Questions tagged [meaning]

This tag is for questions about the meaning of a word, which a dictionary cannot answer. If the question is about the meaning of a word that can't be understood outside its phrase or sentence, the "meaning-in-context" tag should be also used; for the meaning of a phrase, use the "phrase-meaning" tag instead. Your question should normally include the dictionary definition of the word, and explain how the dictionary does not answer your question.

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"Within 7 working days upon arrival" vs. "of your arrival date"

Two questions Is there any difference between the sentence "within 7 working days upon arrival" and "within 7 working of your arrival date"? How do we count these 7 working days? ...
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2 votes
2 answers
348 views

"How far back was the deer? - Does "how far back ...." make sense when the driver actually run into a deer in front of the car?

This is from a native speaker's telling about some of the things done by the officers after his car run into a deer which suddenly ran out onto the road. The man could not stop or swerve and had to ...
yunus's user avatar
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3 answers
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Can you say someone "never [VERB]s" if they used to in the past?

If you say "never swears" as an example, can this include if someone has done it in the past but doesn’t do it consistently nor in recent time?
Ryan DiMingo's user avatar
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2 answers
98 views

What does 'orange software' in 'Bro got orange software' mean?

In this Reel titled Bro did him dirty, a (white) cat is concealed within a box by another, which closes the lid by sitting on it. The top comment, which had been upvoted by more than 600 people, of ...
Lerner Zhang's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
35 views

Why is there a "...being..." in this sentence: "There was little evidence from trials of it being of benefit."

This is about a new drug, which was approved in the US, but was rejected in the EU for not being safe enough. At the time, many scientists said there was little evidence from trials of it being of ...
yunus's user avatar
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1 answer
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Every father "behaved/behaves" very boldly before they "got/gets" married. - What are the nuances?

Example 1 Every father behaved very boldly before they got married. Example 2 Every father behaves very boldly before they gets married. What are the nuances between them? My interpretation: ...
vincentlin's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Do I correctly understand difference between 'could hardly [v]' and 'hardly [v2]'

example: he spoke very quickly, so I could hardly understand him. - (I understood (0-25%) of all) he spoke very quickly, so I hardly understood him. - (it was hard, but I did(understood) it (75%-100%...
Armen's user avatar
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2 answers
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the key to all the doors of knowledge

a. He has a key to all doors of knowledge. b. He has a key to every door of knowledge. c. He has a key to each door of knowledge. d. He has a key to all the doors of knowledge. ============ a1. He has ...
azz's user avatar
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-2 votes
1 answer
39 views

Do these sentences have the same meaning: "Such a pity your father can't be here." VS "I wish your father was here."

"Such a pity your father can't be here." A Dark Adapted Eye (1994 UK TV drama, part 1) (see:1:07:18-1:07:22) "I wish your father was here." These sentences, despite having ...
yunus's user avatar
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0 answers
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things need more time to be worked/to work on/working on

1 Some things need more time to be worked on. 2 Some things need more time to work on. 3 Some things need more time working on. It seems to me that all three mean the same, is it so?
user1425's user avatar
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Is "several prizes" a direct object or an indirect object in "There are thought likely to be awarded several prizes."?

From [Andrew Radford. (2004). English Syntax: An Introduction. p.155.] There are thought likely to be awarded several prizes. I can not figure out the meaning of the sentence because of not being ...
Mr. Wang's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
48 views

Difference between "cater to" and "cater for"

What is the difference between cater for and cater to? Not in the context of serving food. Examples from Cambridge dictionary cater for someone/something: The college caters for deaf and visually-...
Rafeq's user avatar
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1 answer
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there is the/a/this - are all valid?

1 There is the word "Hello". Have you heard it before? 2 There is a word "Hello". Have you heard it before? 3 There is this word "Hello". Have you heard it before? Are ...
user1425's user avatar
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0 answers
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Meaning of a sentence about law

I wanted to know what the last sentence of this paragraph means, what does " know it to be " refer to ? a person “is not obliged to retreat from his dwelling or place of work, unless he was ...
Prophet Saleh's user avatar
4 votes
5 answers
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Ice is melted in the water

Ice has melted, so there's just melted ice which is just water. Can I describe the right picture as "ice is melted in the water" (without definite article "the") even though there'...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
60 views

Why is it correct to say "to explode a bomb / fuel tank / star", but incorrect to say "to explode a car / bridge / building"?

