they |
1. pron. (the third-person plural) A group of people, animals, plants or objects previously mentioned. | |
Fred and Jane? They just arrived. Dogs may bark if they want to be fed. Plants wilt if they are not watered. | |
I have a car and a truck, but they are both broken. | |
2. pron. (the third-person singular, sometimes proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, especially if of unknown or non-binary gender, but not if previously named and identified as male or female. | |
3. pron. (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker. | |
They say it’s a good place to live. | |
They didn’t have computers in the old days. | |
They should do something about this. | |
They have a lot of snow in winter. | |
4. det. (now Southern England dialect, or nonstandard) The, those. | |
5. det. (US dialects including AAVE) Their. | |
6. pron. (US dialectal) There (especially as an expletive subject of be). | |
are |
1. v. second-person singular present of be | |
Mary, where are you going? | |
2. v. first-person plural present of be | |
We are not coming. | |
3. v. second-person plural present of be | |
Mary and John, are you listening? | |
4. v. third-person plural present of be | |
They are here somewhere. | |
5. v. (East Yorkshire, Midlands) present of be | |
6. n. (dialectal, or obsolete) grace, mercy | |
To bid God's are. | |
God's are is what children of God seech and seek. | |
7. n. (obsolete) honour, dignity | |
8. n. (rare) an accepted (but deprecated and rarely used) SI unit of area equal to 100 square metres, or a former unit of approximately the same extent. Symbol: a | |
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? | |
more |
1. det. comparative degree of many, : in greater number. (Used for a discrete quantity.) | |
More people are arriving. | |
There are more ways to do this than I can count. | |
2. det. comparative degree of much, : in greater quantity, amount, or proportion. (Used for a continuous quantity.) | |
I want more soup; I need more time | |
There's more caffeine in my coffee than in the coffee you get in most places. | |
3. adv. To a greater degree or extent. | |
He walks more in the morning these days. | |
4. adv. (now poetic) In negative constructions: any further, any longer; any more. | |
5. adv. Used alone to form the comparative form of adjectives and adverbs. | |
You're more beautiful than I ever imagined. | |
6. adv. (now dialectal, or humorous) Used in addition to an inflected comparative form. (Standard until the 18thc.) | |
I was more better at English than you. | |
7. adv. rather | |
He is more clever than wise. | |
8. n. An extra amount or extent. | |
9. n. (obsolete) a carrot; a parsnip. | |
10. n. (dialectal) a root; stock. | |
11. n. A plant. | |
12. v. To root up. | |
13. pron. a greater amount of people or things | |
self |
1. pron. (obsolete) Himself, herself, itself, themselves; that specific (person mentioned). | |
This argument was put forward by the defendant self. | |
2. pron. (commercial or humorous) Myself. | |
I made out a cheque, payable to self, which cheered me up somewhat. | |
3. n. The subject of one's own experience of phenomena: perception, emotions, thoughts. | |
4. n. An individual person as the object of his own reflective consciousness (plural selves). | |
5. n. (botany) A seedling produced by self-pollination (plural selfs). | |
6. n. (molecular biology, immunology) Any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to a foreign (nonself) molecule, cell, or tissue (for example, infective, allogen | |
7. v. (botany) To fertilise by the same individual; to self-fertilise or self-pollinate. | |
8. v. (botany) To fertilise by the same strain; to inbreed. | |
9. adj. Having its own or a single nature or character, as in colour, composition, etc., without addition or change; unmixed. | |
a self bow: one made from a single piece of wood | |
a self flower or plant: one which is wholly of one colour | |
10. adj. (obsolete) Same. | |
11. adj. (molecular biology, immunology) Of or relating to any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to a foreign (nonself) molecule, cell, or tissue (for example | |
reliant |
1. adj. Having reliance on somebody or something. | |
and |
1. conj. As a coordinating conjunction; expressing two elements to be taken together or in addition to each other. | |
2. conj. Used simply to connect two noun phrases, adjectives or adverbs. | |
3. conj. Simply connecting two clauses or sentences. | |
4. conj. Introducing a clause or sentence which follows on in time or consequence from the first. | |
5. conj. (obsolete) Yet; but. | |
6. conj. Used to connect certain numbers: connecting units when they precede tens (not dated); connecting tens and units to hundreds, thousands etc. (now often | |
7. conj. (now colloquial, or literary) Used to connect more than two elements together in a chain, sometimes to stress the number of elements. | |
8. conj. Connecting two identical elements, with implications of continued or infinite repetition. | |
9. conj. Introducing a parenthetical or explanatory clause. | |
10. conj. Introducing the continuation of narration from a previous understood point; also used alone as a question: ‘and so what?’. | |
11. conj. (now regional or somewhat colloquial) Used to connect two verbs where the second is dependent on the first: ‘to’. Used especially after come, | |
12. conj. Introducing a qualitative difference between things having the same name; "as well as other". | |
13. conj. Used to combine numbers in addition; plus (with singular or plural verb). | |
14. conj. Expressing a condition.: | |
15. conj. (now US dialect) If; provided that. | |
16. conj. (obsolete) As if, as though. | |
17. n. (enm, music, often informal) In rhythm, the second half of a divided beat. | |
18. n. (UK dialectal) Breath. | |
