Hint Definition
hĭnt
hinted, hinting, hints
noun
hints
A slight indication of a fact, wish, etc.; indirect suggestion or piece of advice; intimation; covert allusion.
They dropped hints that we should leave.
Webster's New World
A brief or indirect suggestion; a tip.
Stock-trading hints.
American Heritage
A statement conveying information in an indirect fashion; a clue.
Give me a hint about the big news.
American Heritage
A very small amount or degree; perceptible trace.
A hint of nutmeg.
Webster's New World
An occasion; opportunity.
Webster's New World
verb
hinted, hinting, hints
To give a hint of; suggest indirectly; intimate.
Webster's New World
To indicate or make evident in an indirect manner.
American Heritage
To make a hint or hints.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
idiom
hint at
- to suggest indirectly; intimate
Webster's New World
take a hint
- to perceive and act on a hint
Webster's New World
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Hint
- hint at
- take a hint
Origin of Hint
Probably from Middle English hinten, henten to catch, grasp from Old English hentan
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
-
From obsolete hent, from Old English hentan (“to seize”), from Proto-Germanic *hantijaną.
From Wiktionary
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