manual

• manuall (obsolete)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæn.j(ʊ)əl/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmæn.j(u)əl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /mæn(ju)wal/
• Rhymes: (UK) -ænjəl
• Homophone: Manuel (Anglicized pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: man‧u‧al, man‧ual

From Middle English manuel, from Old French manuel, from Late Latin manuāle (“handbook, manual”).

manual (plural manuals)

2. Synonym of handbook.

   Hypernyms: reference book, reference work

   Hyponyms: manual of style, MOS, style manual

4. A booklet that instructs on the usage of a particular machine or product.

   The dishwasher isn't working; can you remember where we put the manual?

6. (military) A drill in the use of weapons, etc.
7. (Christianity, historical) An old office-book like the modern Roman Catholic ritual.
8. (music) A keyboard on an organ.

• → Japanese: マニュアル (manyuaru)

From Middle English manuel, from Anglo-Norman manuel, Old French manual, from Latin manuālis, from manus (“hand”).

manual (comparative more manual, superlative most manual)

1. (of an activity) Performed with the hands.
   • 1897 October 16, Henry James, What Maisie Knew, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., →OCLC:

     She gave a wild manual brush to her locks.

2. (of a machine, device etc.) Operated by means of the hands.
3. Performed by a human rather than a machine.

   The teacher urged the students to do a manual check, because some errors aren't picked up by the spell checker.

• handly

• automatic

• aural, relating to the ear or the sense of hearing
• oral, relating to the mouth
• pedal, relating to the foot

manual (countable and uncountable, plural manuals)

1. (countable) A device that is operated using the hands, or by a human rather than a machine.
   1. (automotive) A manual transmission; a gearbox, especially of a motorized vehicle, shifted by the operator.

      Antonym: automatic

      Tom's transmission shop can fix both manuals and automatics.

   2. (metonymically) A vehicle with a manual transmission.

      Antonym: automatic

      I'm not used to automatics; I've always driven manuals.

   3. (music) A keyboard for the hands on a harpsichord, organ, or other musical instrument.
   4. A manual typewriter (as contrasted with an electronic one).
2. (countable) A procedure or operation that is done using the hands, or by a human rather than machine.
   1. (medicine, colloquial) Manual measurement of the blood pressure, done with a manual sphygmomanometer.

      do a manual

      give someone a quick manual

   2. A bicycle technique whereby the front wheel is held aloft by the rider, without the use of pedal force.
   3. A similar maneuver on a skateboard, lifting the front or back wheels while keeping the tail or nose of the board from touching the ground.
      • 2007, Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Matthias Boettger, editors, Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism: The Next Level, 1st edition, Basel: Birkhauser, published 2007, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 124:

        In short tutorials, the player learns the basics of skating: reverts, manuals and the ollie – that is, sliding round when coming out of a trick, lifting two wheels off the ground and jumping with the board.

3. (uncountable) Manual control or operation.

   Put the controls to manual.

   Leave the system on manual.

• (automotive): stick shift / stick
• (automotive): standard transmission / standard

(automotive):

• automatic
• semi-automatic
• manumatic

• Manual on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Manual in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• Lauman, alumna

Borrowed from Latin manuālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [mə.nuˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ma.nuˈal]

manual m or f (masculine and feminine plural manuals)

1. manual

• manualment

manual m (plural manuals)

1. manual

• “manual”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “manual”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “manual” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “manual” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

manual c (singular definite manualen, plural indefinite manualer)

1. manual, a booklet that instructs on the usage of a particular machine

From English manual, from Anglo-Norman manuel, from Old French manual, from Latin manuālis, from manus (“hand”).

• IPA^(key): [maˈnu.al]
• Hyphenation: ma‧nu‧al

manual (plural manual-manual)

1. (colloquial) manual, handbook

   Synonym: panduan

manual (comparative lebih manual, superlative paling manual)

1. manual,

   Synonyms: swausaha, swatangan

   1. performed with the hands
   2. performed by a human rather than a machine

• “manual” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Borrowed from Latin manualis, or English manual (“handbook”).

manual m (definite singular manualen, indefinite plural manualer, definite plural manualene)

1. a manual (handbook)
2. (music) manual (organ keyboard)
3. (weightlifting, fitness) a dumbbell

• “manual” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Borrowed from Latin manualis, or English manual (“handbook”).

manual m (definite singular manualen, indefinite plural manualar, definite plural manualane)

1. a manual (handbook)
2. (music) manual (organ keyboard)
3. (weightlifting, fitness) a dumbbell

• “manual” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Learned borrowing from Latin manuālis.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: ma‧nu‧al

manual m or f (plural manuais)

1. manual

manual m (plural manuais)

1. manual

Borrowed from French manuel, Latin manualis.

• IPA^(key): /ma.nuˈal/

• Audio:

  (file)

manual m or n (feminine singular manuală, masculine plural manuali, feminine and neuter plural manuale)

1. manual

manual n (plural manuale)

1. handbook

• carte

Borrowed from Latin manuālis.

• IPA^(key): /maˈnwal/ [maˈnwal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ma‧nual

manual m or f (masculine and feminine plural manuales)

1. manual (performed by the hands)
2. manual (operated by the hands)
3. manual (performed by a human)

   Antonym: automático

manual m (plural manuales)

1. manual (handbook)
2. manual (booklet with instructions)

• “manual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

manual c

1. a manual, a handbook
2. (music) a manual, a keyboard

• manuell
• pedal