(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
If you have an ~ of something or someone, you have a picture or idea of them in your mind.
The ~ of art theft as a gentleman’s crime is outdated...
N-COUNT: usu with supp
2.
The ~ of a person, group, or organization is the way that they appear to other people.
The tobacco industry has been trying to improve its ~.
N-COUNT: oft with poss
3.
An ~ is a picture of someone or something. (FORMAL)
...photographic ~s of young children...
N-COUNT
4.
An ~ is a poetic description of something. (FORMAL)
The natural ~s in the poem are meant to be suggestive of realities beyond themselves.
N-COUNT
5.
If you are the ~ of someone else, you look very much like them.
Marianne’s son was the ~ of his father.
PHRASE: V inflects
6.
spitting ~: see spit
see also mirror ~