Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔔 A signal 🔔 To signal 🎱 A billiards stick
to cue

to cue

60 3.2
To give a signal that tells someone when to speak or act
  • verb
  • /kjuː/
: señalar
  • The examiner also used finger counting to cue the child for three different responses.
  • cue students
  • cue the audience
  • cue the reader

I mean, cue the Carly Simon music.

Examples

  • All right, let's cue the montage.

  • So while I do that, let's cue the music.

  • Somebody cue up the power ballad, man.

    Disturbing Behavior (1998)

  • Three, two, one... cue Bridget.

    Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

  • The trigger is the thing that cues your mind to do it.

  • Cue inspirational music.

    Epic Movie (2007)

  • When the time comes, I'll cue you to start speaking.

  • The director will cue the actors when it's their turn to enter the scene.

  • Please cue the video so we can begin the presentation.

Synonyms

to remind
vsto cue
397 2.3

To help someone by saying a forgotten word or line during a performance

uses timing cues rather than providing the missing words
to prompt
vsto cue
16 4.0

Give someone the next words when they forget them

gives a signal rather than supplying the actual words

Compounds

pool cue
6 3.0

A long thin stick used to hit the small white ball in pool or billiards

cue ball
5 3.4

A white ball a player hits with a cue to move other balls

cue stick
1 3.8

A long, thin stick used to hit the white ball in pool and billiards

How Direct

to remind
∞ 1.0
to cue
60 3.2
prompt
  • Specialized
4 3.4
to suggest
∞ 1.6
to hint
136 2.0

Surface Forms

cue infinitive
cued past
cued past participle
cueing present participle
cues third person singular

Etymology

The verb cue comes from the noun cue meaning a signal, so to cue someone is to give them a prompt or signal that tells them when to speak or act.