(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Your ~ of a person or thing is what you think they are like, usually after having seen or heard them. Your ~ of a situation is what you think is going on.
What were your first ~s of college?...
My ~ is that they are totally out of control...
N-COUNT: oft poss N, N of n, N that
2.
If someone gives you a particular ~, they cause you to believe that something is the case, often when it is not.
I don’t want to give the ~ that I’m running away from the charges...
N-SING: usu with supp, oft N that, N of n
3.
An ~ is an amusing imitation of someone’s behaviour or way of talking, usually someone well-known.
He did ~s of Sean Connery and James Mason.
= impersonation
N-COUNT: oft N of n
4.
An ~ of an object is a mark or outline that it has left after being pressed hard onto a surface.
...the world’s oldest fossil ~s of plant life.
N-COUNT
5.
If someone or something makes an ~, they have a strong effect on people or a situation.
The aid coming in has made no ~ on the horrific death rates.
PHRASE: V inflects
6.
If you are under the ~ that something is the case, you believe that it is the case, usually when it is not actually the case.
He had apparently been under the ~ that a military coup was in progress.
PHRASE: v-link PHR, usu PHR that