Pronunciations (12)
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/nəʊ/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/no/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
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/noː/
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
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/niː/
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/neː/
Pronunciation notes
- sometimes
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/noʊ/
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
- General-American
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/nəʉ/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
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/nɐʉ/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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/nœʊ/
Pronunciation notes
- General-South-African
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/næ/
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/nɜː/
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/nɑː/
Determiner
Not any.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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There is no milk left.
no one
There is no water left.
More examples (4)
No hot dogs were sold yesterday.
I've got no wife and no children either.
No two people are the same.
There was no score at the end of the first period. (The score was 0-0.)
Hardly any.
- Examples
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We'll be finished in no time at all.
Fifty pounds for this is no money, really.
Not any possibility or allowance of (something).
- Examples
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No parking here.
No smoking. No parking.
There's no stopping her once she gets going.
More examples (1)
No under-18s (allowed).
Not (a); not properly, not really; not fully.
- Examples
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My mother's no fool.
Working nine to five every day is no life.
More examples (1)
No geese have blue beaks.
Adverb
Not, not at all. Used before different, before comparatives with more and less, and idiomatically before other comparatives.
Usage- not-comparable
- with following adjective
- Examples
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This bag is no bigger than mine.
It is a less physical kind of torture, but no less gruesome.
I can think of no more deserving cause.
More examples (3)
Look no further than one's nose.
This is no different from what we've been doing all along.
Is your sister any better? ~ No different. Still ill.
Not, not at all. Used idiomatically before certain other adjectives.
Usage- Informal
- not-comparable
- with following adjective
- Examples
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This thing is no good.
The teacher’s decision was no fair.
Not.
Usage- Scotland
- Informal
- not-comparable
- without adjective
- Examples
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I just want to find out whether she's coming or no.
Can ye no help me?
More examples (1)
AS the Devil is not so Black as he is Painted, so neither does he appear in so many Shapes as we make for him; we Dress him up in more Suits of Cloaths, and more Masquerade Habits, than ever he wore; and I question much, if he was to see the Pictures and Figures which we call Devil, whether he would know himself by some of them or no.
Not, does not, do not, etc.
Usage- Colloquial
- Humorous
- not-comparable
- usually
- Examples
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Ug no like veggie.
Particle
Used to show disagreement, negation, denial, refusal, or prohibition.
- Examples
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No, I cannot come today.
No, you are mistaken.
No, you may not watch television now.
More examples (2)
David, no!
Why is it when I say 'no', you both hear 'yes'?
Used to express sadness or disappointment.
- Examples
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"We lost." "No!"
Used to express disbelief.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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I got the job! / No! Really? That's fantastic!
Used to show agreement with a negative question.
- Examples
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"You don't eat meat?" "No, I don't."
"Don’t you like milk?" "No." (i.e., "No, I don’t like milk.")
Used together with an affirmative word or phrase to show agreement.
Usage- Colloquial
- Examples
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No, totally.
No, yeah, that's exactly right.
More examples (1)
"Wow!" "Yeah, no, it was really awful!"
Preposition
Without.
- Examples
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Look Ma, no hands!
Like.
Noun
A negating expression; an answer that shows disagreement, denial, refusal, or disapproval.
- Examples
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His answer was a firm no.
Q: I'll answer any ten questions that call for a yes or a no.
A vote not in favor, or opposing a proposition.
- Examples
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The workers voted on whether to strike, and there were thirty yeses and two nos.
Verb
To say “no”.
Usage- Colloquial
- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
She felt disquiet at these tales of Musa’s illicit activities. ‘Does your father know?’ / ‘My father always noes. He never yeses. Specially when he’s sick, then he noes all the time. I gotta get out. Can’t stick around the house with him yelling.[…]’
“Heaven knows why a woman ‘Noes’!” / Clarrie nodded glumly. “And why she ‘Yesses’ in the end.”
There were days, entire years of his life, spent yessing and noing on the phone, picking up and hanging up and accomplishing nothing at all.
To answer with “no”; to decline, reject.
Usage- Colloquial
- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Never accustom yourself to say ‘Yes,’—practise an emphatic and decisive enunciation of the far more dignified and important monosyllable, ‘No.’ […] Believe me, it is of the utmost importance (the advice is not of recent date) that you should No the world.
BUDGET DIRECTOR SMITH / The President yessed his report […] SENATOR McCARRAN / He noed the President’s report
More examples (1)
Yet in every such instance—and there are scores of them—the Justices can do nothing but impotently point toward future action after Yessing or Noing past action by men in a position to act.
Adjective
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns for indicating a complete or almost complete lack or zero quantity of
- Examples
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we have no bananas
no eggs left and no money to buy any
More examples (3)
have you no decency?
did it with no help
I'll get you there in no time
Noun
a negative
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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his no was loud and clear
Adverb
referring to the degree to which a certain quality is present
- Synonyms
- Examples
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he was no heavier than a child
not in any degree or manner; not at all
- Examples
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he is no better today
used to express refusal or denial or disagreement etc. or especially to emphasize a negative statement
- Examples
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no, you are wrong