Learning / English Dictionary

FILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A steel hand tool with small sharp teeth on some or all of its surfaces; used for smoothing wood or metal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

hand tool (a tool used with workers' hands)

Meronyms (parts of "file"):

haft; helve (the handle of a weapon or tool)

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

blunt file (a file with parallel edges)

flat file (a file with two flat surfaces)

nailfile (a small flat file for shaping the nails)

rasp; wood file (a coarse file with sharp pointed projections)

rat-tail file (a thin round file shaped like the tail of a rat)

round file (a file with a circular cross section; used to file the inside of holes)

taper file (a file with converging edges)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Office furniture consisting of a container for keeping papers in order

Synonyms:

file; file cabinet; filing cabinet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

office furniture (furniture intended for use in an office)

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

vertical file (a file in which records are stored upright on one edge)

card catalog; card catalogue; card index (an alphabetical listing of items (e.g., books in a library) with a separate card for each item)

Derivation:

file (file a formal charge against)

file (place in a container for keeping records)

file (record in a public office or in a court of law)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A set of related records (either written or electronic) kept together

Synonyms:

data file; file

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

record (anything (such as a document or a phonograph record or a photograph) providing permanent evidence of or information about past events)

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

computer file ((computer science) a file maintained in computer-readable form)

mug book; mug file (a file of mug shots (pictures of criminals that are kept on file by the police))

tickler; tickler file (a file of memoranda or notices that remind of things to be done)

Instance hyponyms:

Combined DNA Index System (the DNA file maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Derivation:

file (file a formal charge against)

file (place in a container for keeping records)

file (record in a public office or in a court of law)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A line of persons or things ranged one behind the other

Synonyms:

file; Indian file; single file

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

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

line (a formation of people or things one behind another)

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

snake dance (a group advancing in a single-file serpentine path)

column (a line of units following one after another)

Derivation:

file (proceed in line)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

File a formal charge against

Example:

The suspect was charged with murdering his wife

Synonyms:

charge; file; lodge

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

accuse; criminate; impeach; incriminate (bring an accusation against; level a charge against)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "file"):

impeach (charge (a public official) with an offense or misdemeanor committed while in office)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody with something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

file (office furniture consisting of a container for keeping papers in order)

file (a set of related records (either written or electronic) kept together)

filer (a party who files a notice with a law court)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Place in a container for keeping records

Example:

File these bills, please

Synonyms:

file; file away

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

enter; put down; record (make a record of; set down in permanent form)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They file the newspapers

Derivation:

filing (preservation and methodical arrangement as of documents and papers etc.)

filer (a clerk who is employed to maintain the files of an organization)

file (a set of related records (either written or electronic) kept together)

file (office furniture consisting of a container for keeping papers in order)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Record in a public office or in a court of law

Example:

file a complaint

Synonyms:

file; register

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

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

register (record in writing; enter into a book of names or events or transactions)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "file"):

trademark (register the trademark of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

file (office furniture consisting of a container for keeping papers in order)

file (a set of related records (either written or electronic) kept together)

filing (the entering of a legal document into the public record)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Smooth with a file

Example:

file one's fingernails

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

smooth; smoothen (make smooth or smoother, as if by rubbing)

"File" entails doing...:

rub (move over something with pressure)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

filing (the act of using a file (as in shaping or smoothing an object))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Proceed in line

Example:

The students filed into the classroom

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

march; process (march in a procession)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Also:

file in (enter by marching in a file)

file out (march out, in a file)

Derivation:

file (a line of persons or things ranged one behind the other)

Credits

 Context examples: 

When you remember something, you pull up a file.

(Memory, NIH: National Institute on Aging)

A standard file format for transferring non-textual data over the internet.

(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, NCI Thesaurus)

Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the old daily papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A simple Cycled study requiring one file to describe the conditions.

(Cycled Drug Stability Study-Simple, Food and Drug Administration)

They went in single file, with bent legs and rounded backs, their hands occasionally touching the ground, their heads turning to left and right as they trotted along.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The literal identifier of a file that is not located within a specific record.

(External Filename, NCI Thesaurus)

The dogs worked in single file, one behind another, hauling on double traces.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

At the name I sprang from my bed, and I was in time to see three men, who had alighted from the carriage, file into the lighted hall.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A network protocol designed to move files between a computer and a host over a TCP network, such as the Internet.

(File Transfer Protocol, NCI Thesaurus)

“This is the young gentleman whose teeth are to be filed! Turn him round.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)