What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Use vs Mention - What's the difference?

use | mention |

As verbs the difference between use and mention

is that use is while mention is to make a short reference to something.

As a noun mention is

a speaking or notice of anything, usually in a brief or cursory manner used especially in the phrase to make mention of .

use

English

(wikipedia use)

Alternative forms

* (archaic)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) from Old English nytt.

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of using.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author= Ed Pilkington
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=6, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= ‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told , passage=In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.}}
  • Usefulness, benefit.
  • * Milton
  • God made two great lights, great for their use / To man.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • 'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense.
  • A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
  • Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
  • I have no further use for these textbooks.
  • (obsolete, rare) Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
  • * 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,
  • DON PEDRO. Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.
    BEATRICE. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a single one: [...]
  • * Jeremy Taylor
  • Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
  • (archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
  • * Spenser
  • Let later age that noble use envy.
  • * Shakespeare
  • How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world!
  • (obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
  • * Shakespeare
  • O Caesar! these things are beyond all use .
  • (religion) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese.
  • the Sarum, or Canterbury, use'''; the Hereford '''use'''; the York '''use'''; the Roman '''use ; etc.
  • * Book of Common Prayer
  • From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use .
  • (forging) A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
  • Synonyms
    * (act of using) employment, usage, note, nait * (usefulness) benefit, good, point, usefulness, utility, note, nait
    Derived terms
    * disuse * fair use * hyper-use * misuse * no use * overuse * reuse * underuse * useful * useless * usement * what’s the use

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ).

    Verb

    (us)
  • (archaic) To accustom; to habituate.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608–1674)
  • *:Thou with thy compeers, / Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels.
  • To employ; to apply; to utilize.
  • :
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • To exhaust the supply of; to consume by employing
  • :
  • To exploit.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Katie L. Burke
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= In the News , passage=Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.}}
  • (dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608–1674)
  • *:How wouldst thou use me now?
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
  • *:Cato has used me ill.
  • To habitually do; to be wont to do.
  • :
  • *Bible, 1 (w) iv.9
  • *:Use hospitality one to another.
  • *, I.48:
  • *:Peter Pol'', doctor in divinitie used to sit upon his mule, who as ''Monstrelet'' reporteth, was wont to ride up and downe the streets of ''Paris , ever sitting sideling, as women use .
  • * 1693 , Sir Norman Knatchbull, Annotations upon some difficult texts in all the books of the New Testament
  • For in the Rites of funeration they did use to anoint the dead body, with Aromatick Spices and Oyntments, before they buried them.
  • (past tense with infinitive) To habitually do. See used to.
  • :
  • Synonyms
    * engage, utilise * (exploit) take advantage of
    Derived terms
    * abuse * disuse * reuse * misuse * usability * usable * usage * used * used to * useful * user

    References

    *

    Statistics

    *

    mention

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A speaking or notice of anything, usually in a brief or cursory manner. Used especially in the phrase to make mention of.
  • * Bible, Psalms lxxi. 16
  • I will make mention of thy righteousness.
  • * Shakespeare
  • And sleep in dull, cold marble, where no mention / Of me more must be heard of.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make a short reference to something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= End of the peer show , passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms.
  • To utter an word or expression in order to refer to the expression itself, as opposed to its usual referent.
  • * 2006 , Tony Evans, The Transforming Word: Discovering the Power and Provision of the Bible , Moody Publishers (ISBN 9780802480354), page 140
  • I can illustrate this by mentioning the word lead. Now you have no way of knowing for sure which meaning I have in mind until I give it some context by using it in a sentence.
  • * 2009 , Lieven Vandelanotte, Speech and Thought Representation in English: A Cognitive-functional Approach , Walter de Gruyter (ISBN 9783110205893), page 124
  • If the verbatimness view derives from the popular notion that DST repeats 'the actual words spoken', a second line of thought takes its cue from Quine's (1940: 23–26, 1960: 146–156) philosophical distinction between words which are “used” vs. words which are merely “mentioned ”.
  • * 2013 , Richard Hanley, South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating , Open Court (ISBN 9780812697742)
  • Derived terms

    * not to mention