What does clear mean

Crossword clues for clear

clear

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

clear

I.adjective

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a clear account

▪ I’ve tried to write a clear account of the incident.

a clear conscience (=the knowledge that you have done nothing wrong)

▪ I was able to answer his questions with a clear conscience.

a clear distinction

▪ The legal system makes a clear distinction between adults and children.

a clear lead

▪ The ruling Labour Party has a clear lead in the opinion polls.

a clear mandate

▪ The vote gave the trade union a clear mandate to pursue a better settlement.

a clear memory

▪ I have a clear memory of the first time I met David.

a clear motive

▪ She had no clear motive to lie.

a clear objective

▪ A manager must give his team clear objectives to work towards.

a clear patch

▪ Clear patches of brilliant blue sky appeared briefly through the white storm clouds.

a clear policy

▪ There was no clear policy on this matter.

a clear preference

▪ There was a clear preference amongst the staff for this style of leadership.

a clear recommendation

▪ The report offered no clear recommendations or policy guidelines.

a clear statement (=giving an opinion clearly)

▪ The article was a clear statement of his beliefs.

a clear understanding

▪ Before you begin, it is vital that you have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve.

a clear violation

▪ This is a clear violation of privacy rights.

a clear voice

▪ Natalia’s clear voice rang out.

a clear/coherent strategy

▪ It is important that the company has a clear strategy.

a clear/firm decision (=a definite one)

▪ It's now time to come to a clear decision on this.

a clear/good picture

▪ He still didn’t have a clear picture of what had happened.

a clearing bank (=one of the banks in Britain that uses a clearing house when dealing with other banks)

▪ large commercial customers of the clearing banks

a clear/obvious connection

▪ There is an obvious connection between this painting and his earlier works.

a clear/obvious contrast

▪ There was a clear contrast between the father and the son.

a clear/obvious correlation

▪ There is a clear correlation between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming.

a clear/obvious/unmistakable sign

▪ There are clear signs of a slowdown in economic growth.

a clear/sharp outline

▪ Peeling off the tape after the paint has dried leaves a clear outline to the shapes.

a clear/strong signal

▪ My body was giving me a clear signal that something was wrong.

a clear/vivid impression

▪ He had the clear impression that most people were in favour of the idea.

a court clears/acquits sb (=says that they are not guilty)

▪ A US court cleared him of bribery allegations.

a real/clear need (=one that really exists)

▪ There is a real need for after-school care in our area.

all clear

▪ We’ve got the all clear for the new project.

an absolute/outright/clear majority (=a majority that has been won by more than half the votes)

▪ There was no party with an absolute majority in the House of Commons.

an infection clears up (=goes away)

▪ Although the infection cleared up, he still felt weak.

be a clear/dead giveaway (=make it very easy to guess something)

▪ He’d been smoking dope; his glazed eyes were a dead giveaway.

bright/clear/cloudless (=without clouds)

▪ The sun rose higher in the cloudless sky.

clear a forest (=cut down and remove the trees)

▪ Huge areas of forest have been cleared since 1960.

clear a hurdle (=successfully jump over a hurdle)

clear and concise

▪ Your summary should be as clear and concise as possible.

clear consensus (=one that people agree on and understand)

▪ There was no clear consensus about the future direction of the company.

clear glass (=that you can see through rather than being coloured)

▪ The drink comes in clear glass bottles.

clear proof

▪ His indecision is clear proof of his inability to handle the situation.

clear the table (=take plates etc off)

▪ Do you want me to clear the table?

clear up the confusion (=explain something more clearly)

▪ The chairman said that he would try to clear up the confusion.

clear up/correct a misunderstanding (=get rid of a misunderstanding)

▪ I want to talk to you, to try and clear up any misunderstandings.

clear your debts (=repay all of them)

▪ It took him three years to clear his bank debts.

clear your desk (=remove all the papers etc from it)

▪ It's a good idea to clear your desk regularly.

clear your name (=prove that you have not done something bad or illegal)

▪ She was determined to clear her name.

clear your vision

▪ She blinked to clear her vision.

clear

▪ I looked up to the stars in the clear night air.

clear

▪ He gave us a clear description of the situation in the city.

clear (=without any spots)

▪ Eating fresh fruit and vegetables will help keep your complexion clear.

clear

▪ The instructions that I got with the phone weren't very clear.

clear (=with no traffic or nothing blocking it)

▪ Before you overtake, make sure the road is clear.

clear...backlog

▪ It’s going to take us months to clear the backlog.

clear/clean up the mess

▪ Whoever is responsible for this mess can clear it up immediately!

cleared...the jumps

▪ Her horse cleared all the jumps in the first round.

clear/good

▪ His directions were very clear and easy to follow.

clearing bank

clearing house

clear/logical thinking

▪ Above 24,000 feet, the lack of oxygen makes clear thinking almost impossible.

