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. | |
process |
1. n. A series of events which produce a result (the product). | |
This product of last month's quality standards committee is quite good, even though the process was flawed. | |
2. n. (manufacturing) A set of procedures used to produce a product, most commonly in the food and chemical industries. | |
3. n. A path of succession of states through which a system passes. | |
4. n. (anatomy) Successive physiological responses to keep or restore health. | |
5. n. (legal) Documents issued by a court in the course of a lawsuit or action at law, such as a summons, mandate, or writ. | |
6. n. (biology) An outgrowth of tissue or cell. | |
7. n. (anatomy) A structure that arises above a surface. | |
8. n. (computing) An executable task or program. | |
9. n. The centre mark that players aim at in the game of squails. | |
10. v. to perform a particular process on a thing | |
11. v. to retrieve, store, classify, manipulate, transmit etc. (data, signals, etc.), especially using computer techniques. | |
We have processed the data using our proven techniques, and have come to the following conclusions. | |
12. v. to think about a piece of information, or a concept, in order to assimilate it, and perhaps accept it in a modified state. | |
I didn't know she had a criminal record. That will take me a while to process. | |
13. v. (mostly, British) To walk in a procession. | |
of |
1. prep. Expressing distance or motion. | |
2. prep. (now obsolete, or dialectal) From (of distance, direction), "off". | |
3. prep. (obsolete except in phrases) Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.). | |
4. prep. From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.). | |
There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage. | |
5. prep. (North America, Scotland, Ireland) Before (the hour); to. | |
What's the time? / Nearly a quarter of three. | |
6. prep. Expressing separation. | |
7. prep. (Indicating removal, absence or separation, with the action indicated by a transitive verb and the quality or substance by a grammatical object.) | |
Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband. | |
8. prep. (Indicating removal, absence or separation, with resulting state indicated by an adjective.) | |
He seemed devoid of human feelings. | |
9. prep. (obsolete) (Indicating removal, absence or separation, construed with an intransitive verb.) | |
10. prep. Expressing origin. | |
11. prep. (Indicating an ancestral source or origin of descent.) | |
The word is believed to be of Japanese origin. | |
12. prep. (Indicating a (non-physical) source of action or emotion; introducing a cause, instigation); from, out of, as an expression of. | |
The invention was born of necessity. | |
13. prep. (following an intransitive verb) (Indicates the source or cause of the verb.) | |
It is said that she died of a broken heart. | |
14. prep. (following an adjective) (Indicates the subject or cause of the adjective.) | |
I am tired of all this nonsense. | |
15. prep. Expressing agency. | |
16. prep. (following a passive verb) (Indicates the agent (for most verbs, now usually expressed with by).) | |
I am not particularly enamoured of this idea. | |
17. prep. (Used to introduce the "subjective genitive"; following a noun to form the head of a postmodifying noun phrase) (see also 'Possession' senses below). | |
The contract can be terminated at any time with the agreement of both parties. | |
18. prep. (following an adjective) (Used to indicate the agent of something described by the adjective.) | |
It was very brave of you to speak out like that. | |
19. prep. Expressing composition, substance. | |
20. prep. (after a verb expressing construction, making etc.) (Used to indicate the material or substance used.) | |
Many 'corks' are now actually made of plastic. | |
21. prep. (directly following a noun) (Used to indicate the material of the just-mentioned object.) | |
She wore a dress of silk. | |
22. prep. (Indicating the composition of a given collective or quantitative noun.) | |
What a lot of nonsense! | |
23. prep. (Used to link a given class of things with a specific example of that class.) | |
Welcome to the historic town of Harwich. | |
24. prep. (Links two nouns in near-apposition, with the first qualifying the second); "which is also". | |
