type

/taɪp/

type noun: a grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.

Image: Willi Heidelbach, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

type (plural types)

A grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.
- This type of plane can handle rough weather more easily than that type of plane.
- Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 128
Synonyms:

category, class, genre, group, kind, nature, sort, stripe, tribe, hue
An individual considered typical of its class, one regarded as typifying a certain profession, environment, etc.
- Look, with these gals that want to buy it, most of them are older, dignified. Social Register types, you know what I mean? They can't be trotting down to Times Square to pick out the merchandise. They got to have some kind of, uh, middleman.1969, Waldo Salt, Midnight Cowboy, spoken by Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), United Artists
- "I just peeked out toward the restaurant and there are a lot of Navy types in there. I'd hate for you to get in trouble on your last night in Europe."2002, Pat Conroy, The Great Santini, page 4
An individual that represents the ideal for its class; an embodiment.
- Altogether he was the type of low ruffianism — as ill-conditioned a looking brute as ever ginned a hare.1872, Mary Rose Godfrey, Loyal, volume 3, page 116
(uncountable) Such types collectively, or a set of type of one font or size.
(uncountable) Text printed with such type, or imitating its characteristics.
- The headline was set in bold type.
Something, often a specimen, selected as an objective anchor to connect a scientific name to a taxon; this need not be representative or typical.
- ...thus Stearn has designated Linnaeus as the type specimen of Homo sapiens2009 March 20, Greg Mayer, “Who is the type specimen of Homo sapiens?”, in Why Evolution Is True
- Musca domestica is the type-species of Musca, a genus originally created by Linnaeus for a variety of higher Diptera, many of which are now known to be in other families.2015 December 16, “What's in a fly?”, in Natural History Museum
Preferred sort of person; sort of person that one is attracted to.
- We can't get along: he's just not my type.
- He was exactly her type.
A blood group.
(corpus linguistics) A word that occurs in a text or corpus irrespective of how many times it occurs, as opposed to a token.

Synonyms:

type-word
An event or person that prefigures or foreshadows a later event - commonly an Old Testament event linked to Christian times.
A tag attached to variables and values used in determining which kinds of value can be used in which situations.

Synonyms:

data type
(fine arts) The original object, or class of objects, scene, face, or conception, which becomes the subject of a copy; especially, the design on the face of a medal or a coin.

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A simple compound, used as a mode or pattern to which other compounds are conveniently regarded as being related, and from which they may be actually or theoretically derived.
- The fundamental types used to express the simplest and most essential chemical relations are hydrochloric acid, water, ammonia, and methane.
A part of the partition of the object domain of a logical theory (which due to the existence of such partition, would be called a typed theory). (Note: this corresponds to the notion of "data type" in computing theory.)
- Logics of the second and higher orders may be regarded as type-theoretic systems.2011, V.N. Grishin (originator), "Types, theory of", in Encyclopedia of Mathematics. URL: http://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=Types,_theory_of&oldid=14150
- Categorial grammar is like a combination of context-free grammar and types.
(obsolete except in the above special senses) A symbol, emblem, or example of something.

Verb

type (third-person singular simple present types, present participle typing, simple past and past participle typed)

To put text on paper using a typewriter.
To enter text or commands into a computer using a keyboard.
To determine the blood type of.
- The doctor ordered the lab to type the patient for a blood transfusion.
To represent by a type, model, or symbol beforehand; to prefigure.
To furnish an expression or copy of; to represent; to typify.
- Let us type them now in our own lives.1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
To categorize into types.
- It was a full load, a disparate group that he had already typed and cross-matched with their potential for future crime.1998, Dana Stabenow, Fire and Ice, page 1

Adverb

type (not comparable)

