I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a form/mode/method/means of travel
▪
I find the train a more comfortable mode of travel.
a means of communication (= a way of exchanging information )
▪
There were no roads and no means of communication with the people in the mountains.
a means of escape (= a way of escaping )
▪
She searched in vain for a means of escape.
a means of escape (= a way of forgetting about a bad situation )
▪
Drugs and alcohol are their only means of escape.
a means of expression
▪
Art is not just a means of expression, it is also a means of communication.
a means to an end (= a way of achieving what you want )
▪
To Joe, work was a means to an end, nothing more.
a means/mode/form of transport
▪
Horses and carts were the only means of transport.
a means/source of livelihood
▪
Fishing is the main source of livelihood for many people in the area.
an effective means
▪
Is reducing the speed limit an effective means of reducing accidents?
an efficient means
▪
The tram is a very efficient means of transport.
arithmetic mean (= average )
▪
the arithmetic mean
be far from clear/be by no means clear (= be very unclear )
▪
The directions she gave me were far from clear.
be no mean achievement (= be difficult to achieve and therfore worth admiring )
▪
He got the top mark in the country which is no mean achievement.
by/through peaceful means
▪
We must redistribute power in this country by peaceful means.
convey meaning
▪
Children sometimes find it easier to use pictures to convey meaning, rather than words.
devise a means (= think of a way )
▪
We must devise a means of transport that does not pollute the atmosphere.
(do you) know what I mean? (= used to ask if someone understands or has the same feeling as you )
▪
It’s nice to have a change sometimes. Know what I mean?
double meaning
▪
A lot of the jokes were based on double meaning .
Greenwich Mean Time
I know what you mean (= I understand, because I have had the same experience )
▪
‘I just felt so tired.' ‘Yeah, I know what you mean .’.
if you know what I mean
▪
Sometimes it’s better not to ask too many questions, if you know what I mean.
literal meaning/sense/interpretation etc
▪
A trade war is not a war in the literal sense.
mean ruin (= cause ruin for sb )
▪
They fear that the proposals could mean ruin for small football clubs.
mean sth as a compliment
▪
When I said she’d lost weight, I meant it as a compliment.
mean sth by a remark
▪
What did you mean by that remark?
mean...literally (= I did not mean exactly what I said )
▪
I said I felt like quitting, but I didn’t mean it literally !
means of identification
▪
fingerprinting as a means of identification
means of propulsion
▪
research into liquid hydrogen as a means of propulsion
means test
▪
means-tested benefits
means/mode/form of transportation
▪
People need to get out of their cars and use other modes of transportation.
mean/spell trouble (= mean there will be trouble )
▪
They are now much more competitive, which can only spell trouble for their rivals.
meant no disrespect
▪
It was said on the spur of the moment and I meant no disrespect to anybody.
meant nothing (= was not important )
▪
Politics meant nothing to me for years.
no mean feat (= something that is difficult to do )
▪
It is no mean feat to perform such a difficult piece.
see what...mean (= I understand what you are saying )
▪
I see what you mean .
sth is by no means certain (= not definite )
▪
Victory was by no means certain for Smith.
the end justifies the means (= used to say that something bad is acceptable, if it achieves a good result )
▪
Their defence, that the end justifies the means, is not acceptable.
the true meaning of sth
▪
The story teaches a lesson about the true meaning of friendship.
turn nasty/mean/violent etc (= suddenly become angry, violent etc )
▪
The police are worried that the situation could turn violent.
ways and means
▪
We are discussing ways and means of bringing jobs to our area.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
also
▪
That would also mean better career prospects for women, more of whom work lower down the academic ladder.
▪
It would also mean that viewers, their trigger fingers on the clicker, would have trouble avoiding the candidates.
▪
Making full use of the shape information may also mean coding the lexicon by shape for ease of search.
▪
Trading Miller also means the Sharks dumped another big salary.
▪
Greater food production also means improved incomes for farmers.
▪
That also means gas stations also will lose some sales.
▪
It also means you can send Web pages by email.
▪
But, in addition, it has also meant some surrender of authority to Washington.
really
▪
Anna hadn't really meant here, but she felt she'd better not say anything.
▪
Without really meaning to, Chuck proves her right in seven comical episodes.
▪
That sounds like motherhood and apple pie until we examine what full employment really means .
▪
Passion goes a long way in movies; it helps if you really mean it.
▪
This really means cutting in angled sweeps, allowing the double blade to cut on the forward and return arc.
▪
How far away that really means .
▪
What it really means is that the new trams are a hybrid between street car and lightweight suburban train.
▪
Schwarz and Volgy question what it really means to live on the economy budget.
■ NOUN
lot
▪
This does not necessarily mean paying out a lot of money for several totally new changes of clothes.
▪
He always had a joke, of course, and his visits certainly meant a lot to the staff.
