Questions tagged [meaning]
This tag is for questions related to definitions and nuances of meaning of a word or phrase.
16,143
questions
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8 views
Difference between off the top of my head / offhand
What's the subtle difference between:
I cannot remember off the top of my head
I don’t know offhand
My current understanding is the former gives me a more casual manner. Hope someone can explain a ...
0
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0answers
11 views
What is the difference between "I bear witness" and "I testify"?
Most translations of some Islamic supplications say I bear witness that none is worthy of worship save Allah
If a person was to use I Testify instead of "I bear witness..." how would the ...
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0answers
14 views
What's the difference between "incursion" and "invasion" [closed]
As an ESL I can't really tell the difference and I see in some English dictionaries they use one to define the other.
Is there really a difference?
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0answers
28 views
What is the meaning of "make it" here? [closed]
Can you help me with the meaning?
"Please dont make it that I have to drive all this way just to see you."
Does it mean :please dont make me drive all this.....?
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0answers
41 views
Using the word "inform" as a synonym for "instruct" - Is this wrong?
I work in a section of my organization that involves writing of technical documents. Our organization recently put out a policy to avoid using the word "instruct" when referring to our ...
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0answers
38 views
What is the origin of "hash" in "hashing algorithm"? [closed]
What is the etymology of the word "hash" in the sense of the hashing algorithms used extensively for security and encryption in the modern world?
I know a possible etymology for the word ...
0
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3answers
48 views
Meaning of “potentially not” [closed]
I was speaking to my brother earlier today about Stephen Graham’s new film Boiling Point having watched it last night with a friend. Before giving my opinion on the film, I asked “Are you going to see ...
0
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1answer
36 views
You must wait until January 22 [duplicate]
“You must wait until January 22 before you can get or use your pass”. Is that means I have to wait on the 23:59 of January 22? Or 23:59 of January 21? Before they will give me my pass?
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1answer
33 views
What is the meaning of "run" and "planetary embodiment" here?
The following passage is from a magazine article on the comic book Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book One by Alan Moore.
Alan Moore, along with artists John Totleben and Steve Bissette, gutted the failing ...
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0answers
19 views
What is suggested/implied when someone says "There is no reason for me to?" [closed]
What is suggested/implied when someone says there is no reason for me to be best friends with someone?
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0answers
29 views
Where does "X marauds as Y" in the sense of "X deceptively pretends to be Y" come from?
I was writing a sentence and tried to use the format "X marauds as Y".
As a (terrible) example:
If violence cannot be contained, tamed, cornered, or corralled by narrative, it marauds as ...
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0answers
17 views
Are descriptives and depictives the same thing [migrated]
I know depictives are secondary predicates describing how a certain action took place like in 'I ate the meat raw'.
But what are descriptives? I saw on wikipedia that they are just a different name ...
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votes
1answer
60 views
What's the meanings of the emojis, "Vv," "w/e" in the text message below? [closed]
OK borrow Vv w/e Mum away? Jack
Mum: DON’T DIG NEAR SYRIAN BORDER!!! Tell her Dad!!!
Love you, Katie
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2answers
27 views
Was/has been. Сan they be used in the same way
Do both sentences have the same meaning?
I was used to travelling alone, so having my whole family along
has been a big adjustment for me to make.
I was used to travelling alone, so having my whole ...
0
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0answers
26 views
Meaning of "Beneath the water of their lives" Quote by Mitch Albom [closed]
Recently I was reading the book "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom and I came across this quote:
It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that ...
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0answers
43 views
Jury: oath-takers or judges? [closed]
Familiar as we may be with the modern jury, the right to judgment by peers is set forth in the Magna Carta:
NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or ...
0
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1answer
32 views
being raised in a copper’s home [closed]
I am reading a police novel and I can't understand the sentence "Something rubbed off being raised in a copper’s home.” A policeman talks to a journalist. His daughter is a reporter too. She made ...
0
votes
1answer
42 views
What does it mean "to karma the knife"? [closed]
There's this music "Karma the knife" from Angelica Garcia. She says in chorus "I can Karma the knife", what does it mean?
In the videoclip she's like cutting a miniature of her and ...
0
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1answer
61 views
the meaning of agonizingly slow [closed]
I am doing a multiple choice question. The sentence is
"They did their best, but the process was agonizingly slow."
The choices are hugely/persuasively/painfully/equally. My answer is ...
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0answers
15 views
Help answer English grammar questions [closed]
Hello please help me if you find cases of
denotation, collocation, change of form (lexical adjustment), associative
meaning and filling the lexical gaps [if there is any of these cases]. in this ...
3
votes
3answers
58 views
modern usage of the verb "hurt"
I have a questing about the (modern) usage of the verb "hurt". I have learned and always understood that if you have incurred an injury or you are in pain, the correct phrase is: "I am ...
0
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1answer
38 views
Is the phrase “Undefeatable challenge” completely wrong, or is it acceptable under certain circumstances?
Normally, the verb defeat cannot be applied to challenge, and the phrase seems like a semantic mistake: you can defeat an opponent, but you can beat a challenge.
But there's a character who's over-...
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0answers
19 views
What's the meaning of "sold-out house"? [closed]
I was listening to a speech, where the speaker said:
I'm delighted to be able to bring to you this special conversation between person X & person Y, recorded before a sold-out house at the Z ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
Meaning of inherently [closed]
Could someone explain this definition in greater detail and how it can be used in every day conversation. I understand it’s a part of something which is natural but could someone expand on this word.
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1answer
60 views
Is 'supplantation' an English word?
A Mexican anthropologist spontaneously used this word in a phrase: "suplantación de la identidad";
that would means something like "identity theft". She was speaking spontaneously ...
0
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1answer
68 views
What's the difference between Enroll in and Sign up for?
