Word.ws English Dictionary

give the word

give the word verb: to communicate or signal to another that an action or event is allowed to commence or should be commenced, usually but not necessarily by linguistic communication.

Verb

give the word (third-person singular simple present gives the word, present participle giving the word, simple past gave the word, past participle given the word)

  1. To communicate or signal to another that an action or event is allowed to commence or should be commenced, usually but not necessarily by linguistic communication.
    • We can't start the project until the boss has given us the word.
    • Given the choice / Given the heart / Given the truth / Given the word / Given the cheers / Given the tears / Given the choice1988, R.E.M., “Turn You Inside-Out”, in Green
    Synonyms:
    say the word

Synonyms of give the word

Forms of give the word

third-person singular presentgives the word
present participlegiving the word
pastgave the word
past participlegiven the word

Origin of give the word

From the concept of using a certain word used as a signal to others that they are allowed to commence on some event. While the term originally meant that a pre-decided word was to be used, the term has since evolved to mean giving allowance for an event to commence in general, not necessarily by a specific word.

Questions about give the word

What does give the word mean?
Give the word means to communicate or signal to another that an action or event is allowed to commence or should be commenced, usually but not necessarily by linguistic communication.
What part of speech is give the word?
Give the word is a verb.
What is the past tense of give the word?
The past tense of give the word is gave the word.

Words near give the word in the dictionary

  1. give the royal treatment
  2. give the sack
  3. give the stem
  4. give the store away
  5. give the time of day
  6. give the word
  7. give them an inch and they'll take a mile
  8. give them an inch and they'll take an ell
  9. give thought
  10. give toco
  11. give tongue

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: give the word (page history and authors). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-give the word.wav.

Cite this entry: “give the word.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/give_the_word. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.