Questions tagged [meaning-in-context]
This tag is for questions about the meaning of a word or a phrase in a specific context, which a dictionary cannot answer. Please give as much context as possible.
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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." British drama (see:1:07:18-1:07:22)
"I wish your father was here."
These sentences, despite having completely different structures, seem to ...
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What's the meaning and the use of "home" and "in"?
I would like to understand the use of "home" and "in" in this context. How do they work? It's a little confusing "Thump" means strike the ball hard and its object is &...
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It's the same definition
Parents should spend as much time with
their children as possible
lt's an amazing book - you should read it.
You shouldn't drive so fast.
I think that the meanings of "should" and "...
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What's the meaning of "flatten in anger"?
I don't understand the meaning of flatten in this case:"his face flattening with anger"
I searched on Google the meaning of this word and I found:
. To show no emotion (flat effect)
. To ...
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I'll get to the accounts as soon as I can. (meaning of 'the accounts')
I'll get to the accounts as soon as I can.
What's the exact literal meaning of 'the accounts' here?
There are basic meanings of 'account' in a dictionary: explanation, journal account, or customer, ...
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Meaning of "aphasiac piano"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XXI, published 1892)
Passage 326
I stepped toward the window. It was the old familiar room, with the tables set like a Greek P, ...
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"people with IQ over 1000 are needed."
Can I say "people with IQ over 1000 are needed to overcome technological lag" even though people with IQ over 1000 don't exist and are impossible?
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What does "up" mean in "up the pitch?"
Could you explain what "up" means in this sentence? Does it mean "on"? So "up the pitch" means "on the pitch".
26 mins – Ireland get short at the back as they ...
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What's meant by ". . . he went the pace extraordinary"? (go the pace ?)
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XX, published 1892)
Passage 319
But before he was out of long clothes, the cloven foot began to show; he proved to be no ...
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Bared at invaders
What does "barred at" mean in the following phrase? Does it actually mean "barred against", which means to provide with bars, as a prison; banned"?
Crenellations are one of ...
- 1,175
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"Now" before and after the verb. Do they both have the same meaning?
Placing the adverb "now" before or after the verb brings some type of change to the meaning of the sentence, as in the example below:
Thank you for inviting me to your party and sharing this ...
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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 ...
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Is ' making a fool of you a correct sentence; without a initial word [closed]
Making a fool of you is it correct without an initial word
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Does "lower and higher brackets" work?
As you can see, there are two lower income brackets and only one higher bracket. Is it correct to call these three brackets "lower and higher brackets"? What I am worried about is that the &...
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Is my understanding of back-to-back here correct?
If I have a sequence of 100 monotonically increasing numbers, and if I were to expand it back-to-back to 200 numbers. Is it the right way to understand "back-to-back" here, that it means the ...
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would(=insistence)
He would leave the house in a muddle.
He insisted on leaving the house in a muddle.
What's the difference between the former sentence and the latter sentence?
(Here, would of the first sentence means ...
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Meaning of "elaborate"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XIX, published 1892)
Passage 289
The same night I had Nares to dinner. His sunburnt face, his queer and personal strain of talk,...
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The meaning of this passage [closed]
If a new drug were to make even the most severe symptoms of the common cold disappear within seconds, most participants and investigators would correctly identify it as the latest wonder drug and not ...
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Any difference between "walking slow" and "walking slowly"?
Is there a difference between these two versions?
He walks so slow.
He walks so slowly
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What should use "returned to find" instead of "returned finding" in this sentence?
I once found this sentence. Why is 'to find' used here instead of 'finding'
He returned home to find his wife waiting for him.
I'm curious about this. Because normally, when it comes to describing ...
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"I'm starving to death" or "I'm hungry to death" can mean "I'm very hungry"?
Is it acceptable to use the sentence "I'm starving to death" or "I'm hungry to death" just in the meaning of "I'm very hungry" (rather than of a real pathological ...
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Meaning of 'make out' in " . . . you didn't, somehow, make out to give us the thing straight"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVIII, published 1892)
Passage 281
I was but a little way down the street, when I was arrested by the sound of some one running,...
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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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What role does the word "particular" play in these types of sentences?
"A professional accounting body is an association of accountants in a particular jurisdiction."
"A country is a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory."
I ...
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A problem with understanding in context
everyone
I read this fragment in a book. I don't know its author and title.
Could you help me to understand the bolded fragments?
"When my father used to get angry with me, I hated him for it. ...
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My son's relationship to my daughter's son? [closed]
What is the relationship of my son to my daughter's son?
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40
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Help me to understand
everyone
"But at nearly fifty he is like those bronze statues in public parks that despite one lucky knee rubbed raw by schoolchildren, discolor beautifully until they match the trees."
What ...
