Pronunciations (3)
-
/ɡɛt/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
- Received-Pronunciation
-
/ɡɪt/
-
/ɡet/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
Verb
To obtain; to acquire.
Usage- Ditransitive
- Transitive
- Antonyms
- Examples
-
I got a new job.
I'm going to get a computer tomorrow from the discount store.
Lance is going to get Mary a ring.
To receive.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Did you get my letter?
I got a computer from my parents for my birthday.
He got a severe reprimand for that.
More examples (1)
Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.
To have. See usage notes.
Usage- Transitive
- in a perfect construction
- with present-tense meaning
- Examples
-
I have got two tickets.
I've got a concert ticket for you.
"Yeah, and I got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you," was Peter's response to his wife.
To fetch, bring, take.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Please get me a glass of water.
Can you get my bag from the living-room, please?
I need to get this to the office.
More examples (2)
Get thee out from this land.
He[…]got himself[…]to the strong town of Mega.
To become, or cause oneself to become (often with temporary states, past participle adjectives and comparatives).
Usage- copulative
- followed by an adjective
- Examples
-
It is getting dark.
Near-synonyms: become, turn, go, come, fall, grow, wax
I'm getting hungry; how about you?
More examples (3)
I'm going out to get drunk.
November 1, 1833, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk His chariot wheels get hot by driving fast.
Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.
To cause to become; to bring about.
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
We got the room ready.
That song gets me so depressed every time I hear it.
I'll get this finished by lunchtime.
More examples (3)
I can't get these boots off.
I can’t get my hands warm.
Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.
To cause to do.
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
I got him to help me.
Somehow she got him to agree to it.
I can't get it to work.
More examples (4)
I can't get it working.
I can’t get my kids to go to bed early.
Get him to say his prayers.
Anstruther laughed good-naturedly. “[…] I shall take out half a dozen intelligent maistries from our Press and get them to give our villagers instruction when they begin work and when they are in the fields.”
To cause to come or go or move.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
We got the boxes into the car.
I got him to his room.
Get thee behind me.
To adopt, assume, arrive at, or progress towards (a certain position, location, state).
Usage- Intransitive
- usually
- for specific idiomatic senses see individual entries get into
- with various prepositions
- Examples
-
We got home at six.
The actors are getting into position.
When are we going to get to London?
More examples (2)
I'm getting into a muddle.
We got behind the wall.
To cover (a certain distance) while travelling.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
to get a mile
(with full infinitive or gerund-participle) To begin (doing something or to do something).
Usage- catenative
- Intransitive
- Examples
-
We ought to get moving or we'll be late.
After lunch we got chatting.
More examples (1)
I'm getting to like him better now.
To take or catch (a scheduled transportation service).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Let's get the next bus.
I normally get the 7:45 train.
I'll get the 9 a.m. [flight] to Boston.
To respond to (a telephone call, a doorbell, etc).
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
Can you get the phone?
Can you get that call, please? I'm busy.
(with full infinitive) To be able, be permitted, or have the opportunity (to do something desirable or ironically implied to be desirable).
Usage- catenative
- Intransitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
We get to visit the museum tomorrow.
I'm so jealous that you got to see them perform live!
The finders get to keep 80 percent of the treasure.
More examples (1)
Great. I get to clean the toilets today.
To understand. (compare get it)
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
I get what you mean.
Yeah, I get it, it's just not funny.
I don't get what you mean by "fun". This place sucks!
More examples (1)
I mentioned that I was feeling sad, so she mailed me a box of chocolates. She gets me.
To be told; be the recipient of (a question, comparison, opinion, etc.).
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
"You look just like Helen Mirren." / "I get that a lot."
More examples (1)
Do you mind? Excuse me / I saw you over there / Can I just tell you ¶ Although there are millions of / Cephalophores that wander through this world / You've got something extra going on / I think you probably know ¶ You probably get that a lot / I'll bet that people say that a lot to you, girl.
Used with the past participle to form the dynamic passive voice of a dynamic verb. Compared with static passive with to be, this emphasizes the commencement of an action or entry into a state.
Usage- auxiliary
- Informal
- Synonyms
- to be
- Examples
-
The window got broken.
He got bitten by a dog.
More examples (1)
Of particular importance is the bureaucratic organization of European judiciaries. The judiciary is a career. You start at the bottom and get assigned and promoted at the pleasure of your superiors.
