(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If a bad or undesirable situation is your ~, you caused it or are responsible for it.
There was no escaping the fact: it was all his ~...
A few borrowers will find themselves in trouble with their repayments through no ~ of their own.
N-SING: with poss
2.
A ~ is a mistake in what someone is doing or in what they have done.
It is a big ~ to think that you can learn how to manage people in business school.
= error, mistake
N-COUNT: usu with supp
3.
A ~ in someone or something is a weakness in them or something that is not perfect.
His manners had always made her blind to his ~s.
...a short delay due to a minor technical ~...
= failing, flaw
N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft poss N
4.
If you cannot ~ someone, you cannot find any reason for criticizing them or the things that they are doing.
You can’t ~ them for lack of invention...
It is hard to ~ the way he runs his own operation.
VERB: with brd-neg, V n for n/-ing, V n
5.
A ~ is a large crack in the surface of the earth.
...the San Andreas Fault.
N-COUNT
6.
A ~ in tennis is a service that is wrong according to the rules.
N-COUNT
7.
If someone or something is at ~, they are to blame or are responsible for a particular situation that has gone wrong.
He could never accept that he had been at ~...
PHRASE: v-link PHR
8.
If you find ~ with something or someone, you look for mistakes and complain about them.
I was disappointed whenever the cook found ~ with my work.
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR with n
9.
If you say that someone has a particular good quality to a ~, you are emphasizing that they have more of this quality than is usual or necessary.
Jefferson was generous to a ~...
Others will tell you that she is modest to a ~, funny, clever and warm.
PHRASE: usu adj PHR emphasis