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Is it que, queue, or q?
One of our persistent—and more puzzling—lookups is for the word que, which is entered in our dictionary (capitalized) as an abbreviation for Quebec. Qué is also a Spanish word that means “what.” That is not, however, the word that many people are looking for when they look up que in our dictionary. Que is homophonous with a number of other words, most of which have wildly different spellings and meanings. One of the words that people are looking for when they look up que is queue, a word that means “line” (as in, “We waited in the ticket queue.”) Sometimes people are looking for the homonym cue, or “a signal to start or do something” (“The lights just went out—that’s my cue to start the movie.”). Very occasionally, people look up que for coup, a word that refers to a violent and sudden overthrow or takeover of a government (“reports on the latest coup attempt”). And if you’re looking for the phonetic spelling of the letter q, try again: that’s cue.
Examples of queue in a Sentence
James Oseland, Saveur, October 2008
Around the time the Soviet Union ceased to exist, I was waiting in the entry queue at Fiumicino Airport in Rome when I noticed a party of several dozen young Russian girls being fast-tracked past a freshly opened control window.
—Peter Robb, New York Times Book Review, 25 May 2008
But many more people deserve the Nobel than get it. Krauss should've gotten it years ago. Though by now so many other discoveries have been made that he's farther down in an ever increasing queue.
—Carl Djerassi, Cantor's Dilemma, 1989
We were forced to stand in a queue.
Three jobs remain in the printer queue.
Verb
The World's Food Fair, Boston. October 1896. Admission: 25 cents. Huge crowds throng the Mechanics Hall convention center. Women queue up for free samples from 200 different vendors: cereals, gelatins, extracts, candy, and custards.
—Christopher Kimball, Cook's Illustrated, January & February 2008
Nothing hacks off a national lawmaker more than a person who will not wait in line, unless that line is in front of an elevator at the U.S. Capitol, where Senators and Representatives use private elevators, lest they have to queue with their constituents.
—Steve Rushin, Time, 10 Sept. 2007
The crowd was queuing at the snack bar.
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Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 26 Sep. 2023
Only 20 phones were available for sale at a store in Beijing when NBC News visited, despite dozens of people lining up outside with police at bay to quell the occasionally aggressive queues.
—Janis MacKey Frayer, NBC News, 25 Sep. 2023
The event inspired hundreds to hit the sidewalk and queue up for hours in a line that snaked through the West Village streets while fans waited for their chance to meet the filmmaker and snag an autograph.
—Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Sep. 2023
Netflix will then send up to 10 random discs based on the movies in the subscriber’s queue.
—Jay Peters, The Verge, 22 Aug. 2023
Few details have been shared about the project thus far, but Netflix is at the helm, so the odds are good that the adaptation will make it to your queue soon.
—Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 3 Aug. 2023
When the first allocation was exhausted, more than 100,000 Melbourne fans remained in the queue.
—Lars Brandle, Billboard, 4 Sep. 2023
Espinoza said the city is considering changes such as denying permit applications that are incomplete rather than waiting on applicants to provide the missing information to prevent projects from lingering in the queue.
—Everton Bailey Jr., Dallas News, 31 Aug. 2023
There are 64 booked and 68 non-booked vessels in the queue waiting to transit as of Friday night.
—Amaris Encinas, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2023
Marianna Sotomayor, Washington Post, 27 Sep. 2023
Approximately 131 vessels, with and without reservations, queued for transit on Wednesday, down from 161 ships the prior week.
—Fox News, 17 Aug. 2023
All the more reason to queue up the source of their inspiration.
—Deanna Janes, Harper's BAZAAR, 28 Aug. 2023
Should the pattern continue, viewers can expect to start queueing it by late September 2023.
—Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 30 June 2023
The line to get through security early Monday snaked through the large plaza outside the courthouse as victims and others queued up to attend the hearing.
—CBS News, 26 June 2023
Picture this: You’re getting settled in bed with a page-turning book or your favorite TV show queued up.
—Isabel Garcia, Peoplemag, 18 Aug. 2023
At the airport, a CNN journalist saw French adults and children queuing with their suitcases outside the entrance of the Diori Hamani International Airport, as the French army organized operations.
—Joseph Ataman, CNN, 1 Aug. 2023
There’s such demand for the 800 free tickets, however, that several hundred people queueing routinely don’t get in, Turull said.
—The Salt Lake Tribune, 26 July 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'queue.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun and Verb
French, literally, tail, from Old French cue, coe, from Latin cauda, coda
Noun
1748, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
1777, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Phrases Containing queue
Dictionary Entries Near queue
Cite this Entry
“Queue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/queue. Accessed 3 Oct. 2023.
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Kids Definition
queue
1 of 2 nounqueue
2 of 2 verbNoun
from French queue, literally, "tail," from Latin coda, cauda "tail" — related to coda, coward, cue entry 3 see Word History at coward
More from Merriam-Webster on queue
Nglish: Translation of queue for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of queue for Arabic Speakers
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