New answers tagged meaning-in-context
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What is the meaning of "what goes to" in this context
What things or actions done contribute to the outcome being discussed. E.g. what effort, money, time, special food (etc) - probably, but without much more context (e.g. much more of the screenplay) it ...
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"Do you want there to be?" VS "Do you want there was?"
No, they are not idiomatic, though you could say "Do you wish there was?"
However, the 'current fact' is that we don't know whether there are other civilisations in space; apparently ...
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"Live now, pay later"-what it implies?
It is a variation (perhaps a parody) of "Buy now. Pay later".
This latter expression is common in advertising. It means you can obtain the goods on "credit". If a car is "buy ...
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"Live now, pay later"-what it implies?
What is it you don't understand?
It is imperative in form (live and pay are verbs).
Pay is not necessarily to be taken literally, as "pay money", but a more general "pay the price, in ...
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What does "We must hack it" mean in the following context?
“We must hack it,” said he, tearing off in the direction of the nearest stand.
The clue is in the same sentence. He is referring to a stand, a place where Hackney Cabs wait for customers - just as ...
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What does the expression "got smoked" mean?
It means it got severely defeated.
In this case, it is talking about a security exploit that allowed people to circumvent safeguards in the software. But you could use it in other contexts as well, ...
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"the" in "Algebra, arithmetic, ... are <the> branches of mathematics." and "Algebra, arithmetic, ... are <the> branches mathematics has."
Are the is exhaustive: John, Paul, George, and Ringo are the Beatles means that someone is a Beatle if and only if they are one of the four people listed. By contrast, John and Paul are Beatles ...
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Help me to understand the construction "Why + noun / adjective / adverb ?" in which there is not a verb
Your examples 2–4 are fine. Your 1b simply doesn’t work. A fragment Why is the X? begs to be completed: Why is the X Y? as in Why is the door open?
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What does a "three-card-monte man" mean in this context?
'Three-card-Monte' isn't just the name of a card game - it is a known confidence trick. The player never wins and is tricked into losing money.
On the surface, three-card-monte looks like a simple ...
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"It'll be the first time he has met his dad." / "........ he meets his dad." / ".........he'll meet his dad."
It is common to use the present perfect to refer to something which has happened before now or which has never happened before now:
They have met.
They have never met.
They have been introduced to ...
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"It'll be the first time he has met his dad." / "........ he meets his dad." / ".........he'll meet his dad."
To add to FumbleFingers' answer, note that there are in fact two tenses operating at the same time. We can see that more clearly if we rewrite the idea and break it into two sentences:
Soon Zack will ...
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"It'll be the first time he has met his dad." / "........ he meets his dad." / ".........he'll meet his dad."
Use the first option ("Present Perfect in the Future", or "Future Perfect"; terminology varies)...
1: If you give me a cigarette it will be the first time I have smoked since I ...
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What does "be blown upon" mean there?
Wiktionary gives the meaning of 'blow upon' to be
To defame, discredit; make someone the subject of a scandal.
'To be blown upon' means 'discredited' or 'having been subject of a scandal'.
This ...
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What does "stick to one's guns" mean there?
From the context of the conversation we can infer that the people talking have been at an auction. The telltale phrase is "Going, going, gone", which is what auctioneers stereotypically say ...
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What do you take ". . . can have nothing to say to something" to mean in this context?
To expand on Kate's correct answer, the author (or judge) is letting us know what they mean by clarifying: "I should rather fancy they would be the last to hear of it." So since they are ...
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What is the meaning of "where it counts, you don't really know"?
where it counts means "where it matters" or "where it will have a big effect".
The boxer hit his opponent with an uppercut where it counts, in the solar plexus.
So, "Where ...
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What do you take "buy over our head" to mean in the following context?
To bid more than someone at an auction, and therefore 'win' (secure) the goods offered for sale, in this case the wreck of a ship.
This idiom has been asked about before on ELL. But the specific ...
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What is the meaning of "where it counts, you don't really know"?
The author means that even though we can consciously know something is bad for us, at a subconscious or fundamental level we still don't properly "know" or accept that we should stop doing ...
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Do these have the same meaning: "...finding out what his life has been like." VS "...finding out how his life has been."
what his life has been like is idiomatic. It is how a native speaker might refer to another person's ups and downs, challenges, successes, failures, health, family, job situation, and so on.
I asked ...
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The difference between " considering formalities " with " standing on ceremony "
These are uncommonly used. "Considering formalities" makes perfect sense when used in the context of a sentence. I'd stick with that, unless you have a reason, as it is more common.
It's ...
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Parsing of the sentence "I have been happily married for nine years."
I have been happily married for nine years.
Yes, happily is an adverb modifying the adjective married.
happily adverb
3
: in a happy manner or state
Merriam-Webster
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How to understand "trusting relationships between actors of regulatory regimes"
COUNTABLE NOUN
A regime is the way that something such as an institution, company, or economy is run, especially when it involves tough or severe action.
The authorities moved him to the less rigid ...
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Is this a weird structure or correct English? "Thank you to and Thank you you for watching me."
He says not Thank you to, but Thank you, Thu, addressing the woman he has just interviewed. Thu is her name.
He follows that with Thank you, you to address all his audience. Although this construction ...
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Meaning of "namely to the increasing complexity of regional distribution and exchange systems"
To put some of the ideas in the comments into an answer:
beyond refers to that which lies on the far side of some kind of limit or barrier:
The city lies beyond the mountain range.
The mountain ...
