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). | |
were |
1. v. Second-person singular simple past tense indicative of be. | |
John, you were the only person to see him. | |
2. v. First-person plural simple past tense indicative of be. | |
We were about to leave. | |
3. v. Second-person plural simple past tense indicative of be. | |
Mary and John, you were right. | |
4. v. Third-person plural simple past tense indicative of be. | |
They were a fine group. | |
They were to be the best of friends from that day on. | |
5. v. Simple imperfect subjunctive in all persons of be. | |
I wish that it were Sunday. | |
I wish that I were with you. | |
* with "if" omitted, put first in an "if" clause: | |
*: Were it simply that she wore a hat, I would not be upset at all. (= If it were simply...) | |
*: Were father a king, we would have war. (= If father were a king,...) | |
6. v. (Northern England) was. | |
7. n. (obsolete) A fine for slaying a man; weregild. | |
8. n. (fandom) (The collective name for any kind of person that changes into another form under certain conditions, including the werewolf.) | |
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? | |
conditioning |
1. n. The process of modifying a person or animal's behaviour. | |
2. n. Any preparation or training, especially athletic training of the body. | |
3. n. The storage of a material specimen under specified temperature, humidity for a specified time prior to testing. | |
4. v. present participle of condition | |
condition |
1. n. A logical clause or phrase that a conditional statement uses. The phrase can either be true or false. | |
2. n. A requirement, term or requisite. | |
Environmental protection is a condition for sustainability. What other planets might have the right conditions for life? The union had a dispute over sick time and other | |
3. n. (legal) A clause in a contract or agreement indicating that a certain contingency may modify the principal obligation in some way. | |
4. n. The health status of a medical patient. | |
My aunt couldn't walk up the stairs in her condition. | |
5. n. The state or quality. | |
National reports on the condition of public education are dismal. The condition of man can be classified as civilized or uncivilized. | |
6. n. A particular state of being. | |
Hypnosis is a peculiar condition of the nervous system. Steps were taken to ameliorate the condition of slavery. Security is defined as the condition of not being threat | |
7. n. (obsolete) The situation of a person or persons, particularly their social and/or economic class, rank. | |
A man of his condition has no place to make request. | |
8. v. To subject to the process of acclimation. | |
I became conditioned to the absence of seasons in San Diego. | |
9. v. To subject to different conditions, especially as an exercise. | |
They were conditioning their shins in their karate class. | |
10. v. To place conditions or limitations upon. | |
11. v. To shape the behaviour of someone to do something. | |
12. v. To treat (the hair) with hair conditioner. | |
13. v. To contract; to stipulate; to agree. | |
14. v. To test or assay, as silk (to ascertain the proportion of moisture it contains). | |
15. v. (US, colleges transitive) To put under conditions; to require to pass a new examination or to make up a specified study, as a condition of remaining in one's class or in college. | |
to condition a student who has failed in some branch of study | |
16. v. To impose upon an object those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible. | |
their |
1. det. Belonging to, from, of, or relating to, them (plural). | |
they will meet tomorrow at their convenience; this is probably their cat | |
2. det. Belonging to someone (one person, singular). | |
3. adv. misspelling of there | |
4. contraction. misspelling of they’re | |
shins |
1. n. plural of shin | |
2. v. third-person singular present indicative of shin | |
shin |
1. n. The front part of the leg below the knee; the front edge of the shin bone. | |
2. n. A fishplate for a railway. | |
3. v. (UK, as "shin up") To climb a mast, tree, rope, or the like, by embracing it alternately with the arms and legs, without help of steps, spurs, or the like. | |
to shin up a mast | |
4. v. To strike with the shin. | |
5. v. (US, slang) To run about borrowing money hastily and temporarily, as when trying to make a payment. | |
6. n. The twenty-first letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others). | |
in |
1. prep. Used to indicate location, inclusion, or position within spatial, temporal or other limits. | |
2. prep. Contained by. | |
The dog is in the kennel. | |
3. prep. Within. | |
4. prep. Surrounded by. | |
We are in the enemy camp. Her plane is in the air. | |
5. prep. Part of; a member of. | |
One in a million. She's in band and orchestra. | |
6. prep. Pertaining to; with regard to. | |
What grade did he get in English? | |
Military letters should be formal in tone, but not stilted. | |
7. prep. At the end of a period of time. | |
They said they would call us in a week. | |
8. prep. Within a certain elapsed time | |
Are you able to finish this in three hours? The massacre resulted in over 1000 deaths in three hours. | |
9. prep. During (said of periods of time). | |
in the first week of December; Easter falls in the fourth lunar month; The country reached a high level of prosperity in his fi | |
10. prep. (grammar, phonetics, of sounds and letters) Coming at the end of a word. | |
English nouns in -ce form their plurals in -s. | |
11. prep. Into. | |
Less water gets in your boots this way. | |
12. prep. Used to indicate limit, qualification, condition, or circumstance. | |
