I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a central figure (= an important person with a lot of influence )
▪
During this time he was a central figure in American politics.
a controversial figure (= a person who does controversial things )
▪
He is a controversial figure in politics.
a hate figure (= someone who is hated by a lot of people )
▪
After the incident, he became a hate figure in the British press.
a key figure (= a key person )
▪
She was a key figure in the election campaign.
a realistic figure/price
▪
A more realistic figure for energy saving would be 20 percent.
a target figure
▪
The government has set a target figure of 6.2%
an authority figure (= someone, such as a parent or teacher, who has the power to tell young people what they can do )
▪
The teacher is an authority figure, like the parent.
approach/reach/go into etc double figures
▪
The death toll is thought to have reached double figures.
attendance figures
▪
Last year’s fair saw attendance figures of 32,000.
boyish figure
▪
At 45, she still had a trim boyish figure .
collate information/results/data/figures
▪
A computer system is used to collate information from across Britain.
colourful character/figure (= someone who is interesting and unusual )
comparable figures/data/results
▪
comparable figures for the same period of time last year
crime figures/statistics
▪
The new crime figures are not good.
double figures
▪
King’s was the only other score in double figures.
export sales/figures (= the total number of products that are sold to other countries )
▪
Export sales exceeded 50% of the company’s total turnover.
▪
Hong Kong is a major trading power, with annual export figures rivalling those of Germany.
father figure
▪
Ken was a father figure to all of us.
figure of eight
figure of speech
figure skating
forlorn figure
▪
a forlorn figure sitting all by herself
full figure/face/breasts etc
▪
clothes for the fuller figure
heroic figure
▪
She portrayed him as a heroic figure .
in round figures (= expressed as the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 etc )
▪
Altogether, in round figures, there are about three thousand students here.
lone figure
▪
A lone figure was standing at the bus stop.
massaging...figures
▪
Myers accused the government of deliberately massaging the unemployment figures .
prostrate body/figure/form
public figure (= famous person )
▪
Although not a public figure , he was a man of great influence.
run into six figures (= be over £100,000 or $100,000 )
▪
The final cost of the project will easily run into six figures .
sales figures
▪
The company said its sales figures continued to show growth.
seasonally adjusted figures/rates/data etc (= ones that are changed according to what usually happens at a particular time of year )
shadowy figures
▪
the shadowy figures who control international terrorist organizations
significant figure
single figures
▪
Interest rates have stayed in single figures for over a year now.
slender figure
▪
Laura’s tall, slender figure
stick figure
the exact amount/number/figure
▪
I don’t know the exact amount, but it was a lot.
the inflation figures
▪
April's inflation figures are likely to show a further fall.
trim figure
▪
a trim figure
unemployment figures/statistics
▪
They publish monthly unemployment figures for the UK.
up-to-date information/data/figures/news etc
▪
They have access to up-to-date information through a computer database.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
central
▪
Like the east, this gable is symmetrically composed round a central still figure , but the construction is otherwise extremely different.
▪
A stele from Beaune museum shows him as the three-headed central figure of a triad of naked seated gods.
▪
First, you should get it clear in your mind just what the private-eye who is the central figure is.
▪
Ann Black, the central figure in State and Main, is, however, classic Mamet.
▪
The King was a central figure in the ritual of the church.
▪
In this long, hard pull, I was now cast as the central figure .
▪
What about a central figure in the case, the plaintiff, David Irving?
▪
He was too good at games for that, too central a figure among us to retreat into himself.
comparable
▪
The comparable figure for white households was 45 percent, and for non-immigrant black households, 39 percent.
▪
Because of changes in coverage, comparable figures are not available for 1981.
▪
The comparable figure , it said, for optical fibres was nearly £2000.
▪
The comparable United Kingdom figure for this period was 34 percent.
▪
The closest comparable figure for Wirral is the annual prevalence rate for the 16-34-year-old age group: 12 per 1,000.
▪
The comparable figure for expenditure in 1979-80 was £2.4 million.
▪
The comparable figure in 1979 was 2,750.