Used with a pronoun subject, usually you but sometimes one, to indicate that the object of the verb exists, can occur or is otherwise typical.
Usage- impersonal
- Informal
- Examples
-
You get some very rude people here.
It was the kind of shop you used to get in most small towns.
More examples (3)
He thinks that proper to northern man is the cellular composition, you know, the kind of thing one gets in Celtic ornamentation, for example, which a subject that interests him greatly.
You get non-binary people – you get people who don't identify as a man or a woman.
It was a terrible place to live. You get places like that. It is just the way it is.
To become ill with or catch (a disease).
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
He got the flu last winter.
I went on holiday and got malaria.
I don't have the strength to get up and take another shot / And my best friend, my doctor, won't even say what it is I've got.
To catch out, trick successfully.
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
He keeps calling pretending to be my boss—it gets me every time.
To perplex, stump.
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
That question's really got me.
To find as an answer.
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
What did you get for question four?
To bring to reckoning; to catch (usually as a criminal); to effect retribution.
Usage- Informal
- Transitive
- Examples
-
The cops finally got me.
I'm gonna get him for that.
To hear completely; catch.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
I didn't get your name.
Sorry, I didn't get that. Could you repeat it?
To getter.
Usage- Transitive
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
I put the getter into the container to get the gases.
To beget (of a father).
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
-
I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself / Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
More examples (1)
Walter had said, dear God, Thomas, it was St fucking Felicity if I'm not mistaken, and her face was to the wall for sure the night I got you.
To learn; to commit to memory; to memorize; sometimes with out.
Usage- Archaic
- Examples
-
to get a lesson; to get out one's Greek lesson
it being harder with him to get one sermon by heart, than to pen twenty
Used with a personal pronoun to indicate that someone is being pretentious or grandiose.
Usage- imperative
- Informal
- Examples
-
Get her with her new hairdo.
Brother, get her! Draped on a bedspread made from three kinds of fur!
More examples (1)
Money's pouring in somewhere, because Churchgate's got lovely new stone setts, and a cultural quarter (ooh, get her) is promised.
To go, to leave; to scram.
Usage- imperative
- Informal
- Intransitive
- Examples
-
Get, now — get! — before I call an officer and lay a charge against ye.
More examples (1)
I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't no flashlight and I wasn't too curious, just then, to find out what would happen if he did more than wave it at me, so I got. I went back about twenty feet or so and watched.
'Go on, get. You look a state. We can't let Leo see you like that.'
More examples (2)
Now go on, get! Get! Get! (she chases Joanne out the door with the hammer.)
"[…] and then I'll switch over to the police band to know when the bacon's getting ready to stick its nose in. When I tell you to get, you get, understand?" Calamity asks as she retapes the earbud into her ear.
To kill.
Usage- euphemistic
- Examples
-
They’re coming to get you, Barbara.
He got Dancer and Prancer with an old German Luger And he slashed up Dasher just like Freddy Krueger
To make acquisitions; to gain; to profit.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
- Examples
-
We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get.
To measure.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Did you get her temperature?
To cause someone to laugh.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
It gets me every time!
Noun
Offspring, especially illegitimate.
Usage- Dated
- Examples
-
More examples (1)
At the time when I am making these observations, one of his colts is the first favourite for the Derby; and it will be recollected, that a filly of his get won the Oaks in 1808.
You must admit that the bastard get of Paul Atreides would be no more than juicy morsels for those two [tigers].
‘You were a high lord's get. Don't tell me Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell never killed a man.’
Lineage.
A difficult return or block of a shot.
Something gotten, something gained or won; an acquisition.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
-
I had reconnected with the lust of my life while landing a big get for the magazine.
A message or post on an online platform, particularly imageboards, with a unique identifier deemed special or rare, usually due to patterns in the ID.
Usage- Internet
Noun
Synonym of git (“contemptible person”).
Usage- Ireland
- UK usage
- Regional
- Examples
-
Kylie: Oi, Bono! You lazy get! Have you finished my song yet?
Noun
A Jewish writ of divorce.
Usage- Judaism
- Examples
-
In Israel, rabbinic courts can imprison men until they acquiesce and grant gets to their wives.
