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comment

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɒm.ɛnt/
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • (Indic) IPA(key): /kəˈmɛɳʈ/

Etymology 1

From Middle English coment, comment, from Old French coment (“commentary”), from Late Latin commentum (“comment, interpretation”), from Classical Latin commentum (“invention, fabrication”).

Noun

comment (countable and uncountable, plural comments)

  1. A spoken or written remark.
    I have no comment on that.
    Pay attention to the teacher's comments in the margin of your marked essay.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action.
    • 2015 November 30, Shane O'Mara, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation‎, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 12:
      Santorum, in a comment regarding Senator John McCain's repudiation of torture, stated, "He doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they've broken they become cooperative" (Summers 2011).
  2. (uncountable) The act of commenting.
  4. (linguistics) The part of a sentence that provides new information regarding the current theme.
    Synonym: rheme
  5. (programming) A remark embedded in source code in such a way that it will be ignored by the compiler or interpreter, typically to help people to understand the code.
Derived terms
Descendants
  • → Armenian: քոմենթ (kʻomentʻ)
  • → Japanese: コメント (komento)
  • → Korean: 코멘트 (komenteu)
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English commenten, comenten, from Latin commentārī (“to consider thoroughly, think over, discuss, write upon”).

Verb

comment (third-person singular simple present comments, present participle commenting, simple past and past participle commented)

  1. (transitive) To remark.
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."
    • 2003 July 5, Pierre Salinger, ABC News, “Analysis: Top film choices”, in NPR_Saturday:
      I think Mamet always comments that commerce really comes down to just a confidence game
    • 2009 Winter, John M. Kang, “Manliness and the Constitution”, in Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, volume 32, number 1, page 261:
      As Cambridge historian Mervyn James commented, "silly quarrels escalated into battles in the streets."
  2. (intransitive, with "on" or "about") To make remarks or notes; to express a view regarding.
    He commented about your proposal.
    The movie comments on race relations.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To comment or remark on.
    • 1677, Lancelot Addison, A Modest Plea for the Clergy:
      […] who have expounded Scripture out of its Senses, and have so Commented the Laws thereof
  4. (transitive, software, of code) To insert comments into (source code).
    I wish I'd commented this complicated algorithm back when I remembered how it worked.
  5. (transitive, software, of code) To comment out (code); to disable by converting into a comment.
Derived terms
remark
programming: insert comments
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Further reading

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French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French coment (“how”). Analyzable as comme +‎ -ment

Pronunciation

Adverb

comment

  1. how
    Synonym: comment c’est que
    Comment ça va ? ― How are you?
    Comment te sens-tu ? ― How do you feel?
  2. (Louisiana, informal in Quebec) how many; how much
    • 2010, Albert Valdman, Kevin J. Rottet, Barry Jean Ancelet, Richard Guidry, Thomas A. Klingler, Amanda LaFleur, Tamara Lindner, Michael D. Picone, Dominique Ryon, editors, Dictionary of Louisiana French: as Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian communities, page 145:
      Tu sais pas comment il l’aime.
      You don’t know how (much) he loves her.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Haitian Creole: kouman
  • Louisiana Creole: konmen
  • Réunion Creole French: koman
  • → German: Komment

Interjection

comment

  1. pardon?, sorry?, what?
    Synonyms: pardon, quoi
    Comment ? Que dites-vous ? ― Pardon? What did you say?
  2. An expression of surprise or anger.
    Comment ! Est-il donc vrai qu’il soit mort ? ― What?! So it's true that he's dead then?

Noun

comment m (invariable)

  1. The means by which something is accomplished; the how.
    • 1992, André Berger, Le climat de la terre: un passé pour quel avenir, page 10:
      Passionné de mathématiques dès mon plus jeune âge, j'ai toujours voulu comprendre le pourquoi et le comment du monde qui nous entoure.
      Passionate about mathematics from a very young age, I have always wanted to understand the why and the how of the world around us.

Further reading

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Middle French

Alternative forms

  • cõment

Adverb

comment

  1. how (in a given manner)
  2. (interrogative) how (in what manner)

Old French

Adverb

comment

  1. alternative form of comant

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English comment.

Noun

comment m (plural comments)

  1. (Internet slang) comment, remark
    Synonym: comentário

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

  • (abbreviation) cmt

Etymology

From English comment.

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [kɔm˧˧ mɛn˧˧], [kɔm˨˩ mɛn˧˧]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [kɔm˧˧ mɛŋ˧˧], [kɔm˦˩ mɛŋ˧˧]
  • (Saigon) IPA(key): [kɔm˧˧ mɛŋ˧˧], [kɔm˨˩ mɛŋ˧˧]
  • Phonetic spelling: com men, còm men

Noun

comment

  1. (Internet, social media) comment

Verb

comment

  1. (Internet, social media) to comment

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