verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
cling to life (= try to stay alive, even though you are very ill or injured )
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She clung to life, despite the pain.
cling to power (= not lose it, or try not to lose it )
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Mao Tse-tung, the leader of the 1949 Communist revolution, clung to power for 27 years.
cling to the hope that (= keep hoping that something will happen, even though it seems unlikely )
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They clung to the hope that one day a cure would be found.
cling to your ideals (= continue to believe that something is good or right even when it does not seem to be like this in real life )
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He is a man who still clings to ideals of loyalty and friendship.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
desperately
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She was clinging desperately to the hang-glider.
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These few will desperately cling to traditional structures and culture.
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She was clinging desperately to normality and self-respect.
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She drew him close, clinging desperately .
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The stairs have become rope ladders, with managers clinging desperately for balance.
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The faith that something would and must be done to save the city was desperately clung to....
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On the other were tenants clinging desperately to the last vestige of their community.
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As I rode a high wave I saw a small boy desperately clinging to a piece of board.
on
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Mr Harrison was slashed across the chest three times and stabbed, yet he clung on , trying to overpower the attacker.
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We can not become different beings by clinging on to our personalities as they were formerly.
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But then generals have not lost hope altogether of clinging on to power.
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Loi grabbed with both hands for a crossbar and clung on .
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Shares will boom and John Major will cling on by his fingertips.
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I clung on , raging inside at Feeley.
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Would she scream insults, or perhaps cling on to him for grim death and beg for another chance?
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I clung on to Hugh, the best on-stage partner I'd known.
still
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Whatever we do, they will still cling to their barbaric customs.
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Nevertheless, many people still cling to the vinyl disk as preferable.
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An astonished officer found him still clinging grimly to the controls as he trundled along at a snail's pace.
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Over east the yellow sun brimmed while along the western horizon the purple lip of night still clung .
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The woman in the blue raincoat fell to her knees, still clinging with one hand to the push-chair.
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At the time of the preliminary hearing in February, Maria was still clinging to life.
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Slowly but surely Carter are on the move again, still pertinent and still clinging to the plot.
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At some level they still cling to the idea that tender loving care is the only factor in raising kids.
tenaciously
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This wonderful diverse stretch of woodland clings tenaciously to the almost precipitous sides of the gorge.
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Parliament has, however, attempted to cling tenaciously to its role in the scrutiny of the implementation of that policy.
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All that has once lived clings tenaciously to life.
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Nevertheless, the modern law of contracts tenaciously clings to the liberal ideal of individual autonomy.
to
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And then towards the end of his life when he was already ill, he had one last hope to cling to.
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Even the most dismal and unstable circumstances can become something to be clung to.
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He was slipping, the door he clung to was swaying, and the debris below was anticipating.
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It is a terrible thing to be clung to by a sick child if you are not used to it.
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At least we have one consolation to cling to.
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There were great rocks on the road and thin mist seemed to cling to everywhere.
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Well ... the thing to cling to is that everything like this is still decentralised.
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Now it seemed there was nothing at all to cling to.
together
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A great noise rises out of the quiet, and the stars are like bits of metal clinging together .
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We clung together for warmth and vowed to love one another more than anyone else for all time.
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We clung together , breathless, until we had to pause for breath.
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One minute they were sworn enemies, the next they were clinging together in fierce mutual desire.
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As they clung together in that unutterable pleasure, he felt that they were defying everything that had persecuted them.
■ NOUN
arm
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Nina watched as Carys, clinging to the arms of her Sam, face radiant with relief, disappeared into her house.
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She clung to Jacob's arm , saw him spirited away on a tide of compliments.
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Candace Rainford was clinging to his arm and he did not look as if he minded in the slightest.
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Dieter Erdle had just arrived with Rose Kettle clinging to his arm .
belief
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Ursula was clinging to the belief that Samantha would soon be released.
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Reagan clung to the belief that he was not paying ransom but merely rewarding an intermediary for services rendered.
body
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To call the bit of silk that clung to her body a dress was ridiculous.
