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The word clue was originally a variant spelling of clew, meaning “ball of thread or yarn.” Our modern sense of clue, “guide to the solution of a mystery,” grows out of a motif in myth and folklore, the ball of thread that helps in finding one’s way out of a maze. Of these stories the best known is the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. In the myth, Theseus unravels a ball of thread as he searches for the monstrous Minotaur in the Labyrinth. After killing the Minotaur, he retraces his steps out of the maze by rewinding the thread.
Synonyms
Examples of clue in a Sentence
Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Apr. 2024
If the two Floer numbers differ, that’s a clue that there are hidden families linked to your bifurcation point.
—Quanta Magazine, 15 Apr. 2024
Image For Ada Nicolle, the constructor of those clues for WET, SLUDGE CONTENT and ELBE, which appear in a puzzle on her blog Luckystreak Xwords, discovering a love of crossword construction happened in tandem with coming out as a transgender woman.
—Adrienne Raphel, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2024
Findings from a separate survey revealed that nearly 20% have no clue who actually paid their agent.
—Sydney Lake, Fortune, 11 Apr. 2024
Stock prices tumbled Wednesday as traders tried to judge how the latest inflation report might offer some clues to the path of future rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
—Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 10 Apr. 2024
Here are 5 other clues A mammogram is an X-ray picture of the breast that doctors use to look for early signs of breast cancer, according to the CDC.
—Mira Cheng, CNN, 9 Apr. 2024
New Jersey police, the FBI and various search organizations are still searching for Dulce María and offering a reward of $75,000 for clues about her whereabouts.
—Albinson Linares, NBC News, 5 Apr. 2024
For Clock’s extra clue, the Men in Black brought out a rubber duck with Cannon’s name on the bottom.
—Dana Rose Falcone, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024
Erin Strecker, EW.com, 21 Feb. 2024
Even the soundtrack is intriguing and clues us into things happening in the background and periphery.
—Tim Moffatt, EW.com, 26 Jan. 2024
Three are trivia questions, none are particularly easy and all are clued straightforwardly enough that the whole shebang might have flown right over my head without an explanatory entry, or revealer, at 56-Across.
—Caitlin Lovinger, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2024
Yells from an island off Maine’s coast helped clue rescuers in on where a missing man was located.
—Makiya Seminera, Miami Herald, 29 Jan. 2024
While modern plastic medallions are occasionally given as gifts to clue writers and hunt winners, the original set of five medallions was not intended to leave the Pioneer Press’ ownership.
—Jared Kaufman, Twin Cities, 21 Jan. 2024
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star has clued us into her favorite Amazon finds all year long thanks to her Amazon livestreams, and right now, many of Richards’ favorite kitchen gadgets, jewelry, skincare products, and more are on sale for Black Friday.
—Cai Cramer, Peoplemag, 25 Nov. 2023
The fundamental obviousness of what’s happening accounts for why, unlike Grann’s book, which disgorged its secrets gradually, Scorsese and Roth pretty much clue us in from the outset.
—Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2023
Later this year, three gubernatorial elections in deep red states could clue us in to what voters are looking for over the next four years.
—Chuck Todd, NBC News, 5 Sep. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clue.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near clue
Cite this Entry
“Clue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clue. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
clue
1 of 2 nounclue
2 of 2 verb
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