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How to understand "Beat the jolt, check the volt"?
"Beat the jolt, check the volt" is an electrical safe slogan.
For example: https://sloganshub.org/electrical-safety-slogans/#google_vignette
I know "volt" is the unit of electric ...
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Do Americans use the expression "it looks common"? If so, what does it mean?
Since the US is not based on a class system, is this expression used at all or does it belong to the peculiarities of the British language?
common adjective (LOW CLASS)
disapproving
typical of a low ...
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For to tell the truth is not in itself diplomatic, and to have no care for the result a thing involuntary
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVI, published 1892)
Passage 257
Indeed, I believe that was my only reason for entering upon a transaction which was now ...
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41
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"To take care" meaning "to serve"
Can the verb "take care" be used in the sense of "to serve" "or perform the functions of a waiter in the case of the example below?
What do I do at the restaurant? Well, I ...
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"wait a few tables" meaning
What is the meaning of "wait a few tables" in the text below? As far as I can deduce it would mean working as a waiter, but that doesn't seem to make sense within the context of the text - ...
- 1,153
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She sees her boyfriend vs She is seeing her boyfriend
I have been wondering about the meaning of "to see" in relation to visiting someone and/or having an affair. Could you confirm (or not) that I understand the difference correctly? I have ...
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I must now take hold myself [closed]
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVI, published 1892)
Passage 252
There was yet one more postscript, yet one more outburst of self-pity and pathetic adjuration; ...
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The lead has pinched right out
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVI, published 1892)
Passage 251
“This is the end of me commercially. I give up; my nerve is gone. I suppose I ought to be glad;...
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. . . as sound a line as can be produced upon this coast
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVI, published 1892)
Passage 250
God forbid a sensitive, refined spirit like yours should ever come face to face with a ...
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He is in politics some
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XVI, published 1892)
Passage 249
“We've rather bad news for you, Mr. Dodd,” said Fowler. “Your firm's gone up.”
“Already!” I ...
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To stay the feet of every passer-by
What does To stay the feet mean in the verse below
And hear the others who with cymbals try
To stay the feet of every passer-by:
The market-men along the darkling lane
Are crying up their wares.—...
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Does 'with' belong to 'grow' or to 'search'?
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XV, published 1892)
Passage 243
“So we can keep the business to ourselves,” I mused.
“There's one other person that might blab,”...
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only further evangelizing their particular brand of occultism
I'm confused as to what the bolded phrase in the sentence modifies.
Perhaps more revelatory, Sunny and Sonya reveal they “LARP as girls”
with the “simps” they catch in the process only further ...
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Does “you can go now” sound rude? Context provided in question
As an IT guy in a college, I was helping a professor with his phone problems. After I was done helping him, I told him “you can go now.” to end the interaction as I had another student waiting for my ...
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Why is "admission" countable in "Museum admission is $5."?
cambridge.org:
one of the meanings of "admission":
Admission is also the price paid to enter a place.
an example for this meaning:
(1) Museum admission is $5.
Dictionary says "...
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"Like this" or "this way". Any of them make sense in this sentence?
In a hypothetical situation in which someone is asking his or her father to never come home drunk again, any of the following sentences would make sense:
Please, daddy, promise you'll never come home ...
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"Always acknowledge your sources at the end of an essay." — What does it mean?
Cambridge Dictionary explains that there are two meanings of "acknowledge" and gives an example (below).
the first meaning of "acknowledge":
to accept, admit, or recognize ...
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Is "so" omissible in "so their makers claim"?
"The Painting Fool" is one of a growing number of computer programs which, so their makers claim, possess creative talents"
Is "so" omissable in this context? If not, what ...
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"Most people had come to accept that war <was> <would be> inevitable."
a sentence from extra examples of item #7 on oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com:
(1) Most people had come to accept that war was inevitable.
Does Past Perfect mean "most people coming to accept" ...
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"in order for ... to ..." VS "for ... to ..."
I have the following in my documents:
(1a) A mother was permanently having to watch her child for him not to spill the bottle down himself. — incorrect — Is it so?
(1b) A mother was permanently having ...
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What does this sentence on BBC means: ""All baa myself: Is this Britain's loneliest sheep?"
All baa myself: Is this Britain's loneliest sheep? BBC - Britain's loneliest sheep
What does "All baa myself" mean? I couldn't quite understand it.
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The meaning of "table worthy"
Does "table worthy" mean something that is good enough to be put on the table? Thank you!
Bread That's As Tableworthy As Your Turkey
This Thanksgiving, turn your side into your centerpiece ...
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Meaning of . . . "not one that has any mortal thing to do with Trent"
(From The Wrecker by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, Chapter XIV, published 1892)
Passage 224
“Captain,” I said at last, “there is something deuced underhand about this brig. You tell me ...
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