Synonyms
Noun (2)
Noun (3)
Examples of cue in a Sentence
Vulture, 16 Sep. 2023
Taking a cue from the glam look, Finnegan shares her version, which entails her baby hairs being stuck to her forehead with gel, a la Lurch from the Addams family.
—Melissa Willets, Parents, 15 Sep. 2023
Take a cue from the stars and start whipping out blazers this fall.
—Claire Harmeyer, Peoplemag, 13 Sep. 2023
The project, announced Tuesday, also could include more Metrorail maps at stations, floor decals and cues at escalators directing riders to specific exits and platforms.
—Justin George, Washington Post, 12 Sep. 2023
Chef Morad Lahlou is set to open his first fast-casual concept, Moro in Oxbow Public Market in fall 2023 with the menu taking cues from the food stalls at Marrakesh’s famous night market, Jeema el-Fnaa.
—Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 5 Sep. 2023
The desensitization hypothesis held that victims simply become numb to social cues.
—Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 5 Sep. 2023
There’s Cream, of course, but most of the music cues are deeper cuts (though nothing is more vital to the soundtrack than the growl of those engines).
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 2 Sep. 2023
For fruit flies, or Drosophila melanogaster, the mere sight of their companion’s corpses can trigger certain cues known to alter their brain chemistry, deplete fat stores and even cause other flies to avoid them, as if the traumatized insects still carried the stench of death.
—Alex Orlando, Discover Magazine, 31 Aug. 2023
Lisa Sanders, M.d., New York Times, 8 Sep. 2023
Now, all that's left to do is cue them up on YouTube and watch your kids have a ball getting in the spirit of spooky season!
—Maggie Horton, Country Living, 7 July 2023
Sprint into a pipe, and Mario’s cap gets left behind cuing an Indiana Jones-like reach and pluck.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 31 Aug. 2023
That sense of unfulfilled promise is perhaps at its most acute when one is cueing up the informal recordings that Bob Dylan made with the group in upstate New York in 1967.
—Howard Fishman, The New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2023
Hart chills until the last possible minute before nonchalantly entering the theater when cued.
—Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2023
So grab some popcorn, turn out the lights, and cue up a few of these kid-friendly Halloween movies for a fun night at home.
—Christin Perry, Parents, 22 Aug. 2023
Sweetened only with maple syrup and applesauce, this large-format oatmeal has definite fall vibes (cue the warm baking spices and fresh ginger).
—Joy Cho, Good Housekeeping, 8 Aug. 2023
In Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, the 1985 Tim Burton movie that made Reubens a superstar, Herman asks for a last request before the bikers kill him: a chance to cue up a song on the jukebox and try on the platform shoes of the bar’s cook.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 31 July 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cue.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun (1)
Middle English cu half a farthing (spelled form of q, abbreviation for Latin quadrans quarter of an as)
Noun (2) and Verb (1)
probably from qu, abbreviation (used as a direction in actors' copies of plays) of Latin quando when
Noun (3) and Verb (2)
French queue, literally, tail, from Old French cue, coe, queue, from Latin cauda
Noun (1)
circa 1755, in the meaning defined above
Noun (2)
1553, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Verb (1)
1922, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Noun (3)
circa 1749, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Verb (2)
circa 1784, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
Phrases Containing cue
Dictionary Entries Near cue
Cite this Entry
“Cue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cue. Accessed 25 Sep. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
cue
2 of 3 verbcue
3 of 3 nounNoun
probably from q or qu, abbreviations for Latin quando "when," formerly used in actors' copies of scripts of plays
Noun
from French queue "tail, a line of people," from early French cue, coe "tail," from Latin cauda "tail" — related to coward, queue, coda see Word History at coward, queue
Medical Definition
cue
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on cue
Nglish: Translation of cue for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of cue for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cue
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