noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a display/expression of emotion (= an emotion that is shown clearly openly )
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Such open displays of emotion made him feel uncomfortable.
a look/expression on sb’s face
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She had a rather surprised look on her face.
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I could tell by the look on Dan’s face that he was disappointed.
a means of expression (= a way of expressing your feelings or opinions )
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Music and art are important means of expression.
a quizzical look/expression/smile
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He sat and watched her, a quizzical look on his face.
a worried expression/look
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John came in with a worried look on his face.
an amused smile/look/expression etc
an expression of sympathy
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I murmured an expression of sympathy.
blank face/look/expression/eyes
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Zoe looked at me with a blank expression.
crazed expression
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The old woman had a crazed expression on her face.
dazed look/expression etc
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Her face was very pale and she wore a dazed expression.
deadpan voice/expression etc
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deadpan humour
earnest expression/look/voice etc
enigmatic smile/expression etc
freedom of speech/expression (= the legal right to say what you want )
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We will defend freedom of speech and oppose censorship.
incredulous look/expression/voice etc
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She shot him an incredulous look.
proverbial expression
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a proverbial expression
puzzled look/expression/frown etc
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Alice read the letter with a puzzled expression on her face.
rapt expression
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the rapt expression on his face
slang word/expression/term
smug expression/look/face/smile etc
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‘I knew I’d win,’ she said with a smug smile.
stern look/voice/expression etc
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‘Wait!’ I shouted in my sternest voice.
the right to freedom of expression
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Everyone has the right to freedom of expression.
triumphant look/smile/expression etc
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a triumphant grin
with a pained expression on his face
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He sat stiffly, with a pained expression on his face .
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
artistic
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Somiryon practises and promotes realism in art and campaign for freedom of artistic expression .
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Every manner of artistic expression , every experiment, however imaginative, however preposterous or outrageous, was now permissible.
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On the other hand, these laws have the potential to suppress worthwhile literary and artistic expression .
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But capturing a scenic landscape wasn't always Dunn's main means of artistic expression .
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You believe that artistic expression involves some kind of radical transformation.
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Creativity/spirituality: no outlet for artistic expression , religious beliefs, humanitarian ideals. 17.
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This worries me a little, possibly because it lacks any of those conceits of artistic expression which my vanity holds so dearly.
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If I explain, the artistic expression is destroyed.
blank
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She had the same blank , anxious expression as some zoo animals have.
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Through all the speeches and songs, she stood under a tree, her blank expression never changing.
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All seven of her faces wear a blank expression .
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He wore the same blank half-tense expression when he won as he did when he lost.
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Most players wore blank , numb expressions .
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That last night, when the returns started coming in, he had this blank expression on his face.
facial
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Neither man had time to conceal or alter his facial expression , and Rostov was struck by the disparity.
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But the animals and the people did not have facial expressions .
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It is mainly through what they verbalise as well as their facial expressions and body language.
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They also notice your facial expressions .
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They compared the performance of two patients on a lip-reading task and on a task which required analysis of facial expression .
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These include pointing, walking in a certain direction, and facial expressions to convey emotion and communicate intentions.
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Proximity, physical appearance, direction of gaze, and gestures and facial expressions all affect our perceptions of one another.
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Tone of voice, facial expressions , and bodily postures can help or hinder communication.
free
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The document advocates free access to information, as well as free expression .
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And this is not bad, because it is turned into a socially beneficial force if it is allowed free expression .
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It did, and free expression won.
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Public memory of martial law, which ended a decade ago, continues to stifle free expression .
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Another nail was driven into the coffin of free expression at this demo.
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The company, however, stood by its performers in support of free expression .
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It condemned the use of secret trials and accused the government of refusing to allow the free expression of opposition views.
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We talk or hear a lot about free expression .
political
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It was coming to be generally accepted by 1880 that the state was the proper political expression of the nation.
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This law, however, went much further than necessary, broadly restricting the First Amendment right of political expression .
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Founded to give political expression to a working class based on industry, what is their role in a post-industrial world?
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Tolerance for unorthodox political expression was simply not an ideological possibility.
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Yet this discontent was denied political or institutional expression .
