I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
at best...at worst
▪
Choosing the right software can be time-consuming at best and confusing or frustrating at worst .
best endeavours
▪
Despite our best endeavours , we couldn’t start the car.
best man
best practice
come off second best (= lose a game or competition, or not be as successful as someone else )
for reasons best known to sb (= used when you do not understand someone’s behaviour )
▪
For reasons best known to herself, she decided to sell the house.
good intentions/the best (of) intentions (= intentions to do something good or kind, especially when you do not succeed in doing it )
▪
He thinks the minister is full of good intentions that won’t be carried out.
good/best mate
▪
He’s good mates with John.
hope for the best (= hope that a situation will end well when there is a risk of things going wrong )
▪
Liam decided to ignore the warning and just hope for the best .
how best (= the best way )
▪
advice on how best to invest your money
is best known for (= people are most likely to be familiar with )
▪
Hepburn is best known for her roles in classic films such as ‘My Fair Lady’.
judge it best/better to do sth (= think that something is the best thing to do )
▪
Robert wanted to go and help him, but judged it best to stay where he was.
like best (= like most of all )
▪
The time I like best is the evening when it’s cool.
make sth the best/worst/most expensive etc
▪
Over 80,000 people attended, making it the biggest sporting event in the area.
meant it for the best (= wanted to be helpful, although my actions had the wrong effect )
▪
I wasn’t criticizing you, I really meant it for the best .
much the best/most interesting etc British English
▪
It’s much the best way to do it.
of the worst/best etc kind
▪
This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.
sb’s best clothes
▪
They wore their best clothes for the photograph.
sb’s best friend (= the friend you like the most )
▪
Fiona was her best friend.
sb’s best guess (= one that you think is most likely to be right )
▪
My best guess is that it will take around six months.
sb’s best handwriting
▪
In his best handwriting, he wrote, 'Happy Father’s Day, Dad'.
second best
▪
Allie was the second best shooter on the rifle team.
second best
▪
I’m not going to settle for second best .
settle for second best
▪
I’m not going to settle for second best .
the best available
▪
We use the best available technology.
the best means
▪
Is this really the best means of achieving our goal?
the best plan British English (= the best thing to do )
▪
I think the best plan is to take the train.
the best route
▪
Let's look at the map and work out the best route.
the best way
▪
Doing the job is often regarded as the best way of learning the job.
the best/greatest etc that/who ever lived (= the best, greatest etc who has been alive at any time )
▪
He’s probably the best journalist who ever lived.
the best/perfect/ideal solution
▪
Locking people in prison is not necessarily the ideal solution.
the best/tallest etc in the world
▪
We want to become the best team in the world.
the best/worst kind
▪
Not knowing what had happened to her was the worst kind of torture.
the best/worst part
▪
The worst part was having to work even when it was raining.
the very best/latest/worst etc
▪
We only use the very best ingredients.
the world’s best/tallest etc
▪
It is the world’s largest car manufacturer.
to (the best of) my recollection (= used when you are unsure if you remember correctly )
▪
To the best of my recollection, she drives a Mercedes.
▪
Noone, to my recollection, gave a second thought to the risks involved.
try your best/hardest (= make as much effort as possible )
▪
Try your best to block out other distractions.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
very
▪
Our experienced editors comb the publishers' lists continually for the very best books for children - of all ages.
▪
It would have to be the very best , and by a healthy margin.
▪
Her old chum, her very best friend.
▪
Knowing that, later I always insisted we send our very best , not our worst, when we were called on.
▪
Traditional music at it s very best !
▪
In my heart I was fiercely competitive: I wanted to be the very best at anything I cared about.
▪
This is one of Gibson's very best discs and the orchestra plays splendidly.
▪
The very best I could do was control my tears, to a point.
■ NOUN
bet
▪
Your best bet is to act unconcerned.
▪
Extreme surfer and skateboard styles are still a best bet .
▪
Despite the presence of the unbeaten Daarik, Montendre looks the best bet at York.
▪
Until then, Confucius is your best bet .
▪
Then the Pantry is your best bet .
▪
Whether Tendulkar rather than McDermott will be the best bet in that direction remains open to question.
▪
Perhaps the best bet would be to ignore the words altogether and focus on the music.
chance
▪
Linfield had the best chance of the half, however, Eachus making a stunning save from a Johnston shot.
▪
Mitch Snyder may have realized it was his best chance of making some kind of mark on the parish.
▪
Fertilisations may occur over a period of a month, but the most recent foetuses have the best chance to develop.
▪
I think he has the best chance of winning.
▪
Blanche knew this was her best chance .
▪
That was his best chance to win on his own.
▪
In retrospect, this period offered the best chance for a settlement.
example
▪
I try to be the best example I can be.
▪
Lord Thomson was the best example in the post-war period.
▪
Perhaps the best example is CompuServe.
▪
Perhaps the best example of the problems that this approach can cause is the Atari desktop publishing system.
▪
The best example of this approach is an active document.
▪
One might at least look to the best examples there may be today.
▪
The best example is the evidence that surfaced last week in the billing records of her former law firm from 1985-86.
friend
▪
Darling, sometimes, you are my best friend .
▪
Both had grandsons who were best friends in the same grade in the same school.
▪
Brilliant actress - I can totally freak out and not even my best friend knows.
▪
She is anticipating a visit from Varvara, her best friend , who will arrive later this summer.
▪
Stuart must be their best friend .
▪
Jessica Rankin was pregnant, and I was her best friend .
▪
Suddenly, the loyalist outcry over the arrests in the Rathcoole district was the government's best friend .
