adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
highly/purely/largely speculative
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a purely speculative theory about life on other planets
purely functional
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buildings that are sensitively designed, not purely functional
purely hypothetical
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The question is purely hypothetical .
purely symbolic
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Our protest was meant to be purely symbolic.
purely/completely/entirely coincidental
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Any similarity between this film and real events is purely coincidental.
purely/totally/completely objective
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the importance of a completely objective, independent press
purely/truly random
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a purely random sequence of numbers
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
academic
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Are the competing views purely academic debates, or do they also reflect wider social interests? 4.
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Cause of death would have been of purely academic interest to the deceased man's widow.
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One could be forgiven, however, for viewing this as a purely academic philosophy.
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Such divisions are not, so to speak, purely academic .
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But asking which of these young overseas players is the better is purely academic .
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In this sense we are not concerned to produce a book by academics for a purely academic audience.
aesthetic
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From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, I must say that I dislike the design of the volume and tone pots intensely.
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All the stuff I do at the gym is purely aesthetic , just for looks.
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The purely aesthetic value of their work is easy to appreciate.
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Naturally not all the criticism of the massive demolitions in the 1980s was purely aesthetic .
coincidental
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Furthermore, the public is told that ail similarities to dolphins are purely coincidental .
commercial
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The Fabians have now written to all the contenders assuring them that the decision was made on a purely commercial basis.
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This is not owing to purely commercial considerations.
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Many solicitors specialise in clients using the legal aid scheme; others deal with purely commercial work.
defensive
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There were those who considered it to be a purely defensive step, and this gave rise to rumour.
domestic
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All the while, moreover, a number of purely domestic cross-currents were gaining in strength.
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These should be harder to reverse than purely domestic initiatives.
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Such transactions are recorded in a separate set of books from purely domestic banking business.
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The presence of springs and these finds appear to suggest the centre of a healing cult, rather than a purely domestic villa.
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The Works Brigade then returned to the purely domestic job of fire protection within the Works.
economic
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Liberalizing electricity will increase the pressure on them, for purely economic reasons.
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He was a political neuter, and his motivation was purely economic .
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To offer purely economic criteria for its identity would be to slide back into economism.
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Sometimes the tie was purely economic in rationale.
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However, the concern with the cost and scope of the Welfare State has been ideological as well as purely economic .
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In short, the purely economic benefits of ending the economy of physical coercion remained debatable.
financial
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Traditional friendships and rivalries played at least as important a part in this process as purely financial considerations.
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But the motive for following a composite career is often not purely financial .
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Schedule 7 is divided into five parts, some of which require information which goes far beyond the purely financial .
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The value of unfair dismissal rights is not purely financial .
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The owner's claim was for purely financial loss.
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But these milestones can not be purely financial - return on assets or earnings per share.
formal
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In the case where a Bill has been before a committee of the whole House, it is a purely formal stage.
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It occurs as a purely formal emotive element with no reference to the initial representation.
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The former met rarely and for purely formal purposes.
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Monsieur Colletti made his eyes grow larger in an expression of surprise that was purely formal .
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There may also be purely formal grammatical restrictions on what can go first.
functional
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In contrast to Livesey's, the room was purely functional .
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The roomy silos of the hull flanks gave it a bulbous appearance that defied approval by any aesthetic but the purely functional .
hypothetical
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A sterile culture because a purely hypothetical one, he wrote.
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Sense organs for lunar and planetary influences, for atmospheric pressure and cosmic rays are as yet purely hypothetical . 2.
internal
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Speaking to his party conference he urged purely internal talks involving local parties.
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For the time being, this decision to change took place on a purely internal level.
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But harmonization of this kind remains purely internal .
linguistic
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In some cases the significance of the documents goes far beyond their purely linguistic importance.
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So that the fabula, such as it is in this tale, is the product of certain purely linguistic devices.
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There is no purely linguistic way of generally marking the intended use.
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Thus it may be that children are not accustomed to relying on purely linguistic cues to the deductive mode.
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In purely linguistic terms, there are two reasons for this difference between Belfast and certain other studies.
local
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The characteristic townsmen worked at a craft to meet purely local demands.
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It is said that the operation of the motel here is of a purely local character.
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Their action may have resulted from purely local causes: there had been many border clashes.
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The most active Liberal associations are keen on stirring up interest in purely local issues - a process known as community politics.
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There are dozens of specialist works on the subject of agricultural history, and many more dealing with purely local matters.
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The societies, which had at first been purely local became national, with branches throughout Britain.
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Nor need this remain a purely local study.
mechanical
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The basic picture we need is a purely mechanical one.
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She was so mesmerised by their fixed scrutiny that her action was purely mechanical .
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The former, in so far as he considers explanations at all, inclines to those that stress the purely mechanical relations between events.
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The thinker, on the other hand, finds purely mechanical explanations inadequate.
military
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More than half of these are purely military , and only 15 percent are entirely civilian.
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If Britain's intervention was purely military , it would be right to describe it as precarious.
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But it appeared to us unpolitical citizens a matter of pride, of purely military pride.
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But so far, efforts have been focused on purely military solutions.
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In purely military terms, the army could feel that it was meeting the challenge in 1957 and early 1958.
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First, the liberation of the capital had, in his mind, a symbolic significance which went beyond purely military considerations.
objective
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Obviously, purely objective criteria such as the patient's age or the particular illness can not be justified or relied upon.
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Clearly, in Satnam and kindred cases, the purely objective stance which Caldwell has been interpreted to represent has been rejected.
personal
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There is no payment; the arrangement is purely personal .
