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con·text

context

 
 
pronunciation:
kan tekst
features:
Word Parts
part of speech: noun
definition: When people talk about the "context" of a word, they are talking about the words, phrases, and sentences that come before and after it. In general, the context of something is the setting or situation that surrounds a thing and helps give it its meaning. If you don't know a word in a sentence, the context can often help you figure out what the word means. The other words around it give clues that can help.
If we hear the sentence "Most birds fly," we will understand the meaning of "fly" differently than if we hear "There's a big fly on the window." The difference is in the context.The teacher told the students to see if they could figure out the meaning of new words by considering their context. Sometimes it helped, but sometimes they still needed to use a dictionary.
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