English Explanatory Dictionary

use

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The act of using.
  2. The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.
  3. Usefulness, benefit.
  4. A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
  5. Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
  6. Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
  7. Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
  8. Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
  9. A special form of a rite adopted for use in a particular context, often a diocese.
  10. A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
verb
  1. To utilize or employ.
  2. To employ; to apply; to utilize.
  3. To expend; to consume by employing.
  4. To exploit.
  5. To consume (alcohol, drugs, etc), especially regularly.
  6. To consume a previously specified substance, especially a drug to which one is addicted.
  7. To benefit from; to be able to employ or stand.
  8. To suggest or request that other people employ a specific set of gender pronouns when referring to the subject.
  9. To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)
  10. To accustom oneself.
  11. To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)
  12. To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.

Pronunciation

yo͞os /juːs/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-use.wav /jus/ [jɪu̯s] en-us-use-noun.ogg /(j)ɪu̯s/ /jʉːs/ /jʉs/ yo͞oz /juːz/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-use2.wav /juz/ [jɪu̯z] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-use.wav en-us-use.ogg /(j)ɪu̯z/ /jʉːz/ /jʉz/ [jʉːz]

Word forms

use uses using used no-table-tags glossary usest usedst useth

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *oissos Latin ūsus Old French usbor. Middle English use English use Noun from Middle English use, from Old French us, from Latin ūsus (“use, custom, skill, habit”), from past participle stem of ūtor (“use”). Displaced native Middle English note (“use”) (see note) from Old English notu; Middle English nutte (“use”) from Old English nytt; as well as Old English fricu and Old English sidu. Verb from Middle English usen, from Old French user (“use, employ, practice”), from Medieval Latin usare (“use”), frequentative form of past participle stem of Latin uti (“to use”). Displaced native Middle English noten, nutten (“to use”) (from Old English notian, nēotan, nyttian) and Middle English brouken, bruken (“to use, enjoy”) (from Old English brūcan).

Synonyms

employment usage note nait benefit good point usefulness utility apply employ engage utilise utilize exploit take advantage of go by

Derived words

alcohol use disorder as much use as a chocolate fireguard as much use as a chocolate teapot caffeine use disorder can I use your phone cestuy que use come in use compassionate use do you need to use the bathroom drug use dual-use dual-use research of concern free use go out of use have no use for hyper-use ill-use in-use in use it's no use land-use land use make use meanwhile use mixed-use neither use nor ornament non-use no use of any use of some use of use old use out of use overuse point of use private-use character put to good use put to use shared use path single-use terms of use therapeutic use exemption there's no use there's no use crying over spilt milk time-of-check to time-of-use time-of-use meter time-of-use rates time-use time-use research time-use survey tolerated use underuse use and wont use case useless usement use tax use value value in use what's the use
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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