Questions tagged [meaning-in-context]
This tag is for questions about the meaning of a word or a phrase in a specific context, which a dictionary cannot answer. Please give as much context as possible.
10,377 questions
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"You’ve got quite THE load to carry." | "You’ve got quite A load to carry."
It sounds like you’ve got quite the load to carry when you go out!
It sounds like you’ve got quite a load to carry when you go out!
They both mean the same to me. Is there any difference to the ...
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Meaning of "if not" in "mole cricket can fly powerfully, if not with agility"
In "Adults of most species of mole cricket can fly powerfully, if not with agility, but males do so infrequently", what does it mean by "if not with agility"?
Here's the definition ...
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Can length be measured in "paces"?
In "The Second Voyage of Sindabad the Sailor" I came across the phrase "about fifty paces"
I descended from the tree and made my way towards the strange object. When I reached ...
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"In the manner of someone": What does it mean?
I'm reading a book written by Sergius Bulgakov, and I have seen this sentence:
Therefore each loves Christ in one's own manner, in conformity with one's own individual person, yet in the manner of ...
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What is the subject of "set up" in the sentence?
In the sentence:
Therefore,my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S and whichever purchase we ...
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What "the walk away point of it all" means?
I stumbled upon "the walk away point of it all" in the following Twitter message:
Recently, I learned that it means the point in negotiations when you realize it's time to stop and get away ...
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2
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See a lot of the ball
I don't understand the use of "see" in this sentence because it has "see" lots of meanings. Can you tell me what it means?
75 mins
Quiet spell.
West Ham are seeing a lot of the ...
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What does "all-singing, all-dancing crap" mean? [closed]
In Fight Club (1999), Tyler Durden speaks this lines:
Tyler Durden: You're not your job. You're not how much money you have
in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of
your ...
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1
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What does "it" in "to handle it" refer to?
In Fight Club (1999), turns out Marla had overdosed on Xanax, she was rescued by Tyler and the two embark
upon a sexual relationship:
Marla Singer: If I fall asleep, I'm done for. You're gonna have ...
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1
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Does this line indicates consumerism? [closed]
In Fight Club (1999), The narrator, in a state of depression after his costly furniture was
destroyed by fire, sat down with his single-serving friend, Tyler Durden:
Tyler Durden: We are by-products ...
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1
answer
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What does "by" mean in "the school had no one by his name on its roll"?
In Oxford Learner's Dictionary I found the following example sentence:
the school had no one by his name on its roll.
The preposition by seems odd here and I would expect "with" instead. ...
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Specific cases of the definite article
We have two examples of sentences.
Yes, I disconnect after work and do activities I enyoy.
Yes, I disconnect after work and do the activities I enjoy.
Can you please explain what is the difference ...
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1
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What do Henry Hill's words mean?
In Goodfellas (1990), Henry Hill describing his life in prison:
Henry Hill: Even the hacks we couldn't bribe
wouldn't rat on the guys we did.
Does it mean "Even the unbribed prison guards didn'...
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1
answer
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Out on the right
Does "out" mean "from outside the box" in a football (soccer) context?
GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Stoke City (Mata 59)
A free kick out on the right, 30 yards out. Mata loops it ...
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"He moved with surprising swiftness for someone who had just woken up." — Does "someone" here mean someone definite rather than someone indefinite?
oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com:
(1) He moved with surprising swiftness for someone who had just woken up.
The meaning of "someone" is odd to me here because, as far as I understand, "...
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What does "this stuff" refer to? [closed]
Here is the iconic scene from Goodfellas (1990):
https://youtu.be/r_DwZfyXAXI?si=eCOJQY2n-SfiExpu&t=206
Tommy Devito (says to Henry Hill): You're supposed to be doing this
stuff, too.
What does &...
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What does "it" in "handle it" refer to?
In Goodfellas (1990), a Jewish woman Karen Hill speaks about Henry Hill:
Karen Hill: One night, Bobby Vinton sent us champagne. There was nothing like it.
I didn't think there was anything strange in ...
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1
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What does "numbers" mean?
In Goodfellas (1990), Henry Hill is working for gangster Jimmy:
Henry Hill: By the time I grew up, there was 30 billion a year in cargo...
...moving through Idlewild Airport, and we tried to steal ...
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1
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What does "Come! Come!" mean?
In Gladiator II (2024), Lucius and General Acacius are found to be treacherous, so Caracalla
wants to attack General Acacius, but Geta stops him:
Caracalla: Why wait? I will gut him right now!
Geta: ...
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1
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What does "not too pointedly romantic" mean in this context?
I read this interview today and have some comprehension problems with this part:
‘The way that the script read, if you read it on the page, it seemed like it was upbeat,’ Biffa said. ‘It read like ...
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1
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What's the exact meaning of 'unblinking gimlet intensity'?
In The Guardian review of the 2024 movie The Apprentice, Wendy Ide describes the performance of actor Jeremy Strong like this:
...widely feared rightwing lawyer Roy Cohn (Succession star Jeremy ...
archie
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What does "the ridge was offset at right angles to its length" mean in "several places where the ridge was offset at right angles to its length"?
I'm trying to interpret the sentence "several places where the ridge was offset at right angles to its length" which is in the entry for the word "offset" in Oxford English ...
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2
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Is "odds advantage" grammatical?
Limited no longer by his own capacities, he had an odds advantage that
he had never had as a competitor. He knew he could last. But his
fighters were less dependable.
The word "odds" is ...
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What does "Might get a couple drips." mean?
In this video, there's the following lines:
He's gonna pick up (a sponge containing water) and sit down behind whoever's at the end line. Pass it overhead. Might get a couple drips.
