Library / English Dictionary

CUE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sports implement consisting of a tapering rod used to strike a cue ball in pool or billiards

Synonyms:

cue; cue stick; pool cue; pool stick

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cue" is a kind of...):

sports implement (an implement used in a sport)

Meronyms (parts of "cue"):

stock (the handle end of some implements or tools)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A stimulus that provides information about what to do

Synonyms:

cue; discriminative stimulus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cue" is a kind of...):

input; stimulant; stimulation; stimulus (any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Evidence that helps to solve a problem

Synonyms:

clew; clue; cue

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cue" is a kind of...):

evidence (an indication that makes something evident)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cue"):

mark; sign (a perceptible indication of something not immediately apparent (as a visible clue that something has happened))

Sense 4

Meaning:

An actor's line that immediately precedes and serves as a reminder for some action or speech

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("cue" is a kind of...):

actor's line; speech; words (words making up the dialogue of a play)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cue"):

prompt; prompting (a cue given to a performer (usually the beginning of the next line to be spoken))

Derivation:

cue (assist (somebody acting or reciting) by suggesting the next words of something forgotten or imperfectly learned)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Assist (somebody acting or reciting) by suggesting the next words of something forgotten or imperfectly learned

Synonyms:

cue; prompt; remind

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "cue" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

cue (an actor's line that immediately precedes and serves as a reminder for some action or speech)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Altogether, the newly discovered fat-burning pathway works like this: a neural circuit in the brain produces serotonin in response to sensory cues, such as food availability.

(Scientists Find Brain Hormone That Triggers Fat Burning, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Those acoustic cues arise from many sources, not least the animals living on reefs.

(Loudspeakers used to attract fish back to dying coral reefs, SciDev.Net)

Words like revolution gave him his cue.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was as a cue to him, seeming to rouse him to do what he would never have dreamed of doing.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But the greatest effect in these miserable lessons is when my mother (thinking nobody is observing her) tries to give me the cue by the motion of her lips.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

All the social cues that normally foster connection are less readily available to the child, so the child doesn’t receive the optimal emotional input it needs to thrive.

(Mothers’ and babies’ brains ‘more in tune’ when mother is happy, University of Cambridge)

However, today's robots and computers are not socially aware, so they cannot adapt to non-verbal cues.

(Eyes Can Indicate Personality Type, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Researchers say the migration indexes can help address a gap in scientists' knowledge about the cues birds use to fine-tune migration timing in response to climate.

(Seasonality of bird migration responds to environmental cues, NSF)

The review also distinguishes between information produced incidentally—what scientists call a cue—and information an organism produces intentionally—a signal.

(Study considers sensory impacts of environmental change on ocean species, National Science Foundation)

Saif said that the teams envision the advance leading to the development of multicellular engineered living systems with the ability to respond intelligently to environmental cues.

(Researchers build microscopic biohybrid robots propelled by muscles, nerves, National Science Foundation)