📖 N — The English dictionary · page 4

naught — Everyday, meaning 1: (old-fashioned, literary) Nothing.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (mainly US) Zero, the number 0 (UK and others usually write "nought").↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A good-for-naught is a lazy or useless person who never does anything good.↗ Early Modern English, meaning 1: Not any thing; nothing at all.↗ Example: All their hard work came to naught when the rain washed the sandcastle away.↗ · The knight's quest was all for naught.↗ · "It is naught but a bad dream," said the wizard.↗ · Their plans came to naught.↗ · Without water, the seeds will grow to naught.↗ · He cared naught for gold.↗ · The final score was two to naught.↗ (US)↗ · “Alas!” said the young man, “her father is a wandering good-for-naught, who has forsaken wife and child, and gone off—who knows where?↗ · "Hasn't thou naught for supper, dame?" said he to his wife.↗ (More English Fairy Tales) · The next court you shall pay reverence to, but do naught nor say aught.↗ (More English Fairy Tales) · “Alas!” said the young man, “her father is a wandering good-for-naught, who has forsaken wife and child, and gone off—who knows where?↗ (The Crimson Fairy Book)

naughtiness — Everyday, meaning 1: Naughtiness is bad behaviour, especially by children, such as not doing what you are told or being cheeky.↗ Example: The puppy's naughtiness made us laugh.↗ · There will be no more naughtiness at bedtime.↗ · Teachers deal with naughtiness in class.↗ · His naughtiness got him sent to his room.↗ · The twins were famous for their naughtiness.↗ · A little naughtiness is normal for toddlers.↗ · I know thy presumptuousness, and the naughtiness of thy heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.'↗ (Prophets 1SA.17.28, JPS 1917)↗

naughty — Everyday, meaning 1: Naughty describes a child or pet that behaves badly or does not obey.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Naughty can describe something a bit rude or not proper, in a joking way.↗ Early Modern English, meaning 1: Bad, worthless or wicked; of no value.↗ Example: The naughty puppy chewed my shoe.↗ · Don't be naughty in class.↗ · He was sent to the naughty step.↗ · Santa checks who's naughty or nice.↗ · My little sister was naughty and hid the remote.↗ · It was naughty of you to eat all the biscuits!↗ · The naughty kitten knocked over the vase.↗ · You naughty children--how could you be so disobedient?↗ · I never knew her so naughty before.”↗ (Peter Pan) · You naughty children--how could you be so disobedient?↗ (The Book of Dragons) · “Fie!” said he.↗ “How naughty a boy Cupid is!↗ (Andersen's Fairy Tales)

nausea — Everyday, meaning 1: The feeling that you are going to be sick (vomit).↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) A strong feeling of disgust.↗ Example: The boat trip gave me nausea.↗ · Nausea is a common symptom of a stomach bug.↗ · A wave of nausea came over her on the bus.↗ · Ginger biscuits can help with nausea.↗ · Tell an adult if you have nausea and a bad headache.↗ · The smell filled him with nausea.↗ · Looking out of the window can ease car nausea.↗

nauseating — Everyday, meaning 1: Making you feel sick, as if you might vomit.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) Very annoying or unpleasant, as in "nauseating showing-off".↗ Example: The smell from the bin was nauseating.↗ · The rollercoaster was so fast it was nauseating.↗ · Reading in the car can be nauseating.↗ · His bragging was nauseating.↗ · The rotten eggs gave off a nauseating stink.↗ · Some medicines have nauseating side effects.↗ · The boat rocked in a nauseating way.↗

nautical — Everyday, meaning 1: To do with ships, sailing or sailors.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Using things or designs from the sea and ships: nautical stripes.↗ Example: A nautical mile is longer than a normal mile.↗ · The captain studied the nautical chart.↗ · Our bathroom has a nautical theme with anchors.↗ · «Port» and «starboard» are nautical words for left and right.↗ · She wore a nautical striped top.↗ · Sailors learn many nautical knots.↗ · The museum is full of nautical treasures.↗ · They all donned pirate clothes cut off at the knee, shaved smartly, and tumbled up, with the true nautical roll and hitching their trousers.↗

