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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metalinguistic use of "many"
In the following dialogue, is B's use of "many" a metalinguistic one?
A: "Were there many there?"
B: "Many"! There were more than "many" - the whole place was ...
- 5,285
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What does it mean: " Don’t shop-order. "
On a caregiver forum, people are talking about their experiences and how to make life easier when they give caregiving to the elderly. One of those advices is like this:
Don’t shop-order.
Amazon lets ...
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What does "at the run" mean?
Here is the sentence from Germinal by zola:
Once they had thrown his and Catherine’s clothes over his shoulders, he set off at the run, holding his burden up with one hand and carrying their two ...
- 73.9k
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"Tell him the answer before he (can) punish you." - different meanings?
What I intend to say,
Tell him the answer, or he will punish you.
Can we express the same meaning like the following?
Example 1
Tell him the answer before he punishes you.
Example 2
Tell him the ...
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3
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Why is there a "just" in this sentence? | I did message her back and just say is this normal
On TV, a woman is talking about how she bought a medicine online from someone and was rushed to the hospital. She says:
"I did message her back and just say is this normal?"
ITV - I almost ...
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2
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What does "buck" mean here?
What does buck mean in the following quote from Axios.com on Twitter? Which sense of buck in online Merriam Webster dictionary applies here?
What troubles Trump's advisers most: He knew that with ...
- 132k
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2
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80
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What does "smudge one's clock face" mean?
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4873807-trump-harris-debate-reaction-podhoretz/ says:
Former President Reagan speechwriter, John Podhoretz, said former
President Trump caused problems for ...
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'But then', 'but then again', 'then again' - same as 'although'?
I am confused about those but then, but then again and then again. Can I use them interchangeably? What I understand is those are similar as although. Can I use them as although when I translate ...
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Word choice between us and each other
Hey I’ve got two sentences which sound almost the same to me
We have real intimacy between us.
We have real intimacy between each other.
Do they carry the same meaning or are they grammatically ...
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2
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44
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Is it correct to say "Do all your friends tuck in like that?"?
My daughter's school uniform includes a school shirt and a school skirt. A schoolboy's uniform includes a school shirt and a pair of school shorts (the design of the shirt and shorts are different ...
- 132k
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What does "Jealousy of someone" mean?
"Jealousy of someone". Does it mean?
"Someone's jealousy towards you" or
"You are jealous of them"
I have two sentence. "We should understand the jealousy of God&...
- 4,533
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2
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The meaning of "sharp" in "sharp sweetness"
Go for gold in the kitchen with our Olympic Games inspired menu! Tuck
into this Creamy Chicken à la Normande whilst you're watching Paris
2024 for a winning dinnertime. Cooking "à la Normande&...
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2
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127
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On using "time span"
Is this usage correct:
The short time span between the first and second experiment ...
I am using it as a synonym for (period or gap). Is this correct usage?
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He managed to look at ease "despite pigging/being pigging out on" the meat at an excess amount. - different meanings?
Example 1
He managed to look at ease despite pigging out on the meat at an excess amount.
Example 2
He managed to look at ease despite being pigging out on the meat at an excess amount.
Example 3
...
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1
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"It is important to recognise the interdependence between individual, culturally formed actions and the state of cultural integration." meaning
It is important to recognise the interdependence between
individual, culturally formed actions and the state of cultural
integration. People work within the forms provided by the
cultural patterns ...
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1
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Meaning of "I'm with the ..." construction
As a non-native speaker of English, the construction "I'm with the ..." sounds a bit strange to me. I understand that it has about the same meaning as "I'm from the ...", as in &...
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1
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Understanding the Meaning of “No Thing”
In the lyric “It wasn’t no thing to give you up,” should it be understood as “It wasn’t difficult to give you up” or “It wasn’t easy to give you up”? I’m confused about the meaning of “no thing” here.
...
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condescension and can
We can talk about modal auxiliary verbs in terms of such logical notions as ‘permission’ and ‘necessity’ but, this done, we still have to consider ways in which these notions become remoulded by the ...
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63
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Is "Thank you" means "Yes" here?
Here is the conversation between Nettie and Reta in Killers Of The Flower Moon (2023):
Reta: Nettie?
Nettie: Yes.
Reta: Can you get my sister some toast, please?
Nettie: Of course. And a bit more ...
- 2,176
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2
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"See how I feel"?
What I’d like to do is get a couple of fights and rent a nice house. You want to go to the gym sometime? Maybe we could work out again, see how I feel. I was in bad shape last time.
Does this mean &...
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What does equitable mean here? [closed]
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/equality-vs-equity-difference
when opening up a print dictionary, regardless of how thick it is, you’ll have equal access to the pages and the definitions will ...
- 4,533
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2
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146
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Adversative sentences
What do the bold parts mean? Or rather, I should say that I'm confused by the bold parts, and I'd like to know what the sentences mean, and what kind of flavor they have to them. And what does win ...
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I don't think it's serving me right
On TV, some people are discussing about how students might change their minds about the department they chose in the beginning of uviversity. A man said about his daughter's case:
Dad I'm just not ...
- 8,642
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1
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63
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Go up/down the other end
What does "go up/down the other end" mean? I interpret it as "go up" as "go towards" and "the other end" as "the opponent pitch". "Other" ...
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39
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"The same hated one"?
"And so Tully, relating the story of his marriage, crawled through the afternoon, separating nuts from clods until all nuts were the same hated one thrown forever into the bucket."
Does it ...
