WEIGHT

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does weight mean? 

• WEIGHT (noun)
  The noun WEIGHT has 8 senses:

1. the vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity

2. sports equipment used in calisthenic exercises and weightlifting; it is not attached to anything and is raised and lowered by use of the hands and arms

3. the relative importance granted to something

4. an artifact that is heavy

5. an oppressive feeling of heavy force

6. a system of units used to express the weight of something

7. a unit used to measure weight

8. (statistics) a coefficient assigned to elements of a frequency distribution in order to represent their relative importance

  Familiarity information: WEIGHT used as a noun is common.

• WEIGHT (verb)
  The verb WEIGHT has 2 senses:

1. weight down with a load

2. present with a bias

  Familiarity information: WEIGHT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WEIGHT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

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

physical property (any property used to characterize matter and energy and their interactions)

Attribute:

heavy (of comparatively great physical weight or density)

light (of comparatively little physical weight or density)

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

poundage (weight expressed in pounds)

lightness; weightlessness (the property of being comparatively small in weight)

throw-weight (the weight of the payload of a missile (not including the weight of the rocket))

tare (the weight of a motor vehicle, railroad car, or aircraft without its fuel or cargo)

heaviness; weightiness (the property of being comparatively great in weight)

dead weight (a heavy motionless weight)

body weight (the weight of a person's body)

Derivation:

weighty (having relatively great weight; heavy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sports equipment used in calisthenic exercises and weightlifting; it is not attached to anything and is raised and lowered by use of the hands and arms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

exercising weight; free weight; weight

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

sports equipment (equipment needed to participate in a particular sport)

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

barbell (a bar to which heavy discs are attached at each end; used in weightlifting)

dumbbell (an exercising weight; two spheres connected by a short bar that serves as a handle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The relative importance granted to something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

weight; weightiness

Context example:

the progression implied an increasing weightiness of the items listed

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

importance (the quality of being important and worthy of note)

Derivation:

weighty (of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An artifact that is heavy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

artefact; artifact (a man-made object taken as a whole)

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

balance; counterbalance; counterpoise; counterweight; equaliser; equalizer (a weight that balances another weight)

burden; load; loading (weight to be borne or conveyed)

makeweight (a weight added to the scale to reach a required weight)

paperweight (a weight used to hold down a stack of papers)

sinker (a weight that sinks (as to hold nets or fishing lines under water))

bob (a hanging weight, especially a metal ball on a string)

Derivation:

weight (weight down with a load)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An oppressive feeling of heavy force

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Context example:

bowed down by the weight of responsibility

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

oppression; oppressiveness (a feeling of being oppressed)

Derivation:

weighty (weighing heavily on the spirit; causing anxiety or worry)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A system of units used to express the weight of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

system of weights; weight

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

metric; system of measurement (a system of related measures that facilitates the quantification of some particular characteristic)

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

avoirdupois; avoirdupois weight (a system of weights based on the 16-ounce pound (or 7,000 grains))

troy; troy weight (a system of weights used for precious metals and gemstones; based on a 12-ounce pound and an ounce of 480 grains)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A unit used to measure weight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

weight; weight unit

Context example:

he placed two weights in the scale pan

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

unit; unit of measurement (any division of quantity accepted as a standard of measurement or exchange)

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

cattie; catty (any of various units of weight used in southeastern Asia (especially a Chinese measure equal to 500 grams))

welterweight (a weight of 28 pounds; sometimes imposed as a handicap in a horse race (such as a steeplechase))

tod (a unit of weight for wool equal to about 28 pounds)

tael (a unit of weight used in east Asia approximately equal to 1.3 ounces)

rotl (a unit of weight used in some Moslem countries near the Mediterranean; varies between one and five pounds)

pood (a Russian unit of weight equal to approximately 36 pounds)

picul (a unit of weight used in some parts of Asia; approximately equal to 133 pounds (the load a grown man can carry))

oka (a Turkish unit of weight equal to about 2.75 pounds)

obolus (a Greek unit of weight equal to one tenth of a gram)

maund (a unit of weight used in Asia; has different values in different countries)

last (a unit of weight equal to 4,000 pounds)

frail (the weight of a frail (basket) full of raisins or figs; between 50 and 75 pounds)

crith (the weight of a liter of hydrogen (at 0 centigrade and 760 millimeters pressure))

arroba (a unit of weight used in some Spanish speaking countries)

apothecaries' unit; apothecaries' weight (any weight unit used in pharmacy; an ounce is equal to 480 grains and a pound is equal to 12 ounces)

troy unit (any of the unit of the troy system of weights)

Sense 8

Meaning:

(statistics) a coefficient assigned to elements of a frequency distribution in order to represent their relative importance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

weight; weighting

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

coefficient (a constant number that serves as a measure of some property or characteristic)

Domain category:

statistics (a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters)

Derivation:

weight (present with a bias)

• WEIGHT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they weight    ... he / she / it weights   
Past simple: weighted   
Past participle: weighted   
-ing form: weighting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Weight down with a load

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

burden; burthen; weight; weight down

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

charge (fill or load to capacity)

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

overburden (load with excessive weight)

plumb (weight with lead)

saddle (load or burden; encumber)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something with something

Derivation:

weight (an artifact that is heavy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Present with a bias

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

angle; slant; weight

Context example:

He biased his presentation so as to please the share holders

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

bias; predetermine (cause to be biased)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

weight ((statistics) a coefficient assigned to elements of a frequency distribution in order to represent their relative importance)

 Context examples 

Minutes times micrograms per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by kilograms (weight).

(Minute Times Microgram Per Milliliter Per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

They were short of weight and in poor condition when they made Dawson, and should have had a ten days’ or a week’s rest at least.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Minutes times micromoles per liter (area under the curve), divided by grams (dose or weight).

(Minute Times Micromole Per Liter Per Gram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Even in my own heart I could give no expression to my sensations—they weighed on me with a mountain’s weight and their excess destroyed my agony beneath them.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Minutes times micromoles per liter (area under the curve), divided by kilograms (weight).

(Minute Times Micromole Per Liter Per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Then I left it, feeling a weight at my heart such as I had never had before.

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

Minutes times micrograms per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by grams (dose or weight).

(Minute Times Microgram Per Milliliter Per Gram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times grams per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by kilograms (weight).

(Minute Times Gram Per Milliliter Per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Minutes times femtograms per milliliter (area under the curve), divided by kilograms (weight).

(Minute Times Femtogram Per Milliliter Per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

But while he wondered, he shot in a straight left, the weight of his body behind the blow.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)