I am not quite 100%...
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1
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So, with only three pieces left on my ark, it would seem wrong not to include one
This is from a documentary:
Around 80% of the Earth's animal species are insects. They play a vital role in the food chain, essential to many birds, fish and other animals. They fertilise and aerate ...
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what does "blanket" mean here? [closed]
In Gladiator (2000), Marcus Aurelius wants Maximus to be the protector of
Rome after his death.:
Marcus Aurelius: You are the son that I should have had. Commodus will
accept my decision. He knows ...
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What does "six up" mean?
In The Beekeeper (2024), FBI Agents scanned the vehicle found nothing suspicious:
Agent: Six up.
What does "six up" mean ?
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What does "you’d think he invented fire" mean?
In The Beekeeper (2024), Agent Verona speaks to beekeeper Adam Clay about her
brother and mother:
Verona: You’re just like my brother. He was in MARSOC, a Marine Raider.
He was killed a few years ago ...
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2
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What does "doing checks" mean here? [closed]
Serving large parties
My restaurant requires us to ask how they’re "doing checks" at the beginning because we can’t do splits without a manager. Once I find out how checks are, I ring in a ...
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Meaning of the word "strike"
What does "strike" mean in this sentence? Here's a football (soccer) commentary between West Ham and Liverpool.
Half Time Down at the break Ref Anthony Taylor blows his whistle, and
that's ...
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What does "to focus on things to complain about" mean?
In this video, the trainer advices that we should "focus on things to complain about". I don't quite get the meaning of the phrase "focus on things to complain about".
Using ...
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Is there a context where the sentence "She ran in ten minutes." is correct?
the textbook "The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language", page 668:
(1) She ran in ten minutes. — incorrect
I'm curious about whether there is a context where (1) is correct. For ...
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Is the meaning of "confessing the need for XYZ" appropriate?
I have written a story about how I realized I need God.
Is it okay to title it:
"Confessing the Need for God"?
According to Cambridge Dictionary the verb confess means
to admit that you ...
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Do all these sentences mean the same thing?
My grammar is better than most people here.
My grammar is better than that of most people here.
My grammar is better than most people's here.
Are all these sentences grammatically correct and mean ...
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"toy animals" VS "animal toys"
There are plenty of animal toys, as always, for the younger children. BBC - Christmas 1952
The use of animal toys caught my attention, as I thought it meant toys for animals to play with.
As a non-...
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What does the verb advantage mean in this sentence from chapter one of "Wuthering Heights"?
In the first chapter of Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë writes:
The apartment and furniture would have been nothing extraordinary as belonging to a homely, northern farmer, with a stubborn countenance,...
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What is the meaning of "meanwhile" in this context?
I know the meaning of "meanwhile" is "while something else is happening" or "until something expected happens". But I just do not know how the above definition adds up in ...
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Meaning of thing in "Addie is a very cheerful girl. That’s her thing."
I came across the following in a book named "The Nightmare Room #1: Don't Forget Me!" written by R. L. Stine (2001):
Addie is a very cheerful girl. That’s her thing.
I think the word thing ...
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Underlapping Eze
I can't understand the word "underlap" in this context, can you explain what it means?
Brighton 0-2 Crystal Palace (45+1 mins)
Eberechi Eze leads a Palace counter-attack, giving the ball to ...
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What does 'continued with the spread of central bank independence' mean in this context?
I am in doubt about the meaning for spread in the next lines:
Inflation has come down partly because many of the items we buy, from clothes to computers, have got cheaper as a result of technological ...
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Using "never" to strengthen the meaning
From the context (I hope I gave enough context) I'm sure "never" in the following is used to strengthen the meaning (walls being even thicker than described), however such usage is new to me....
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(about paintings) "I wanted an original of hers but she never has them available." [closed]
Someone is showing around her house, pointing at some printings of paintings on a wall by a famous painter. She says:
I wanted an original of hers but she never has them available.
Christmasy time ...
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"He doesn't know what he is going to find." VS "He never knows what he is going to find."
It is a rough sleepers area. TV crew member, Mark, wants to help them, so he approaches the tents which might have rough sleepers inside. And this sentence is said by the presenter:
Mark never knows ...
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What does "Look out, old ferret!" mean?
In An Uncomfortable Bed by Guy de Maupassant, a cautious narrator visits a chateau with prank-loving friends and becomes overly suspicious of their intentions.
My friends were fond of practical jokes,...
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Specifying program length with regards to intermission
If a theater program / brochure says "2 hours with intermission", does it mean the time for intermission is included in the 2 hours?
What should the program / brochure say if the ...
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Is “then” the correct transition word in this sentence?
Pasiphae, one of the eighty known moons of Jupiter, is designated as
Jupiter VIII (“VIII” means “8”). Roman numerals typically indicate the
order in which the moons were named rather than the order of ...
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Should or should I not use the article in this sentence? Does it matter either way? [duplicate]
"What kind of a test are you preparing for them?"
"What kind of test are you preparing for them?"
What is the difference between these sentences meaning-wise? Is there any? ...
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stab towards goal
Can you explain what "stab" means in this context?
West Ham 2-1 Wolves (80 mins)
Lukasz Fabianski gets his gloves dirty again as Mario Lemina stabs towards goal. But again a clean view and ...
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usage of 'as for' - is this phrase used for only one usage like regarding?
The result of a boxing match, as for a figure skating routine, is very subjective.
If we replace 'as for' with 'regarding', it seems to be not that natural.
The result of a boxing match, regarding a ...
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What does "go" mean in "something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience"?
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird a part of the plotline is an upcoming court trial of a black man. His defense attorney is a father of two who is talking about the future case with his young daughter....
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