- 41k
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3
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61
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Meaning of “Put itself in the wrong”
I would like to ask for help with understanding of “Put itself in the wrong”.
The whole sentence is “With propensity to put itself in the wrong, he only informed us very brifely.
What is the meaning ...
- 59k
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2
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101
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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 ...
1
vote
3
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What is the meaning of "just" here?
Let's say I arrive outside my friend's house. He's expexting me. I need a cigarette, so I smoke one outside. I see my friend in the window. He sees me. I finish smoking and walks up to the front door. ...
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4
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The percentage of xxx vs. The proportion of xxx?
Which expression would be better in formal academic writing?
The percentage of incidence is approaching approximately 80%.
The proportion of incidence is approaching approximately 80%.
I believe ...
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3
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"The company receives millions of dollars in advertising revenue." — What specifically does "in" mean here?
britannica.com:
(1) The company receives millions of dollars in advertising revenue.
I can guess what, in (1), "in advertising revenue" means — it means "earning on advertising".
...
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Should I say (plants are grown) or(plants grow ) and what is the difference between blood donating and blood donation in meqning [closed]
I don't understand the difference between grow and are grown in the mentioned question, I mean I do not kno
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3
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123
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She's beautiful. She's gone to the market. How to differentiate "She is" and "She has"?
The contraction she's is defined as:
Ref. Cambridge dictionary
she's.
short form of she is:
She's a writer.
short form of she has:
She's been to Japan twice.
Though the dictionary cites two ...
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3
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35
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Is this place called passage or hallway or corridor or pathway?
Mary is just 6 and I need to show her where her class is in a school.
After Mary goes through the school gate, she has to go through a place (as shown in the picture below), then turn right to another ...
- 17.3k
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1
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have something over someone
a) What do you have over Tom?
Could that mean
In what way are you better than Tom.
I think I can beat Tom tomorrow.
Really? What do you have over Tom? As far as I can see, he's better than you in ...
- 108k
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2
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53
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Why can we say "Where is THERE?" but not "Where is HERE?" to find out about a place?
On TV, a woman who thinks she is sent from outer space is talking about how she exchanged souls with something from the space. Here is a part from the conversation:
Presenter: Where did your soul go ...
- 8,081
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1
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34
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Are games where you pretend to be something called by the name of the venue/building?
On TV, I heard when children are thinking of what game they should play, one of them said:
We will play hospitals.
From this sentence, I think that maybe the names of games in english -in which you ...
- 108k
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1
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53
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Though able enough? Compatible?
He was trying to be compatible. Though able enough, he felt he was a lover more from duty than from inclination. With his wife he had not had to try. From her he had met with reprimands for ...
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1
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49
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get yourself set up
On TV, someone is warning how to avoid scammers in buying concert tickets. She says:
"....but for this weekend get yourself set up, only buy from the registered official sites, and do not get ...
- 8,512
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4
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Humankind Vs Mankind
I ran into the following context:
[humankind: human beings considered collectively (used as a neutral alternative to “mankind”)]
Also, I have read another article about it.
But still I am confused! ...
- 108k
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1
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34
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young animal vs. baby animal
The word 'kid' to me means a goat that has not yet attained adulthood, and is not fully mature.
But does 'young goat' mean the same or could it mean a young fully mature goat?
And would 'baby goat' ...
1
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1
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Idiom request : a very small amount compared with what is needed
I'm looking for an English equivalent to the Hindi phrase:
Feeding cumin seeds to a camel.
Cumin seeds would not sate a camel's hunger. In fact, it is as good as giving nothing.
This phrase can be ...
- 108k
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1
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What does "exercise" mean in this context?
This is a definition of the word "witchery" from the Oxford Languages dictionary.
witchery
compelling power exercised by beauty, eloquence, or other attractive or fascinating qualities
...
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What does "make" in the phrase "make + verb-ing" mean?
I found the following sentence in Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary:
a formal promise to be loyal to the US, which Americans make standing
in front of the flag with their right hand on their heart....
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2
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46
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'healthy' to mean 'working properly'
Is there an adjective in English which describes a device that works properly?
As opposed to 'broken: damaged not or working properly'.
Is it correct to use the adjective 'healthy'? As in
Is the ...
- 108k
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1
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48
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When talking about the date of an event, what does 'net' mean in an expression like 'net September'
a wiki article gives a date in the form of 'NET September', what does 'net' mean?
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Can I say "fingers" when referring to toes?
In my native language, there is no word for toes. You just use the same word for both toes and fingers. In this context, I would say a human has 20 fingers.
Recently I've heard someone saying a ...
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why does the author write 'This makes sense and is a logical argument ~'?
I have a couple of questions.
Firstly, why does the author write This makes sense and is a logical argument ~ ? Does it mean that in the perspective of eastern folks, it is sensible to think that way ...
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What do the double negative and multiple uses of otherwise here mean?
"I quite agree with you," said the Duchess, "and the moral of that is
— 'Be what you would seem to be'— or, if you’d like it put more
simply—'Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise ...
- 4,189
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1
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40
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" did" or "do"?
"What did you want to do that for?”
“You can count on me right down the line,” he said.
“You want to knock your brains out?”
“You can count on me. Don’t you believe me?"
"I get along ...
- 18.8k
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1
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34
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Can "a tissue" be called a handkerchief or hanky?
In Cambridge dictionary,
hanky=a handkerchief (= square piece of cloth or paper used
for cleaning the nose and drying the eyes)
I thought a handkerchief was always made of cloth.
a tissue: [...
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