noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a consensus of opinion
▪ There are still areas where no consensus of opinion has been reached.
a minority opinion/view
▪ This is a minority view among scientists.
an opinion poll (=that measures what people think about something)
▪ A recent opinion poll showed strong support for the government.
an opinion survey
▪ Opinion surveys showed consistently that unemployment remained a matter of concern.
ask for sb’s opinion
▪ Dad always liked being asked for his opinion.
confirm you in your belief/opinion/view etc (that) (=make you believe something more strongly)
▪ The expression on his face confirmed me in my suspicions.
conflicting views/opinions/ideas
▪ There are conflicting opinions on what causes the disease.
considered opinion
▪ He hadn’t had time to form a considered opinion.
expert opinion (=the opinions of people who know a lot about something)
▪ Expert opinion on the matter is deeply divided.
express your views/opinions/ideas
▪ Everyone who attends the meeting will be given the opportunity to express their opinions.
groundswell of opinion
▪ There is a groundswell of opinion that tougher laws are needed.
had a high opinion of
▪ I’ve always had a high opinion of her work.
independent inquiry/advice/opinion etc (=carried out by or given by an independent person or organization)
▪ Human rights groups have called for an independent inquiry into the killings.
▪ the results of an independent study
opinion poll
▪ An opinion poll showed that 70% of adults were against legalizing drugs.
popular belief/opinion
▪ Contrary to popular belief, cats are solitary animals.
Public opinion
▪ Public opinion is gradually shifting in favor of the imprisoned men.
public opinion
▪ Public opinion is shifting in favor of the new law.
received opinion/wisdom etc (=the opinion most people have)
▪ The received wisdom is that he will retire within the next year.
render a decision/opinion/judgment etc
▪ It is unlikely that the court will render an opinion before November 5.
sb’s personal view/opinion
▪ My personal opinion is that the project was started too soon.
second opinion (=when you ask another person to repeat an examination, test etc for you)
▪ I asked the doctor for a second opinion.
share a belief/opinion
▪ It was clear that the police did not share her opinion.
strand of thought/opinion/argument
▪ Plato draws all the strands of the argument together.
strong views/opinions/ideas
▪ She has strong views on education.
subjective judgment/opinion etc
▪ The ratings were based on the subjective judgement of one person.
the climate of opinion (=the opinion which most people have about a subject)
▪ The climate of opinion is still favorable for the President.
venture an opinion/question/word etc
▪ If we had more information, it would be easier to venture a firm opinion.
▪ Roy ventured a tentative smile.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
different
▪ We each had a different opinion.
▪ To make effective decisions, they need to be open to different opinions and good at analyzing contradictory information.
▪ They had different opinions about tennis.
▪ If both parents witnessed the act and had different opinions, they simply alternated being the referee.
▪ In the research branch of the Local Education Office a different opinion was expressed.
▪ But Elena Ortiz has a different opinion.
▪ These remarks were highly embarrassing for the government and brought out the different opinions within the party on the open-door policy.
▪ In many cases, first impressions were different from the opinion that later developed.
expert
▪ They are drafted by permanent government officials who are concerned to seek out expert opinion on the issues in question.
▪ But now it sits scowling outside the conversation of humankind, offering expert opinion with a sneer.
▪ Or was he entitled to act solely on his own expert opinion?
▪ Process assessments compare the documented care with what is accepted as optimum practice based on current scientific nutrition knowledge and expert opinion.
▪ Which is what Mr Walker said last week, against the flood of expert opinion on what his vote would mean.
▪ Here is where the most important split of all divides expert opinion.
▪ These commissions have drawn on expert opinion from the social science community, and found evidence for both sides.
▪ For it to be expert opinion is invaluable.
general
▪ The general opinion was yes, but certain it was that no-one had ever seen her.
▪ The general opinion was that it had fizzled out; like a spent squib, it hadn't even given one burst.
▪ The general consensus of opinion is that a successful action under s.62 for insider dealing will be hard to sustain.
▪ The general opinion is that Real are tighter in defence, but less interesting and inventive.
▪ The general opinion was that this long-awaited package definitely wasn't a good Windows product.
high
▪ This, however, is no indication that they have a particularly high opinion of the spiritual contribution of women.
