I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
good
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Rabbit footprints and the very recent removal of fresh soil are good clues but even these are not conclusive.
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But my father was no good for clues .
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It is the segregation of employment by gender which gives the best clues as to why women generally earn less than men.
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Voice is one of the best clues to sandgrouse identification.
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The best clue to the source of the error is that software tends to fail in logical ways.
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The best clue to the mens' identity is a clear trademark on the back of one jacket as the robbers leave.
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So good old classical clues will almost certainly have vanished altogether.
important
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The back-drops to portrait photos in the photographer's studio can also offer important dating clues .
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Therefore, the detection of respiratory alkalosis may represent an important diagnostic clue to more serious illness.
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These differentials give us important clues about the motivation and causes of the fertility decline.
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However, one of the most important clues for its diagnosis, is an increase in the renal tubular reabsorption of calcium.
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And yet these two biographical details provide important clues to an understanding of Magnard's peculiar psychological makeup.
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History offers the most important clues .
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X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques continue to provide important clues , leading towards an understanding of the remarkable specificity of enzymatic catalysis.
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In this account an important clue is found.
useful
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You could pick up some useful clues to another site.
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The first and perhaps most useful clue is that in the majority of cases the rash is non-irritating.
valuable
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Old photographs can also hold valuable clues .
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A valuable clue to the problem of resupply of asteroids came to scientists' attention in a strange way.
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Surprisingly little is recorded about the techniques of ship construction at that time, and the wreck may provide valuable clues .
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Studies of the spectra of about fifty NEAs have given us some valuable clues to their nature and origin.
visual
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It focusses them on some of the visual clues they might otherwise miss.
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Location inserts potentially give the strongest visual clues to programme content.
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Look instead for books for his age with plenty of visual clues , and read them together.
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They also use a range of visual clues of the kind we spoke about earlier in this chapter.
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We are not really aware of how we draw on visual clues in our interpretation of what we hear.
vital
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The man got away but he may have left a vital clue .
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These could provide vital clues to climate change.
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A woman who spoke to detectives last year could have a vital clue , but be too terrified to telephone again.
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Elizabeth's last film reveals vital clues overlooked by clumsy Clouseau-class coppers who had already wiped out other vital evidence.
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The vital clue to an individual's sickness may come through any of the senses, so use them all.
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Gusev knew from experience that sooner or later something would emerge and give the vital clue .
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I recognise that practitioners will in some cases incur fruitless costs in the search for such a vital clue where none exists.
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As such, it gives a vital clue to his thinking.
■ VERB
find
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If Susan is as smart as her reputation, she can find her clue in the river.
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It's not just you who finds the clues though.
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I asked, hoping to find some clues there.
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They find no clues - so they say.
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To find clues we asked market historian and newsletter writer Martin Zweig.
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We can find some living clues back on the reef.
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Not so that you could find it as a clue .
get
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She knew we'd got a clue , even if she didn't know what it was.
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Buy a map, turkeys -- and get a clue .
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She says that they haven't got a clue what's going on.
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We don't know how to change the strings and my son hasn't got a clue who Hank Marvin is!
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The minute a robber gets a clue , why, the rest is easy.
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And you can't develop a prototype system because the users haven't got a clue what they want.
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What kinds of things did they do to the box to get clues about its contents? 2.
give
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Beatrice's column of 11 February 1915 gives fascinating clues to their complex relationship.
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If only he would give me a tiny clue !
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Location inserts potentially give the strongest visual clues to programme content.
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This gives your brain a clue about the direction from which it comes.
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Does the citation give any external clues about the reliability of the document? 2.
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A careful history may give a clue as to the origin.
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Very occasionally there is a document that gives us a clue .
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He gave no clue Sunday night about which option he would choose, though he asked his followers for financial support.
hold
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Further enquiry into Pardy's activities might well hold the clue to the truth.
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They do not believe you; they think that you are holding back some secret clue that would make it all plain.
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Even when not evident it is always worth looking for, since it may hold the clue to the whole case.
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Detectives believe they may hold a vital clue to the killer.
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And police believe this stolen Golf left at the scene may hold some clues .
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Old photographs can also hold valuable clues .
leave
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Had I left some clue behind, a stray sock not his, an unfamiliar scent on the pillow?
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Have you left a clue or have you covered your tracks?
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He covered her over and ran the torch around the dirt, checking that he had not left any incriminating clues .
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He leaves clues all over the place.
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The man got away but he may have left a vital clue .
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Marx himself did, however, leave some basic clues as to how we might achieve this kind of understanding of the state.
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Too much blood, too much risk of leaving a clue .
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Fortunately these approaches create difficulties for the faker and also leave clues for the scientific investigator.
provide
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These could provide vital clues to climate change.
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In the human case, language provides an additional clue: , as well as behaviour and brain structure.
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Even if he did not allow himself to betray his secret directly he might let slip something that would provide a clue .
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This time, it quickly provided the clues to the Clippers' loss.
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It will provide you with a clue to which country and city you are currently in.
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Genetic research may provide clues to overweight.
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The letters provide a clue to the answers.
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Here, anatomy provides an intriguing clue .
search
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The police have been searching the site for clues , and talking to eye witnesses.
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Instead, I searched everywhere for external clues to my feelings.
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At 72 and in poor health, he suffered a heart attack while police officers were still searching for clues .
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Without records, investigators are interviewing workers and searching for physical clues to what happened.
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To prevent some one getting murdered, hand around and follow them. Search every room for clues .
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Bewildered and uneasy, she searches the past for clues .
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She regularly tramped remote areas searching for clues .
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Police, forensic and bomb squad officers are still searching for clues to the cause of that blast.
yield
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And interviews with Rachel's three-year-old son Alex have yet to yield any clues .
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A carefully performed neurologic examination may, of course, also yield helpful clues .
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The hood has been sent for forensic examination and it is hoped it will yield important clues .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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The FBI sorted through the suspects' garbage in hopes of finding clues.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A careful history may give a clue as to the origin.
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An answer to that question might give clues to the broader question of the function of sleep.
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But there can also be trickery using material clues.
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First, the fairly simple trick of separating two component parts of a clue by a number of pages.
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I smoked one cigarette after another, but that was the only clue to my tumult.
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Police are investigating but said they had no clue as to the motive.
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The back-drops to portrait photos in the photographer's studio can also offer important dating clues.
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When Silverstein switched off the tape and asked the students to write down a clue , they were simply lost.
II. verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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With this Charles Shultz-like irreverence, the Swonkmeisters clue us in to their special spirituality.