▪
A Friend Dear Friend: Half of this panel say tell the best friend.
hope
▪
Integration is the best hope for both.
▪
The Suns may have to determine whether their best hope of rebuilding is to put Barkley on the market.
▪
But for now persuasion, carrots and free elections remain the best hope .
▪
He best hope Bill Cowher is.
▪
Paradoxically, Diamond feels this loss of linguistic diversity may be our best hope .
▪
He is still our best hope; our only hope .
▪
The best hope for tree-nests is that they should be inaccessible.
▪
If you want to dig the dirt your best hope is old Gooseneck, especially if he finds you attractive.
interest
▪
If not, they are free to treat him in what they believe to be his best interests .
▪
Their best interests must be served.
▪
Despite the struggles, most still assume that Castro has their best interests at heart.
▪
My loving parents are determining my future, with only my best interests at heart.
▪
All the artificial constraints of maintaining a regulated monopoly mean that it is not in the best interests of the consumer.
▪
Why would any nation hesitate to serve its own best interests by such sensible and humane redirection of its wealth?
▪
The second aspect of merit goods is where society believes that individuals are no longer acting in their own best interests .
▪
It is in the best interests of the family to have a body to embrace and say goodbye to.
job
▪
Despite the demands they face, all Red Arrows will tell you it's the best job in the world.
▪
Fane Leeper was also the best job superintendent on the East Coast.
▪
As the Helliwell sisters always had the pick of the best jobs , they of course lived there while working in London.
▪
The other believed you use money to enhance the business to get people-to do the very best job for you.
▪
Working for Blue Peter has got to be the best job in television.
▪
In this there was a lesson: To get the best job , you had to weather the most abuse.
▪
It's the best job in the world!
▪
Candidates who have the most formal education and who are willing to relocate should have the best job prospects.
man
▪
You are the best man , so you can be best man.
▪
They were close friends, and Critchley was the best man at Heseltine's wedding.
▪
At the beginning, Ben Corum, one of our best men , had gone down to Texas.
▪
When when they left the church the bride and groom were followed by the best man and the bridesmaid.
▪
With John Alsop away at parachute school, George Thomson served as best man .
▪
Perhaps the best man could take on the responsibility of arriving before the guests and checking the microphone.
part
▪
The best parts at the right price.
▪
But the best part was the partner I spent most of my time with in the small real estate department.
▪
The journey was the best part of the evening.
▪
And the best part of visiting both is that eating haggis is not mandatory.
▪
It is worth noting that this excess has been left to grow steadily over the best part of two centuries.
▪
The best part of this game?
▪
The bottom octave and a half of its compass is the best part of its range for everyday use.
▪
The best part of me was lying under the ground with him in the California desert.
place
▪
The next best place is a well-ventilated room.
▪
The best place to walk is in the middle of the pavement.
▪
But the best place was the river bank.
▪
Where is the best place to get tested?
▪
The occultist, Dion Fortune, wrote that the best place to wake the old gods is on chalk.
▪
It has made this country one of the best places in which to live, work and bring up our children.
▪
We spent most of the time on the planet acid: the best place for us to be.
player
▪
He was United's best player by some margin on the night.
▪
Shareef Abdur-Rahim is one of the best freshmen in the nation and best players in the league.
▪
The only way to stop us now is selling our best players .
▪
A: It is difficult because you are playing the best players .
▪
Once again, Steffi Graf has shown herself to be the best player in the world by far - in more than one sense.
▪
The best player in the world had been there, done that.
▪
Boro midfield player Graham Kavanagh was voted the best player in the tournament.
▪
Oduok has gone from being an inexperienced, uncertain player to one of the best players in the West Coast Conference.
practice
▪
This chapter places project appraisal in context, discusses methods of appraisal and describes best practice .
▪
The Energy Efficiency Office in my Department continues to promote the wider use of the technology under its best practice programme.
▪
Equally important, however, is the acknowledgement that whatever is best practice today will almost certainly not be tomorrow.
▪
The Centre will develop scenarios on emerging international markets in services, establish a database and produce company cases recording best practice .
▪
The situation with Cadbury's proposed code of best practice could not be more different.
▪
Communication Communicating the conclusions of best practice reviews is an activity that might well benefit from a best practice review itself.
▪
The best practice is to try steering a controlled wiggly course using your weight.
▪
There was also no correlation between those bids which showed best practice and those which were successful.
result
▪
The best results are obtained from watercolours, oils being less clean and controllable.
▪
But, like an athlete, you must practice these exercises deliberately and consistently for the best results .
▪
For thin sections, best results are obtained if the stain is warmed.
▪
Pilates instructors also teach correct breathing and urge concentration on form for best results .
▪
It is necessary to follow the routines exactly to obtain the best results .
▪
Fish the northern side of Bird Island with jigs tipped with minnows at dawn for best results .
▪
I realise this is higher than originally envisaged but I firmly believe our approach will lead to the best result .
▪
The programs with the best results warn students of the long-term consequences of drug use.
seller
▪
His album Stars was last year's best seller and spawned a string of hit singles.
▪
Her book became an international best seller .
▪
Voice over Mrs De Winter is already tipped as being one of the best sellers this year.
▪
Q.. What makes a book a best seller ?
▪
She evidently had no concept of books other than best sellers .
▪
The man who made a best seller out of a defamatory rant now wants to make a best seller out of repentance.
▪
The Cavalier was the best seller in October, ahead of the Escort or Fiesta.
▪
Drosnin is an investigative newspaper reporter who once wrote a best seller about Howard Hughes.
thing
▪
The best thing about it was the solitude.