Noun
a return on a shot that seemed impossible to reach and would normally have resulted in a point for the opponent
- Broader terms
Verb
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
She got a lot of paintings from her uncle
They acquired a new pet
More examples (2)
Get your results the next day
Get permission to take a few days off from work
enter or assume a certain state or condition
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
He became annoyed when he heard the bad news
It must be getting more serious
More examples (3)
her face went red with anger
She went into ecstasy
Get going!
cause to move; cause to be in a certain position or condition
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
He got his squad on the ball
This let me in for a big surprise
More examples (1)
He got a girl into trouble
receive a specified treatment (abstract)
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
These aspects of civilization do not find expression or receive an interpretation
His movie received a good review
More examples (1)
I got nothing but trouble for my good intentions
reach a destination; arrive by movement or progress
- Examples
-
She arrived home at 7 o'clock
She didn't get to Chicago until after midnight
go or come after and bring or take back
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
Get me those books over there, please
Could you bring the wine?
More examples (1)
The dog fetched the hat
go through (mental or physical states or experiences)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
get an idea
experience vertigo
More examples (3)
get nauseous
receive injuries
have a feeling
take vengeance on or get even
- Examples
-
We'll get them!
That'll fix him good!
More examples (1)
This time I got him
achieve a point or goal
- Examples
-
Nicklaus had a 70
The Brazilian team got 4 goals
More examples (1)
She made 29 points that day
cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner
- Examples
-
The ads induced me to buy a VCR
My children finally got me to buy a computer
More examples (1)
My wife made me buy a new sofa
succeed in catching or seizing, especially after a chase
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
We finally got the suspect
Did you catch the thief?
come to have or undergo a change of (physical features and attributes)
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
He grew a beard
The patient developed abdominal pains
More examples (2)
I got funny spots all over my body
Well-developed breasts
be stricken by an illness, fall victim to an illness
- Examples
-
He got AIDS
She came down with pneumonia
More examples (1)
She took a chill
communicate with a place or person; establish communication with, as if by telephone
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
Bill called this number and he got Mary
The operator couldn't get Kobe because of the earthquake
give certain properties to something
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
get someone mad
She made us look silly
More examples (4)
He made a fool of himself at the meeting
Don't make this into a big deal
This invention will make you a millionaire
Make yourself clear
move into a desired direction of discourse
- Examples
-
What are you driving at?
grasp with the mind or develop an understanding of
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
did you catch that allusion?
We caught something of his theory in the lecture
More examples (4)
don't catch your meaning
did you get it?
She didn't get the joke
I just don't get him
attract and fix
- Examples
-
His look caught her
She caught his eye
More examples (1)
Catch the attention of the waiter
reach with a blow or hit in a particular spot
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
the rock caught her in the back of the head
The blow got him in the back
More examples (1)
The punch caught him in the stomach
reach by calculation
- Examples
-
What do you get when you add up these numbers?
acquire as a result of some effort or action
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
You cannot get water out of a stone
Where did she get these news?
purchase
- Examples
-
What did you get at the toy store?
perceive by hearing
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
I didn't catch your name
She didn't get his name when they met the first time
suffer from the receipt of
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
She will catch hell for this behavior!
receive as a retribution or punishment
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
He got 5 years in prison
leave immediately; used usually in the imperative form
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
Scram!
reach and board
- Examples
-
She got the bus just as it was leaving
irritate
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
Her childish behavior really gets to me
His lying really gets me
evoke an emotional response
- Examples
-
Brahms's ‘Requiem’ gets me every time
apprehend and reproduce accurately
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
She really caught the spirit of the place in her drawings
She got the mood just right in her photographs
earn or achieve a base by being walked by the pitcher
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
He drew a base on balls
overcome or destroy
- Examples
-
The ice storm got my hibiscus
the cat got the goldfish
be a mystery or bewildering to
- Examples
-
This beats me!
Got me — I don't know the answer!
More examples (2)
a vexing problem
This question really stuck me
take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
- Examples
-
We began working at dawn
Who will start?
More examples (4)
Get working as soon as the sun rises!
The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia
He began early in the day
Let's get down to work now
undergo (as of injuries and illnesses)
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
She suffered a fracture in the accident
He had an insulin shock after eating three candy bars
More examples (2)
She got a bruise on her leg
He got his arm broken in the scuffle
make (offspring) by reproduction
- Examples
-
Abraham begot Isaac
John fathered four daughters