▪
The comparable figure for September 1988 was 397,000.
double
▪
Inflation was often in double figures .
▪
Twenty-one times in the last 21 games he has scored in double figures .
▪
It went into double figures on the first page.
▪
Johnson had not scored in double figures in the first five games.
▪
The young could number anything from two to well into double figures .
▪
In the nine games since, he has scored in double figures seven times.
▪
The big three's domination is such that their nearest rivals Limerick don't even make it into double figures .
▪
Before a morose crowd limply reaching double figures battle commenced at three o'clock.
exact
▪
Immediately contracts have been exchanged the exact redemption figure should be obtained from the mortgagee.
▪
No exact figure on how much revenue this generates could be obtained from state tax officials.
▪
Clients are apt to minimise numbers of assignments, whilst headhunters maximise them, and neither are willing to divulge exact figures .
▪
State biologists estimate its statewide population at 4, 000 to 6, 000, but exact figures are not known.
▪
I he exact commission figure is a matter for negotiation between the artist's manager and the agent.
▪
The exact figure remains undisclosed, but will be the same as Mr Leigh-Pemberton's pay over the past year.
▪
But for the writers and early translators of the Gospels, it was a very precise term, denoting a very exact figure .
▪
Rounding up from 0.3871, the more exact figure , to 0.39 gave Craig an unearned bonus of I 1.07 votes.
high
▪
As the angry voices rose higher and higher other black-gowned figures came in.
▪
In 1978 dollars this high figure becomes $ 5 million.
▪
Both types of survey show a far higher figure for crimes committed than do the official statistics produced by the police.
▪
The higher figures came for such easy-to-call labels as bulimia and alcohol and drug dependence.
▪
In absolute levels, we have fallen off only from the historically high 1980 figures .
▪
An officer in the Pskov division did not deny the higher figures .
▪
The higher figure kicks in if growth reaches 17. 5 percent annually.
key
▪
Kernaghan has been Boro's most consistent defender and a key figure in the Second Division promotion drive.
▪
The ruling brings together key figures in two other notorious Los Angeles criminal cases.
▪
Lucia Walker is one of the key figures in the development of contact improvisation in this country.
▪
Winter had wanted to introduce a budgetary control system based on monthly management accounts with the emphasis on key figures .
▪
He is alleged to have been a key figure in virtually all aspects of the Guinness affair.
▪
The key figure here is the number of seeks per access.
▪
Beanpole striker Andy Smith has emerged as one of the key figures in the Diamonds' recent revival.
leading
▪
What were the attitudes of the two leading figures ?
▪
In January, too, the leading figures of the Conservative party met at Selsdon in order to hammer out new policies.
▪
Other leading figures in the party are also unlikely class warriors.
▪
Both seem sure to be leading figures again.
▪
A leading figure in the Arab world, sure that the Third World should not align itself with either superpower.
▪
He edited the school magazine and was a leading figure on the school's workers' council.
low
▪
They do not tell us why the level is set at its current average rather than some much higher or lower figure .
▪
We have calculated the West Palm Beach rate at a lower figure: $ 26. 75 a square foot.
▪
The slightly lower figure may relate to the more discursive nature of the subject.
▪
That might boost the take up into the low six figures .
▪
Leland's insistence on excellence meant production slowed to 400 cars per month - far too low a figure to be profitable.
▪
The 1990 appraisal at the lower figure reflected the sharp downturn of the Phoenix real-estate market.
▪
This equals the comparative cost and again the lowest figure represents the best value.
▪
Oil companies yesterday declared a gasoline price war, which should be reflected in lower inflation figures in future months.
official
▪
The official figure for the whole of June was 42 police and demonstrators killed; some foreign observers estimated up to 70 deaths.
▪
In April the notoriously unreliable official figure for the state's unemployment rate dropped for the second month running - to 8.6%.
▪
Campaigners say official accident figures don't give the true picture.
▪
According to the official figures , in 1984, 1 million women were registered unemployed, compared with 2.3 million men.
