Meaning of mark in English

mark

noun

/mɑːk/ us

/mɑːrk/

mark noun (DIFFERENT AREA)

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B2 [ C ]

a small area on the surface of something that is damaged, dirty, or different in some way:

There were dirty marks on her trousers where she had wiped her hands.

His fingers had left marks on the table's polished surface.

She had a red mark on her arm where she'd burned herself.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

a mark on something

markThe backs of the chairs have left marks on the wall.
stainShe had grass stains on her white jeans.
smearHe had smears of tomato ketchup on his shirt.
smudgeNo matter how often I wash my hands, I leave smudges all over my phone's screen.
blotchHe had blotches all over his face.
speckShe looked through the old camera lens and saw specks of dust.

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[ C ]

a typical feature or one that allows you to recognize someone or something:

Did your attacker have any distinguishing marks, such as a scar or a birthmark?

You can tell which puppy is which from the marks (also markings) on their fur.

More examplesFewer examples

She scrubbed at the mark on the wall for ages, but it wouldn't come off.
His shoes left muddy marks on the floor.
The bush looked badly diseased, with black marks on all the leaves.
The blood had left an indelible mark on her shirt.
Don't put anything wet on a polished surface, or it will leave a mark.

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Dirt & untidiness

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Conditions and characteristics

mark noun (SYMBOL)

C1 [ C ]

a symbol that is used for giving information:

I've put a mark on the map where I think we should go for a picnic.

What do those marks in the middle of the road mean?

[ C ]

a written or printed symbol:

a question mark

an exclamation mark

punctuation marks

More examplesFewer examples

I put a mark where the level of the water reached.
These marks represent the number of people affected by drought.
If you are taller than this mark, you cannot enter the play area.
I put the phrase in quotation marks.
Do these marks on the document actually mean anything?

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Signs, signals and symbols

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mark noun (FOR SCHOOL WORK)

A2 [ C ] mainly UK

(US usually grade)

a judgment, expressed as a number or letter, about the quality of a piece of work done at school, college, or university:

What mark did you get in the biology exam?

Matilda's had very good marks in/for English throughout the year.

UK You scored full marks in the test - ten out of ten!

Synonym

grade

More examplesFewer examples

What mark did he get in his exam?
She did no revision, but she still got a very high mark.
She got good marks for all her work.
I need good marks to go on to the next part of the course.
The teacher gave a me a good mark for my essay.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Marks & results

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mark noun (LEVEL)

[ S ]

the level intended or wanted:

Sales have already passed the million mark.

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Deaths have passed the thousand mark.
Her earnings passed the $1 million mark.

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Measurements in general

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Quality and standard

mark noun (REPRESENTATION)

C2 [ C ]

an action that is understood to represent or show a characteristic of a person or thing or feeling:

He took off his hat as a mark of respect for her dead husband.

It's the mark of a gentleman to stand up when someone enters the room.

I'd like to give this bottle of wine as a mark of appreciation for all the work you've done for us.

More examplesFewer examples

The flag was flying at half-mast to mark the death of the president.
The recent free elections mark the next step in the country's progress towards democracy.
Many diplomats attended a naval review to mark the anniversary of the end of the war.
A statue was erected to mark the bicentenary of the composer's birth.
The Ural mountains mark the boundary between Europe and Asia.

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Showing and demonstrating

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Typifying, illustrating and exemplifying

mark noun (MONEY)

[ C ]

a Deutschmark

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Currencies

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Idioms

be off the mark
be quick/slow off the mark
be up to the mark
leave your/its mark on someone/something
make a/your mark (on something)
on your marks, get set, go!

mark

verb

/mɑːk/ us

/mɑːrk/

mark verb (PIECE OF WORK)

B2 [ T ] mainly UK

(US usually grade)

to correct mistakes in and give points for a piece of work:

I was up half the night marking exam papers.

UK You'll be marked down (= given a lower mark) for poor spelling and punctuation.

Synonym

grade

More examplesFewer examples

I marked the level in the bottles so that nobody can take any.
The place where the treasure is buried is marked with a stone cross.
Our route was marked by flags in the sand.
I've marked the best route to our house.
Can you mark the amount of work you've done each week on this chart?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Marks & results

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mark verb (DAMAGE/MAKE DIRTY)

C1 [ I or T ]

to make a mark on something or someone:

Make sure you don't mark the walls while you're moving the furniture around.