▪ Surely the Buckleys have risen to higher station, or at least a higher opinion of themselves.
▪ Kate adored Toby's self-confidence and shared his high opinion of himself.
▪ He did not, in any case, have a high opinion of Santayana - an animus which Santayana reciprocated towards Eliot.
▪ All I can say to that is that I have a higher opinion of your judgement than he has.
▪ That was why he relied chiefly on Simenon, an author for whom he preserved a high opinion all his life.
low
▪ Sir Bruce hat a low opinion of civilian intelligence officers.
▪ Politicians generally have a low opinion of the press, just as the press generally has a low opinion of lawmakers.
▪ The Stock Market had originally marked prices lower as opinion polls indicated a hung Parliament.
▪ Politicians generally have a low opinion of the press, just as the press generally has a low opinion of lawmakers.
▪ She had made a complete fool of herself and had successfully lived down to every low opinion that Piers harboured about her.
▪ He did this with calculated cynicism, for he had but a low opinion of most of mankind.
▪ Then, too, Niki has a low opinion of the media.
▪ To live up to his low opinion of her.
medical
▪ And that's the medical opinion.
▪ The learned medical opinion here is that Young needs at least a week off.
▪ I wonder what medical opinion is of this wasteful practice?
▪ Barton has sought four medical opinions, most recently from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
▪ What is in the best interests of the patient will be judged by the standards of a responsible body of medical opinion.
▪ Much medical opinion also assures us that hypnosis is not essential.
▪ That, too, depends on individual choice, though medical opinion usually favours the hard mattress.
▪ W's solicitor Madeleine Rees commented, ` Informed medical opinion says transsexualism is a medical condition.
personal
▪ The disconnected personal opinion Concluding with your own words, however, requires caution, particularly in the handling of personal response.
▪ My personal opinion is that the project was started too soon, as in any fast-track project like this.
▪ Even when referring to personal opinion it is not normally considered good style to do so directly.
▪ The concept of reason and all speculation about personal opinion would ever after be dismissed as tribal, beliefs fabricated by sects.
▪ At the very beginning of the play Shakespeare demonstrated how easily the people changed their personal opinions.
▪ If I should wander into the uncharted minefield of personal opinion it is only with the benefit of hindsight.
▪ Variations in practice reflect the personal opinions of managers.
▪ It is essentially a compilation of known facts, without intrusion of personal opinions or beliefs.
political
▪ This shift in political opinion was partly due to a succession of further scandals involving the insurance and commodities markets.
▪ The magazine began shortly after Kristol spent about a year faxing unsolicited political advice and opinion all around Washington.
▪ This has been corroborated in many surveys of political opinion.
▪ And rather than depicting various hues of political opinion, the new murals make an environmental statement.
▪ The peer group of the extremist-activist typically shares her political opinions.
▪ He has to share in some conservative political opinions.
▪ Useful detail supporting diversity of political opinion in Cortes on the losing side in the 1931 election.
popular
▪ Contrary to modem popular opinion these were splendid ships with excellent accommodation and many modern conveniences for both crew and passengers.
▪ Well, popular opinion is wrong.
▪ But the fullness of the material makes possible qualitative study with particularly interesting insights into popular opinions and activities.
▪ Mary Pinciotti knows that red clay is good for your garden, despite popular opinion.
▪ These large juries were clearly intended to provide a reasonably representative sample of popular opinion.
▪ She said that, contrary to popular opinion, traumas caused by such a disaster were not short-lived.
▪ There are various ways in which popular opinion can be represented with reasonable accuracy.
▪ Contrary to popular opinion, the non-conformist Sunday was not a dismal day full of restrictions.
public
▪ By far the strongest weapon we have is the weapon of public opinion.
▪ The newspapers' solution was to rake a few of the slum owners across the coals of public opinion.
▪ The recent well publicised survey of public opinion showed a clear preference for treatment in centres of excellence.
▪ Republicans, battered as they are in the public opinion polls, succeeded in dramatically transforming the terms of the national debate.
▪ Thus we are in for a prolonged battle to win over public opinion.
▪ They tend to respond to and reinforce public opinion, rather than shape it and lead it.
