Questions tagged [meaning]
This tag is for questions related to definitions and nuances of meaning of a word or phrase.
1,882
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Which day does "next Tuesday" refer to?
At what point does next Tuesday mean
the next Tuesday that will come to pass
and no longer
the Tuesday after the Tuesday that will come to pass?
And, when does the meaning switch back?
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Why is it "geometric" but "theoretical"?
I just came across a course name: Geometric and Theoretical Optics. The mismatched endings bug me. Why do we have both -ical and -ic endings?
Is there any difference in meaning between, say, ...
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12
answers
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What does “a couple” mean to you, and what does “a few” mean to you?
What is the proper way to use the terms “a couple” or “a few”?
How should one use these words to avoid confusion? How do people use these words in practice.
It was striking to hear that “a couple” ...
zuludelta9
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2
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What is the term for the double consecutive use of a word with stress on one of the words to alter its severity?
What is the term when a word is used consecutively twice, with intentional stress placed on the first word, as a means to alter the severity of the word's meaning? I am not referring to a past ...
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votes
1
answer
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Why use "need not" instead of "do not need to"?
The header of psyco.sourceforge.net states:
High-level languages need not be slower than low-level ones.
Why use need not instead of do not need? What does it mean? Also, why no to before be?
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7
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What does "had had" mean? How does this differ from "had"?
For example, what is the difference between the following two sentences:
I had a bad day
I had had a bad day
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2
answers
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What kind of noun is 'picture'?
I'm not sure of the right place to ask this, but I got confused trying to understand how the computer will interpret the sentence:
This is my picture.
In actual sense, the real owner of the ...
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votes
4
answers
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Use of "Or", inclusive or exclusive?
My wife and I are playing a game where you roll dice and move so many spaces in a grid "vertically or horizontally".
In the use of English it is very common to say, this or the other when it comes ...
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2
answers
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"A number of students" vs. "the number of students" [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
A number of questions “has been” or “have been” asked?
From the grammatical view both are correct, but please explain the difference in meaning:
The ...
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99
votes
9
answers
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"A few" vs. "few"
I have few friends.
I have a few friends.
I thought "few" means just one, two or even none. "A few" typically means more than two. However it seems to me some people say "few" when they really ...
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answers
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Are there any pairs of words like "beloved"/"belovèd", "learned"/"learnèd" that maintain a semantic difference to the present day?
When I first read Romeo and Juliet in high school, I remember being intrigued by pairs of words such as,
beloved/belovèd
and
learned/learnèd
where there's an accent grave on the 'e' of the ...
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123
votes
24
answers
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views
"Lunch" vs. "dinner" vs. "supper" — times and meanings?
I've seen cases where a noon-time meal is referred to as dinner, and the evening meal is called supper. There's also lunch around noon followed by dinner in the evening. Is there a particular ...
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votes
5
answers
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Substitute X for Y
An awful lot of people seem to use the phrase "substitute X for Y" to mean "replace X with Y", while I've always used and understood it as "replace Y with X". This makes sense to me, given that a ...
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votes
3
answers
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Semantics of "on" versus "in"
Please help me in choosing the right preposition in this sentence:
The returned values seem a bit confusing on/in its semantics,
Here I'm talking about returned values of a computer programming ...
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43
votes
4
answers
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Difference between "think of" and "think about"
Is there a difference between "think of something" and "think about something"? I've also met "have heard of/about something".
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answers
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The construction of "Known but to God"
The Tomb of the Unknown Solider has the engraving "KNOWN BUT TO GOD", as presumably no man knows his name, but shouldn't it read "unknown, but to God", as the default for everyone is "unknown", with ...
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votes
11
answers
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What is it called when words are deliberately spelled incorrectly but pronunciation is kept unchanged?
For example,
Night -> Nite
Through -> Thru
The -> Da
Though -> Tho
Nite even appears in some dictionaries as having the same meaning as night.
What is it called when words are ...
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18
votes
5
answers
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How does a word come to have two completely opposite meanings?
Words like cleave and egregious have meanings that are completely opposite to other meanings of the same word. How did such a bizarre, confusing state of affairs ever develop?
I mean, I just can't ...
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votes
4
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If I invent a word, what language is it?
I invented a word using medical terminology, Latin and maybe a bit of Greek. (I'm not honestly sure of the etymology of all the morphemes.) Considering that this word is primarily not of English ...
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How should I parse the sentence "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."
Why is the following statement valid, and how can I break it down so that it is easier to understand?
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
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What are the meaning and possible origin of "word!" and "word up"?
Several times, I have had conversations, all over instant messenger, finish with "word" or "Word up G".
As it ends a conversation, I am guessing it is like "goodbye".
My question is what is the ...
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votes
6
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Do the following negations mean the same thing?
I don't think you understood me. / I think you misunderstood me.
Do these senteces mean the same thing? If not, what's the difference?
Edit: I just realized that I asked something different from ...
user38611
2
votes
2
answers
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Can object complements make any difference to sentences?
I'm reading a grammar book, and I have some questions.
A.
We ate the fish raw.
I want Sue drunk.
I prefer the music soft.
I like coffee black.
We drank the beer cold.
This type of ...
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votes
4
answers
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"Relation" versus "relationship"
What is the difference between relation and relationship?