▪
The best thing about it is that it works.
▪
He leaves it undisclosed, which is perhaps the best thing to do with secrets.
▪
Peace is the best thing you can wish for parents whose child has died, says a woman interviewed in the book.
▪
The best thing about them is their smell.
▪
The best thing I can do is stay in as good shape as possible.
▪
The best thing they could do was comb the hundreds of pubs in the area.
▪
Only days later, however, he was preaching that the outcome was the best thing that state had ever seen.
time
▪
The best time for the cuckoo to lay its egg is after the hosts have started laying and before they have finished.
▪
The best time to nudge children toward functional writing is when they are in the midst of doing purposeful work.
▪
The best time to practice relaxation is when you are feeling most under stress but often this is not convenient.
▪
Hard times but the best times.
▪
They are some of the best times I have ever had.
▪
I mean, some of the best times of my life occurred when Dwight D.. Eisenhower was president.
▪
Some of the best times of his life had been Sunday mornings.
▪
You have the best time of anyone around.
way
▪
What would be the best way to grow it?
▪
The best way to find relief is to approach her and apologize.
▪
It was the best way to make a snug billet for himself.
▪
Once again, the best way to determine whether a title is appropriate is to find out your readers' preference.
▪
But the best way for us to deal with it was as a family because it's less frightening that way.
▪
Thus, understanding how it stirs is one of the best ways for geophysicists to create an all-inclusive picture.
▪
He felt the best way to cure her was to keep giving her her head.
▪
The best way to say it is, everyone has different philosophies.
wish
▪
I don't know your grandparents, but I hope you will send them my best wishes .
▪
With best wishes for success and prosperity.
▪
My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.
▪
And please accept our best wishes for a healthy, happy and prosperous 1996.
▪
And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.
▪
Our best wishes go to John and his family and we look forward to working with him for another 15 year.
▪
Please believe in my loyalty and friendship and give my best wishes to your wife.
▪
Please give him our best wishes for the year.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
at your best/worst/most effective etc
be on your best behaviour
▪
Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .
▪
And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .
▪
But everyone is on their best behaviour .
▪
So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .
▪
Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .
be sb's last/only/best hope
▪
Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.
▪
But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.
▪
But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .
▪
I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .
▪
In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.
▪
Is he only hoping to make money?
▪
Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.
▪
That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.
best/good/warmest etc wishes
▪
A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.
▪
And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.
▪
Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.
▪
My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.
▪
Our best wishes to his family and friends.
▪
She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.
▪
Spare me your shock and good wishes .
▪
With best wishes for success and prosperity.
best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for sth
▪
Boar chops are best suited to grilling or sauteing.
▪
If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.
▪
It is not however so well suited to an intensive, detailed study of spoken language.
▪
Nevertheless, it is an early maturing variety well suited to the long ripening period of a northern wine region.
▪
Secondly, the adversary nature of the adjudicative process may not be well suited to this area.
▪
The farmer's wife was well suited to tackling this considerable undertaking.
▪
Use the systems best suited to their talent, both offensively and defensively.
▪
We have large quantities of plutonium already separated and in forms ideally suited for nuclear weapons.
bring out the best/worst in sb
▪
Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.
▪
And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.
▪
But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.
▪
But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.
▪
Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.
▪
It brings out the best in us.
▪
Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.
▪
So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.
▪
Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.
come off best/better/worst etc
▪
Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.
▪
Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.
▪
His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.
▪
It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.
▪
Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.
▪
The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.
▪
The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.
easily the best/biggest etc
▪
Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.
▪
He's easily the best military brain in the country.
▪
It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.
▪
It gave easily the best value.
▪
Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.
▪
Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.
▪
The greens were easily the best part of the dish.
▪
The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.
give sth your best shot
▪
I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .
▪
Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .
▪
I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.
▪
I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .
▪
The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.
▪
You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .
good luck/best of luck
▪
Best of luck with your driving test.
▪
Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.
good/best/bad practice
▪
An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.
▪
Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.
▪
It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.
▪
Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .
▪
The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.
▪
There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.
▪
These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .
▪
This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.
man's best friend
sb had better/best do sth
sb knows best
send your love/regards/best wishes etc
▪
He sends his best wishes to everybody at home.
▪
Mr Mason sends his best wishes for the success of the event.
the best medicine
▪
Laughter is the best medicine .
▪
A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.
▪
Besides, it is the best medicine .
▪
Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.
▪
Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.
the best/better part of sth
▪
Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.
▪
Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.
▪
Converse drank the better part of the rum.
▪
For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.
▪
I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.
▪
It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.
▪
This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.
the best/biggest etc ... of all time
▪
And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?
▪
Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?
▪
That's the biggest understatement of all time !
▪
You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....
the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth
the best/greatest thing since sliced bread
▪
Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
the best/pick of the bunch
▪
But me third was the best of the bunch .
▪
Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.
▪
Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .
▪
He may be the best of the bunch .
▪
It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.
▪
Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .
▪
Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.
the next best thing
▪
He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.
▪
I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.
▪
It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.
▪
The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.
▪
The room is the next best thing to being outside.
▪
Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.
▪
We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.
▪
We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.
think the best/worst of sb
▪
Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.
▪
He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.
▪
I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.
▪
My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.
▪
The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.
▪
Why should you think the worst of me?
▪
You always think the worst of me.
to the best of your ability
▪
All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .
▪
I have always done my work to the best of my ability .
trump/best/strongest card
▪
And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.
▪
In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .
▪
Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .
▪
That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .
▪
That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .
▪
The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .
▪
This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.
▪
We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .
vote sth a success/the best etc
▪
But they will be in costume, and all party goers will have a chance to vote on the best disguise.
