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may

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To have permission to, be allowed.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

may
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmeɪ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. modal auxiliary verbdefective

    To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests.

  2. modal auxiliary verbdefective

    Expressing a present possibility; possibly.

  3. modal auxiliary verbdefective

    Granting the admissibility of a supposition, in a way that can be semantically either subjunctive or indicative.

noun

  1. The month following April and preceding June

  2. Theresa May, former British prime minister.

  3. A number of places in the United States

  4. A number of townships in the United States, listed under May Township.

  5. The hawthorn bush or its blossoms.

  6. Alternative letter-case form of May.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (modal auxiliary verb, defective) Expressing a present possibility; possibly.

Used this way, may is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • can , more casual, better suited to speech than writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use may

  • “You may smoke outside; may I sit there?”verb
  • “He may be lying; Schrödinger's cat may or may not be in the box.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

may wellmay result

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • may queennounCompound term

    The girl chosen queen of a May Day festival.

  • may winenounCompound term

    A punch made of Moselle and sugar and sparkling water or champagne flavored with sweet woodruff.

  • may lilynounCompound term

    Low-growing perennial plant having usually two large oblong lanceolate leaves and a raceme of small fragrant nodding bell-shaped flowers followed by scarlet berries.

  • may fishnounCompound term

    Black-barred fish of bays and coastal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the United States.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to have permission to

canInformalmightget

Commonly Confused With

mightMay vs. MightKnow the difference

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.