a remark, observation, or criticism: a comment about the weather.
2.
gossip; talk: His frequent absences gave rise to comment.
3.
a criticism or interpretation, often by implication or suggestion: The play is a comment on modern society.
4.
a note in explanation, expansion, or criticism of a passage in a book, article, or the like; annotation.
5.
explanatory or critical matter added to a text.
6.
Also called rheme.Linguistics. the part of a sentence that communicates new information about the topic. Compare topic(def. 4).
–verb (used without object)
7.
to make remarks, observations, or criticisms: He refused to comment on the decision of the court.
8.
to write explanatory or critical notes upon a text.
–verb (used with object)
9.
to make comments or remarks on; furnish with comments; annotate.
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME coment < L commentum device, fabrication (LL: interpretation, commentary), n. use of neut. of commentus (ptp. of comminīscī to devise), equiv. to com-com-+ men- (base of méns, mentismind) + -tus ptp. ending]
A written note intended as an explanation, illustration, or criticism of a passage in a book or other writing; an annotation.
A series of annotations or explanations.
A statement of fact or opinion, especially a remark that expresses a personal reaction or attitude.
An implied conclusion or judgment: a novel that is a comment on contemporary lawlessness.
A statement of fact or opinion, especially a remark that expresses a personal reaction or attitude.
An implied conclusion or judgment: a novel that is a comment on contemporary lawlessness.
Talk; gossip: a divorce that caused much comment.
Computer Science A string of text in a program that does not function in the program itself but is used by the programmer to explain instructions.
Linguistics The part of a sentence that provides new information about the topic. Also called rheme.
v.
com·ment·ed, com·ment·ing, com·ments
v.
intr.
To make a comment; remark.
To serve as a judgmental commentary: "Her demise comments on [the Upper East Side's] entire way of life"(Mark Muro).
v.
tr.
To make comments on; annotate.
[Middle English, from Late Latin commentum, interpretation, from Latin, contrivance, from neuter past participle of comminīscī, to devise; see men-1 in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: These nouns denote an expression of fact, opinion, or explanation: made an unpleasant comment about my friend; a casual observation about the movie; an offensive personal remark.
c.1400, L. commentum in L.L. "comment, interpretation," lit. "invention," neut. pp. of comminisci "to contrive, devise," from com- intens. prefix + base of meminisse "to remember," related to mens (gen. mentis) "mind." Original L. meaning was "something invented;" taken by Isidore and other Christian theologians for "interpretation, annotation." The verb is from c.1450. Commentator in the sports announcer sense is from 1928. No comment as a stock refusal to answer a journalist's question is first recorded 1950, from Truman's White House press secretary, Charles Ross.
a statement that expresses a personal opinion or belief or adds information; "from time to time she contributed a personal comment on his account" [syn: remark]
2.
a written explanation or criticism or illustration that is added to a book or other textual material; "he wrote an extended comment on the proposal"
3.
a report (often malicious) about the behavior of other people; "the divorce caused much gossip" [syn: gossip]
verb
1.
make or write a comment on; "he commented the paper of his colleague"
2.
explain or interpret something
3.
provide interlinear explanations for words or phrases; "He annotated on what his teacher had written" [syn: gloss]
commentprogramming (Or "remark") Explanatory text embedded in program source (or less often data) intended to help human readers understand it. Code completely without comments is often hard to read, but too heavily commented code isn't much better, especially if the comments are not kept up-to-date with changes to the code. Too much commenting may mean that the code is over-complicated. A good rule is to comment everything that needs it but write code that doesn't need much of it. A particularly irksome form of over-commenting explains exactly what each statement does, even when it is obvious to any reasonably competant programmer, e.g. /* Open the input file */ infd = open(input_file, O_RDONLY); (1998-04-28)
Com"ment\ (?; 277), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Commented; p. pr. & vb. n. Commenting.] [F. commenter, L. commentari to meditate upon, explain, v. intens. of comminisci, commentus, to reflect upon, invent; com- + the root of meminisse to remember, mens mind. See Mind.] To make remarks, observations, or criticism; especially, to write notes on the works of an author, with a view to illustrate his meaning, or to explain particular passages; to write annotations; -- often followed by on or upon. A physician to comment on your malady. --Shak. Critics . . . proceed to comment on him. --Dryden. I must translate and comment. --Pope.
Com"ment\, n. [Cf. OF. comment.]1. A remark, observation, or criticism; gossip; discourse; talk. Their lavish comment when her name was named. --Tennyson. 2. A note or observation intended to explain, illustrate, or criticise the meaning of a writing, book, etc.; explanation; annotation; exposition. All the volumes of philosophy, With all their comments. --Prior.
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