(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
When you come to a ~, you decide that something is true after you have thought about it carefully and have considered all the relevant facts.
Over the years I’ve come to the ~ that she’s a very great musician...
I have tried to give some idea of how I feel–other people will no doubt draw their own ~s.
N-COUNT: oft N that
2.
The ~ of something is its ending.
At the ~ of the programme, I asked the children if they had any questions they wanted to ask me.
= end
N-SING: also no det, usu with supp
3.
The ~ of a treaty or a business deal is the act of arranging it or agreeing it.
...the expected ~ of a free-trade agreement between Mexico and the United States.
N-SING: usu with supp
4.
You can refer to something that seems certain to happen as a foregone ~.
It was a foregone ~ that I would end up in the same business as him...
= certainty
PHRASE: oft it v-link PHR that
5.
You say ‘in ~’ to indicate that what you are about to say is the last thing that you want to say.
In ~, walking is a cheap, safe, enjoyable and readily available form of exercise.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
6.
If you say that someone jumps to a ~, you are critical of them because they decide too quickly that something is true, when they do not know all the facts.
I didn’t want her to jump to the ~ that the divorce was in any way her fault...
PHRASE: V and N inflect, oft PHR that disapproval