manage

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Early Modern English manage, menage, from Middle English *manage, *menage, from Old French manege (“the handling or training of a horse, horsemanship, riding, maneuvers, proceedings”), probably from Old Italian maneggiare (“to handle, manage, touch, treat”), from mano, from Latin manus (“the hand”); see manual.

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

manage (third-person singular simple present manages, present participle managing, simple past and past participle managed)

  1. (transitive) To direct or be in charge of.
    • 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 750:
      Interlaken East station is jointly owned with the standard gauge Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway from Bern and Thun and the Swiss Federal Railways metre-gauge Brünig line from Lucerne, but is managed and staffed by the Bernese Oberland group.
  2. (transitive) To handle or control (a situation, job).
  3. (transitive) To handle with skill, wield (a tool, weapon etc.).
  4. (intransitive) To succeed at an attempt in spite of difficulty.
    He managed to climb the tower.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.
    • 2013 November 30, Paul Davis, “Letters: Say it as simply as possible”, in The Economist, volume 409, number 8864:
      Congratulations on managing to use the phrase “preponderant criterion” in a chart (“On your marks”, November 9th). Was this the work of a kakorrhaphiophobic journalist set a challenge by his colleagues, or simply an example of glossolalia?
  5. (transitive, intransitive) To achieve (something) without fuss, or without outside help.
    It's a tough job, but I'll manage.
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.
  6. To manage to say; to say while fighting back embarrassment, laughter, etc.
    "That's nice, dear!", she managed.
  7. To train (a horse) in the manège; to exercise in graceful or artful action.
  8. (obsolete) To treat with care; to husband.
    • 1673, John Dryden, “Prologue”, in Marriage à la Mode:
      [She] […] manages her last half-crown with care,
      And trudges to the Mall, on foot
  9. (obsolete) To bring about; to contrive.

Conjugation[edit]

conjugation of manage
infinitive manage
present participle managing
past participle managed
simple progressive perfect perfect progressive
present I manage we manage I am managing we are managing I have managed we have managed I have been managing we have been managing
you manage you manage you are managing you are managing you have managed you have managed you have been managing you have been managing
he manages they manage he is managing they are managing he has managed they have managed he has been managing they have been managing
past I managed we managed I was managing we were managing I had managed we had managed I had been managing we had been managing
you managed you managed you were managing you were managing you had managed you had managed you had been managing you had been managing
he managed they managed he was managing they were managing he had managed they had managed he had been managing they had been managing
future I will manage we will manage I will be managing we will be managing I will have managed we will have managed I will have been managing we will have been managing
you will manage you will manage you will be managing you will be managing you will have managed you will have managed you will have been managing you will have been managing
he will manage they will manage he will be managing they will be managing he will have managed they will have managed he will have been managing they will have been managing
conditional I would manage we would manage I would be managing we would be managing I would have managed we would have managed I would have been managing we would have been managing
you would manage you would manage you would be managing you would be managing you would have managed you would have managed you would have been managing you would have been managing
he would manage they would manage he would be managing they would be managing he would have managed they would have managed he would have been managing they would have been managing
imperative manage

Synonyms[edit]

  • (To handle with skill, wield): bewield

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from manage (verb)

Related terms[edit]

Terms etymologically related to manage (verb)

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun[edit]

manage (uncountable)

  1. (now rare) The act of managing or controlling something.
  2. (horseriding) Manège.
    • 1622, Henry Peacham (Jr.), The Compleat Gentleman
      You must draw [the horse] in his career with his manage, and turn, doing the corvetto, leaping &c..

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

manage

  1. Alternative form of menage
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