clear/make a space

▪ Jack cleared a space for his newspaper on the table.

clear/perfect/good etc diction

▪ She had perfect diction.

clear/precise

▪ The head teacher gave us a precise definition of the school’s aims.

clear/strict guidelines

▪ Today most planning authorities enforce fairly strict guidelines on new houses.

clouds clear/lift (=disappear)

▪ At last the rain had stopped and the clouds had cleared.

crystal clear

▪ I want to make one thing crystal clear – I do not agree with these proposals.

give (sb)/get the all clear

▪ We’ve got the all clear for the new project.

good/clear/strong evidence

▪ There is clear evidence that smoking causes heart disease.

good/healthy/clear (=smooth and without any red spots)

▪ Vitamin E helps keep your skin healthy.

have a clear/guilty etc conscience

▪ Does he have a guilty conscience about his role in the crime?

it seems likely/unlikely/reasonable/clear (that)

▪ It seems likely that he will miss Ireland’s next match.

jump clear (of sth) (=jump out of danger)

▪ We managed to jump clear of the car before it hit the wall.

made it clear

▪ The President has made it clear that he is not going to change his mind.

made...abundantly clear

▪ She’d made her feelings towards him abundantly clear.

neat/clear

▪ Your handwriting is much neater than mine.

overcome/clear/get over etc a hurdle (=deal successfully with a problem)

painfully obvious/clear/evident/apparent

▪ It was painfully obvious he’d rather not see her again.

smoke clears (=disappears)

▪ The kitchen door was still open, and inside the smoke was clearing.

stand clear of sthBritish English (= step away from something in order to be safe)

▪ Stand clear of the doors, please.

the mist clears/lifts (=goes away)

▪ The mountains suddenly appeared as the mist lifted.

the sky clears (=the clouds disappear)

▪ By dawn the sky had cleared.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

absolutely

▪ The precise relationship between these two meanings of unreasonable is not absolutely clear.

▪ This statement should be absolutely clear in the minds of everyone concerned.

▪ This makes it absolutely clear that the early road and the drains belong in a mid to late second-century context.

▪ Our own door gunners were not allowed to fire unless they saw an absolutely clear target.

▪ What is absolutely clear is that the three prisoners have themselves vehemently protested their innocence from day one.

▪ Her hair is pure white, her face covered with spidery lines, but her eyes are absolutely clear, sparkling.

▪ Mr. Allan Stewart I can make the position absolutely clear.

▪ It was absolutely clear to me he was in no danger.

abundantly

▪ If modern psychology has done one thing, it has surely made this fact abundantly clear.

▪ One other point about the two union leaders was abundantly clear.

▪ It makes it abundantly clear that even the possession and academic presentation of information necessary for an ethnography could be actionable.

▪ This is made abundantly clear at our first impromptu committee meeting in the bar of the Gardener's Arms.

▪ To would-be revolutionaries it was becoming abundantly clear that their central problem was lack of contact with the masses.

▪ But that act has more to do with the future than the present, as chapter 23 will make abundantly clear.

▪ He didn't believe her, as he made abundantly clear by looking contemptuously down his straight nose at her.

less

▪ A comparison of new season whole hops to hop oils, is, however, less clear cut.

▪ Subsequent studies have come to less clear conclusions, and a few scientists believe that the monkey results are explained by chance.

▪ What is less clear is whether they were cut in Kent or imported ready cut.

▪ The letter to Mr. Purkayastha is less clear.

▪ The pattern is less clear and less consistent for Latino students.

▪ The law regarding mandamus was less clear.

▪ In the textile districts the position was less clear.

quite

▪ Sebastian was not quite clear about his own job intentions at this stage, nor did he have to be so.

▪ It was by this time not quite clear exactly which lands in the Company's possession related to the original bequest.

▪ Fortunately the situation is quite clear.

▪ It's quite clear that the influence of soul music in pop has become poisonous, repressive, grey and total.

▪ Our constitutional rules and regulations are quite clear and not to be infringed.

▪ It's quite clear which is which in Burke's Peerage.

▪ This becomes quite clear in some of the significant details of Schleiermacher's account.

▪ The company makes it quite clear that giving younger people career opportunities may mean moving older employees down the status ladder.

▪ As you near the village of Kentmere the beauty of the Lake District becomes so clear.

▪ Just where all these so-called residential geese came from is not so clear.

▪ I almost turned round, so clear was the tone, so near.

▪ But in some states, the law is not so clear.

▪ But though the mind pictures were so clear, there was nothing more.

▪ What actually disturbed him is not so clear.

▪ Finally, the case being so clear, a recommendation was made to proceed immediately with Stevenage.

▪ It requires that we critically examine a beliefs rooted in our understanding of Scripture that previously seemed so clear.

very

▪ He made it very clear he would like to kill police officers.

▪ His style of conducting is very clear, yet also spontaneous.

