# type

Pronunciation: say "TYP" /taɪp/

## Noun

1. A category whose members are grouped together because they share certain characteristics or qualities.
   - Simple: A group of things or people that share the same features.
   - _Investigators identified the rock as a rare type formed under intense pressure._
   - _Several types of insects thrive in the damp forest._
3. The kind of person one finds most appealing, especially romantically; one's preferred sort of partner.
   - Simple: The kind of person someone likes most or feels attracted to.
   - _Brooding intellectuals had always been her type._
   - _He insisted that loud, outgoing people were not his type._
4. An individual regarded as a typical or representative example of a particular class, profession, or environment.
   - Simple: A person who seems to be a perfect example of a certain group or job.
   - _The detective was a familiar type: weary, cynical, and quietly brilliant._
   - _Critics dismissed the character as a stock type rather than a real person._
6. One of the categories into which blood is classified according to its antigens, such as A, B, AB, or O.
   - Simple: One of the groups that blood can belong to, such as A, B, or O.
   - _Doctors matched the donor's type with the patient's before the transfusion._
   - _Certain blood types are far rarer than others in some populations._
5. In computing and logic, a category assigned to values, variables, or terms that determines which operations or uses are allowed for them.
   - Simple: In computing or logic, a kind of data, such as number or text, that controls how it can be used.
   - _The compiler rejected the code because the function returned the wrong type._
   - _Choosing the right type for a variable can reduce memory usage._
8. Printed text as it appears on the page, or lettering that imitates the look of printed characters.
   - Simple: Printed letters and words as they appear on a page.
   - _The contract's small type was nearly impossible to read._
   - _The headline was set in large, bold type across the front page._
9. Small blocks of metal or wood, each bearing a raised letter or character, used in printing; also a set of these in one font or size.
   - Simple: Small blocks with raised letters on them, used to print words on paper, or a full set of them.
   - _The compositor locked the type into the frame before inking the press._
   - _Worn type produced faint, uneven letters on the cheap paper._
11. A person or thing that embodies or symbolizes a quality or class; a perfect example or emblem of it.
   - Simple: A person or thing that stands for a quality or is a perfect example of it.
   - _In the play, she stands as the type of selfless devotion._
   - _Critics called the character a perfect type of the ambitious politician._
12. A person or event that prefigures or foreshadows a later one, commonly an Old Testament figure linked to Christian times.
   - Simple: In the Bible, an early person or event that points to a later one.
   - _Early theologians treated Moses as a type of the coming deliverer._
   - _The flood was interpreted as a type foreshadowing later salvation._

## Verb

2. To write text or enter commands by pressing the keys of a keyboard, typewriter, or similar device.
   - Simple: To write by pressing the keys on a computer keyboard, phone screen, or typewriter.
   - _You can type faster once you learn where the keys are._
   - _He typed the entire report in a single afternoon._
7. To classify something by sorting it into types according to shared characteristics.
   - Simple: To sort things into groups based on what they have in common.
   - _Health officials type the bacteria from each patient to trace an outbreak back to a single farm._
   - _The lab typed the soil samples according to mineral content._
10. To determine which blood group a person or sample belongs to through laboratory testing.
   - Simple: To find out which blood group a person or sample belongs to.
   - _Technicians type donated blood to ensure safe matches for recipients._
   - _Her blood was typed before the surgery began._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A specimen or object selected as an objective anchor that ties a scientific name to a taxon, even when it is neither representative nor typical.
- (noun) The original object, scene, or idea that becomes the subject of a copy; especially the design on the face of a medal or coin.
- (noun) A distinct word form in a text or corpus, counted only once regardless of how many times it occurs, in contrast to a token.
- (verb) To furnish an expression or copy of something; to represent or typify it.
- (verb) To represent something beforehand by a type, model, or symbol; to prefigure.
- (noun) In chemistry, a simple compound treated as a model to which other compounds can conveniently be related and from which they can be derived, in fact or in theory.
- (adverb) Very; extremely; used informally to intensify the word that follows.

## Origin

Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, "mark, impression, type"), which came from τύπτω (túptō, "I strike, beat"), was taken into Latin as typus. The Latin word then gave Middle English type, meaning "symbol, figure, emblem."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/type (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).