verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
fatally flawed/weakened/damaged etc
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Bolton’s idea was fatally flawed.
undermine/damage/weaken sb’s confidence (= make someone have less confidence )
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The situation in the US was undermining foreign confidence in the dollar.
undermine/weaken sb’s authority (= make someone’s authority weaker )
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I wasn’t trying to undermine your authority.
weaken sb’s position (= give someone a bigger disadvantage )
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The Prime Minister's position had been weakened by allegations of financial mismanagement.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
already
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If the digestion is already weakened then it will not cope with a totally raw food diet.
considerably
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Since the Conservatives came to power they have considerably weakened local government and greater centralisation has been the consequence.
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At the same time, formal affirmative action programs are likely to be weakened considerably in the move toward flexible organizations.
fatally
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But on the day of reckoning a divided Kurdistan could be a fatally weakened one.
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The arms scandal had fatally weakened the partnership.
further
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The Supreme Court is expected to weaken further the nationwide constitutional protection for abortion early next year.
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In the case of spending and tax legislation, majority rule is thus further weakened .
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The political in-fighting further weakened the already fragile euro.
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One way is by operating on a person, but this can be dangerous because it can further weaken a patient.
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The mujaheddin attack was further weakened by internal rivalries.
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The present contest has further weakened the Campaign Group.
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The transference of the principle of democratic centralism from party to state organization further weakens accountability and the role of elected bodies.
greatly
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Once machines seriously began to replace hand-setting, the argument about apprenticeship would be greatly weakened .
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The ultimate effect is greatly weakened if an older drug is ineffective against the mutated virus.
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These two internal rows greatly weakened the movement.
seriously
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The tying of aid for imports has seriously weakened the policy of standardizing equipment.
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He knows Clinton will not propose and Congress will not enact legislation to seriously weaken provisions of the new law.
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In effect the Unity Campaign was already seriously weakened .
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The effect was devastating, seriously weakening Mrs Thatcher's hold on the premiership and making a leadership contest virtually inevitable.
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Then, because of their geographical position, they were seriously weakened by the Viking onslaught down the east coast.
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Moreover his domestic position was seriously weakened by his obvious lack of success as a diplomat and a military commander.
■ NOUN
authority
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And though Karadzic and Mladic remain free, the indictments weaken their authority and ensure they do not leave the country.
case
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The absence of this crucial witness seemed likely to weaken the case against Papandreou.
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Where Clinton speaks with one voice, they speak with several, weakening their philosophical case .
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This move weakens the case for a separate legislature at Stormont.
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Sending Galindo off with the national title might weaken the case for the United States.
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Despite the attempt to treat the Pythagorean example as an exception, it can not but weaken Goody's case .
dollar
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But yesterday's sales of Ecus highlighted the conflict between official efforts to defend the pound and weaken the dollar .
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When the yen weakens , dollar-based investors see their total return eroded.
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He forecast that the yen will weaken against the dollar for the next two years.
economy
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Budget savings will weaken an already sickly economy .
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A weakening economy might further complicate Bush's budget math.
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Lloyd said he was concerned that a weakening domestic economy would hurt the railroads in 1996.
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People are looking for a weakening economy and supply is rising.
government
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The centralization from above, and decentralization to markets and consumers below, has weakened local government .
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In a meeting, Mrs Aquino said the rebels had a started a disinformation campaign to weaken her government .
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Since the Conservatives came to power they have considerably weakened local government and greater centralisation has been the consequence.
movement
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The depression which spread from 1899 only temporarily weakened the strike movement and aggravated unemployment and urban discontent.
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But the unions' unpopularity in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and Labour's electoral decline also weakened the movement .
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These two internal rows greatly weakened the movement .
position
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Various new findings have weakened the position of the sceptics on climate change.
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Most observers believed that he caved in only because of his weakened political position due to the Watergate scandal.
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These things weaken the position of the Black woman, and have been done deliberately.
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Pilger had agreed but had apparently not realized how this weakened his position .
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The weakening position can be traced back to the Hatfield crash last October, in which four people died.
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This weakened his position as a symbol of the national struggle.
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This omission certainly weakened his position during the struggle that lay ahead.
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If Gaddafi survived, would it weaken or strengthen his position as leader?
power
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Labour would disrupt industrial peace by weakening the power of management and the courts.
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The divisions amongst the Christians weakened their power of resistance and may have contributed to the Ottoman victories of the sixteenth century.
structure
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In the case of monuments and historical buildings, the erosion and damage can destroy carvings and statues and weaken building structures .
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Eventually the water weakens the structure , and the walls and floors collapse.
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It is possible to remove the interior bulkhead but it supports the sides of the body and its removal weakens the structure .
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But such barriers, according to bridge manager Bob Warren, would weaken the structure by lowering its resistance to wind.
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Of particular interest are genes that reduce the amount of a substance called lignin, or that weaken lignin's chemical structure .
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I do not like this move at all since it gratuitously weakens Black's pawn structure in the centre.
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This so weakened the structure that the car was withdrawn and dismantled, revealing the unglamorous Fleetwood car 141 underneath.
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Decaying steelwork and water leaks have weakened the tunnel structures , and many stations are in need of major refurbishment.
system
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Such infections may leave people more vulnerable to the risk of infection by weakening their immune system .
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Infections in the bloodstream, urinary tract or lungs usually are dangerous only to people with other illnesses and weakened immune systems .
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Earlier research has suggested a link between grief and a weakened immune system .
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Salmonella can cause a little diarrhea in some people, but can be deadly for those with immature or weakened immune systems .
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This weakening of life-supporting systems poses health risks.
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Here it sits waiting for a dose of stress to weaken your immune system when out it pops.
yen
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When the yen weakens , dollar-based investors see their total return eroded.
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He forecast that the yen will weaken against the dollar for the next two years.
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Then, as the yen weakened again to 104. 2 in mid-September, the Nikkei bounced back to 18474. 38.
■ VERB
begin
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For three hours until the sun began to weaken he watched the boy begging for water.
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That sickness had begun to weaken his spirit as the treatment went on and on, seemingly without success.
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And the D-mark has lately begun to weaken .
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By the 1970s, that binding force began to weaken and it has been gradually unravelling ever since.
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At the same time the conservative and pacifying influence of the Orthodox Church began to weaken markedly.
continue
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It also predicts that real commodity prices will continue to weaken , with another average decline of 2 percent projected for 1988.
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Discounting is expected to continue to weaken earnings into the second quarter.
strengthen
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Another was that generous outside help would strengthen , not weaken , Mr Yeltsin's position at home.
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Graduated lines can strengthen or weaken an arrow.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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By 1945, the country's power was weakening considerably.
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Hartman was weakened by flu, but still managed to play.
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Her long illness has weakened her so much that she has difficulty walking.
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Some parents are worried that public education weakens the family's influence.
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The city's defences had been weakened by enemy shelling.
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The explosion severely weakened the foundations of the house.
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The soldiers' morale was beginning to weaken .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Birthday shows us that weakening is inevitable, but not always fatal.
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By launching the new forum Mr Heseltine is getting his own back on the now weakened Mr Lamont.
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Inside the house the heat weakened only slightly.
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It is a manner of speech now increasingly rare in the world, faded and ever weakening like a lost radio signal.
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It seems, too, that traditional values that prescribe a life of domesticity are weakening.
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Pleasure, a rarity at any rate, only serves to weaken one; what one really needs is stamina and discipline.
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That is one reason so many Republicans want him to remain in place even in a weakened condition.
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Trying to please everyone inevitably leads to compromise, and that in turn weakens individual expression.