WEIGH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does weigh mean? 

• WEIGH (verb)
  The verb WEIGH has 5 senses:

1. have a certain weight

2. show consideration for; take into account

3. determine the weight of

4. have weight; have import, carry weight

5. to be oppressive or burdensome

  Familiarity information: WEIGH used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WEIGH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they weigh    ... he / she / it weighs   
Past simple: weighed   
Past participle: weighed   
-ing form: weighing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Have a certain weight

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "weigh" is one way to...):

measure (have certain dimensions)

Verb group:

librate; weigh (determine the weight of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Show consideration for; take into account

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

consider; count; weigh

Context example:

The judge considered the offender's youth and was lenient

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They weigh their earnings this year

Derivation:

weighing (careful consideration)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Determine the weight of

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

librate; weigh

Context example:

The butcher weighed the chicken

Hypernyms (to "weigh" is one way to...):

measure; quantify (express as a number or measure or quantity)

Verb group:

weigh (have a certain weight)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "weigh"):

heft (test the weight of something by lifting it)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

weigher (an official who weighs and records the weight)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Have weight; have import, carry weight

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

count; matter; weigh

Context example:

It does not matter much

Hypernyms (to "weigh" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "weigh"):

press; weigh (to be oppressive or burdensome)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
It ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 5

Meaning:

To be oppressive or burdensome

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

press; weigh

Context example:

Something pressed on his mind

Hypernyms (to "weigh" is one way to...):

count; matter; weigh (have weight; have import, carry weight)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

 Context examples 

In a little while, it will weigh lighter than any feather.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You have Saturn, Pluto, Mars, and Jupiter all in your eighth house of other people’s money, Capricorn, an earth sign that can make an air sign like you feel weighed down.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

This “opto-mechanical” attachment weighed less than half a pound.

(Smartphone microscope detects nanoparticles and viruses, NIH)

This baby’s limbs at birth were built for its later adult mass; as an infant, however, it weighed just a fraction of its future size.

(Newly discovered baby Titanosaur sheds light on dinosaurs' early lives, NSF)

A few days before she had done a dreadful thing, and it weighed upon her conscience.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The planet weighs at least 6.1 times Earth’s mass, and orbits the star every 55.7 days at a range about 20% of Earth’s distance from the Sun.

(Confirmation of Toasty TESS Planet Leads to Surprising Find of Promising World, NASA)

Do you suppose that such a consideration weighs with me of an instant?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I weigh five pounds more than I ever did.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There is no reason, therefore, to think that money troubles have been weighing upon his mind.

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

He knew that it weighed fifteen pounds,—as much as all the rest of the pack,—and it worried him.

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