type

1 of 2

noun

ˈtīp

often attributive

Synonyms of type next

: a particular kind, class, or group

oranges of the seedless type

leaders of the new type … did England yeoman's service—

G. M. Trevelyan

: something distinguishable as a variety : sort

what type of food do you like?

: a member of an indicated class or variety of people

the guests were mostly urban types—

Lucy Cook

: a typical and often superior specimen

: qualities common to a number of individuals that distinguish them as an identifiable class: such as

(1)

: the morphological, physiological, or ecological characters by which relationship between organisms may be recognized

(2)

: the form common to all instances of a linguistic element

: printed letters

b(1)

: a rectangular block usually of metal bearing a relief character from which an inked print can be made

(2)

: a collection of such blocks

a font of type

(3)

: alphanumeric characters for printing

the type for this book has been photoset

: typeface

italic type

: matter set in type

: a distinctive mark or sign

: a person or thing (as in the Old Testament) believed to foreshadow another (as in the New Testament)

: one having qualities of a higher category : model

: a lower taxonomic category selected as a standard of reference for a higher category

also : a specimen or series of specimens on which a taxonomic species or subspecies is actually based

type

2 of 2

verb

typed; typing

intransitive verb

: to write something on a typewriter or enter data into a computer by way of a keyboard

transitive verb

: to produce (a character, a document, etc.) using a keyboard (as on a typewriter or computer)

also : keyboard

: to identify as belonging to a type: such as

: to determine the natural type of (as a blood sample)

: typecast

: to produce a copy of

: to represent in terms of typical characteristics : typify

: to represent beforehand as a type : prefigure

typeable

ˈtī-pə-bəl

adjective

Choose the Right Synonym for type

type, kind, sort, nature, description, character mean a number of individuals thought of as a group because of a common quality or qualities.

type may suggest strong and clearly marked similarity throughout the items included so that each is typical of the group.

one of three basic body types

kind may suggest natural grouping.

a zoo seemingly having animals of every kind

sort often suggests some disparagement.

the sort of newspaper dealing in sensational stories

nature may imply inherent, essential resemblance rather than obvious or superficial likenesses.

two problems of a similar nature

description implies a group marked by agreement in all details belonging to a type as described or defined.

not all acts of that description are actually illegal

character implies a group marked by distinctive likenesses peculiar to the type.

research on the subject so far has been of an elementary character

Example Sentences

Noun We were not prepared to face this type of crisis. We studied various types of trees. a seedless type of orange He only likes two types of music. She likes all types of books. Verb How fast can you type? I never learned how to type. She asked her secretary to type a memo. See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Many Native American cultures have oral legends that tell of a primate-type creature roaming the continent’s forests. —

Matt Blitz, Popular Mechanics, 14 Mar. 2023 Hyaluronic acid is more expensive than glycerin and, as Belkin points out, requires combining it with occlusive-type moisturizers to keep the hydration locked in. —

Elise Tabin, Harper's BAZAAR, 14 Mar. 2023 According to the study, which was published in BMC Medicine on Monday, participants who ate a traditional Mediterranean-type diet—rich in seafood, fruit, and nuts—had up to a 23% lower risk for dementia than those who did not. —

L'oreal Thompson Payton, Fortune Well, 14 Mar. 2023 Among 534 participants who reported their mask type, a consistent cloth mask usage lowered the odds of testing positive by 56 percent, surgical mask wearing lowered the odds by 66 percent, and N95 or KN95 usage lowered the odds by 83 percent. —

Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2023 Similarly, Signature courted another type of customer shunned by other banks: crypto companies, which have been dropping like flies since the collapse of FTX. —

Larry Edelman, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Mar. 2023 Such calls are reckless and further rate hikes would increase the risk of more Silicon Valley Bank-type implosions. —

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2023 That type of woman who wanted to break with the tradition marked by her mother and passionately live life without measuring the consequences of her excesses or thinking about the future. —

Ed Meza, Variety, 12 Mar. 2023 And the mattress sales underway at the moment have a bed for just about every type of sleeper, no matter your preferred firmness level, sleep position, or material. —

Sara Coughlin, SELF, 9 Mar. 2023

Verb

There, customers can type in their vehicle identification number and find out when their vehicles are eligible for the software upgrade. —

Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 14 Feb. 2023 Like all the other prominent performances on the series, Lynskey is playing somewhat to type(*). —

Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 5 Feb. 2023 But these automated game reports are designed to be found through online search engines; type your team's name into Google or your preferred search engine to find the results. —

The Indianapolis Star, 21 Jan. 2023 For its part, Microsoft, with help from OpenAI, has pledged to incorporate more AI capabilities into its products, including the Office programs that people use to type out letters and exchange emails. —

Drew Harwell, Washington Post, 18 Feb. 2023 New users who click our links won’t need to type in any promo code. —

cleveland, 4 Dec. 2022 Otherwise, its specs are similar to the Q1 Pro, including support for RGB lighting, a double-gasket construction that typically makes a keyboard feel nice and light to type on, and an aluminum case. —

Jon Porter, The Verge, 7 Feb. 2023 The new version of Bing is designed to allow users to type queries in conversational language and receive traditional search results as well as answers to questions on the same page. —

Nitasha Tiku, Washington Post, 7 Feb. 2023 As such, officials worked to identify which employees had access to type 3 polio in the weeks before the positive sample. —

Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 3 Feb. 2023 See More

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

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Late Latin typus, from Latin & Greek; Latin typus image, from Greek typos blow, impression, model, from typtein to strike, beat; akin to Sanskrit tupati he injures and probably to Latin stupēre to be benumbed

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4a

Verb

1596, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 4

Time Traveler

The first known use of type was in the 15th century

See more words from the same century