meddle

«meddle» in Mova's school dictionary: To get involved in someone else's business when you are… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (meddle, meddles, meddled, meddling)

meaning for a pupil

1) To get involved in someone else's business when you are not wanted, and often make things worse. tree →

2) To touch or fiddle with something you should leave alone: «don't meddle with the wires». tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories, a meddler pokes their nose into other people's lives, like a nosy neighbour or a busybody aunt; meddling characters often cause trouble. In safety, «don't meddle with» electricity, gas or medicines. Phrases: «meddle in someone's affairs», «meddle with», «stop meddling». Famous line from cartoons: «those meddling kids» (Scooby-Doo).

examples

• Please don't meddle in our argument. tree →
• My little brother meddled with my model and broke it. tree →
• Never meddle with electric sockets. tree →
• The nosy neighbour always meddles in other people's business. tree →
• «I would have got away with it, if it weren't for you meddling kids!» tree →
• She meddled with the TV settings and now nothing works. tree →
• Grandma says it's best not to meddle. tree →
• Countries should not meddle in other countries' elections. tree →

note

Regular verb: meddled, meddling. Noun: meddler; adjective: meddlesome. Followed by «in» (affairs) or «with» (objects). Homophone: «medal» (a prize) – sounds the same, different meaning! Not a maths word.

In the corpora

• He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets; therefore meddle not with him that openeth wide his lips.
• My son, fear thou the LORD and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change;
• He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife not his own, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «meddle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.