guide
Pluralguides
Pluralguides
- 1A book or paper that gives you information or tells you how to do something.
Like a recipe that walks you through each step.
She downloaded a guide explaining how to set up the printer.
The field guide helped them identify local birds.
UsageSay a guide to something: a guide to the city.
- 2
- 3
- 4To lead someone or show them the way along a route or through a place, sometimes as your job.
Like holding someone's hand to show them where to go.
He guided the visitors around the gallery.
Let me guide you to your seat.
UsageSay guide someone to or through a place: guide you to your seat.
Note
- 5
- 6
- 7A device that keeps a machine part, or any movement, going in the right direction.
Push the guide against the stack of paper so the printer pulls each page in straight.
The closet door keeps jumping off its track because the guide at the bottom is broken.
Note
- 8Something that helps you judge or decide something, or shows you what to expect.
As a rough guide, cook the rice for about twenty minutes.
His face is usually a good guide to his mood.
UsageOften a rough guide or a good guide to something: a rough guide to the cost.
Similarindicator, indication, gauge, measure, yardstick
Note
- 9A girl who belongs to the Guides, a group like the Girl Scouts that teaches outdoor skills and helping others.
My sister became a Guide last year and loves the camping trips.
The Guides learned how to put up tents at the weekend.
UsageWrite it with a big G: a Guide, the Guides. In the US, people say Girl Scout.
- 10
Less common meanings
- 11
- 12A mark or object that stands out to help you find something fast.
Like a bright bookmark that helps you jump straight to the right page.
She used a bright sticker as a guide to find her notes quickly.
The colored tabs act as guides through the thick binder.
Similarmarker
- 13A spirit that people believe speaks through a living person.
Like an invisible helper that someone believes talks through them.
The medium said her guide was speaking to her.
The medium closed her eyes and said her guide would now speak.
Note
- 14A small list that explains the symbols on a map or chart.
Like a list that tells you what each picture on a sign means.
The guide in the corner of the map explained each symbol.
On the subway map, the guide shows which color is which train line.
Similarlegend
- 15A strip that helped a typesetter keep their eyes on the right line of text.
Like a ruler you slide down a page so you do not lose your line.
The typesetter moved the guide down to the next line of text.
Old typesetters moved a guide down the page as they set each line.
Note
- 16The soldier in a marching group who sets the pace and lines up the rest.
- 17A grooved tool that directs a probe or knife during surgery.
- 18A blade or channel that directs water onto the buckets of a water wheel.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
This word came into English through Old French and Old Occitan. It goes back to a Frankish word meaning 'to show the way, lead.'
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The word reached English through Old French and Old Occitan. en.wiktionary.org
- Its ancestry includes a Frankish word meaning 'to show the way, lead'. fr.wiktionary.org
This verb came into English through Old French and Old Occitan. It goes back to a Frankish word meaning 'to show the way, lead.'
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The verb reached English through Old French and Old Occitan. en.wiktionary.org
- Its Frankish ancestor meant 'to show the way, lead'. en.wiktionary.org