net

«net» in Mova's school dictionary: A material made of string, thread or wire tied together… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a net, nets; "the Net" — the internet); verb (net, nets, netted, netting); adjective (net, as in net weight)

meaning for a pupil

1) A material made of string, thread or wire tied together with holes in between, or a thing made of it, like a fishing net, a butterfly net or a goal net. tree →

2) The net (or the Net) is short for the internet. tree →

3) In maths, a net is a flat shape that can be folded to make a 3D shape. tree →

4) As an adjective, net means what is left after taking things away, like net weight (without the packaging). tree →

5) As a verb, to net is to catch in a net, or to score a goal. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths, nets are important: a cube's net has 6 squares; a net of a square-based pyramid has a square and 4 triangles. In sport, nets are used in football goals, tennis, volleyball and netball. In science, scientists catch insects or pond creatures in nets for a short time and let them go. Net weight on food packets means the food alone. Phrases: "fishing net", "safety net", "the net of a cube", "net weight", "surf the net", "back of the net".

examples

• We used a net to catch tadpoles in the pond. tree →
• This is the net of a cube: six squares joined together. tree →
• The ball hit the back of the net. tree →
• The tennis ball hit the net and bounced back. tree →
• Draw a net for a triangular prism. tree →
• The net weight of the cereal is 500 g. tree →
• Fishermen pulled in their nets full of fish. tree →
• She netted two goals in the match. tree →
• SOME FISHERMEN were out trawling their nets. tree →

note

Countable: a net, nets; verb doubles the t: netted, netting. "Netting" is net material. In maths, not every set of 6 joined squares is a net of a cube: some arrangements will not fold into one. "Net" (what is left) is the opposite of "gross" (the total before taking away).

In the corpora

• Benefits are paid for by everyone's taxes as a safety net, and many families who work get some help too.
• In Aesop's fable from ancient Greece, about 2500 years ago, a little mouse saves a lion by gnawing through a net.
• Sawfish are critically endangered, mainly because their saws tangle in fishing nets.
• When you cut yourself, platelets and stringy fibres make a net that plugs the cut and hardens into a scab.
• Fish come from the wild sea or from fish farms, like the round floating net pens in Scottish lochs.

Trees and pragmatics

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