What does "type" mean?
A grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.
Type
/taɪp/ adv, noun, verb, slang
adv, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.
- Grammar: type is listed as adv, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: sort, adumbration, aesthetic form, affinity.
- Useful contrasts: anomaly, antitype, backspace.
- Usage evidence: Surprisingly, he is the type that worries about being in the public eye.
How to use "type"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "type" 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 "type" 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 "type" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "type" 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 "type" is acting as adv, noun, verb, slang 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 "sort" 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.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "type", 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 grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.
"This type of plane can handle rough weather more easily than that type of plane."
- 2 a small metal block bearing a raised character on one end; produces a printed character when inked and pressed on paper wordnet
- 3 An individual considered typical of its class, one regarded as typifying a certain profession, environment, etc.
"Look, with these gals that want to buy it, most of them are older, dignified. Social Register types, you know what I mean? They can't be trotting down to Times Square to pick out the merchandise. They got to have some kind of, uh, middleman."
- 4 a subdivision of a particular kind of thing wordnet
- 5 An individual that represents the ideal for its class; an embodiment.
"Altogether he was the type of low ruffianism — as ill-conditioned a looking brute as ever ginned a hare."
Show 16 more definitions
- 6 all of the tokens of the same symbol wordnet
- 7 A letter or character used for printing, historically a cast or engraved block.; Such types collectively, or a set of type of one font or size. uncountable
- 8 printed characters wordnet
- 9 A letter or character used for printing, historically a cast or engraved block.; Text printed with such type, or imitating its characteristics. uncountable
"The headline was set in bold type."
- 10 (biology) the taxonomic group whose characteristics are used to define the next higher taxon wordnet
- 11 Something, often a specimen, selected as an objective anchor to connect a scientific name to a taxon; this need not be representative or typical.
"...thus Stearn has designated Linnaeus as the type specimen of Homo sapiens"
- 12 a person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities) wordnet
- 13 Preferred sort of person; sort of person that one is attracted to.
"We can't get along: he's just not my type."
- 14 A blood group.
- 15 A word that occurs in a text or corpus irrespective of how many times it occurs, as opposed to a token.
- 16 An event or person that prefigures or foreshadows a later event - commonly an Old Testament event linked to Christian times.
- 17 A tag attached to variables and values used in determining which kinds of value can be used in which situations; a data type.
- 18 The original object, or class of objects, scene, face, or conception, which becomes the subject of a copy; especially, the design on the face of a medal or a coin.
- 19 A simple compound, used as a mode or pattern to which other compounds are conveniently regarded as being related, and from which they may be actually or theoretically derived.
"The fundamental types used to express the simplest and most essential chemical relations are hydrochloric acid, water, ammonia, and methane."
- 20 A part of the partition of the object domain of a logical theory (which due to the existence of such partition, would be called a typed theory). (Note: this corresponds to the notion of "data type" in computing theory.)
"Logics of the second and higher orders may be regarded as type-theoretic systems."
- 21 A symbol, emblem, or example of something.
Verb
- 1 To put text on paper using a typewriter.
- 2 identify as belonging to a certain type wordnet
- 3 To enter text or commands into a computer using a keyboard.
- 4 write by means of a keyboard with types wordnet
- 5 To determine the blood type of.
"The doctor ordered the lab to type the patient for a blood transfusion."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To represent by a type, model, or symbol beforehand; to prefigure.
- 7 To furnish an expression or copy of; to represent; to typify.
"Let us type them now in our own lives."
- 8 To categorize into types.
"It was a full load, a disparate group that he had already typed and cross-matched with their potential for future crime."
Adverb
- 1 Very, extremely. not-comparable, rare, slang
"I don't think Brooklyn slang is that different from Manhattan slang. But I'm not used to a lot of the slang my friends use. Months ago, I first heard, "There are mad heads here." I was like, "Where did that come from?" For a while they were saying, "That's type funny." I was like: "What? What do you mean by that?" It means "very funny." Or they were like, "That's dumb stupid." I'm like, "That's redundant.""
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Surprisingly, he is the type that worries about being in the public eye."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "type"?
Common synonyms include: sort, adumbration, aesthetic form, affinity, alien, allegory.
How do you use "type" in a sentence?
Surprisingly, he is the type that worries about being in the public eye.
How do you pronounce "type"?
Pronounced /taɪp/.
Etymology
From Middle English type (“symbol, figure, emblem”), from Latin typus, from Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, “mark, impression, type”), from τύπτω (túptō, “I strike, beat”).