▪
Selling twelve bags to every gram means a lot of footwork.
▪
Two big things happened that meant a lot to me.
▪
It actually meant quite a lot to me to score a goal past the number-one goalkeeper.
▪
She means a lot to me.
▪
But in an emergency, says Mr Aho, that means a lot of people go hungry.
▪
I mean , a lot of times people like to work by themselves.
word
▪
The starting point is to discover what words mean .
▪
Now the words have a fuller meaning .
▪
You needed a word that meant both ones.
▪
Synonymy is a relation that structures the lexicon of a language into sets of words sharing a meaning .
▪
Masculine, feminine and neuter are labels for formal properties and have nothing to do with what a word actually means .
▪
Such lexical chains need not necessarily consist of words which mean the same, however.
▪
Nothing as haphazard as words , whose meaning and nuance shift enigmatically from one slippery slope to another.
■ VERB
know
▪
We know she means what she says.
▪
When I wear something, it has to impress me, know what I mean ?
▪
Looking for family-right, Aunt Marie, I know what you mean .
▪
Some were struggling behind-but they did not really know the meaning of struggling.
▪
But I knew what he meant .
▪
She knows what it means now.
▪
I did not quite know what they meant but I took it as a compliment.
suppose
▪
It was all motion, always moving ... so I suppose that must mean I didn't stop; not really.
▪
Democracy is not supposed to mean a nation of suckers.
▪
Now what was that supposed to mean ?
▪
I suppose it was meant to make people feel they were living in a good place.
▪
I suppose she meant if she put me on the Pill she was letting me sleep around.
▪
I supposed it was meant ironically but I was too weary to care.
▪
I suppose that this means that this month's parish magazine should be a special holiday edition.
▪
I suppose you mean an all-consuming I-will-do-anything-for-you passion?
understand
▪
Wistfully, William Wordsworth wrote: en and everyone understood what the poet meant .
▪
President Clinton understood what this meant for developing countries yet did nothing about it.
▪
He understood what it meant to the living left behind.
▪
Before the managers could begin to understand what providing leadership meant , they had to grasp these fundamental ideas.
▪
But very soon he got used to these things and learnt to understand what they meant .
▪
Sandi looks at Yolanda; she understood whom Yolanda meant .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(not) know the meaning of sth
▪
Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of fear.
▪
A dictionary is useless unless one already knows the meanings of many words.
▪
For instance, we assume he would satisfy our behavioural criteria for being some one who knows the meaning of the word bank.
▪
He had a lot of things representing other things that no one but he knew the meaning of.
▪
Men like Luke Hunter didn't know the meaning of permanence - or fidelity.
▪
Regarding exercises: before attempting to answer a question do make sure you know the meaning of all the words in it!
▪
So I know the meaning of credit.
▪
Some were struggling behind-but they did not really know the meaning of struggling.
▪
Willi didn't know the meaning of restraint, not in any aspect of his life.
a dirty/rotten/mean trick
▪
Bomb threats and other dirty tricks kept many voters at home.
a means to an end
▪
Technology is not a magic wand, but only a means to an end.
▪
Admittedly, policy is important: but it is only a means to an end.
▪
All in all, everything I did was a means to an end -- my own.
▪
Don't think of computers as a daunting modern technology; they're only a means to an end.
▪
Protection is vital: but as a means to an end, not as an end in itself.
▪
Showbiz was a means to an end.
▪
The separation into sequential categories of response is merely a means to an end.
▪
The young man was merely a means to an end and, in both cases, that end had now been served.
▪
These should be viewed as a means to an end, rather than as ends in themselves.
be/mean everything (to sb)
▪
Walt's family means everything to him.
▪
Beckwith meant everything to him, she'd recognized that from the first.
▪
Does that mean everything deserves a Nobel Prize?
▪
It meant everything to her to be able to play her senior year.
▪
On the other hand, a word can not mean everything and something at the same time.
▪
She needed to be everything she could be and London would provide for that.
▪
Timing can be everything , even in rocket science.
▪
Well, that seems to be everything so far as tomorrow is concerned.
bereft of hope/meaning/life etc
▪
How haggard and bereft of hope they looked!
▪
These women were old and toothless at a young age, their eyes bereft of hope.
by all means!
by fair means or foul
by means of sth
▪
Critics were silenced by means of torture and unfair trials.
▪
Funds for economic development were provided by means of sterling bond issues in the London capital market.
▪
Initially this will be done by means of markers or cones and we will explain the new arrangements to the children.
▪
Let us briefly consider how you might analyze this claim by means of the scientific method.
▪
Maximilian was killed by means of a carbonic acid injection.
▪
Or gas before he backed himself into a corner and tried to escape by means of the faro table.
▪
Other ethnographic techniques Ethnographic research is not carried out only by means of participant observation and unstructured interviewing.