I'm not driving this wreck of a car. | |
25. prep. Introducing subject matter. | |
26. prep. (Links an intransitive verb, or a transitive verb and its subject (especially verbs to do with thinking, feeling, expressing etc.), with its subject-ma | |
I'm always thinking of you. | |
27. prep. (following a noun (now chiefly nouns of knowledge, communication etc.)) (Introduces its subject matter); about, concerning. | |
He told us the story of his journey to India. | |
28. prep. (following an adjective) (Introduces its subject matter.) | |
This behaviour is typical of teenagers. | |
29. prep. Having partitive effect. | |
30. prep. (following a number or other quantitive word) (Introduces the whole for which is indicated only the specified part or segment); "from among". | |
Most of these apples are rotten. | |
31. prep. (following a noun) (Indicates a given part.) | |
32. prep. (now archaic, literary, with preceding partitive word assumed, or as a predicate after to be) Some, an amount of, one of. | |
On the whole, they seem to be of the decent sort. | |
33. prep. (Links to a genitive noun or possessive pronoun, with partitive effect (though now often merged with possessive senses, below).) | |
He is a friend of mine. | |
34. prep. Expressing possession. | |
35. prep. Belonging to, existing in, or taking place in a given location, place or time. Compare "origin" senses, above. | |
He was perhaps the most famous scientist of the twentieth century. | |
36. prep. Belonging to (a place) through having title, ownership or control over it. | |
The owner of the nightclub was arrested. | |
37. prep. Belonging to (someone or something) as something they possess or have as a characteristic; (the "possessive genitive". (With abstract nouns, this inter | |
Keep the handle of the saucepan away from the flames. | |
38. prep. Forming the "objective genitive". | |
39. prep. (Follows an agent noun, verbal noun or noun of action.) | |
She had a profound distrust of the police. | |
40. prep. Expressing qualities or characteristics. | |
41. prep. (now archaic, or literary) (Links an adjective with a noun or noun phrase to form a quasi-adverbial qualifier); in respect to, as regards. | |
My companion seemed affable and easy of manner. | |
42. prep. (Indicates a quality or characteristic); "characterized by". | |
Pooh was said to be a bear of very little brain. | |
43. prep. (Indicates quantity, age, price, etc.) | |
We have been paying interest at a rate of 10%. | |
44. prep. (US, informal considered incorrect by some) (Used to link singular indefinite nouns (preceded by the indefinite article) and attributive adjectives mod | |
It's not that big of a deal. | |
45. prep. Expressing a point in time. | |
46. prep. (chiefly regional) During the course of (a set period of time, day of the week etc.), now specifically with implied repetition or regularity. | |
Of an evening, we would often go for a stroll along the river. | |
47. prep. (UK dialectal, chiefly in negative constructions) For (a given length of time). | |
I've not tekken her out of a goodly long while. | |
48. prep. (after a noun) (Indicates duration of a state, activity etc.) | |
After a delay of three hours, the plane finally took off. | |
decision |
1. n. The act of deciding. | |
2. n. A choice or judgement. | |
It is the decision of the court that movies are protected as free speech. | |
It's a tough decision, but I'll take vanilla. | |
3. n. Firmness of conviction. | |
After agonizing deliberations, they finally proceeded with decision. | |
4. n. (chiefly combat sports) A result arrived at by the judges when there is no clear winner at the end of the contest. | |
He has won twice by knockout, once by decision. | |
5. n. (baseball) A win or a loss awarded to a pitcher. | |
6. v. (boxing) To defeat an opponent by a decision of the judges, rather than by a knockout | |
making |
1. n. The act of forming, causing, or constituting; workmanship; construction. | |
2. n. Process of growth or development. | |
As a child he didn’t seem like a genius in the making. | |
3. v. present participle of make | |
make |
1. v. To create. | |
2. v. To build, construct, or produce. | |
We made a bird feeder for our yard. | |
I'll make a man out of him yet. | |
3. v. To write or compose. | |
I made a poem for her wedding. | |
He made a will. | |
4. v. To bring about; to effect or produce by means of some action. | |