▪ It was a very clear day and we could see a long way.

▪ I did want to be very clear and a lot more focused in what I was saying.

▪ After the 1987 election Mrs Thatcher can claim to have a very clear mandate.

▪ Industrial ReD in the public sector is a relatively new phenomenon and the expectations from it are not very clear.

▪ But now the truth was very clear.

▪ But also, jobs is very clear about the future state.

■ NOUN

case

▪ At the very least a clear case is owed a clear explanation if it is rejected.

▪ Firestone's view of gender relations as determined by reproduction is the clearest case.

▪ It was a clear case of personal patronage, but he was to remain executive head for thirty-three years.

▪ And a clear case of life imitating astrology.

▪ The only clear case where this strategy succeeded was when Thatcher introduced the SinnFéin broadcasting ban.

▪ Nevertheless there is a clear case for its practice in public libraries, and even in university provision for undergraduates.

▪ The record of Ricci's behaviour is, to our knowledge, the first clear case of teaching in any non-human animal.

conscience

▪ Now they could dance with a clear conscience.

▪ He feigned a teasing laugh, a clear conscience.

▪ And who has a clear conscience?

▪ Sophie and the child will be taken care of, and because of that I can live with a clear conscience.

▪ Maybe not even cynical, maybe just female practicality which can stoop with clearest conscience below the level of the lowest stratagem.

▪ But at any rate I can finally dust my hands and put my jacket on with a clear conscience.

▪ Lawn owners have good reason for keeping clear consciences and generally living each day as through it were their last.

▪ I am convinced that only my genuinely clear conscience let me convince the adults around me that I was totally innocent.

distinction

▪ For women, the social customs do not seem to permit such a clear distinction between work and leisure.

▪ For there is a clear distinction between tolerating dissent and propagating it.

▪ It asserts that there is a clear distinction between the two kinds of statement and that there is no third kind.

▪ In other words, there is a clear distinction between application logic and the computer representation of that logic.

▪ There is now a clear distinction between two strands of modern elite theory.

▪ The clear distinction between the old and modern lacquers also offers hope of a means of identifying fakes.

▪ Is there in fact such a clear distinction to be maintained between civil association or societas and enterprise association or universitas?

▪ There appears to be a clear distinction between the causes of uplift on the western and eastern sides of the central Andes.

evidence

▪ There is no clear evidence that the Wilson-Mitchell partnership survived for long.

▪ By this he gives clear evidence of his innate greatness of soul.

▪ The clearest evidence for this is the dearth of people keen to work with frail older people.

▪ There is clear evidence of how much people on the estate need their buses.

▪ There is no clear evidence of strong prejudice among young-old people against their elders in Britain.

▪ The low circulation and poor distribution of leading literary journals provide clear evidence of the élitist character of the cultured few.

▪ There is clear evidence of localization of function in the cortex.

▪ There is no clear evidence that women receive massively more favourable treatment from the police or the courts.

example

▪ Rothenbuhler's experiments on the hygienic behaviour of bees provides a very clear example of the genetic control of behaviour.

▪ Section 16 is a clear example and functions almost as an exclamation point to the first 15 sections.

▪ Two of the clearest examples are to be seen in the courses followed by Gerry Healy and Michel Pablo and their followers.

▪ This seems a clear example of his allegiance to popular dissent against the Church and social elite who supported the Restoration.

▪ Here is a clear example of a rare rock type that has been strongly concentrated by lunar geological activity.

▪ A clear example of a mutation altering development is the inherited genetic defect, sickle cell anaemia.

▪ The clearest example of an incompetent teacher is one who lacks knowledge about the subject he or she is supposed to teach.

idea

▪ She had no clear idea of what a mortgage was.

▪ Only the proprietor of the six left in the room had a clear idea of what the concept meant.

▪ Gates had always had a clear idea of what he wanted to be: the prime software supplier to the world.

▪ Yet very few businesses have any clear idea of what crime is actually costing them.

▪ I mean have you got a clear idea of the relationship between the so-called Author and his character.

▪ I have very clear ideas about dressing gowns.

▪ Sutcliffe's data show that these speakers have a very clear idea of what, for them, constitutes a basilectal utterance.

indication

▪ There had to be very clear indications of joint working.

▪ Perhaps the clearest indication of this was the difficulty he encountered in filling the job of finance minister in his new cabinet.

▪ This is an extensive site with clear indications of buildings and levelled platforms.

▪ The failure to win additional numbers for the expansion we have achieved is a clear indication of that movement.

▪ Resentment of this magnitude was a clear indication of the failure of the avowed policy of pacification and Romanization.

▪ Some of the clearest indications of Anderson's vagueness occur at the level of topic-control.

▪ This is a clear indication of a central principle of planning for Cramlington.

▪ Perhaps the clearest indication of the quality of the One Key series is given by the documentation.

majority

▪ As was noted earlier, elections in Northern Ireland itself have always produced clear majorities in favour of Unionist government.

