hint
/hɪnt/
hint noun: a clue.
Noun
hint (plural hints)
- A clue.
- I needed a hint to complete the crossword.
- Synonyms:
- indication, tip
- An implicit suggestion that avoids a direct statement.
- He gave me a hint that my breath smelt.
- Synonyms:
- allusion, implication, innuendo, insinuation, nod
- A small, barely detectable amount.
- There was a hint of irony in his voice.
- I could taste a hint of lemon in my iced water.
- Information in a computer-based font that suggests how the outlines of the font's glyphs should be distorted in order to produce, at specific sizes, a visually appealing pixel-based rendering; an instance of hinting.
- This font does not scale well to small sizes; the hints for the 10-point letter 'g' still need work.
- An instruction to the database engine as to how a query should be executed, for example whether to use an index or not.
- An opportunity; occasion; fit time.
- I, not remembering how I cried out then, / Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint / That wrings mine eyes to't.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
Verb
hint (third-person singular simple present hints, present participle hinting, simple past and past participle hinted)
- To imply without a direct statement; to provide a clue.
- She hinted at the possibility of a recount of the votes.
- I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity.1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
- Synonyms:
- intimate
- To bring to mind by a slight mention or remote allusion; to suggest in an indirect manner.
- to hint a suspicion
- VVilling to vvound, and yet afraid to ſtrike, / Juſt hint a fault and heſitate diſlike; […]1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 11, lines 198–199
- To develop and add hints to a font.
- The typographer worked all day on hinting her new font so it would look good on computer screens.
- To give (a person) a hint; to tip off.
- If you find the treasure in the video game, please do not hint other players about it.
Interjection
hint
- Signifies that something previously said should be taken as a hint or heeded closely.
- And yes, as long as you are being a good coder and engaging in safe practices, nothing should go wrong. (Hint, hint.)
hint meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
hint in Hindi
- hint
- सान sān
- to hint, suggest
- संकेत करना saṅket karnā
hint in Tamil
- சிறு நினைவுக் குறிப்பு, சிறுகுறிப்பு, சைகை, சைகைசெய், நினைவூட்டம், சூசகம்
hint in Urdu
- hint, signal, insinuation
- اشارہ iśāra
- hint, reference, allusion
- اشارہ iśāra
hint in Bengali
- ইঙ্গিত, প্রজ্ঞান, সঙ্কেত, আভাস, ষৎ উল্লেখ, সাহায্যপূর্ণ ইঙ্গিত
More languagesFewer languages
- hint in Telugu
- సూచన sūcana, సూచించు sūciñcu
- hint in Malayalam
- സൂചന sūcana
- hint in Kannada
- ಸಂಜ್ಞೆ, ಸನ್ನೆ, ಸುಳಿವು, ಗುರುತು
- hint in Punjabi
- ਇਸ਼ਾਰਾ iśārā
- hint in Sanskrit
- दिश् díś, नालिका nālikā
- hint in Assamese
- ঠাৰ thar
- hint in Arabic
- تَلْمِيح talmīḥ, لَمَّحَ lammaḥa
- hint in Indonesian
- petunjuk, wejang, setitik, seuprit
- hint in Thai
- คำใบ้, ใบ้ bâi
Examples of hint in a sentence
- She had a fiendish smile that hinted at a cunning plan.
- His barbecue sauce could use a hint of cayenne to heat it up a bit.
- She looked me up and down and hinted that I could do with losing some weight.
Synonyms of hint
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of hint
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hints |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hints |
| present participle | hinting |
| past participle | hinted |
| past | hinted |
Origin of hint
From Middle English hinten, hynten, variant of henten (“to lay hold of, catch”), from Old English hentan (“to seize, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *hantijan, from Proto-Germanic *hantijaną. Doublet of hent. Related also to hunt.
Words formed from hint
Phrases with hint
Words that rhyme with hint
Questions about hint
- What does hint mean?
- Hint means a clue.
- What is hint in Hindi?
- Hint in Hindi is सान (sān), संकेत करना (saṅket karnā). See Hint meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is hint?
- Hint can be a noun, a verb or an interjection.
- How do you pronounce hint?
- Hint is pronounced /hɪnt/.
- What is the plural of hint?
- The plural of hint is hints.
Words near hint in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hint (page history and authors); संकेत करना (Hindi) (page history and authors); hint (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); اشارہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); hint (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); സൂചന (Malayalam) (page history and authors); hint (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਇਸ਼ਾਰਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); दिश् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); ঠাৰ (Assamese) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-hint.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hint.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hint. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.