adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bright child (=intelligent)
▪ He was a bright child – always asking questions.
a bright idea (=a very good idea - often used ironically)
▪ Whose bright idea was it to leave the washing out in the rain?
a bright patch
▪ Poppies and daisies provided bright patches of colour along the edge of the field.
a bright smilewritten (= when you look very happy, but you may not feel happy)
▪ She forced a bright smile.
a bright sun
▪ It was a warm day with a bright sun overhead.
a bright/strong colour (=strong and noticeable)
▪ Bright colours look good in strong sunlight.
be too bright/modern etc for sb’s taste
▪ The building was too modern for my taste.
bright pink
▪ bright pink lipstick
bright pinks
▪ Her room was decorated in bright pinks and purples.
bright red
▪ We painted the door bright red.
bright sunlight
▪ She shaded her eyes against the bright sunlight.
bright (=happy or excited)
▪ the bright eyes of the children
bright
▪ The moon was very bright.
bright
▪ the brightest star in the night sky
bright/brilliant/blazing/dazzling sunshine
▪ We stepped out of the plane into the bright sunshine of Corfu.
bright/clear/cloudless (=without clouds)
▪ The sun rose higher in the cloudless sky.
bright/promising (=showing signs of being successful)
▪ Her future as a tennis player looks promising.
bright/strong
▪ The light was so bright he had to shut his eyes.
dark/light/pale/bright blue
▪ a dark blue raincoat
dark/light/pale/bright green
▪ a dark green dress
one bright spot
▪ The computer industry is the one bright spot in the economy at the moment.
only bright spot
▪ The only bright spot of the evening was when the food arrived.
the bright side (=the good things about a situation)
▪ It was her nature to look on the bright side.
the future looks good/bright etc
▪ The future looks good for the company.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
▪ The skin on the face was deeply wrinkled all over, but the eyes were as bright as two stars.
▪ The screen still is not as bright as it could be, though.
▪ Some of them are frail physically but are as bright as a button in their minds.
▪ The most direct interpretation is that one entire night was about as bright as day.
▪ The picture of the Virgin, on the other hand, was as bright as if painted yesterday.
▪ Their team is not as strong now, nor its future as bright, as when previous applications were rejected.
▪ Next day, when he awoke at noon, he was as bright and cheerful as if nothing at all had happened.
▪ The dark is lit as bright as day.
so
▪ And he was already so bright, anyway.
▪ Richard used to tell me about the stars, billions of miles away, so bright.
▪ Now I led the way - which was not so bright, after all.
▪ The moon was so bright I could see a figure running flat out up into the rocky hills.
▪ It was so bright and sharp.
▪ The full moon last night was so bright I could almost read by it.
▪ Today the three groups' future no longer looks so bright.
▪ The gloss on the story was that I was so bright that I understood them if they told me to stay somewhere.
too
▪ Often the light is too bright, which can cause difficulties for all children.
▪ It was far too bright to be a star, but one could look directly at its tiny disk without discomfort.
▪ The shadows are like black pits and the gaslight is too bright.
▪ Ha cheeks were two vivid spots of colour and her eyes were too bright.
▪ Other requirements: Light: Requires subdued light from above. Too bright light will harm the plant.
▪ You may have too bright a light and a reduction in this, or the addition of floating plants, might help.
▪ Not too bright at all, I put just that bit of white in like you said and it's coming on lovely.
▪ Out of doors it was too bright to see, the sun brilliant in contrast to the interior.
very
▪ If you want to use some very bright red flowers choose a subtle, gentle background with which they can blend.
▪ In addition to being very bright, he was very witty.
▪ He didn't look very bright, which he was.
▪ There was Peggy Cass, who was very bright, quick and funny, and we were a beautiful contrast.
▪ One of my friends at Binbrook was Sheila - tall, awkward, difficult, but a very bright girl.
▪ I know now that there is a difference between being very bright and very effective.
▪ The male is a little larger than the female and has very bright orange ventral fins when in breeding colouration.
▪ Our restaurant business has tremendous financial strength and a very bright future.
■ NOUN
blue
▪ White predominated, sea-green and bright blue were also favourites.
▪ He was wearing some kind of uniform, navy blue with bright blue buttons.
▪ It is divided horizontally by color with bright blue on the head and back and yellow on the stomach and tail.
▪ The sky was bright blue, and the woods glowed with light.
▪ The rims of the eyes also have this same bright blue, and they retain this coloration in the adult stage.
child
▪ It was difficult to imagine a more stimulating environment for bright children who might otherwise have lost out on their education.
▪ The brightest children would be expected to do about six questions within 30 minutes.
▪ But what can we do to help the bright child who works well during term but bombs in exams through nerves?
▪ Despite this, she was a bright child and did well at school.
