marked

1. 1
   adjective

   Clearly evident and noticeable, standing out enough to draw attention.

   The new policy brought a marked drop in traffic accidents.

   There was a marked difference between the two singers' voices.

   Similarnoticeable, obvious, manifest, palpable

   Oppositeslight, imperceptible, negligible

   Note

   Degree is what this sense measures: how far something stands out from what is expected. It sits most naturally before nouns of change and contrast, as in a marked increase, a marked decline or a marked difference. It grades with more and most rather than -er and -est, as in a fall in output most marked in the North-East. Manifest and patent say a thing is plain to see. Marked says it is plain by how much.

2. 2
   adjective

   Carrying a mark that can be seen or that serves to identify it.

   Workers loaded the marked crates onto the truck first.

   Hikers stayed on the marked path to avoid getting lost.

   Similarlabeled, tagged

   Oppositeunmarked

   Note

   An adjective built from the noun, not the verb: mark in its sense of a sign, characteristic or visible impression, plus -ed. It describes a thing that simply carries a mark, such as a marked path or a marked crate, rather than an act someone performed. That origin sets it apart from the past tense of the verb, which shares the spelling but comes from mark as an action.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of mark.

   The surveyor marked the boundary with wooden stakes.

   The trail was marked with orange paint on the trees.

   Note

   A regular verb, so the past tense and past participle share one spelling: she marked the boundary, the scripts were marked, we have marked them. As a participle it often carries the figurative sense of a lasting, usually unwelcome impact. In a life marked by loss, marked by means shaped or scarred by. The spelling is shared with the adjective "bearing a mark", though that word grew from the noun.

4. 4
   adjective

   Singled out as an object of suspicion, hostility, or revenge.

   After testifying against the cartel, he became a marked man.

   The rebel leader was a marked man with a price on his head.

   Note

   Nearly always met in one fixed phrase, a marked man, meaning someone enemies have already singled out as a target. The figure is of a mark placed on a person by those who mean him harm. Outside that phrase the sense can blur into the "noticeable" meaning. A marked man reads unambiguously, while a looser use may not.

5. 5
   adjective

   Bearing official police colors and insignia, rather than disguised as an ordinary vehicle.

   The department sent a marked unit to handle the traffic stop.

   Marked vehicles patrolled the neighborhood after the break-ins.

   Oppositeunmarked

6. 6
   adjective

   Bearing a secret mark on the back, used by cheats to identify playing cards.

   A sharp-eyed player spotted the marked aces in the deck.

   They cheated for years with a subtly marked pack.

   Similardoctored, rigged

7. 7
   adjectivephoneme

   Distinguished by the presence of a particular feature, in contrast to a more basic or default form.

   Like a labeled box among plain ones: it carries an extra tag the others don't.

   Linguists say the plural is marked because it carries an added ending the singular lacks.

   In this language, questions are marked by a special particle at the end.

   Oppositeunmarked

   Note

   Linguists use the word in pairs. Of two opposed forms, the marked one carries the extra feature and the unmarked one is the default. Old and young show it neatly: we ask "How old are you?" even of a toddler, so old is the neutral term and young the marked one. Marked forms also tend to be more complex in shape and rarer across the world's languages than their unmarked partners.

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