- a thing that you give to somebody as a gift
- What can I get him for a birthday present?
- Christmas/wedding presents
- I want to give you a little present.
- as a present He gave her the painting as a present.
- present for somebody We have a present for you.
- I still need to buy a present for my boyfriend.
- present from somebody That dress was a present from my sister.
Extra Examples- At Christmas, family and friends exchange presents.
- Customers may return unwanted presents in exchange for vouchers.
- It's a present to us all from Granny.
- My nephew loves this bike so I'm going to make him a present of it.
- Santa Claus handed out presents to the children.
- a present for my daughter
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- Christmas
- holiday
- anniversary
- …
- buy
- get
- receive
- …
- present for
- present from
- present to
- …
- make somebody a present of something
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- (usually the present)[singular] the time now
- in the present You've got to forget the past and start living in the present.
- at present I'm sorry he's out at present (= now).
- to the present The book covers the period from the early 1990s to the present.
- the present(also present tense)[singular] (grammar) the form of a verb that expresses an action that is happening now or at the time of speakingTopics Languagea1
Word Originnoun sense 1 Middle English: from Old French, originally in the phrase mettre une chose en present à quelqu'un ‘put a thing into the presence of a person’. noun senses 2 to 3 Middle English: via Old French from Latin praesent- ‘being at hand’, present participle of praeesse, from prae ‘before’ + esse ‘be’.
Idioms
See present in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee present in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishfor the moment/present
- for now; for a short time
- This house is big enough for the moment, but we'll have to move if we have children.
for the present/moment
- for now; for a short time
- This house is big enough for the present, but we'll have to move if we have children.
(there is) no time like the present
- (saying) now is the best time to do something, not in the future
Check pronunciation:
present