| English Dictionary |
WAN (wanned, wanner, wannest, wanning)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
, wanner , wannest , wanning Dictionary entry overview: What does WAN mean?
• WAN (noun)
The noun WAN has 1 sense:
1. a computer network that spans a wider area than does a local area network
Familiarity information: WAN used as a noun is very rare.
• WAN (adjective)
The adjective WAN has 3 senses:
1. (of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble
2. abnormally deficient in color as suggesting physical or emotional distress
3. lacking vitality as from weariness or illness or unhappiness
Familiarity information: WAN used as an adjective is uncommon.
• WAN (verb)
The verb WAN has 1 sense:
1. become pale and sickly
Familiarity information: WAN used as a verb is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A computer network that spans a wider area than does a local area network
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Synonyms:
WAN; wide area network
Hypernyms ("WAN" is a kind of...):
computer network ((computer science) a network of computers)
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: wannest
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of light) lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble
Synonyms:
Context example:
the wan light of dawn
Similar:
weak (wanting in physical strength)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Abnormally deficient in color as suggesting physical or emotional distress
Synonyms:
Context example:
her wan face suddenly flushed
Similar:
colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)
Derivation:
wanness (unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress))
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lacking vitality as from weariness or illness or unhappiness
Context example:
a wan smile
Similar:
unanimated (not animated or enlivened; dull)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it wans Past simple: wanned
Past participle: wanned
-ing form: wanning
Sense 1
Meaning:
Become pale and sickly
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Hypernyms (to "wan" is one way to...):
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Context examples
Do not pity me till I saw her wan, sick looks.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Why so pale and wan, Edricson?
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
His wan face turned even a shade greyer as he heard it, and he looked piteously to his wife and son.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“G’wan, you Kelly. You leave Oofty alone. How in hell did he know it was you in the dark?”
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Here the clock struck twelve, and both forgot themselves in watching Beth, for they fancied a change passed over her wan face.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
He lay down low to the race, whining eagerly, his splendid body flashing forward, leap by leap, in the wan white moonlight.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
There was a very dirty lady in his little room, and two wan girls, his daughters, with shock heads of hair.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I have told you that she had only recently recovered from an illness, and was looking so wretchedly pale and wan that I remonstrated with her for being at work.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She had, indeed, scarcely the shadow of a hope to soothe her mind, and was reduced to so low and wan and trembling a condition, as no mother, not unkind, except Mrs. Price could have overlooked, when the third day did bring the sickening knock, and a letter was again put into her hands.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
This morning, as I sat watching the wan countenance of my friend—his eyes half closed and his limbs hanging listlessly—I was roused by half a dozen of the sailors, who demanded admission into the cabin.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"When jobless, keep rattling the door." (Albanian proverb)
"An excuse is sometime more ugly than a guilt" (Arabic proverb)
"Where there is smoke, there is fire too." (Croatian proverb)