adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a modest establishment formal (= a small business, shop etc )
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Mineo’s Pizza House is a modest but busy establishment just off the High Street.
a modest goal (= an aim that is not too difficult to achieve )
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Don’t try to lose a lot of weight quickly; set yourself a more modest goal.
a modest recovery (= not very great )
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On the foreign exchanges the pound managed a modest recovery from Thursday’s slump.
a modest sum (= not a very big amount of money )
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She had paid a modest sum for the paintings.
a small/modest profit
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The business managed to produce a small profit last year.
modest (= small )
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The figures reveal a modest increase in the birth rate.
modest (= not very high )
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The Kyoto Protocol set fairly modest targets for reductions in greenhouse gases.
small/modest/considerable/large etc outlay
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For a relatively small outlay, you can start a home hairdressing business.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
even
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Women who get relief and even enjoyment from crying can share this knowledge, given even modest encouragement.
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The DARPA-funded study points out that this speed falls far short of the computational capabilities of even modest biological networks.
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The Environment Agency warns that even modest rainfall could cause more floods because the ground is so waterlogged.
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Experience is beginning to show us how necessary is even modest investment in such programmes.
fairly
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This is a fairly modest and harmless little Bill.
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Stone is normally a fairly modest person.
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It is £1,685.02, a fairly modest sum after nearly seven years of investment.
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Initially, this could be done by instituting two fairly modest reforms.
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The house is fairly modest as stately homes go but I knew the gardens were outstanding as soon as I glimpsed them.
however
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The first is that most airlines, however modest , like to think of themselves as providers of comfort, even luxury.
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I bought them on the principle that anything so simple, however modest , would be unlikely to go wrong.
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And recognize your achievements, however modest .
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Each step, however modest , should be seen as an important accomplishment.
more
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But I think a more modest aim would make you just as happy, just as satisfied.
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North of Larchmont, the homes are more modest turn-of-the-century bungalows with two or three bedrooms.
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In the middle ranges the risks were less, and although the prospects were obviously more modest , profits were assured.
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That role is more modest than the one design has traditionally played.
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On the other side of the Andes, stations were built in a much more modest style.
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So a few very wealthy contributors can make up for the absence of a great number of more modest donations.
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But these facts are not indicative of a significantly lower priority, nor necessarily of a substantially more modest achievement.
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That hot-spot eruption lasted some 2 million years before petering out to a more modest flow.
most
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Twinkling sleighs, sporting six pairs of reindeer and a fat-free Santa, decorate even the most modest of houses.
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But the fact is that getting a government job has only the most modest relation to merit.
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They don't rate freedom especially highly and their drinking habits are the most modest in our sample.
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Congress meanwhile has refused to adopt even the most modest gun control.
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In this catastrophe, the most modest accounts say that at least 400 ships were destroyed.
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Few, though, have the strength for any but the most modest mergers.
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The best are excellent, and the most modest are never less than attractive.
only
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In material terms it gave only modest returns.
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Grant and co-star Julianne Moore provide only modest charm as the couple expecting their first baby.
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Consequently, there are few middle-level managers and only modest differences in the status and income of senior managers and junior employees.
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Like the other emissaries, present and absent, Aung San Suu Kyi made only modest requests of her audience.
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That effort produced only modest reductions in uniformed personnel and military units and preserved all major procurement programs.
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The spacious dining room with its trademark greenhouse ceiling will undergo only modest remodeling.
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Indeed, historians believe that there had been only modest improvement over the previous three centuries.
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For instance, the report found only modest progress in the portion of all births to teen-agers.
quite
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But otherwise it's quite modest .
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The rate of power consumption would be quite modest in such a postindustrial, steady-state society.
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The result is substantial sales, but at low prices - operating worthwhile, but quite modest , revenue.
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Given their interesting nature, our systematic knowledge about them is quite modest .
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By contrast with the Treaty of Rome, the Stockholm Convention was quite modest , in both length and ambition.
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More specifically, a look ahead at Table 27-1 reveals a list of industries wherein economic concentration is quite modest .
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At first, the plan was quite modest and not even crudely geometric, as it was later to become.
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A family business, with quite modest funds, has a pressing need for more capital.
relatively
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However, the falls were relatively modest and, in the case of the Crown Court at least, were soon reversed.
