queue

noun

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\ ˈkyü

Definition of queue

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a braid of hair usually worn hanging at the back of the head

2 : a waiting line especially of persons or vehicles

3a : a sequence of messages or jobs held in temporary storage awaiting transmission or processing

b : a data structure that consists of a list of records such that records are added at one end and removed from the other

queue

verb

queued; queuing or queueing

Definition of queue (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to arrange or form in a queue (see queue entry 1)

intransitive verb

: to line up or wait in a queue —often used with up

Other Words from queue Synonyms Is it que, queue, or q? Example Sentences Learn More about queue

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Synonyms for queue

Synonyms: Noun

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

Noun The Tiong Bahru hawker center in Singapore might well be my favorite place in the world to start the day. I remember vividly my first visit: I arrived jetlagged and hungry at seven in the morning to find vendors stir-frying greens in gigantic woks, sending up whooshes of smoke fragrant with garlic. Long queues of businessmen and construction workers and families who likely lived in the nearby housing projects snaked from the cash register of each stall. — 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.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Over the coming financial year, the U.K. is expected to tap the green bond market, which is hugely popular with environmental funds, as well as more traditional investors, and has been attracting a queue of government issuers. — Siva Sithraputhran, Fortune, "In ambitious new budget plan, U.K. courts SPACs and more stock market listings," 3 Mar. 2021 Theresa Dolata was among the long queue of speakers in favor of the amendments. — Faiza Mahamud, Star Tribune, "Minneapolis council gives preliminary OK to rent control initiatives," 24 Feb. 2021 Luckily, a new month means a new opportunity to switch things up in your Netflix queue. — Natalie Morin, refinery29.com, "Everything Leaving Netflix In March 2021," 24 Feb. 2021 At times, a queue of postal trucks can be seen along Fayette Street outside of the main post office in downtown Baltimore. — Christine Condon, baltimoresun.com, "Mail delays abound in Baltimore as postal service bemoans historic volumes of holiday mail," 19 Dec. 2020 President-elect Joe Biden has a queue of America’s weary allies outside his door. — Anders Fogh Rasmussen, WSJ, "A New Way to Lead the Free World," 15 Dec. 2020 Customers who join after 10 a.m. will be added to the queue in order of arrival. — Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Leftover Wisconsin spring turkey permit sales begin Monday," 14 Mar. 2021 As adults in the United States continue to line up for their COVID-19 vaccines, children and teens have largely been kept out of the queue. — Los Angeles Times, "COVID-19 vaccines for children and teens are coming, experts say," 10 Mar. 2021 As adults in the United States continue to line up for their COVID-19 vaccines, children and teens have largely been kept out of the queue. — Amina Khan, Star Tribune, "Kids, teens likely to join line for COVID vaccine," 10 Mar. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb When attendees queue up at the gates, masks and social distancing will be required. — Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "What fans can expect for Brewers season at American Family Field, including COVID-19 safety precautions," 26 Mar. 2021 Again, not everybody will be able to get their vaccination right then, but to be able to queue up and get in line. — CBS News, "Transcript: Marcella Nunez-Smith on "Face the Nation," March 14, 2021," 14 Mar. 2021 So pour yourself a drink, curl up, and queue up your favorite rom-com. — Vulture, "All About the Girl Next Door," 2 Mar. 2021 For regular offline viewing, all users have long been able to queue up TV shows and movies for a no-data binge session. — David Nield, Popular Science, "No cell service? These are the best offline apps.," 25 Feb. 2021 But as more and more firms queue up to raise capital, investors, especially retail ones, need to be cautious. — Prathamesh Mulye, Quartz, "Is India’s IPO boom hiding a bubble that’s waiting to burst?," 8 Mar. 2021 Services with names like Skip the Line and Linestanding.com hire people (sometimes the homeless) to queue up (sometimes for days) for seats in congressional hearing rooms and in the U.S. Supreme Court. — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, "How Much of Your Stuff Belongs to Big Tech?," 8 Mar. 2021 But as organisations queue up to add their net zero strategies to the pile, a number of common pitfalls are emerging. — Jessi Baker, Forbes, "How Not To Commit To ‘Net Zero’: 5 Common Carbon Strategy Mistakes," 3 Mar. 2021 Better to call it a day, grab some dinner, check in, bed down and queue up a movie for the kids. — Catharine Hamm, Los Angeles Times, "What you need to know before you take a road trip this spring," 25 Feb. 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'queue.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.