"it is and it isn't" meaning in English

See it is and it isn't in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} it is and it isn't
  1. An answer in reply to a yes-no question, indicating there is no simple "yes" or "no" answer Related terms: yes and no

Download JSON data for it is and it isn't meaning in English (2.1kB)

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "it is and it isn't",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English oxymorons",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "1972: United States House Committee on the District of Columbia Hearings on Interest, Usury, and Consumer Credit, p. 111.\nMr. JENNINGS. But if it is on the basis of handling it under a \"with recourse\" situation, that isn't affected by this bill.\nMr. MIKVA. It is and it isn't.\nMr. JENNINGS. It is from the standpoint of collection, you are right."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Richard P. Feynman, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, page 84",
          "text": "If you want to know how many people are taller than six feet tall, then you just pick people out at random, and you see that maybe forty of them are more than six feet so you guess that maybe everybody is. Sounds stupid. Well, it is and it isn't. If you pick the hundred out by seeing which ones come through a low door, you're going to get it wrong.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An answer in reply to a yes-no question, indicating there is no simple \"yes\" or \"no\" answer"
      ],
      "id": "en-it_is_and_it_isn't-en-phrase-8uJNAwtP",
      "links": [
        [
          "yes-no question",
          "yes-no question#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "yes and no"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "it is and it isn't"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "it is and it isn't",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "yes and no"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English oxymorons",
        "English phrases",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "1972: United States House Committee on the District of Columbia Hearings on Interest, Usury, and Consumer Credit, p. 111.\nMr. JENNINGS. But if it is on the basis of handling it under a \"with recourse\" situation, that isn't affected by this bill.\nMr. MIKVA. It is and it isn't.\nMr. JENNINGS. It is from the standpoint of collection, you are right."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Richard P. Feynman, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, page 84",
          "text": "If you want to know how many people are taller than six feet tall, then you just pick people out at random, and you see that maybe forty of them are more than six feet so you guess that maybe everybody is. Sounds stupid. Well, it is and it isn't. If you pick the hundred out by seeing which ones come through a low door, you're going to get it wrong.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An answer in reply to a yes-no question, indicating there is no simple \"yes\" or \"no\" answer"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "yes-no question",
          "yes-no question#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "it is and it isn't"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (a644e18 and edd475d). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.