kind

I [[t]ka͟ɪnd[/t]] NOUN USES AND PHRASES

♦

kinds

1) N-COUNT: usu N of n If you talk about a particular kind of thing, you are talking about one of the types or sorts of that thing.

The party needs a different kind of leadership...

Had Jamie ever been in any kind of trouble?...

I'm not the kind of person to get married...

This book prize is the biggest of its kind in the world...

Ear pain of any kind must never be ignored.

Syn:

sort

2) N-COUNT: poss N (disapproval) If you refer to someone's kind, you are referring to all the other people that are like them or that belong to the same class or set.

I hate Lewis and his kind just as much as you do...

I can take care of your kind.

Syn:

sort

3) PHRASE: PHR n (emphasis) You can use all kinds of to emphasize that there are a great number and variety of particular things or people.

Adoption can fail for all kinds of reasons...

Donations came from all kinds of people...

All kinds of remarkable things began to happen.

Syn:

all sorts of

4) PHRASE: PHR adj/adv/n, PHR before v (vagueness) You use kind of when you want to say that something or someone can be roughly described in a particular way. [SPOKEN]

It was kind of sad, really...

She wasn't beautiful. But she was kind of cute...

It kind of gives us an idea of what's happening.

Syn:

sort of

5) PHRASE: n PHR You can use of a kind to indicate that something is not as good as it might be expected to be, but that it seems to be the best that is possible or available.

There is good news of a kind for the Prime Minister...

She finds solace of a kind in alcohol.

Syn:

of a sort

6) PHRASE (approval) If you refer to someone or something as one of a kind, you mean that there is nobody or nothing else like them.

She's a very unusual woman, one of a kind. If she seems a little odd at times it's because her mind is on more important things.

7) PHRASE If you refer, for example, to two, three, or four of a kind, you mean two, three, or four similar people or things that seem to go well or belong together.

They were two of a kind, from the same sort of background.

8) PHRASE: PHR after v If you respond in kind, you react to something that someone has done to you by doing the same thing to them.

They hurled defiant taunts at the riot police, who responded in kind.

9) PHRASE: PHR after v, n PHR If you pay a debt in kind, you pay it in the form of goods or services and not money.

Inflation and the shortage of banknotes has forced factories to pay their workers in kind.

...benefits in kind.

II [[t]ka͟ɪnd[/t]] ADJECTIVE USES

kinder, kindest

1) ADJ-GRADED: oft ADJ to n, it v-link ADJ of n to-inf Someone who is kind behaves in a gentle, caring, and helpful way towards other people.

She is warmhearted and kind to everyone and everything...

I must thank you for being so kind to me...

It was very kind of you to come.

Derived words:

kindly ADV-GRADED ADV after v

`You seem tired this morning, Jenny,' she said kindly.

2) ADJ-GRADED: v-link ADJ (politeness) You can use kind in expressions such as please be so kind as to and would you be kind enough to in order to ask someone to do something in a firm but polite way.

Please be so kind as to see to it that all the alterations are made at once!...

I wonder if you'd be kind enough to call him.

3) ADJ-GRADED Something that is kind emphasizes the good qualities in something, and perhaps makes it appear better than it really is.

Summer clothes are invariably less kind to fuller figures.

Syn:

flattering

4) → See also , kindness