(~s, rating, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
The ~ at which something happens is the speed with which it happens.
The ~ at which hair grows can be agonisingly slow...
The world’s tropical forests are disappearing at an even faster ~ than experts had thought.
N-COUNT: with supp
2.
The ~ at which something happens is the number of times it happens over a period of time.
New diet books appear at a ~ of nearly one a week...
His heart ~ was 30 beats per minute slower...
N-COUNT: with supp
3.
A ~ is the amount of money that is charged for goods or services.
Calls cost 36p per minute cheap ~ and 48p at all other times.
...specially reduced ~s for travellers using Gatwick Airport...
N-COUNT: with supp
see also exchange ~
4.
The ~ of taxation or interest is the amount of tax or interest that needs to be paid. It is expressed as a percentage of the amount that is earned, gained as profit, or borrowed. (BUSINESS)
The government insisted that it would not be panicked into interest ~ cuts.
N-COUNT: with supp
5.
If you ~ someone or something as good or bad, you consider them to be good or bad. You can also say that someone or something ~s as good or bad.
Of all the men in the survey, they ~ themselves the least fun-loving and the most responsible...
Most ~d it a hit...
We ~ him as one of the best...
She ~d the course highly...
Reading books does not ~ highly among Britons as a leisure activity.
...the most highly ~d player in English football.
VERB: no cont, V n adj, V n n, V n as n/adj, V n adv, V adv prep, V-ed
6.
If you ~ someone or something, you think that they are good. (mainly BRIT INFORMAL)
It’s flattering to know that other clubs have shown interest and seem to ~ me...
VERB: V n
7.
If someone or something is ~d at a particular position or rank, they are calculated or considered to be in that position on a list.
He is generally ~d Italy’s No. 3 industrialist...
He came here ~d 100th on the tennis computer.
V-PASSIVE: no cont, be V-ed n, be V-ed ord
8.
If you say that someone or something ~s a particular reaction, you mean that this is the reaction you consider to be appropriate.
This is so extraordinary, it ~s a medal and a phone call from the President...
= merit
VERB: no cont, V n
9.
see also rating
10.
You use at any ~ to indicate that what you have just said might be incorrect or unclear in some way, and that you are now being more precise.
She modestly suggests that ‘sex, or at any ~ gender, may account for the difference’...
PHRASE: PHR with cl
11.
You use at any ~ to indicate that the important thing is what you are saying now, and not what was said before.
Well, at any ~, let me thank you for all you did.
PHRASE: PHR with cl
12.
If you say that at this ~ something bad or extreme will happen, you mean that it will happen if things continue to develop as they have been doing.
At this ~ they’d be lucky to get home before eight-thirty or nine.
PHRASE: PHR with cl