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Men must change sufficiently so that their representation of life and their political expression uphold humane values.
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To do otherwise was to risk driving underground legitimate political expression , which would create worse problems in the long run.
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The use of a cult as a means of political expression would be far from unparalleled.
■ NOUN
gene
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We propose that in Raji cells the accumulation of a repressor is prevented, thus allowing gene expression .
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An account of the development of behaviour within an individual would have to mention a series of environmental influences on gene expression .
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There is indeed direct evidence that mechanical stress can generate intracellular signals that regulate gene expression .
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From studies on living organisms it is impossible to learn details of the molecular events in IL-6 induced gene expression .
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Similar effects on limb outgrowth and Hoxd gene expression were observed in forelimb cultures.
■ VERB
assume
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Oliver assumed an expression of extreme penitence.
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When they gave political responses, we may assume that the expression of political pride was spontaneous.
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He assumed a pained expression and averted his eyes.
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I assumed my best dumb-brunette expression when handing this on to Humber.
find
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Come blues, of course, find expression through raw urban rock juices rather than standard muso stodge.
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Equally, social differences find religious expression .
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But neither has found an authentic expression in the institutions of representative democracy.
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But at the same time most people find the expression of their individuality through work.
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These grievances were to find expression in the strike wave that occurred once economic conditions improved.
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I looked up to see how she was taking this and found her expression largely abstracted.
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In this evolving climate, work redesign techniques are finding new expressions in new applications.
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That it has not yet found full expression in the Symbolic does not mean that it can not be expressed.
give
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To give ecclesiastical expression to this conquest, a bishopric was established at Bangor in 1092.
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But as General Grant was neither demonstrative nor communicative, he gave no expression whatever to his feelings.
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Founded to give political expression to a working class based on industry, what is their role in a post-industrial world?
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It tapped into a raging underground sea of raw religious feeling and turbulent emotion and gave it shape and expression .
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In the labour movement, Ruiters' concerns have been given concrete expression .
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It was George Orwell who gave the most memorable expression to the socialist patriotism of 1940.
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Messenger's only desire is to talk about himself, to confess, to give expression to his huge ego.
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It gives expression not to a technical aspect of the division of labour but to its social aspect.
see
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Her hair was too short to fall far across her face, so Edward could see her expression , tender and deliberate.
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We can see the soft expression in their eyes, caring and solicitous, watchful.
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I couldn't see his expression in the dimness, only that he was still looking at Russell.
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I could not see his expression .
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Fighting against threats to young children's rights to early childhood opportunities could be seen as an expression of legitimate collective responsibility.
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Now, I see a different expression in their faces.
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In the darkness she could not see his expression , did not want to see it.
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I should like to see his frank expression and hear his wonderful way of speaking.
show
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His bland face showed no expression as she filled out the registration form and he handed her a key.
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Steve was six feet tall, heavily built and his clean-shaven pale face showed no expression .
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I look at the organizer, who shows no expression .
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Recent evidence has shown that the expression of enzymes participating in biotransformation may play a part in tumour drug-resistance.
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His face, always in profile, showed little expression when I glanced at it.
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Epithelial cells showed no expression of tumour necrosis factor or interleukin 1 mRNA.
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It has been previously shown that the expression of integrins is differently diminished in a chain-specific manner in human colorectal cancer.
use
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But Wordsworth does not use any dialect expression , so that this difficulty need not be exaggerated.
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This professor constantly uses vulgar expressions .
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Whitbread and Bass have both used that expression .
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She never used the same expression twice, Converse thought.
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He used some such expression in the text of an unpublished essay that I later found at Harvard.
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Various spreadsheet programs used different menu systems showing that the system used by Lotus was expression and not idea.
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Jack had, to use a medical expression , gone ape-shit.
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We can distinguish between using an expression and attending to an expression.
wear
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The face wore an undeniably evil expression .
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Even at this distance, I could see that the children wore expressions of concern.
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She was a small, emaciated mouse who wore a perpetually martyred expression .
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He wore a glum expression when I came for him that morning.
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Piper O'Rourke stepped out of the murk behind them, wearing a concerned expression .
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Most players wore blank, numb expressions .
