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Indicate vs Clue - What's the difference?

indicate | clue |

As verbs the difference between indicate and clue

is that indicate is to point out; to discover; to direct to a knowledge of; to show; to make known while clue is to provide with a clue.

As a noun clue is

a strand of yarn etc as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide.

indicate

English

Verb

(indicat)
  • To point out; to discover; to direct to a knowledge of; to show; to make known.
  • :
  • *
  • *:With just the turn of a shoulder she indicated the water front, where, at the end of the dock on which they stood, lay the good ship, Mount Vernon , river packet, the black smoke already pouring from her stacks.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katrina G. Claw
  • , title= Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.}}
  • To show or manifest by symptoms; to point to as the proper remedies.
  • :
  • To signal in a vehicle the desire to turn right or left.
  • To investigate the condition or power of, as of steam engine, by means of an indicator.
  • *1903', "How to '''indicate an engine" in ''The Star Improved Steam Engine Indicator , p.64:
  • *:To a person who is familiar with the use of an indicator, whether it be of one make or another, it is needless to give instructions as to how an engine should be indicated ,.
  • *1905 , Power , Vol.25, p.448:
  • *:I found it fully as easy to indicate an engine at a speed of 320 to 340 revolutions as at 80.
  • *1905 , Central Station , Vol.5, p.76:
  • *:An indicator will give the working of these valves at all times and soon return its cost in higher engine efficiency. The day has passed when it was only the expert who could indicate an engine or afford to own an indicator.
  • Synonyms

    * (l)

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    clue

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A strand of yarn etc. as used to guide one through a labyrinth; something which points the way, a guide.
  • * 1897 , Henry James, What Maisie Knew :
  • she had even had in the past a small smug conviction that in the domestic labyrinth she always kept the clue .
  • Information which may lead one to a certain point or conclusion.
  • An object or a kind of indication which may be used as evidence.
  • (slang) Insight or understanding ("to have a clue [about]" or "to have clue". See have a clue, clue stick)
  • Synonyms

    * (information which may lead one to a certain point or conclusion) hint, indication, suggestion * (object or indication which may be used as evidence) signature

    Derived terms

    * * clueless * cluestick / clue stick * cluey * have a clue * not have a clue

    See also

    * evidence * red herring

    Verb

  • To provide with a clue.
  • The crossword compiler wasn't sure how to clue the word "should".
  • To provide someone with information which he or she lacks (often used with "in" or "up").
  • Smith, clue Jones in on what's been happening.

    Derived terms

    * clued-in * clued-up