given

Pluralgivens

1. 1
   verb

   Past participle of give.

   The committee has given its approval to the new plan.

   All the prizes were given to the winners on Friday.

   Note

   The form behind every other use on this page: give plus the participle ending -n. With have it makes the perfect (has given its approval); with be it makes the passive. Because give takes two objects, the passive can start from either one: prizes were given to the winners, or the winners were given prizes. The same spelling also works as the preposition meaning 'considering' and as a noun.

2. 2
   adjective

   Referring to a particular, specified thing rather than an arbitrary one.

   For a given temperature, the gas occupies a predictable volume.

   Any given student in the class can request extra help.

   Similarparticular, specific, specified

   Note

   Mostly met with a or any: at a given time, any given student, for a given temperature. The article carries the meaning. A given time means whichever particular time you pick, while the given time, as in the 'already arranged' sense, means one fixed in advance. In science, for a given value states a rule that holds for each value chosen.

3. 3
   preposition

   Taking into account; in view of a stated fact or condition.

   Given the heavy rain, the organizers canceled the picnic.

   Given her busy schedule, she rarely eats lunch out.

   Similarconsidering

   Note

   A participle that has settled into a preposition, much like considering itself. It introduces a noun phrase and lays down the ground the main clause stands on: given the current situation, given the heavy rain. It usually leads the sentence, followed by a comma. Before a full clause the usual form is given that, which belongs with the 'assumed as fact' adjective.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A fact or condition that is accepted as true without further proof or testing.

   Like the foundation of a building: everything else rests on it without question.

   In this town, heavy winter snow is simply a given.

   The negotiators treated the company's support as a given.

   Similarcertainty, fact, assumption, premise

   Note

   The participle turned into a countable noun, with the plural givens. In a math or logic problem the givens are the data stated at the outset, the facts you work from rather than prove. Elsewhere it usually appears in the singular with a: simply a given, treated as a given. Its weight falls on what nobody bothers to question.

5. 5
   adjective

   Inclined or tending toward a particular habit or behavior.

   He was given to long silences whenever the subject came up.

   She is given to wild exaggeration when telling her stories.

   Similarprone, inclined, disposed, apt, liable

   Note

   Always followed by to and never placed before a noun: a person is given to something, never simply a given person. Because to is a preposition here, a verb after it takes -ing, as in given to taking a glass of port or given to exaggeration, never given to take. It describes habits and leanings, typically of people.

6. 6
   adjective

   Treated as an established fact or starting assumption.

   In the proof, the length of the base is taken as given.

   The board treated continued funding as given and planned accordingly.

   Similarassumed, established

   Note

   Here the word stands after its noun or after a verb such as take: the length is taken as given. Followed by that, it opens a supposition, as in given that we will get the resources, and frames the rest of the sentence as resting on it. Taken as a given says nearly the same thing through the noun.

7. 7
   adjective

   Being the particular one currently under discussion.

   In the given example, the author uses three metaphors.

   The given passage describes a storm at sea.

   Similarparticular, specific

8. 8
   adjective

   Arranged or settled in advance, before the event itself.

   The soldiers advanced at the given signal.

   Everyone gathered at the given hour without delay.

   Similarappointed, agreed, set, fixed, specified

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