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.
11,220
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"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 ...
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1
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44
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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?
0
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2
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85
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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 ...
- 3,201
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2
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33
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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 ...
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1
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40
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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:
...
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2
votes
1
answer
47
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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%...
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2
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31
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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 ...
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-2
votes
1
answer
39
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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 ...
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0
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28
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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?
- 4,124
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55
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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 ...
- 613
1
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0
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48
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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-...
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1
answer
46
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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 ...
- 4,124
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0
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31
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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 ...
4
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5
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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'...
- 299
1
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1
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60
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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 &...
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-5
votes
0
answers
49
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Can I use "fake" as a predicative adjective?
That is fake.
There's fake food, it's just a toy resembling food, there's no food.
But I'm caught in something.
If I use "that", "that" indicates "fake food", so it means ...
- 299
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 ...
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2
votes
2
answers
86
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“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 ...
Didyougo
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votes
1
answer
58
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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 ...
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3
votes
2
answers
140
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"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 ...
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0
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1
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60
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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 ...
- 69
1
vote
2
answers
43
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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?
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13
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4
answers
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"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 ...
- 2,898
-1
votes
2
answers
31
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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 ...
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votes
1
answer
34
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Games people play
Eric Berne wrote his famous book ”Games People Play.”
Has this title other meaning than People play games?
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1
answer
18
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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 ...
0
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1
answer
15
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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 ...
- 565
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0
answers
17
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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 ...
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9
votes
5
answers
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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 ...
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27
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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
...
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2
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95
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"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 ...
0
votes
1
answer
53
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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?
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1
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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.
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51
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"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.
...
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1
vote
1
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45
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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" ...
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2
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59
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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.
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1
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36
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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, ...
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votes
1
answer
65
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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 ...
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votes
1
answer
33
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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 ...
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votes
1
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32
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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 ...
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1
vote
1
answer
40
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"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?
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vote
1
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68
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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 ...
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1
answer
53
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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 ...
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2
votes
1
answer
82
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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
...
- 613
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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 ...
aissam
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 ...
- 2,697
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 ...
- 613
1
vote
1
answer
50
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"?
- 1,329
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1
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69
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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 ...
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2
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202
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"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....
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