make war | |
They were just a bunch of ne'er-do-wells who went around making trouble for honest men. | |
5. v. (religious) To create (the universe), especially (in Christianity) from nothing. | |
God made earth and heaven. | |
6. v. (intransitive, now mostly colloquial) To behave, to act. | |
To make like a deer caught in the headlights. | |
They made nice together, as if their fight never happened. | |
He made as if to punch him, but they both laughed and shook hands. | |
7. v. (intransitive) To tend; to contribute; to have effect; with for or against. | |
8. v. To constitute. | |
They make a cute couple. | |
This makes the third infraction. | |
One swallow does not a summer make. | |
9. v. 1995, Harriette Simpson Arnow: Critical Essays on Her Work, p.46: | |
10. v. To add up to, have a sum of. | |
Two and four make six. | |
11. v. (intransitive, construed with of typically interrogative) To interpret. | |
I don’t know what to make of it. | |
12. v. (transitive, usually stressed) To bring into success. | |
This company is what made you. | |
She married into wealth and so has it made. | |
13. v. (ditransitive, second object is an adjective or participle) To cause to be. | |
The citizens made their objections clear. | |
This might make you a bit woozy. | |
Did I make myself heard? | |
Scotch will make you a man. | |
14. v. To cause to appear to be; to represent as. | |
15. v. (ditransitive, second object is a verb) To cause (to do something); to compel (to do something). | |
You're making her cry. | |
I was made to feel like a criminal. | |
16. v. (ditransitive, second object is a verb, can be stressed for emphasis or clarity) To force to do. | |
The teacher made the student study. | |
Don’t let them make you suffer. | |
17. v. (ditransitive, of a fact) To indicate or suggest to be. | |
His past mistakes don’t make him a bad person. | |
18. v. (transitive, of a bed) To cover neatly with bedclothes. | |
19. v. (transitive, US slang) To recognise, identify. | |
20. v. (transitive, colloquial) To arrive at a destination, usually at or by a certain time. | |
We should make Cincinnati by 7 tonight. | |
21. v. (intransitive, colloquial) To proceed (in a direction). | |
They made westward over the snowy mountains. | |
Make for the hills! It's a wildfire! | |
They made away from the fire toward the river. | |
22. v. To cover (a given distance) by travelling. | |
23. v. To move at (a speed). | |
The ship could make 20 knots an hour in calm seas. | |
This baby can make 220 miles an hour. | |
24. v. To appoint; to name. | |
25. v. (transitive, slang) To induct into the Mafia or a similar organization (as a made man). | |
26. v. (intransitive, colloquial, euphemistic) To defecate or urinate. | |
27. v. To earn, to gain (money, points, membership or status). | |
They hope to make a bigger profit. | |
He didn't make the choir after his voice changed. | |
She made ten points in that game. | |
28. v. To pay, to cover (an expense); chiefly used after expressions of inability. | |
29. v. (obsolete, intransitive) To compose verses; to write poetry; to versify. | |
30. v. To enact; to establish. | |
31. v. To develop into; to prove to be. | |
She'll make a fine president. | |
32. v. To form or formulate in the mind. | |
make plans | |
made a questionable decision | |
33. v. To perform a feat. | |
make a leap | |
make a pass | |
make a u-turn | |
34. v. (obsolete) To act in a certain manner; to have to do; to manage; to interfere; to be active; often in the phrase to meddle or make. | |
35. v. (obsolete) To increase; to augment; to accrue. | |
36. v. (obsolete) To be engaged or concerned in. | |
37. v. (now archaic) To cause to be (in a specified place), used after a subjective what. | |
38. v. (transitive, euphemism) To take the virginity of. | |
39. v. To have sexual intercourse with. | |
40. n. (often of a car) Brand or kind; often paired with model. | |
What make of car do you drive? | |
41. n. How a thing is made; construction. | |
42. n. Origin of a manufactured article; manufacture. | |
The camera was of German make. | |
43. n. Quantity produced, especially of materials. | |
44. n. (dated) The act or process of making something, especially in industrial manufacturing. | |
45. n. A person's character or disposition. | |
46. n. (bridge) The declaration of the trump for a hand. | |