▪ A clear majority of the nine students wore Nikes.

▪ For all that, observers are unanimous that Swapo will emerge with a clear majority.

▪ It will be a clear majority when the century turns.

▪ Join Congress, Mr Gandhi seemed to be saying, and create a party strong enough to have a clear majority.

▪ For the first time in decades, the 500-seat Chamber is without a clear majority.

▪ The Opposition has agreed to abstain, which means the Government will win a clear majority.

▪ In each case a clear majority of Republican voters rejected him.

objective

▪ For a politician to have a clear objective is to offer hostages to his opponents.

▪ The teams are performing as self managed units although the manager will agree clear objectives with the team.

▪ Teachers and students will appreciate the clear objectives and simple layout.

▪ A clear objective was set and adhered to: recapture the islands.

▪ The right of employers and employees to be aware of clear objectives and detailed targets for training performance.

▪ Indeed, the concept of success could scarcely apply since it worked to no clear objectives.

▪ If purposeful, goal-directed activity is to take place, clear objectives need to be set for all the organisation's activities.

▪ Finally, the purpose of this section has been to help teachers write clear objectives.

picture

▪ When these figures are carefully decoded, a remarkably clear picture of the whole military organization emerges.

▪ Attempts to gain a clearer picture of this boundary layer floundered for several decades.

▪ A team at University College, London, produced the first clear pictures of interiors, using microchips as the specimens.

▪ The spate of incidents may provide a clearer picture of changes that might be needed in those regulations.

▪ Our purpose is to establish a clear picture of events that took place during the mission to Rakhat.

▪ At last, a clear picture of music lovers and lovers.

▪ Some achievements Against this background, the evaluators found it difficult to establish a clear picture of exactly what the panel achieved.

▪ I need you to paint me a clear picture of the changes you expect to see three months down the road.

sign

▪ The smaller bones from the feet showed no clear signs of alteration.

▪ And why do chronic drinkers seem to show clear signs of cognitive dysfunction?

▪ It had recently withdrawn the ice-breaker Endurance, generally taken as a clear sign of retreat.

▪ Despite clear signs of weakness in his support, Sen.

▪ They talked to each other again, and then the first horse made clear signs for me to follow him.

▪ During Period 4, the infant shows clear signs of event anticipation.

▪ Heseltine watchers could have wished for no clearer sign of his leadership intentions.

▪ There are clear signs that the process is already well advanced.

signal

▪ However, they still had no luck as, here again, there was no clear signal.

▪ But his arrest is not a clear signal that the opposite is true.

▪ And the Bush administration is sending clear signals that it would welcome such a deal.

▪ The peer group gives out clear signals to its members both about style and about fundamental values and perspectives.

▪ The above discussion suggests that, when needed, clear signals of information status can be employed in written language.

sky

▪ She looked up at the clear sky.

▪ The days were hot, filled with relentless sunshine and clear skies.

▪ Endlessly clear skies and lowering water tables.

▪ At a great distance, the ghostly frost of a snow peak seemed suspended from the clear sky.

▪ They had been so lucky with the weather; a clear sky, and a soft breeze that kept everyone comfortable.

▪ A flat-calm water, clear sky and a bright quarter moon are not the sort of conditions we associate with good catches.

▪ Away from the haze and lights of the city, bright stars fill the spectacularly clear sky.

understanding

▪ Is there a clear understanding of joint and individual areas of responsibility of headteacher and governors?

▪ This requires a clear understanding of the cellular and biochemical process of wound healing and the mechanisms of individual types of injury.

▪ Equally, it is important that a searcher should have a clear understanding of indexing methods.

▪ A clear understanding of the task by the partner and/or manager is a prerequisite for good communication.

▪ Vital to such decisions is a clear understanding of system functions, failure modes and the consequences of failure.

▪ Meanwhile parents like Gwen Watkins just want their voice to be heard and a clearer understanding of a tragic chain of deaths.

▪ They can give the same information as the text, giving the reader two opportunities of gaining clear understanding.

▪ Practitioners need a clear understanding of the processes by which social inequalities of various forms are derived from prejudicial and stereotypical attitudes.

view

▪ But I had a clear view of the table last night, and it wasn't there.

▪ Cameras offer no clear view of what is going on in the background.

▪ He moved slowly and cautiously, and kept his hands in clear view.

▪ Federal guidelines require that tower personnel clearing aircraft for arrivals and departures have clear views of runways below them.

▪ By the time the enquiry and analysis stage is concluded, relatively clear views are formed as to where best practice exists.

▪ For it to work, the unit needs a clear view of the sky.

▪ Gain attention first, make sure there is a clear view of your face.

▪ Primo briefly has a clear view of the menu, written on paper plates taped to the quilted-tin wall.

vision

▪ Namely, clear vision for the driver, whatever the conditions.