In replacing the faucet washers, he felt he was making his contribution to the environment. | |
13. prep. Indicating an order or arrangement. | |
My fat rolls around in folds. | |
14. prep. Denoting a state of the subject. | |
He stalked away in anger. John is in a coma. | |
15. prep. Indicates, connotatively, a place-like form of someone's (or something's) personality, as his, her or its psychic and physical characteristics. | |
You've got a friend in me. He's met his match in her. | |
16. prep. Wearing (an item of clothing). | |
I glanced over at the pretty girl in the red dress. | |
17. prep. Used to indicate means, medium, format, genre, or instrumentality. | |
18. prep. (of something offered or given in an exchange) In the form of, in the denomination of. | |
Please pay me in cash — preferably in tens and twenties. | |
The deposit can be in any legal tender, even in gold. | |
Her generosity was rewarded in the success of its recipients. | |
19. prep. Used to indicate a language, script, tone, etc. of a text, speech, etc. | |
Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" in C minor is among his most popular. | |
His speech was in French, but was simultaneously translated into eight languages. | |
When you write in cursive, it's illegible. | |
20. v. (obsolete, transitive) To enclose. | |
21. v. (obsolete, transitive) To take in; to harvest. | |
22. adv. (not comparable) Located indoors, especially at home or the office, or inside something. | |
Is Mr. Smith in? | |
23. adv. Moving to the interior of a defined space, such as a building or room. | |
Suddenly a strange man walked in. | |
24. adv. (sports) Still eligible to play, e.g. able to bat in cricket and baseball. | |
He went for the wild toss but wasn't able to stay in. | |
25. adv. (UK) Abbreviation of in aid of. | |
What's that in? | |
26. adv. After the beginning of something. | |
27. n. A position of power or a way to get it. | |
His parents got him an in with the company | |
28. n. (sport) The state of a batter/batsman who is currently batting – see innings | |
29. n. A re-entrant angle; a nook or corner. | |
30. adj. In fashion; popular. | |
Skirts are in this year. | |
31. adj. Incoming. | |
the in train | |
32. adj. (nautical, of the sails of a vessel) Furled or stowed. | |
33. adj. (legal) With privilege or possession; used to denote a holding, possession, or seisin. | |
in by descent; in by purchase; in of the seisin of her husband | |
34. adj. (cricket) Currently batting. | |
35. n. Inch. | |
their |
1. det. Belonging to, from, of, or relating to, them (plural). | |
they will meet tomorrow at their convenience; this is probably their cat | |
2. det. Belonging to someone (one person, singular). | |
3. adv. misspelling of there | |
4. contraction. misspelling of they’re | |
karate |
1. n. An Okinawan martial art involving primarily punching and kicking, but additionally, advanced throws, arm bars, grappling and all means of fighting. | |
2. v. (transitive, informal) To attack (somebody or something) with karate or similar techniques. | |
class |
1. n. A group, collection, category or set sharing characteristics or attributes. | |
The new Ford Fiesta is set to be best in the 'small family' class. | |
That is one class-A heifer you got there, sonny. | |
Often used to imply membership of a large class. | |
This word has a whole class of metaphoric extensions. | |
2. n. (sociology) A social grouping, based on job, wealth, etc. In Britain, society is commonly split into three main classes; upper class, middle class and working class. | |
3. n. The division of society into classes. | |
Jane Austen's works deal with class in 18th-century England. | |
4. n. Admirable behavior; elegance. | |
Apologizing for losing your temper, even though you were badly provoked, showed real class. | |
5. n. (education, and un) A group of students in a regularly scheduled meeting with a teacher. | |
The class was noisy, but the teacher was able to get their attention with a story. | |
6. n. A series of classes covering a single subject. | |
I took the cooking class for enjoyment, but I also learned a lot. | |
7. n. A group of students who commenced or completed their education during a particular year. A school class. | |
The class of 1982 was particularly noteworthy. | |
8. n. A category of seats in an airplane, train or other means of mass transportation. | |
I used to fly business class, but now my company can only afford economy. | |
9. n. (taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below phylum and above order; a taxon of that rank. | |
Magnolias belong to the class Magnoliopsida. | |
10. n. Best of its kind. | |
It is the class of Italian bottled waters. | |
11. n. (set theory) A collection of sets definable by a shared property. | |
The class of all sets is not a set. | |
Every set is a class, but classes are not generally sets. A class that is not a set is called a proper class. | |
12. n. (military) A group of people subject to be conscripted in the same military draft, or more narrowly those persons actually conscripted in a particular draft. | |
13. n. (object-oriented) A set of objects having the same behavior (but typically differing in state), or a template defining such a set. | |
an abstract base class | |
14. n. One of the sections into which a Methodist church or congregation is divided, supervised by a class leader. | |
15. v. To assign to a class; to classify. | |
I would class this with most of the other mediocre works of the period. | |
16. v. (intransitive) To be grouped or classed. | |
17. v. To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes. | |
18. adj. (Irish, British, slang) great; fabulous | |