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ware
1[ wair ]
noun
- Usually wares.
- articles of merchandise or manufacture; goods:
a peddler selling his wares.
- any intangible items, as services or products of artistic or intellectual creativity, that are saleable:
an actor advertising his wares.
- a specified kind or class of merchandise or of manufactured article (usually used in combination): -ware.
silverware;
glassware.
- pottery, or a particular kind of pottery:
delft ware.
- Archaeology. a group of ceramic types classified according to paste and texture, surface modification, as burnish or glaze, and decorative motifs rather than shape and color.
ware
2[ wair ]
ware
3[ wair ]
verb (used with object)
- to spend; expend.
ware
4[ wair ]
noun
- the first season in the year; spring.
-ware
5- a combining form extracted from software, occurring as the final element in words that refer to a specified kind or class of software: ware 1( def 2 ).
spyware;
shareware.
ware
1/ wɛə /
noun
- functioning as singular articles of the same kind or material
glassware
silverware
- porcelain or pottery of a specified type
jasper ware
agateware
ware
3/ wɛə /
verb
- dialect.tr to spend or squander
–ware
- A suffix that means “software,” as in shareware.
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Word History and Origins
Origin of ware1
Origin of ware2
Origin of ware3
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Word History and Origins
Origin of ware1
Origin of ware2
Origin of ware3
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Example Sentences
They were also wrong when they thought Ware had pulled out a gun.
Ware went to court claiming a number of irregularities, including issues with hundreds of absentee ballots.
If the Broncos do manage to land Ware, their defense could be scary.
Ware, a tenacious pass-rusher, is a 7-time Pro Bowler and the Cowboys all-time leader in sacks, with 117 in nine seasons.
Reports say that the defending AFC champion Denver Broncos are the favorites to sign Ware.
No man opens his ware with greater seriousness, or challenges your judgment more in the operation.
He left about a hundred of us here to make believe we 'uns ware goin' to attack Paris, so to give him time to git away.
Even the scribe has seen this, and has altered were to ware, to give a rime to the eye.
The parlour, having once been a ware-room, was unusually large and well adapted for a tea-party.
They never knew how long they had sat there on the stairs when Dr. Ware opened the bedroom door and beckoned them in.
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Related Words
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Words That Use -ware
What does -ware mean?
The combining form –ware is used like a suffix meaning “software,” a program used to direct a computer. It is occasionally used in technical terms, especially in computer science.
The form –ware comes from the word software. The word software itself was coined around 1955 to contrast with hardware, a much older term used to refer to mechanical equipment. Learn more at our entry for hardware.
Examples of -ware
One example of a term from computer science that features the suffix –ware is spyware, “software that is installed surreptitiously and gathers information about an internet user’s browsing habits, intercepts the user’s personal data, etc., transmitting this information to a third party.”
The spy– part of the word here literally refers to “the act of observing secretly.” As we have seen, –ware means “software.” Spyware literally means “software for observing secretly.”
What are some words that use the combining form –ware?
What are some other forms that –ware may be commonly confused with?
Outside of computer science, many words that end with the exact letters –ware, such as kitchenware or glassware, are not necessarily using the combining form –ware to denote “software.” Learn why glassware means “articles made of glass” at our entry for the word.
Break it down!
Given the meaning of the combining form –ware, what does freeware literally mean?
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