cambridge.org: (1) Black holes are left behind by exploding stars called supernovas. collinsdictionary.com: (2) A school bus was hit by gunfire which exploded the fuel tank. Why is it correct to say &...
Loviii's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
168 views

"I was blown away by how good that movie was!" — If we took "by" away, would the sentence meaning remain the same?

thefreedictionary.com: (1) I was blown away by how good that movie was! As far as I understand, if we took "by" away, the sentence would also remain correct: (2) I was blown away how good ...
Loviii's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
86 views

“the room whose door is broken” vs “the room which door is broken”? [duplicate]

Which exactly is the difference in meaning and usage between choosing whose versus choosing which in this first sentence? He chose to live in the room [ which / whose ] door was broken. How do these ...
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1 answer
58 views

Meaning of "A/B and C/D" -- clear or ambiguous?

I saw this sentence in Cypher, in which game you try to break various cyphers. Swap columns 1/2 and 3/4 of each block. I didn't know whether it meant "Swap the 1st column for the 2nd column and ...
rei727's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
140 views

"The jumbo jet was blasted out of the sky." — If we took "out of the sky" away, would the sentence remain correct?

I'd like to know how to use the word "blast" when it means "explode". For this purpose, I prepared some examples. oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com: (1) The jumbo jet was blasted out ...
Loviii's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
61 views

Haven't spoken or haven't been speaking

Could you, please, provide me with an explanation as to why "haven't spoken" is an accepted answer instead of "haven't been speaking" in the following example: My downstairs ...
Penguin422's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
43 views

Is there any nuance between "is one island" and "is an island"?

Hainan is __ island, isn't it? A. the B. one C. a D. an The answer is B. But I think D is also ok. What is the nuance?
Mr. Wang's user avatar
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13 votes
4 answers
6k views

"James flicked a peanut at her." — What can "flicked" mean here?

oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com: to flick something — to hit something lightly with a sudden quick movement, especially using your finger and thumb together, or your hand: (1) James flicked a peanut ...
Loviii's user avatar
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-1 votes
2 answers
31 views

How to make sense of "are precisely as the analysis in (80a/b/c) would lead us to expect"?

From [Andrew Radford. (2004). English Syntax: An Introduction. p.77.]. If we is a first person determiner, you is a second person determiner and ø is a third person determiner, the grammaticality ...
Mr. Wang's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
34 views

Games people play

Eric Berne wrote his famous book ”Games People Play.” Has this title other meaning than People play games?
MarianD's user avatar
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1 answer
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at another boundary, one separating the territory of the test subject from another neighbor

Emma Brindley has investigated the responses of European robins to the songs of neighbors and strangers. Despite the large and complex song repertoire of European robins, they were able to ...
Honey Bee's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
15 views

What does "when using CMOS logic as the resistor..." mean in the following sentence?

What does "when using CMOS logic as the resistor..." mean in the following sentence, This is solved when using CMOS logic as the resistor is replaced with another MOSFET that will be off so ...
user175012's user avatar
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0 answers
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"This many frogs ......." VS "Such a lot of frogs......." VS "So many frogs ......."

This many frogs out on the slopes does not go unnoticed. Frogs race - BBC Earth (See:1:20-1:26) Instead of "this many", I tend to use: "Such a lot of frogs ....." "So many ...
yunus's user avatar
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9 votes
5 answers
1k views

Meaning of 'for' in 'read poems for grammatical correctness'

a. I don't read poems for grammatical correctness. I read them for pleasure. I know the sentences are correct, but I can't figure out what the first 'for' means. When I read poems for pleasure, I ...
azz's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
27 views

Is it appropriate to use "in terms of" instead of "as" here?

Thus far, we have argued that phrases and sentences are built up by merging successive pairs of constituents into larger and larger structures, and that the resulting structure can be represented in ...
Mr. Wang's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
95 views

"All outta angst" : derived from angst or free from angst?

