1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. hint

Find the word definition

What is "hint"

Crossword clues for hint

hint
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
hint
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a glint/hint of mischief (=an expression that shows someone wants to play tricks)
▪ There was a glint of mischief in her eyes.
a hint/trace of amusement (=a small amount in someone's eyes or voice)
▪ Was there a hint of amusement in her voice?
a hint/trace of an accent
▪ I could detect the hint of a German accent in her voice.
a hint/trace/flicker of emotion (=a very small sign that someone feels an emotion)
▪ I thought I saw a flicker of emotion in his eyes.
a hint/whiff of scandal (=the suggestion that someone may be involved in a scandal)
▪ He vowed that no hint of scandal would ever be attached to him.
a whiff/hint of perfume (=a very slight smell of perfume )
▪ As she lifted the letter, she caught the faintest hint of perfume.
helpful advice/hints/suggestions etc
▪ Our sales staff are there to give you helpful advice.
hint/trace/edge/touch of sarcasm
▪ There was just a touch of sarcasm in her voice.
subtle hint
▪ The dish had a subtle hint of ginger.
trace/hint/touch of irony
▪ Wagner calls his program ‘the worst talk show in America,’ without a hint of irony.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
handy
▪ Readers with humorous computing tales or handy hints are welcome to write to Fatal Dos Error at the usual address.
▪ None of them ever enlivened maths lessons with a few handy hints about alternative sexuality.
▪ Here to get you started are a few ... Practical pointers and handy hints 1 Think about your class and year group.
▪ Practical pointers and handy hints 1 Don't feel a failure if you've never had a boyfriend or girlfriend.
heavy
▪ Despite my misgivings, I dropped heavy hints at home.
helpful
▪ Do we ever see articles or helpful hints aimed at us?
▪ Beyond these guidelines, there are plenty of helpful hints to keep you on a low-fat track.
▪ The lads, as always, were on the phone all week with helpful hints.
▪ They were extremely receptive to the helpful hints offered by advice magazines, which were proliferating at the time.
▪ An instruction book is included in the box, with helpful hints and suggestions for projects.
▪ They actually like having a bloke in the passenger seat offering helpful hints at the top of his voice?
▪ This newspaper contains many helpful hints on job seeking as well as lots of varied and interesting job vacancies.
▪ Here, instead are some helpful hints: 1.
little
▪ There is little or no hint of the compassion and humanity which lay beneath the cool exterior.
▪ There are no laughs in Little Altars Everywhere, nothing picturesque, and very little hint that sisterhood cures all.
▪ But today there is little hint of Allison's old Champagne Charlie image.
merest
▪ You only need type the merest hint of innuendo into a search engine to come face to face with a porno advert.
▪ He was shirtless, had the merest hint of a moustache and smiled easily.
▪ The weather was warm and sunny, with the merest hint of a breeze.
▪ There was the merest hint of vulnerability in the urgency of his need for her.
▪ And about the closed lips is the merest hint of a Mona Lisa smile.
▪ Yet it is the merest hint of hope in a story of otherwise unbroken tragedy.
slight
▪ The slightest hint of trouble over the weekend brought a massive response from fleets of police cars.
▪ Crisp, without the slightest hint of being greasy, it both crunches and melts in your mouth.
▪ At the slightest hint of sloth, cross them off your list.
▪ The slightest hint of militancy was enough to bar a group from being funded.
▪ She searched his face for just the slightest hint that there might be the chance of some give in his rigidity.
▪ But Gordon answered that one, too, betraying only the slightest hint of impatience.
▪ But that does not breed the slightest hint of complacency as the 31-year-old Ballinascreen clubman prepares for the All Ireland final.
▪ It tasted yeasty, with a slight hint of effervescence, and began almost instantly to produce a slow easing of inhibitions.
subtle
▪ It can be anything from a rich and succulent casserole to a stir fry recipe with a subtle hint of the Orient.
▪ He was apparently out of favor with the judges, some of whom had dropped subtle hints that Galindo should move on.
▪ My subtle and not-so-subtle hints to the neighbor did not seem to produce results.
▪ Pictorial representations of women can carry all kinds of subtle hints and messages, can indeed convey a whole world-view of meaning.
▪ And, despite numerous subtle hints - like hiding his desk and computer - he still won't leave us alone.
useful
▪ This exciting volume is packed with useful hints such as these.
▪ Even organizers of interlaboratory comparisons will find here useful hints for their evaluation strategy.
▪ The third screen gives some useful hints and tips for searching the database.
vague
▪ The brain drifts back to full consciousness now that there is a vague hint of light spreading across the eastern sky.
▪ What we have are some rather vague hints in later sources.
▪ Homemade pizzas often lack even a vague hint of authenticity.
▪ Vincent had up to then only given vague hints about his relationship with Sien.
■ VERB
drop
▪ They managed to see Maeda who dropped hints and told them to be circumspect.
▪ He was apparently out of favor with the judges, some of whom had dropped subtle hints that Galindo should move on.