▪ But the history of New York development shows how haphazard such controls can be if there is no such clear vision.

▪ That view may be interpreted as a piece of self-delusion, or as a clear vision.

▪ They are able to do this be-cause they start out with a clear vision of where they want to go.

▪ My brain is filled full of vague images, but no clear vision of one necessary thing.

▪ The ring is virtually invisible around the central cornea which is the critical area for clear vision.

▪ Put simply, polarisation works like a venetian blind to cut reflection from above and below yet still allow clear vision.

▪ We have to keep dragging ourselves to our feet to peek out again and again, until we have a clear vision.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

abundantly clear

▪ It's abundantly clear why he's running for governor.

▪ But that act has more to do with the future than the present, as chapter 23 will make abundantly clear.

▪ But then if you look at politicians today, the answer becomes abundantly clear.

▪ He didn't believe her, as he made abundantly clear by looking contemptuously down his straight nose at her.

▪ If modern psychology has done one thing, it has surely made this fact abundantly clear.

▪ That was made abundantly clear at a colourful congress in the provincial capital, Jayapura, last month.

▪ This was abundantly clear in the textile district of the West Riding.

▪ To would-be revolutionaries it was becoming abundantly clear that their central problem was lack of contact with the masses.

as important/clear/big etc as anything

▪ Ecumenically it is as important as anything.

blow/clear the cobwebs away

▪ It will blow the cobwebs away.

▪ Talk about blowing the cobwebs away!

clear your throat

▪ Fenn cleared his throat, wishing his head could be cleared as easily.

▪ He cleared his throat and laid his finger along his nose.

▪ He coughed and cleared his throat again and looked up at the clerk.

▪ Hearst interjected, clearing his throat loudly.

▪ She cleared her throat, and looked at the Lakshmi again.

▪ She taps on the desk with an inverted pencil and clears her throat.

▪ Then Bette flounced up and cleared her throat nervously.

▪ Threlfall cleared his throat loudly before turning.

clear/pave/open/prepare etc the way (for sth)

▪ Earlier legislation paved the way by limiting the use of custody as a penalty for offenders under the age of twenty-one.

▪ He believes the Government has missed the opportunity to pave the way for badly needed investment.

▪ He gave as an example some of the early work in genetics which has paved the way for biotechnological developments.

▪ She would pave the way for a much more slender ideal: the flapper.

▪ Such developments are paving the way to rapprochement between conventional and complementary medicine.

▪ Was he paving the way for another referendum?

▪ When Ken wants to give his girlfriend a kiss he first calls in a construction team to clear the way.

leave the field clear for sb

loud and clear

▪ The play's message is loud and clear.

▪ And unlike the Democrats' proposals, its message rang home loud and clear with the likes of Jigeehuu and Gankhuag.

▪ But the message is loud and clear.

▪ Converse glanced at the bearded man and the thrill of recognition rang loud and clear.

▪ I did, loud and clear.

▪ I say, and I say it loud and clear.

▪ The voices of the cruel are loud and clear.

▪ Through the crack under the door I could smell Shelly loud and clear.

see your way (clear) to doing sth

▪ Finally he could see his way clear to his goal.

▪ Small builders can not see their way to take on many trainees.

▪ There was just enough light for her to see her way to the bathroom.

steer clear (of sb/sth)

▪ British politicians tend to steer clear of religious topics.

▪ George Deukejian urged the candidate to steer clear of the issue, which he considers divisive.

▪ Hongkong Bank steered clear of the mania to lend to third-world countries that peaked in the early 1980s.

▪ I think readers should be warned to steer clear of these fish in the future.

▪ Investors steered clear of big-name high techs in favor of shares like karaoke equipment trader Nikkodo.

▪ Most of the multinationals have steered clear of commitments so far.

▪ Others steered clear of temptation, like singer Errol Brown from Hot Chocolate.

▪ Pittman advises steering clear of any influence that puts our own happiness first.

▪ She must steer clear of Matthew and then perhaps this ridiculous infatuation would wear off.

the all clear

the coast is clear

▪ We raced out the door as soon as the coast was clear.

▪ Or do you wait till they tire of the taunting and go to release the victim when the coast is clear?

when the smoke clears

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪ clear signs of an economic recovery

▪ a clear mountain lake

▪ a beautiful clear day

▪ Children need clear rules about what is allowed and what isn't

▪ Even after two thousand years the writing is quite clear.

▪ Gun control laws are favored by a clear majority of Americans.

▪ He had left clear footprints in the wet sand.

▪ High-definition television is amazing. The picture is so clear.

▪ I'll give you until Monday to turn in your essay. Is that clear?

▪ I only realised later that the clear liquid in the glass must have been vodka.

▪ It became clear after talking to him that Andrew wasn't going to cooperate.

▪ It may be clear to you, but I haven't got a clue what it means.

▪ It soon became clear that there were not enough police officers to deal with the situation.