Some say that relationship often refers to social connections. For instance,
She has a close relationship with her daughter.
How about the ...
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votes
7
answers
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What is the correct way to use "neither" and "nor" in a sentence together?
Given these facts:
The tool cannot be found in the kitchen.
The tool cannot be found in the bathroom.
Which is the correct sentence to represent the situation above?
I can find the tool ...
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votes
5
answers
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views
What is the difference between "nothing but", "anything but", and "everything but"?
What is the difference between these phrases? When is it valid to use which? Should they be avoided as being ambiguous?
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votes
7
answers
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"Biweekly", "bimonthly", "biannual", and "bicentennial"
What do lengths of time with the "bi" prefix mean"? I have understood bicentennial as once every two hundred years, but biannual as meaning twice a year. Do biweekly and bimonthly mean twice a week or ...
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3
answers
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Can a positive statement be combined with a positive question tag like "did you" or is "didn't you" necessary?
Typically, when we ask for confirmation/denial of a statement, we say something like the following:
We turn left here, don't we?
You have a cat, don't you?
We've met before, haven't we?
...
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votes
3
answers
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"I just ate them" and "I've just eaten them" — What's the difference in American and in British?
I know there are differences between American and British English in this area. So when answering, please specify whether you speak American or British English.
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Meaning of "native speaker of English"
Who is considered a native speaker of English? I am a little confused by the various answers found online.
user2683
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3
answers
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May you please explain this?
At a family dinner, my 18-year-old niece asked my sister, "May you please pass the salt?" My sister said that she was impressed with her daughter's politeness, but that that particular wording was not ...
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votes
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answers
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Does "I am eating vegan cheese in my underpants" really imply that the vegan cheese is inside my underpants?
I am having a debate with someone about possible interpretations of a sentence and we have come to a stalemate. The sentence is as follows:
"I'm at home eating vegan cheese in my underpants and ...
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votes
4
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What word means what many people think 'ironic' means?
'Ironic' is often used to mean an unusual coincidence rather than its true meaning which is closer to sarcastic. That being said, is there a word that would be a good replacement for what many people ...
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What does 'ten of six' mean in regard to time?
I am referring of course to the expression describing time. Today a corporate trainer (From north Philadelphia) that is teaching a class at my company used it in the context that the current time was '...
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What does "ain't" mean? [closed]
What does the contraction ain't mean? Is it appropriate to use it in formal settings?
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“Everything is not…”
I keep hearing people say everything is not… which frustrating because it is ambiguous. It could mean either
Nothing is… (for the set of all things, no thing is…)
or
Not everything is… (for ...
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1
answer
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What's the meaning of "hardly seem more implausible"?
In the following text, what does "the latter scenario could hardly seem more implausible" mean?
The result suggests one of two scenarios. One is that arctic foxes
gave rise to swift foxes, ...
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What is the difference between "gender" and "sex"?
What is the difference between gender and sex? Wiktionary says that gender is The mental analog of sex but that's too high English for me.
Basically, I'm developing a web-application that stores ...
38
votes
9
answers
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What are the similarities and differences between "irony" and "sarcasm"? [duplicate]
This seems to be one the long-standing arguments between people on the internet. When is something "irony" and when is it "sarcasm"? And can a quip be both at the same time?
...
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"Covered with" vs. "covered in" vs. "covered by"
I want to find out the differences in meaning among covered by, covered in, and covered with. For example, what is the difference between:
covered with blood
covered in blood
or the differences ...
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"Between A and B" or "from A to B"
Suppose we are talking about the numbers 1, 2, ... , 10.
When we use the phrase between 1 and 10, do we include the end-points 1 and 10? Is there any difference if we say from 1 to 10 instead?
user2683
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3
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Is “man” the opposite of “woman”?
I heard someone today say that lad is the opposite of lass. And we picked up a debate on whether woman is actually the opposite of man, which led me to question whether nouns can have opposites at all....
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"Within" and "in" when referring to time
I know that both can mean "inside" but what I don't have clear is whether both mean the same when talking about time. For example:
The party is in two days = The party is within two days ??
...
user29020
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3
answers
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'Made of' vs. 'Made from'
What is the basic difference between "made of" and "made from." Both expressions are used in English. For instance, "This chair is made of wood," and "Cream is made from milk." Though the question is ...
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How did "sinister", the Latin word for "left-handed", get its current meaning?
Sinister is the Latin word for left-handed. What evolution of meaning turned left-handed into evil and threatening?
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Can I use "US-American" to disambiguate "American"? If not, what can I use?
Based on this question, I wonder: as an alternative to USAian (which is very nonstandard) is it OK to use US-American to more clearly indicate "inhabitant of the USA"?
According to Google Ngram, this ...
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"Criteria" versus "criterion"
I came across several forums and articles saying that criteria is plural and criterion is singular. Some gave me the impression that criterion is used to denote a set of rules.
What is the correct ...
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What's the difference in meaning between "emigrate" and "immigrate"?
What's the difference between emigrate and immigrate? They seem to have the same definitions in the dictionary but they are antonyms...
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How should "deceptively" actually be used?
I'm not sure if this is a duplicate question, but I couldn't find anything on here on the topic. I can't seem to figure out what is actually meant when using the word "deceptive," or rather, what is ...
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