Definition of to in English: preposition
1Expressing motion in the direction of (a particular location):
walking down to the shops
my first visit to Africa
we’re going to a party
1.1Expressing location, typically in relation to a specified point of reference:
forty miles to the south of the site
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1.2Expressing a point reached at the end of a range or after a period of time:
a drop in profits from £105 m to around £75 m
from 1938 to 1945
1.3chiefly British (In telling the time) before (the hour specified):
it’s five to ten
2Approaching or reaching (a particular condition):
Christopher’s expression changed from amazement to joy
she was close to tears
2.1Expressing the result of a process or action:
smashed to smithereens
2.2Governing a phrase expressing someone’s reaction to something:
to her astonishment, he smiled
3Identifying the person or thing affected by or receiving something:
you were terribly unkind to her
they donated £400 to the hospice
I am deeply grateful to my parents
4Identifying a particular relationship between one person and another:
he is married to his cousin Emma
he’s economic adviser to the president
4.1Used in various phrases to indicate how something is related to something else (often followed by a noun without a determiner):
made to order
a prelude to disaster
4.2Indicating a rate of return on something, for example the distance travelled in exchange for fuel used:
my car only does ten miles to the gallon
4.3 (to the) Mathematics Indicating the power (exponent) to which a number is raised:
ten to the minus thirty-three
5Indicating that two things are attached or linked:
he had left his dog tied to a drainpipe
they are inextricably linked to this island
6Concerning or likely to concern (something):
a threat to world peace
a reference to Psalm 22:18
7Used to introduce the second element in a comparison:
the club’s nothing to what it once was
8 Placed before a debit entry in accounting.
1Used with the base form of a verb to indicate that the verb is in the infinitive, in particular:
1.1Expressing purpose or intention:
I set out to buy food
I am going to tell you a story
1.2Expressing an outcome or result:
she was left to die
I managed to escape
1.3Expressing a cause:
I’m sorry to hear that
1.4Indicating a desired or advisable action:
I’d love to go to France this summer
the leaflet explains how to start a course
1.5Indicating a proposition that is known, believed, or reported about a specified person or thing:
a house that people believed to be haunted
1.6 (about to) Forming a future tense with reference to the immediate future:
he was about to sing
1.7After a noun, indicating its function or purpose:
a chair to sit on
something to eat
1.8After a phrase containing an ordinal number:
the first person to arrive
2Used without a verb following when the missing verb is clearly understood:
he asked her to come but she said she didn’t want to