▪ Little by little he dropped hints, but no details.
▪ Occasionally he dropped hints on this matter to Gina.
▪ Despite my misgivings, I dropped heavy hints at home.
▪ But sometimes, the trash drops a hint to a waiter.
▪ He assured me he hadn't mentioned the glass to anyone, hadn't dropped any hints.
give
▪ It therefore gives little hint of what makes its author so extraordinary a figure.
▪ A good reporter, given a mere hint of the existence of a story, will pursue it to the end.
▪ After a spell of this, during which he gave no hint of moving, Rain decided to escape.
▪ But he has given no hint he views a race in 2000 any more favorably than in 1996.
▪ Dana had given no hint of where they were going.
▪ As of Wednesday, the doctors were giving no hint of when Camby could return to the top-ranked Minutemen.
▪ Let me give you a hint.
▪ Earlier writers had given hints of the rewards that lay in store for those who followed this intellectual path.
offer
▪ They actually like having a bloke in the passenger seat offering helpful hints at the top of his voice?
▪ Usually more flavorful than red bell peppers, pimientos offer a hint of heat.
▪ The Olympic trials could also offer a hint of things to come.
provide
▪ Specific attention is given to providing advice or hints and tips in addressing problems, especially for instrument operation.
▪ The settlement of the barbarians was plainly varied, and our sources provide only a hint of its complexities.
▪ This book provides some hint of insight into his quest of self-discovery.
▪ The Dennis case in the United States provides us with a hint as to how departures from constitutional principle may be explained.
show
▪ He has behaved wilfully and erratically, and shows no hint of getting a grip on the country's problems.
▪ That would show at least a hint of what the flow it-self looked like.
▪ Writers were pleased that the group showed no hint of compromise but lamented on the record's lack of pop muscle.
▪ Had it shown even a hint of success, the insecticide surely would have been applied wholesale.
▪ Can you imagine a male presenter wearing peek-a-boo boxer shorts showing more than a hint of his you-know-what?
take
▪ Why not simply take the hint and turn his back on the village once and for all?
▪ So he picked him up and took hint off the rubber runner and set him down on the sidewalk.
▪ He wouldn't take the hint, though.
▪ Miguel was never very good at taking hints.
▪ The next day he accompanied Baldwin back to London, and upon arrival took hint to his house in Westminster.
▪ Feffer in the furious whirling of his spirit took hint for a fixed point.
▪ If she couldn't take hints he would tell her he had somebody else.
▪ James didn't seem disposed to take the hint.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
broad hint
drop a hint
▪ I've dropped a few hints about what I want for my birthday.
▪ My mother dropped several hints about us wallpapering her sitting room.
▪ She kept dropping hints about her birthday, just to make sure none of us forgot about it.
▪ But sometimes, the trash drops a hint to a waiter.
▪ Little by little he dropped hints, but no details.
▪ Occasionally he dropped hints on this matter to Gina.
▪ They managed to see Maeda who dropped hints and told them to be circumspect.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a wine that tastes of blackcurrants with just a hint of vanilla
▪ His comments were a clear hint that tax rises might be necessary.
▪ You might notice a hint of brandy in the sauce.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ After all, if you happened to be next him after dinner for ten minutes, he would get invaluable hints.
▪ For young women in particular, the message conveyed is that of elegance, poise, and perhaps a hint of luxury.
▪ She spoke amiably, yet with the least hint of dismissal in her voice.
▪ She wears anachronistic styles as though they were the latest fashion, with no hint of nostalgia.
▪ Sometimes other hints of friendship between men from different elements of the connection survive.
▪ Teacher's notes give practical hints on developing reading skills, together with ideas for implementing play-reading in class.
▪ Their outward appearance gives no hint as to the wealth of amazing finds that have come from local beaches in the past.
▪ There were hints before the local elections, rumours of some sort of relaunch of the Left.
II.verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
broad hint
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Harry hinted that his friendship with Mona might have contributed to his marriage break-up.
▪ The President hinted at the possibility of military action.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As Ehrlich hints, wild life resembles that strange loop of the Uroborus biting its tail, consuming itself.
▪ But abortion-rights elements of the party hinted they may still try to amend or delete the abortion language.
▪ Nadine had been unable to tell her exactly but had done a good deal of hinting.
▪ Part of his input is to hint at new things I might write.
▪ Past the strategies, how can the joys of reading and writing be even hinted at in the Basics Skills For ever classroom?
▪ Republicans hinted at a willingness to shave their net tax cuts to about $ 177 billion over seven years.
▪ Simon and John hinted that he was preoccupied, but in fan he was downright bloody rude, and everybody knew it.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hint

