way

You can use way to emphasize, for example, that something is a great distance away or is very much below or above a particular level or amount.

You use way with a number to indicate how many parts or quantities something is divided into.

If you refer to a way of doing something, you are referring to how you can do it, for example, the action you can take or the method you can use to achieve it.

If you talk about the way someone does something, you are talking about the qualities their action has.

If a general statement or description is true in a particular way, this is the form of it that is true in a particular case.

You use way in expressions such as in some ways, in many ways, and in every way to indicate the degree or extent to which a statement is true.

The ways of a particular person or group of people are their customs or their usual behaviour.

If you refer to someone's way, you are referring to their usual or preferred type of behaviour.

You use way to refer to one particular opinion or interpretation of something, when others are possible.

You use way when mentioning one of a number of possible, alternative results or decisions.

The way you feel about something is your attitude to it or your opinion about it.

If you mention the way that something happens, you are mentioning the fact that it happens.

You use way in expressions such as push your way, work your way, or eat your way, followed by a prepositional phrase or adverb, in order to indicate movement, progress, or force as well as the action described by the verb.

The way somewhere consists of the different places that you go through or the route that you take in order to get there.

If you go or look a particular way, you go or look in that direction.

You can refer to the direction you are travelling in as your way.

If you lose your way, you take a wrong or unfamiliar route, so that you do not know how to get to the place that you want to go to. If you find your way, you manage to get to the place that you want to go to.

You talk about people going their different ways in order to say that their lives develop differently and they have less contact with each other.

If something comes your way, you get it or receive it.

You use way in expressions such as the right way up and the other way around to refer to one of two or more possible positions or arrangements that something can have.

If you split something a number of ways, you divide it into a number of different parts or quantities, usually fairly equal in size.

Way is used in expressions such as a long way, a little way, and quite a way, to say how far away something is or how far you have travelled.

Way is used in expressions such as a long way, a little way, and quite a way, to say how far away in time something is.

You use way in expressions such as all the way, most of the way and half the way to refer to the extent to which an action has been completed.

You use all the way to emphasize how long a distance is.

You can use all the way to emphasize that your remark applies to every part of a situation, activity, or period of time.

If someone says that you can't have it both ways, they are telling you that you have to choose between two things and cannot do or have them both.

You say by the way when you add something to what you are saying, especially something that you have just thought of.

If you clear the way, open the way, or prepare the way for something, you create an opportunity for it to happen.

If you say that someone takes the easy way out, you disapprove of them because they do what is easiest for them in a difficult situation, rather than dealing with it properly.

You use either way in order to introduce a statement that is true in each of the two possible or alternative cases that you have just mentioned.

If you say that a particular type of action or development is the way forward, you approve of it because it is likely to lead to success.

If someone gets their way or has their way, nobody stops them from doing what they want to do. You can also say that someone gets their own way or has their own way.

If one thing gives way to another, the first thing is replaced by the second.

If an object that is supporting something gives way, it breaks or collapses, so that it can no longer support that thing.

You use in no way or not in any way to emphasize that a statement is not at all true.

If you say that something is true in a way, you mean that although it is not completely true, it is true to a limited extent or in certain respects. You use in a way to reduce the force of a statement.

If you say that someone gets in the way or is in the way, you are annoyed because their presence or their actions stop you from doing something properly.

To get in the way of something means to make it difficult for it to happen, continue, or be appreciated properly.

If you know your way around a particular subject, system, or job, you know all the procedures and facts about it.

If you lead the way along a particular route, you go along it in front of someone in order to show them where to go.

If a person or group leads the way in a particular activity, they are the first person or group to do it or they make the most new developments in it.

If you say that someone or something has come a long way, you mean that they have developed, progressed, or become very successful.

If you say that something is a long way from being true, you are emphasizing that it is definitely not true.

If you say that something goes a long way towards doing a particular thing, you mean that it is an important factor in achieving that thing.

If you say that someone has lost their way, you are criticizing them because they do not have any good ideas anymore, or seem to have become unsure about what to do.

When you make your way somewhere, you walk or travel there.

If one person or thing makes way for another, the first is replaced by the second.

If you say there's no way that something will happen, you are emphasizing that you think it will definitely not happen.

You can say no way as an emphatic way of saying no.

If you are on your way, you have started your trip somewhere.

If something happens on the way or along the way, it happens during the course of a particular event or process.

If you are on your way or well on your way to something, you have made so much progress that you are almost certain to achieve that thing.

If something is on the way or on its way, it will arrive soon.

You can use one way or another or one way or the other when you want to say that something definitely happens, but without giving any details about how it happens.

You use one way or the other or one way or another to refer to two possible decisions or conclusions that have previously been mentioned, without stating which one is reached or preferred.

You use the other way around to refer to the opposite of what you have just said.

If something or someone is on the way out or on their way out, they are likely to disappear or to be replaced very soon.

If you go out of your way to do something, for example, to help someone, you make a special effort to do it.

If you keep out of someone's way or stay out of their way, you avoid them or do not get involved with them.

When something is out of the way, it has finished or you have dealt with it, so that it is no longer a problem or needs no more time spent on it.

If you go your own way, you do what you want rather than what everyone else does or expects.

You use in the same way to introduce a situation that you are comparing with one that you have just mentioned, because there is a strong similarity between them.

You can use that way and this way to refer to a statement or comment that you have just made.

You can use that way or this way to refer to an action or situation that you have just mentioned, when you go on to mention the likely consequence or effect of it.