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Synonyms

are

1 American  
[ahr, er] / ɑr, ər /

verb

  1. present indicative plural and 2nd person singular of be.

are 2 American  
[air, ahr] / ɛər, ɑr /

noun

  1. a measure of surface area: 1 are is equal to 1/100 (0.01) of a hectare (100 square meters or 119.6 square yards). a

are 1 British  
/ ɑː, ə /

verb

  1. the plural form of the present tense (indicative mood) of the verb `be' and the singular form used with you

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
are 2 British  
/ ɑː /

noun

  1.  a.  a unit of area equal to 100 sq metres or 119.599 sq yards; one hundredth of a hectare

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of are1

First recorded before 900; Middle English aren, are, arn, Old English (Northumbrian) aron; cognate with Old Norse eru, 3rd person plural; replacing Old English bēoth, sind; cf. art 2

Origin of are2

First recorded in 1810–20; from French, from Latin ārea “vacant piece of level ground, open space in a town, threshing floor”; see area

Explanation

Are is the plural of "is" and "am," a form of the most common verb "be." He is going, but we are going. Are is also used with you, as in, "Are you going to the movies?" In English, the forms of be break down like this: "I am; you are; he is; we are; they are; you (more than one of you) are." Are, of course, is only used when you are talking about things that are happening now. When they already happened, the word is were: we are here now, but we were there yesterday. Are is also a metric measurement equal to 100 square meters, but the unit is rarely used these days.

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Example Sentences

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.