Meaning & use
mix
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To put different things together and stir or shake them so that they become one thing.
Grammar: With an object: mix the flour and eggs. Without: oil and water do not mix.
Patterns
- mix something with something
- mix something and something
- mix something into something
Mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl.
Oil and water do not mix.
She mixed blue and yellow paint to make green.
verbintransitive
To meet and talk with different kinds of people at a social event.
Grammar: No object: mix with the guests.
Patterns
- mix with someone
- mix with people
He found it hard to mix with strangers at parties.
The two groups of students rarely mixed.
She enjoys mixing with people from other cultures.
nouncountable
A combination of different things or people, or a ready-made blend of ingredients.
Grammar: Countable: a mix, several mixes.
Patterns
- a mix of something
- cake mix
The class is a mix of beginners and experts.
I bought a cake mix at the store.
The album is a mix of old songs and new ones.
verbtransitivemusictechnical
To combine different recorded sounds to produce one final recording.
Grammar: Takes an object: mix the track.
Patterns
- mix a track
- mix a song
The engineer mixed the album over two weeks.
She mixed the vocals with the drums.
He mixes tracks for a living.
Word forms
| third person singular | mixes |
|---|---|
| past tense | mixed |
| past participle | mixed |
| -ing form | mixing |
| plural | mixes |
Common combinations
- mix well
- Mix well before serving.
- mix up
- I always mix up their names.
- mix together
- Mix together the butter and sugar.
- a good mix
- The team has a good mix of skills.
- mix business with pleasure
- He never mixes business with pleasure.
Synonyms and how they differ
- blend
- Blend suggests the parts merge smoothly until they cannot be told apart, while mix may leave them separate.
- combine
- Combine is more formal and need not involve stirring.
- stir
- Stir describes the action of moving a spoon, but mix describes the result as well.
- mingle
- Mingle is used for people moving around together at an event, and sounds more lively and social.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: mix or mix up?
mix vs mix up
Mix up means to confuse one thing with another, whereas plain mix means to combine.
Practice
Oil and water do not ____ because they separate into layers.
Choose one answer.
After 'do not' the plain base form mix is needed. Mixes, mixed and mixing do not follow the auxiliary do.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mix”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.