▪
Thirdly, even within a particular denomination, the official figures may not be strictly comparable over time.
▪
Latest official figures show that shoppers are even turning to credit again, to buy presents and stock up for Christmas.
▪
The latest official figures show a big rise in the amount of money in the economy.
▪
And that's official according to recent figures from the National Health Survey.
political
▪
Outside the Cabinet the rejected Mr Heath became an even more isolated political figure .
▪
The political figure who has tried the hardest to harness this newfound enthusiasm is Pat Robertson.
▪
How could a Prime Minister who gave voice to such sentiments be regarded as a political figure in his own right?
▪
Never in recent history has there been a political figure as vexing within his own party as President Clinton.
▪
His legal responsibilities for issues such as extradition have also brought him into contact with senior legal and political figures in Ireland.
▪
He is arguably the third most powerful political figure in the state, after Gov.
▪
Owen had an international reputation and close connections with political figures , but even he was subordinate to the principal librarian.
▪
Until relatively recently, organized religion has left environmental protection to environmental activists, concerned scientists and political figures .
public
▪
This was a tumultuous time, when many public figures came under political scrutiny.
▪
The Gingrich investigation is hardly the first time Cole has taken on highly placed public figures .
▪
Peter Allis has turned golf into a kind of harmless interview where public figures hit a few shots and chat about themselves.
▪
None of what has been said suggests that we should ignore ethical lapses or law-breaking by public figures .
▪
Point out that this is an extremely undemocratic and élitist attitude, particularly if it comes from public figures .
▪
The monarchists and conservatives claimed that all national and public figures and their acts should always be subject to scrutiny and criticism.
▪
Morrissey deliberately used his high profile to construct a public figure of some importance.
senior
▪
The Government refuses to hold a national poll despite pressure from its own backbenchers and senior party figures .
▪
The check-in clerk fell into a deep discussion with a nearby senior figure .
▪
Their membership included key ministers, the President of the Assembly, Tudjman's personal advisers and senior military figures .
▪
However, senior government figures say that Mr Mandelson's handling of the issue has damaged their faith in his political judgment.
▪
Many of its senior figures are his former employees and friends.
▪
There were also senior figures from the World Bank, the United Nations and other international organisations.
▪
Both Mercedes and Auto Union sent senior figures to the London funeral and the flowers started to arrive.
shadowy
▪
And then, for some reason, she thought of Miranda and the shadowy figure of Terence Patch.
▪
The best Rather could do was enthuse about shadowy figures in crowds who might or might not be somebody guilty of something.
▪
In all these transactions Balbinder seemed a shadowy figure .
▪
Following a brief but noisy scuffle, the window banged open and a shadowy figure burst through.
▪
To the right, open double doors hinted at shadowy figures .
▪
The veteran police officer had spotted a shadowy figure on the second floor of the complex.
▪
As his consciousness slipped away from him, he was aware of a shadowy figure appearing from the mist and standing over him.
▪
She sat down, then looked up to see the shadowy figure of the woman at the bar standing over her.
single
▪
But there are seven male to every one female tenured academic psychologist, and women heads of department are in single figures .
▪
Amid the not of splashing kids and teachers' voices, she and the child made a single still figure .
▪
Then, just before dusk a single figure was spotted again moving out of sight on the small col below the second pinnacle.
▪
It is wise not to talk about a single figure; discuss a range of figures.
▪
The Sergeant's torch played on a single figure ten yards away.
▪
By this, presumably, was meant the isolation of single figures in sequential positions like a Muybridge series in three dimensions.
▪
The birds are mostly static, and still shown in profile - a single figure on each page with no background.
▪
The two figures are a single figure.
tall
▪
The tall lanky figure of Billy Tolboys was slouched in the comer seat by the fire.
▪
A tall figure appeared in the canyon gloom; it had an enormous head.
▪
You barricaded your door against its tall figure .
▪
A tall figure came into view, then just as quickly vanished.
▪
A tall , dark figure in the shadows, leaning against the bole.
▪
Away below, a tall figure moved slowly through the trees of the demesne.
