hint
verb/hɪnt/
/hɪnt/
[intransitive, transitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they hint | /hɪnt/ /hɪnt/ |
| he / she / it hints | /hɪnts/ /hɪnts/ |
| past simple hinted | /ˈhɪntɪd/ /ˈhɪntɪd/ |
| past participle hinted | /ˈhɪntɪd/ /ˈhɪntɪd/ |
| -ing form hinting | /ˈhɪntɪŋ/ /ˈhɪntɪŋ/ |
- to suggest something in an indirect way
- hint at something What are you hinting at?
- hint (that)… They hinted (that) there might be more job losses.
- + speech ‘I might know something about it,’ he hinted.
Extra ExamplesTopics Suggestions and advicec1- He hinted strongly that he would be resigning soon.
- She even hinted that she might resign.
- She hinted darkly that all was not well.
- The problems are only hinted at in the report.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- broadly
- heavily
- strongly
- …
- at
Word Originearly 17th cent. (in the sense ‘occasion, opportunity’): apparently from obsolete hent ‘grasp, get hold of’, from Old English hentan, of Germanic origin; related to hunt. The basic notion is “something that may be taken advantage of”.Want to learn more?
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hint