▪ His problem seemed to be that he believed a Government could do exactly as it liked without taking public opinion into account.
▪ The independent experts uniformly discounted the accuracy of earlier public opinion surveys awarding Clinton an enormous lead.
recent
▪ A recent opinion poll showed that 89 percent of the public said they would oppose plans to bury waste in their neighbourhood.
▪ A recent opinion poll found that 45 percent believe personal qualifications to be the most important measure of a candidate.
▪ The message of recent opinion polls has clearly got through.
▪ But his problems extend far beyond Capitol Hill, as recent opinion surveys have shown.
▪ Again, this is uncertain, although some recent opinion has been favourable to the idea.
▪ A five-phased approach begins with desk research, to identify and evaluate recent opinions of the contribution of marketing to corporate success.
▪ A recent opinion poll revealed that only 5% of those questioned thought the existing parties represented their interests.
▪ Even before the decision Netanyahu had led the struggling Barak in recent opinion polls.
strong
▪ He has his spiky hair, strong opinions and wacky humour.
▪ And though there were plenty of strong opinions, much of the parish still seemed profoundly ambivalent about the protest.
▪ He's a shy man with strong opinions and assertive ideas.
▪ He now had carte blanche to pursue any major story in town and to inject his strong opinions unabashedly into his writings.
▪ Boiotia itself was wavering, knowing that there was a strong current of opinion among the Peloponnesians in favour of defending only their peninsula.
▪ Steven feels that prior to Vassar he always had strong opinions but had never been political.
▪ There is widespread concern and strong opinion throughout the country that the Government are handling this issue most inappropriately.
▪ They prompted strong readership and opinion.
■ NOUN
majority
▪ Sometimes agreement is apparent rather than real because of the tendency to conform and fall in with majority opinion.
▪ Toward the end of his career, he wrote more dissents than majority opinions.
▪ Let's get a majority opinion on this.
▪ Third, government is supposed to be representative of society's group preferences i.e. majority opinion.
poll
▪ In those days of fewer opinion polls they seemed to play a much smaller, less intrusive part in the elections.
▪ Then, they were the footfalls of voters turning away from him in the opinion polls as scandals sucked him downward.
▪ A year before their re-election victory the Conservatives lagged behind Labour in the opinion polls.
▪ Public opinion polls show as many as 70 percent of respondents oppose gay marriages.
▪ The conference opened with Labour buoyed by a series of weekend opinion polls giving leads of from 5 to 12 points.
▪ Public opinion polls showed the public blamed Congress, not Clinton, for the debacle.
▪ According to the latest opinion polls, the noes have 50%, the yeses 35% and the rest are undecided.
▪ Clinton still holds a healthy lead over Dole in California, according to most public opinion polls.
survey
▪ The very questions used in public opinion surveys indicate the importance of the assumption.
▪ Clinton enjoys a wide lead over Dole, according to the latest nationwide public opinion survey.
▪ An opinion survey by the party's communications group showed women had significantly different political views from men.
▪ As part of management training in the computer company, new managers were required to have their subordinates complete opinion surveys.
▪ Wartime opinion surveys showed consistently, however, that unemployment remained a matter of concern.
▪ Clinton remains far ahead of Republican rival Bob Dole, according to the latest public opinion surveys.
▪ But his problems extend far beyond Capitol Hill, as recent opinion surveys have shown.
▪ The independent experts uniformly discounted the accuracy of earlier public opinion surveys awarding Clinton an enormous lead.
■ VERB
ask
▪ The Permanent Court was asked for an opinion on the correct interpretation of the Athens Agreement.
▪ And they asked us for our opinions.
▪ The panel members then receive regular questionnaires asking for their opinions of selected programmes over the past week.
▪ Your editor should ask for your opinions, why you chose certain words or decided to include or omit information.
▪ She always used to ask my opinions of things and that now a lot of my answers made sense.
▪ It depended on whom you asked for an opinion.
▪ Therefore, I recommend either giving the instrument a thorough test, or else asking for an opinion by an optical expert.
▪ Well, the caller asked for my opinion, so here it is.
change
▪ Even if Guy believed her tale, surely he couldn't change his opinion of her so completely?
