Manner Meaning
/ˈmænə/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounMode of action; way of performing or doing anything.
nounCharacteristic mode of acting or behaving; bearing.
Sentence Examples
You must perform all assignments in a timely manner.
New hires who just joined the company do everything in this timid manner.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She spoke in a polite ____, using kind words and a calm tone during the interview.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The teacher handled the difficult situation in a very professional ____ that was admired by all the students.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English manere, maner, from Anglo-Norman manere, from Old French maniere, from Vulgar Latin *manāria, from feminine of Latin manuarius (“belonging to the hand”), from manus (“hand”). Compare French manière, Italian mannaia (“ax, axe”), Portuguese maneira and maneiro (“handy, portable”), Romanian mâner (“handle”), and Spanish manera.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The treacherous manner of his mournful death."
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
"Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"[S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible."
— 2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “'Tennessee Williams,' by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 13]”, in The New York Times:
"Harriet was not insensible of manner; she had voluntarily noticed her father’s gentleness with admiration as well as wonder. Mr. Martin looked as if he did not know what manner was."
— 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 4, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
"But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion."
— 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She spoke in a polite ____, using kind words and a calm tone during the interview.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The teacher handled the difficult situation in a very professional ____ that was admired by all the students.