adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a superficial examination (= looking only at things that are obvious and easy to see )
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The police carried out a fairly superficial examination of the room.
a superficial resemblance (= when something seems to look like something else, but is in fact quite different )
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Its spines give it a superficial resemblance to a hedgehog.
a superficial similarity (= one in which an obvious feature of two things is similar, but other features are not similar )
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the superficial similarities between animal behaviour and human behaviour
superficial (= not deep )
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I’m fine - just a few superficial cuts.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
more
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In bringing out the imbalance, therefore, it should appear in progressively lower and more superficial regions of the body.
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The oral papillae are small and pointed, irregularly arranged either along the edge of the jaw or slightly more superficial .
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Others had made more superficial changes.
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Wit operates on a more superficial level than imagination.
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One explanation is that there are social class differences of a more superficial kind which overlay the similarity in role-identification patterns.
most
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There seems to be almost no discussion of the above topics apart from at the most superficial level.
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But only the most superficial reading of Mundo de siete pozos could produce a judgement like that of Arrieta.
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Such economies of attention are achieved by dealing only with the most superficial aspects of an experience.
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The most superficial phenomena are sometimes the most profound.
only
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To concentrate on the latter is not only superficial , it is also incorrect.
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If we want to improve early childhood education, by-passing teachers' thinking brings only superficial change.
very
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In fact it incorporates only very superficial observations.
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Our observation is that tapes can be used only in very superficial wounds and very small skin lacerations.
■ NOUN
examination
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Searches are restricted to superficial examination of outer clothing.
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After he'd made a quick and fairly superficial examination I locked the door.
gastritis
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Chronic superficial gastritis was seen in 12 patients and atrophic gastritis in two.
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However, a decline in pentagastrin stimulated gastric acid secretion with age was seen in those subjects with superficial gastritis also.
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No clinical data regarding the aetiology of superficial gastritis in these patients are given.
level
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While, at a superficial level , the titles might well mislead, a swift glance at the contents is reassuring.
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On a superficial level , it has given the undersea hot springs their otherworldly look.
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There seems to be almost no discussion of the above topics apart from at the most superficial level .
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At this superficial level , different kinds of speech community shape can be readily distinguished.
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The result was, however, that the most important change in Roman life was observed only at a superficial level .
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After all, who really likes gossips beyond a superficial level ?
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On a superficial level , there are similarities.
resemblance
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Genesis 1 has often been compared with the Babylonian account of creation to which it bears a superficial resemblance .
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But such arrangements bear only a superficial resemblance to classic design.
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The administration of Ponthieu bore some superficial resemblances to that of Aquitaine.
similarity
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The superficial similarities might make a lesser man than Mikhail Gorbachev tremble.
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They claim that despite superficial similarities with shamanism, something very different is going on.
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I shall suggest that, although they capture some superficial similarities between the two issues, they are ultimately misleading.
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There were, it was true, any number of superficial similarities .
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The variety underlying the superficial similarity of idiom is enormous, even within the work of a single composer.
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But that is a superficial similarity .
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In such circumstances the superficial similarities between animal behaviour and human behaviour sometimes become very marked.
way
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And to us if we are to understand him in anything more than a superficial way .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a superficial understanding of physics
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Barlow was treated for a superficial gunshot wound to the leg.
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Debbie kept canceling our dates for superficial reasons.
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The landscape bore a superficial resemblance to England's green and pleasant land, and each house had a small suburban garden.
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The people are friendly, but only in a superficial way.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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As a reader I think there is too much superficial cricket autobiography and biography already available.
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But Pittsburgh women are not silly or superficial .
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He had always thought of it as a superficial and outmoded gesture found only in old novels.
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The head and snout alone bear some superficial likeness to those of that familiar creature.
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To Ahab, the White Whale represents the impossibility of going behind the superficial layers of nature or reality.