▪
Theo saw an exceptionally tall figure .
▪
Glancing in, he saw a tall , flustered figure turning away in disgust from the counter.
■ NOUN
authority
▪
It would seem that we are far more likely to obey unquestioningly when the authority figure is actually present.
▪
Disrespect the authority figure out there on the field and then wonder why the kids do it in their classrooms.
▪
The more status you give to a large number of authority figures , the more, relatively, you diminish your own.
▪
Has difficulty taking directions from authority figures ? 4.
▪
As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪
One wonders what is the unspoken view of the other authority figures involved in setting this up?
▪
Tour operators have been licensed to sell 14.3 million holidays in the coming year, Civil Aviation Authority figures reveal.
▪
It was their word against a powerful authority figure , and they thought no one would believe them.
father
▪
Morrissey and Marr looked down like father figures .
▪
His surrogate father figure was killed.
▪
He spoke seldom, but he was never impatient with her, always kind, a companionable father figure .
▪
And one of the sturdiest of these is the father figure in the sky.
▪
And he registers genuine hurt at the fact that Buzzy regards Buck as more of a father figure than himself.
▪
With Diana out of the picture, Charles is emerging as a fitting father figure .
▪
Sondheim found a mentor, if not a father figure , in Hammerstein, Patinkin said.
trade
▪
Sydney fell by 2.4% after the release of worse-than-expected trade figures for March.
▪
Yesterday's trade figures showed clearly that export volumes were at record levels even in a worldwide economic downturn.
▪
United States trade figures for the second quarter of 1971 showed a deficit for the first time.
▪
Yesterday sterling enjoyed its first quiet day since the trade figures were released a week ago.
▪
Wall Street ignored January's poor trade figures , rising 2.4%.
▪
Get as many as you can for the trade figures .
▪
September trade figures , due on 24 October, are thought critical for sterling's fortunes.
▪
Pound sags as fears grow on October trade figures .
unemployment
▪
The monthly publication of the unemployment figures provides a depressing barometer of the dole queue.
▪
But the long recession, together with high unemployment figures and a stagnant housing market, has changed homeowners' perceptions.
▪
In 1979, he said, the incoming government had felt the unemployment figures were too high.
▪
Nationwide, unemployment figures went up by 41,000, making the total 2,908,900 million.
▪
That tightening-up process is still going on, and is likely to dampen the rise in the unemployment figures .
▪
Mr. Kinnock For 2.6 million of our fellow citizens the unemployment figures are not disappointing - they are absolutely devastating.
▪
What effect would that policy have on the unemployment figures ?
■ VERB
show
▪
The table is now sorted in descending order according to the Amount field, as shown in figure 11. 5.
▪
In Figure 2.7 two alternative average cost curves are shown .
▪
The type of neuron found in the retina is shown in figure 4. 2 as an example.
▪
An example of this option is shown in figure 11.13.
▪
Module Header A description follows of a typical module header, as shown in figure 2.1.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a ball-park figure/estimate/amount
a fine figure of a man/woman
an outside figure/estimate etc
authority figure
▪
As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪
Disrespect the authority figure out there on the field and then wonder why the kids do it in their classrooms.
▪
From the beginning Jones worked to destroy his followers' confidence in any of the old authority figures in their lives.
▪
Has difficulty taking directions from authority figures? 4.
▪
It was their word against a powerful authority figure, and they thought no one would believe them.
▪
It would seem that we are far more likely to obey unquestioningly when the authority figure is actually present.
▪
One wonders what is the unspoken view of the other authority figures involved in setting this up?
▪
The more status you give to a large number of authority figures, the more, relatively, you diminish your own.
comparative figures/data
▪
Comparative figures Prior year comparative figures have been restated to conform to the current year's presentation where appropriate.
▪
I do not want the comparative figures to be distorted.
▪
Inspection of the comparative figures is both instructive and startling.
▪
Significance levels for comparative data were determined by the Wilcoxon signed rank test.
▪
The comparative figures for 1991 were 25 and 19 respectively.