▪ Another layer of guilt was added for brighter children who acclimatised sufficiently to start pulling ahead of their classmates.
▪ The brighter children or youngsters tends to do somewhat worse on such exams.
▪ In an interview with the Guardian last month, he said A-levels were too easy for the brightest children.
▪ It is not that teachers in our primary schools dislike teaching bright children.
color
▪ People drove out to see it, a patch of bright colors in the snow, and dropped in to see him.
▪ Joop sent his boys out in Tyroleaninspired hats, many in flashy bright colors and some in animal skins.
▪ In their bright colors, they looked like an exotic group of forest creatures grazing their natural habitat.
▪ She prefers bright colors in floral patterns or wide stripes.
▪ This woman, the campesina, had painted it in bright colors.
▪ Looks real black and white now-very clear-but back then everything came at you in these bright colors.
▪ She had a stick painted with bands of bright colors, from which hung a gong.
▪ Therefore, it is not surprising that they are the only mammals decorated with bright colors such as blue and pink.
colour
▪ This is not simple mimicry, which would only entail being the same bright colour as a distasteful species.
▪ Their tart flavour adds piquancy and the bright colour looks stunning.
▪ I awake at seven, amazed at myself, and bathe and dress in a bright colour.
▪ The dream flashed across my mind in bright colour.
▪ All they need is a patch of bright colour on their tails.
▪ Wear gloves in another bright colour, thick tights in yet another.
▪ Darwin's explanation of bright colour has lain dormant and untested for over a century.
▪ The red robe they gave her there was the first bright colour she had worn.
colours
▪ Those were the days before people dyed their hair bright colours, the days of henna.
▪ They can be had in bright colours, like the new Eheim or more laid-back, like the new Interpet.
▪ He dyed doves various bright colours to fly around and adorn the folly and the town.
▪ But extra light will accentuate the bright colours of the leaves and accelerate bushy growth.
▪ Ribbons and slashing are of contrasting bright colours identifying the individual regiments.
▪ It is one of the most popular rasboras despite complete lack of any bright colours.
▪ A more continuing change has been the wearing of smarter suits by most males and of brighter colours by many ladies.
▪ One of the H. Fire development bright colours within only a few days and began a reign of terror.
day
▪ It was a bright day and the official Zil lurched towards them.
▪ Until one bright day, at long last, a green shadow appeared.
▪ A large, empty room with high, narrow windows through which the bright day filtered slowly on to various shades of brown.
▪ Another bright day, almost hot, and the trees along the road flamed up in brilliant reds and golds.
▪ It was a fine bright day and he felt sure he had made the right decision.
▪ It was a cold, bright day.
▪ In the cool light of this brighter day it was hard to conceive of it as a visitation of demons.
future
▪ To summarise therefore, a big change, but a happy one, and a bright future in the Norfolk countryside.
▪ Our restaurant business has tremendous financial strength and a very bright future.
▪ No bright future Stephanie Nettell controlled her over-large panel well, asking probing questions to lead them on their way.
▪ All four look set for a bright future.
▪ Bioremediation is a promising and rapidly developing treatment technology with a bright future.
▪ He's hoping for a bright future.
▪ A bright future spread out before him.
▪ The shorts are betting that theirs is an industry with a bright future.
green
▪ They were loose-legged and bright green with white lace.
▪ The snow pea leaves should be bright green in color.
▪ They are ribbon-shaped and bright green.
▪ Heat very briefly so that the snow peas just turn bright green.
▪ Description: The leaves of the submerged plant are bright green, lance-shaped or even oval.
▪ The valley beckons the hiker with rolling grasslands that are bright green in spring and golden in autumn.
▪ Buy them fresh and bright green, with no dark marks.
▪ The bright green, narrow, lance-shaped leaves are arranged round the stem.
idea
▪ A Newcastle school aims to open a shop to sell pupils' bright ideas.
▪ That bright idea, understandably, provoked howls of protest and is so obviously wrong that Rep.
▪ This year's Better Environment Awards for Industry include a new category: for companies with bright ideas on recovering waste.
▪ In this faded house among the ferns, a bright idea was inevitably taking form.
▪ Moira was full of bright ideas about the mixing, and some synth effects she wanted me to lay down.
▪ In May 1988, Tudorbury dealers had the bright idea of fixing a football game with Harvard Securities.
▪ Angela soon had quite a bright idea.
▪ Some one must have thought it was a bright idea, though.
light
▪ Circles of bright light ... and ... a woman.
▪ At first the hot, bright light was unbearable.
▪ It had to be the cold air and the bright lights against the darkness.
▪ Whiston worried, of course, that bright lights might also falter when trying to deliver a time signal at sea.
▪ In the bright lights of the foyer his face was clearly illuminated.