▪
They also voted the Cappuccino the best sub-£20,000 sports car in the show.
wish sb (the best of) luck
▪
But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .
▪
Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.
▪
I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!
▪
James wished me good luck and dashed off home.
▪
Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.
▪
She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.
▪
Well, I wish you luck .
▪
Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .
with the best will in the world
▪
And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.
▪
Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.
your Sunday best
your best bet
▪
For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .
▪
We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.
▪
Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.
your best bib and tucker
your/her/my etc Sunday best
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
I've read most of his books, but 'Mosquito Coast' is easily his best .
▪
It was by far the best vacation I've ever had.
▪
Probably the best thing to do is to drop me off outside.
▪
Terry is the best player on our team.
▪
The best ice cream in the world is made in Italy.
▪
What's the best way to cook sweet potatoes?
▪
What's the best way to get to El Paso?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
And the best way to cross the bridge is neither by bus nor car but by foot.
▪
Front forces, in particular, lost a very high percentage of their best men in 1968.
▪
He had built a big new house in the valley, beside the best clay for making good hard bricks.
▪
In 1972 he had suggested independence as Ulster's best course and been severely criticized by Paisley and others.
▪
Risking everything, Saskia auditions for the position of best friend with a dazzling burst of literary fantasies.
▪
This is a 19-inch device and is the best in the group on picture quality alone.
II. adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
known
▪
One of the best known is Richard Long.
▪
Pat Young is one of the province's best known fashion mavericks.
▪
Even among the biggest and best known firms, financial performance is becoming more important in separating sheep from goats.
▪
The best known of them was Dornford Yates, author of the now unreadable but once hugely read Berry and Co stories.
▪
The topic of sexism in language is probably the best known of all feminist linguistic concerns.
▪
The Trustee Savings Banks were one of the best known of such institutions.
▪
Karpov is the best known of the contestants.
■ VERB
achieve
▪
Educating young people to drink responsibly and in moderation is best achieved by parents setting a good example.
▪
This is best achieved by personal contact.
▪
Removal of water salts from fine sediments is best achieved using dialysis.
▪
It was generally accepted that this was best achieved by attacking enemy tactical aircraft on their airfields.
▪
The intellect merely helps us choose the means by which we may best achieve ends dictated by our instincts.
▪
A stable economy is best achieved by ensuring a steady and low rate of growth in the money supply. 4.
avoid
▪
Generally speaking, one is best avoiding the middle colour tones as they will not blend well with the flowers.
▪
Experience showed that the extremes were best avoided .
▪
Excessive quantities of dairy products, refined sugars and raw foods would be best avoided , with the emphasis on excessive.
▪
Unless they are quite brilliant, jokes are best avoided in essays.
▪
It's fine walking country in any weather, though it's probably best avoided on Bank Holidays and summer Sundays.
▪
Any activity that causes the same physical emotional feelings as the particular addictive behaviour would be best avoided .
▪
All stable vices, such as cribbing or weaving, are best avoided .
▪
Special anti-condensation and anti-fungicide paints are available, but they contain a range of harmful chemicals and are best avoided .
describe
▪
The last two really best describe the futility from the title.
▪
And, in a season best described as wacky, Frieder might have yet another surprise.
▪
Heskey, having bounded off the bench, was struck by what is best described as Fowler's Disease.
▪
The algorithm used is best described by considering an example.
▪
The consequences are best described by Bismarck himself.
▪
The photograph best describes the elegance and practicality of this feature.
▪
The objectives and criteria of success of any training scheme are best described in system terms.
explain
▪
These unfolding events are best explained by a close look at factory economics.
▪
The difference between the average and marginal tax rates illustrated in Exhibit 2. 2 may be best explained by an example.
▪
The nature of the variable is best explained by reference to the relevant descriptors in Table 8.2.
▪
Modern functionalist approaches continue to emphasize that state intervention is best explained by an impersonal logic of the development of advanced capitalism.
▪
The idea of a selfish herd is W. D. Hamilton's, and is perhaps best explained by his own imaginary example.
▪
And surely they are best explained in terms of how these special motives come about?
▪
However, unlike Skinner, Piaget believed that development is best explained by describing the ways in which children understand such relations.
▪
The difficulty is best explained by contrast with a eukaryotic species - for example the house mouse, Mus musculus.
fit
▪
It is therefore Mitchell's study which best fits the general argument being developed here.
▪
Allen and Burton now argue that, at least as far as their observational data are concerned, the projectile model best fits the facts.
▪
The form by which the dialogue is represented is the one that best fits the mood and subject of the dialogue.
▪
I am not expert enough to say which of the banding systems best fits the bill.
▪
The chosen option must be the one which best fits the forecast cost for the total project.
▪
But one of them may be the sort of book you feel you are best fitted to write.
▪
The elaborate songs of male birds clearly fit best a manipulatory interpretation.
illustrate
▪
The next phase is best illustrated by statues from Attica.
▪
This type of analysis is best illustrated by the following specific example.
▪
We can best illustrate this with two absurd examples.
▪
This is best illustrated by considering the flow of information through the various stages of recognition, as shown in Figure 3.1.
▪
Just how great the change has been is perhaps best illustrated by reference to the number of daily commuters into London.
▪
The difference is best illustrated by a case example.
▪
The point is best illustrated by reference to specific examples under the existing United Kingdom constitution.
know
▪
Fathers know best , don't they?
▪
But she is best known as one of the Sumerian demons of storm and night.
▪
Now he is known best for writing and talking a good match.
