CLUE | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of clue in English

clue
noun [ C ]
us
/kluː/ uk
/kluː/
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B2
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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Idiom

not have a clue/have no clue
clue
verb
us
/kluː/ uk
/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 have 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:

Phrasal verbs

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

clue | Intermediate English

clue
noun [ C ]
us
/klu/
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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
I laugh at myself, the 22-year-old buying wine and having no clue all the work it took to get that bottle on that shelf.
From The Atlantic
Releasing clues like this doesn't make it easy to guess what the lineup will be.
From Huffington Post
Puzzle clues and treasure are all over the place, waiting to be discovered.
From CNN
The clue is really in the title with this one.
From Huffington Post
One clue to the answer lives in one of the most common words for money: credit.
From The Atlantic
There's no way for them to tell what time of the day it is, except for clues provided by us.
From National Geographic
The hallmark symptom that should be a clue to pregnant women and their doctors is the development of snoring.
From CNN
He set to work clearing out the site, gathering clues about its past from neighbors who came to thank him.
From OregonLive.com
There were no clues to where they came from.
From Dallas Morning News
The first clue appeared more than four years after her disappearance.
From OregonLive.com
And it's not even the one with the clues.
From Wired
Runway trends serve as guideposts and offer clues to changes in our culture.
From Washington Post
The current generation science and technology seems to hold lot of clues to life.
From Voice of America
But if it's also your reality, you're going to start reading, looking for clues about yourself.
From NPR
If you are not copied on an email or not included in a meeting, you might not have a clue why a decision was made.
From TIME
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.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

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
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.
See all collocations with clue
What is the pronunciation of clue?
 
B2

Translations of clue

in Chinese (Traditional)
線索, 跡象, 提示…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
线索, 迹象, 提示…
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in Spanish
pista, pista [feminine]…
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in Portuguese
pista, dica, pista [feminine]…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
एखाद्या महितीच्या आधारे एखाद्या प्रश्नाची उकल होणे, सुगावा…
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手がかり、ヒント, 手（て）がかり…
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ipucu…
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indication [feminine], indice [masculine], indice…
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pista…
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aanwijzing…
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ஒரு சிக்கல், கேள்வி அல்லது மர்மத்திற்கான பதிலைக் கண்டறிய உதவும் அடையாளம் அல்லது சில தகவல்கள்…
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सुराग…
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ચાવી, કડીઓ…
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spor, indicium, fingerpeg…
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ledtråd, vågrätt (lodrätt) ord i korsord…
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petunjuk…
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der Anhaltspunkt…
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spor [neuter], hint [neuter], holdepunkt…
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سراغ, کھوج, اہم نکتہ…
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ключ…
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улика, подсказка…
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క్లూ, గుర్తు, ఏదైనా సమస్య/ప్రశ్న/రహస్యానికి సమాధానం కనుగొనడానికి సహాయపడే కొంత సమాచారం.…
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دَليل…
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রহস্য সমাধানের সূত্র…
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klíč, stopa, legenda…
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petunjuk…
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ร่องรอย…
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đầu mố…
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wskazówka…
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단서…
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indizio, indicazione, definizione…
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cluck
clucked
clucking
clucky
clue
clue in
clued in
clued up
clueless

Word of the Day

balancing act

UK
/ˈbæl.ən.sɪŋ ˌækt/
US
/ˈbæl.ən.sɪŋ ˌækt/

a difficult situation in which someone has to try to give equal amounts of importance, time, attention, etc. to two or more different things at the same time

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Binding, nailing, and gluing: talking about fastening things together

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