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queue

queue

27 2.9
A line of people or vehicles waiting their turn
  • noun
  • /kjuː/
: cola
  • We stood in a long queue outside the concert hall, eager to get in.
  • wait in a queue
  • long queues

So we walk past this queue of people who are waiting in the snow.

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Examples

  • As I write, there are queues to see the show in Berlin.

    Academic text (1996)
  • The bank queue is always the same, no matter how you calculate a less crowded hour.

    Academic text (2011)
  • So we walk past this queue of people who are waiting in the snow.

  • I was moved to the head of the queue, where I continued to wait.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Is she trying to jump the queue?

  • More tourists were helped into the next one, and the queue moved forward.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • I secured my place in the queue, trying to recognize the people in front of me.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • At the elevator, he joined the short queue, feeling the tension in the back of his neck.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • You're currently in the queue.

  • Please form an orderly queue.

Synonyms

waiting line
vsqueue
1 1.8

A line of people or cars waiting for their turn

is the single-word form used for the same idea

Antonyms

438 3.1

A situation with no order where people are confused and cannot act normally

31 3.7

A state in which things or places are not arranged

Compounds

push-down queue
  • Specialized
7.7

A pile where the last item put on is the first taken off

How Large

mob
219 3.4
crowd
∞ 1.0
queue
27 2.9
line
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

queue singular
queues plural

Etymology

Queue comes from the French word queue meaning 'tail'. Think of a tail stretching out behind an animal — a queue is a line of people or cars that stretches out one after another, like a tail.