▪
Word of the Barrio barred owl spread among birders by means of an efficient and long established telephone grapevine.
by no means/not by any means
▪
It's difficult, but by no means impossible.
▪
It's not clear by any means where the money is going to come from to fund this project.
▪
It is by no means certain that you'll get your money back.
how do you mean?
▪
Straight? How do you mean, straight?
▪
And now, how do you mean translated?
just because ... it doesn't mean
mean business
▪
And to prove we mean business , our members will stage a one-day strike next week.
▪
Firm action would show both sides that the EU and the UN really meant business .
▪
The man had a gun. It was obvious he meant business .
▪
But as the oil men realised that we meant business , seizures began to drop.
▪
But when it bites, it means business .
▪
For one local company it's meant business taking off like a rocket.
▪
One of the quintet not only means business but high-minded, selfless business.
▪
They looked as though they meant business .
▪
This does not necessarily mean businesses must avoid all such one-of-a-kinds whatever their nature.
▪
Those boys knew we meant business .
▪
Zhou had discarded his usual severe tunic for a gray Western business suit, and he meant business.
mean no harm/not mean any harm
mean the world to sb/think the world of sb
not by any manner of means
▪
You know, it isn't all sweetness and light here, not by any manner of means.
not know/mean diddly
▪
Bradley doesn't know diddly about running his own business.
shade of meaning/opinion/feeling etc
▪
As a solo instrument following a melodic line, the violin can convey every imaginable shade of feeling.
▪
From a sociologist's point of view, work has shades of meaning which are individual to each of us.
▪
In this more tolerant environment several newspapers representing different shades of opinion have already sprung up, especially in the urban areas.
▪
It represented all shades of opinion, but it was dominated by Sukarno.
▪
There was in most works an allowance for shades of feeling and meaning, and for the existence of doubt.
▪
These two directions or shades of opinion are not necessarily as starkly polarised as may appear.
▪
To teach me to perceive the shades of beauty and the shades of meaning ....
the means of production
▪
It would be foolish to nationalize all the means of production.
▪
A class in itself is simply a social group whose members share the same relationship to the means of production.
▪
But it did not own the means of production.
▪
Classes did not exist since all members of society shared the same relationship to the means of production.
▪
Finally, the owner-worker cleavage involves questions of labour exploitation and control over the means of production.
▪
Since managers are in control, they effectively own the means of production.
▪
The bourgeoisie class own the means of production, the proletariat do not.
▪
The dominant class, the capitalists, own and control the means of production and thereby exploit the subordinate working class.
▪
The power of the ruling class therefore stems from its ownership and control of the means of production.
this means war
what's the meaning of this?
▪
What's the meaning of this? I asked you to be here an hour ago!
woman/man etc of independent means
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
"Downsizing" simply means that firms are tending to buy smaller computers to do jobs which used to require big ones.
▪
"Poultry" means chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese.
▪
A free economy does not mean the absence of any economic control.
▪
Cloudy water from the taps usually means problems with your storage tank.
▪
Dark clouds usually mean rain.
▪
Do you know what "ambidextrous" means?
▪
Does this mean I can't go to the wedding?
▪
Frank's surgery residency means staying in Albuquerque another five years.
▪
He said Sarah was a very close friend, but I'm not sure what he meant.
▪
Her car's not there, so that must mean she's gone to pick him up.
▪
High interest rates and high inflation mean a recession is not far away.
▪
His new responsibilities at work mean Leroy will rarely see his children.
▪
I mean it - I'll scream if you don't let me go.
▪
I meant that we would have to leave early, that's all.
▪
I meant what I said, I never want to see you again.
▪
If A is false, does that also mean proposition B is false?
▪
It says "not suitable for children", which means anyone under 16.
▪
Just because it's red doesn't mean it's cherry-flavored.
▪
Oh, you mean the blue shorts.
▪
She's kind of irritable, if you know what I mean .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
And I meant what I said about you at the start of this.
▪
Bush's tax cuts and the slowing economy mean that Pentagon policy choices will have to be made this year.
▪
In practice this means for men.
▪
It is much quicker, and it means the same, if we say Yes I do or Yes I think so.
▪
Similarly, some words which are meant to stir can leave others unmoved.
▪
Since the amount of information to be conveyed remains much the same this means that the signal-to-noise ratio will be worse.
▪
That was the point Henry Hyde meant to make about opinion polls.
▪
The strength of the pound means bikes are much cheaper to buy on the continent than over here.
II. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
achievement
▪
No mean achievement given the established market domination by Sage.
▪
For an immigrant boy this marital alliance was no mean achievement .
▪
But that was no mean achievement .
▪
It will be no mean achievement .
▪
This is no mean achievement as it means achieving Guild membership consistently for five successive years.
▪
To have provided such an advance on existing theories is no mean achievement .
▪
Considering that we were completely and utterly untrained at this stage of the war, this was no mean achievement .
age
▪
The mean age of a sample of fourteen was 18 7.