nautilus — Everyday, meaning 1: A sea animal related to the octopus and squid, which lives inside a coiled, striped shell divided into chambers.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Nautilus: the name of famous submarines, including Captain Nemo's in Jules Verne's novel and the first nuclear submarine (a name).↗ Example: A nautilus has up to ninety small tentacles.↗ · The nautilus shell is a beautiful spiral.↗ · The nautilus moves up and down by filling its chambers with gas or water.↗ · In «Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea», the submarine is called the Nautilus.↗ · We saw a nautilus at the aquarium.↗ · Ammonites were ancient animals like the nautilus.↗ · She had watched jelly-fish and nautilus swimming a little way below the surface, and beautiful coloured sea-weeds floating about; but that was all.↗

navajo — Everyday, meaning 1: A Native American people of the south-western USA (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah), who call themselves the Diné.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Their language, Navajo, which is still spoken today.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (adjective) To do with the Navajo people, as in Navajo weaving.↗ Example: The Navajo Nation spreads across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.↗ · Navajo Code Talkers helped the USA in the Second World War.↗ · Many Navajo people still speak the Navajo language.↗ · We looked at Navajo weaving in the museum.↗ · The Navajo call themselves the Diné, meaning "the people".↗ · Monument Valley lies on Navajo land.↗ · The Long Walk of 1864 forced thousands of Navajo from their homeland.↗

naval — Everyday, meaning 1: Naval means to do with a navy, warships or sailors in the armed forces: a naval officer, a naval battle.↗ Example: Nelson won the naval battle of Trafalgar.↗ · Grandpa was a naval officer in the Royal Navy.↗ · Portsmouth has a famous naval museum.↗ · The naval base is full of grey warships.↗ · Britain was a great naval power for centuries.↗ · The naval band played on the dock.↗ · The naval officer's widow had never heard of them before.↗

nave — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: The middle part of a wheel, into which the spokes are fixed.↗ Example: And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel; their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.↗ (Prophets 1KI.7.33, JPS 1917)↗

navel — Everyday, meaning 1: The small hollow or bump in the middle of your tummy, left where the umbilical cord was joined before you were born; your belly button.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (figurative) The centre of something, as in "the navel of the world".↗ Example: Your navel is where the umbilical cord was.↗ · Most people call the navel a belly button.↗ · A navel orange has a small bump at one end.↗ · Some people have an "innie" navel and some an "outie".↗ · Mammals have navels, but birds hatched from eggs do not.↗ · Stop navel-gazing and help us!↗ · The yoga teacher told us to breathe into the navel.↗ · It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.↗ (Writings PRO.3.8, JPS 1917)↗ · Thy navel is like a round goblet, wherein no mingled wine is wanting; thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.↗ (Writings SNG.7.3, JPS 1917)↗ · And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water for cleansing; thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.↗ (Prophets EZK.16.4, JPS 1917)↗

navigate — Everyday, meaning 1: To find the way to a place, using a map, compass, stars or GPS.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To steer a ship, plane or vehicle along a route.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To move safely through or past difficult things: navigate the busy streets.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (computing) To move around a website or app: navigate to the menu.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: To deal with a hard situation: navigate friendships.↗ Example: We used a compass to navigate through the forest.↗ · Sailors once navigated by the stars.↗ · Can you navigate while I drive?↗ · It was hard to navigate the crowded station.↗ · Click here to navigate to the home page.↗ · Bats navigate in the dark using sound.↗ · The captain navigated the ship through the storm.↗ · Starting a new school can be tricky to navigate.↗

navigation — Everyday, meaning 1: The skill or process of finding your way or planning a route, especially at sea or in the air.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The steering of a ship or plane.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (computing) The way you move around a website or app; its menus and links.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: A system that shows the way, such as a sat nav.↗ Example: Navigation was hard for early explorers.↗ · Our car has a navigation system.↗ · Birds use the Earth's magnetism for navigation.↗ · The website has easy navigation.↗ · We learned map and compass navigation on camp.↗ · The lighthouse helps with navigation at night.↗ · Turn on the navigation app before we leave.↗ · They were at last blown on shore, for navigation was primitive in those days.↗