When I asked my native friend about the difference between Enroll in and Sign up for he gave me the following explanation:
Sign up for: add your name to a list or sign up for a course
Enroll in: get ...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
What is the meaning of "used to show disapproval" in dictionaries?
I see some words and phrases in Longman dictionary and there is a sentence at the end of their definition: "used to show disapproval".
I'm not sure what exactly it means.
For example, I ...
0
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0answers
11 views
the meaning of "originally" [closed]
How do you answer to the question: Where are you originally from?
Does it have anything to do with your birth place or the place where you were raised?
0
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0answers
17 views
Could I say I am proud of something about myself? [closed]
I am writing a motivation letter. If I use this sentence
I am proud of being a high honor student at all of my semesters during my bachelor.
Is it official and correct?
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0answers
52 views
Meaning of "sings low the old child's song that it has sung so many thousand years — will sing so many thousand years to come" [migrated]
I'm just now started reading books. Currently starting the book Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (1889).
I am not able to understand the below bold sentence in the paragraph.
while, in the ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
Does the usage of the word 'absenteeism' in relation to COVID match with the standard usage of the word? [closed]
Wikipedia defines 'absenteeism' as staying away without good reason which to me immediately implies some kind of judgement of the reasons for staying away. However I've seen the word used in relation ...
0
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2answers
52 views
What's the meaning of "It is in pardoning that we are pardoned"?
I was going through my childhood memories and found a very old video of mine singing the song "Make me a channel of your peace.", Which refreshed a lot of memories. Unfortunately, After ...
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2answers
55 views
Does the phrase "uphold the law" imply "obeying the law"? [closed]
The different dictionaries I looked at define "uphold" as meaning to "support or defend or maintain" something.
When I think about that word I think about it being used in the ...
0
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0answers
17 views
What does "expert insight" mean? [migrated]
I don't understand the combination of "expert" and "insight" as one word in "expert insight". I know that expert is an adjective and insight is a noun described by it, ...
1
vote
1answer
54 views
What are the differences among 'remove', 'delete', 'dismiss', and 'discard'? [closed]
I'm working for a professional application, and as I'm not a native English speaker I need your light to help me to use the best one in the best context.
What is the meaning of each of them and in ...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
What does "tethered voice" mean? [closed]
“Why?” “Who else?” I sat back, away from this. But then he went on, saying in his tethered voice, “Correct me if I’m wrong. Did you ever meet anybody happier than Jennifer? Did you ever hear about ...
0
votes
2answers
61 views
What does "three of the apartment units on the ground floor" mean in this context? [closed]
My firm is interested in purchasing the building at 1210 Prince Street. Since this property has been on the market for almost five years, it has fallen into disrepair. Regal Properties is willing to ...
1
vote
1answer
39 views
Trying to help but ending up causing more harm than good [duplicate]
I'm writing a paper on Romeo and Juliet and how Frair Lawrence and the Nurse are to blame for Romeo and Juliet's deaths and I'm looking for a word. I've looked at other posts but I just see the same ...
1
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0answers
29 views
"Why, ..." and "..., why?" meaning [closed]
I'm reading the Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn book to learn English and I wonder why he's using this "Why, ..." and what does it mean
For example:
"Too proud to crawl?" Kelsier ...
0
votes
3answers
48 views
Do verbs refer to the tangible or the intangible? [closed]
This might be a dumb question but do verbs (or any other part of speech besides nouns) actually refer to elements of existence in a tangible way?
To be clear I would say that something is tangible if ...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
What is the origin/meaning of wish't?
I've stumbled upon an old documentary where an Irish bible salesman sings "wish't I was a rich man" (written as such in the subtitles)
I've seen it in some other songs... but it seems very ...
0
votes
1answer
25 views
What is the difference between blubbering and sobbing? [closed]
Mostly because I see these words used interchangeably, and wish to know the difference.
8
votes
4answers
765 views
What does "Oxford Classic" mean in this context?
In "The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin", Volume II, Darwin was writing in a letter:
"Here is an odd chance; my nephew Henry Parker, an Oxford Classic, and Fellow of Oriel, came ...
1
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0answers
44 views
What did you do that day? (two months ago in the middle of the process) [migrated]
Two similar situations.
The first one: I started painting a picture ten days ago. I haven't finished it yet. Everyday I've been painting my picture for half an hour.
The second one: I started painting ...
22
votes
4answers
3k views
What does 'good room' mean in Irish English?
Listening to an Irish podcast, I heard the expression 'good room', and though I'm a native (UK—England) English speaker, I had no idea what it meant as a discrete noun (as opposed to just good+room. ...
0
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4answers
154 views
What is "intangible cultural heritage"? and why does it have 3 million,700 thousand references on Google?
The phrase: "patrimonio cultural inmaterial" has 3,750,000 references.
This week I received a GMail message:
Dear María, 670 new papers that match the query "Patrimonio cultural ...
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votes
1answer
81 views
What is the meaning of sub-second-level in this context?
We use the term data acquisition to refer to a process of collecting
and storing raw sub-second-level smartphone measurements for
the purpose of human activity recognition.
2
votes
1answer
38 views
A question about omission
Thanks a lot for reading my question about English grammar, and as you can see, I am an English novice, whose native language is Chinese.
I am learning an article written by Henry Moore entitled 'The ...
2
votes
1answer
62 views
What is the connection between the two words "battery" and "batter"? [closed]
Batter means to beat somebody very hard.
Battery is something that to store/provide energy.
Is there any connection between the two words?
3
votes
1answer
254 views
What is "Dooley tracks"?
I've been watching Breaking Bad series and stumbled upon the Dooley tracks expression.
Here's some context:
Got a couple of Dooley tracks headed away, towards the road.
What is Dooley tracks and who ...