▪
The mean age increased together with the severity of the oesophageal injury.
▪
Their mean age was 46.6 years with a range of 21-82 years, and 10 were men.
▪
In each site in both series, the mean age of the women was greater than the mean age of the men.
▪
The mean ages of onset of colitis in the benign and malignant groups were 31 and 24 years respectively.
▪
To improve precision, it is usual to date several samples from the same archaeological level to determine the mean age .
▪
The mean age was 40 years, an equal male/female distribution was found.
▪
Five male cases died at mean age 47.8, compared with two controls at 49.5.
distance
▪
The mean distance of the electron from the central proton defines the atom's size.
duration
▪
Secondly, the mean duration of treatment before study termination was similar in both groups.
feat
▪
On Tuesday Invergordon Distillers reported a marginal improvement in underlying profits, no mean feat given the difficulties facing the whisky sector.
▪
Given that there are some 20,000 such fastenings in a boat of this size, this is no mean feat .
▪
This is no mean feat as the statute has 108 sections divided into 12 separate parts, together with 15 schedules.
▪
The discovery of an effect with such a long latent period was no mean feat of epidemiology.
number
▪
The mean number of errors made during each trial was calculated for each group.
▪
A mean number of 10 well orientated crypts were examined for each specimen.
▪
The mean number of letters recalled across the 12 subjects for each time delay was then calculated.
▪
Table 3.1 shows the mean number of correct responses given by each age group.
▪
The mean number of hits was 9.3 and false alarms 3.1.
▪
This indicates an increase in the mean number of quanta released per trial.
▪
The mean number of hits and false alarms in Table 4.6 are out of a maximum possible number of nine.
score
▪
The middle third yielded a mean score of 54 percent and this was also the overall mean score.
▪
The figures in the table are thus mean scores of the means for the organizations in the three groups.
▪
The test yielded a mean score of just over 50 percent for all pupils participating.
▪
Main outcome measures - Improvement in mean scores on Hamilton depression rating scale for 55 randomised controlled trials.
▪
The boys' mean score was 57 percent and the girls' 51 percent.
▪
The mean scores at baseline for the subgroup of students who were followed up were the same as for those not followed up.
street
▪
They'd ganged up on Kenny and afterwards he looked as if the mean streets had come up to meet him face first.
▪
Hopkins, noted for a ferocious work ethic, often refers to prison and life on the mean streets .
▪
Down the mean streets of the urban wasteland treads psychiatrist Trevor Turner, looking for the tell-tale signs.
temperature
▪
This behaviour is similar to the observed evolution of the mean temperature in the lower stratosphere during 1984 and 1989.
▪
The mean temperature in Champagne is 10.53°C sheltered at 2 metres above the ground and 11.21°C at 0.2 metres above the ground.
▪
Since then they have been both warmer and colder, with oscillations of the order of 1-2°C about annual mean temperatures .
value
▪
Where more than one sample has been used, mean values are shown here, although there are within-species differences.
▪
This pattern has been constructed by finding the mean value of coin loss at eighty-eight sites.
▪
The data were then grouped according to the mean value .
▪
Applications are then made either side of this mean value , depending on crop greenness.
▪
The statistical significance of the difference between the mean value of groups was tested by Student's t test for unpaired values.
velocity
▪
The mean velocity also varies vertically, and we shall confine attention to two-dimensional flow.
▪
Firstly, the mean velocity profile may be liable to local instability, somewhat analogous to instability of laminar flow.
▪
The turbulence is being kept going by the working of this against the mean velocity gradient.
▪
In most turbulent flows, for example, only the mean velocity can be measured with a Pitot tube.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(not) know the meaning of sth
▪
Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of fear.
▪
A dictionary is useless unless one already knows the meanings of many words.
▪
For instance, we assume he would satisfy our behavioural criteria for being some one who knows the meaning of the word bank.
▪
He had a lot of things representing other things that no one but he knew the meaning of.
▪
Men like Luke Hunter didn't know the meaning of permanence - or fidelity.
▪
Regarding exercises: before attempting to answer a question do make sure you know the meaning of all the words in it!
▪
So I know the meaning of credit.
▪
Some were struggling behind-but they did not really know the meaning of struggling.
▪
Willi didn't know the meaning of restraint, not in any aspect of his life.
a dirty/rotten/mean trick
▪
Bomb threats and other dirty tricks kept many voters at home.
a means to an end
▪
Technology is not a magic wand, but only a means to an end.
▪
Admittedly, policy is important: but it is only a means to an end.
▪
All in all, everything I did was a means to an end -- my own.
▪
Don't think of computers as a daunting modern technology; they're only a means to an end.
▪
Protection is vital: but as a means to an end, not as an end in itself.
▪
Showbiz was a means to an end.
▪
The separation into sequential categories of response is merely a means to an end.