▪
The ground floor is best known for its unique collection of antique dolls' houses dating back to 1673.
▪
And yet the deed for which he is best known needed no-courage at all, no effort, even.
▪
Unfortunately, order number 7532 had not been met, due to problems best known to the Computex production engineer.
leave
▪
This work is best left to a professional builder, with experience of altering and renovating chimneys and flues.
▪
Hedgerow briars are best left for walking sticks.
▪
Serious Maintenance is best left to the professionals but here are three simple things you can do for yourself.
▪
Fixing mirrors to ceilings requires some skill and knowledge, and is probably best left to a glazier.
▪
It may need to be tailor-made, and therefore it's best left to the experts.
▪
The classic reds of Bordeaux are best left until at least a decade after the vintage date printed on the label.
▪
Who hear swear with good nature? Best leave alone, keep silent.
▪
Not surprisingly, they told us it's best left to professional fund-raisers.
like
▪
These cover the whole range of moods and the customer selects the one she likes best .
▪
The thing I liked best about Teravainen was that he was consumed with factual accuracy.
▪
And I said I wished I could go and sniff the various scents to see which I liked best .
▪
What I liked best about Happy was that she had no father.
▪
What he'd like best is to stay in bed on Father's Day.
▪
What I like best is to talk to fellow artists.
▪
I'd have liked best of all to have stuffed his mouth with hay.
▪
Mervyn liked best to work alone, in the open air, and was very observant.
place
▪
The breeder is best placed to advise you.
▪
Smaller plants are best placed in tanks together with the stones on which they are growing.
▪
Savage Orc Shamans are best placed with units of Savage Orcs where their protective tattoos will be enhanced.
regard
▪
Minor movements of less than a hundred metres or so are probably best regarded as interruptions in one main cycle.
▪
Such laws, although sometimes run together with causal laws, are best regarded as otherwise.
remember
▪
The Dean's annual sit-out, for which he will be best remembered , this year raised a staggering £400,000.
▪
She is best remembered for extinguishing a blazing fire by making the sign of the cross.
▪
He will be best remembered for the flair he brought to the Arsenal side that won the league in 1989 and 1991.
▪
It is well known that we remember best what comes first and what comes last in any period of study or reading.
▪
Gielgud will be best remembered for a series of radical interpretations and performances in Shakespearean roles.
▪
My flower - the one that I remember best out of many - was gathered where I said it had been.
serve
▪
Mr Gergen will best serve his new boss if he reminds him of the strengths of one of his old ones.
▪
He suggested that people's interests are best served by pursuing personal gains.
▪
This in itself raises issues of how the information infrastructure can best serve two models at once.
▪
A succession of situations each one more impossible than the last, may be what will best serve you.
▪
We are best served by being very good in a relatively narrow field.
▪
To best serve patients' needs, care givers must be realistic in their expectations.
▪
Salami are best served as an antipasto, in sandwiches, with salads or eaten with a little cheese and fresh crusty bread.
▪
Whose purposes are best served by the commodification of people and place in area advertising?
suit
▪
The mathematical singularity arises because the set of coordinates imposed everywhere is best suited to regions of small curvature.
▪
And although many people claim that dictation is best suited for Perry Mason reruns, dictation does have some benefits.
▪
What sort of person would be best suited ?
▪
If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.
▪
However, this is purely a matter of experimentation and discovering what best suits your method of working.
▪
This is actually the simplest form of meditation and is best suited to the beginner.
▪
The matrix approach is best suited for complex projects which require the simultaneous efforts of experts from several disciplines.
▪
The activity holidays on offer are really best suited to groups.
understand
▪
The present system of bargaining and control is therefore best understood by tracing its origins and developments.
▪
The concept of liberalism in the United States is best understood as a very limited version of democratic socialism.
▪
Holism is probably best understood in terms of its opposite-individualism.
▪
This is best understood by doing some exercises without any knitting on the machine.
▪
This is the oldest system and probably the best understood by most people whatever their backgrounds.
▪
Fitness differences are best understood as reproductive expectancy differences analogous to normalized life expectancy differences.
▪
We can best understand the nature of societies and the ways in which they change by investigating the relations between practices.
use
▪
They are best used for cocktail savouries, but the cheaper mussels make a very tasty pasta sauce.
▪
They are best used for planting in garden pools and the like.
▪
The struggle for existence is a term best used in a large and metaphorical sense.
▪
Sea salt is usually available in coarse or fine grades and is best used from a salt mill as a condiment.
▪
Woks are best used over a gas flame.
▪
This adventure book is best used with experienced players.
▪
It is best used after being steeped in water for a few hours.
▪
Percussion Like brass instruments, percussion is best used sparingly and occasionally.
wish
▪
We send you and your dear wife best wishes for the New Year.
▪
So best wishes to Rosalind, the Society's most northerly teacher.
work
▪
We made the non-slip surfaces by stippling the tops with a bass broom - a fairly new one works best .
▪
They work best massed into a mob.
▪
Two operators work best when the first starts to apply chemical while the other assembles the machine and gets it running.
▪
The essay works best when it is dealing with people; and most of these are biographical sketches.
▪
Researchers have argued consistently that a coherent approach is needed to finding the type of intervention which works best for which children.
▪
While some students work best with their peers, their classmates might benefit more from the personal attention of their teacher.
▪
They usually work best in conjunction with the two senses we can record, sound and sight.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
at your best/worst/most effective etc
be on your best behaviour
▪
Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .
▪
And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .
▪
But everyone is on their best behaviour .
▪
So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .
▪
Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .
be sb's last/only/best hope
▪
Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.
▪
But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.