A dark carpet won't mark as easily as a light one.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making things dirty & untidy

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mark verb (REPRESENT)

[ T ]

to represent or show a characteristic of a person or thing or feeling:

The band's songs have always been marked by controversial lyrics.

The signing of the treaty marked a major milestone on the road to European union.

[ T ]

to show respect for or commemorate:

Tomorrow's parade will mark the 50th anniversary of the battle.

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Typifying, illustrating and exemplifying

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Showing respect and admiration

Remembering, reminding and reminders

mark verb (INDICATE)

B2 [ T ]

to show where something is by drawing or putting something somewhere:

I've marked the route around the town's one-way system on the map.

I'd like everyone to mark their progress on the chart every week.

X marks the spot where the treasure is buried.

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Showing and demonstrating

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mark verb (SPORTS)

[ T ] UK

(US cover)

to prevent a member of the opposing team from taking control of the ball by staying close to them all the time

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

General terms used in ball sports

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Idioms

be marked out as something
(you) mark my words!
mark time

Phrasal verbs

mark something down
mark someone down as something
mark something/someone off
mark something off
mark something out
mark something up

Mark

noun

/mɑːk/ us

/mɑːrk/

used before a number to describe a particular version of a machine, especially one that is an improvement on the original version:

The car has enjoyed modest success since its launch, but the Mark 2 version is expected to be far more popular.

used before a number to show what temperature you should use for cooking something in a gas oven:

Cook at Mark 5 for 20 minutes.

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Categories and varieties

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Measurements of temperature

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

mark | American Dictionary

mark

noun [ C ]

/mɑrk/

mark noun [C] (SMALL AREA)

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a small area on the surface of something that is damaged, dirty, a different color, or in some other way not like the rest of the surface:

You’ve got paint marks on your shirt.

There were skid marks where the car had gone off the road.

mark noun [C] (WRITING)

a written or printed symbol:

a punctuation mark

a check mark

Put a mark in the box that corresponds to the correct answer.

mark noun [C] (SIGN)

an action that is understood to represent a characteristic or feeling:

As a mark of respect for those who died, there will be a minute of silence.

mark noun [C] (JUDGMENT)

a letter or number used as a measure of how good a student’s work is, usually given by a teacher; a grade:

I got a decent mark on my final exam and wound up with a B for the course.

fig. If you give someone high/low marks for something, you judge that person to be good or bad in a particular way:

I’d certainly give him high marks for perseverance, but he doesn’t have much talent.

mark noun [C] (PURPOSE)

an intended result or an object aimed at:

Mass marketing techniques very often miss their intended marks.

Her arrow hit the mark.

mark

verb [ T ]

/mɑrk/

mark verb [T] (REPRESENT)

to represent something that has happened in the past or is about to happen:

A guided tour will be held to mark the opening of the new school.

Today marks my tenth anniversary with this company.

mark verb [T] (SMALL AREA)

to put a line, spot, color, etc., that is different from the rest of a surface on a small area of that surface :

Sale items are marked in red on the tags.

mark verb [T] (JUDGMENT)

to put a number or letter on a student’s work that shows how good it is:

I have a stack of exam papers to mark.

Phrasal verbs

mark down something
mark down something/someone
mark off something
mark up something

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

mark | Business English

mark

noun

/mɑːk/ us

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C ]

a small area on a surface that is damaged, dirty, a different colour, etc.:

She returned the garment because it had a mark on the front.

[ C ]

a symbol or sign which is used for showing where or what something is:

For every customer who comes through the door, put a mark in this column.

[ S ]

a level that is important in some way:

the million dollar/10-billion/30-minute, etc. mark The Dow Jones Index broke through the 5,100 mark.

pass/top/exceed the ... mark Sales have already passed the million mark.

[ C ]

a number or score saying how good something is or how well someone has done:

We give them a mark out of ten for service, food quality, and value for money.

a mark of sth

something that shows or proves a particular quality, feeling, etc.:

With wine, an appellation is not necessarily a mark of quality.