▪
The young man was merely a means to an end and, in both cases, that end had now been served.
▪
These should be viewed as a means to an end, rather than as ends in themselves.
be/mean everything (to sb)
▪
Walt's family means everything to him.
▪
Beckwith meant everything to him, she'd recognized that from the first.
▪
Does that mean everything deserves a Nobel Prize?
▪
It meant everything to her to be able to play her senior year.
▪
On the other hand, a word can not mean everything and something at the same time.
▪
She needed to be everything she could be and London would provide for that.
▪
Timing can be everything , even in rocket science.
▪
Well, that seems to be everything so far as tomorrow is concerned.
by all means!
by means of sth
▪
Critics were silenced by means of torture and unfair trials.
▪
Funds for economic development were provided by means of sterling bond issues in the London capital market.
▪
Initially this will be done by means of markers or cones and we will explain the new arrangements to the children.
▪
Let us briefly consider how you might analyze this claim by means of the scientific method.
▪
Maximilian was killed by means of a carbonic acid injection.
▪
Or gas before he backed himself into a corner and tried to escape by means of the faro table.
▪
Other ethnographic techniques Ethnographic research is not carried out only by means of participant observation and unstructured interviewing.
▪
Word of the Barrio barred owl spread among birders by means of an efficient and long established telephone grapevine.
by no means/not by any means
▪
It's difficult, but by no means impossible.
▪
It's not clear by any means where the money is going to come from to fund this project.
▪
It is by no means certain that you'll get your money back.
how do you mean?
▪
Straight? How do you mean, straight?
▪
And now, how do you mean translated?
just because ... it doesn't mean
mean business
▪
And to prove we mean business , our members will stage a one-day strike next week.
▪
Firm action would show both sides that the EU and the UN really meant business .
▪
The man had a gun. It was obvious he meant business .
▪
But as the oil men realised that we meant business , seizures began to drop.
▪
But when it bites, it means business .
▪
For one local company it's meant business taking off like a rocket.
▪
One of the quintet not only means business but high-minded, selfless business.
▪
They looked as though they meant business .
▪
This does not necessarily mean businesses must avoid all such one-of-a-kinds whatever their nature.
▪
Those boys knew we meant business .
▪
Zhou had discarded his usual severe tunic for a gray Western business suit, and he meant business.
mean no harm/not mean any harm
mean the world to sb/think the world of sb
not by any manner of means
▪
You know, it isn't all sweetness and light here, not by any manner of means.
not know/mean diddly
▪
Bradley doesn't know diddly about running his own business.
shade of meaning/opinion/feeling etc
▪
As a solo instrument following a melodic line, the violin can convey every imaginable shade of feeling.
▪
From a sociologist's point of view, work has shades of meaning which are individual to each of us.
▪
In this more tolerant environment several newspapers representing different shades of opinion have already sprung up, especially in the urban areas.
▪
It represented all shades of opinion, but it was dominated by Sukarno.
▪
There was in most works an allowance for shades of feeling and meaning, and for the existence of doubt.
▪
These two directions or shades of opinion are not necessarily as starkly polarised as may appear.
▪
To teach me to perceive the shades of beauty and the shades of meaning ....
the means of production
▪
It would be foolish to nationalize all the means of production.
▪
A class in itself is simply a social group whose members share the same relationship to the means of production.
▪
But it did not own the means of production.
▪
Classes did not exist since all members of society shared the same relationship to the means of production.
▪
Finally, the owner-worker cleavage involves questions of labour exploitation and control over the means of production.
▪
Since managers are in control, they effectively own the means of production.
▪
The bourgeoisie class own the means of production, the proletariat do not.
▪
The dominant class, the capitalists, own and control the means of production and thereby exploit the subordinate working class.
▪
The power of the ruling class therefore stems from its ownership and control of the means of production.
this means war
understand sth to be/mean sth
▪
We understood his lack of response to mean "no."
▪
Accent, tone, fluency and vocabulary can affect the ability of sender and receiver to understand or to be understood.
▪
After a while-it seemed like an eternity-Philip usually acknowledged that he understood what needed to be accomplished.
▪
Barmy anyway, which is what I understand you to mean.
▪
Hicks understood it to mean Those Who Are.
▪
Homosexuals have as much right to be understood , to be treated with compassionate love as the rest of us.
▪
Isabel had always understood Faith to mean that she should have it.
▪
Must you really understand duration to be a savvy investor?
▪
To understand is to be betrayed.
what's that supposed to mean?
▪
"It sounds like things aren't going too well for you lately." "What's that supposed to mean?"
what's the meaning of this?
▪
What's the meaning of this? I asked you to be here an hour ago!
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
He's so mean , he won't even buy his wife a birthday present.
▪
He was mean to those who worked for him and generous to those who he hardly knew.
▪
I never thought he was capable of doing such a mean thing to his brother.
