adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a reliable report
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On Sunday there were reliable reports of a group of whales off the Devon coast.
an accurate/reliable estimate (= fairly exact )
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It’s hard to put an accurate estimate on the number of people affected.
reliable
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Some of the data isn’t very reliable.
reliable (= likely to give the result you want )
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We need a more reliable method of predicting earthquakes.
reliable/credible (= which people can trust or believe )
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Do you think their evidence is reliable?
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
always
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The figures used are not always reliable indicators.
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They were not always reliable and often blew up the wrong targets.
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Unfortunately, the information is not always reliable .
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Our imagination is not always reliable .
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Despite its sensitivity, it is not always reliable .
as
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Suffice to say, no one has proved as reliable a forecaster as Joseph.
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Making butter was nowhere near as reliable .
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We need to ensure that the power plant and drive train are as reliable as possible.
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This is, however, no reason to avoid making them as reliable as possible.
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This makes these techniques difficult to use as reliable absolute dating methods.
completely
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A useful but not completely reliable indicator of potency.
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He is an honest, warm human as well as an excellent, completely reliable guide.
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But whatever form intuition takes, it is completely reliable .
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Taken singly none is completely reliable .
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A few rules can be given, though these are not completely reliable .
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This process is not completely reliable , introducing further difficulty into the recognition procedure.
highly
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Its extremely low rating suggests that the answers given were open, honest and highly reliable .
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Verio supports its operations with highly reliable and scalable national infrastructure and systems including a facilities-based Tier One national network.
how
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But how reliable is demonstrative identification?
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She is pleasant enough but how reliable I can not say and I am not depending on her for the birth.
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Three technical issues have to be considered first: How reliable does the system have to be?
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How do we know how reliable it is?
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A flushed and jolly character raises his glass among friends and family - how real, how reliable is that evidence?
less
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The glow from a thousand points of light seems less reliable than that from the lightbulbs of a well-financed bureaucracy.
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Trend data on employment and economic activity rates for women are less reliable , particularly given their low unemployment registration rates.
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It's much smaller than its competitors in Bath or Cheltenham, and it's far less reliable than them.
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An expansionary monetary policy is even less reliable .
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It was rumoured that as the monarch's virility grew less reliable he developed a habit of taking substantial quantities of aphrodisiacs.
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If the latter were true, random sampling of the normal mucosa would be less reliable as a means of ascertaining risk.
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In this respect the task is bigger, less reliable in its outcome, and in need of much greater definition.
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Once it has been damaged, the Steam Tank becomes increasingly less reliable .
more
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These computers were smaller than the first-generation machines, were cheaper to run, and were much more reliable .
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We need better computer models and more reliable climate data before we take any drastic countermeasures. 3.
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The perceived value of the statement is that its standardisation makes comparisons between companies and industries more reliable .
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The attorney general's figures are considered more reliable because his office determines the actual cause of death.
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The weather improved and the pitch, if anything, afforded slightly more reliable bounce on the second day.
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Windows 95 users have a newer and more reliable program called DriveSpace.
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Friendly persuasion A more reliable test is whether a fruit comes away from the plant without much persuasion.
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The newer, more reliable tests which have been introduced since publication of the first edition are also described and depicted.
most
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The most reliable of these comparative data measure voting in national elections.
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He was the most reliable , in spite of that old dragon he married.
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You know what we need to guarantee the safest, most reliable means of air travel humanly, technologically possible?
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The most reliable way to press anything is always to dismantle it completely.
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In many offices the most reliable people with the longest track record in a company are secretaries.
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The overlay process has been most reliable here.
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The most reliable and accurate estimates can normally be obtained using one of the true cross-areal interpolation methods.
very
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Bovine in vitro fertilisation was developed in the 1990S, and is still not very reliable .
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The M14 was very reliable and durable, single shot or auto.
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Despite its peculiarities, the car was very reliable .
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They are not very reliable and it is a rare day when all eight can be persuaded to run!
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The practice is quite widespread, but no one has achieved any very reliable estimate of its scale, let alone a trend.
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The engine had to be very reliable with the smallest number of parts possible.
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Battery Test Many detectors have an integral battery test but this is not very reliable , to say the least.
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Incidentally I got that information on the third law from a very reliable source.
■ NOUN
data
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Having reliable data for the current year is, of course, a prerequisite of good budgets.
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They chose us to provide them with the most reliable data network available.
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Effective planning for mission in Britain as in many other countries has been hampered at every level by lack of reliable data .
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Diagrams can take perfectly reliable data and through over simplification deliberately or unintentionally mislead.
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Day attributes the changes to more detailed and reliable data collection, together with better statistical techniques.
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More reliable data for the metal workers, the most powerful sector, show only 20-25 percent unionization.
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However, wealth is perhaps even more difficult to measure than income and reliable data prove elusive.
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On the other hand, occasional sampling, while less time-consuming, will give less reliable data .
estimate
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Sampling theory showed that reliable estimates of population characteristics could be arrived at using appropriately constructed samples.
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Quite sophisticated equipment and trained manpower is required to make reliable estimates .
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The practice is quite widespread, but no one has achieved any very reliable estimate of its scale, let alone a trend.
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Second, how can we be sure that it provides for an accurate and reliable estimate of that population?