19. n. (UK dialectal) Sea smoke; steam fog. | |
20. v. (UK dialectal, intransitive) To breathe; whisper; devise; imagine. | |
enterprising |
1. adj. Displaying bravery and daring in attempting some task. | |
2. adj. Very able and ingenious in business dealings. | |
3. v. present participle of enterprise | |
4. n. The undertaking of an enterprise; purposeful activity; doings. | |
than |
1. conj. (obsolete, outside, dialects, usually used with for) Because; for. | |
2. conj. Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison. | |
she's taller than I am; she found his advice more witty than helpful; we have less work today than we had yesterday; it's bigger than I thought it was | |
3. prep. introduces a comparison, and is associated with comparatives, and with words such as more, less, and fewer. Typically, it seeks to measure the force of an adjective or similar description between two | |
Patients diagnosed more recently are probably surviving an average of longer than two years. | |
4. adv. (now chiefly dialectal) At that time; then. | |
ever |
1. adv. Always, frequently, forever. | |
It was ever thus. | |
2. adv. At any time. | |
If that ever happens, we’re in deep trouble | |
He's back and better than ever. | |
3. adv. In any way. | |
How can I ever get there in time? | |
4. adv. (informal) As intensifier following an interrogative word. | |
Was I ever glad to see you! | |
Did I ever! | |
5. adj. (epidemiology) Occurring at any time, occurring even but once during a timespan. | |
6. det. (dialectal, and informal) Shortening of every | |
before |
1. prep. Earlier than (in time). | |
I want this done before Monday. | |
2. prep. In front of in space. | |
He stood before me. | |
We sat before the fire to warm ourselves. | |
3. prep. In the presence of. | |
He performed before the troops in North Africa. | |
He spoke before a joint session of Congress. | |
4. prep. Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone). | |
The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule. | |
5. prep. In store for, in the future of (someone). | |
6. prep. In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items. | |
In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline". | |
7. prep. At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking. | |
An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, an amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations. | |
8. adv. At an earlier time. | |
I've never done this before. | |
9. adv. In advance. | |
10. adv. At the front end. | |
11. conj. in advance of the time when | |
12. conj. (informal) rather or sooner than | |
they |
1. pron. (the third-person plural) A group of people, animals, plants or objects previously mentioned. | |
Fred and Jane? They just arrived. Dogs may bark if they want to be fed. Plants wilt if they are not watered. | |
I have a car and a truck, but they are both broken. | |
2. pron. (the third-person singular, sometimes proscribed) A single person, previously mentioned, especially if of unknown or non-binary gender, but not if previously named and identified as male or female. | |
3. pron. (indefinite pronoun, vague meaning) People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker. | |
They say it’s a good place to live. | |
They didn’t have computers in the old days. | |
They should do something about this. | |
They have a lot of snow in winter. | |
4. det. (now Southern England dialect, or nonstandard) The, those. | |
5. det. (US dialects including AAVE) Their. | |
6. pron. (US dialectal) There (especially as an expletive subject of be). | |
dislike |
1. n. An attitude or a feeling of distaste or aversion. | |
2. n. (usually plural) Something that a person dislikes (has or feels aversion to). | |
Tell me your likes and dislikes. | |
3. n. (Internet) An individual vote showing disapproval of, or lack of support for, something posted on the Internet. | |
4. v. (obsolete, transitive) To displease; to offend. (In third-person only.) | |
5. v. To have a feeling of aversion or antipathy towards; not to like. | |
6. v. (Internet) To give a negative review. | |
Rebecca Black's Friday video is notorious for being one of the most disliked videos in YouTube history. | |
the |
1. art. Definite grammatical article that implies necessarily that an entity it articulates is presupposed; something already mentioned, or completely specified later in that same sentence, or assumed already | |
I’m reading the book. (Compare I’m reading a book.) | |
The street in front of your house. (Compare A street in Paris.) | |
The men and women watched the man give the birdseed to the bird. | |
2. art. Used before a noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, indicating that the noun refers to a single referent defined by the relative clause. | |
The street that runs through my hometown. | |
3. art. Used before an object considered to be unique, or of which there is only one at a time. | |
No one knows how many galaxies there are in the universe. | |
God save the Queen! | |
4. art. Used before a superlative or an ordinal number modifying a noun, to indicate that the noun refers to a single item. | |
That was the best apple pie ever. | |
5. art. Added to a superlative or an ordinal number to make it into a substantive. | |
That apple pie was the best. | |
6. art. Introducing a singular term to be taken generically: preceding a name of something standing for a whole class. | |
7. art. Used before an adjective, indicating all things (especially persons) described by that adjective. | |
Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. | |
8. art. Used to indicate a certain example of (a noun) which is usually of most concern or most common or familiar. | |
No one in the whole country had seen it before. | |
I don't think I'll get to it until the morning. | |