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Meaning of "namely to the increasing complexity of regional distribution and exchange systems"
The Akrotirian potters seem to have responded to pressures beyond their households, namely to the increasing complexity of regional distribution and exchange systems.
These potters started to produce ...
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"He was 'happily married' with two young children." Can somebody explain to me the meaning of "happily married" in that sentence?
The collocation happily married means "in a stable marriage". The marriage is established and steady. The marriage is not "on the rocks" like a ship about to sink in a storm.
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"He was 'happily married' with two young children." Can somebody explain to me the meaning of "happily married" in that sentence?
There is no mystery here. Just a little contextual interpretation.
Married is an adjective, and you have the definition.
In context I would understand "He" to mean the husband, and that &...
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Which is correct, "a consequence of the fact" or "an explanation of the fact"?
A "consequence" is a result. If A causes B, then B is a consequence of A.
An "explanation" is additional information about a subject.
In this example, the writer is giving reasons ...
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Meaning of 'distinction' in this context
Unfortunately, radium isn't the only pigment that historically seemed (A)harmless or useful but turned out to be (B)deadly.
(A) is different from (B).
This difference is sad(lamentable).
So, 'that ...
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What does "coercive threats" mean and what does "coercive governments" mean?
1)When someone tries to make another person do something they don't want to do by scaring or pressuring them with the possibility of harm or punishment.
2)Governments that use force, intimidation, or ...
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What does "coercive threats" mean and what does "coercive governments" mean?
Paraphrasing from the page you cite, one employs a coercive threat when, in order to persuade someone to do something, one threatens to use force.
Similarly, a government is coercive when it persuades ...
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Meaning of 'distinction' in this context
Afraid to say that the selected answer is not correct. It is true that one of the definitions of 'distinction' is the quality of being different or unique - however, that definition does not fit the ...
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Meaning of 'distinction' in this context
Distinction often has the meaning "the quality or state of being excellent or superior : the quality or state of being distinguished or worthy" (Merriam-Webster). However, putting "...
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Any difference between: "Did you know anybody else that old?" AND "Did you know anybody else as old?"
Actually, she says "Did you ever know anybody else that old?" She means "Have you ever met a person of that age (101)?"
That old refers to a particular age. As old [as] is a ...
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Meaning of 'distinction' in this context
Distinction here means 'the quality of being different (distinct) from others'.
Radium has the distinction of being a substance that was once thought to be beneficial and decorative but was later ...
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What does "measurement" mean in the given context?
James's answer is very good for explaining what was meant by Fermi in the paragraph. Fermi is not literally speaking about what a measurement is.
The poster also asked this question which happens to ...
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What does "measurement" mean in the given context?
The author mentions how Fermi said that "an experiment that successfully proves a hypothesis" is—merely—an act of measuring.
Fermi was trying to show his students that it's not the obvious ...
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What does "measurement" mean in the given context?
Measurement means "finding the value of some physical quantity".
He is speaking rhetorically. A measurement is not an exciting thing to a scientist. Fermi is using this word to persuade us ...
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"Fade-ins" (digital marketing)
'Fade-in':
a gradual increase in the visibility of a scene
I get the confusion, as it seems the fade-ins themselves are measured using your cookies, but the idea is that these advertisements are ...
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Does the phrase "Tom has been seeing Mary for a while" always imply they have a romantic relationship?
Yes, "seeing" means "having a romantic relationship with". Well, unless the context calls for it to be taken literally. Like, "Once he got new glasses, Tom could see Mary.&...
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Does the phrase "Tom has been seeing Mary for a while" always imply they have a romantic relationship?
Depending on context "seeing" could be in a professional capacity i.e. Mary is a psychiatrist or doctor. However, lacking additional context, I would assume romantically, as it is the most ...
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What does it mean if the floor of a house "fall through"? Does it mean it goes down onto the next floor down?
In this case, due to surrounding context I would agree that he is describing a complete collapse. However, I would generally use "the floor fell through" to mean that some portion opened up, ...
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What does it mean if the floor of a house "fall through"? Does it mean it goes down onto the next floor down?
To say that the floor fell through means that it collapsed onto whatever had been beneath it.
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What does the word "one" mean in "…One World Trade Center is a prominent feature…"?
In New York City there is a practice of assigning more prestigious sounding addresses to large buildings. Most of these addresses use the word "plaza." This practice was prevalent in the ...
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Does the phrase "Tom has been seeing Mary for a while" always imply they have a romantic relationship?
Without any context, the sentence "Tom has been seeing Mary for a while" would strongly imply that they had a romantic relationship. In the dictionary entry that you cite, the only example ...
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legislating authority
Yes, you can read it as his theory is still the most authoritative one. It implies a more extreme amount of non-deviation from his writings than just creating a foundation implies.
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"<Long> a proponent of government health insurance, he pointed out that millions of Americans have no health insurance at all."
"Long" modifies the phrase "a proponent of government health insurance," specifically the verb within the phrase which is implied ("has been"). (I.e., "he has been a ...
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What does "achieved a spectacular and virtually inescapable global magnitude" mean?
"the proliferation and circulation of representations [..] achieved a spectacular and virtually inescapable global magnitude"
It means that this proliferation was impressive and apparent by ...
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What is the difference between "abstract" science and "pure" science?
I believe 'abstract' is used in the sense of "not applied or practical" (third definition here), and 'pure' in the sense of "theoretical", as 'science' is, in essence, and thus ...
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What is the difference between "abstract" science and "pure" science?
I would tend to agree with you. I think this a redundant repetition for rhetorical purposes.
The dictionaries (Cambridge) says that abstract means "general and not based on particular examples&...
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