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Might

[mahyt]

Example Sentences Origin

auxiliary verb

simple past tense of may¹.

(used to express possibility): They might be at the station.

(used to express advisability): You might at least thank me.

(used in polite requests for permission): Might I speak to you for a moment?

Example Sentences

And at first glance, the answer might seem to be an obvious no.

No doubt, she might end up doing less work than a student who wrote a paper from scratch in my composition course.

There would be runs on other countries that might even consider leaving.

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And at first glance, the answer might seem to be an obvious no.

No doubt, she might end up doing less work than a student who wrote a paper from scratch in my composition course.

There would be runs on other countries that might even consider leaving.

Since then, researchers have been probing how such a sunstone might have worked.

Evolution helps us imagine what aliens might be like.

If it doesn't use up its allowance, it might then sell what it no longer needs.

What's more, unless you grow certain kinds yourself, you might not get a chance to eat them.

If the flu virus doesn't kill you, your own immune system might.

But if contagion is real, it might also follow that people who are fat should stay away from fat people to control their weight.

They feel bad throwing them out but don't know who else might be interested in them.

The bad news, it hints, is that this might not last.

After all, an extra set of arms might be useful, as would an eye in the back of our heads.

Many older adults might be driving under the influence without even knowing it.

Unfortunately, though, some people might think this is a bit of false advertising.

With a little help, it's an easier, speedier task than you might suppose.

Researchers who study the brain's perception of time have previously proposed several ways our mental clock might work.

If she was bored at dinner parties, she might get a few snails out of her purse and let them loose on the tablecloth.

McCormick also has a broader concern about the way the book might be received by the public.

Then ask them to explain why they think gold prices might go up or down.

Ultimately, such a trip between worlds might take millions of years.

And the new findings might help settle a long-running debate about whether dinosaurs were warmblooded, coldblooded-or both.

For some people, that first whiff of the uncorrupted outdoors might trigger a set of survival instincts.

Now, at home, judgments based on a person's smiling habits might be warranted.

It might be easy to chalk up our giddy excitement to the novelty of the service.

Colleges might benefit from the same sort of mandatory scrutiny-and the same result.

For example, an earthquake might start out slow, and then continue to rumble for a set amount of time.

Cheating in sports might be as old as the race between the tortoise and the hare.

If there's more than one layer of wallpaper, you might have to remove them one at a time.

Pulling out the infrared light in a photo might clean things up, but it can't save a blurred picture.

Even legitimate researchers cut corners, and some worry that the lure of a great headline might be warping results.

Draw pictures and write about things you might see on your trip.

Though he concedes it might happen, he has never seen an animal with sunburn peel.

Conscientious fishermen even attach streamers to their lines to scare off birds that might become entangled.

Wine critics might disagree, but at this point it's a robust psychological fact.

Dougherty realized that many people might be interested in collaborative writing of this form, but might not know where to start.

Have students discuss what a ruler might do to attract people to his kingdom and what might entice them to stay there.

The idea that anthropogenic climate change might cause a war or two sometime in the future is not new.

Tours walk you from mash to barrel, and explain why you might pick up vanilla and citrus tones in the wheat-based vodka.

As an option, show students a large rock and have them hypothesize how it might have changed due to erosion.

Look up in the sky near an airport and you might see some unusual cloud formations.

With that in mind, here are some delicious reds you might consider drinking one night soon.

Whatever is affecting frogs might one day affect other animals-and people-as well.

Scuttlebutt from that conference has already started fueling speculation about how important this new dinosaur might be.

They might want to call or write to the relative to discuss the climate in the other location, and how it affects their life.

Parents buying toys for their children this holiday season might want to be wary of a few dangerous dinosaurs.

If you want to see the original, however, you might get the chance to see it in theaters.

Distinguishing may and might can be tricky, and several colleagues have raised questions recently.

But for college presidents, they might be the one thing that puts a limit on.

But a fractal is something a ten-year-old child might hit on.

But other scientists say that not enough is known about these faults to predict how often such quakes might strike.

New computer models begin to suggest how changes in the sun's strength might change weather patterns.

But you might be surprised to learn that no one knows exactly how.

Weiner might survive politically, and many to think he might not.

Those who had been paying close attention might have remembered a trio of cases in the.

Maybe one solution is a transitional retirement that might have benefits for a number of other fields.

The technique might make humans smarter too-maybe too smart.

Some of the ways bacteria protect themselves from antibiotics might be used against them to strengthen.

Then again, it might have to buy extra allowances on the open market.

Though this tight space between two closets might otherwise.

One of the world's deadliest pathogens, which gives its victims a gruesomely bloody exit, might finally be contained.

Aesop was quite the fable-teller, but a study suggests he might have been a student of bird behavior as well.

Meanwhile, my dad who is a doctor thought it might be scabies.

The academy likened it to ear-piercing and said that it might satisfy the cultural requirements of people wedded to the practice.

Also you might want to try and take a photo of the auroras.

True, the hadrosaurs might not have been able to move as.

Depending on how wide your search is, you might solicit an extra letter of recommendation or two.

Such a tax might also encourage consumers to live healthier lives.

Ask students to explain why they think countries might want to form unions or alliances.

Research shows that children born with the help of reproductive technology might be.

By fiddling with the genetic toggles of birds, scientists might be able to reverse-engineer a dinosaurian creature.

The inside of the moon might not be all wet after all.

It might be the hum of your computer, birds outside of your window, or younger brothers and sisters laughing.

Delays might undermine climate studies and forecasts.

But no one treats them with contempt they way they might have years ago.

That's a sophomoric tactic might work with your students, but it won't work with me.

In that case, those who were reluctant to trade might get better prices.

For others, especially in bad weather, the trek might have lasted a year.

