Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A way of doing something or the way in which a thing is done or happens: synonym: method.
  • noun A way of acting; bearing or behavior.
  • noun The socially correct way of acting; etiquette.
  • noun The prevailing customs, social conduct, and norms of a specific society, period, or group, especially as the subject of a literary work.
  • noun Practice, style, execution, or method in the arts.
  • noun Kind; sort.
  • noun Kinds; sorts.
  • idiom (in a manner of speaking) In a way; so to speak.
  • idiom (to the manner born) Accustomed to a position, custom, or lifestyle from or as if from birth.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An obsolete form of manor.
  • noun Another form of mainor.
  • noun The way in which an action is performed; method of doing anything; mode of proceeding in any case or situation; mode; way; method.
  • noun Habitual practice; customary mode of acting or proceeding with respect to anything; characteristic way or style, as in art or literature; distinctive method; habit; style: as, one's manner of life; the manner of Titian, or of Dickens.
  • noun Personal bearing or behavior; customary conduct; characteristic way of acting; wonted deportment or demeanor: most commonly in the plural: as, his manner was abrupt; good or bad manners; reformation of manners in a community.
  • noun Specifically plural Good behavior; polite deportment; habitual practice of civility; commendable habits of conduct: as, have you no manners?
  • noun The way in which anything is made or constituted; mode of being or formation; fashion; character; sort; kind: often used with all in a plural sense, equivalent to sorts or kinds: as, all manner of baked meats.
  • noun [The word in this sense is frequently used in old English without of following, in a quasi-adjective use, like kind of in modern English: as, manner folk, kind of people; manner crime, kind of crime, etc.
  • noun [Manner here is sometimes understood as manor (which was formerly also spelled manner), and is often changed to manor in the quotation to make the phrase applicable to locality.] Synonyms Manner, Mode, Method, Way. Manner is the least precise of these words, standing for sort or kind, custom, mode, method, or the like. Mode may mean a fashion, or a form or sort, as a mode of existence, or a single act or an established way, as a mode of disposing of refuse. Method implies a succession of acts tending to an end, as a method of slaughtering an ox or of solving a problem. Way is a very general word, in large popular use for each of the others, as a man's way of building a dam (method), of holding a pen (mode), of staring at strangers (manner).
  • noun Habit, Usage, etc. See custom.
  • noun Manners, Morals, etc. See morality.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Mode of action; way of performing or effecting anything; method; style; form; fashion.
  • noun Characteristic mode of acting, conducting, carrying one's self, or the like; bearing; habitual style.
  • noun Customary method of acting; habit.
  • noun Carriage; behavior; deportment; also, becoming behavior; well-bred carriage and address.
  • noun The style of writing or thought of an author; characteristic peculiarity of an artist.
  • noun Certain degree or measure.
  • noun Sort; kind; style; -- in this application sometimes having the sense of a plural, sorts or kinds.
  • noun in any way possible; by any sort of means.
  • noun [Obs.] To be taken in the very act.
  • noun to make a bow or courtesy; to offer salutation.
  • noun a portion left in a dish for the sake of good manners.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Mode of action; way of performing or effecting anything; method; style; form; fashion.
  • noun Characteristic mode of acting, conducting, carrying one's self; bearing; habitual style.
  • noun Customary method of acting; habit.
  • noun Carriage; behavior; deportment; also, becoming behavior; well-bred carriage and address.
  • noun The style of writing or thought of an author; characteristic peculiarity of an artist.
  • noun Certain degree or measure; as, it is in a manner done already.
  • noun Sort; kind; style
  • noun standards of conduct cultured and product of mind.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun how something is done or how it happens
  • noun a kind
  • noun a way of acting or behaving

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English manere, from Old French maniere, from feminine of manier, handmade, skillful, from Vulgar Latin *manuārius, convenient, handy, from Latin, of the hand, from manus, hand; see man- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman manere, from Old French maniere, from Vulgar Latin *manaria, from feminine of Latin manuarius ("belonging to the hand"), from manus ("hand")

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Examples

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  • ...meaning continent.

    June 27, 2007