"how" meaning in English

See how in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /haʊ/ Audio: en-us-how.ogg [US], en-uk-how.ogg [UK] Forms: how [positive], [comparative], [superlative]
Head templates: {{adjective}} [POS TABLE]
  1. You use how to ask if something was good or bad, or what qualities it has.
    Sense id: simple-how-en-adj-iBcq34we

Adverb

IPA: /haʊ/ Audio: en-us-how.ogg [US], en-uk-how.ogg [UK]
  1. The word how is used to ask about the way something happens or the way people do things.
    Sense id: simple-how-en-adv-ak2hhoF3
  2. The word how is used to tell about the way something happens or the way people do things.
    Sense id: simple-how-en-adv-k3s0UKCs
  3. The word how is used to show that you feel strongly about something.
    Sense id: simple-how-en-adv-BDmAWmxP

Conjunction

IPA: /haʊ/ Audio: en-us-how.ogg [US], en-uk-how.ogg [UK] Forms: how
Head templates: {{subordinator}} [POS TABLE]
  1. You use how to tell that something happens, is done, or is true. Synonyms: that
    Sense id: simple-how-en-conj-6ZuYHK-x Categories (other): Colloquial
{
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "How will we ever solve this problem?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The word how is used to ask about the way something happens or the way people do things."
      ],
      "id": "simple-how-en-adv-ak2hhoF3"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I know how we can solve this problem."
        },
        {
          "text": "This is how to make this machine work."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The word how is used to tell about the way something happens or the way people do things."
      ],
      "id": "simple-how-en-adv-k3s0UKCs"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "How old he looks!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The word how is used to show that you feel strongly about something."
      ],
      "id": "simple-how-en-adv-BDmAWmxP",
      "raw_tags": [
        "exclamation"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/haʊ/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/haU/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "how"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "how",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adjective"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "How was the movie?"
        },
        {
          "text": "How are you feeling?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "You use how to ask if something was good or bad, or what qualities it has."
      ],
      "id": "simple-how-en-adj-iBcq34we"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/haʊ/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/haU/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "how"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "how",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Subordinator"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "subordinator"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "conj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Colloquial",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She told him how it wasn't fun anymore."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "You use how to tell that something happens, is done, or is true."
      ],
      "id": "simple-how-en-conj-6ZuYHK-x",
      "raw_tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "that"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/haʊ/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/haU/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "how"
}
{
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "How will we ever solve this problem?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The word how is used to ask about the way something happens or the way people do things."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I know how we can solve this problem."
        },
        {
          "text": "This is how to make this machine work."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The word how is used to tell about the way something happens or the way people do things."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "How old he looks!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The word how is used to show that you feel strongly about something."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "exclamation"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/haʊ/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/haU/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "how"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "how",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adjective"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "How was the movie?"
        },
        {
          "text": "How are you feeling?"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "You use how to ask if something was good or bad, or what qualities it has."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/haʊ/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/haU/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "how"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "how",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Subordinator"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "subordinator"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "conj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Colloquial"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She told him how it wasn't fun anymore."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "You use how to tell that something happens, is done, or is true."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "that"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/haʊ/"
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/haU/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-uk-how.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "how"
}

Download raw JSONL data for how meaning in English (1.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). 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.