Definition of 'man'
Word forms: plural men
, 3rd person singular present
tense mans
, present participle manning
, past tense , past participle manned
1. countable noun
A man is an adult male human being.
He had not expected the young man to reappear before evening.
I have always regarded him as a man of integrity.
...the thousands of men, women and children who are facing starvation.
2. variable noun
Man and men are sometimes used to refer to all human beings, including both males and females.
Some people dislike this use.
The chick initially has no fear of man.
Anxiety is modern man's natural state.
...a possible first step to sending a man back to the moon or to Mars.
3. countable noun
4. countable noun
If you say that a man is, for example, a London man or an Oxford man, you mean that he comes from London or Oxford, or went to university there.
...as the Stockport man collected his winnings.
Attlee was an Oxford man.
5. countable noun
If you refer to a particular company's or organization's man, you mean a man who works for or represents that company or organization.
[journalism]
...the Daily Telegraph's man in Abu Dhabi.
...America's man at the United Nations.
6. countable noun
7. singular noun
Some people refer to someone's husband, lover, or boyfriend as their man.
[informal]
...if they see your man cuddle you in the kitchen or living room.
8. plural noun
9. plural noun
Male workers are sometimes referred to as men, especially if they do physical work or work for a more senior person.
The men voted by a four-to-one majority to accept the pay offer.
After the talks, the leader of the Workers' Council said his men would be going back
down the mines.
10. vocative noun
11. countable noun
In very informal social situations, man is sometimes used as a greeting or form of address to a man.
[formulae]
Hey wow, man! Where d'you get those boots?
12. verb
If you man something such as a place or machine, you operate it or are in charge of it.
French soldiers manned roadblocks in the capital city.
...the person manning the phone at the complaints department.
The station is seldom manned in the evening.
13. See also manned, ladies' man, no-man's land
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
22. man about town
23. man of the world
Phrasal verbs:
COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
nounWord forms: plural men (mɛn
)
1.
an adult male human being, as distinguished from a woman
3. archaic
a human being regardless of sex or age, considered as a representative of mankind; a person
4. (sometimes capital)
human beings collectively; mankind
the development of man
5. Also called : modern man
a.
a member of any of the living races of Homo sapiens, characterized by erect bipedal posture, a highly developed brain, and powers of articulate speech, abstract reasoning, and imagination
b.
any extinct member of the species Homo sapiens, such as Cro-Magnon man
6.
a member of any of the extinct species of the genus Homo, such as Java man, Heidelberg man, and Solo man
7.
an adult male human being with qualities associated with the male, such as courage or virility
be a man
9.
a.
b.
(in combination)
the number of man-days required to complete a job
10. (usually plural)
a member of the armed forces who does not hold commissioned, warrant, or noncommissioned rank (as in the phrase officers and men)
11.
a member of a group, team, etc
13.
an expression used parenthetically to indicate an informal relationship between speaker
and hearer
15. South Africa slang
any person: used as a term of address
17. as one man
18. be one's own man
19. he's your man
20. man and boy
22. to a man
exclamation
verbWord forms: mans, manning or manned (transitive)
▶ USAGE The use of man and mankind to mean human beings in general is often considered sexist. Gender-neutral alternatives
include human beings, people and humankind. The verb to man can also often be replaced by to staff, to operate and related words. Gender-neutral alternatives to manpower include personnel and staff. 25.
to take one's place at or near in readiness for action
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
manless (ˈmanless) adjective
Word origin of 'man'
Old English mann; related to Old Frisian man, Old High German man, Dutch man, Icelandic mathrnoun
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
nounWord forms: plural men (mɛn
; men)
2.
the human race; mankind
used without the or a
3.
a.
an adult male human being
b.
sometimes, a boy
4.
b.
a male employee; workman
c. [usually pl.]
a soldier, sailor, etc.; esp., one of the rank and file
d. Archaic
a vassal
5.
a.
a husband
b.
a lover
6.
a person with qualities conventionally regarded as manly, such as strength, courage,
etc.
7.
a player on a team
10. Nautical
a ship
used in compounds
man-of-war, merchantman
verb transitiveWord forms: manned or ˈmanning
12.
to take assigned places in, on, or at for work or defense
man the guns!
adjective
17.
male
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin of 'man'
ME < OE mann, akin to Ger mann, Goth manna < IE base *manu- (> Sans mánu-, Russ muž): akin ? to *men-, to think > mindExample sentences containing 'man'
The men had been working on damage to a mains pipeline.
The Sun (2016) Times, Sunday Times (2007)They do not help us understand why a man can shoot people in cold blood.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)There is too much pressure on modern men to attend the birth.
The Sun (2013)The sketch involved a grown man going back to his boyhood school.
Christianity Today (2000) Times, Sunday Times (2011)The gunner had seen the man fire at us.
The Sun (2006)This experience made her feel unable to trust another man.
The Sun (2010)It followed reports that an armed man had buried himself underground.
The Sun (2011)Police appealed for witnesses who may have seen the man in the city centre to come forward.
Times, Sunday Times (2016) Times, Sunday Times (2011) The Times Literary Supplement (2010)They also felt more angry than the men who suppressed their emotions.
EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER: A Journey Through the Science of Feelings (2005)Former colleagues say he is a man who gets things done.
Times, Sunday Times (2006) Broken Lives (1993) Times, Sunday Times (2008)Two men have been charged with his murder.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)The training of officers improved, as new men replaced the older feudal generals.
World History: Patterns of Change and Continuity (1995)Quotations
Man is only a reed, the weakest thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed
PenséesMan is the measure of all things
Man is heaven's masterpiece
EmblemsThere are many wonderful things, and nothing is more wonderful than man
Antigone
Lacon
Man has but three events in his life: to be born, to live, and to die. He is not conscious of his birth, he suffers at his death and he forgets to live
The Characters, or the Manners of the Age
A Child's Garden of Misinformation
I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability
Man is something to be surpassed
Thus Spake ZarathustraThe human race, to which so many of my readers belong
The Napoleon of Notting HillMan was formed for society
Commentaries on the Laws of Englandman: an animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be
The Devil's DictionaryMen are but children of a larger growth
All for LoveMan, became man through work, who stepped out of the animal kingdom as transformer of the natural into the artificial, who became therefore the magician
The Necessity of ArtMen play the game, women know the score
The best of men are but men at best
Word Lists
islandTrends of 'man'
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Definition of man from the
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