DictionaryAI

weight

WAYT/weɪt/

Pluralweights

Verbweights, weighting, weighted

27 meanings of weight

Practice

  1. 1
    amount in kilosnouncountable or uncountable
    How heavy someone or something is; the amount of matter it contains, often given as a measured quantity such as kilograms, pounds or carats.

    The recipe lists the weight of each ingredient in grams.

    Scientists recorded the sample's weight before and after drying it.

    UsageThe verb is weigh: the bag weighs two kilos. In physics writing, use mass for the amount of matter.

    Similarheaviness, heft

    Note

    Everyday English makes no fuss about this use. Recipes, labels and luggage limits give weight in grams and kilograms, which are units of mass. Physicists avoid the habit in technical writing, because for them mass measures the amount of matter and weight is gravity's pull on it.

  2. 2
    gym ironnouncountable
    A heavy object, such as a barbell or plate, lifted to build strength.

    The coach told her to start with a lighter weight before progressing.

    Lifting weights regularly improved his posture and bone density.

    UsageUsually plural for the activity: lift weights, train with weights. The singular names one load: a lighter weight.

  3. 3
    nouncountable or uncountable
    The downward force that gravity exerts on an object, pulling it toward the earth or another large body.

    Underwater, a diver's weight is partly offset by the upward push of the water.

    An astronaut's weight decreases as the spacecraft moves away from Earth.

    Note

    The physical sense is the one the rest of the family grows from. As a force, it is measured in newtons and changes with place, so an astronaut far from Earth weighs less while keeping the same mass. That gap is why physicists object to the everyday 'mass' meaning.

  4. 4
    influencenounfigurativelyuncountable
    Importance or influence: the influence that a person, argument or factor has, or the importance that someone gives to it.

    The senator's endorsement gave the proposal real weight in the debate.

    Years of experience lend weight to her recommendations.

    UsageUsual verbs: carry weight, have weight, lend weight to something. A view carries weight with someone; a person of weight is influential.

    Note

    An argument can have weight with someone, as in the American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897): 'it would have had no weight with me.'

  5. 5
    emotional loadnounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
    The pressure or burden of something difficult, such as worry or responsibility.

    The weight of grief pressed on her for months after the loss.

    He finally shared the weight of the secret he had carried for years.

    UsageUsually the weight of + a noun: the weight of grief. When a worry ends, it is a weight off your mind.

    Similarburden, load, pressure, strain

    Note

    The figure here is a load someone carries, not a force exerted on others: the weight of care, grief or office. The use has a long literary pedigree. Shakespeare's King Lear has 'The weight of this sad time we must obey,' and Milton's Paradise Regain'd (1671) has 'That for the public all this weight he bears.' Compare weight as influence, where to carry weight means to count with others, not to bear a load.

  6. 6
    make count moreverbtransitive
    To assign a multiplier to each figure so that some count more than others in the result.

    Analysts weight each region by its population.

    The researchers weighted the responses to match the national profile.

    UsageYou weight figures by a measure: weight each region by population. Not weigh, which means to measure or judge them.

  7. 7
    sports classnouncountable
    A division of competitors grouped by body mass, as in boxing or wrestling.

    After bulking up, the fighter moved into a heavier weight.

    She has held world titles at three different weights during her long career.

    UsageOften with a comparative: fighters move up to a heavier weight or drop down a weight, and win titles at a weight.

    Similardivision, class, category

    Note

    Boxing's divisions gave the language an idiom for being outmatched. In Thackeray's The History of Pendennis (1848–50) the hero is warned, 'You ain't up to their weight,' and compared to a small fighter standing up to Tom Spring. The scene is a social mismatch told in prize-ring terms.

  8. 8
    nouncountable
    An object placed on or attached to something in order to make it heavier.

    The tailor sewed a tiny weight into the hem to make the curtain hang straight.

    Divers attach a weight to their belts to help them sink.

  9. 9
    make heavierverbtransitive
    To make something heavier by adding a heavy object or material to it.

    Before baking the crust, line it with foil and weight it with dried beans so the bottom stays flat.

    The designer weighted the base of the lamp to stop it from tipping over.

    UsageYou weight something with a heavy thing, often weight it down. Not weigh, which means to find out how heavy.

    Similarload, ballast

    Oppositelighten

  10. 10
    nouncountable
    A variable that multiplies a value to adjust how much it counts in a calculation.

    The model assigns a higher weight to recent observations.

    Survey statisticians apply weights to correct for underrepresented groups.

    UsageYou give or assign a weight to a value; a value with a larger weight counts for more.

    Similarcoefficient, multiplier, factor

    Note

    The picture behind this sense is a balance: a value with a larger weight pulls an average further toward itself. Statisticians use weights to correct survey samples, favor recent observations or discount unreliable ones. The results include weighted means, weighted totals and weighted indexes. Applying them is the statistical verb, to weight the figures.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of weight apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Middle English weight, from Old English wiht, ġewiht ("weight"), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *weǵʰ- ("to move, pull, draw, drive"). It is essentially "weigh" plus an abstract noun suffix, and is related to Dutch gewicht and German Gewicht ("weight").