On the day of his funeral, the factory closed early as a mark of respect.

leave your/its mark on sb/sth

to have an effect that changes someone or something, often in a bad way:

The hurricane continues to leave its mark on abandoned strip malls and empty houses.

make a/your mark (on sth)

to have an important effect on something:

He is beginning to make his mark on the shape and direction of the Wall Street firm.

I was very ambitious, and I wanted to make a mark.

off the mark

not correct:

His criticisms are way off the mark.

You may only be guessing, but you are not far off the mark.

not at the level that was expected:

It is difficult to pinpoint why sales are off the mark.

Why are his projections so far off the mark?

up to the mark

good enough:

Her latest batch of work just isn't up to the mark.

mark

verb [ T ]

/mɑːk/ us

to write, print, or put information on something:

mark sth with sth Make sure everything is marked with the sale price.

be marked sth She divided the papers into piles marked "action" and "no action".

to be something or show that something exists:

That figure marks a 26% increase since the same time last year.

The deal marked a high point in her career.

Phrasal verbs

mark sth down

mark sth up

(Definition of mark from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of mark

mark

For example, planning breathing between phrases systematically and marking this on the music generally increased their sense of control.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This sensitivity marked not only his philosophical writings, but also his historical ones.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There is also the question of marking pupils' or students' work.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Of these, only 1% of past temporal reference contexts were marked by periphrastic did.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The occasion marked the official return to the past.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

No trace of them remains today, although a cairn marking the location has been erected.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Participants made more errors and took longer to respond when gender was ambiguously marked with the -e ending.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Coders were trained to mark the onset and offset of expressions reflecting low/moderate positive, high positive, low/moderate negative, and high negative affect.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

After that, no more unmarked bumblebees visited the site, only the previously marked animals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The years between 1945 and 1970 were marked by significant social changes, which were particularly visible in the context of the lives of women.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This divergence is always possible, and there is typically nothing in promulgation to mark the cases where it obtains from ones where it does not.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, remarriage risk might be negatively correlated with hard times, marked by a rise in grain prices.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These differences indicate a much more fundamental distinction between them as regards which participant they each mark in a given motion description.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

More indirectly, these two stylistic dimensions mark different epistemic relations to the discourse, emphasizing and privileging different kinds of information.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Here, the telephone is a unique and familiar object (and hence it is marked with the definite determiner), but it is not specific.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of mark

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 mark

mark

These are words often used in combination with mark.

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bite mark

One possible issue facing bite mark analysis is a lack of bite mark uniqueness in any given population.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

chalk mark

I have heard of one ease of a house occupied by three families, and the only division was a chalk mark on the floor.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

claw marks

A variety of tracks and claw marks have been discovered which are claimed to belong to the creature.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

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What is the pronunciation of mark, Mark?

Translations of mark

in Chinese (Traditional)

不同的區域, 痕跡, 汙點…

in Chinese (Simplified)

不同的区域, 痕迹, 污点…

in Spanish

mancha, nota, corregir…

in Portuguese

marca, nota, dar nota a…

in more languages

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in Danish

in Swedish

in Malay

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in Urdu

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in Italian

डाग, खूण, चिन्ह…

しみ, 評点, 採点する…

iz, leke, işaret…

tache [feminine], marque [feminine], signe [masculine]…

taca, nota, corregir…

mark, cijfer, vlek…

சேதமடைந்த, அழுக்கு அல்லது ஏதேனும் ஒரு வழியில் வேறுபட்ட ஒன்றின் மேற்பரப்பில் ஒரு சிறிய பகுதி, ஒரு பொதுவான அம்சம் அல்லது ஒருவரை அல்லது எதையாவது அடையாளம் காண உங்களை அனுமதிக்கும் ஒன்று…

(क्षतिग्रस्त या गंदा या भिन्न होने का) निशान, (पहचान हेतु कोई) निशान, (जानकारी देने हेतु प्रयुक्त एक) निशान…

ચિહ્ન (ક્ષતિગ્રસ્ત અથવા ગંદા અથવા અલગ), ચિહ્ન (કોઈ ઓળખવા માટે), નિશાની…

D-mark, karakter, plet…

D-mark, betyg, fläck…

mark, markah, kesan…

die Deutsche Mark, die Note, der Fleck…