noun
1 plan/suggestion
ADJECTIVE
▪ bright , brilliant , clever , excellent , good , great , marvellous/marvelous , nice , wonderful
▪ valuable , worthwhile
▪ exciting , interesting , stimulating
▪ constructive , positive
▪ creative , imaginative , innovative , novel , original
▪ wacky
▪ big
▪
The latest big ~ is to get women more interested in soccer.
▪ alternative
▪
Family therapy is used as an alternative ~ to medication.
▪ fresh , new
▪ old
▪ absurd , bad , mistaken , ridiculous , stupid
▪ crackpot , crazy , mad , outlandish , wild
▪ half-baked
▪ ambitious , big , grand
▪
He joined the company as an office assistant with big ~s.
▪ grandiose
▪ basic
▪
The basic ~ is that we all meet up in London.
▪ whole
▪
I think the whole ~ is ridiculous.
VERB + IDEA
▪ have
▪
Do you have any ~s for a present for Lara?
▪ come up with , dream up , hit on , hit upon , produce , think up
▪ draw , get
▪
Her ~s are drawn mainly from Chinese art.
▪ contribute , offer
▪ moot ( formal , esp. BrE ), propose , put forward , suggest
▪ promote , push , push forward , sell
▪
They managed to push the ~ of expanding through the committee.
▪ welcome
▪
Most employees welcome the ~ of a ban on smoking.
▪ consider , entertain , flirt with , toy with
▪
I'm toying with the ~ of leaving my job.
▪ mull over , turn over
▪
He kept turning the ~ of resigning over in his mind.
▪ encourage , generate
▪
Brainstorming is a good way of generating ~s.
▪ reject , scoff at , veto
▪ test , try , try out
▪ bounce around , bounce off sb , brainstorm , discuss , explore , talk about
▪
I met up with a designer to bounce a few ~s around.
▪
It's useful to have someone to bounce ~s off.
▪ exchange , pool , share
▪ give sb
▪
What gave you the ~ to go freelance?
▪ apply , implement , put into action , put into practice , take up
▪
The ~ had long been mooted but nothing had been done to put it into practice.
▪ transform , translate
▪
How could we translate the ~ into business reality?
▪ steal
▪
She accused the company of stealing her ~.
▪ impose
▪
She always tries to impose her own ~s on the rest of the team.
IDEA + VERB
▪ come into sb's brain , come into sb's head , come into sb's mind , come to sb , flash through sb's brain , flash through sb's mind , hit sb , occur to sb , pop into sb's head , strike sb
▪
The ~ for the invention came to him in the bath.
▪ emerge , evolve , form , grow
▪
An ~ began to form in his mind.
▪ flow
▪
His ~s flowed faster than he could express them.
▪ come from sb/sth , date back from sth , date back to sth , originate , start , stem from sth
▪
The ~ for the Olympics originated with Pierre de Coubertin.
▪ work , work out
▪
That ~ didn't work out so well.
▪ lead
▪
The ~ eventually led to the invention of the telephone.
▪ come to nothing
PREPOSITION
▪ ~ about
▪
I have an ~ about how to tackle the problem.
▪ ~ for
▪
We were asked to suggest ~s for improving efficiency.
▪ ~ of
▪
She had the ~ of advertising on the Internet.
PHRASES
▪ be open to ~s
▪
I don't know what to do, but I'm open to ~s.
▪ the germ of an ~
▪
The germ of his ~ came from watching a bird make a nest.
▪ have other ~s
▪
I wanted to take the week off, but my boss had other ~s.
▪ have the right ~
▪
The party had the right ~, but failed to win over the voters.
▪ it might be an ~
▪
It might be an ~ to leave a note on the door for Marcos.
2 thought/impression
ADJECTIVE
▪ clear , concrete , precise
▪ abstract
▪ theoretical
▪ basic , general , rough , vague
▪
He gave me a rough ~ of what was wanted.
▪ central , key , main
▪
The book introduces the key ~s of sociology.
▪ dominant
▪ fixed
▪ preconceived
▪ definite , firm , strong
▪
She has very definite ~s about what kind of a job she wants.
▪ complex , difficult
▪ simple , simplistic
▪
The movie is based on a simple ~, but a powerful one.
▪ conventional
▪ traditional
▪ radical , revolutionary
▪ contradictory
▪ erroneous , false , wrong
▪
I don't want anyone getting the wrong ~ about me.
▪ funny , strange
▪ utopian
▪ romantic
▪
People have a romantic ~ of the police force.
▪ newfangled
▪ outdated
▪ not the faintest , not the foggiest , not the slightest ( all informal )
▪
I haven't the faintest ~ what she meant.
▪ artistic , economic , intellectual , moral , musical , philosophical , political , scientific
▪ feminist , nationalist , socialist , etc.
VERB + IDEA
▪ get
▪
They got the ~ that we would be paying for them.
▪
You'll soon get the ~ (= understand) .
▪ espouse , have , hold
▪
He holds very different ~s to mine about discipline.
▪ develop , form , shape
▪
the experiences that shaped her ~s
▪ introduce
▪ express
▪ communicate , convey , get across , get over , present , promote , put out there ( AmE )
▪
It was a struggle to get our ~s across.
▪
I wanted to put the ~ out there.
▪ demonstrate , explain , expound , illustrate
▪ clarify , formalize , formulate , organize , structure
▪
Give careful thought to how to structure your ~s in the essay.
▪ reinforce , support
▪ change , reconsider , revise
▪
They had to reconsider their ~s in the light of new evidence.
▪ accept , embrace , take up
▪ dismiss , reject
▪ challenge
▪
These photographs challenge conventional ~s of beauty.
▪ harbour/harbor
▪
I hope he's not still harbouring/harboring ~s about asking me out.
▪ be obsessed with
▪
He's obsessed with the ~ of getting a motorcycle.
▪ relish
▪
I don't relish the ~ of sharing an office with Tony.
IDEA + VERB
▪ amuse sb , appeal to sb , please sb
▪
The ~ of going to his rescue amused her.
▪ catch on , take hold , take off
▪
Some people started recycling, and the ~ caught on.
PREPOSITION
▪ ~ about
▪
She has some funny ~s about how to motivate staff.
▪ ~ behind
▪
The ~ behind the ceremony is to keep the gods happy to ensure a good crop.
▪ ~ of
▪
Swimming in an icy river is not my ~ of fun.