▪ But then I saw this bright light at the window.
▪ It is helpful for pupils not to have to look into bright light.
▪ Under the bright lights in the train, both boy and man look pale, lifeless.
red
▪ There is an enormous range of colours available, from bright reds and yellows, through buffs and browns, to purplish-black.
▪ They were longer than the claws of a grizzly, perfectly groomed and polished bright red.
▪ Spike finally makes it-he's bright red from running.
▪ Then she rears upward, and up it comes, naked and pink, her hairy baby, its stump bright red.
▪ Only these caps with Yankees and Mets logos are hot pink and bright red, hardly the stuff of traditionalists.
▪ My face and neck are flushed bright red.
▪ Finally she brushed past us toward the office, her cheek bright red.
▪ Without three pars, the balance sheet for the week would be bright red.
side
▪ On the bright side, conditions at Nagashima have improved.
▪ Another is that they have an in-built bias towards optimism, always looking on the bright side of life.
▪ Experts believe it is all part of a wartime spirit of looking on the bright side.
▪ Few people look at the bright side of impromptu, outdoor conversations with hibernating neighbors.
▪ This is the bright side of extreme free enterprise.
▪ Look on the bright side, Cuz.
smile
▪ With her bouffant hairdo, elaborate plumage, gushing charm and bright smile she is a caricature of a countess.
▪ He was looking at them in turn with his bright smile.
▪ Indeed, she had scarcely enough presence of mind to return Sybil's bright smile and bid farewell to the genial innkeepers.
spark
▪ Here, some bright spark thought Windsor Castle was on fire and called the fire brigade!
▪ Quo and Maiden are in the lead but a few bright sparks voted for Saxon.
▪ Some academics try to counteract this trend by trying to identify the bright sparks and arrange special seminars for them.
▪ The growers appeared to be facing ruin until one bright spark hit on an idea.
▪ She watched the bright spark of the spear approaching, and felt nothing but a dull kind of relief.
▪ I should have realised that genius, as some bright spark in the office said, has a lot to do with genes.
▪ Too many bright sparks have been lost to Britain in the past.
▪ It didn't take long for some bright spark to try out the Doom Diver Catapult in a battle.
spot
▪ It was a thin, elegant face with bright spots of red on the cheeks, like a painted lady.
▪ Yet the South Carolina economy does have bright spots.
▪ This and our unbelievable performance against Northtown have been the only bright spots in another nightmare week.
▪ I kept on seeing little bright spots, so I kept on turning my legs.
▪ Their only bright spot, thus far, being a 5-1 defeat of Swindon.
▪ These are the bright spots in this 257-page discourse.
▪ One bright spot will be a new materials research centre at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California.
▪ There was some bright spots in the October trade report.
star
▪ Norma is very obscure; its brightest star, Gamma, is only of magnitude 4.0.
▪ Discovered in the early 1960s, quasars at first seemed to be small, bright stars.
▪ He became a bright star in a contemporary galaxy of writing-masters.
▪ It appears in the constellation Pisces, which has no bright stars.
▪ The nearest fairly bright star to the constellation is Nu Hydræ.
▪ Also in the line of the rings was the bright star of Titan, and the fainter sparks of the other moons.
▪ Most of the brighter stars plotted are of the second magnitude, while the fainter ones are of the fourth.
▪ Away from the haze and lights of the city, bright stars fill the spectacularly clear sky.
stars
▪ It is a beautiful night, a full moon and a few bright stars against the black sky over the Heath.
▪ Later, as he drove, the night cooled, sagging low with bright stars that flooded every street and yard.
▪ Then it erupted in a shower of cold, bright stars, brilliant with a sharp, astonishing, searing pain.
▪ Even as it was, the glare of the Earth, filling half the sky, drowned all but the brighter stars.
▪ Most of the brighter stars plotted are of the second magnitude, while the fainter ones are of the fourth.
▪ Discovered in the early 1960s, quasars at first seemed to be small, bright stars.
▪ Altair, at a distance of 17 light-years, is one of the closest of the bright stars.
▪ It appears in the constellation Pisces, which has no bright stars.
sunlight
▪ Now the rattle and roar of the tube faded abruptly as it surfaced into bright sunlight.
▪ They slept, and when they woke again in the strong bright sunlight, Cristalena pinched him.
▪ Actually, of course, the only time wearing shades is anonymous is in bright sunlight.
▪ Even in the bright sunlight the air feels thick and soiled.
▪ Hopelessly she walked outside and stood in bright sunlight wondering what to do; a few thoughtful seconds later she knew.
▪ Dark glasses are also recommended in bright sunlight.
▪ Wings embracing, they play in bright sunlight, Necks caressing roam the blue clouds.