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She sat rigidly in her seat, her clothes clinging wetly to her body , and waited for him to retaliate.
hand
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The woman in the blue raincoat fell to her knees, still clinging with one hand to the push-chair.
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I clung to her hand , offering her a mooring line in that churning sea of grief.
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John came down the stairs with Ben, who clung to his hand .
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All he saw as he glanced at her was his little wife, shy as a fieldmouse, clinging to his hand .
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The way the pastry mixture clung to your hands if you mixed it with too much water.
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Joan saw a little girl of eight or nine years, eyeing her alertly and clinging to David's hand .
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A little mud clings to the infant hand but otherwise it is perfect.
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They could not get the strap she was clinging to out of her hand .
hope
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She had clung to the hope even for that length of time, but it had never happened.
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Last night both men were clinging to the vain hope of salvaging their jobs and refused to comment before today's hearing.
idea
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Times were not good, we had basically clung to outdated ideas and we were on the verge of closing.
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She further offended doctors by clinging to patently wrong ideas .
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They could, with one part of their mind, cling to the idea of teacher autonomy.
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Will the West cling to the idea of universal worth while selfishly consuming Arab oil wealth and closing its borders to Arabs?
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For the moment I cling to the idea that there are a relatively small number of cell-to-cell signals.
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At some level they still cling to the idea that tender loving care is the only factor in raising kids.
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All men go through life clinging to an idea of an earthly paradise.
life
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This wasn't easy either, because she was spooked and was clinging for dear life to the poor kid's hair.
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Converse lay clinging to earth and life , his mouth full of sweet grass.
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She still clung to life by some unknown strength of character and Fon loved her for it.
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How she had clung to life in the last ten years.
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Although appearing to be clinging precariously to life , once introduced to the pool they quickly produce roots and become established.
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In such a state only a coward clings to life .
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It turns on to its side and as I cling on for dear life I hear a startled cry from Nathan.
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Luckily, he landed on some rocks, where he clung for his life .
notion
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Now, suddenly, those who clung to these notions were thrown on to the defensive and soon outnumbered.
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The chain made up an organization that was clinging to an outmoded notion of its own uniqueness.
power
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But then generals have not lost hope altogether of clinging on to power .
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Like Mao before him, Deng doggedly clung to power , despite becoming less mentally sharp in his final years.
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Only a month ago, Mr Major gave the impression of clinging to power .
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He clings to power largely because his Sunni-dominated army is afraid of the revenge that would befall it if he fell.
rock
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The alarm was raised by a passer-by who heard one of the youngsters, clinging to rocks , shouting for help.
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These cling to rocks , stones, or roots and forms a mat of bright to deep green tufts.
side
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I ran across the road and jumped up, clinging to the side of the phaeton.
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The batter must be able to cling to the side of the pan.
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Onward and upward the track wound, clinging to the side of the ridge like a pale slippery centipede.
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I cling to her; my sister, Beate, clings to her other side .
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The atmosphere of grey repression that clung to the eastern side of the city is being purged at an astonishing speed.
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A flame roared under a black bucket, clean blue like a blowtorch clinging to one side .
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He clung to the sides of the basket with all his strength and tried not to look down.
wall
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But the only thing there was a fragile gecko, which clung splay-footed to the wall and watched me with cloudy eyes.
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The traditionalists who cling to uptight Wall Street business wardrobes and rooms full of Hepplewhite reproductions are exiled to style Siberia.
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Well-thumbed magazine pictures of body-builders cling to the wall .
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Balconies cling to walls like frightened climbers.
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Even the drainpipes, clinging half-heartedly to cracked walls and rusty gutters, looked as if they'd had enough.
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But it was his left hand that collided with something in the dark, an object that was clinging to the wall .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A customary error committed by aquarists is to cling to the opinion that the Aponogeton species do not require a rich soil.
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Denial, too, seemed to be an effort to cling to hope.
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His pink shirt clinging to the curve of his belly.
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She flung out her arms to steady herself, clinging to him.
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She was lying on her side and Hugh was on his side also, clinging to her back, as though for protection.
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Why cling to the rebel cross?