▪
The comparative figures one year later of 14% and 10.9% are still worrying.
▪
The most reliable of these comparative data measure voting in national elections.
▪
Whichever option societies take, comparative figures for the new disclosures will be required.
cult film/band/figure etc
▪
Brad Pitt in the cult film Fight Club was a fraudulent soap salesman.
▪
He became a cult figure in which notions of salvation by innocent suffering have a place.
▪
He is loved to the point of becoming a cult figure.
▪
He often introduces himself to boomer types as the B-string lyricist for that perennial underground cult band, the Grateful Dead.
▪
Healing spas were based on a local cult figure and the devotees underwent rituals which included bathing and communal eating.
▪
I start by telling him that he's quite the cult figure here in Annapolis, and he looks stunned.
▪
This, however, did not prevent him from becoming a cult figure among some of the Jacobins and other revolutionaries.
▪
Vanessa Nygaard is a cult figure waiting to happen, a gale-force personality blowing through Maples Pavilion.
cut a fine/strange etc figure
facts and figures
▪
The report contained some interesting facts and figures about the Saturn Corporation.
▪
He doesn't need to remember facts and figures, he actually sees the things and people of his cover-story life.
▪
He is notoriously tough on staff, often challenging them on facts and figures during council meetings.
▪
He learned how to boom out facts and figures to the city council members that they were unable to refute.
▪
It is not easy to make sense of the maze of facts and figures concerning the settlements.
▪
Most of the ones I run into need facts and figures.
▪
Stripped to their essentials his facts and figures are astonishing.
▪
These facts and figures added relatively little to what was already known in outline.
▪
When she left I quickly immersed myself in the safer, less emotional facts and figures of a real estate deal.
have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc
hourglass figure
▪
Instead of having an hourglass figure, whose curves suggested motherhood and domesticity, she was boyishly slim.
matchstick men/figures
▪
More like troubled at mill Salford says there's more to its patron saint than pictures of matchstick men.
six figures/digits
▪
But that must mean that the estate might run well into six figures.
▪
Each new compound synthesised was simply given a number, sometimes up to six figures long.
▪
Here are guys making six figures.
▪
Landsness obtained a settlement that he said exceeded six figures.
▪
Minutes later, a small group of six figures emerged from the woods.
▪
Movie rights have been sold, and Vintage Books just paid six figures to publish the paperback.
▪
That might boost the take up into the low six figures.
▪
The five-year deal is estimated at six figures.
sympathetic figure/character
▪
But now he, or she, needs to be an even broader, more sympathetic figure than before.
▪
Charles didn't find many sympathetic characters among the cast.
▪
The reader zooms through the story hoping for a resolution that will satisfy the mystery without sacrificing any of the sympathetic characters.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
""We need $30,000 to get the project started.'' ""How close are you to that figure ?''
▪
a figure in a red robe
▪
A comparison of the two figures shows the estimated profit on investment.
▪
a rare 16th century Japanese figure
▪
Add up that row of figures, and transfer the full amount to the top of the next page.
▪
Ali was one of the great sports figures of this century.
▪
Caroline really has a terrific figure .
▪
Dark figures emerged from the building, and disappeared into the night.
▪
Exercise and a sensible diet will help you get your figure back after having a baby.
▪
Freddy's bent figure limped in front of him.
▪
Government figures published today show that unemployment is rising again.
▪
He offered to buy the team for the figure of $140 million.
▪
I saw the figure of a woman below the bridge.
▪
Inflation in Japan is around 3%, while the German figure is now over 4%.
▪
Ohio's employment figures for December are not available.
▪
On a cheque, write the amount in words and in figures.
▪
Retailers are reporting their November sales figures today.
▪
sales figures
▪
She eats enormous meals but still manages to keep her figure .
▪
Susie wore a close-fitting black dress which made the most of her figure .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
But for the writers and early translators of the Gospels, it was a very precise term, denoting a very exact figure .
▪
By the age of retirement that figure will increase to one in every five.
▪
Now, the. 78 figure might seem pretty good if one did not know two crucial facts about the study.