navigator — Everyday, meaning 1: A person who works out the route of a ship, plane or car and tells the driver or pilot where to go.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A sat-nav or app that shows the way.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (history) A sailor-explorer who found new sea routes.↗ Example: Dad drove and I was the navigator with the map.↗ · The navigator used the stars to find the way at night.↗ · Captain Cook was a famous navigator.↗ · The plane's navigator checked the course.↗ · Our phone's navigator told us to turn left.↗ · Polynesian navigators crossed the Pacific in canoes.↗ · Be a good navigator and read the signs.↗

navy — Everyday, meaning 1: A navy is the part of a country's armed forces that fights at sea, with ships, sailors and submarines.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Navy (navy blue) is a very dark blue colour.↗ Example: My uncle served in the Royal Navy for ten years.↗ · Our school jumper is navy blue.↗ · The navy sent ships to help after the flood.↗ · She wore a navy coat and red boots.↗ · Sailors in the navy learn to swim and tie knots.↗ · The two navies fought a great sea battle.↗ · "Could we ever forgive ourselves if by neglecting a simple precaution we lost more rabbits--or even, perhaps, our navy, our police, and our fire brigade?↗ · And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.↗ (Prophets 1KI.9.27, JPS 1917)↗ · And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of sandal-wood and precious stones.↗ (Prophets 1KI.10.11, JPS 1917)↗ · And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.↗ (Prophets 1KI.9.26, JPS 1917)↗

nay — Everyday, meaning 1: (old-fashioned) Nay means «no».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (formal) Nay is used to add a stronger word: «It was hard, nay, impossible», meaning «not only that, but even».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (noun) A nay is a «no» vote, as in «the ayes and the nays».↗ Early Modern English, meaning 1: A word for "no", or a word that corrects what has just been said ("rather").↗ Example: «Nay, my lord,» said the knight, «I will not go.»↗ · The vote was ten yeas and four nays.↗ · The task was difficult, nay, impossible.↗ · In the King James Bible: «Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.»↗ · The senators shouted «nay!».↗ · Whether you say yea or nay, we must decide tonight.↗ · “Nay,” purred Bagheera, “that may not be.↗ · And He said: 'Nay; but thou didst laugh.'↗ (Torah GEN.18.15, JPS 1917)↗ · And they said unto him: 'Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.↗ (Torah GEN.42.10, JPS 1917)↗ · And he said unto them: 'Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.'↗ (Torah GEN.42.12, JPS 1917)↗ · Nay; but He would give heed unto me.↗ (Writings JOB.23.6, JPS 1917)↗ · And the people said unto Joshua: 'Nay; but we will serve the LORD.'↗ (Prophets JOS.24.21, JPS 1917)↗ · And they said unto her: 'Nay, but we will return with thee unto thy people.'↗ (Writings RUT.1.10, JPS 1917)↗ · And He said: 'Nay; but thou didst laugh.'↗ (Torah GEN.18.15, JPS 1917) · “Nay,” purred Bagheera, “that may not be.↗ (The Jungle Book) · And they said unto him: 'Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.↗ (Torah GEN.42.10, JPS 1917)

nazi — Everyday, meaning 1: A member of the political party led by Adolf Hitler that ruled Germany before and during World War Two; it believed some people were better than others and murdered millions, including in the Holocaust.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (adjective) To do with that party or its ideas.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal, insult) Someone who is extremely strict or bossy about rules: a grammar nazi — this use is careless and can upset people.↗ Example: The Nazis ruled Germany during World War Two.↗ · We learned how the Nazis persecuted Jewish people.↗ · Anne Frank hid from the Nazis.↗ · Many countries fought to defeat Nazi Germany.↗ · The Holocaust was carried out by the Nazis.↗ · Nazi ideas were based on hate.↗ · Calling your teacher a «grammar nazi» is not kind.↗

nb — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: The letters "nb" are a fragment of damaged scanned text, and the passage around them is Hebrew letters read wrongly.↗ In other writing "NB" means "note well".↗ Example: nB3 mynp nna ni2isn hpa graved by the voice, hewn out :mDipD nti-ens in the air, and fixed in the moutli in five places.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