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# ex

«ex» in Mova's school dictionary: **A person's former husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend:…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (an ex, exes; informal); prefix (ex-); preposition (ex, Latin)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (informal) A person's former husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend: «my mum's ex». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#m1)

2) As a prefix «ex-», it means «former» or «no longer»: ex-teacher, ex-president, ex-wife. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#m2)

3) (money, formal) «ex» means «without»: «ex VAT» means without the tax. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#m3)

4) The letter X. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In adult life, after a divorce or break-up, people call their former partner «my ex». In news and stories «ex-» shows who someone used to be. In maths, «x» (said «ex») is often the unknown number. Phrases: «my ex», «his ex-wife», «ex-pupil», «ex-boyfriend».

### examples

- Dad still gets on well with his ex. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#x1)
- My aunt's ex came to the party. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#x2)
- Mr Lee is an ex-soldier. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#x3)
- She is an ex-pupil of our school. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#x4)
- The ex-champion now trains young swimmers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#x5)
- In the sum 3 + x = 7, «ex» stands for 4. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/#x6)

### note

Informal as a noun; plural exes. As a prefix it needs a hyphen: ex-wife. Trap: do not confuse with «x» the letter used in algebra, which sounds the same. Sensitive word in family talk.

### In the corpora

- [Someone's «ex» is a person they used to be married to or go out with.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/311-good-manners-and-safety-in-town/20/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ex» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/ex/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.