▪ It was clear that Lesley was very upset by what had happened.

▪ It was clear to me that my father was dying.

▪ Let me get this clear - you weren't even there at the time?

▪ Most of the 'help' messages you get on computers aren't at all clear to ordinary home users.

▪ Most of the photographs were sharp and clear.

▪ On a clear day, you can see Mount Fuji from Tokyo.

▪ Perhaps I didn't make myself clear - there won't be a penny of extra money for this project.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ A preference for country living is clear, and in some remoter rural districts there was even a significant growth in population.

▪ Let me be clear about the reason.

▪ Probably the clearest statements on book selection are by Lester Asheim in a defence of book selection against the charge of censorship.

▪ The prospective meaning of to is thus perfectly clear in this use.

▪ The sounds were too indistinct for him to hear the words, but the tone was clear enough.

▪ This makes the impossibility of sustaining an objective, scientific programme particularly clear in psychology.

▪ What actually disturbed him is not so clear.

▪ What is clear is that the most successful computerised personnel systems link payroll and personnel together.

II.verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ NOUN

air

▪ An ant coming under the influence leaps clear into the air.

▪ Secondly, until you clear the air with this person, you will continue to feel uncomfortable.

▪ But he thinks, in present circumstances, that a straight forward test provides the best way of clearing the air.

▪ This proclamation was like the first peal of a surcharged thunder-cloud, clearing the murky air.

▪ Offer to talk then and there to clear the air.

▪ Allen, to clear the air, decided to host a debate for three thousand people at Bethel.

▪ He even met with the Anti-Defamation League to try and clear the air of misunderstandings.

backlog

▪ The workers merely wish to clear a backlog of clients before the afternoon session begins.

▪ He said the airline was now working to clear the backlog, with the delayed flights expected to depart within 24 hours.

▪ Extra staff brought in to clear the backlog should be kept on until a thorough review is made.

▪ The hospital is asking for more money to clear the backlog.

▪ She continued to go to the shop and had managed to clear the backlog of work and correspondence.

▪ Norwich agreed to take on an extra twelve staff and to clear the backlog of applications.

▪ First, reports reaching me indicate that many of those LEAs that were not coping have now cleared their backlogs.

charge

▪ Painter cleared of bar assault charge A SELF-employed painter and decorator was yesterday cleared of assaulting the manager of a Harrogate bar.

▪ Eventually, he was cleared of the charge when she admitted to lying.

▪ The jury cleared him of the charges of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and operating a vessel while intoxicated.

▪ A Braintree man was cleared of an affray charge yesterday when the prosecution offered no further evidence against him.

▪ The very anonymity of everybody else in their entourage was part of making clear who was in charge.

▪ Veron was cleared of a charge that could have led to a two-year ban.

▪ A Teesside Crown Court jury cleared him of both charges but convicted him of arson last month.

debt

▪ A cheque completely clearing the debt has been sent to Donovan's lawyers.

▪ His argument is that once we have cleared the debt we could buy a car with another loan.

▪ Borrowers were told that policies might not only clear their mortgage debt but might also give them an additional lump sum.

▪ As fast as it came in, it went out to clear his debt.

▪ With a personal loan you have to stick to a fixed schedule of repayments to clear the debt within a fixed period.

▪ If she won, her broker was to receive three times her normal fee, enough to clear her debt.

▪ So they did the switch, cleared their debts, and now £6 a month better off.

▪ Should you hang on to your cash or clear your debts?

deck

▪ Hankin cleared the decks when in temporary charge and team-strengthening is essential.

▪ I suppose it clears the deck of suspects.

▪ Still, it was time to clear the decks, time to get things sorted.

▪ And Lawrence wasted no time responding to that challenge and clearing the decks at Ayresome Park.

head

▪ If not, the cold would clear his head.

▪ He wants a few days to clear his head.

▪ She needed the hot draught of caffeine to clear her head.

▪ Gao Yang recalled that the wall barely cleared his head at the time.

▪ The chill in the air began to clear her head.

▪ I cleared my head this morning and have changed my mind.

▪ It had very little warmth but the chilly air was helping to clear my head.

▪ Then he got into his white Olds and drove off to clear his head.

hurdle

▪ David, Grant and Stuart are due to complete their studies towards the end of 1995 but have already cleared the first hurdle.

▪ But first, the idea must clear several hurdles in early 1996.

▪ To clear this last hurdle I was forced to queue up outside a shed with a number of soldiers.

▪ I., has declined, insisting that the $ 5. 2 billion merger would never clear government antitrust hurdles.

▪ The transaction also must clear certain regulatory hurdles.

mess

▪ We need an election and a Labour Government to clear up the mess.

▪ Regulators are busily clearing up the mess.

▪ In alcoholism: Not clearing up physical messes caused by the primary sufferer.

▪ This keeps him happy until it is time to go to the nursery by which time she has cleared up the mess.

