(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ to indicate that something belongs to a particular person or thing.
My wife decided I should have my ~ shop...
He could no longer trust his ~ judgement...
His office had its ~ private entrance.
ADJ: poss ADJ
•
Own is also a pronoun.
He saw the Major’s face a few inches from his ~.
PRON: poss PRON
2.
You use ~ to indicate that something is used by, or is characteristic of, only one person, thing, or group.
Jennifer insisted on her ~ room...
I let her tell me about it in her ~ way...
Each nation has its ~ peculiarities when it comes to doing business.
ADJ: poss ADJ
•
Own is also a pronoun.
This young lady has a sense of style that is very much her ~.
PRON: poss PRON
3.
You use ~ to indicate that someone does something without any help from other people.
They enjoy making their ~ decisions...
He’ll have to make his ~ arrangements.
ADJ: poss ADJ
•
Own is also a pronoun.
There’s no career structure, you have to create your ~.
PRON: poss PRON
4.
If you ~ something, it is your property.
His father ~s a local pub...
VERB: V n
5.
If you have something you can call your ~, it belongs only to you, rather than being controlled by or shared with someone else.
I would like a place I could call my ~.
PHRASE
6.
If someone or something comes into their ~, they become very successful or start to perform very well because the circumstances are right.
The goalkeeper came into his ~ with a series of brilliant saves...
PHRASE: V inflects
7.
If you get your ~ back on someone, you have your revenge on them because of something bad that they have done to you. (mainly BRIT INFORMAL)
Renshaw reveals 20 bizarre ways in which women have got their ~ back on former loved ones.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR on n
8.
If you say that someone has a particular thing of their ~, you mean that that thing belongs or relates to them, rather than to other people.
He set out in search of ideas for starting a company of his ~.
PHRASE: n PHR
9.
If someone or something has a particular quality or characteristic of their ~, that quality or characteristic is especially theirs, rather than being shared by other things or people of that type.
The cries of the seagulls gave this part of the harbour a fascinating character all of its ~.
PHRASE: n PHR
10.
When you are on your ~, you are alone.
He lives on his ~...
I told him how scared I was of being on my ~...
= alone
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR
11.
If you do something on your ~, you do it without any help from other people.
I work best on my ~.
...the jobs your child can do on her ~.
PHRASE: PHR after v
12.
to hold your ~: see hold