What does "hinge" mean?
A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
Hinge
/ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
- Grammar: hinge is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: accrue from, ankle, arbor, arise from.
- Useful contrasts: detach, halt, nonessential factor.
- Usage evidence: One hinge snapped, then the other, and down came the door with a crash.
How to use "hinge"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hinge" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hinge" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hinge" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hinge" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hinge" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "accrue from" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
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Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hinge", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A jointed or flexible device that allows the pivoting of a door etc.
"The massy portals of the churches swung creaking on their hinges; and some lay dead on the pavement."
- 2 a joint that holds two parts together so that one can swing relative to the other wordnet
- 3 A naturally occurring joint resembling such hardware in form or action, as in the shell of a bivalve.
"The pedicel of the pollinium is articulated as before by a hinge to the disc; it can move freely only in one direction owing to one end of the disc being upturned."
- 4 a circumstance upon which subsequent events depend wordnet
- 5 A stamp hinge, a folded and gummed paper rectangle for affixing postage stamps in an album.
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A principle, or a point in time, on which subsequent reasonings or events depend.
"This argument was the hinge on which the question turned."
- 7 The median of the upper or lower half of a batch, sample, or probability distribution.
- 8 One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south.
"If when the Moon is in the Hinge at East, / The Birth breaks forward from its native rest; / Full Eighty Years, if you two Years abate, / This Station gives, and long defers its Fate"
- 9 A movement that presents itself as rotation when an off-centre fixed point is taken into account.
- 10 In polyamory, a person connected emotionally or sexually to two others who are not connected to each other.
- 11 To be in poor health; to be out of sorts. dialectal
Verb
- 1 To attach by, or equip with a hinge. transitive
- 2 attach with a hinge wordnet
- 3 To depend on something. intransitive
"Games can hinge on the sort of controversial decision made by Taylor in the 10th minute. After Rivière collected Gabriel Obertan’s pass and sashayed beyond Daley Blind he drew the United centre-half into a rash, clumsy challenge but, puzzlingly, Taylor detected no penalty."
- 4 The breaking off of the distal end of a knapped stone flake whose presumed course across the face of the stone core was truncated prematurely, leaving not a feathered distal end but instead the scar of a nearly perpendicular break. transitive
"The flake hinged at an inclusion in the core."
- 5 To bend. obsolete
"Be thou a Flatterer now, and ſeeke to thriue / By that which ha's^([sic – meaning has]) vndone thee; hindge thy knee, / And let his very breath whom thou'lt obſerue / Blow off thy Cap: [...]"
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To move or already be positioned in such a fashion that it presents itself as rotation when an off-centre fixed point is taken into account.
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"One hinge snapped, then the other, and down came the door with a crash."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hinge"?
Common synonyms include: accrue from, ankle, arbor, arise from, articulate, articulation.
How do you use "hinge" in a sentence?
One hinge snapped, then the other, and down came the door with a crash.
How do you pronounce "hinge"?
Pronounced /ˈhɪnd͡ʒ/.
Etymology
From Middle English henge (“hinge”), from Old English *henġ or *henġe (“hinge”), from Proto-West Germanic *hangiju or *hangī; compare Old English *henġe- in henġeclif (“overhanging cliff”), Old English henġen (“hanging; that upon which a thing is hung”). Akin to Scots heenge (“hinge”), Saterland Frisian Hänge (“hinge”), Low German henge (“hook, hinge, handle”), Dutch heng (“moving leaf of a hinge”), geheng (“hinge”), Middle Dutch henghe, hanghe (“hook, hinge, handle”), Scots hingel (“any attachment by which something is hung or fastened”), Dutch hengel (“hook”), hengsel (“handle”), dialectal German Hängel (“hook, joint”), German Henkel (“handle, hook”), Danish hængsel (“hinge”), Faroese hongsl (“hinge”), Icelandic hengsli (“hinge”), Norwegian hengsel (“hinge”), Swedish hängsle (“suspender”), Old English hōn (“to hang”), hangian (“to cause to hang, hang up”). More at hang.