▪
It was mean of you to disturb her when she was having a rest.
▪
Marsha has always been mean with her money.
▪
My father was a mean old man who resented every penny he spent on us.
▪
Rick's so mean he never even buys his wife a birthday present.
▪
Sharon and the others were really mean to me at school today.
▪
She hated him for being so mean . Why was he stopping her from seeing her friends?
▪
That was a mean trick.
▪
The mean length of stay in the hospital is 11 days.
▪
There's no reason to be mean .
▪
We soon found out that our new teacher could be real mean .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
In the garden grey airs blow moist, but the mean sky holds on to its water.
▪
Now with Sam gone Helen will get meaner and meaner to me like always.
▪
The mean labelling indices did not change significantly over time regardless of whether or not there were recurrences.
▪
The disparity between solar noon and mean noon widens and narrows as the seasons change, on a sliding scale.
III. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
annual
▪
Average relative humidity is high throughout the year, ranging from 80 to 88% saturation, with an annual mean of 85%.
available
▪
All available means for eradicating underdevelopment exist at the door step of the continent in particular and the world in general.
conventional
▪
Once nasty enough, this virus would start spreading by more conventional means .
democratic
▪
This is what democratic leadership means .
▪
According to sources, the report urges paramilitary groups to commit themselves to exclusively democratic means and to total disarmament.
effective
▪
Thin-section petrology is a more effective means of carrying out such quantitative work.
▪
The only effective means of controlling outbreaks of this disease are mass vaccination campaigns.
▪
Vitamin supplements, which cost just a few cents a dose, are a highly effective means of prevention.
▪
This was not just a very effective means to an end: it was an end in itself-and a gamble.
▪
It has proved a simple, cheap and-so far-\#effective means of maintaining good circulation in my legs.
▪
Such networks may also provide a more effective means for monitoring occupationally acquired infections in hospital and laboratory personnel.
▪
Quevauviller is very successful in systematically altering analytical chemists to effective means for achieving quality in analytical speciation.
excellent
▪
An excellent means of putting money in the pockets of the poor without burdening taxpayers.
▪
They are easy to create and are an excellent means of presenting detailed information.
financial
▪
Most patients of the hospital do not have the financial means to afford treatment for erectile dysfunction.
▪
Although news of her work in Motijhil had spread quickly, they had almost no financial means .
▪
On housing, what exactly does the Financial Secretary mean by the introduction of competition into housing management?
▪
Lamar Alexander and news commentator Pat Buchanan, both of whom themselves are men of substantial financial means .
▪
If your financial means vary as much as your spending habits, then such a mortgage may be for you.
▪
The Hicks family was not one of great financial means .
▪
Barneys executives have contended that its expansion strained its management resources more than its financial means .
independent
▪
Only in the last 50 years have independent means of absolute dating become available, transforming archaeology in the process.
▪
The virus has no independent means of propulsion and can not control its own motion.
▪
Here we are, you see, women of modest but independent means , living together, but without male attachments.
indirect
▪
The feistier sort of Republican is as hostile to big government by indirect means as to the direct variety.
▪
But other details, some of the most interesting, can not be confirmed by such indirect means .
modest
▪
The family survived on modest means .
▪
Being of very modest means , but having some contacts upon the turf, he attempted to increase his wages by gambling.
▪
Here we are, you see, women of modest but independent means , living together, but without male attachments.
peaceful
▪
Second, unification shall be achieved through peaceful means , and not through use of force against one another.
possible
▪
Campaigners insist that developing countries must use every possible means to get hold of affordable drugs that can stop people dying.
▪
We should be prepared to counter this unprecedented instrument of domination by all possible means .
▪
One possible means could entail offering tax or financing incentives to small high-technology businesses.
▪
The man of conscience and compassion must see that efficiency is increased by all possible means .
primary
▪
Consequently, wage employment is the primary means by which they can be lifted out of grinding poverty.
▪
For years, annexation has been the primary means by which city officials planned for growth.
▪
It was a primary means of evangelism.
▪
Electronic networks can support this organizational structure by providing the primary means of connection.
traditional
▪
But the advantages of getting weather on-line instead of through more traditional means are just as clear.
■ VERB
achieve
▪
Quevauviller is very successful in systematically altering analytical chemists to effective means for achieving quality in analytical speciation.
▪
The lawyer is responsible for working with the client to decide the best means to achieve those objectives.
▪
Where the consensus broke down was over the means used to achieve the goals.
▪
And for the first time, they had the means to achieve it.
▪
University law states that a strike is not a legal means of achieving student objectives.
become
▪
The waters of chaos which extinguish life in judgment actually bear up the survivors, becoming their means of salvation.
▪
Human experience becomes the means to comprehend and express our awareness of the sacred.
▪
When did it become admirable to be mean ?
▪
The photographic camera thus became the foremost means for producing or recording such images.
