contexts

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of context.

   A skilled translator weighs the surrounding contexts before choosing a word.

   The phrase carries very different connotations in formal and casual contexts.

   Note

   A plural that only some uses of context allow. The word counts as well as not: a passage is read in context, with no article, but a phrase can shift between formal and casual contexts. The technical senses take the plural readily. A logician speaks of the contexts of different formulas, an archaeologist of the contexts of separate finds, and a programmer of the saved contexts a processor moves between when it changes threads.

2. 2
   verbobsolete

   Third-person singular simple present of context, an obsolete verb.

   Note

   A verb form spelled exactly like the noun plural, so only the grammar around it tells them apart: she contexts versus the contexts. The verb behind it once meant to knit or bind together, to unite closely, and that sense is now obsolete. Anyone meeting the form in an older text should read it as joining things together, not as placing them in a setting.

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