Automatic provision of free health care for adopted children might also weigh heavily in favor of such options.

In the muted light of winter, the coast might even bring out the artist in you.

With no apparent side effects, the hormone might be a promising sleep.

Actually, with it being wintertime, it might be the perfect time to go re-read it.

It is then easy to see how the power company might lower price and expand to six units or more.

Make a list of people who might have known this girl and think about what you would ask them.

There might not seem to be much room for the improvement of clocks or even a need for more accurate ones.

Astronomy, with its forever-out-of-reach subject matter, might seem the unlikeliest science to translate for touch.

And because there are so many tasty squashes, you might even make room for more than one kind by growing them vertically.

They might provide capital to or bet against a firm.

Suspended animation might save lives or permit long-distance space travel.

Meanwhile, as sea level rise approaches two feet, the barriers might simply spend more time closed.

Kalanchoe marnierana is so loaded with salmon pink bells in spring that they look as though they might jingle noisily.

People rarely want to do this b/c of money, but it really might save you money in the long run.

It might therefore be the key to bringing the pandemic under control.

But until now, no one had been able to pin down the effect that these volcanoes might have had on rainfall.

Night owls might think staying up late is a real hoot, but a new study hints that delayed sleep might have a sinister side.

While you might be tempted to interpret these dreams yourself, this is something better left to professionals.

Instinct might suggest that a full-throttle, intense cheese deserves a great wine.

Casual observers might equate sustainability with saving money on electric bills or saving the planet.

But she might not realize that the baby is already talking back.

He couldn't figure out how to photograph whatever might be hiding behind the walls and fences of industrial plants.

In the snorkeling pool on the north end, you might see a rare sleeping monk seal.

Another objection is that our sig words might be seen as unprofessional.

People keen to make a positive impression on a new acquaintance might want to meet over a hot drink, a new study suggests.

Finding might help captive breeding of the endangered cats.

It's a reminder that listening to my brother practice his trombone might best be done from the room next door.

They might mention the latest trends in trading cards, video.

Rupturing the body's sugar-protein bonds might turn back the clock.

They'll go off and get missing persons lists, and they might bring back some possible names and profiles.

Now that nearly everyone has been nearly everywhere, it might be thought that travel writers have lost their purpose.

Parental chemistry might help explain why some female emperor penguins that have lost babies kidnap chicks.

The statues are cared for even though the state of them might not be what once was.

Discuss the possible difficulties that might arise when people and these wild animals live close together.

Have students identify tracts of land where wild species might exist in abundance.

It asks students to consider where they might look for.

Chemicals such as chlorine may be added to kill harmful bacteria, and fluoride might be added to reduce tooth decay in children.

The financial and environmental costs of exploiting fuel reserves under the seabed might outweigh potential gain, experts say.

But a lack of money might squeeze medium-sized schools.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

physical strength: He swung with all his might.

superior power or strength; force: the theory that might makes right.

power or ability to do or accomplish; capacity: the might of the ballot box.

Idiom

with might and main, with all the vigor, force, or energy at one's command: They pulled with might and main.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English myghte, Old English miht, meaht; cognate with German macht, Gothic mahts; akin to may¹

Related forms

might·less, adjective

Synonyms
1–3. See strength.

Antonyms
1–3. weakness.

auxiliary verb, present singular 1st person may, 2nd may or (Archaic) may·est or mayst, 3rd may; present plural may; past might.

(used to express possibility): It may rain.

(used to express opportunity or permission): You may enter.

(used to express contingency, especially in clauses indicating condition, concession, purpose, result, etc.): I may be wrong but I think you would be wise to go. Times may change but human nature stays the same.

(used to express wish or prayer): May you live to an old age.

Archaic. (used to express ability or power.)

Compare might¹.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English mai 1st and 3rd person singular present indicative of mouen, Old English mæg (infinitive magan); cognate with German mögen

Can be confused: may, might¹, must¹ (see synonym note at must¹).

Usage note
See can¹.

Link To Might

Collins

World English Dictionary

might¹ (maɪt)

—vb
1.	making the past tense or subjunctive mood of may : he might have come last night
2.	(often foll by well) See may expressing theoretical possibility: he might well come. In this sense might looks to the future and functions as a weak form of may

might² (maɪt)

—n
1.	power, force, or vigour, esp of a great or supreme kind
2.	physical strength
3.	(with) might and main See main

[Old English miht; compare Old High German maht, Dutch macht]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

May

1110, from O.Fr. mai, from L. Majus, Maius mensis "month of May," possibly from Maja, Maia a Roman earth goddess (wife of Vulcan) whose name is possibly from PIE *mag-ya "she who is great," fem. suffixed form of base *meg- "great" (cognate with L. magnus). Replaced O.E. þrimilce, month in which

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cows can be milked three times a day. May marriage have been considered unlucky at least since Ovid's day. Mayflower (1626) was used locally for the cowslip, the lady's smock, and other plants that bloom in May. May apple attested from 1733.

might

O.E. mihte, meahte, originally the past tense of may (O.E. magen "to be able"), thus "*may-ed." See may (v.). The first record of might-have-been is from 1848.

COLLAPSE

might

O.E. miht, earlier mæht, from P.Gmc. *makhtuz (cf. O.N. mattr, O.Fris., M.Du. macht, Ger. Macht, Goth. mahts), from PIE base *mag- "be able, have power" (see may (v.)).

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Matching Quote

"When any man expresses doubt to me as to the use that I or any other woman might make of the ballot if we had it, my answer is, What is that to you? If you have for years defrauded me of my rightful inheritance, and then, as a stroke of policy, of from late conviction, concluded to restore to me my own domain, must I ask you whether I may make of it a garden of flowers, or a field of wheat, or a pasture for kine?"

-Matilda Joslyn Gage

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