gift
1 Americannoun
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something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
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the act of giving.
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something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned.
Those extra points he got in the game were a total gift.
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a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent.
the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.
verb (used with object)
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to present with as a gift; bestow gifts upon; endow with.
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to present (someone) with a gift.
just the thing to gift the newlyweds.
noun
noun
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something given; a present
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a special aptitude, ability, or power; talent
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the power or right to give or bestow (esp in the phrases in the gift of, in ( someone's ) gift )
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the act or process of giving
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(usually negative) to find fault with a free gift or chance benefit
verb
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to present (something) as a gift to (a person)
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(often foll by with) to present (someone) with a gift
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rare to endow with; bestow
acronym
Related Words
See present 2.
Other Word Forms
- giftless adjective
Etymology
Origin of gift
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old Norse gift; cognate with Old English gift ( Middle English yift ) “marriage gift”; akin to give
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Our critic said “While Christmas may be the central focus of this show, Mr. Friedlander’s skill as a photographer is the real gift here.”
Dark and clear nights are the optimum viewing conditions so let's hope that 2026 gifts us with more spectacles in the night sky.
From BBC
One of her friends buys the maximum number—25 bags—each time they’re restocked and gives them as gifts.
He says she has a fantastic eye and a "natural gift for wildlife photography".
From BBC
The finale of “Stranger Things” helped deliver a huge holiday gift of up to $30 million to theater owners, potentially paving the way to warming long-chilly relations between Netflix and cinemas.
From MarketWatch
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.
