to |
1. part. A particle used for marking the following verb as an infinitive. | |
I want to leave. | |
He asked me what to do. | |
I don’t know how to say it. | |
I have places to go and people to see. | |
2. part. As above, with the verb implied. | |
"Did you visit the museum?" "I wanted to, but it was closed.". | |
If he hasn't read it yet, he ought to. | |
3. part. A particle used to create phrasal verbs. | |
I have to do laundry today. | |
4. prep. Indicating destination: In the direction of, and arriving at. | |
We are walking to the shop. | |
5. prep. Used to indicate purpose. | |
He devoted himself to education. | |
They drank to his health. | |
6. prep. Used to indicate result of action. | |
His face was beaten to a pulp. | |
7. prep. Used after an adjective to indicate its application. | |
similar to ..., relevant to ..., pertinent to ..., I was nice to him, he was cruel to her, I am used to walking. | |
8. prep. (obsolete,) As a. | |
With God to friend (with God as a friend); with The Devil to fiend (with the Devil as a foe); lambs slaughtered to lake (lambs slaughtered as a sacrifice); t | |
9. prep. (arithmetic) Used to indicate a ratio or comparison. | |
one to one = 1:1 | |
ten to one = 10:1. | |
I have ten dollars to your four. | |
10. prep. (arithmetic) Used to indicate that the preceding term is to be raised to the power of the following value; indicates exponentiation. | |
Three squared or three to the second power is nine. | |
Three to the power of two is nine. | |
Three to the second is nine. | |
11. prep. Used to indicate the indirect object. | |
I gave the book to him. | |
12. prep. (time) Preceding. | |
ten to ten = 9:50; We're going to leave at ten to (the hour). | |
13. prep. Used to describe what something consists of or contains. | |
Anyone could do this job; there's nothing to it. | |
There's a lot of sense to what he says. | |
14. prep. (Canada, UK, Newfoundland, West Midlands) At. | |
Stay where you're to and I'll come find you, b'y. | |
15. adv. Toward a closed, touching or engaging position. | |
Please push the door to. | |
16. adv. (nautical) Into the wind. | |
17. adv. misspelling of too | |
argue |
1. v. (obsolete) To prove. | |
2. v. To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply. | |
3. v. (intransitive) To debate, disagree or discuss opposing or differing viewpoints. | |
He also argued for stronger methods to be used against China. | |
He argued as follows: America should stop Lend-Lease convoying, because it needs to fortify its own Army with the supplies. | |
The two boys argued because of disagreement about the science project. | |
4. v. (intransitive) To have an argument, a quarrel. | |
5. v. To present (a viewpoint or an argument therefor). | |
He argued his point. | |
He argued that America should stop Lend-Lease convoying because it needed to fortify its own Army with the supplies. | |
or |
1. conj. Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc. each of which could make a passage true. In English, this is the "inclusive or." The "exclusive or" is formed by "either(...) | |
In Ohio, anyone under the age of 18 who wants a tattoo or body piercing needs the consent of a parent or guardian. | |
He might get cancer, or be hit by a bus, or God knows what. | |
2. conj. (logic) An operator denoting the disjunction of two propositions or truth values. There are two forms, the inclusive or and the exclusive or. | |
3. conj. Counts the elements before and after as two possibilities. | |
4. conj. Otherwise (a consequence of the condition that the previous is false). | |
It's raining! Come inside or you'll catch a cold! | |
5. conj. Connects two equivalent names. | |
The country Myanmar, or Burma | |
6. n. (logic, electronics) alternative form of OR | |
7. n. (tincture) The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
8. adj. (tincture) Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms. | |
9. adv. (obsolete) Early (on). | |
10. adv. (obsolete) Earlier, previously. | |
11. prep. (now archaic, or dialect) Before; ere. | |
plead |
1. v. To present an argument, especially in a legal case. | |
The defendant has decided to plead not guilty. | |
2. v. To beg, beseech, or implore. | |
He pleaded with me not to leave the house. | |
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. | |
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. | |
supposed |
1. v. simple past tense and past participle of suppose | |
2. adj. Presumed to be true, but without proof | |
Jesus is the supposed son of God. | |
3. adj. (with infinitive) Generally considered or expected. | |
The movie is supposed to be good. | |
4. adj. (with infinitive) Having an obligation. | |
You are not supposed to smoke in the restaurant. Note: this means, you are obliged not to smoke. | |
The phone is supposed to come with a manual. | |
5. adj. (with infinitive) Intended. | |
The phone is supposed to save us time. | |
suppose |
1. v. To take for granted; to conclude, with less than absolute supporting data; to believe. | |
Suppose that A implies B and B implies C. Then A implies C. | |
2. v. To theorize or hypothesize. | |
I suppose we all agree that this is the best solution. | |
3. v. To imagine; to believe; to receive as true. | |
4. v. To require to exist or to be true; to imply by the laws of thought or of nature. | |
Purpose supposes foresight. | |
5. v. To put by fraud in the place of another. | |
Case |
1. n. (grammar) abstract feature of a noun phrase that determines its function in a sentence, such as a grammatical case and a position. | |
2. n. An actual event, situation, or fact. | |
For a change, in this case, he was telling the truth. | |
It is not the case that every unfamiliar phrase is an idiom. | |
In case of fire, break glass. sign on fire extinguisher holder in public space | |
3. n. (now rare) A given condition or state. | |
4. n. A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession. | |
It was one of the detective's easiest cases. Social workers should work on a maximum of forty active cases. The doctor told us of an interesting case he had treated that morning. | |
5. n. (academia) An instance or event as a topic of study. | |
The teaching consists of theory lessons and case studies. | |
6. n. (legal) A legal proceeding, lawsuit. | |
7. n. (grammar) A specific inflection of a word depending on its function in the sentence. | |
The accusative case canonically indicates a direct object. Latin has six cases, and remnants of a seventh. | |
8. n. (grammar) Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language. | |
Jane has been studying case in Caucasian languages. Latin is a language that employs case. | |
9. n. (medicine) An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms. | |
There were another five cases reported overnight. | |
10. n. (programming) A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch. | |
11. v. (obsolete) To propose hypothetical cases. | |
12. n. A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture. | |
13. n. A box, sheath, or covering generally. | |
a case for spectacles; the case of a watch | |
14. n. A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine. | |
15. n. An enclosing frame or casing. | |
a door case; a window case | |
16. n. A suitcase. | |
17. n. A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed. | |
18. n. The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer. | |
19. n. (printing, historical) A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and | |
20. n. (typography, by extension) The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter. | |
21. n. (poker slang) Four of a kind. | |
22. n. (US) A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces. | |
23. n. (mining) A small fissure which admits water into the workings. | |
24. n. A thin layer of harder metal on the surface of an object whose deeper metal is allowed to remain soft. | |
25. adj. (poker slang) The last remaining card of a particular rank. | |
He drew the case eight! | |
26. v. To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment. | |
27. v. To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose. | |
28. v. (transitive, informal) To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery. | |