What does MANUAL mean?

Definitions for MANUAL
ˈmæn yu əlman·u·al

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word MANUAL.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. manualnoun

    a small handbook

  2. manual of arms, manualadjective

    (military) a prescribed drill in handling a rifle

  3. manualadjective

    of or relating to the hands

    "manual dexterity"

  4. manualadjective

    requiring human effort

    "a manual transmission"

  5. manual(a)adjective

    doing or requiring physical work

    "manual labor"; "manual laborer"

GCIDE

  1. Manualadjective

    Done or made by the hand. In some contexts, contrasted with automatic or mechanical.

Wiktionary

  1. Manualnoun

    a rare spelling variant of Manuel, sometimes considered erratic.

  2. Etymology: From manuel, manuel, from manualis, from manus.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Manualadjective

    Etymology: manualis, Latin; manuel, French.

    The speculative part of painting, without the assistance of manual operation, can never attain to that perfection which is its object. John Dryden, Dufresnoy.

    The treasurer obliged himself to expiate the injury, to procure some declaration under his majesty’s sign manual. Edward Hyde.

  2. Manualnoun

    A small book, such as may be carried in the hand.

    This manual of laws, stiled the confessor’s laws, contains but few heads. Matthew Hale, Common Law of England.

    In those prayers which are recommended to the use of the devout persons of your church, in the manuals and offices allowed them in our own language, they would be careful to have nothing they thought scandalous. Edward Stillingfleet.

ChatGPT

  1. manual

    Manual generally refers to anything done or operated by hand or physical effort rather than being automatic, computerized or powered by a machine. It can also refer to a book of instructions or guide on how to operate a particular tool, device, system, or perform a specific task, often produced by the manufacturer of the tool or device or an expert in the field.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Manualadjective

    of or pertaining to the hand; done or made by the hand; as, manual labor; the king's sign manual

  2. Manualadjective

    a small book, such as may be carried in the hand, or conveniently handled; a handbook; specifically, the service book of the Roman Catholic Church

  3. Manualadjective

    a keyboard of an organ or harmonium for the fingers, as distinguished from the pedals; a clavier, or set of keys

  4. Manualadjective

    a prescribed exercise in the systematic handing of a weapon; as, the manual of arms; the manual of the sword; the manual of the piece (cannon, mortar, etc.)

  5. Etymology: [OE. manuel, F. manuel, L. manualis, fr. manus hand; prob. akin to AS. mund hand, protection, OHG. munt, G. mndel a ward, vormund guardian, Icel. mund hand. Cf. Emancipate, Legerdemain, Maintain, Manage, Manner, Manure, Mound a hill.]

Wikidata

  1. Manual

    A manual is a musical keyboard designed to be played with the hands, on an instrument such as a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays with his or her feet. It is proper to use "manual" rather than "keyboard," then, when referring to the hand keyboards on any instrument that has a pedalboard.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Manual

    man′ū-al, adj. pertaining to the hand: done, made, or used by the hand.—n. drill in the use of weapons, &c.: a handbook: a handy compendium of a large subject or treatise: the key-board of an organ, &c.: an old office-book like the modern R.C. ritual.—adv. Man′ually.—Manual alphabet, the letters made by the deaf and dumb with the hand in conversation; Manual exercise, the exercise by which soldiers are made to handle their arms. [L. manualismanus, the hand.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. manual

    Book of reference; as, ordnance manual, etc.

  2. manual

    A prescribed exercise by means of which soldiers are taught to handle and use their weapons. The manual of arms is the exercise with the musket; the manual of the piece, the exercise with the field-gun. There are also manuals for the sabre, pistol, etc.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. MANUAL

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Manual is ranked #59017 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Manual surname appeared 343 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Manual.

    37% or 127 total occurrences were White.
    34.9% or 120 total occurrences were Black.
    15.1% or 52 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    8.7% or 30 total occurrences were Asian.
    2.6% or 9 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    1.4% or 5 total occurrences were of two or more races.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'MANUAL' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4118

  2. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'MANUAL' in Nouns Frequency: #2333

  3. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'MANUAL' in Adjectives Frequency: #884

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce MANUAL?

How to say MANUAL in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of MANUAL in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of MANUAL in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of MANUAL in a Sentence

  1. Ralph Schmidt:

    Just throwing forest tree seeds out of airplanes can be successful, and it's a lot cheaper than manual planting, growing seedlings in nurseries and manually planting them will always have a much higher success rate than aerial sowing, but it is much more expensive.

  2. Steve Inskeep:

    I saw this as a 500-year flood, and so where's the manual ? What do I do ?

  3. Buckminster Fuller:

    The earth is like a spaceship that didn't come with an operating manual.

  4. Emily Rothman:

    Having a conversation with youth about what they have seen, when, where and how many times, can be really helpful to try to prevent future incidents and answer their questions, we need to do more to prevent youth from viewing sexually explicit media. And because no matter what we do, some of them will see it anyway, we also need to provide information and education to all youth about the fact that pornography is not an instruction manual on how to have sex.

  5. Simon Wilson-Taylor:

    This is a full execution management system where clients can organise all of their upstream and downstream processes, this had largely been a manual process which has been semi-automated by platforms like FX Connect, but it has never been fully digitised. That's what we've cracked with Molten Markets, but in the past we have lacked the scale to fully leverage the solution, this is where EBS BrokerTec comes in.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

MANUAL#1#1661#10000

Translations for MANUAL

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • يدوي, كتيب التشغيل, كتيبArabic
  • даве́днік, ручны́Belarusian
  • ръченBulgarian
  • manuál, příručka, ruční, manuálníCzech
  • cyfarwyddiadurWelsh
  • manualDanish
  • Manual, Handbuch, manuell, SchaltgetriebeGerman
  • πληκτρολόγιο, χειροκίνητος, εγχειρίδιοGreek
  • manualSpanish
  • käsiraamatEstonian
  • koskettimisto, manuaali, sormio, käsivarainen, manuaalinen, käsikäyttöinen, käsikirja, ohjekirjaFinnish
  • manuel, manuelleFrench
  • méarchlárIrish
  • manualGalician
  • kézi, billentyűzet, kalauz, kézikönyvHungarian
  • manuale, libretto delle istruzioni, guidaItalian
  • 手動, 手引き, 説明書, マニュアルJapanese
  • 안내서Korean
  • клавијатура, упатство, рачен, рачен менувач, прирачник, мануалMacedonian
  • met de hand, handboek, handleiding, handmatig, manueelDutch
  • ręczny, podręcznikPolish
  • manualPortuguese
  • manual, cutie de vitezeRomanian
  • клавиатура, ручной, руководство, инструкцияRussian
  • príručnīk, rȕčnīSerbo-Croatian
  • manuálny, ručnýSlovak
  • manuell, bruksanvisning, elementarbok, växelspak, klaviatur, manual, handbokSwedish
  • інструкціяUkrainian

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"MANUAL." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 12 Mar. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/MANUAL>.

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