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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

mark.

Boundary, land within a boundary.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/mɑːk/Received-Pronunciation/mɑɹk/General-American/mäː(ɾ)k/India/maːk/India
  1. Boundary, land within a boundary. A boundary; a border or frontier.

    obsolete
  2. Boundary, land within a boundary. A boundary-post or fence.

    obsolete
  3. Boundary, land within a boundary. A stone or post used to indicate position and guide travellers.

  4. Boundary, land within a boundary. The line indicating an athlete's starting-point.

  5. Boundary, land within a boundary. A type of small region or principality.

    archaic
  6. Boundary, land within a boundary. A common, or area of common land, especially among early Germanic peoples.

    historical
  7. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. An omen; a symptomatic indicator of something.

  8. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. A characteristic feature.

    A good sense of manners is the mark of a true gentleman.
  9. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. A visible impression or sign; a blemish, scratch, or stain, whether accidental or intentional.

  10. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. A sign or brand on a person.

  11. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. A written character or sign.

    The font wasn't able to render all the diacritical marks properly.
  12. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. A stamp or other indication of provenance, quality etc.

    With eggs, you need to check for the quality mark before you buy.
  13. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. Badge or sign of honour, rank, or official station.

  14. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. Preeminence; high position.

    archaic
    patricians of mark
    a fellow of no mark
  15. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. A characteristic or essential attribute; a differential.

  16. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. An indication or sign used for reference or measurement.

    I filled the bottle up to the 500 ml mark.
  17. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. A specified level on a scale denoting gas-powered oven temperatures.

    Now put the pastry in at 450 degrees, or mark 8.
  18. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. One of the bits of leather or coloured bunting placed upon a sounding line at intervals of from two to five fathoms. (The unmarked fathoms are called “deeps”.)

  19. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. Resemblance, likeness, image.

    obsolete
  20. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. A particular design or make of an item (now usually with following numeral).

    I am proud to present my patented travelator, mark two.
  21. Characteristic, sign, indication for measurement; visible impression. The model number of a device; a device model.

    The Mark I system had poor radar, and the Mark II was too expensive; regardless, most antiaircraft direction remained the responsibility of the Mark I Eyeball (as the jocular phrase calls it): that is, the operator's eye.
  22. Score, grade, or related judgement. A score for finding the correct answer, or other academic achievement; the sum of such points gained as out of a possible total.

    Commonwealth
    What mark did you get in your history test?
  23. Score, grade, or related judgement. A score for a sporting achievement.

  24. Score, grade, or related judgement. An official note that is added to a record kept about someone's behavior or performance.

  25. Target or indicator. A target for shooting at with a projectile.

  26. Target or indicator. The target or intended victim of a swindle, fixed game or con game; a gullible person.

    informal
  27. Target or indicator. A professional wrestling fan who believes matches are legitimate contests rather than scripted or predetermined.

  28. Attention.

  29. Attention. Attention, notice.

    archaic
    His last comment is particularly worthy of mark.
  30. Attention. Importance, noteworthiness. (Generally in postmodifier “of mark”.)

  31. Attention. Regard; respect.

    obsolete
  32. The female genitals.

    obsolete
  33. A catch of the ball directly from a kick of 10 metres or more without having been touched in transit, resulting in a free kick.

  34. Limit or standard of action or fact.

    to be within the mark
    to come up to the mark
Where this word comes from

From Middle English mark, merk, merke, from Old English mearc (“mark, sign, line of division; standard; boundary, limit, term, border; defined area, district, province”), from Proto-West Germanic *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary; boundary marker”), from Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs (“edge, boundary, border”). Compare march. Cognates * Dutch mark, merk (“mark, brand”) * German Mark (“mark; borderland”), Marke (“mark, brand”) * Swedish mark (“mark, land, territory”) * Icelandic mark (“mark, sign”) * Latin margō (“edge, margin”) * Persian مرز (marz, “limit, boundary”) * Sanskrit मर्या (maryā, “limit, mark, boundary”), मार्ग (mārga, “mark, section”).

verb/mɑːk/Received-Pronunciation/mɑɹk/General-American/mäː(ɾ)k/India/maːk/India
  1. To put a mark on (something); to make (something) recognizable by a mark; to label or write on (something).

    to mark a box or bale of merchandise
    to mark clothing with one's name
  2. To leave a mark (often an undesirable or unwanted one) on (something).