▪
She turned slowly and looked at the figure in the chair.
▪
That means a commitment to every figure in it, a commitment to taking a risk to achieve the budgeted outputs.
▪
The figures were recently released by the magazine.
▪
The Gingrich investigation is hardly the first time Cole has taken on highly placed public figures.
▪
The motionless figures ap-peared determined still to make the leap to the playground.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
largely
▪
At Sussex University, he met Gail Rebuck, who would figure largely in his life for the next twenty years.
▪
The railway system continued to figure largely in high political planning in 1922.
▪
The name of Carl August of Saxe-Weimar figured largely , but I had heard neither of him nor of it.
▪
Britten's accompaniments have figured largely in our discussion.
▪
Machinery figured largely in Cumbria and Wester Ross reflecting no doubt the distance from repair facilities.
out
▪
Also, I've figured out what Wilko's doing with Rocky.
▪
Whenever my sons, John, and I eat out together, Miles and Evan always figure out the bill.
▪
Dazedly I got back into bed and tried to figure out what had happened.
▪
The prosecutors want to figure out what we are looking for.
▪
Keith can not figure out why Potter looks so funny.
▪
Clearly, one advantage of public-key cryptography is that no one can figure out the private key from the corresponding public key.
▪
Hippix is Hippo's first product and it is currently trying to figure out its target market.
▪
She can learn to observe herself, figuring out what she does easily and what takes more work.
prominently
▪
The condition should figure prominently in undergraduate clinical training and in medical textbooks.
▪
But this group are the bedrock of the institution - and as such should figure prominently in our prayers.
▪
They were to figure prominently among the more tragic case histories.
▪
Claims and counter-claims of this kind were to figure prominently for generations in Ottoman-Habsburg negotiations.
▪
Lords, ladies, dukes and duchesses figure prominently among the names as well as more ordinary mortals of obviously substantial means.
■ NOUN
way
▪
Maybe he figured the only way to get her off his back was to confess.
▪
A new state law says they have to figure out a way to recycle it.
▪
Have we ever figured out a rational way to explain and triage which drugs should be banned for which reasons?
▪
Every society must figure out ways to bring them into the disciplines and duties of citizenship.
▪
They decided we owned more land than we needed, and they figured out a way to get it.
▪
Many defiant children are also unusually clever; figuring out ways to defeat your most sophisticated arguments.
▪
They figured out a way to trick him.
▪
So Knapman, an indigent, is stuck at the hospital trying to figure a way out of the mess.
ways
▪
Every society must figure out ways to bring them into the disciplines and duties of citizenship.
▪
Many defiant children are also unusually clever; figuring out ways to defeat your most sophisticated arguments.
▪
She moved from being easily overwhelmed and cautious to figuring out ways both to calm herself and to master new experiences.
▪
The Republicans have hired consultants to figure out ways to appeal to those women not already turned off.
▪
One of the tasks facing all freshmen is to figure out ways to counter this loneliness.
▪
Heloise has figured out little ways to cut back on calories, she says.
■ VERB
try
▪
Connelly blinked myopically, trying to clear his gaze, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
▪
He was trying to figure out how bad it was going to be.
▪
I tried to figure him out; he was by no means the worst of the bunch.
▪
He went on talking while I tried to figure out what it meant.
▪
So they're up there in the cashiers' office trying to figure out where all the money's coming from.
▪
I read books, trying to figure it out.
▪
That's what I do when I get worried - I try to figure it out.
▪
I fiddle at my computer for a while, trying to figure out what to say.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a ball-park figure/estimate/amount
a fine figure of a man/woman
an outside figure/estimate etc
authority figure
▪
As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪
Disrespect the authority figure out there on the field and then wonder why the kids do it in their classrooms.
▪
From the beginning Jones worked to destroy his followers' confidence in any of the old authority figures in their lives.
▪
Has difficulty taking directions from authority figures? 4.
▪
It was their word against a powerful authority figure, and they thought no one would believe them.
▪
It would seem that we are far more likely to obey unquestioningly when the authority figure is actually present.