▪ Pondering these matters, she went through to the front room to clear up the mess.

▪ It would have been like Donleavy to try to clear up the Asmar mess himself.

▪ A J-C-B digger was brought in, but it still took more than three hours to clear up the mess.

▪ Why hadn't Corbett cleared this mess up?

mind

▪ Getting it clear in his mind.

▪ His meeting with the Holtzes seemed to have refreshed Alvin and cleared his mind.

▪ He leaned against the wall desperately trying to clear his mind but the memory proved elusive.

▪ So, clear your mind, get out your No. 2 pencils and do your best: 1.

▪ First, you should get it clear in your mind just what the private-eye who is the central figure is.

▪ The coffee and the cool air cleared my mind.

▪ DeVore nodded to himself, then cleared his mind of it, coming to the final matter.

▪ Perhaps more than most literary encounters, it is essential to approach this novel with a cleared mind.

name

▪ Mr Donovan's motive had been to clear his name, not to close the magazine.

▪ The Joint Committee investigating the scandal cleared my name.

▪ For Kirsty's sake, she had to clear her name.

▪ No defendant could completely clear his or her name.

▪ After twenty years of gossip and innuendo was this going to be the one chance to clear his father's name?

▪ The suspects say they are not guilty but want to clear their names.

▪ When the public prosecutor appealed against that ruling, Pasko lodged a complaint in an attempt to clear his name.

▪ Also this week: Samantha suggests to Siobhan that exhuming Josh's body could clear her name.

space

▪ Involuntarily she found herself going out on to the balcony for air, rather than clearing a space to sit.

▪ They used to clear out space next to the M System store and people would come from all around.

▪ Nanny Ogg had already cleared a space on the table for the green ball.

▪ He eats most of his meals in the room, clearing a space on the desk, reading as he eats.

▪ The first thing Louis did when he reached Aachen was to clear himself some political space.

▪ When he returned she had cleared a space in the kitchen, had coffee ready.

▪ Newsagents across the country had cleared extra floor space for the 60,000 additional copies of the paper.

▪ Megaliths were smashed to make gate-posts or road-stone, blown up or pushed aside to clear space for the plough.

table

▪ The bloke with the paper hat comes round with this trolley thing to clear the tables.

▪ She shook her head, cleared the table, dropping off stuff behind the counter, talking some to her father.

▪ At that very moment, a waiter turned abruptly from clearing the next table and crashed into Loretta.

▪ He was happy to clear the table but insisted on talking nonstop as he worked.

▪ He turned to help her clear the table.

▪ The preacher pushed his plate away and Lottie rose to clear the table.

▪ Well, he seemed to have cheered up, thought Ruth, clearing the table.

▪ Now she moved from booth to booth, clearing each table.

throat

▪ He cleared his throat and turned away delicately to allow her to use the hanky.

▪ They found she could clear her throat and cough in the machine, which had been difficult outside.

▪ Fenn cleared his throat, wishing his head could be cleared as easily.

▪ His mustache twitched; he cleared his throat, but said nothing.

▪ Feeling a little embarrassed, he quickly cleared his throat and glanced up at the clock.

▪ He recited a list of biblical names at high speed into the machine, expecting it to stumble and clear its throat.

▪ Glover cleared his throat and looked off over the lake.

way

▪ The visit cleared the way for a summit meeting between the Communist Party leaders of the two countries.

▪ Inmates were paid 50 cents a day for the back-breaking chore of clearing right of way through dense forests and laying track.

▪ This is the scepticism that rules scepticism itself out of court and clears the way for legitimate faith.

▪ The motorbikes clear a way but fans still jump into the road, running behind their favourites and pushing them.

▪ Losses from restructuring will decline from now on, clearing the way for a recovery in earnings.

■ VERB

begin

▪ The chill in the air began to clear her head.

▪ Then finally her head began to clear.

▪ Then, ten minutes from Tipasa, the clouds are rinsed blue and the sky begins to clear.

▪ But at least you will begin to clear up the pension problem.

▪ Her head gradually began to clear.

▪ When the girls left, Sethe began to clear the table.

▪ He immediately withdrew the patrol to a safe distance and together they began to clear the area for any other suspicious signs.

▪ The rain stops and the grey skies begin to clear.

help

▪ We help clear the innocent too.

▪ Athena told him how things were in his house and promised she would help him clear it of the suitors.

▪ Necessary jobs are helping to clear up the smaller branches and making a start on repointing the bridge itself.

▪ Sometimes this means police officers help neighborhood members clear out vacant lots and rusting cars.

▪ It helps keep your skin clear.

▪ He turned to help her clear the table.

▪ It had very little warmth but the chilly air was helping to clear my head.

▪ It might help to clear Barney.

try

▪ New recruit, David Byrne, sliced in the ball as he tried to clear.

