clue
/kluː/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
obsolete/kljuː/
clue noun: a strand of yarn etc. as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide. Also the alternative form of clew.
Noun
clue (plural clues)
- A strand of yarn etc. as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide.
- she had even had in the past a small smug conviction that in the domestic labyrinth she always kept the clue.1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew
- Information which may lead one to a certain point or conclusion.
- Give me a clue because the question is too vague.
- Black tracks on the magneto, a hairline crack in the flywheel casing, pitted points or a spitless exhaust — all are clues to potential conkouts1965, Popular Mechanics, volume 123, number 3, page 140
- Synonyms:
- hint, indication, suggestion
- An object or a kind of indication which may be used as evidence.
- The detectives were looking for some clues at the scene of the crime.
- Insight or understanding ("to have a clue [about]" or "to have clue". See have a clue, clue stick)
- I had little clue that I was being carefully monitored by the CCTV.
- Synonyms:
- idea
- The text that indicates an answer in a crossword puzzle.
Verb
clue (third-person singular simple present clues, present participle cluing or clueing, simple past and past participle clued)
- To provide with a clue.
- The crossword compiler wasn't sure how to clue the word "should".
- To provide someone with information which they lack (often used with "in" or "up").
- Smith, clue Jones in on what's been happening.
- I stared into my mind for some image to clue me what to say but I saw only blackness there.2014, John Macgregor, The Antibiography of Ian Mcnulty
Proper noun capitalized: Clue
Clue
- The board game Cluedo whose goal is to solve the mystery of a fictitious murder.
Also used as
clue is also the alternative form of clew.
clue meaning in Hindi, Kannada, Indonesian and Thai
clue in Hindi
- information that may lead one to a certain point or conclusion
- संकेत saṅket
clue in Kannada
- ಕ್ಲೂ
clue in Indonesian
- something which points the way, a guide
- petunjuk
- information that may lead one to a certain point or conclusion
- petunjuk
clue in Thai
- information that may lead one to a certain point or conclusion
- เบาะแส bɔ̀-sɛ̌ɛ, ร่องรอย rɔ̂ng-rɔɔi
- object or marking that may be used in evidence
- เบาะแส bɔ̀-sɛ̌ɛ
More languagesFewer languages
- clue in Vietnamese
- manh mối
Examples of clue in a sentence
- These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.
- The detective examined the crime scene, but one clue escaped his notice.
- These assembly instructions aren't readable, I still don't have a clue how to start!
Synonyms of clue
Forms of clue
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | clues |
| alternative form (archaic) | clew |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | clues |
| present participle | cluing |
| present participle | clueing |
| past participle | clued |
| past | clued |
Origin of clue
Variant of clew (“a ball of thread or yarn”), from Middle English clew, clewe, clowe, clue, clwe, clyw, clywe, from Old English clēowen, clīewen, clīowen, clīwen, clȳwe, clȳwen (“ball, sphere; skein”), from Proto-West Germanic *kliuwīn (“ball, clump”), from Proto-Germanic *kliuwīną, *klewô (“bale, ball, clump, mass”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to ball up, clump together; lump, swelling”). Sense evolution with reference to the one which the mythical Theseus used to guide him out of the Minotaur's labyrinth. More at clew. Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian khnaul (“ball of yarn”), Dutch kluwe, kluwen (“ball thread or yarn, clew”), German Knäuel (“ballyarn; tangle”), Norwegian Nynorsk kljå (“a loom weight”); also Sanskrit ग्लौ (glau, “the moon; camphor; the earth”).
Words formed from clue
Phrases with clue
Words that rhyme with clue
Questions about clue
- What does clue mean?
- Clue means a strand of yarn etc. as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide.
- What is clue in Hindi?
- Clue in Hindi is संकेत (saṅket). See Clue meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is clue?
- Clue can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce clue?
- Clue is pronounced /kluː/.
- What is the plural of clue?
- The plural of clue is clues.
Words near clue in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clue (page history and authors); Clue (page history and authors); clue (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-clue.ogg.
Cite this entry: “clue.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clue. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.