▪ Although the pharmacological properties of opium had not changed, opinions about opium had changed.
▪ I saw people who came in pretty straight but who changed their attitudes and opinions drastically.
▪ This gorgeous product, bursting with black-cherry fruit, will do nothing to change their opinions.
▪ The company insists Vinik spoke his mind at the time comments were made and he simply changed his opinions.
▪ Seven months after Peter Robinson and I penned those damning words, have we cause to change our opinion?
▪ Times change, issues change, public opinion changes and, of course, politicians change.
confirm
▪ Garvey's condition has confirmed his opinion.
▪ Thornton knew of various incidents which confirmed his opinion that Walsh made a distinctly negative impression in the hunt for backers.
▪ Her life and career after she and Burton split up confirms the opinion of her energy and flair - and her directness.
▪ I confirmed their own opinion that the picture was a very competent version of a missing Saraceni composition executed by a follower.
▪ A senior international referee of my acquaintance was standing nearby and confirmed my opinion.
express
▪ Pro-Republican Catholics did express their opinions in newspapers such as the Leeds Citizen.
▪ In the election day exit poll, two-thirds of Virginia voters expressed a negative opinion of Robertson.
▪ Before expressing a qualified opinion an auditor should always try to resolve problems with the management of the organization concerned.
▪ They still gets points from me for expressing an opinion.
▪ The Companies Act 1948 required auditors to express an opinion on the profit and loss account as well as the balance sheet.
▪ Another is expressing controversial opinions, so we obligingly lined up a few that focus on guitars and amps ....
▪ This chapter examines what it means rhetorically to express an opinion.
▪ Critics are free to express opinions on such matters, but most of what you hear is pure speculation.
form
▪ It is the auditor's responsibility to form an opinion on the truth and fairness of the accounts.
▪ They respect that you have a mind and you can form your own opinions.
▪ He might well have formed his own opinion but he knew that would not bear cross-examination at some later date.
▪ He conceded to Franceschelli that actually being present during the autopsy might have given him better information to form an opinion.
▪ It went on to discuss what form the opinion should take, including where a reservation of opinion would be required.
▪ I formed my own opinion, and was pleased with this Constitution....
▪ I formed the opinion that there was absolutely nothing undesirable in the case.
▪ Among those who have formed an opinion, more say public projects should go on the ballot than not.
give
▪ So that each member of staff got a chance to give her own opinion, the staff were interviewed individually.
▪ These are a lot cheaper than natural sponges and give, in my opinion, an equally good effect.
▪ It may have been these factors that encouraged the Court to give a restrictive opinion on the powers of the member States.
▪ Auditors will also be able to give an opinion without resolution of all uncertain matters so removing an argument for delay.
▪ I gave my opinion but, of course, it was a big shot so early in the game.
▪ And get some one who has not been involved in the production to give you an honest opinion of the end product.
▪ Or you could ask people to give their opinions of a subject on which they have strong views.
hold
▪ It is orthodox doctrine that the Archbishop of York ought not to hold exactly the same opinions as the Archbishop of Canterbury.
▪ We hold too high an opinion of Huckelberry to classify him as the lackey of a lackey.
▪ Presented with case studies, it takes no time for pupils to express strongly held opinions.
▪ Pupils of all ages and abilities have deeply held opinions about the way things actually are, about reality, about truth.
▪ You don't have to believe it, but it looks good if you can pretend to hold an opinion.
▪ Thoughts ... It is easy enough to hold an opinion, but hard work to actually know what one is talking about.
▪ Caesarius of Arles seems to have held a similar opinion.
▪ Section 57, for example, protects employers who discriminate on the grounds that the employee or potential employee holds certain political opinions.
offer
▪ I introduced myself and upon learning my identity they naturally begged me to examine their treasure and offer an authoritative opinion.
▪ But now it sits scowling outside the conversation of humankind, offering expert opinion with a sneer.
▪ No one in the room was quite sure what would happen next as Romanov offered no opinion.
▪ Solomon agreed to help but offered the opinion that a breakthrough was unlikely during 1990.
▪ My colleagues may offer their opinions on the latter.
▪ Perhaps the bus is offering its opinion on the political climate.
