manual

Syllables: man·u·al/ˈmæn.j(ʊ)əl//ˈmæn.j(u)əl/

manual noun: synonym of handbook.

Noun (1)

manual (plural manuals)

Synonym of handbook.

Synonyms:

handbook
A booklet that instructs on the usage of a particular machine or product.
- The dishwasher isn't working; can you remember where we put the manual?
A drill in the use of weapons, etc.
(historical) An old office-book like the modern Roman Catholic ritual.
A keyboard on an organ.

Adjective

manual (comparative more manual, superlative most manual)

Performed with the hands.
- She gave a wild manual brush to her locks.1897 October 16, Henry James, What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC
- They will be alternately manual workers and officials, so that nobody will become a bureaucrat. Given the simplicity of administration, equality of pay, and the election and removability of public officers, there will be no risk of the formation of a parasitic caste of bureaucrats alienated from...1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in...
(device etc.) Operated by means of the hands.
Performed by a human rather than a machine.
- The teacher urged the students to do a manual check, because some errors aren't picked up by the spell checker.

Noun (2)

manual (countable and uncountable, plural manuals)

A manual transmission; a gearbox, especially of a motorized vehicle, shifted by the operator.
- Tom's transmission shop can fix both manuals and automatics.
Antonyms:

automatic
(metonymically) A vehicle with a manual transmission.
- I'm not used to automatics; I've always driven manuals.
Antonyms:

automatic
A keyboard for the hands on a harpsichord, organ, or other musical instrument.
A manual typewriter (as contrasted with an electronic one).
(colloquial) Manual measurement of the blood pressure, done with a manual sphygmomanometer.
- do a manual
- give someone a quick manual
A bicycle technique whereby the front wheel is held aloft by the rider, without the use of pedal force.
A similar maneuver on a skateboard, lifting the front or back wheels while keeping the tail or nose of the board from touching the ground.
- In short tutorials, the player learns the basics of skating: reverts, manuals and the ollie – that is, sliding round when coming out of a trick, lifting two wheels off the ground and jumping with the board.2007, Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Matthias Boettger, editors, Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level, 1st edition, Basel: Birkhauser, published 2007...
(uncountable) Manual control or operation.
- Put the controls to manual.
- Leave the system on manual.

Proper noun capitalized: Manual

Manual

A male given name from Spanish: a rare spelling variant of Manuel, sometimes considered erroneous.

manual meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

manual in Hindi

मैनुअल

manual in Tamil

கையேடு, கைமுறை, கைவழி

manual in Urdu

دستی, ہاتھ کا کام, دستی کتاب, رہنما کتاب

manual in Bengali

সারগ্রন্থ, সংক্ষিপ্ত গ্রন্থ, হস্তকৃত, হস্তসাধিত, করচালিত

More languagesFewer languages

manual in Telugu: మాన్యువల్
manual in Malayalam: ഹസ്തവിഷയകമായ, യാന്ത്രികമല്ലാതെ
manual in Kannada: ಕೈಪಿಡಿ, ನಿರ್ದೇಶನಗಳನ್ನೊಳಗೊಂಡ ಪುಸ್ತಕ, ಪ್ರಕರಣ ಗ್ರಂಥ, ತಿಳುವಳಿಕೆ ಹೊತ್ತಿಗೆ
manual in Gujarati: મેન્યુઅલ, મેનુઅલ
manual in Nepali: म्यानुअल
manual in Tagalog: hawaklat, pangkamay, kinakamay
manual in Arabic: كُتَيِّب kutayyib, كُتَيِّب التَّشْغِيل kutayyib at-tašḡīl, كِتَاب التَّعْلِيمَات kitāb at-taʕlīmāt, يَدَوِيّ yadawiyy
manual in Indonesian: panduan
manual in Thai: คู่มือ kûu-mʉʉ, ด้วยมือ, อัตโนมือ àt-dtà-noo-mʉʉ

Examples of manual in a sentence

Manual controls allow the user to override the camera's default settings.
The program comes with an online manual, supplied on compact disc.
The manual says that this switch should be in the 'off' position.

All 40 example sentences with manual

Synonyms of manual

Antonyms

automatic

All synonyms and antonyms of manual

Forms of manual

Noun
plural	manuals
alternative form (obsolete)	manuall
Adjective
comparative	more manual
superlative	most manual

Plural of manual: manuals

Origin of manual

From Middle English manuel, from Old French manuel, from Late Latin manuāle (“handbook, manual”).

From Middle English manuel, from Anglo-Norman manuel, Old French manual, from Latin manuālis, from manus (“hand”).

Words formed from manual

Phrases with manual

Questions about manual

What does manual mean?: Manual means synonym of handbook.
What is manual in Hindi?: Manual in Hindi is मैनुअल. See Manual meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is manual?: Manual can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce manual?: Manual is pronounced /ˈmæn.j(ʊ)əl/ (UK).
What is the plural of manual?: The plural of manual is manuals.

Words near manual in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: manual (page history and authors); Manual (page history and authors); manual (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); manual (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); manual (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); manual (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); manual (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); manual (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); manual (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); manual (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); manual (Nepali, 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: 2026-09-02

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

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