- a suggestion or implication given in an indirect or subtle manner
- a helpful piece of advice or practical suggestion
- a small amount; trace
- when intr, often followed by at; when tr, takes a clause as object: to suggest or imply indirectly
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
hint /hɪnt/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
v.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- an indirect, partly hidden, or helpful suggestion;
clue:Give me a hint as to his intentions. - a very slight amount that can barely be noticed:a hint of garlic in the salad dressing.
v.
- to give a hint of:[~ + object]The gray skies hinted a possible snowfall.
- to make indirect suggestion;
imply: [~ + at + object]hinted at a solution to the problem.[ ~ + at + verb-ing]:She hinted at leaving but then never did.[~ + (that) clause]hinted that changes were coming.
hint
(hint),USA pronunciation n.
v.t.
v.i.
hint′er, n.
- an indirect, covert, or helpful suggestion;
clue:Give me a hint as to his identity. - a very slight or hardly noticeable amount;
soupçon:a hint of garlic in the salad dressing. - perceived indication or suggestion;
note;
intimation:a hint of spring in the air. - [Obs.]an occasion or opportunity.
v.t.
- to give a hint of:gray skies hinting a possible snowfall.
v.i.
- to make indirect suggestion or allusion;
subtly imply (usually fol. by at):The article hinted at corruption in the mayor's office.
- 1595–1605; (noun, nominal) origin, originally, opportunity, occasion, apparently variant of obsolete hent grasp, act of seizing, derivative of the verb, verbal: to grasp, take, Middle English henten, Old English hentan; (verb, verbal) derivative of the noun, nominal
- 1. allusion, insinuation, innuendo; memorandum, reminder; inkling. 5. imply. Hint, intimate, insinuate, suggest denote the conveying of an idea to the mind indirectly or without full or explicit statement. To hint is to convey an idea covertly or indirectly, but intelligibly:to hint that one would like a certain present; to hint that bits of gossip might be true.To intimate is to give a barely perceptible hint, often with the purpose of influencing action:to intimate that something may be possible.To insinuate is to hint artfully, often at what one would not dare to say directly:to insinuate something against someone's reputation.Suggest denotes particularly recalling something to the mind or starting a new train of thought by means of association of ideas:The name doesn't suggest anything to me.
- 5. express, declare.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
hint /hɪnt/ n
'hinted at' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):