Meaning of clue in English

clue

noun [ C ]

/kluː/ us

/kluː/

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a sign or some information that helps you to find the answer to a problem, question, or mystery:

look for a clue Police are still looking for clues in their search for the missing girl.

give someone a clue I'm never going to guess the answer if you don't give me a clue.

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The police found a vital clue to the girl's disappearance in a wooded area near her home.
Forensic scientists are going over the victim's flat in a search for clues about the murderer.
The police are collecting clues in order to piece together the details of the day she died.
He pored over the letter searching for clues about the writer.
The police tried to reconstruct the crime using the statements of witnesses and clues that they had found.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Solving and solutions

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Idiom

not have a clue/have no clue

clue

verb

/kluː/ us

/kluː/

present participle clueing or cluing | past tense and past participle clued

to write or create clues for something such as a crossword (= a game in which you have to write words in a pattern of black and white squares) or other game:

I've got a crossword grid almost ready to post online — I just have to finish cluing it.

This game doesn't have a very interesting story, it's not obvious what to do, and the puzzles in it are very badly clued.

US informal

to give someone information that helps them understand something:

The character disguises her identity, cluing us about the movie's fascination with deception.

clue someone that There was nothing to clue the staff that this guy should not have been in the building.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Miscellaneous games & activities

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Knowledge and awareness

Phrasal verbs

clue in

clue someone in

(Definition of clue from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

clue | American Dictionary

clue

noun [ C ]

/klu/

Add to word list Add to word list

information that helps you to find the answer to a problem, question, or mystery:

For five months, Russell remained a fugitive, leaving no clues as to his whereabouts.

(Definition of clue from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of clue

clue

The study investigated the effectiveness of (1) a general strategy, (2) recognition and interpretation of specific context clues, and (3) practice with feedback.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Infants' ability to consult the speaker for clues to word reference.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Nonetheless, it is possible to approach this issue by determining cellular and subcellular localization of the protein which may provide clues to its function.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, many endogenous groups do have clues in locating their potential members.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One distinctive feature which should provide clues to the sources of human infection is seasonality.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Present clues on the composition of organic refractories and silicates will be given.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

First, we think that it is necessary to discuss the different clues for life that could be relevant as biosignatures.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

No record exists, of course, that makes it possible to determine early human behaviour, so anatomical remains provide the best clues.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the case of maple trees, the characteristic shapes of their leaves offer natural rather than artificial clues for recognizing perceived trees as maples.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Valuable clues about infracommunity dynamics may be gained by using co-occurrence patterns in component communities.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Fluctuations in the magnitude of the seasonal variation of births over time may provide clues to its aetiology.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Fluctuations in the magnitude of the seasonal variation may provide clues to its aetiology.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Identifying risk factors such as childhood adversities can often uncover important clues as to the aetiology of a disorder.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The clues that participants give to suggest that dance can aid in counteracting the marginalization of their situation are there in a variety of instances.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The first approach is based on the observation that partial utterances provide clues for possible choices for completion.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with clue

clue

These are words often used in combination with clue.

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context clue

Teaching the context clue approach to meaning.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

contextual clue

This system can learn to detect certain types of contextual clues, and can react accordingly with context changes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

important clue

One cannot look into the minds of a nameless crowd decades on: but there is an important clue.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with clue

What is the pronunciation of clue?

Translations of clue

in Chinese (Traditional)

線索, 跡象, 提示…

Meaning of clue in English

Idiom

Phrasal verbs

clue | American Dictionary

Examples of clue

Collocations with clue

clue

Translations of clue

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