difference between “work alongside you” and “work alongside with you”
Is there a difference between
work alongside you vs work alongside with you
The definition of "alongside" indicates with is not needed.
definition
next to
in company with
But it'...
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2answers
58 views
Can we use “retrospectively” for an event in the future?
For the following scenarios, can we use "retrospectively" or do we have to use "afterwards" and its synonyms.
Example
Let's agree to the plan for now and figure out the details ...
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3answers
38 views
Does the phrasal verb “stare down” imply that you are trying to intimidate?
Does it? What should you say if you just want to say you're staring without looking away without wanting to intimidate the person you are staring?
I found the following definition and I thought it ...
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1answer
46 views
“Across the board” from an Economics lecture
You are listening to an economics lecture.
The lecture is,
You don' need to be a statistician to realize that economic growth in the past 20 years hasn't lifted everyone's boat equally. The good ...
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1answer
31 views
Paraphase of “the power to conjure reality through writing”
It was like an enactment of the world inhabited by the protagonist of Moshfegh’s forthcoming novel, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation,” who works at a gallery in Chelsea, amid objects like a quarter-...
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1answer
55 views
are “header” and “heading” interchangable in the context of “information at the top of something”?
In the following contexts, are header and heading interchangable or is one preferred/correct over the other ?
the top of a column in an Excel spreadsheet
the top of an email message (To: CC: BC:)
the ...
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1answer
31 views
What are the connotations of the word “pedantry”?
This is a request of help for the connotations of a word
If native speakers hear the word, pedantry, does it assume an air of showy, academically pompous, impudent impression to them?
Would this ...
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2answers
37 views
What is the word for a kid's bedroom?
I want to know a word for a kid's bedroom just like a women's bedroom is called a boudoir.
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2answers
2k views
What do we call “a person who blames others for things they didn't do”?
What do we call "a person who blames others for things they didn't do"?
I searched on the web, and found the word "blamer". I know what it means, and I don't find it fits the definition I wrote.
...
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1answer
2k views
The meaning of straight jacket [closed]
As I neared my house, the memory of the previous night at the shop
came flooding back to the forefront of my mind. Did I really see
Olivia in my mom’s shop? How was that possible?
I ...
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1answer
47 views
The meaning of “if I could get past the crusty edges”
What is the meaning of "if I could get past the crusty edges" in this context:
There on the counter sat a scrumptious-looking pan of freshly baked brownies. Well, they looked good if you could get ...
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2answers
93 views
The definition of “group rate”
Although I understand what group rate means, I am not sure I understand Merriam Webster's definition which says:
a uniform rate charged to or from any one of a group or block of points within a ...
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1answer
748 views
How to interpret “with _of_ before the thing communicated”?
I noticed that in business English, "please advise" is often used as a fixed phrase in context where it basically means "please respond". I looked at Wiktionary and found this among the definitions:
...
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1answer
38 views
What's the meaning of “appeal to” in this context?
Part 1 is mainly phatic: contact is established by offering information and producing a positive impression on the reader, using mainly nonverbal means which appeal to the cliché of a prototypical ...
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2answers
685 views
What is “the nativist camp”?
The second was the split between the free market, Liberal brexiteers, who envisaged Britain as open to the world, and the nativist camp led by Nigel Farage.
Could you please explain it to me as I can'...
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2answers
189 views
Is not being able to lick your elbow a “disability”?
I've been thinking this for quite a long time now, and while I know it doesn't make outright sense, but please take a minute to digest this question.
Consider the definitions for "disability" given ...
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1answer
253 views
What is the word, if any, for the missing liquid in an unopened bottle?
I have a question: Is there a word for the missing liquid in an unopened bottle? If any of you can recall, bottles that contain liquid are not usually filled to the top; they have an area that isn't ...
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2answers
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How would you call someone who is a party pooper who doesn’t want to do anything
For instance, someone goes to a hotel as a gateway and enjoy but they rather go to the store instead of eating a breakfast in the hotel because is too expensive and the other one gets dissapointed or ...
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2answers
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How would you call this movement
When a person is trying to walk in a straight line such as a drunk person, someone walking the slack rope or someone learning to ride a bike/motorcycle they tent to loose balance and move right and ...
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0answers
131 views
Question about “Royal Court”
Someone asked me whether the term "royal court" could also mean the king's dukes, viscounts, barons, counts, earls, etc. I know it contains his retinue, i.e. his advisors, servants, ministers, but ...
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1answer
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meaning of contour (verb)
In restoration ecology, we see statements like,
Roads will be re-contoured, ripped, or seeded if there is evidence of
excessive erosion.
What is the meaning of contour here? I looked up some ...
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1answer
30 views
How can I use just--only, just--justice, just--recently
Just--only is adjective.
Just--justice is adjective.
Just--recently is adverb.
How can I know what is justice or only?
Below, I refer to only, but someone told me this is justice.
You are anti ...
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3answers
691 views
What is a “ratchet drum”?
From here:
Chopped string samples and ratchet drums push this remix right to the dance floor.
A "ratchet drum key" is a tool used on certain drums. But I don't know what a "ratchet drum" is/looks ...
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0answers
279 views
Stay on the safe side of the fence
From the movie "Devil's Doorway" (1950)
During the movie, the Indian called Lance and his family and friends try to keep his land, but the homestead law gives other people right to his land, so they ...
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2answers
103 views
“Let's call such terms for properties” or “Let's call such terms properties”
I have run into some doubt in the exact wording when formulating definitions in English sentences. Which of these sentences are correct?
Let's call such terms for properties
Let's call such ...
