I. preposition
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a negative/minus number (= a number that is less than zero )
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Can a negative number have a square root?
minus sign
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
plus or minus
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Dealings take place at the price quoted plus or minus days' accrued interest.
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It is consistent to within a value of plus or minus one, which is quite acceptable for a rough bound.
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The margin of error is plus or minus one percent.
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The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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Total return is interest earnings plus or minus any change in principal value.
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Typical instructions in this class increment or decrement an accumulator; here the implied value is plus or minus one.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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30 minus 5 leaves 25.
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He came back from the fight minus a couple of front teeth.
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Here's the twenty dollars I owe you, minus seven dollars for the movie.
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Tonight's low temperatures could reach minus twenty degrees in some areas.
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When we take away points for hitting obstacles, you get a final score of minus seven.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
side
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On the minus side , she'd blown a lot of money and received a couple of scares.
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On the minus side , they knew what I looked like, where I lived and what I drove.
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On the minus side is the fact that a lot of your customers won't like dealing with and paying a factor.
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On the minus side , the performance monitor took time to become familiar with.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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There are both pluses and minuses to living in a big city.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But were I marking his inaugural effort for its calm sobriety, I fear my assessment would be beta minus .
III. adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a trade deficit of minus £4bn
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The temperature dropped to almost minus 40.