47. n. (physics) The closing of an electrical circuit. | |
48. n. (computing) A software utility for automatically building large applications, or an implementation of this utility. | |
49. n. (slang) Recognition or identification, especially from police records or evidence. | |
50. n. (slang) Past or future target of seduction (usually female). | |
51. n. (slang) A promotion. | |
52. n. A home-made project | |
53. n. (basketball) A made basket. | |
54. n. (dialectal) Mate; a spouse or companion. | |
55. n. (Scotland, Ireland, Northern England, now rare) A halfpenny. | |
that |
1. conj. Introducing a clause which is the subject or object of a verb (such as one involving reported speech), or which is a complement to a previous statement. | |
He told me that the book is a good read. | |
I believe that it is true. — She is convinced that he is British. | |
2. conj. Introducing a subordinate clause expressing a reason or cause: because, in that. | |
Be glad that you have enough to eat. | |
3. conj. (now uncommon) Introducing a subordinate clause that expresses an aim, purpose or goal ("final"), and usually contains the auxiliaries may, might or should: so, so that. | |
4. conj. Introducing — especially, but not exclusively, with an antecedent like so or such — a subordinate clause expressing a result, consequence or effect. | |
The noise was so loud that she woke up. | |
The problem was sufficiently important that it had to be addressed. | |
5. conj. (archaic, or poetic) Introducing a premise or supposition for consideration: seeing as; inasmuch as; given that; as would appear from the fact that. | |
6. conj. Introducing a subordinate clause modifying an adverb. | |
Was John there? — Not that I saw. | |
How often did she visit him? — Twice that I saw. | |
7. conj. Introducing an exclamation expressing a desire or wish. | |
8. conj. Introducing an exclamation expressing a strong emotion such as sadness or surprise. | |
9. det. The (thing, person, idea, etc) indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote physically, temporally or mentally than one designated as "this", or if expressing distinction. | |
That book is a good read. This one isn't. | |
That battle was in 1450. | |
That cat of yours is evil. | |
10. pron. (demonstrative) The thing, person, idea, quality, event, action or time indicated or understood from context, especially if more remote geographically, temporally or mentally than one designated as "t | |
He went home, and after that I never saw him again. | |
11. pron. The known (thing); (used to refer to something just said). | |
They're getting divorced. What do you think about that? | |
12. pron. (demonstrative) The aforementioned quality; used together with a verb and pronoun to emphatically repeat a previous statement. | |
The water is so cold! — That it is. | |
13. pron. (relative) (plural that) Which, who; (representing a subject, direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition). | |
The CPR course that she took really came in handy. | |
The house that he lived in was old and dilapidated. | |
14. pron. (colloquial) (Used in place of relative adverbs such as where or when; often omitted.) | |
the place that = where or to which I went last year | |
the last time that = when I went to Europe | |
15. adv. (degree) To a given extent or degree. | |
"The ribbon was that thin." "I disagree, I say it was not that thin, it was thicker... or maybe thinner...". | |
16. adv. (degree) To a great extent or degree; very, particularly (in negative constructions). | |
I'm just not that sick. | |
I did the run last year, and it wasn't that difficult. | |
17. adv. (obsolete, outside, dialects) To such an extent; so. (in positive constructions). | |
Ooh, I was that happy I nearly kissed her. | |
18. n. (philosophy) Something being indicated that is there; one of those. | |
seeks |
1. v. third-person singular present indicative of seek | |
seek |
1. v. To try to find; to look for; to search for. | |
I seek wisdom. | |
2. v. To ask for; to solicit; to beseech. | |
I seek forgiveness through prayer. | |
3. v. To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at. | |
I sought my fortune on the goldfields. | |
4. v. (intransitive, obsolete) To go, move, travel (in a given direction). | |
When the alarm went off I sought the exit in a panic. | |