    See where this pencil has marked the paper.
    The floor was marked with wine and blood.
  3. To have a long-lasting negative impact on (someone or something).

    figuratively
  4. To create an indication of (a location).

    She folded over the corner of the page to mark where she left off reading.
    Some animals mark their territory by urinating.
  5. To be an indication of (something); to show where (something) is located.

    This monument marks the spot where Wolfe died.
    A bell marked the end of visiting hours.
  6. To indicate (something) in writing or by other symbols.

    Prices are marked on individual items.
    In her Bible, the words of Christ were marked in red.
  7. To create (a mark) on a surface.

  8. To celebrate or acknowledge (an event) through an action of some kind.

    The national holiday is marked by fireworks.
  9. To identify (someone as a particular type of person or as having a particular role).

    His courage and energy marked him as a leader.
  10. To assign (someone) to a particular category or class.

  11. To choose or intend (someone) for a particular end or purpose.

  12. To be a point in time or space at which something takes place; to accompany or be accompanied by (an event, action, etc.); to coincide with.

    The creek marks the boundary between the two farms.
    That summer marked the beginning of her obsession with cycling.
  13. To be typical or characteristic of (something).

  14. To distinguish (one person or thing from another).

  15. To focus one's attention on (something or someone); to pay attention to, to take note of.

    Mark my words: that boy’s up to no good.
  16. To become aware of (something) through the physical senses.

    dated
  17. To hold (someone) in one's line of sight.

  18. To indicate the correctness of and give a score to (a school assignment, exam answers, etc.).

    Canada · UK
    The teacher had to spend her weekend marking all the tests.
  19. To record that (someone) has a particular status.

    to mark a student absent.
  20. To keep account of; to enumerate and register; to keep score.

    intransitive · transitive
    to mark the points in a game of billiards or a card game
  21. To follow a player not in possession of the ball when defending, to prevent them receiving a pass easily.

  22. To catch the ball directly from a kick of 15 metres or more without having been touched in transit, resulting in a free kick.

  23. To put a marker in the place of one's ball.

  24. To sing softly, sometimes an octave lower than usual, in order to protect one's voice during a rehearsal.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English mark, merk, merke, from Old English mearc (“mark, sign, line of division; standard; boundary, limit, term, border; defined area, district, province”), from Proto-West Germanic *marku, from Proto-Germanic *markō (“boundary; boundary marker”), from Proto-Indo-European *mórǵs (“edge, boundary, border”). Compare march. Cognates * Dutch mark, merk (“mark, brand”) * German Mark (“mark; borderland”), Marke (“mark, brand”) * Swedish mark (“mark, land, territory”) * Icelandic mark (“mark, sign”) * Latin margō (“edge, margin”) * Persian مرز (marz, “limit, boundary”) * Sanskrit मर्या (maryā, “limit, mark, boundary”), मार्ग (mārga, “mark, section”).

noun/mɑːk/Received-Pronunciation/mɑɹk/General-American/mäː(ɾ)k/India/maːk/India
  1. A half pound, a traditional unit of mass equivalent to 226.8 g.

    historical
  2. Similar half-pound units in other measurement systems, chiefly used for gold and silver.

    historical
  3. A half pound, a former English and Scottish currency equivalent to 13 shillings and fourpence and notionally equivalent to a mark of sterling silver.

    historical
  4. Other similar currencies notionally equal to a mark of silver or gold.

    historical
Where this word comes from

From Middle English mark, from Old English marc (“a denomination of weight (usu. half a pound), mark (money of account)”), from Proto-West Germanic *mark, from Proto-Germanic *marką (“mark, sign”). Cognate with Dutch mark (“mark”), Swedish mark (“a stamped coin”), Icelandic mörk (“a weight, usu. a pound, of silver or gold”). Doublet of markka.

noun/mɑːk/Received-Pronunciation/mɑɹk/General-American/mäː(ɾ)k/India/maːk/India
  1. A former currency of Germany and West Germany.

    historical
Where this word comes from

From German Mark, from Middle High German marc, marche, marke, from Old High German marc, from Proto-West Germanic *mark (whence etymology 2 via Old English marc). The identical plural is also from German.

verb/mɑːk/Received-Pronunciation/mɑɹk/General-American/mäː(ɾ)k/India/maːk/India
  1. Alternative form of march.

    alt-of · alternative · imperative
    Mark time, mark!
    Forward, mark!
Where this word comes from

An alternative form supposedly easier to pronounce while giving commands.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.