apply

Meanings

1. To formally request something, such as a job or a place at school.
2. To put something on a surface.
3. To use a rule or idea in a situation.

Example sentences

• "She applied for a job at the local library."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "Apply the cream to your skin twice a day."

  Level A2, Meaning 2

• "You must apply what you have learned."

  Level B1, Meaning 3

• "The rule does not apply to young children."

  Level B1, Meaning 3

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• use : Use is the everyday word for putting something to work. Apply is more formal and fits rules, creams and paint.
• request : Request is the act of asking for something. Apply is to make a formal request, often with a form.

Word family and forms

Forms: applies, applied, applying

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "apply".

• apply for a job
• apply to a university
• apply cream
• apply a rule
• apply pressure
• apply online

Idioms and phrases

apply yourself

To work hard at something.

"If you apply yourself, you will pass the test."

Origin

Apply came into English in the 1300s from Old French aplier, which took it from Latin applicare, to attach or to join. The Latin verb is built from ad, meaning to, and plicare, to fold, so to apply was first to fold something onto something else.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

How to remember it

Apply has ply, from an old word for fold. When you apply a rule, you fold it onto a problem.

Test yourself

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