▪
It has become a central means by which Congress secures the accountability of executive and independent agencies.
▪
They were first, as a result, to become concerned with means , explicit or unrecognized, for safeguarding that stake.
do
▪
Q.. What exactly does the term bankruptcy mean ?
▪
So, what does all this mean ?
▪
In short, do ends justify means or are the means themselves of intrinsic significance to the final outcome?
▪
But what exactly does this claim mean ?
▪
What does all this jargon mean ?
end
▪
Lifestyle and social status, cars, houses and clothes, are means , not ends .
▪
The central failure of government today is one of means , not ends .
find
▪
Yet finding the means to deal with this determined and ruthless group is not easy.
▪
Daedalus himself, the wily artisan who wrought the whole thing, could find no means to pierce its mystery from within.
▪
Yes, Professor, and I was at no loss to find these means .
▪
The females in their zeal would find some means to drive him away into the military service....
▪
First Bank officials, however, contend they will find other means to bolster earnings and maintain their projections.
▪
The national government seemingly could find no constitutional means to intercede to protect its black citizens.
▪
One action is to meet with school staff to find the means to help Mike at school.
▪
When Pauline grew into her teen years, the father found the means to ship her off to relatives in Baltimore.
justify
▪
The end does not justify the means , no matter what the cause.
▪
In short, do ends justify means or are the means themselves of intrinsic significance to the final outcome?
lack
▪
The poorer ones lack the means to get out, and keep getting caught.
▪
These early systems sometimes provide information only and lack the means to accept orders via the keyboard.
▪
It may feel it lacks the means to guarantee success and that a military enterprise would be too risky.
▪
They lacked both proof and means of verification.
live
▪
The really rapid growth in the second half of the 1990s was the result of an economy living beyond its means .
▪
Yet that earlier generation was able to live within its means , balancing budgets year after year.
▪
Are you living within your means ?
protect
▪
And he also had a few choice words about my means of protecting myself.
▪
The national government seemingly could find no constitutional means to intercede to protect its black citizens.
provide
▪
Nature, fortunately, has provided a convenient means for locating the chromosomes.
▪
It pays lip service to local choices but provides no specific means to make them more rational and efficient.
▪
Thus they also provided the means for doing this: microsurgery, by pipette.
▪
Forms provide the means to collect and act on data entered by the end user.
▪
Present-value calculations provide a simple means of quantifying this time value of money by using the reciprocal of the compound interest formula.
▪
Wise societies provide ample means for young men to affirm themselves without afflicting others.
▪
People who work provide the means by which we get the goods and services we want.
understand
▪
To understand what sustainability means , it's necessary first to understand what unsustainability means in terms of first-order scientific principles.
▪
Here are a few: Understand what cholesterol means and where it originates.
▪
The magic does not come from menstruation alone, it comes from understanding what menstruation means .
use
▪
Campaigners insist that developing countries must use every possible means to get hold of affordable drugs that can stop people dying.
▪
All agreed that the United States had to stand up to the aggressors from the north, using whatever means were necessary.
▪
These are people using legislative means to preserve their language and culture.
▪
They are authorized to use any conceivable means to accomplish the mission.
▪
Sometimes people have learning problems and they use visual means to help them understand.
▪
You must use whatever means are available to you and avoid wasting time on those that are not.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(not) know the meaning of sth
▪
Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of fear.
▪
A dictionary is useless unless one already knows the meanings of many words.
▪
For instance, we assume he would satisfy our behavioural criteria for being some one who knows the meaning of the word bank.
▪
He had a lot of things representing other things that no one but he knew the meaning of.
▪
Men like Luke Hunter didn't know the meaning of permanence - or fidelity.
▪
Regarding exercises: before attempting to answer a question do make sure you know the meaning of all the words in it!
▪
So I know the meaning of credit.
▪
Some were struggling behind-but they did not really know the meaning of struggling.
▪
Willi didn't know the meaning of restraint, not in any aspect of his life.
a dirty/rotten/mean trick
▪
Bomb threats and other dirty tricks kept many voters at home.
a means to an end
▪
Technology is not a magic wand, but only a means to an end.
▪
Admittedly, policy is important: but it is only a means to an end.
▪
All in all, everything I did was a means to an end -- my own.
▪
Don't think of computers as a daunting modern technology; they're only a means to an end.
▪
Protection is vital: but as a means to an end, not as an end in itself.
▪
Showbiz was a means to an end.
▪
The separation into sequential categories of response is merely a means to an end.
▪
The young man was merely a means to an end and, in both cases, that end had now been served.
▪
These should be viewed as a means to an end, rather than as ends in themselves.
be/mean everything (to sb)
▪
Walt's family means everything to him.
▪
Beckwith meant everything to him, she'd recognized that from the first.
▪
Does that mean everything deserves a Nobel Prize?