▪
But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .
▪
I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .
▪
In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.
▪
Is he only hoping to make money?
▪
Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.
▪
That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.
best/good/warmest etc wishes
▪
A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.
▪
And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.
▪
Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.
▪
My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.
▪
Our best wishes to his family and friends.
▪
She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.
▪
Spare me your shock and good wishes .
▪
With best wishes for success and prosperity.
best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for sth
▪
Boar chops are best suited to grilling or sauteing.
▪
If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.
▪
It is not however so well suited to an intensive, detailed study of spoken language.
▪
Nevertheless, it is an early maturing variety well suited to the long ripening period of a northern wine region.
▪
Secondly, the adversary nature of the adjudicative process may not be well suited to this area.
▪
The farmer's wife was well suited to tackling this considerable undertaking.
▪
Use the systems best suited to their talent, both offensively and defensively.
▪
We have large quantities of plutonium already separated and in forms ideally suited for nuclear weapons.
bring out the best/worst in sb
▪
Ingram always seems to bring out the best in his players.
▪
And Vince was obviously a great coach; he brought out the best in his team and whoever played him.
▪
But the Washington Wizards have a way of bringing out the best in their opponents.
▪
But, says Markert, there is something about one-way communication that can also bring out the worst in people.
▪
Campaigns seem to bring out the worst in Bob Dole.
▪
It brings out the best in us.
▪
Maybe something like they tend to bring out the best in us.
▪
So, to bring out the best in your cooking make sure you use the purest soy sauce, Kikkoman Soy Sauce.
▪
Yet it was not an unsuccessful attempt to bring out the best in his audience.
come off best/better/worst etc
▪
Alec Davidson, for example, was one of those who came off worst.
▪
Bullock comes off best because her complaining seems so valid.
▪
His foster-child comes off best, but in addition each of two nurses receives a tenth of his estate.
▪
It may seem, so far, that in terms of clearly defined benefits, the client comes off best out of the deal.
▪
Prior to that Meath had come off best when they accounted for Down in the 1990 league decider.
▪
The lightning, it seemed to Lydia, had undoubtedly come off best in that encounter.
▪
The problem is that history sometimes comes off better.
do your level best (to do sth)
▪
Even so he did his level best with the new ball.
▪
We did our level best to look fascinated.
easily the best/biggest etc
▪
Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.
▪
He's easily the best military brain in the country.
▪
It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.
▪
It gave easily the best value.
▪
Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.
▪
Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.
▪
The greens were easily the best part of the dish.
▪
The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.
give sth your best shot
▪
I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .
▪
Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .
▪
I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.
▪
I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .
▪
The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.
▪
You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .
good luck/best of luck
▪
Best of luck with your driving test.
▪
Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.
good/best/bad practice
▪
An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.
▪
Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.
▪
It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.
▪
Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .
▪
The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.
▪
There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.
▪
These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .
▪
This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.
man's best friend
personal best
▪
But I still ran 20.51 seconds for a personal best, so I was happy.
▪
Conrad Allen came up trumps again, finishing fourth in the boys 800 metres in a personal best 2 mins. 22.
▪
Fredericks' 19. 68 was 0. 14 seconds lower than his personal best.
▪
His personal best before this season was 10. 08.
▪
I next ran at Oslo where I set a personal best for 200 metres, so that was encouraging.
▪
Ron and I take each year as it comes and we always plan for me to run a personal best every season.
▪
Sammy also collected a 50 freestyle bronze with 31.44-a personal best along with her 43.95 in the 50 breaststroke.
▪
That means that their motives are clean and their actions represent their personal best.
sb had better/best do sth
sb knows best
send your love/regards/best wishes etc
▪
He sends his best wishes to everybody at home.
▪
Mr Mason sends his best wishes for the success of the event.
the best medicine
▪
Laughter is the best medicine .
▪
A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.
▪
Besides, it is the best medicine .
▪
Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.
▪
Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.
the best/better part of sth
▪
Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.
▪
Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.
▪
Converse drank the better part of the rum.
▪
For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.
▪
I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.
▪
It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.
▪
This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.
the best/biggest etc ... of all time
▪
And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?
▪
Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?
▪
That's the biggest understatement of all time !
▪
You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....
the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth
the best/biggest/fastest etc possible
▪
Any successful entrepreneurial venture starts with making sure that the entrepreneur is in the best possible mental and physical health.
▪
But the psychologist was never confident that he had obtained the best possible scores from Nelson.
▪
For a moment, I imagined the best possible to the worst possible reply.
▪
Obviously, the purpose is to ensure that the best possible pensions arrangements are reached.
▪
That way it will have the best possible start in life.
▪
The additional value farmers receive is the best possible free advice on both inputs and marketing.
▪
The horrifying news sent the Ciprianos on a nationwide search to find the best possible treatment for their daughter.
▪
This at once enhances the contribution which the court or parents can make towards reaching the best possible decision in all the circumstances.
the best/greatest thing since sliced bread
▪
Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
the best/pick of the bunch
▪
But me third was the best of the bunch .
▪
Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.
▪
Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .
▪
He may be the best of the bunch .
▪
It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.
▪
Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .
▪
Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.
the biggest/best/nicest etc sth going
▪
A few hundred metres off-shore we congregate so that Tor can explain the best way of going ashore.
▪
Are the best bargains going to petrol buyers?
▪
But in those years, they were always the team with the best record going into the playoffs.
▪
Its got to be the best ticket office going .
▪
Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.
▪
There was a wide range of scores with the best individual score going to George McCallum of Douglas Reyburn with 37 points.
▪
This, so I was led to believe, was the best it was going to get.
