manage

Syllables: man·age/ˈmæn.ɪd͡ʒ//ˈmæn.ɪd͡ʒ/

manage verb: to direct or be in charge of.

Verb

manage (third-person singular simple present manages, present participle managing, simple past and past participle managed)

(transitive) To direct or be in charge of.
- Even though Jack is a novice, he manages his team with great success.
- Interlaken East station is jointly owned with the standard gauge Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway from Bern and Thun and the Swiss Federal Railways metre-gauge Brünig line from Lucerne, but is managed and staffed by the Bernese Oberland group.1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 750
Synonyms:

handle
(transitive) To handle or control (a situation, job).
- The government managed the inflation very poorly.
(transitive) To handle with skill, wield (a tool, weapon etc.).
- It was so much his interest to manage his Protestant subjects.1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- The moſt vnruly, and the boldeſt boy,
  That euer warlike weapons menaged […].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Synonyms:

bewield
(intransitive) To succeed at an attempt in spite of difficulty.
- He managed to climb the tower.
- Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
1. (intransitive, ironic) To end up doing something that could or should have been avoided.
  - She somehow managed to sit on the wet paint.
  - Despite that, Swindon should have been level in stoppage time, but Mathieu Baudry somehow managed to put a free header over the crossbar from point-blank range.2020 November 24, PA Media, “Swindon Town 0-1 Lincoln City”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 21 Oct 2022
(ambitransitive) To achieve (something) without fuss, or without outside help.
- It's a tough job, but I'll manage.
- Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
(transitive) To manage to say; to say while fighting back embarrassment, laughter, etc.
- "That's nice, dear!", she managed.
(transitive) To train (a horse) in the manège; to exercise in graceful or artful action.
(obsolete, transitive) To treat with care; to husband.
- [She] […]manages her last half-crown with care,
  And trudges to the Mall, on foot1673, John Dryden, “Prologue”, in Marriage à la Mode
(obsolete, transitive) To bring about; to contrive.
- in a town of war,
  Yet wild, the people's hearts brimful of fear,
  To manage private and domestic quarrel,
  In night, and on the court and guard of safety!c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
Synonyms:

contrive

Noun

manage (uncountable)

(archaic) The act of managing or controlling something.
- the winged God himſelfe
  Came riding on a Lion rauenous,
  Taught to obay the menage of that Elfe […].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold.1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Youth and Age”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC
Manège.
- You must draw [the horse] in his career with his manage, and turn, doing the corvetto, leaping &c..1622, Henry Peacham (Jr.), The Compleat Gentleman

manage meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

manage in Hindi

to manage , be able: पाना pānā
to manage: सँभालना sambhālnā

manage in Tamil

கையாளு, சுதாரித்துக் கொள், நிர்வகி, நிர்வாகம் செய், செயற்படுத்து, நடத்து

manage in Marathi

to manage, handle; to cope with; to be within one’s capacity: झेपणे jhepaṇe
to manage: जमवणे jamavṇe, साधणे sādhṇe
to manage, be able to: जमणे jamṇe

manage in Urdu

to manage: منتظمی کرنا muntazimī karnā

More languagesFewer languages

manage in Bengali: আগলানো aglanō
manage in Telugu: నిర్వహించు nirvahiñcu, నడపు naḍapu, నడుపు naḍupu
manage in Malayalam: ചുമതലയിലായിരിക്കുക, കൈകാര്യം ചെയ്യുക, ഭരിക്കുക, നിയന്ത്രണത്തിൽ കൊണ്ടുവരിക
manage in Kannada: ನಿರ್ವಹಿಸು, ನಿಭಾಯಿಸು, ಆಡಳಿತ ನಡೆಸು, ಮೇಲುಸ್ತುವಾರಿ ನಡೆಸು
manage in Punjabi: سانبھنا sāṉbhṇā, ਸਾਂਭਣਾ sāmbhṇā
manage in Odia: ଚଲାଇବା calāibā
manage in Sanskrit: कॢप् kḷp, आचरति ācarati
manage in Arabic: أَدَارَ ʔadāra
manage in Malay: urus
manage in Indonesian: berhasil, mengurus, mengontrol, menangani
manage in Persian: اداره کردن edâre kardan, دبریدن, مدیریت کردن modiriyyat kardan, کیاستن
manage in Thai: จัดการ jàt-gaan

Examples of manage in a sentence

I managed to murmur some words of consolation as I left the funeral.
Under color of law, he managed to bilk taxpayers of millions of dollars.
Heartless managed the scale the first jump but fell over the second.

All 40 example sentences with manage

Synonyms of manage

Forms of manage

third-person singular present	manages
present participle	managing
past participle	managed
past	managed

Past tense of manage: managed

Origin of manage

From Early Modern English manage, menage, from Middle English *manage, *menage, from Old French manege (“the handling or training of a horse, horsemanship, riding, maneuvers, proceedings”), probably from Old Italian maneggiare (“to handle, manage, touch, treat”), from Vulgar Latin *manizāre (“handle”), from Latin manus (“hand”) + -izāre (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of manège. Compare typologically English handle; Russian руководи́ть (rukovodítʹ) (< рука́ (ruká)).

Words formed from manage

Questions about manage

What does manage mean?: Manage means to direct or be in charge of.
What is manage in Hindi?: Manage in Hindi is पाना (pānā), सँभालना (sambhālnā). See Manage meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is manage?: Manage can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce manage?: Manage is pronounced /ˈmæn.ɪd͡ʒ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of manage?: The past tense of manage is managed.

Words near manage in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-manage.wav, en-us-manage.ogg.

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