(rare, slang, African-American Vernacular) Very, extremely.
- I don't think Brooklyn slang is that different from Manhattan slang. But I'm not used to a lot of the slang my friends use. Months ago, I first heard, "There are mad heads here." I was like, "Where did that come from?" For a while they were saying, "That's type funny." I was like: "What? What do...2007 September 16, Alex Mindlin, quoting David Helene, “'Our Year Is the Most Competitive Year in the History of College Applications. Or Something Like That.'”, in The New York Times, New York...
- Yeah, the fat bitch is type-slow.2012, Jason Hooper, Some Things Are Better Left Untold, West Conshohocken, P.A.: Infinity Publishing, →ISBN, page 20
Synonyms:

mad, hella, wicked, dumb, dummy, odee, bare

type meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

type in Hindi

grouping based on shared characteristics: तरह tarah, क़िस्म qism

type in Tamil

விதம், வகை, ரகம், தட்டு, தட்டச்சு, தட்டச்சிடு

type in Marathi

grouping based on shared characteristics: प्रकार prakār

type in Urdu

grouping based on shared characteristics: قسم qism, نوع nau'

More languagesFewer languages

type in Bengali: প্রকার prokar
type in Telugu: చిహ్నము cihnamu, ఛాయ chāya, మాదిరి mādiri, టైపు చేయు ṭaipu cēyu
type in Malayalam: വർഗ്ഗം vaṟggaṁ, തരം taraṁ, ഗണം gaṇaṁ, രീതി rīti
type in Kannada: ಅಚ್ಚು accu
type in Punjabi: ਕਿਸਮ, ਟਾਈਪ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ, ਟਾਈਪ ਕਰੋ
type in Gujarati: ભાત bhāt
type in Odia: ଛାଞ୍ଚ chāñca, ଲେଖ lekha
type in Sanskrit: वृत्ति vṛtti, वयस् váyas
type in Assamese: ধৰণ dhoron
type in Nepali: प्रकार, प्रकारको, टाइप गर्न
type in Pashto: زيل zayl, نوع náw'a
type in Tagalog: uri
type in Arabic: نَوْع nawʕ, نَمَط namaṭ, طِرَاز ṭirāz, طَبَعَ ṭabaʕa
type in Malay: cap, jenis, tekan, taip
type in Indonesian: mengetik
type in Persian: نوع, گونه gune, تیپ tip, جوره jure
type in Thai: ประเภท bprà-pêet, ชนิด chá-nít, รูปแบบ rûup-bɛ̀ɛp, พิมพ์ pim
type in Vietnamese: chữ in, kiểu, loại, gõ
type in Myanmar: မျိုး myui:

Examples of type in a sentence

Months ago, I first heard, "There are mad heads here." I was like, "Where did that come from?" For a while they were saying, "That's type funny." I was like: "What?2007 September 16, Alex Mindlin, quoting David Helene, “'Our Year Is the Most Competitive Year in the History of College Applications. Or...
She was type thick, with nice size succulent breasts, and a nice plumped ass.2017, Treasure Malian, In Love With the King of Miami, Atlanta, G.A.: Royalty Publishing House, →ISBN, page 17:

All 40 example sentences with type

Synonyms of type

9 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of type

Forms of type

Noun
plural	types
Verb
third-person singular present	types
present participle	typing
past participle	typed
past	typed

Past tense of type: typed

Plural of type: types

Origin of type

From Middle English type (“symbol, figure, emblem”), from Latin typus, from Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, “mark, impression, type”), from τύπτω (túptō, “to strike, beat”).

Phrases with type

127 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with type

7 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about type

What does type mean?: Type means a grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.
What is type in Hindi?: Type in Hindi is तरह (tarah), क़िस्म (qism). See Type meaning in Hindi.
How do you use type in a sentence?: Months ago, I first heard, "There are mad heads here." I was like, "Where did that come from?" For a while they were saying, "That's type funny." I was like: "What?
What part of speech is type?: Type can be a noun, a verb or an adverb.
How do you pronounce type?: Type is pronounced /taɪp/.
What is the plural of type?: The plural of type is types.

Words near type in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: type (page history and authors); type (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ഗണം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಅಚ್ಚು (Kannada) (page history and authors); type (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ભાત (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଛାଞ୍ଚ (Odia) (page history and authors); वयस् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); ধৰণ (Assamese) (page history and authors); type (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-us-type.ogg.

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