9. art. Used before a body part (especially of someone previously mentioned), as an alternative to a possessive pronoun. | |
A stone hit him on the head. (= “A stone hit him on his head.”) | |
10. art. When stressed, indicates that it describes an object which is considered to be best or exclusively worthy of attention. | |
That is the hospital to go to for heart surgery. | |
11. adv. 1=With a comparative ormore and a verb phrase, establishes a parallel with one or more other such comparatives. | |
The hotter the better. | |
The more I think about it, the weaker it looks. | |
The more money donated, the more books purchased, and the more happy children. | |
It looks weaker and weaker, the more I think about it. | |
12. adv. 1=With a comparative, and often withfor it, indicates a result more like said comparative. This can be negated withnone. | |
It was a difficult time, but I’m the wiser for it. | |
It was a difficult time, and I’m none the wiser for it. | |
I'm much the wiser for having had a difficult time like that. | |
nanny |
1. n. A child's nurse. | |
2. n. (colloquial) A grandmother. | |
3. n. A female goat. | |
4. v. (intransitive, transitive) To serve as a nanny. | |
5. v. (transitive, pejorative) To treat like a nanny's charges; to coddle. | |
State |
1. n. A current governing polity. | |
2. n. (often with definite article) The current governing polity under which the speaker lives. | |
3. n. A condition; a set of circumstances applying at any given time. | |
a state of being; a state of emergency | |
4. n. (physics) A complete description of a system, consisting of parameters that determine all properties of the system. | |
5. n. (computing) The stable condition of a processor during a particular clock cycle. | |
In the fetch state, the address of the next instruction is placed on the address bus. | |
6. n. (computing) The set of all parameters relevant to a computation. | |
The state here includes a set containing all names seen so far. | |
7. n. (computing) The values of all parameters at some point in a computation. | |
A debugger can show the state of a program at any breakpoint. | |
8. n. (sciences) The physical property of matter as solid, liquid, gas or plasma. | |
9. n. (obsolete) Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between the increase and the abating | |
10. n. High social standing or circumstance. | |
11. n. Pomp, ceremony, or dignity. | |
The President's body will lie in state at the Capitol. | |
12. n. Rank; condition; quality. | |
13. n. Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; social importance. | |
14. n. A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais; a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself. | |
15. n. (obsolete) A great person, a dignitary; a lord or prince. | |
16. n. (obsolete) Estate, possession. | |
17. n. A polity. | |
18. n. Any sovereign polity; a national or city-state government. | |
19. n. A political division of a federation retaining a notable degree of autonomy, as in the United States or Germany; (by extension, informal, US) any provi | |
20. n. (obsolete) A form of government other than a monarchy. | |
21. n. (anthropology) A society larger than a tribe. A society large enough to form a state in the sense of a government. | |
22. n. (mathematics, stochastic processes) An element of the range of the random variables that define a random process. | |
23. v. To declare to be a fact. | |
He stated that he was willing to help. | |
24. v. To make known. | |
State your intentions. | |
25. adj. (obsolete) stately | |
and |
1. conj. As a coordinating conjunction; expressing two elements to be taken together or in addition to each other. | |
2. conj. Used simply to connect two noun phrases, adjectives or adverbs. | |
3. conj. Simply connecting two clauses or sentences. | |
4. conj. Introducing a clause or sentence which follows on in time or consequence from the first. | |
5. conj. (obsolete) Yet; but. | |
6. conj. Used to connect certain numbers: connecting units when they precede tens (not dated); connecting tens and units to hundreds, thousands etc. (now often | |
7. conj. (now colloquial, or literary) Used to connect more than two elements together in a chain, sometimes to stress the number of elements. | |
8. conj. Connecting two identical elements, with implications of continued or infinite repetition. | |
9. conj. Introducing a parenthetical or explanatory clause. | |
10. conj. Introducing the continuation of narration from a previous understood point; also used alone as a question: ‘and so what?’. | |
11. conj. (now regional or somewhat colloquial) Used to connect two verbs where the second is dependent on the first: ‘to’. Used especially after come, | |
12. conj. Introducing a qualitative difference between things having the same name; "as well as other". | |
13. conj. Used to combine numbers in addition; plus (with singular or plural verb). | |
14. conj. Expressing a condition.: | |
15. conj. (now US dialect) If; provided that. | |
16. conj. (obsolete) As if, as though. | |
17. n. (enm, music, often informal) In rhythm, the second half of a divided beat. | |
18. n. (UK dialectal) Breath. | |
19. n. (UK dialectal) Sea smoke; steam fog. | |
20. v. (UK dialectal, intransitive) To breathe; whisper; devise; imagine. | |
regulation |
1. n. The act of regulating or the condition of being regulated. | |
2. n. A law or administrative rule, issued by an organization, used to guide or prescribe the conduct of members of that organization. | |
3. n. (European Union law) A form of legislative act which is self-effecting, and requires no further intervention by the Member States to become law. | |
4. n. (genetics) Mechanism controlling DNA transcription. | |
5. n. (medicine) Physiological process which consists in maintaining homoeostasis. | |
6. adj. In conformity with applicable rules and regulations. | |