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# man

«man» in Mova's school dictionary: **a grown-up male person** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (man, men); verb (man, mans, manned, manning); interjection (man!)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A man is a grown-up male person. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#m1)

2) Man can mean people in general (old use): «Man has walked on the Moon.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#m2)

3) To man something is to work at it or be in charge of it: man the desk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#m3)

4) In games, a man is a piece: a chess man. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In maths a man is a person in the story; men are counted in groups (men and women add to make people) or work at a rate. In everyday life: «Ladies and gentlemen», a snowman, a postman, a fireman (now often firefighter). In stories men are characters: the old man, a wise man.

### examples

- A man buys 3 shirts. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x1)
- 5 men can paint a house in 4 days. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x2)
- There are 12 men and 15 women. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x3)
- How many people in all? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x4)
- The man at the shop gave me my change. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x5)
- My dad is a tall man with a beard. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x6)
- We built a snowman in the garden. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x7)
- Two men manned the lifeboat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x8)
- The old man fed the ducks every morning. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x9)
- THE SHIPWRECKED MAN AND THE SEA [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/man/#x10)

### note

Irregular plural: «men» (one man, two men; not «mans»). «Mankind» means all people; many now say «people» or «humankind». Many job words now avoid «-man»: firefighter, police officer, mail carrier. Maths: groups of men and women add. Trap: «men working together» may need rates, not simple adding.

### In the corpora

- [A widow is a woman whose husband has died, and a widower is a man whose wife has died.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/24-when-someone-dies/18/)
- [Scene: in Dublin, Nan sees a man with a tape measure outside the Kellys' house.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/42-our-street-feuds-newcomers-and-stories-that-grow/4/)
- [A man who comes home at strange hours may be a hospital porter on night shifts.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/43-our-street-when-a-guess-becomes-a-reputation/4/)
- [In November 2019 Prince Andrew stepped back from public duties after a BBC interview about his friendship with a man convicted of serious crimes.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/44-the-royal-family-in-the-news-a-wedding-a-move-to-america-an-interview-and-a-book/22/)
- [A long word for a yes-man is "sycophantic".](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/5-hallucinations-confident-made-up-answers/3/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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