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Better designed studies with more complete reporting of data would enable more reliable estimates of efficacy of treatment.
evidence
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Nevertheless, the most reliable evidence strongly suggests that the children of the war are suffering from secondhand exposure to the toxin.
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He proposed that a prosecution should not be embarked upon or continued unless the prosecutors were satisfied there was reliable evidence .
guide
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The numbers could still be a reliable guide to a player's position even with all the playing formations these days.
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Actually, neither is a reliable guide .
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None the less, the earth's magnetic field is a much more reliable guide .
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In the history of science, beauty has proved itself a reliable guide to truth.
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For there, waiting on the platform, would be our ever reliable guide , philosopher and friend, Sam Davies.
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He is an honest, warm human as well as an excellent, completely reliable guide .
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That is why they are a more reliable guide to completeness.
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The only reliable guide to that is the demand at present.
indicator
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A useful but not completely reliable indicator of potency.
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The figures used are not always reliable indicators .
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Most agree that measures used in combination provide much more reliable indicators of performance.
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Pseudomelanosis coli is regarded as a more reliable indicator of chronic anthranoid laxative abuse of more than nine to 12 months.
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Cotinine in the urine is a reliable indicator that the subject has been exposed to passive smoking.
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It can be argued that these tests are a reliable indicator of performance when tested under controlled conditions.
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Matthew Lynn Number of employees provides a reliable indicator of a company's performance over the short term.
information
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My first task was trying to acquire some reliable information about the nomads.
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His starting price of 11-8 made it clear he was strongly fancied by somebody with reliable information .
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A: To get the most reliable information , consult a travel agent who has access to continually updated fare information.
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By providing reliable information on military activity, satellite surveillance could cut out the uncertainty which fuels arms spending.
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However it isn't easy to get reliable information on what to give, and when.
means
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New scientific techniques introduced among other things reliable means of dating the prehistoric past.
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And still no ship owned a reliable means for establishing her whereabouts.
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Chemiluminescence is a reliable means of estimating reactive oxygen species in biological media.
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You know what we need to guarantee the safest, most reliable means of air travel humanly, technologically possible?
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If we had no rights of participation in the subsequent investigation, we would have no reliable means of obtaining the information.
measure
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Reliability Any instrument used in language assessments needs to provide reliable measures .
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Weener etal. conclude that, although the overall score does provide a reliable measure , it is of questionable validity.
method
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One of the difficulties in the early stages of this work was to find any reasonably reliable method of measuring whisker strengths.
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Hence if knowledge requires an infallible or perfectly reliable method , it is impossible.
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If you're not pregnant, ask a doctor about reliable methods of contraception. 5.
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Freezing and canning can be reliable methods of preserving foods but the cook-chill method is inadequately regulated.
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If you're in this business, you go after a reasonably cheap, reliable method .
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Direct studies on cell function are rare due to lack of reliable methods to culture this epithelium.
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The only reliable method of preventing parasitic bronchitis is to immunise all young calves with lungworm vaccine.
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Psychology's theoretical inadequacies often lead it to replace theory with utilitarian generalizations from its most reliable methods .
result
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If you are looking for well-being, you might get more reliable results if you choose a life of radical selfishness.
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It is important that assessment methodologies which will provide valid and reliable results are developed at an early stage.
source
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The process continues until a solid body of successful generalizations has been established to serve as a reliable source of explanations.
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She will likely have young children at home and no reliable source of day care.
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Use them only in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions or advice from a reliable source .
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But what more reliable source of recovery do we have than our own body?
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It is therefore not apriori certain that literature is a reliable source of information about anything but its own language.
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But can I count as a reliable source my own childhood memories?
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Incidentally I got that information on the third law from a very reliable source .
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A reliable source had eluded him, although certain other prospects had yet to be properly investigated.
way
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The most reliable way to press anything is always to dismantle it completely.
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Is there a reliable way to measure the intelligence of the gut brain?
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There is no single reliable way of deciding by simple observations whether a subject is genuinely hypnotised.
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The root of materialism is probably a firm commitment to empirical scientific method as the only reliable way to discover truth.
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It is only good for learning weights, and weights are not always a reliable way to resolve conflicts.
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There is no fully reliable way to separate the compensation for these two components.
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To say however that this route supplies the only reliable way to knowledge is grossly to overstep its boundaries.
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Thus the search for a reliable way to detect or even predict ovarian cancer goes on.
witness
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Certainly women sat spinning upon them as we know from the description by Adam Sedgwick, a reliable witness .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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reliable statistics
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Do you have a reliable map of the area?
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Don't worry, my car is reliable .
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Eating sensibly and taking regular exercise is a fairly reliable method of losing weight.
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In Africa, cellular phones are often the only reliable way of communicating.
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In many offices the most reliable people with the longest service are the secretaries.
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In those days there was no reliable system of transportation between Alaska and the rest of the US.
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It's strange Ben isn't here. He's usually so reliable .
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My car's quite old, but it's still pretty reliable .
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The system is new, but so far it seems to be reliable .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And still no ship owned a reliable means for establishing her whereabouts.
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Another useful and reliable intuition is that of recurrence of semantic contrast, or semantic proportion.
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But the single most reliable route to growth is probably to sell off everything but the core business.
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I am not aware of any reliable testing done on herbal products.
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Is there a reliable way to measure the intelligence of the gut brain?