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My relatively modest system certainly has never seen the likes of the Tube Terminators.
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But the dividend income is relatively modest , and coming from abroad they are not a tax-efficient source of income.
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Even a relatively modest addition to the liberal framework, universal health coverage, remains elusive.
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Shop sales grew again in May, but the upturn was relatively modest .
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In 1996, Pryce spent a relatively modest $ 384, 780, and raised about $ 522, 000.
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But these changes through the birth rate remained relatively modest in this country until the present century.
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They offer relatively modest standards but always clean and well managed accommodation.
too
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It seemed too modest to be profitable.
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Mr. Snape My hon. Friend is far too modest .
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Because he was too modest to send a photo of himself we hope this will surf ice!
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You're too modest , Miss Williams.
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I was far too modest , and far too hurt.
very
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It was a very modest sum for Helmut.
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Working for the very modest federal salaries of the time, they actually wrote much of the legislation of the New Deal.
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Being of very modest means, but having some contacts upon the turf, he attempted to increase his wages by gambling.
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Since 1976, the flow of new investment has been very modest , and in some years negative.
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Deuterium is present in small amounts in water, from which it can be extracted at very modest cost.
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These may have foyers, halls or exhibition areas which are available for artists sometimes at very modest rates.
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Austin agreed and I began work on my first, very modest contribution to deep-sea research.
■ NOUN
amount
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Installation of the new system will save time and a modest amount of money.
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Often only a modest amount of exploration is required to resolve these disturbing feelings.
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They have managed to refinance their debts and even obtain modest amounts of new money fairly painlessly.
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But others in our society have less ability and have received modest amounts of education and training.
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No animal or plant can withstand ultraviolet radiation in more than modest amounts .
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Finally, if you are borrowing only modest amounts , the interest rates on personal loans can be rather unattractive.
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It takes a relatively modest amount of scientific evidence to have a substance banned.
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So, in addition to the modest amount he charged, we gave him our tile cutter.
gain
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The prospect of good wages and modest gains provided ample inducement to serve; but there were no doubt other motives as well.
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But even such modest gains were expensive.
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Still, the fact that closing Napster may bring only modest gains makes the case a closer call.
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Growing concerns about profit margins sent technology stocks sharply lower, overshadowing modest gains for blue-chip stocks.
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The sterling-denominated funds have recorded relatively modest gains across a narrow spread of returns.
growth
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With modest growth and an unemployment rate of around 7%, it may seem odd to worry about inflation.
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This assumes a modest growth rate of 5 per cent, although many investors will have gained far more.
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When planting be careful to select plants of modest growth .
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All we are expecting at this stage is modest growth in this half year.
home
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Her modest home sparkled, and her doorstep was the whitest in the street.
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Jorgensen and Brinner predicted that many people would choose to own more modest homes on smaller lots.
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A modest home for the Madonna.
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Even a relatively modest home improvement project can mean quite a large commitment.
income
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This is more likely if you have a modest income .
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As you were over 75 and on a modest income , you were allowed the first £4,180 tax free.
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As a married man over 75 and on a modest income , you are allowed the first £6,875 free of tax.
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These were very modest incomes by then current standards.
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That leaves groups of people who are above income support and rebate levels, but who none the less have quite modest incomes.
increase
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That is described in the Treasury's paper as a modest increase .
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Legislative leaders, who approved modest increases in college funding in the last few years, could not be reached Friday.
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For a very modest increase , the authority could finance the £100 million required for the strategy.
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Some predicted modest increases , but others were less optimistic.
level
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Revenue figures necessarily start at a modest level and even 100 percent growth leaves us with a level only slightly less modest.
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Neurons bathed in modest levels of caffeine respond more vigorously to stimulation and form longer-lasting changes in their connections with other neurons.
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Clerical and administrative backup were provided at only a modest level .
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For those who are already reading at a modest level , this might prove to be an optimistic factor.
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Boat traffic needs to be kept at modest levels in order to protect one of Britain's most outstanding botanical treasures.
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Subsequent studies have not endorsed this, but they seem to show that there is a more modest level of improvement.
man
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He was a very modest man , refusing to take any credit for the enterprise that bore his name.
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Chavez, a modest man who asked not to be proposed for a Nobel Peace Prize, died in 1993.
means
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Even private investors of modest means can use offshore centres for tax referral.
