What is the Difference between Wait and Weight

Wait And Weight are homonyms; this means they are pronounced exactly the same way but spelt differently.

Wait can be a verb or a noun.  As a verb it means stay where one is, or delay action until a particular time or event.  Wait is usually followed by a preposition such as for, at, on, in, or near.  Wait on is to act as an attendant, or as a waiter or waitress in a restaurant.   As a noun, wait signifies a period of inaction.  Below are some examples of wait as a verb:

  • Wait for me; I will be with you in a minute. 
  • Please waitat the corner of the street; I will pick you up from there. 
  • Peter waited in the restaurant for two hours but Mary did not come. 
  • If you wait near the station, a taxi will eventually come by. 
  • The train was still waiting at the station when James arrived. 
  • I can no longer wait to tell you that I am getting married next month. 
  • Don’t waitup for me; I will be back very late. 
  • Mary has been waiting a long time for a proposal from Simon, but she won’t break with him. 
  • We waited endlessly for the rain to stop; eventually we were forced to cancel our picnic. 
  • Lara was appointed as a maid to waitupon the Queen. 
  • Tom’s job was to wait on customers at the restaurant. 
  • He had a long wait at the doctor’s clinic. 
  • The wait for news of their missing child was agonising. 
  • The flight was delayed and the wait for announcement of the new departure time left us angry and hungry. 
  • We had a long wait to get a table at the new restaurant. 

Weight  is a noun and refers to the heaviness of a person or thing; a body’s relative mass or the quantity of matter contained by it.  It signifies the quality of being heavy, or it is  a unit or system of units, used for expressing how much an object or quantity of matter weighs (weights and measures).  Here are some examples: He was at least fifteen stone in weight.  She misjudged the weight of the book and dropped it. Mastiffs can reach a weight of 52 kg. More examples:

  • He gained weight after being fed with carbohydrates and fatty food. 
  • His weight has risen massively and his body has ballooned. 
  • The burglar crept around the apartment but the boards creaked loudly under his weight. 
  • It is very important that farmers selling livestock and other products start to think in terms of the metric system of weights and measures such as kilos and litres. 
  • The homeopath spooned the powder on to scales with tiny brass weights. 
  • The prisoners were forced to march 8 kms. overnight carrying weights of 35 kgs. 

Weight can also mean the ability of someone or something to influence decisions or actions and be of importance.

  • His proposals to increase production carried weight with the committee members. 
  • If you recommend me for the job, it will carry great weight with the selectors. 
  • Individuals differ in the weight they attach to different aspects of a job. 
  • Your arguments had better carry weight with the jury, or the accused will be given a jail term of 10 years. 
  • The weight of grieving over his wife’s untimely death, has affected his health. 
  • The reasons given for banning the consumption of beef did not carry weight with the government. 
  • The new employee, who was related to the boss, threw his weight around the office making him unpopular.

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