(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to indicate the extent to which something happens or is the case, or the amount which something is felt.
These man-made barriers will ensure a very high ~ of protection...
Politicians have used television with varying ~s of success.
N-COUNT: with supp, usu N of n
•
If something has a ~ of a particular quality, it has a small but significant amount of that quality.
Their wages do, however, allow them a ~ of independence...
PHRASE: PHR n
2.
A ~ is a unit of measurement that is used to measure temperatures. It is often written as °, for example 23°.
It’s over 80 ~s outside...
N-COUNT: usu num N
3.
A ~ is a unit of measurement that is used to measure angles, and also longitude and latitude. It is often written as °, for example 23°.
It was pointing outward at an angle of 45 ~s.
N-COUNT: usu num N
4.
A ~ at a university or college is a course of study that you take there, or the qualification that you get when you have passed the course.
He took a master’s ~ in economics at Yale.
...the first year of a ~ course.
N-COUNT: usu with supp
5.
see also first-~ , second-~ , third-~
6.
If something happens by ~s, it happens slowly and gradually.
The crowd in Robinson’s Coffee-House was thinning, but only by ~s.
= gradually
PHRASE
7.
You use expressions such as to some ~, to a large ~, or to a certain ~ in order to indicate that something is partly true, but not entirely true.
These statements are, to some ~, all correct.
PHRASE: PHR with cl vagueness
8.
You use expressions such as to what ~ and to the ~ that when you are discussing how true a statement is, or in what ways it is true.
To what ~ would you say you had control over things that went on?...
= to what extent, to the extent that
PHRASE vagueness