Hint \Hint\ (h[i^]nt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hinted; p. pr. & vb. n. Hinting.] [OE. henten, hinten, to seize, to catch, AS. hentan to pursue, take, seize; or Icel. ymta to mutter, ymtr a muttering, Dan. ymte to whisper. [root]36. Cf. Hent.] To bring to mind by a slight mention or remote allusion; to suggest in an indirect manner; as, to hint a suspicion.

Just hint a fault and hesitate dislike.
--Pope.

Syn: To suggest; intimate; insinuate; imply.

Hint

Hint \Hint\, v. i. To make an indirect reference, suggestion, or allusion; to allude vaguely to something.

We whisper, and hint, and chuckle.
--Tennyson.

To hint at, to allude to lightly, indirectly, or cautiously.

Syn: To allude; refer; glance; touch.

Hint

Hint \Hint\, n. A remote allusion; slight mention; intimation; insinuation; a suggestion or reminder, without a full declaration or explanation; also, an occasion or motive.

Our hint of woe Is common.
--Shak.

The hint malevolent, the look oblique.
--Hannah More.

Syn: Suggestion; allusion. See Suggestion.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
hint

c.1600, apparently from obsolete hent, from Middle English hinten "to tell, inform" (c.1400), from Old English hentan "to seize," from Proto-Germanic *hantijan (cognates: Gothic hinþan "to seize"), related to hunt (v.). Modern sense and spelling first attested in Shakespeare.

hint

1640s, from hint (n.). Related: Hinted; hinting.

Wiktionary
hint

n. 1 A clue. 2 A tacit suggestion that avoids a direct statement. 3 A small, barely detectable amount of. vb. (context intransitive English) To suggest tacitly without a direct statement; to provide a clue.

Related phrases:
WordNet
hint

  1. n. an indirect suggestion; "not a breath of scandal ever touched her" [syn: intimation, breath]

  2. a slight indication [syn: clue]

  3. a slight but appreciable addition; "this dish could use a touch of garlic" [syn: touch, tinge, mite, pinch, jot, speck, soupcon]

  4. a just detectable amount; "he speaks French with a trace of an accent" [syn: trace, suggestion]

  5. an indication of potential opportunity; "he got a tip on the stock market"; "a good lead for a job" [syn: tip, lead, steer, confidential information, wind]

  6. v. drop a hint; intimate by a hint [syn: suggest]

Wikipedia
Hint (musician)

Hint is musician Jonathan James, hailing from Sussex in the UK. His music has been released on independent record labels and his catalogue includes work which has found favour amongst DJs and fans from various underground music scenes.

Hint

Hint and similar may refer to:

  • Font hinting, a process for optimizing the rasterization of vectors
  • Hint (musician), musician Jonathan James, from Sussex, UK.
  • Hint (SQL), a feature of the SQL computer language
  • Hint Water, a beverage company from San Francisco, California
  • Hints, Staffordshire, a village in Staffordshire, England
  • Motorola Hint QA30, a mobile phone introduced by Motorola
Hint (SQL)

In various SQL implementations, a hint is an addition to the SQL standard that instructs the database engine on how to execute the query. For example, a hint may tell the engine to use or not to use an index (even if the query optimizer would decide otherwise).

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "hint".

In offering a few hints for the domestic management of these abnormal conditions, we would at the same time remark, that, while health may be regained by skillful treatment, recovery will be gradual.

And aboard this ship a bold look, one that even hints at a challenge to authority, counts as insolence.

It was not at the agonized contortions and posturing of the wretched boy that he was shocked, but at the cosmic obscenity of these beings which could drag to light the abysmal secrets that sleep in the unfathomed darkness of the human soul, and find pleasure in the brazen flaunting of such things as should not be hinted at, even in restless nightmares.

The magnificent prospects which Academician Markov had hinted at in passing were hard to take in all at once.

He therefore resolved immediately to acquaint him with the fact which we have above slightly hinted to the reader.

As two men in military attire were instantly admitted, I thought this a little hard upon a man who had travelled so far to see his admiralship, and, accordingly, hinted my indignation to Mr.

Few can equal him in adumbrating the nearness of nameless forces and monstrous besieging entities through casual hints and insignificant details, or in conveying feelings of the spectral and the abnormal in connection with regions or buildings.

But She gave him not the slightest inkling of the difficulties he might face, hinting only that, as with the test of his faithfulness to ahimsa, part of the test would be his ability to discover the true nature of the test and why he was being tested.

Seregil said with a hint of fondness, leading Alec up the back stairs.

Thero march off up the stairs, but Alec thought he caught the hint of a cryptic frown before the old servant doddered off toward the kitchen.

The almoner had already hinted that the harvest had not been as good as had been hoped, and that it would be best if the lepers could reduce their demands on the church.

His amanuensis found it impossible to keep up with him, and therefore profited by a hint from one of us, and instead of writing, merely moved his pen rapidly over the paper, scrawling all sorts of ragged lines and figures to resemble writing!

Go amnesic if we let slip a hint to the locals about anything off-world!

The Turin Jewess had given me some valuable hints as to the conduct of amours with Jewish girls.

That thought was a trifle disappointing, but if it was true, it still meant that the creature was from so far away that Ancar had never even picked up a hint of anything like it before.