▪ She shaded her eyes and shivered in the bright sunlight.
sunshine
▪ This hasn't grown so well this year compared to previous summers, probably because of the lack of really bright sunshine.
▪ Once you have dragged yourself from your bed, go into the bright sunshine as soon as possible.
▪ By the time of the start, the early morning rain and fog had given way to warm bright sunshine.
▪ He was suddenly aware of the sun, of bright sunshine pouring into the car.
▪ You will never think you can survive, when suddenly you are back out in the bright sunshine, racing forward.
▪ She went back out into the bright sunshine while Julius made all the arrangements for Eleanor's departure.
▪ It is dark in there after the bright sunshine and snow outside.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
bright idea
▪ George came up with the bright idea of visiting every pub we passed.
▪ I don't know what kind of present she'd like -- if you have any bright ideas let me know.
▪ I like it! It sounds like a really bright idea.
▪ Whose bright idea was it to give the cat a bath?
▪ Whose bright idea was it to start major road repairs right at the start of the holiday season?
▪ Why not ask Sylvia? She's always full of bright ideas.
▪ A Newcastle school aims to open a shop to sell pupils' bright ideas.
▪ Angela soon had quite a bright idea.
▪ Del Plonka recalls that some one once got the bright idea of pumping water from the Saigon River into nearby tunnels.
▪ If even one-tenth of those bright ideas published could be brought to fruition, the world would be transformed.
▪ In May 1988, Tudorbury dealers had the bright idea of fixing a football game with Harvard Securities.
▪ In this faded house among the ferns, a bright idea was inevitably taking form.
▪ Their bright ideas and bad judgments are the standards by which the record industry still rates its progress and practices.
▪ Your bright idea could even earn you some extra cash.
bright spot
▪ But for every bright spot in the region there was a laggard.
▪ But now even those bright spots may be fading.
▪ I kept on seeing little bright spots, so I kept on turning my legs.
▪ Redland was a bright spot, up 34p at 481p, after figures and the Steetley merger.
▪ The money was the one bright spot the evening had produced so far, the carrot to the threat of the stick.
▪ The only bright spot was the news that Lewis should be fit to bowl in the final Test.
▪ This and our unbelievable performance against Northtown have been the only bright spots in another nightmare week.
▪ Yet the South Carolina economy does have bright spots.
even bigger/better/brighter etc
▪ But he actually proved even better than I thought.
▪ He had hoped to play an even bigger, more traditional role.
▪ I sort of thought the accident would make us play even better.
▪ It was even better when I got a hug and a kiss from the former Miss Minnesota!
▪ Many companies do so because smart managers know the importance of rewarding good work and inspiring even better efforts.
▪ There was something spontaneous and lively in his manner of speaking that made whatever he was saying sound even better.
▪ This show will be even better than the last one and is not to be missed!
▪ What is the best way of stemming this decline or, even better, of regenerating the economy?
sunny/bright intervals
▪ Any overnight mist or fog will clear quickly to leave most of the country with sunny intervals and scattered showers.
▪ East Anglia: Rather cloudy, mainly dry, some sunny intervals.
▪ Many sheltered central and south-eastern areas might stay dry with perhaps some sunny intervals.
▪ Outlook for tomorrow and Sunday: Mainly dry and mild, with sunny intervals after clearance of any early mist or fog.
▪ The day should gradually become dry with sunny intervals.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a bright and promising career in the Navy
▪ a bright eight-year-old girl
▪ a bright idea
▪ a bright smile
▪ a bright yellow van
▪ a bright, airy room
▪ a book with bright, bold illustrations
▪ After so long indoors the bright sunshine hurt Jack's eyes.
▪ Claire had a lovely bright bedroom which was decorated in yellow and white.
▪ Companies want to prevent their best and brightest employees from being headhunted by rival organizations.
▪ Even as a small child, it was obvious that Bobby was very bright.
▪ From the top of the hill they could see the bright lights of the city below them.
▪ If you are cycling at night, always wear something bright.
▪ Many of the houses were painted bright colors.
▪ That wasn't a very bright thing to do.
▪ the bright afternoon sun
▪ The artist clearly loved bright colours.
▪ The big windows in this room make it nice and bright.
▪ The front door was painted bright red.
▪ The light in here is not bright enough to read by.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Deng responded optimistically that the outlook was still bright.
▪ He has a triangular version of Rupert's stylised muzzle with the same pricked ears and bright black-button eyes.
▪ It was a bright, cheerful morning and she was in a bright and cheerful mood.
▪ Natalie is bright and she knows it.
▪ The text is helpful, and the maps are bright and cheery.
▪ These are not just interesting hypotheses or bright ideas.
▪ They never bothered that we were just spectating-we were driving a bright red Carrera 911 with a great exhaust note!