▪ Loi promised to keep warm, and Joe started him on a course of antibiotics to try to clear the lung infection.

▪ Connelly blinked myopically, trying to clear his gaze, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

▪ She lunges forward, trying to clear a way for herself.

▪ Above all try and make it clear that you are enthusiastic about the future project.

▪ He even met with the Anti-Defamation League to try and clear the air of misunderstandings.

▪ She tried to clear her head, concentrating on this new situation.

▪ He tried to clear the phantoms from his head and grasp reality.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

abundantly clear

▪ It's abundantly clear why he's running for governor.

▪ But that act has more to do with the future than the present, as chapter 23 will make abundantly clear.

▪ But then if you look at politicians today, the answer becomes abundantly clear.

▪ He didn't believe her, as he made abundantly clear by looking contemptuously down his straight nose at her.

▪ If modern psychology has done one thing, it has surely made this fact abundantly clear.

▪ That was made abundantly clear at a colourful congress in the provincial capital, Jayapura, last month.

▪ This was abundantly clear in the textile district of the West Riding.

▪ To would-be revolutionaries it was becoming abundantly clear that their central problem was lack of contact with the masses.

as important/clear/big etc as anything

▪ Ecumenically it is as important as anything.

blow/clear the cobwebs away

▪ It will blow the cobwebs away.

▪ Talk about blowing the cobwebs away!

clear your throat

▪ Fenn cleared his throat, wishing his head could be cleared as easily.

▪ He cleared his throat and laid his finger along his nose.

▪ He coughed and cleared his throat again and looked up at the clerk.

▪ Hearst interjected, clearing his throat loudly.

▪ She cleared her throat, and looked at the Lakshmi again.

▪ She taps on the desk with an inverted pencil and clears her throat.

▪ Then Bette flounced up and cleared her throat nervously.

▪ Threlfall cleared his throat loudly before turning.

clear/pave/open/prepare etc the way (for sth)

▪ Earlier legislation paved the way by limiting the use of custody as a penalty for offenders under the age of twenty-one.

▪ He believes the Government has missed the opportunity to pave the way for badly needed investment.

▪ He gave as an example some of the early work in genetics which has paved the way for biotechnological developments.

▪ She would pave the way for a much more slender ideal: the flapper.

▪ Such developments are paving the way to rapprochement between conventional and complementary medicine.

▪ Was he paving the way for another referendum?

▪ When Ken wants to give his girlfriend a kiss he first calls in a construction team to clear the way.

leave the field clear for sb

loud and clear

▪ The play's message is loud and clear.

▪ And unlike the Democrats' proposals, its message rang home loud and clear with the likes of Jigeehuu and Gankhuag.

▪ But the message is loud and clear.

▪ Converse glanced at the bearded man and the thrill of recognition rang loud and clear.

▪ I did, loud and clear.

▪ I say, and I say it loud and clear.

▪ The voices of the cruel are loud and clear.

▪ Through the crack under the door I could smell Shelly loud and clear.

the all clear

the coast is clear

▪ We raced out the door as soon as the coast was clear.

▪ Or do you wait till they tire of the taunting and go to release the victim when the coast is clear?

when the smoke clears

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪ A good lawyer can clear $250,000 a year easily.

▪ A jury cleared the company of all criminal charges in connection with the accident.

▪ After Pagones was cleared in court, he sued his accusers.

▪ Delta 7, you are cleared for takeoff.

▪ He cleared the first two obstacles, but hit the top of the third.

▪ Marshall was given his job back after being cleared of accusations that he abused drugs.

▪ Police cleared the building and carried out a controlled explosion.

▪ Sandra cleared £50,000 last year.

▪ The area around the palace had been cleared for the parade.

▪ The fog usually clears around noon.

▪ The report was cleared by the State Department.

▪ There was a sprinkling of applause as the horses cleared the last fence.

▪ This cheque should clear my overdraft.

▪ We're hoping that we can clear all our debts by the end of the year.

▪ Wiley's business clears $300,000 a year.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ A pin was inserted to stabilize the ligament, and scar tissue from the previous injury had to be cleared.

▪ Jurors took less than a half-hour Thursday to clear professional football star Warren Moon of assaulting his wife.

▪ So she was asked to undertake an elimination diet, which cleared these symptoms within a week.

▪ The weather cleared too, and they were rowed diagonally south-west across the Sound of Sleat.

III.adverb

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪ Firefighters pulled the woman clear of the wreckage.

▪ I could clearly see a row of cottages at the top of the hill

▪ Procedures for making insurance claims need to be more clearly defined.

▪ The contract says quite clearly that the landlord must pay for all repairs to the house.

IV.noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

crystal

▪ This becomes crystal clear when Tuesday's election results are read alongside results of February's special election.

▪ Two points became crystal clear during the 1985-86 events.

▪ The polls are crystal clear on this point: Most women vote Democratic.

▪ The night air was crystal clear and chilly.