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This is a purely personal enquiry.
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No, that was a purely personal piece of business.
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The truly personal diary, intended for purely personal perusal, is a rare thing.
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My list of favourite haunts is purely personal and certainly not all-embracing.
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My blackness was seen to be a public and political fact, whereas my gayness was seen as a purely personal matter.
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But I doubt whether anyone is feeling a purely personal grief.
physical
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But a serious accident can cause far more than purely physical damage.
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It is this seven-fold entity which man really is although knowing only of the purely physical in himself.
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Even something as purely physical as exercising brings its own awareness.
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Nor is it some sort of surprising by-product of a purely physical world.
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One might think that radical behaviourists such as Skinner would advocate the classification of stimuli along purely physical dimensions.
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These findings have not been the only ones showing that belief and expectations are more important than purely physical effects of alcohol.
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Was it purely physical or did it have a psychosomatic dimension, as her sudden and dramatic recovery could indicate?
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She was stronger than him in every respect save the purely physical .
political
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He returned to his contact lists, abandoning the military personnel and concentrating upon purely political figures.
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The placement of the prime meridian is a purely political decision.
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Some matters are no doubt decided only by reference to their intrinsic merits, others on purely political grounds.
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In an increasingly cut-throat environment, purely political , or ideological, considerations may be important, albeit secondary.
practical
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I notice, however, that your reasons for not sleeping with me are purely practical .
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These alternatives are not, unfortunately, purely intellectual or even purely practical .
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For purely practical purposes, I deal with the artists' money for recording and touring expenses.
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From a purely practical point of view, there were few alternatives.
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Either they must draw back from the spotlight and forfeit their privileges or pick their partners based on purely practical criteria.
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So for purely practical reasons, microbes were the best route for discovering new antibiotics.
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The problem with old texts being cited is a purely practical one; older texts are hard to come by.
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In purely practical terms, Nizan was fully involved in the cultural politics of the period.
private
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On the one hand, bringing up children is seen as a purely private matter.
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This amount can be estimated from purely private choices involving small risk reductions.
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Mr Mellor said the trip was a purely private matter and did not break any rules.
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The awareness which finds expression in doctrines is not something purely private and individual.
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A closed conference is for purely private discussion which neither wants nor needs publicity.
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They are purely private means devised by the neurotic to achieve what is achieved in society by collective effort.
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In contrast, the contract theory sees the company as the result of a purely private initiative.
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On this day, deaf representatives and missionaries only can be present, the subject being of a purely private character.
professional
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However, by 1940 the purely professional academic character of the discipline is much more marked.
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But my rivalry with Tuffers will be purely professional because there is no personal animosity between us.
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It is better not to extend what was, after all, an accidental and purely professional relationship.
psychological
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Feminists also tend to diminish the significance of the unconscious, a move which encourages a purely psychological view of the subject.
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As for the effects of Polly Peck's troubles on Vestel, Karan claimed they were purely psychological .
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This, like most of the purely psychological theories - including psychoanalytic ones - are strictly methodological-individualistic.
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Sometimes they assume that such relations can be altered by intervening at this purely psychological level.
social
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Mitchell therefore insists on relations between men, women and children having an instinctive as well as a purely social basis.
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It is important to note that dialects are never purely regional, or purely social , or purely ethnic.
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But very few psychologists take a purely social approach.
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One of the limitations of books of purely social commentary is that they are long on analysis and short on action.
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About 95 per cent of all abortions are carried out for purely social reasons.
speculative
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While there is undoubtedly a demand for more golf courses, it needs to be underlined that many applications are purely speculative .
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Again, this line of reasoning is purely speculative .
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However, at present these suggestions remain purely speculative .
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All discussions of extraterrestrial civilizations therefore have to be purely speculative .
subjective
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It has an irritatingly small backspace key and I think it has a horrible plastic feel, but this is purely subjective .
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The truth is, he just grosses me out -- this is purely subjective .
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This attitude was, of course, purely subjective , and their appreciation of primitive art was almost entirely emotional.
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It is difficult to avoid the feeling that this, one of his first university essays, is purely subjective .
symbolic
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Our protest was meant to be purely symbolic .
technical
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In purely technical terms, this is all but a truism.
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The second reason for having a small circle of suspects is purely technical .
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Monopolistic restrictions are imposed where, on purely technical grounds, there could be abundance.
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The industry has always claimed that this was a purely technical decision without any political overtones.
theoretical
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From a purely theoretical point of view, there is some logic to this.
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The purely theoretical becomes the truly real, and that which is experienced as real becomes merely an illusion.
■ VERB
based
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The formal agreement between the two parties is based purely upon an agreed discount rate.
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Most of us arrange our bedrooms based purely on personal preference.
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It is essential that the decisions taken should not be based purely on narrow scientific considerations.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Goldman said attendance on the program is purely voluntary.
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I don't enjoy it, but I jog purely for the sake of good health.
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Most plants are planted purely for decoration.
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What we have is a purely business arrangement.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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As purely silly movies go, this one is aces.
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But then we should all know by now that purely cricketing considerations are less of a priority than once they were.
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It is said that the operation of the motel here is of a purely local character.
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Mitchell therefore insists on relations between men, women and children having an instinctive as well as a purely social basis.
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The Fabians have now written to all the contenders assuring them that the decision was made on a purely commercial basis.
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Those who posit a purely biological basis for this phenomenon are ignoring the class or political element.