“Wait” or “Weight”

wait / weight are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

wait w·EY·t

nounthe act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something).
verbstay in one place and anticipate or expect something.
verbwait before acting.
verbserve as a waiter or waitress in a restaurant.

weight w·EY·t

nounthe vertical force exerted by a mass as a result of gravity.
nounsports equipment used in calisthenic exercises and weightlifting; it is not attached to anything and is raised and lowered by use of the hands and arms.
nounthe relative importance granted to something.
nounan artifact that is heavy.
nounan oppressive feeling of heavy force.
noun(statistics) a coefficient assigned to elements of a frequency distribution in order to represent their relative importance.

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“wait”

…Lovecraft's creations by name would wait until Dragon magazine issue #12…
…and hopes that Angsumalin will wait for him and marry him…
…U-732 that was lying in wait for the convoy, allowing it…
…point but may have to wait until the driver deems that…
…“I thought the book could wait 10 years, when the kids…
…a silent understanding and a wait of over ten years" until…
…remained in their place to wait for Zur.
…it, as he wanted to wait until the script was complete.
…average amount of time people wait at a stop or station…
…by a revolution where they wait to return one day.

“weight”

…in the Easton affair, the weight of her colleagues' evidence being…
…to win titles in six weight divisions, the first being Oscar…
However half of the weight of the train on the…
Estimated weight savings over the heavier duty…
whenever someone comments on Annabelle's weight), and just sees Annabelle as…
…the livre (a unit of weight equal to half a kilogram)…
Their large size and light weight take little effort to propel;…
…Japanese attempts to achieve sufficient weight of forces to overcome the
…drilled out and a lead weight inserted, with rows of large…
…intended to have an empty weight under to fit into the…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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