adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be able/unable to cope
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Some young mothers feel that they aren't able to cope on their own.
be unable to bear sth
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Fiona was unable to bear the thought of selling the house.
be unable to resist (doing) sth
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He was unable to resist the temptation to smoke.
be unable to sleep
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He lay down but was unable to sleep.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
quite
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But today with his mind too preoccupied to work he seemed quite unable to keep his hands off it.
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She was quite unable to understand why she was not allowed to leave.
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But above all, I needed something that at that time I was quite unable to put into words.
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Word had reached her that the author was not delayed but quite unable to come.
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With all respect I am quite unable to concur in this reasoning.
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There was an air of excitement about Lady Merchiston for which her companion was quite unable to account.
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It seems that our collective wish for this state is so strong that we are quite unable to contemplate the opposite.
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He put his arm round his grieving wife, but was quite unable to speak.
still
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Accordingly, we are still unable to define the origin of mitochondrial introns and their distribution throughout eukaryotes.
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I hung up the receiver, still unable to believe that what had happened was real.
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The machines are still unable to plan; their routines for evaluating moves are as crude as ever.
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I was still in a state of numbness about what she had done, still unable to feel.
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Despite throwing chewing gum wrappers at stand-in boss Howard Wilkinson, he was still unable to get a game!
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She pulls up a stool and sits down next to us, watching intently, still unable to stifle her laughter.
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Jim went off for his first day at work in a mood of tender incredulity, still unable to stop smiling.
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He had been terrified, but still unable to stop.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But they were unable to produce perfect castings.
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If they don't, one should dismiss the idea of cars unable to get out of the garage as sensational rubbish-mongering.
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Older people were much more likely than the young to be unable to describe what they meant by health.
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Security of tenure also means that a landlord may be unable to regain his house, if he wishes to.
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Tommy, unable to read, is none the wiser.
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What happens when a young husband and father is suddenly unable to work because of cancer?
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When spot market prices rose, the utilities were unable to increase their rates.
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When the police proved unable to handle them, the militia was called out.