▪
It meant everything to her to be able to play her senior year.
▪
On the other hand, a word can not mean everything and something at the same time.
▪
She needed to be everything she could be and London would provide for that.
▪
Timing can be everything , even in rocket science.
▪
Well, that seems to be everything so far as tomorrow is concerned.
bereft of hope/meaning/life etc
▪
How haggard and bereft of hope they looked!
▪
These women were old and toothless at a young age, their eyes bereft of hope.
by all means!
by fair means or foul
by means of sth
▪
Critics were silenced by means of torture and unfair trials.
▪
Funds for economic development were provided by means of sterling bond issues in the London capital market.
▪
Initially this will be done by means of markers or cones and we will explain the new arrangements to the children.
▪
Let us briefly consider how you might analyze this claim by means of the scientific method.
▪
Maximilian was killed by means of a carbonic acid injection.
▪
Or gas before he backed himself into a corner and tried to escape by means of the faro table.
▪
Other ethnographic techniques Ethnographic research is not carried out only by means of participant observation and unstructured interviewing.
▪
Word of the Barrio barred owl spread among birders by means of an efficient and long established telephone grapevine.
by no means/not by any means
▪
It's difficult, but by no means impossible.
▪
It's not clear by any means where the money is going to come from to fund this project.
▪
It is by no means certain that you'll get your money back.
how do you mean?
▪
Straight? How do you mean, straight?
▪
And now, how do you mean translated?
just because ... it doesn't mean
mean business
▪
And to prove we mean business , our members will stage a one-day strike next week.
▪
Firm action would show both sides that the EU and the UN really meant business .
▪
The man had a gun. It was obvious he meant business .
▪
But as the oil men realised that we meant business , seizures began to drop.
▪
But when it bites, it means business .
▪
For one local company it's meant business taking off like a rocket.
▪
One of the quintet not only means business but high-minded, selfless business.
▪
They looked as though they meant business .
▪
This does not necessarily mean businesses must avoid all such one-of-a-kinds whatever their nature.
▪
Those boys knew we meant business .
▪
Zhou had discarded his usual severe tunic for a gray Western business suit, and he meant business.
mean no harm/not mean any harm
mean the world to sb/think the world of sb
not by any manner of means
▪
You know, it isn't all sweetness and light here, not by any manner of means.
not know/mean diddly
▪
Bradley doesn't know diddly about running his own business.
shade of meaning/opinion/feeling etc
▪
As a solo instrument following a melodic line, the violin can convey every imaginable shade of feeling.
▪
From a sociologist's point of view, work has shades of meaning which are individual to each of us.
▪
In this more tolerant environment several newspapers representing different shades of opinion have already sprung up, especially in the urban areas.
▪
It represented all shades of opinion, but it was dominated by Sukarno.
▪
There was in most works an allowance for shades of feeling and meaning, and for the existence of doubt.
▪
These two directions or shades of opinion are not necessarily as starkly polarised as may appear.
▪
To teach me to perceive the shades of beauty and the shades of meaning ....
the means of production
▪
It would be foolish to nationalize all the means of production.
▪
A class in itself is simply a social group whose members share the same relationship to the means of production.
▪
But it did not own the means of production.
▪
Classes did not exist since all members of society shared the same relationship to the means of production.
▪
Finally, the owner-worker cleavage involves questions of labour exploitation and control over the means of production.
▪
Since managers are in control, they effectively own the means of production.
▪
The bourgeoisie class own the means of production, the proletariat do not.
▪
The dominant class, the capitalists, own and control the means of production and thereby exploit the subordinate working class.
▪
The power of the ruling class therefore stems from its ownership and control of the means of production.
this means war
understand sth to be/mean sth
▪
We understood his lack of response to mean "no."
▪
Accent, tone, fluency and vocabulary can affect the ability of sender and receiver to understand or to be understood.
▪
After a while-it seemed like an eternity-Philip usually acknowledged that he understood what needed to be accomplished.
▪
Barmy anyway, which is what I understand you to mean.
▪
Hicks understood it to mean Those Who Are.
▪
Homosexuals have as much right to be understood , to be treated with compassionate love as the rest of us.
▪
Isabel had always understood Faith to mean that she should have it.
▪
Must you really understand duration to be a savvy investor?
▪
To understand is to be betrayed.
what's that supposed to mean?
▪
"It sounds like things aren't going too well for you lately." "What's that supposed to mean?"
what's the meaning of this?
▪
What's the meaning of this? I asked you to be here an hour ago!
woman/man etc of independent means
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
As for the rapists, I bet they are unsuccessful in attracting females, and so resort to desperate means.
▪
But success was by no means guaranteed.
▪
By no means, Watson; even now quite a few scientists continue to doubt.
▪
In some of the other states, the usual means of locomotion was still a horse and wagon.
▪
The poorer ones lack the means to get out, and keep getting caught.