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The family survived on modest means .
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They were genteel ladies and unmarried, and what they could claim, therefore, were modest means and purity.
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Being of very modest means , but having some contacts upon the turf, he attempted to increase his wages by gambling.
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Many Low Countrymen of more modest means emigrated for much of the year to work in expanding sectors of the economy.
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The Latin pauper means a person of modest means rather than some one without food, roof, or clothing.
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Artists such as de Staël, Pollock and Rothko who had hitherto lived on modest means were thrown into comparative affluence.
price
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Young men formed neighbourhood jazz bands, creating uniforms out of crêpe paper and competing against one another for modest prices .
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With many excises however, modest price increases have little or 00 effect on sales.
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A large woman, who confessed to weighing fifteen stone, she championed the manufacture of outsize clothes at modest prices .
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Paul's verdict: I was impressed by the specification of the this sack - especially considering the modest price .
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Buffallo, however, have come up with a good trowel at a very modest price .
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For domestic display, hand-pulled artists' prints could be purchased at modest prices in the Artists' Union's shops.
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Internal UPSs have a lot going for them - modest price , easy installation, fix-and-forget security.
recovery
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Following his forecast for a modest recovery in 1991, which did not appear.
scale
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It seems that the effect of Pleistocene sea levels may, in fact, be evident on a more modest scale .
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But the assumption was always that his first attempt at direction should be on a modest scale .
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Now others - though on a more modest scale - are emulating their tactics.
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At West Ham the club was run by two families involved locally in business on a modest scale .
size
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It wasn't obviously a particularly long discussion ... you are dealing with a company of a modest size ....
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Although it was the capital, it was only of modest size .
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Gifts of a modest size were of course perfectly tolerable.
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They were of modest size with an underground stem, but without spreading roots.
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Its modest size appeals to visitors who gain an unusual insight into the domestic life of the house.
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Many of the fields most popular with applicants have targets of modest size .
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Three others - all of an equally modest size - grouped around it.
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Adam was disappointed by its modest size , but didn't show his feelings.
success
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This modest success was bought at the expense of mounting employee grievances.
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She had some modest successes behind her with short stories.
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But the second attempt was a modest success .
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These reflect a relatively late period of modest success for the town.
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I have had some modest success in this regard, and pass on here some tips I have used.
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He worked with others for a strong resolution against cruelty to marine animals, but with only modest success .
sum
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It was a very modest sum for Helmut.
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In fact, investing had been on my mind because of a modest sum of money that had unexpectedly come my way.
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Participating organisations will receive modest sums to defray recruiting, training and reporting costs.
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Yet this one modest sum brings you some remarkable advantages.
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It is £1,685.02, a fairly modest sum after nearly seven years of investment.
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Added to which, these were simple people who worked hard for modest sums of money.
way
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I always admired his wonderful modest way when running a course at Woolley Hall.
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Even small independents are getting in on the act in a modest way , though.
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He had been milling in a modest way at Grove Mill near Painswick, but presumably saw where the future lay.
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But his presence was every bit as formidable in its modest way as that of the patrician Heifetz.
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Took the credit for myself in my usual modest way , said my information came from Algiers ten days ago.
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Fertility increases in Britain occurred in a modest way in the later 1930s and much more strikingly between the mid-1950s and 1960s.
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None the less, in an admittedly modest way , his idea is beginning to work.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Don't be so modest !
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Elliot's home in Ironwood is modest , but surrounded by beautiful forests.
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Luke was too modest to talk about his past achievements.
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Renzel remains one of the most sincere and modest men I know.
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She was a shy, modest person, never one to push herself forward.
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Some new brands from South America are making terrific wines for modest prices.
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They're really very modest bathing suits.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He was a modest and inspiring person, greatly consumed by the mystery of life.
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If you could get permission for this modest proposal, all you would need to do is find the funding.
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It falls most heavily on people with very modest savings or houses who have not taken appropriate advice.
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Jorgensen and Brinner predicted that many people would choose to own more modest homes on smaller lots.
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Kurtzman said a modest business site can cost as little as $ 4, 000 with his Houston company.
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Revenue figures necessarily start at a modest level and even 100 percent growth leaves us with a level only slightly less modest.
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Visible for a modest $ 2 per person fee, the nine paintings show satyr-like men grappling uncertainly with fleshy nude women.