(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
The ~ of a person or place consists of all the qualities they have that make them distinct from other people or places.
Perhaps there is a negative side to his ~ that you haven’t seen yet...
The ~ of this country has been formed by immigration.
= nature
N-COUNT: usu with supp
2.
If something has a particular ~, it has a particular quality.
The financial concessions granted to British Aerospace were, he said, of a precarious ~...
The state farms were semi-military in ~.
= nature
N-SING: usu supp N, also in N
3.
You can use ~ to refer to the qualities that people from a particular place are believed to have.
Individuality is a valued and inherent part of the British ~.
N-SING: supp N
4.
You use ~ to say what kind of person someone is. For example, if you say that someone is a strange ~, you mean they are strange.
It’s that kind of courage and determination that makes him such a remarkable ~...
What a sad ~ that Nigel is.
N-COUNT: usu adj N
5.
Your ~ is your personality, especially how reliable and honest you are. If someone is of good ~, they are reliable and honest. If they are of bad ~, they are unreliable and dishonest.
He’s begun a series of personal attacks on my ~...
Mr Bartman was a man of good ~.
N-VAR: usu supp N
6.
If you say that someone has ~, you mean that they have the ability to deal effectively with difficult, unpleasant, or dangerous situations.
She showed real ~ in her attempts to win over the crowd...
I didn’t know Ron had that much strength of ~.
N-UNCOUNT approval
7.
If you say that a place has ~, you mean that it has an interesting or unusual quality which makes you notice it and like it.
An ugly shopping centre stands across from one of the few buildings with ~.
N-UNCOUNT approval
8.
The ~s in a film, book, or play are the people that it is about.
The film is autobiographical and the central ~ is played by Collard himself...
He’s made the ~s believable.
N-COUNT
9.
If you say that someone is a ~, you mean that they are interesting, unusual, or amusing. (INFORMAL)
He’ll be sadly missed. He was a real ~.
N-COUNT
10.
A ~ is a letter, number, or other symbol that is written or printed.
N-COUNT
11.
If someone’s actions are in ~, they are doing what you would expect them to do, knowing what kind of person they are. If their actions are out of ~, they are not doing what you would expect them to do.
It was entirely in ~ for Rachel to put her baby first...
What else could make him behave so out of ~?
PHRASE: usu v-link PHR