manner

Syllables: man·nerUK/ˈmænə//ˈmænɚ/

manner noun: mode of action; way of performing or doing anything.

Noun (1)

manner (plural manners)

Mode of action; way of performing or doing anything.
- The treacherous manner of his mournful death.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
Synonyms:

method, style, form, fashion, way
Characteristic mode of acting or behaving; bearing.
- His natural manner makes him seem like the boss.
- The captain's imperturbable manner gave the crew confidence.
Synonyms:

air, comportment, mien, abear, abearance, bearing, behavior, carriage, conduct, deportment
One's customary method of acting; habit.
- These people have strange manners.
Good, polite behaviour.
- Harriet was not insensible of manner; she had voluntarily noticed her father’s gentleness with admiration as well as wonder. Mr. Martin looked as if he did not know what manner was.1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 4, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC
- But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC
The style of writing or thought of an author; the characteristic peculiarity of an artist.
A certain degree or measure.
- It is in a manner done already.
- The fact that we have hundreds of positive, lesbian-affirming novels available today in no manner takes away from the basic high romance of The Price of Salt. The new edition is virtually the same in text as the original.1984 December 29, Nancy Walker, “Classic Romance: Enduring Charm”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 8
Sort; kind; style.
- All manner of persons participate.
Standards of conduct cultured and product of mind.

Verb

manner (third-person singular simple present manners, present participle mannering, simple past and past participle mannered)

(transitive) To instill manners into.
- They are there to manner a child's natural abilities. They are culture club authorities and representatives. They teach children appropriate public (and private) behavior; […]2004, Susan Felicity Minsos, Weird Tit-for-Tat, page 62

Noun (2)

manner (plural manners)

(in-compounds, rare) Something involving or requiring the specified number of men or people.
- It was rather ironic that my first fire in every one of my three smokejunping ^([sic]) years was a high-mountain two-manner . . . and they all were on the Flathead National Forest […]2006, Frank Fowler, High-Mountain Two-Manner, page 258

Proper noun capitalized: Manner

Manner (plural Manners)

A surname.

manner meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

manner in Hindi

way of performing or effecting; method or style: शैली śailī
one's customary method of acting; habit: शैली śailī

manner in Tamil

நடத்தை, பாங்கு, முறை, வயணம், செயல்முறை, செயல்முறைகள்

manner in Marathi

manner, method: पद्धत paddhat
manner, mode, way: प्रकार prakār

manner in Urdu

manner, way: طور taur, رسم rasm, طریقہ tarīqa, سلوک sulūk
manner, way, method: شیوہ śeva
manner: عادت ādat, راستہ rāsta, چلن calan, صفت sifat
manner, mode: کروٹ karvaṭ

More languagesFewer languages

manner in Bengali: কিতা kita, কেতা keta, আদত adot, সুরত śurot
manner in Telugu: పద్ధతి paddhati, తీరు tīru, విధం vidhaṁ
manner in Malayalam: ശൈലി śaili, രീതി rīti, തരം taraṁ, മട്ട് maṭṭŭ
manner in Kannada: ಅರ್ಥ artha
manner in Punjabi: ਤਰੀਕ਼ਾ tarīqā, ਢੰਗ ḍhaṅg, ਆਦਤ ādat, ਰੀਤ rīt
manner in Gujarati: રીત rīt
manner in Sanskrit: मार्ग mārga
manner in Pashto: ډول ḍawl
manner in Arabic: أُسْلُوب ʔuslūb, طَرِيقَة ṭarīqa

Examples of manner in a sentence

Despite her proper upbringing, we found her manners to be terribly abrasive.
William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
The cultural struggle is for the survival of family values against all manner of atheistic amorality.

All 40 example sentences with manner

Synonyms of manner

14 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of manner

Forms of manner

Noun
plural	manners
Verb
third-person singular present	manners
present participle	mannering
past participle	mannered
past	mannered
Proper noun
plural	Manners

Plural of manner: manners

Origin of manner

From Middle English manere, maner, from Anglo-Norman manere, from Old French maniere, from Vulgar Latin *manāria, from feminine of Latin manuarius (“belonging to the hand”), from manus (“hand”). Compare French manière, Italian mannaia (“ax, axe”), Portuguese maneira and maneiro (“handy, portable”), Romanian mâner (“handle”), and Spanish manera. Displaced native Old English hād (“nature, manner”).

From man + -er.

From the Norman surname, Mesnières in France, itself from a derivative of Latin manere (“to stay”).

Words formed from manner

Phrases with manner

Words that rhyme with manner

Questions about manner

What does manner mean?: Manner means mode of action; way of performing or doing anything.
What is manner in Hindi?: Manner in Hindi is शैली (śailī). See Manner meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is manner?: Manner can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce manner?: Manner is pronounced /ˈmænə/ (UK).
What is the plural of manner?: The plural of manner is manners.

Words near manner in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-manner.ogg.

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