Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: In addition to the uses shown below, '~' is used in phrasal verbs such as ‘abide ~’, ‘put ~’, and ‘stand ~’.
1.
If something is done ~ a person or thing, that person or thing does it.
The feast was served ~ his mother and sisters...
I was amazed ~ their discourtesy and lack of professionalism...
The town has been under attack ~ rebel groups for a week now.
PREP
2.
If you say that something such as a book, a piece of music, or a painting is ~ a particular person, you mean that this person wrote it or created it.
...a painting ~ Van Gogh...
‘Jacob’s Ladder’, the newest film ~ Adrian Lyne, is a post-Vietnam horror story.
PREP
3.
If you do something ~ a particular means, you do it using that thing.
We’ll be travelling ~ car.
...dinners ~ candlelight.
PREP
4.
If you achieve one thing ~ doing another thing, your action enables you to achieve the first thing.
Make the sauce ~ boiling the cream and stock together in a pan...
The all-female yacht crew made history ~ becoming the first to sail round the world...
By using the air ambulance to transport patients between hospitals, they can save up to ?15,000 per patient.
PREP: PREP -ing
5.
You use ~ in phrases such as ‘~ chance’ or ‘~ accident’ to indicate whether or not an event was planned.
I met him ~ chance out walking yesterday...
He opened Ingrid’s letter ~ mistake...
Whether ~ design or accident his timing was perfect.
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6.
If someone is a particular type of person ~ nature, ~ profession, or ~ birth, they are that type of person because of their nature, their profession, or the family they were born into.
I am certainly lucky to have a kind wife who is loving ~ nature...
She’s a nurse ~ profession and now runs a counselling service for women...
Her parents were in fact American ~ birth.
PREP: adj/n PREP n
7.
If something must be done ~ law, it happens according to the law. If something is the case ~ particular standards, it is the case according to the standards.
Pharmacists are required ~ law to give the medicine prescribed ~ the doctor.
...evening wear that was discreet ~ his standards.
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8.
If you say what someone means ~ a particular word or expression, you are saying what they intend the word or expression to refer to.
Stella knew what he meant ~ ‘start again’...
‘You’re unbelievably lucky’—‘What do you mean ~ that?’
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9.
If you hold someone or something ~ a particular part of them, you hold that part.
He caught her ~ the shoulder and turned her around...
She was led ~ the arm to a small room at the far end of the corridor...
He picked up the photocopy ~ one corner and put it in his wallet.
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10.
Someone or something that is ~ something else is beside it and close to it.
Judith was sitting in a rocking-chair ~ the window...
Felicity Maxwell stood ~ the bar and ordered a glass of wine...
Emma was ~ the door.
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•
By is also an adverb.
Large numbers of security police stood ~.
ADV: ADV after v
11.
If a person or vehicle goes ~ you, they move past you without stopping.
A few cars passed close ~ me...
He kept walking and passed ~ me on his side of the street.
PREP: v PREP n
•
By is also an adverb.
The bomb went off as a police patrol went ~.
ADV: ADV after v
12.
If you stop ~ a place, you visit it for a short time.
We had made arrangements to stop ~ her house in Pacific Grove...
PREP
•
By is also an adverb.
I’ll stop ~ after dinner and we’ll have that talk.
ADV: ADV after v
13.
If something happens ~ a particular time, it happens at or before that time.
By eight o’clock he had arrived at my hotel...
We all knew ~ then that the affair was practically over.
PREP
14.
If you do something ~ day, you do it during the day. If you do it ~ night, you do it during the night.
By day a woman could safely walk the streets, but at night the pavements became dangerous...
She had no wish to hurry alone through the streets of London ~ night.
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15.
In arithmetic, you use ~ before the second number in a multiplication or division sum.
...an apparent annual rate of 22.8 per cent (1.9 multiplied ~ 12)...
230cm divided ~ 22cm is 10.45cm.
PREP: PREP num
16.
You use ~ to talk about measurements of area. For example, if a room is twenty feet ~ fourteen feet, it measures twenty feet in one direction and fourteen feet in the other direction.
Three prisoners were sharing one small cell 3 metres ~ 2 metres.
PREP: PREP num
17.
If something increases or decreases ~ a particular amount, that amount is gained or lost.
Violent crime has increased ~ 10 percent since last year...
Their pay has been cut ~ one-third.
PREP: PREP amount
18.
Things that are made or sold ~ the million or ~ the dozen are made or sold in those quantities.
Parcels arrived ~ the dozen from America...
Liberty fabrics, both for furnishing and for dress-making, are sold ~ the metre.
PREP: PREP the n
19.
You use ~ in expressions such as ‘minute ~ minute’ and ‘drop ~ drop’ to talk about things that happen gradually, not all at once.
His father began to lose his memory bit ~ bit, becoming increasingly forgetful.
PREP: n PREP n
20.
If you are ~ yourself, you are alone.
...a dark-haired man sitting ~ himself in a corner.
= alone
PHRASE: PHR after v
21.
If you do something ~ yourself, you succeed in doing it without anyone helping you.
I didn’t know if I could raise a child ~ myself.
PHRASE: PHR after v