▪
What is the best way of going forward? - Ideas from within I hear you say!
the next best thing
▪
He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.
▪
I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.
▪
It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.
▪
The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.
▪
The room is the next best thing to being outside.
▪
Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.
▪
We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.
▪
We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.
think the best/worst of sb
▪
Ellie's the type of person that always thinks the best of people.
▪
He thought the worst of Mitch and clearly thought that left to herself she would ring London at once.
▪
I was so ready to think the worst of him, she wailed inwardly.
▪
My immediate reaction, whether it be a man or a woman, is to think the worst of them.
▪
The prospect of Guy leaving, thinking the worst of her, was unbearable.
▪
Why should you think the worst of me?
▪
You always think the worst of me.
to the best of your ability
▪
All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .
▪
I have always done my work to the best of my ability .
trump/best/strongest card
▪
And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.
▪
In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .
▪
Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .
▪
That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .
▪
That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .
▪
The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .
▪
This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.
▪
We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .
vote sth a success/the best etc
▪
But they will be in costume, and all party goers will have a chance to vote on the best disguise.
▪
They also voted the Cappuccino the best sub-£20,000 sports car in the show.
wish sb (the best of) luck
▪
But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .
▪
Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.
▪
I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!
▪
James wished me good luck and dashed off home.
▪
Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.
▪
She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.
▪
Well, I wish you luck .
▪
Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .
with the best will in the world
▪
And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.
▪
Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.
your Sunday best
your best bet
▪
For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .
▪
We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.
▪
Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.
your best bib and tucker
your/her/my etc Sunday best
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
I've met him a few times but Helen knows him best .
▪
It was the best -organized conference I've ever attended.
▪
Our new spring dresses have a look that can best be described as neat yet casual.
▪
The judges liked the pumpkin pie from Gayle's Bakery best .
▪
Try a few different skis and boots to see what works best for you.
▪
What kind of wine do you like best ?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Joe is, of course, best remembered as the first professional to overcome what had grown into a hoodoo.
▪
State which method would fit in best with healthy eating guidelines and explain why.
▪
The concept of liberalism in the United States is best understood as a very limited version of democratic socialism.
▪
This is best reflected in the demise of the Yiddish-language press in New York.
III. noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
The best is not always the most expensive.
▪
The acoustics in the auditorium weren't the best , but the audience didn't care.
IV. verb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
at your best/worst/most effective etc
be on your best behaviour
▪
Dinner was very formal, with everyone on their best behaviour .
▪
And if what Cadfael suspected was indeed true, he had now good reason to be on his best behaviour .
▪
But everyone is on their best behaviour .
▪
So when we arrived hopefully at Loch Hope that morning, I was on my best behaviour .
▪
Use only our own girls and warn them to be on their best behaviour .
be sb's last/only/best hope
▪
Advocates just seem to take it on faith that annexation is the only hope of salvation for this city.
▪
But mad or not, you are my only hope , Meg.
▪
But Thomas Sachs was now her only hope .
▪
I expected to be disappointed, though the letter was now my only hope .
▪
In the long term, Mr Heseltine said that privatisation was the only hope for the industry.
▪
Is he only hoping to make money?
▪
Robert Urquhart was her only hope , her only ally.
▪
That was the only hope I had of reaching the doctor.
best/good/warmest etc wishes
▪
A former miner, Joe was presented with a cheque together with good wishes for a long and happy retirement.
▪
And while babies are on my mind, my best wishes to Patsy Kensit on the birth of her son.
▪
Meanwhile, may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the coming year.
▪
My best wishes to Madame Zborowska and warm greetings to you.
▪
Our best wishes to his family and friends.
▪
She hadn't deserved their kindness, their good wishes - she'd hardly been a boon companion of late.
▪
Spare me your shock and good wishes .
▪
With best wishes for success and prosperity.
do your level best (to do sth)
▪
Even so he did his level best with the new ball.
▪
We did our level best to look fascinated.
easily the best/biggest etc
▪
Aluminium benching is easily the best, as it virtually lasts for ever and is easily cleaned.
▪
He's easily the best military brain in the country.
▪
It's easily the best Fermanagh side I've played on.
▪
It gave easily the best value.
▪
Johnny Hero played the between set music - again proving that he hosts easily the best disco in town.
▪
Natural gas forms easily the biggest world reserve of methane-rich fuel.
▪
The greens were easily the best part of the dish.
▪
The pension is easily the biggest single cash benefit.
give sth your best shot
▪
I'm not promising I'll succeed, but I'll give it my best shot .
▪
Hopefully he can recover and regain his test place and give it his best shot .
▪
I'd have given it my best shot , and that was all anyone could demand from me.
▪
I just have a feeling that we have given it our best shot .
▪
The band gave it their best shot , until the arrival of the blue meanies put an end to the proceedings.
▪
You were never entirely safe from prying fingers in Chinatown, but I had to give it my best shot .
good luck/best of luck
▪
Best of luck with your driving test.
▪
Good luck Archie! Enjoy your new job.
good/best/bad practice
▪
An annex citing examples of good practice would also be helpful.
▪
Carlesimo said Tuesday, adding that Marshall had just put in his best practice of camp.
▪
It is good practice to make a note of the client's telephone number on the file.
▪
Supporters of those with special needs should be exemplars of such good practice .
▪
The good practice presented in Table 2 and Appendix 3 addresses many of the factors important to the control of risk.
▪
There is a danger in the search for good practice of looking only at those schools with good academic records.
▪
These premises are often inadequate to support good practice .