▪ Engineers should only offer an opinion if they know what they are talking about.
▪ I listened contentedly without offering an opinion.
seek
▪ They are drafted by permanent government officials who are concerned to seek out expert opinion on the issues in question.
▪ The importance of the results should be such that there is adequate time to seek opinions from employees. 2.
▪ Still, she was pleased he had sought her opinion.
▪ Barton has sought four medical opinions, most recently from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
▪ The Profitboss takes his secretary into his confidence, seeks her opinion, takes her advice.
▪ As part of the process, the company must seek an advisory opinion from the California Attorney General.
▪ Having sought counsel's opinion, the solicitor was contacted by the union.
▪ Right down to strapping prospects into driving simulators and seeking their opinions on dashboard and instrument layouts.
share
▪ Kate adored Toby's self-confidence and shared his high opinion of himself.
▪ They did projects in school together and shared opinions of teachers and other kids.
▪ This is an occupational hazard shared by sportswriters and opinion pollsters.
▪ The former governor likes to share his opinions with the world, sounding off regularly on his own radio show.
▪ If Serif had shared your opinion about PagePlus 1.2, you might wonder why they bothered to produce a version 2 at all.
▪ Although I have come to share her opinion of Joe, it has not brought us any closer.
▪ Do other solicitors share my opinions?
▪ He recognized some brokers who he knew shared the same opinions as the Journal, but that no longer seemed to matter.
show
▪ Five out of six opinion polls yesterday showed Labour in the lead, pointing to a hung Parliament as the most likely outcome.
▪ Public opinion polls show crime and violence to be a major issue in the November elections.
▪ A recent opinion poll showed that 89 percent of the public said they would oppose plans to bury waste in their neighbourhood.
▪ Public opinion polls showed the public blamed Congress, not Clinton, for the debacle.
▪ But his problems extend far beyond Capitol Hill, as recent opinion surveys have shown.
▪ The recent well publicised survey of public opinion showed a clear preference for treatment in centres of excellence.
▪ At the end of January an opinion poll showed support for the war at less than 30 percent.
state
▪ The facts are stated in the opinion of Lord Keith of Kinkel.
▪ The townspeople: Loved their emperor and were too worried about being thought of as fools to state their real opinions.
▪ The symposium was not the first place I had stated unpopular opinions.
write
▪ When you write send me your opinion of this.
▪ Perhaps, you say, the judges were rushing home to write opinions in the privacy of their dens.
▪ The technique of solving academic problems is almost the same as the technique of writing a legal opinion upon a practical point.
▪ On Friday, the nine members of the court will vote behind closed doors and begin work on writing opinions.
▪ You said you were going to write a piece on opinion polls and then you wrote a story slandering the Prime Minister.
▪ When the Texas attorney general wrote an informal opinion saying the records should be released, the school district sued Lett.
▪ The pupil spends his days far better drafting a pleading or writing an opinion and having his master criticise his work afterwards.
▪ Mr Justice Frankfurter wrote a concurring opinion.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be a matter of opinion
▪ Deciding which bag is easier to carry is a matter of opinion.
▪ How successfully it is done is a matter of opinion on the part of the individual reader.
▪ It is a grand conception; whether it is a useful one may be a matter of opinion.
▪ Many of these answers are a matter of opinion; some issues will matter more to some people than others.
▪ Q: Well, that is a matter of opinion.
▪ That would be a matter of opinion; he had a newspaper which he kept looking at, and shaking out.
▪ Whether Innocent could have achieved his ends earlier or by better means must in the final analysis be a matter of opinion.
colour sb's judgement/opinions/attitudes etc
contrary to popular belief/opinion
▪ Contrary to popular belief, gorillas are shy and gentle creatures.
▪ Actually, contrary to popular belief, hallucinations were not part of the original definition of schizophrenia.
▪ And contrary to popular belief, we don't want to wear the trousers at home.
difference of opinion
▪ There is a difference of opinion between the chairman and the board as to the best way to handle the takeover.
▪ There were major differences of opinion over who should command the UN forces.
▪ And here lies a fundamental difference of opinion - how should a National Park operate?
▪ Despite these economically based differences of opinion, those passing initiative petitions claim to have found widespread public support.