A band NOFX has a song named "All Outta Angst". In my understanding, "outta" (out of) has several usages, including: "derived from" and "free from". All these ...
ŌHARA Kazutaka's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
53 views

to hold a conversation VS to maintain a conversation

Could you tell me please if "to hold a conversation" and "to maintain a conversation" are synonyms? If not, then what's the difference between them?
Loviii's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
47 views

Meaning of "the usual 'get to know you' banter"

What exactly does "'get to know you' banter" mean in this phrase: Emma arrives. Their dialogue consists primarily of the usual “get to know you” banter.
Moha's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
51 views

"A line of cars swung out of the palace gates." — How will the sentence meaning change if I replace "swung" with "moved"?

one of the meanings of "swing" from oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com: to swing - to move or make something move with a wide curved movement: (1) A line of cars swung out of the palace gates. ...
Loviii's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
45 views

Is 'bold' used correctly here? "This aspect of this issue seems bolder than the rest."

I've been having a little bit of a debate with one of my friends about the correct use of a word. I hope the native English speakers can help me put an end to this :) I know the word "bold" ...
dimmie's user avatar
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-2 votes
2 answers
59 views

What does it mean if when someone says. “I don’t know when you will get your chance.” [closed]

I would greatly appreciate it, if someone could please explain this to me.
VioletSenses's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
36 views

Meaning of "less something than something else"

"His fourth-century cultists...tried to make him the new Moses. But the Gospels make him less a Moses than a Mister Magoo." What is the correct meaning of this explanation about St. Peter, ...
APK's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
65 views

Can "slit a bag" mean "unzip a bag" or "open a bag"?

britannica.com: to slit - to make a long, narrow cut or opening in (something) with a sharp object: (1) I slit the bag open at the top. (2) The bag of seeds had been slit open. According to the ...
Loviii's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
33 views

When/If you eat KFC chicken, you are a fast food lover. - do they mean different to you?

A lot of online materials say “if” and “when” are interchangeable when the conditional sentence is something repeated and habitual. But I just found an exception. (1) If you eat KFC chicken, you are ...
vincentlin's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
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After I said bad things about him, he got angry(,) and I got scared from looking at his angry face. - meaning differences?

Example 1 After I said bad things about him, he got angry and I got scared from looking at his angry face. Example 2 After I said bad things about him, he got angry, and I got scared from looking ...
vincentlin's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
40 views

"He is very excited that he will <get to> meet his idol." — What meaning does the sentence acquire in adding "get"?

oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com: (1) He is very excited that he will get to meet his idol. What does "get" in (1) mean?
Loviii's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
68 views

What's the difference between "Spain's fastfood consumption" and "the consumption of fastfood in Spain"? [closed]

I am describing a chart in that chart 22% of Spanish people consumed fast food. Are the two sentences below correct? Is there a difference between these sentences in meaning? Spain's fast food ...
Rafeq's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
53 views

Does "knee-jerk" mean having a lot of leeway here?

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/13/1212767277/maryanne-trump-barry-dead says Years before her brother became president, Barry wrote in a 2006 immigration case that judges had too little leeway to ...
Tim's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
82 views

Which is the subject of 'Generalising'?

Generalising still further, it seems possible that all grammatical variation between languages can be characterised in terms of a set of parameters, and that for each parameter, the language faculty ...
Mr. Wang's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
36 views

What does the word "another" refer to in the sentence “He could not forget or pardon a lapse in another"?

I am quoting from The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Second Stain, by Arthur Conan Doyle: “Mr. Holmes, I will tell you everything,” cried the lady. “Oh, Mr. Holmes, I would cut off my right hand ...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
25 views

does everything I tell him to

a. My brother does anything I tell him to. b. My brother does everything I tell him to. Is there any real difference between the meanings of these sentences: If yes, what? I think the first one is ...
azz's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
27 views

Is there any nuance between 'in terms of' and 'in the case of'?

In terms of structure, they are the first part of a noun group; that is, they come before any of the other words that go with a noun. In the case of the Head Position Parameter (i.e. the parameter ...
Mr. Wang's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
51 views

What does merry mean in merry-go-round?

"merry-go-round" is a device in park ,it turn round or circle."merry" in "merry christmas" means happy or enjoy,is it the same meaning in "merry-go-round"?
showkey's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
70 views

How does it really feel when people say "thank you for your patience" to their clients in English? [closed]

Yesterday I invited a client twice. For the first appointment I made, the client met with me but we could not complete our task due to lack of preparation. So the client left and I made the second ...
Stats Cruncher's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
209 views

"Files can be attached to your email at the push of <a> <the> button." — What is the rule for choosing an article here?

ldoceonline.com: at/with the push of a button: (1) Files can be attached to your email at the push of a button. As far as I understand, "a button" means "one of the buttons", i.e....
Loviii's user avatar
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