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ask
1[ ask, ahsk ]
verb (used with object)
- to put a question to; inquire of:
I asked him but he didn't answer.
Synonyms: interrogate, question
Antonyms: answer
- to request information about:
to ask the way.
- to try to get by using words; request:
to ask advice; to ask a favor.
- to solicit from; request of:
Could I ask you a favor? Ask her for advice.
- to demand; expect:
What price are they asking? A little silence is all I ask.
- to set a price of:
to ask $20 for the hat.
- to call for; need; require:
This experiment asks patience.
- to invite:
to ask guests to dinner.
- Archaic. to publish (banns).
verb (used without object)
noun
- a question or inquiry.
- a request, especially a demanding one:
Is it too big an ask for you to give me a loan?
Ask
2[ ahsk ]
noun
- the first man, made by the gods from an ash tree.
Ask
1/ ɑːsk /
noun
- Norse myth the first man, created by the gods from an ash tree
ask
2/ ɑːsk /
verb
- often foll by about to put a question (to); request an answer (from)
she asked (him) about God
- tr to inquire about
she asked him the time of the train
she asked the way
- tr to direct or put (a question)
- may take a clause as object or an infinitiveoften foll byfor to make a request or demand
they asked for a deposit
she asked (him) for information
- tr to demand or expect (esp in the phrases ask a lot of, ask too much of )
- Alsoask outask over tr to request (a person) politely to come or go to a place; invite
he asked her to the party
- tr to need; require
the job asks both time and patience
- archaic.tr to proclaim (marriage banns)
noun
- a big ask informal.a big aska tough ask a task which is difficult to fulfil
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Derived Forms
- ˈasker, noun
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Other Words From
- asker noun
- un·asking adjective
- un·asking·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins
Origin of ask1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of ask1
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Idioms and Phrases
- ask for it, to risk or invite trouble, danger, punishment, etc., by persisting in some action or manner:
He was asking for it by his abusive remarks.
More idioms and phrases containing ask
- don't ask
- for the asking
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Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
If ISIS “came into a base and killed hundreds of troops, then people would ask a lot more questions.”
And I need to ask why their truth makes me so defensive, as if my truth is the only truth.
One is forced to ask, what on earth was Andrew doing hanging out with scantily clad teenagers?
“You ask me my motivation,” Marvin says, moving back into his tough guy persona again.
I ask Atefeh and Monir if they see dancing as a form of income in the future, a potential career.
"There's just one thing I'd like to ask, if you don't mind," said Cynthia, coming suddenly out of a brown study.
That it is a reasonable and proper thing to ask our statesmen and politicians: what is going to happen to the world?
I ask for half a dozen projectors or so in every school, and for a well-stocked storehouse of films.
For it is better that thy children should ask of thee, than that thou look toward the hands of thy children.
Finally, let me ask the general reader to put aside all prejudice, and give both sides a fair hearing.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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