▪ Has the case resulted in significant differences of opinion in the courts below?
▪ I just have a difference of opinion with Sen.
▪ Miss Diane died of a brain haemorrhage after a sharp difference of opinion with the producer about salary.
▪ Some difference of opinion exists as to the order of drugs to be administered.
▪ The split reflects a difference of opinion simmering for months within the Republican Party.
▪ There were also differences of opinion about the degree of malice involved.
form an opinion/impression/idea
▪ Members of the jury must not have formed opinions from publicity before the trial.
▪ Among those who have formed an opinion, more say public projects should go on the ballot than not.
▪ He conceded to Franceschelli that actually being present during the autopsy might have given him better information to form an opinion.
▪ He was in no state to form an idea of what we were talking about.
▪ It is the auditor's responsibility to form an opinion on the truth and fairness of the accounts.
▪ Nor that we should not form opinions or make evaluations.
▪ So gather information about your child, rather than forming opinions and judgments.
▪ Yet, along with journalists, poets, literary figures, and agitators, they do help form opinions.
▪ You should try to form an impression of the person the adjectives describe.
have fixed ideas/opinions
high opinion/regard/praise etc
▪ He has the highest regard for his hamster-locating abilities.
▪ It was a display which earned high praise, not least from Coventry boss Bobby Gould.
▪ Perhaps surprisingly, the indications are that Offa continued to hold Canterbury in high regard.
▪ Surely the Buckleys have risen to higher station, or at least a higher opinion of themselves.
▪ This, however, is no indication that they have a particularly high opinion of the spiritual contribution of women.
▪ While I hold these scholars and practitioners in the highest regard, I have not relied exclusively on their work.
in my humble opinion
▪ Excellently done nevertheless, in my humble opinion.
▪ In my humble opinion, he should not be called upon for such justification.
▪ In my humble opinion, Sarah is not so much interested in old relationships as new.
shade of meaning/opinion/feeling etc
▪ As a solo instrument following a melodic line, the violin can convey every imaginable shade of feeling.
▪ From a sociologist's point of view, work has shades of meaning which are individual to each of us.
▪ In this more tolerant environment several newspapers representing different shades of opinion have already sprung up, especially in the urban areas.
▪ It represented all shades of opinion, but it was dominated by Sukarno.
▪ There was in most works an allowance for shades of feeling and meaning, and for the existence of doubt.
▪ These two directions or shades of opinion are not necessarily as starkly polarised as may appear.
▪ To teach me to perceive the shades of beauty and the shades of meaning ....
winds of change/freedom/public opinion etc
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Opinion seemed to be moving in favor of the president's accusers.
▪ Opinions vary widely on this matter.
▪ About 100 people showed up to express their opinions about the project.
▪ an expert opinion
▪ Do you really want my opinion?
▪ He's entitled to his opinion, of course, but it does not give him the right to be offensive.
▪ He acknowledged that he had no evidence to support his opinion.
▪ In 10 years of teaching, I have never been asked my opinion on any matter of policy.
▪ In my opinion, most lawyers are overpaid.
▪ Many board members said they had no opinion on Goldman's proposal.
▪ Medical opinion is divided as to the effectiveness of the new drug.
▪ Please phone in with your comments and opinions.
▪ Politicians generally have a low opinion of the press.
▪ The coroner was of the opinion that the man had been dead for only 24 hours.
▪ The rating a film gets reflects the opinions of our reviewers.
▪ Their refusal to obey UN regulations had a major effect on world opinion.
▪ They have very different opinions about religion.
▪ This is, in the opinion of the critics, their best record for years.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Although this conversation too has sequences of opinion and justification, it does not proceed in a linear fashion.
▪ He might well have formed his own opinion but he knew that would not bear cross-examination at some later date.
▪ I just have a difference of opinion with Sen.
▪ The difficulty is in knowing what local opinion really has to say on these matters.
▪ The Lords can publicise matters and delay action for long enough to allow public opinion to make itself felt.
▪ The only difference of opinion so far has been over boxing.
▪ There may be a complicated chain of cause and effect on which opinions will differ.
▪ Yet at the same time he can not afford to ignore hardline opinion at home.