5. v. To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to. | |
6. v. (intransitive, computing) To navigate through a stream. | |
Synonyms: scrub | |
7. n. (computing) The operation of navigating through a stream. | |
widespread |
1. adj. Affecting a large area (e.g. the entire land or body); broad in extent; widely diffused. | |
agreement |
1. n. An understanding between entities to follow a specific course of conduct. | |
to enter an agreement; the UK and US negotiators nearing agreement; he nodded his agreement. | |
2. n. A state whereby several parties share a view or opinion; the state of not contradicting one another. | |
The results of my experiment are in agreement with those of Michelson and with the law of General Relativity. | |
3. n. (legal) A legally binding contract enforceable in a court of law. | |
4. n. (linguistics, grammar) Rules that exist in many languages that force some parts of a sentence to be used or inflected differently depending on certain attributes of other parts. | |
5. n. (obsolete, chiefly in the plural) An agreeable quality. | |
among |
1. prep. (Denotes a mingling or intermixing with distinct or separable objects. (See Usage Note at amidst.)) | |
How can you speak with authority about their customs when you have never lived among them? | |
2. prep. Denotes a belonging of a person or a thing to a group. | |
He is among the few who completely understand the subject. | |
3. prep. Denotes a sharing of a common feature in a group. | |
Lactose intolerance is common among people of Asian heritage. | |
group |
1. n. A number of things or persons being in some relation to one another. | |
there is a group of houses behind the hill; he left town to join a Communist group | |
A group of people gathered in front of the Parliament to demonstrate against the Prime Minister's proposals. | |
2. n. (group theory) A set with an associative binary operation, under which there exists an identity element, and such that each element has an inverse. | |
3. n. (geometry, archaic) An effective divisor on a curve. | |
4. n. A (usually small) group of people who perform music together. | |
Did you see the new jazz group? | |
5. n. (astronomy) A small number (up to about fifty) of galaxies that are near each other. | |
6. n. (chemistry) A column in the periodic table of chemical elements. | |
7. n. (chemistry) A functional group. | |
Nitro is an electron-withdrawing group. | |
8. n. (sociology) A subset of a culture or of a society. | |
9. n. (military) An air force formation. | |
10. n. (geology) A collection of formations or rock strata. | |
11. n. (computing) A number of users with same rights with respect to accession, modification, and execution of files, computers and peripherals. | |
12. n. An element of an espresso machine from which hot water pours into the portafilter. | |
13. n. (music) A number of eighth, sixteenth, etc., notes joined at the stems; sometimes rather indefinitely applied to any ornament made up of a few short notes. | |
14. n. (sports) A set of teams playing each other in the same division, while not during the same period playing any teams that belong to other sets in the division. | |
15. n. (business) A commercial organization. | |
16. v. To put together to form a group. | |
group the dogs by hair colour | |
17. v. (intransitive) To come together to form a group. | |
members |
1. n. plural of member | |
member |
1. n. One who officially belongs to a group. | |
2. n. A part of a whole. | |
The I-beams were to become structural members of a pedestrian bridge. | |
3. n. Part of an animal capable of performing a distinct office; an organ; a limb. | |
4. n. (euphemism) The penis. | |
5. n. (logic) One of the propositions making up a syllogism. | |
6. n. (set theory) An element of a set. | |
7. n. (object-oriented programming) A function or piece of data associated with each separate instance of a class. | |
8. n. (AU, law) the judge or adjudicator in a consumer court. | |
9. n. A part of a discourse or of a period, sentence, or verse; a clause. | |
10. n. (math) Either of the two parts of an algebraic equation, connected by the equality sign. | |
11. n. (computing) A file stored within an archive file. | |
The zip file holding the source code of this application has 245 members. | |
12. v. (obsolete, outside, dialects) To remember. | |
13. v. (obsolete) To cause to remember; to mention. | |