a suggestion or implication given in an indirect or subtle manner a helpful piece of advice or practical suggestion a small amount; trace
- when intr, often followed by at; when tr, takes a clause as object:
to suggest or imply indirectly
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
hint /hɪnt/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
v.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- an indirect, partly hidden, or helpful suggestion;
clue:Give me a hint as to his intentions. - a very slight amount that can barely be noticed:a hint of garlic in the salad dressing.
v.
- to give a hint of:[~ + object]The gray skies hinted a possible snowfall.
- to make indirect suggestion;
imply: [~ + at + object]hinted at a solution to the problem.[ ~ + at + verb-ing]:She hinted at leaving but then never did.[~ + (that) clause]hinted that changes were coming.
hint
(hint),USA pronunciation n.
v.t.
v.i.
hint′er, n.
- an indirect, covert, or helpful suggestion;
clue:Give me a hint as to his identity. - a very slight or hardly noticeable amount;
soupçon:a hint of garlic in the salad dressing. - perceived indication or suggestion;
note;
intimation:a hint of spring in the air. - [Obs.]an occasion or opportunity.
v.t.
- to give a hint of:gray skies hinting a possible snowfall.
v.i.
- to make indirect suggestion or allusion;
subtly imply (usually fol. by at):The article hinted at corruption in the mayor's office.
- 1595–1605; (noun, nominal) origin, originally, opportunity, occasion, apparently variant of obsolete hent grasp, act of seizing, derivative of the verb, verbal: to grasp, take, Middle English henten, Old English hentan; (verb, verbal) derivative of the noun, nominal
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged allusion, insinuation, innuendo; memorandum, reminder; inkling.
- 5.See corresponding entry in Unabridged imply. Hint, intimate, insinuate, suggest denote the conveying of an idea to the mind indirectly or without full or explicit statement. To hint is to convey an idea covertly or indirectly, but intelligibly:to hint that one would like a certain present; to hint that bits of gossip might be true.To intimate is to give a barely perceptible hint, often with the purpose of influencing action:to intimate that something may be possible.To insinuate is to hint artfully, often at what one would not dare to say directly:to insinuate something against someone's reputation.Suggest denotes particularly recalling something to the mind or starting a new train of thought by means of association of ideas:The name doesn't suggest anything to me.
- 5.See corresponding entry in Unabridged express, declare.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'hint at' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):