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You can catch sight of yourself looking at other things than your own reflection, wearing unselfconscious expressions of interest and curiosity.
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The pale woman, bosom exposed, is entwined with a dark man wearing a sullen expression and a skull cap.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a martyred look/expression/air etc
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He did not reply, but got into the car glumly, with a martyred air.
appealing look/expression/voice etc
assume a manner/air/expression etc
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No wonder the technique assumed an air of planet-wide importance.
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Oliver assumed an expression of extreme penitence.
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The only thing she could do was to assume an air of indifference.
glazed look/eyes/expression etc
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But he still remembered the hidden yawns, the glazed looks and drooping eyelids.
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Has anyone noticed that Nicolas Cage has gotten a sort of stoned-out, glazed look to him of late?
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He did not acknowledge Conroy, but hurried on down with that glazed look of some one already encased in their next entrance.
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Instead, you held your head high and let a glazed look mask your eyes.
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The knock on the head alone could not account for the glazed look in her eyes.
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They had the distended bellies and glazed eyes of famine.
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With glazed eyes he was staring into the middle distance.
hangdog expression/look
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He has his father's long face, hangdog expression and lank fair hair.
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Ross was still sporting his hangdog look.
haunted expression/look
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A sleepless night had added to her pallor and the haunted look in her eyes.
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It still had the gaunt, haunted look that had so put Meg off before.
idiomatic expression/phrase
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Does the text contain idiomatic phrases and if so, with what kind of dialect or register are these idioms associated?
if you'll pardon the expression
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It's time that guy got off his ass, if you'll pardon the expression.
injured look/expression etc
murderous look/expression/glare etc
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She cast a murderous look over his hard male profile.
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She had stopped giving me murderous looks and seemed quite bright-eyed as we got ourselves ready to leave the ship.
pained expression/look/voice etc
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As you began again, all of us around you exchanged more pained looks.
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He assumed a pained expression and averted his eyes.
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He finally looked at Cantor, a pained expression on his face.
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His mouth was set in a prim, pained expression of disapproval.
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Larry, my stepfather, sits stiffly with a pained expression on his face.
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Rex made with the crossed eyes and suitably pained expression.
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The ubiquitous man with the pained expression vanishes.
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You noticed a vaguely pained expression enter Jackson's eyes, as if he was wondering why nothing ever proved simple.
vacant expression/look/stare etc
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Brittany, the blond cheerleader, has a vacant stare and huge eyelashes.
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But an oddly vacant look had come over Cinzia's features.
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Eyes downcast; baby lips pulled into a frown; dull, vacant stare.
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He was a bright-eyed boy, thin and fair, with a vacant expression that often gave way to shrill laughter.
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He was looking round with a vacant look on his face and I was frightened.
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However, just behind the vacant expression he offered me, I detected fear.
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The maid's vacant expression was replaced momentarily by one of greedy expectation - shortly followed by disappointment.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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'Shadow-boxing'? I've never heard that expression before!
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"I'm not eating it," Maria said, with an expression of disgust on her face.
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"It'll be alright in the end' -- that was my mother's favourite expression .
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Each of the statues has a different facial expression .
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He said he didn't care -- well actually he used a rude expression that I can't repeat!
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His expression became serious as he listened to her story.
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I don't normally use that expression myself, but I've heard other people use it sometimes.
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Knight was a quiet man whose favorite expression was "shucks."
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The expression on her face told me that she didn't want to discuss it.
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Try to put a little more expression into the slow passage.
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Wearing an expression of utter boredom, Harry turned back to his book.
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x² + 4 is an algebraic expression .
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You use the expression "break a leg" to wish an actor good luck.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Fighting against threats to young children's rights to early childhood opportunities could be seen as an expression of legitimate collective responsibility.
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He was looking down, his expression shuttered.
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Her expression indicated that the call was urgent.
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It must be done in a context that makes it worth while or it is just an expression of talent or ego.
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The director was a small, pink-cheeked man with bottle-shaped shoulders and an expression of misleading blankness.
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The language makes available different types of expressions to do different types of jobs in connecting words to the world.
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Whereupon, and still looking up at Papa, I felt my facial expression beginning to change.