▪
One wonders what is the unspoken view of the other authority figures involved in setting this up?
▪
The more status you give to a large number of authority figures, the more, relatively, you diminish your own.
comparative figures/data
▪
Comparative figures Prior year comparative figures have been restated to conform to the current year's presentation where appropriate.
▪
I do not want the comparative figures to be distorted.
▪
Inspection of the comparative figures is both instructive and startling.
▪
Significance levels for comparative data were determined by the Wilcoxon signed rank test.
▪
The comparative figures for 1991 were 25 and 19 respectively.
▪
The comparative figures one year later of 14% and 10.9% are still worrying.
▪
The most reliable of these comparative data measure voting in national elections.
▪
Whichever option societies take, comparative figures for the new disclosures will be required.
cult film/band/figure etc
▪
Brad Pitt in the cult film Fight Club was a fraudulent soap salesman.
▪
He became a cult figure in which notions of salvation by innocent suffering have a place.
▪
He is loved to the point of becoming a cult figure.
▪
He often introduces himself to boomer types as the B-string lyricist for that perennial underground cult band, the Grateful Dead.
▪
Healing spas were based on a local cult figure and the devotees underwent rituals which included bathing and communal eating.
▪
I start by telling him that he's quite the cult figure here in Annapolis, and he looks stunned.
▪
This, however, did not prevent him from becoming a cult figure among some of the Jacobins and other revolutionaries.
▪
Vanessa Nygaard is a cult figure waiting to happen, a gale-force personality blowing through Maples Pavilion.
facts and figures
▪
The report contained some interesting facts and figures about the Saturn Corporation.
▪
He doesn't need to remember facts and figures, he actually sees the things and people of his cover-story life.
▪
He is notoriously tough on staff, often challenging them on facts and figures during council meetings.
▪
He learned how to boom out facts and figures to the city council members that they were unable to refute.
▪
It is not easy to make sense of the maze of facts and figures concerning the settlements.
▪
Most of the ones I run into need facts and figures.
▪
Stripped to their essentials his facts and figures are astonishing.
▪
These facts and figures added relatively little to what was already known in outline.
▪
When she left I quickly immersed myself in the safer, less emotional facts and figures of a real estate deal.
have a (good) head for figures/facts/business etc
hourglass figure
▪
Instead of having an hourglass figure, whose curves suggested motherhood and domesticity, she was boyishly slim.
matchstick men/figures
▪
More like troubled at mill Salford says there's more to its patron saint than pictures of matchstick men.
six figures/digits
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But that must mean that the estate might run well into six figures.
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Each new compound synthesised was simply given a number, sometimes up to six figures long.
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Here are guys making six figures.
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Landsness obtained a settlement that he said exceeded six figures.
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Minutes later, a small group of six figures emerged from the woods.
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Movie rights have been sold, and Vintage Books just paid six figures to publish the paperback.
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That might boost the take up into the low six figures.
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The five-year deal is estimated at six figures.
sympathetic figure/character
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But now he, or she, needs to be an even broader, more sympathetic figure than before.
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Charles didn't find many sympathetic characters among the cast.
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The reader zooms through the story hoping for a resolution that will satisfy the mystery without sacrificing any of the sympathetic characters.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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He needs to sit down and figure out how many people are coming.
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I'm telling you because I figure you're the only one who can keep a secret.
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Lott figured prominently in the Chiefs' win last night.
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The operation went fine, and they figure he'll be home next week.
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There has been criticism about the current method for figuring social security retirement benefits.
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What do you figure his chances of winning are?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Destiny will figure further down Olivetti's range, on personal computers and the M700.
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I figured we had as much right to vote for old crooks as new ones.
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She was younger and prettier than any of us' d figured on.
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So they're up there in the cashiers' office trying to figure out where all the money's coming from.
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The dwarfs were devastated, because they could not figure out how to save Snow White this time.
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The Reichmanns figured that if New York went out of business the world would go with it.
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We had their offense and defense figured out exceptionally well.
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You haven't figured it out yet?