anything |
1. pron. Any object, act, state, event, or fact whatever; a thing of any kind; something or other. | |
I would not do it for anything or any ring. | |
2. pron. (with “as” or “like”) Expressing an indefinite comparison. | |
3. n. Someone or something of importance. | |
4. adv. In any way, any extent or any degree. | |
That isn't anything like a car. | |
She's not anything like as strong as me. | |
less |
1. adv. To a smaller extent. | |
2. adv. In lower degree. | |
This is a less bad solution than I thought possible. | |
3. adj. (now archaic except with numbers) comparative form of little: more little; smaller, lesser. | |
4. adj. comparative degree of little: a smaller amount (of); not as much. | |
I have less than you have. I have less tea than coffee. | |
5. adj. (proscribed) comparative degree of few: fewer; a smaller number of. | |
6. prep. Minus; not including | |
It should then tax all of that as personal income, less the proportion of the car's annual mileage demonstrably clocked up on company business. | |
7. v. (obsolete) To make less; to lessen. | |
8. conj. (obsolete) unless | |
would |
1. v. As a past-tense form of will.: | |
2. v. (obsolete) Wished, desired (something). | |
3. v. (archaic) Wanted to ( + bare infinitive). | |
4. v. Used to; was or were habitually accustomed to ( + bare infinitive); indicating an action in the past that happened repeatedly or commonly. | |
5. v. Used with bare infinitive to form the "anterior future", indicating a futurity relative to a past time. | |
6. v. (archaic) Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses. | |
7. v. Was determined to; loosely, could naturally have been expected to (given the tendencies of someone's character etc.). | |
8. v. As a modal verb, the subjunctive of will.: | |
9. v. Used to give a conditional or potential "softening" to the present; might, might wish. | |
10. v. Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality (with a bare infinitive); indicating an action or state that is conditional on another. | |
11. v. (chiefly archaic) Might wish ( + verb in past subjunctive); often used in the first person (with or without that) in the sense of "if only". | |
12. v. Used to impart a sense of hesitancy or uncertainty to the present; might be inclined to. Now sometimes colloquially with ironic effect. | |
13. v. Used interrogatively to express a polite request; are (you) willing to …? | |
Would you pass the salt, please? | |
14. v. (chiefly archaic, transitive, or control verb) Might desire; wish (something). | |
15. n. Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality. | |
will |
1. v. (rare, transitive) To wish, desire (something). | |
Do what you will. | |
2. v. (rare, intransitive) To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that). | |
3. v. (auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action). | |
4. v. (auxiliary) To choose to (do something), used to express intention but without any temporal connotations (+ bare infinitive). | |
5. v. (auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with some implication of volition when used in the first person. Compare shall. | |
6. v. (auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to. | |
Unfortunately, only one of these gloves will actually fit over my hand. | |
7. n. One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention. | |
Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason. | |
8. n. One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands. | |
Eventually I submitted to my parents' will. | |
9. n. The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition. | |
Most creatures have a will to live. | |
10. n. (law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes. | |
11. n. (archaic) That which is desired; one's wish. | |
12. n. (archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.) | |
He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. | |
13. v. (archaic) To wish, desire. | |
14. v. (transitive, intransitive) To instruct (that something be done) in one's will. | |
15. v. To try to make (something) happen by using one's will (intention). | |
All the fans were willing their team to win the game. | |
16. v. To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document). | |
He willed his stamp collection to the local museum. | |
be |
1. v. (intransitive, now literary) To exist; to have real existence. | |
2. v. (with there, or dialectally it, as dummy subject) To exist. | |
There is just one woman in town who can help us. (or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us. | |
3. v. (intransitive) To occupy a place. | |
The cup is on the table. | |
4. v. (intransitive) To occur, to take place. | |
When will the meeting be? | |
5. v. (intransitive, in perfect tenses, without predicate) Elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar. | |
The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come. | |
I have been to Spain many times. | |
Moscow, huh? I've never been, but it sounds fascinating. | |
6. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same. | |
Knowledge is bliss. | |
Hi, I’m Jim. | |
7. v. (transitive, copulative, mathematics) Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same. | |
3 times 5 is fifteen. | |
8. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal. | |
François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995. | |
9. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it. | |
The sky is blue. | |
10. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase. | |
The sky is a deep blue today. | |
11. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice. | |
The dog was drowned by the boy. | |
12. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses. | |
The woman is walking. | |
I shall be writing to you soon. | |
We liked to chat while we were eating. | |
13. v. (archaic, auxiliary) Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive verbs, most of which indicate motion. Often still used for "to go". | |
14. v. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form future tenses, especially the future periphrastic. | |
I am to leave tomorrow. | |
I would drive you, were I to obtain a car. | |
15. v. (transitive, copulative) Used to link a subject to a measurement. | |
This building is three hundred years old. | |
I am 75 kilograms. | |
He’s about 6 feet tall. | |
16. v. (transitive, copulative, with a cardinal numeral) Used to state the age of a subject in years. | |
I’m 20. (= I am 20 years old.) | |
17. v. (with a dummy subject) it Used to indicate the time of day. | |
It is almost eight. (= It is almost eight o’clock.) | |
It’s 8:30 read eight-thirty in Tokyo. | |
What time is it there? It’s night. | |
18. v. (With since) Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event. | |
It has been three years since my grandmother died. (similar to My grandmother died three years ago, but emphasizes the intervening period) | |
It had been six days since his departure, when I received a letter from him. | |
19. v. (often, impersonal, with it as a dummy subject) Used to indicate weather, air quality, or the like. | |
It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid. | |
Why is it so dark in here? | |
20. v. (dynamic/lexical "be", especially in progressive tenses, conjugated non-suppletively in the present tense, see usage notes) To exist or behave in a certain way. | |
"What do we do?" "We be ourselves.". | |
Why is he being nice to me? | |
a |
1. art. One; any indefinite example of; used to denote a singular item of a group. | |
There was a man here looking for you yesterday. | |
2. art. Used in conjunction with the adjectives score, dozen, hundred, thousand, and million, as a function word. | |
I've seen it happen a hundred times. | |
3. art. One certain or particular; any single.Brown, Lesley, (2003) | |
We've received an interesting letter from a Mrs. Miggins of London. | |
4. art. The same; one. | |
We are of a mind on matters of morals. | |
5. art. Any, every; used before a noun which has become modified to limit its scope; also used with a negative to indicate not a single one.Lindberg, Christine A. (2007) | |
A man who dies intestate leaves his children troubles and difficulties. | |
He fell all that way, and hasn't a bump on his head? | |
6. art. Used before plural nouns modified by few, good many, couple, great many, etc. | |
7. art. Someone or something like; similar to; Used before a proper noun to create an example out of it. | |
The center of the village was becoming a Times Square. | |
8. prep. (archaic) To do with position or direction; In, on, at, by, towards, onto. | |
Stand a tiptoe. | |
9. prep. To do with separation; In, into. | |
Torn a pieces. | |
10. prep. To do with time; Each, per, in, on, by. | |
I brush my teeth twice a day. | |
11. prep. (obsolete) To do with method; In, with. | |
12. prep. (obsolete) To do with role or capacity; In. | |
A God’s name. | |
13. prep. To do with status; In. | |
King James Bible (II Chronicles 2:18) | |
To set the people a worke. | |
14. prep. (archaic) To do with process, with a passive verb; In the course of, experiencing. | |
1964, Bob Dylan, The Times They Are a-Changin’ | |
The times, they are a-changin'. | |
15. prep. (archaic) To do with an action, an active verb; Engaged in. | |
1611, King James Bible, Hebrews 11-21 | |
Jacob, when he was a dying | |
16. prep. (archaic) To do with an action/movement; To, into. | |
17. v. (archaic, or slang) Have. | |
I'd a come, if you'd a asked. | |
18. pron. (obsolete, outside, England, and Scotland dialects) He. | |
19. interj. A meaningless syllable; ah. | |
20. prep. (archaic, slang) Of. | |
The name of John a Gaunt. | |
21. adv. (chiefly Scotland) All. | |
22. adj. (chiefly Scotland) All. | |
travesty |
1. n. An absurd or grotesque misrepresentation. | |
2. n. A parody or stylistic imitation. | |
3. n. (pejorative) A grossly inferior imitation. | |
A battlefield trial is a travesty of justice. | |
4. n. (colloquial, proscribed) An appalling version of something. | |
5. v. To make a travesty of; to parody. | |