ENGLISH

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does English mean? 

• ENGLISH (noun)
  The noun ENGLISH has 4 senses:

1. an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries

2. the people of England

3. the discipline that studies the English language and literature

4. (sports) the spin given to a ball by striking it on one side or releasing it with a sharp twist

  Familiarity information: ENGLISH used as a noun is uncommon.

• ENGLISH (adjective)
  The adjective ENGLISH has 2 senses:

1. of or relating to or characteristic of England or its culture or people

2. of or relating to the English language

  Familiarity information: ENGLISH used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ENGLISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

English; English language

Hypernyms ("English" is a kind of...):

West Germanic; West Germanic language (a branch of the Germanic languages)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "English"):

American; American English; American language (the English language as used in the United States)

cockney (the nonstandard dialect of natives of the east end of London)

geordie (the nonstandard dialect of natives of Newcastle-upon-Tyne)

King's English; Queen's English (English as spoken by educated persons in southern England)

Received Pronunciation (the approved pronunciation of British English; originally based on the King's English as spoken at public schools and at Oxford and Cambridge Universities (and widely accepted elsewhere in Britain); until recently it was the pronunciation of English used in British broadcasting)

Middle English (English from about 1100 to 1450)

Modern English (English since about 1450)

Anglo-Saxon; Old English (English prior to about 1100)

Oxford English (the dialect of English spoken at Oxford University and regarded by many as affected and pretentious)

Scots; Scots English; Scottish (the language, languages or the dialect of English used in Scotland)

Derivation:

English (of or relating to or characteristic of England or its culture or people)

English (of or relating to the English language)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The people of England

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

English; English people

Hypernyms ("English" is a kind of...):

country; land; nation (the people who live in a nation or country)

Derivation:

English (of or relating to or characteristic of England or its culture or people)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The discipline that studies the English language and literature

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("English" is a kind of...):

arts; humanistic discipline; humanities; liberal arts (studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills))

Derivation:

English (of or relating to the English language)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(sports) the spin given to a ball by striking it on one side or releasing it with a sharp twist

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

English; side

Hypernyms ("English" is a kind of...):

spin (a swift whirling motion (usually of a missile))

Domain category:

athletics; sport (an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition)

• ENGLISH (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to or characteristic of England or its culture or people

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

English literature

Pertainym:

England (a division of the United Kingdom)

Derivation:

anglicize (make English in appearance)

England (a division of the United Kingdom)

English (an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries)

English (the people of England)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or relating to the English language

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

English (an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries)

Derivation:

English (the discipline that studies the English language and literature)

English (an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries)

 Context examples 

“Irene Adler is married,” remarked Holmes. Married! When? Yesterday. But to whom? To an English lawyer named Norton.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“How can an English lady join in such a murderous affair?”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Didn’t Lang include your ‘Kiss Endured’ among the four supreme sonnets by women in the English language?

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The wife of one of the English professors—er, if you will pardon me, Mrs. Haythorne—disappeared with some San Francisco doctor, I understood, though his name does not just now come to my lips.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Our landlord was an intelligent man, and spoke excellent English, having served for three years as waiter at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He could talk English perfectly well.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and newspapers.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Yet his time came, in the end, in the form of a little weazened man who spat broken English and many strange and uncouth exclamations which Buck could not understand.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

When I come to any town, he pursued, I found the inn, and waited about the yard till someone turned up (someone mostly did) as know'd English.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

P'r'aps you can understand King George's English.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)