▪
This week, for example, the permanent secretaries of all government departments will meet to discuss best practice in procurement.
man's best friend
personal best
▪
But I still ran 20.51 seconds for a personal best, so I was happy.
▪
Conrad Allen came up trumps again, finishing fourth in the boys 800 metres in a personal best 2 mins. 22.
▪
Fredericks' 19. 68 was 0. 14 seconds lower than his personal best.
▪
His personal best before this season was 10. 08.
▪
I next ran at Oslo where I set a personal best for 200 metres, so that was encouraging.
▪
Ron and I take each year as it comes and we always plan for me to run a personal best every season.
▪
Sammy also collected a 50 freestyle bronze with 31.44-a personal best along with her 43.95 in the 50 breaststroke.
▪
That means that their motives are clean and their actions represent their personal best.
sb had better/best do sth
the best medicine
▪
Laughter is the best medicine .
▪
A former teacher at Longlands College, Middlesbrough, Pat always believes in laughter as the best medicine for loneliness.
▪
Besides, it is the best medicine .
▪
Having Louella come and live with me will be the best medicine in the world.
▪
Recovery is the best medicine for the market, but it must be sustainable.
the best/better part of sth
▪
Almost any child will assert that recess is the best part of the school day.
▪
Another child makes the family wretched with his crying for the better part of an hour.
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Converse drank the better part of the rum.
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For the better part of the next forty years they were to be the decisive restraints.
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I spent the better part of my time moping around the house, too dejected to think about practicing my stunts.
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It is not widely taught or particularly popular be-cause it takes the better part of a lifetime to master.
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This was it, the confrontation-point which he had been dreading for the best part of a week.
the best/biggest etc ... of all time
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And seeing as it was my brainchild, would you not say it was possibly the best commercial of all time ?
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Surely the biggest robbery of all time was the $ 900m that the Dome stole from lottery funds?
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That's the biggest understatement of all time !
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You could call that round the biggest fluke of all time ....
the best/biggest etc ... this side of sth
the best/biggest/fastest etc possible
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Any successful entrepreneurial venture starts with making sure that the entrepreneur is in the best possible mental and physical health.
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But the psychologist was never confident that he had obtained the best possible scores from Nelson.
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For a moment, I imagined the best possible to the worst possible reply.
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Obviously, the purpose is to ensure that the best possible pensions arrangements are reached.
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That way it will have the best possible start in life.
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The additional value farmers receive is the best possible free advice on both inputs and marketing.
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The horrifying news sent the Ciprianos on a nationwide search to find the best possible treatment for their daughter.
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This at once enhances the contribution which the court or parents can make towards reaching the best possible decision in all the circumstances.
the best/greatest thing since sliced bread
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Now, I didn't get it because I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
the best/pick of the bunch
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But me third was the best of the bunch .
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Either they are one of the best of the bunch at home, or they make their name abroad.
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Even these modest broadcasts show only the best of the bunch .
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He may be the best of the bunch .
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It's also the best of the bunch for multi-processing, he says.
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Nevertheless as an introduction it is the best of the bunch .
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Woolwich is the best of the bunch , trading at a multiple to future earnings of 10.3.
the biggest/best/nicest etc sth going
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A few hundred metres off-shore we congregate so that Tor can explain the best way of going ashore.
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Are the best bargains going to petrol buyers?
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But in those years, they were always the team with the best record going into the playoffs.
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Its got to be the best ticket office going .
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Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.
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There was a wide range of scores with the best individual score going to George McCallum of Douglas Reyburn with 37 points.
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This, so I was led to believe, was the best it was going to get.
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What is the best way of going forward? - Ideas from within I hear you say!
the next best thing
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He can't ask them, so he is doing the next best thing.
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I guess they figured calling their game Arnie was the next best thing to having a blockbusting movie title.
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It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.
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The new switch is the next best thing we could do to moving.
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The room is the next best thing to being outside.
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Video may seem like the next best thing to being there, but electronically mediated interactions are different from real-life meetings.
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We do, however, have the next best thing: a place to go for more information.
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We went to the bookshelves to find the next best thing.
to the best of your ability
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All the children competed and performed to the best of their ability .
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I have always done my work to the best of my ability .
trump/best/strongest card
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And perhaps it was time to play the trump card up his sleeve.
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In the struggle for development, every economy has certain advantages or trump cards .
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Parents must recognize that if a child does not want to do homework, the child holds the trump card .
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That night, though, our sincerity was our trump card .
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That was why Gorbachev wanted to negotiate-and that is why, in my opinion, President Reagan was holding the trump card .
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The citizens of Hebron, by contrast, hold all the trump cards .
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This was one of the trump cards of News International in its dispute with the print workers in 1986-87.
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We had beaten him, but he played a final trump card .
wish sb (the best of) luck
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But had we sat down with her, we would have wished her good luck .
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Everyone wished each other good luck and Mould, Matron and Endill headed off to the library.
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I wish him luck and hope that after a couple of years he is transferred back!
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James wished me good luck and dashed off home.
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Lineker and Paul Gascoigne have both been in touch with Spurs to wish them good luck for the new season.
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She wishes me luck , opens the door to the bathroom, and disappears into a cloud of steam.
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Well, I wish you luck .
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Yet at the start of the day both sides had wished each other luck .
with the best will in the world
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And, David, with the best will in the world, you can't teach him.
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Even with the best will in the world, we could not do it.
your Sunday best
your best bet
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For getting around the city centre, a bicycle's your best bet .
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We decided that our best bet was to leave him where he was and go and get help.
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Well, your best bet would be to go back to Highway 218 and turn left.
your best bib and tucker
your/her/my etc Sunday best