adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
fluctuate wildly
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Insect populations fluctuate wildly from year to year.
gesticulated wildly
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Jane gesticulated wildly and shouted ‘Stop! Stop!’
scream wildly (= in a loud and uncontrolled way )
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Poor George, screaming wildly, was carried upstairs by his father.
wildly exaggerated (= by a very large amount, in a way that is not at all realistic )
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Wildly exaggerated reports began appearing in the press.
wildly popular (= extremely popular – used especially about something that excites people )
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These bands are wildly popular in Cuba.
wildly (= a lot )
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Prices varied wildly from store to store.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
different
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What begins by looking just a little off parallel might become wildly different .
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He never appears wildly different in different contexts - regardless of what those contexts are.
optimistic
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This is generally held to be wildly optimistic , and in some quarters, an impossible timescale.
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The figures are wildly optimistic , and could only have been extrapolated from a short trial of about 10 operations.
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If this figure proves wildly optimistic , Bill Clinton will either have to propose more cuts or spend more money.
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Recent surveys show previous estimates of whale numbers to be wildly optimistic .
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Critics argued that these estimates were wildly optimistic or that the original figures were far too low.
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The figures were wildly optimistic , although the real events were dramatic enough in themselves.
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For another, it assumed a stability in the capitalist system which, then and since, seemed wildly optimistic .
popular
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And by the late 1970s, the diminutive slot was becoming wildly popular , planning experts say.
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The wildly popular Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore because a couple hundred millionaires had lousy seats.
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Whereas if he raised it through a levy on Copts that would be wildly popular with everyone else.
successful
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As yet, these aren't wildly successful or attractive.
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We once did some work with a software firm whose competitor had introduced a wildly successful new home finance program.
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The image of Romans as freewheeling, extravagant, anything-goes anarchists is a fraud, a wildly successful con.
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The wildly successful Rent returns to Tucson two years after its sold-out run at Centennial Hall.
■ VERB
exaggerate
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Had she not wildly exaggerated the significance of the advertisement?
fluctuate
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Income: Liable to fluctuate wildly .
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By this time Snyder was lapsing in and out of consciousness and his body temperature was fluctuating wildly .
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The play fluctuated wildly throughout the three days of the event.
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The dam trapped sediments, and water releases fluctuated wildly , depending on hydroelectric-power needs.
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I was tall and slim but I had an eating disorder and my weight fluctuated wildly according to how I ate.
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The price of bread cereals, on which labouring families spent a vast proportion of their wages, fluctuated wildly .
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Lily had experienced pain there and her temperature fluctuated wildly .
gesture
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Inside, I gestured wildly down to Andre who, while all dressed up, was standing around counting flies.
look
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Corbett looked wildly around and saw others.
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Joseph looked wildly round the throne room, expecting to see the emperor and the Resident Superior bolting for cover.
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She looked wildly round the lobby.
run
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Then she started running wildly through the streets, and when she was exhausted she stopped and burst into tears.
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She ran wildly out into the street and begged a man she knew to come back with her.
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But their laughter soon stopped when they saw Sir Hugo's horse running wildly towards them without a rider.
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They succumb to cramp, fall off the track or simply run wildly off course.
stare
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Gasping for breath, she stared wildly round to convince herself of where she was.
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Still clutching the leg he flicked his own little torch back on again and stared wildly round.
swing
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Daak was moving again now, swinging wildly from side to side in an attempt to avoid the lasers' targeting.
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For in practice, the shift in the focus of monetary policy meant that interest rates would swing wildly .
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Through the smoke he saw the balloon dropping, its basket swinging wildly .
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Allowing interest rates to swing wildly meant allowing bond prices to swing wildly.
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The Test has been delicately poised for four days, with fortunes swinging wildly .
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Allowing interest rates to swing wildly meant allowing bond prices to swing wildly.
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She lashed out, her arm swinging wildly .
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Some ropes had come loose and were swinging wildly in the wind.
think
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I love him, I want him, she thought wildly .
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I can't listen to any more of this, he thought wildly .
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It was like a nightmare, she thought wildly .
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Yes, she thought wildly , this is surely the source of Araminta's inherited spite.
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She thought wildly of dashing to the windows, out on to the balcony.
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A perfect position for bracing himself to kiss her, Ruth thought wildly in the heat of the moment.
vary
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Applications varied wildly in calibre and content.
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Estimates of the total cost vary wildly from $ 200 billion to $ 500 billion per year.
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Young people would not be encouraged to pick and mix wildly varying modules to make up a course.
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All around him he could feel the centrifuge shaking and laboring under the wildly varying loads.
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More recent estimates have varied wildly .
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It could oscillate between values, vary wildly , or lock up.
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Visions of the industry's future vary wildly .
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Taste in chocolate varies wildly , depending on your palate and what part of the world you come from.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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And now that they were alone, Matilda all of a sudden became wildly animated.
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Estimates of the total cost vary wildly from $ 200 billion to $ 500 billion per year.
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Her lips quivered wildly and she gestured behind her at nothing.
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His body began to thrash wildly .
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Or maybe she was wildly wrong about both of them.
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This is generally held to be wildly optimistic, and in some quarters, an impossible timescale.
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Tuition has not risen wildly , nor have student grades.