adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
brake sharply/hard (=brake quickly)
▪ He braked sharply to avoid the dog.
contrast sharply/strikingly with sth (=be extremely different from something)
▪ These results contrast sharply with other medical tests carried out in Australia.
differ sharply/noticeably/markedly (=in a very noticeable way)
▪ Ways of negotiating differ markedly across the Atlantic.
fall sharply/steeply (=by a large amount)
▪ London share prices fell sharply yesterday.
sharply defined
▪ The bird has sharply defined black and rust markings.
sharply divided
▪ The issue of cloning has sharply divided voters.
sharply reduce
▪ Medical progress has sharply reduced death rates.
sharply/harshly/fiercely criticize sb/sth (=in an angry way)
▪ His attorney sharply criticized the police yesterday.
sharply/severely/drastically (=cut a lot)
▪ Housing benefit was sharply cut for all but the poorest people.
sharply/steeply (=a lot in a short time)
▪ The value of the painting has risen sharply in recent years.
swerve violently/sharply
▪ The car swerved sharply to avoid the dog.
turns sharply
▪ The road turns sharply at the top of the hill.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
critical
▪ Behaviouralism, for instance, has self-consciously hoisted its own flag and been sharply critical of Realism.
▪ Alexander, who was sharply critical of Forbes' negative ads, appeared to benefit from running a positive campaign.
high
▪ The post-privatisation product looks and tastes no different; but its price everywhere is sharply higher.
▪ In some categories, however, the market share would be sharply higher.
▪ In 1998, the company went from a profit to a £493,000 loss on sharply higher sales.
▪ This represents a 25 % increase over the figure for 1994, which was itself sharply higher than for 1993.
low
▪ Spending on beef was sharply lower in the four weeks to December 10 than a year earlier, and volume significantly smaller.
▪ Stocks were sharply lower from the opening.
▪ Several sociological studies have shown that churchgoers have sharply lower levels of illegitimacy and divorce than others in the population.
▪ Growing concerns about profit margins sent technology stocks sharply lower, overshadowing modest gains for blue-chip stocks.
■ VERB
contrast
▪ His lack of charisma and often unhappy persona will contrast sharply with Mandela's awesome humility, humour and stern paternalism.
▪ It essentially mediated between the sharply contrasting views of the other eight justices, who divided equally on the issue of quotas.
▪ He contrasted sharply with the acceptance horn, exemplified by career policemen.
▪ This is not the first time that Rumsfeld's downbeat caution has contrasted sharply with Powell's greater internationalist team spirit.
▪ Horsley just smiled, his large relaxed frame and confident bonhomie contrasting sharply with the abrupt style of the little self-made Geordie.
▪ Bruch painted a psychological portrait of the obese that contrasted sharply with the image of the jolly fat person.
▪ This contrasts sharply with chemical Products, by far the greater part of those sales are external.
criticize
▪ The planting has been sharply criticized by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds because of the effect on local bird life.
▪ Yet the president is sharply criticized for convening a national forum to discuss our racial divisions.
▪ The change has been sharply criticized by environmentalists.
▪ Reno has been criticized sharply by congressional Republicans for her failure to name an independent counsel.
▪ Matiukhin sharply criticized Gaidar's team and expressed disagreement with the government's budget commission.
▪ In the morning, he sharply criticized Jones for maverick marketing policies and accused him of trying to tear down the league.
▪ E was later sharply criticized by the Public Utilities Commission and politicians such as state Sen.
curtail
▪ That strategy also includes sharply curtailing corporate banking to focus primarily on its biggest customers worldwide.
▪ But they sharply curtailed their buying in the 1990s as a strengthening yen badly hurt their dollar-denominated positions.
▪ Taxes will have to be raised or countercyclical spending will have to be sharply curtailed.
cut
▪ First, the top rate of income tax has been cut sharply.
▪ Still others, sharply cut off from the rest, address the issues relevant to secondary school.
▪ The strongest opposition is likely to come from supporters of nuclear power, which was cut sharply in the Clinton budget.
▪ With the number of middle-management positions sharply cut, where will the information-based organization's top executives come from?
▪ Federal aid had been cut sharply.
▪ Almost immediately it becomes clear that both the number of management levels and number of managers can be sharply cut.
decline
▪ This teaching function, though, declined sharply after 1380 with the establishment of Durham College at Oxford.
▪ When retirement wealth is included, that share declines sharply from over 36 percent in 1929 to under 14 percent in 1976.
▪ Parts and accessories sales declined sharply, reversing an earlier trend.
▪ A Yankee Group study found that long-distance rates declined sharply from 1984 to 1991 as a result of new competition.
▪ The proportion of out-of-wedlock births has increased so much mainly because the number of births to married couples has sharply declined.
▪ But that is measured by the number of workers - which has declined sharply.
▪ Indeed, the Soviet Union continues to decline sharply in importance.
define
▪ Within this framework, every character is sharply defined.
▪ His nose was long and straight and his mouth was sharply defined and beautifully shaped.
▪ In fact there are some nice examples of mixes of higher education and new technology thriving in sharply defined cultural niches.
▪ Only she, and you as her parents, have any sharply defined reality.
▪ The buildings were two stories high, sharply defined by the hard Hopperesque light.
▪ None of these élites had sharply defined boundaries, and there was much overlap among them.
deteriorate
▪ Both their work and personal lives deteriorated sharply when that relationship was jeopardised.
▪ In mid-1991 labour relations deteriorated sharply with the sugarcane harvest once again delayed because of disputes over payments for the previous year's crop.
differ
▪ Difficulties created by local authority boundaries, especially where policies differ sharply and where these divide built up areas are well described.
▪ But despite this similarity, local government differs sharply among the five nations.
▪ It ought to be self-evident, but perhaps is not, that schools differ sharply from each other, as do colleges.
▪ In outlook and temperament the brothers differed sharply.
▪ Veterinary historians still differ sharply about the effect his long spell in charge of the College had on the emerging profession.
dip
▪ The flow of money into the 30-stock average dipped sharply in mid-December.
divide
▪ Opinion about Ken Livingstone divided sharply.
▪ He is both sharply divided from his party opponents and emotionally involved in electoral contests.
▪ Its sharply divided report now is scheduled to be released next month.
▪ Beyond the financial problems, there is new concern that historically tolerant California is developing a culture sharply divided along racial lines.
▪ Northern opinion was sharply divided, with party lines much in evidence.
drop
▪ Her opinion of Benedict Beckenham dropped sharply.
▪ After three decades of promotion, the Pap test is largely the reason why cervical cancer deaths have dropped sharply.
▪ Their balance of payments deficits have been alarmingly large, and their currencies have dropped sharply, aggravating their inflationary problems.
▪ As in Iowa, New Hampshire had recovered from a 1992 recession and had seen unemployment drop sharply.
▪ In a separate report, the Conference Board, a research group, said consumer confidence dropped sharply in January.
▪ Violent incidents such as kidnapping and sabotage dropped sharply last year.
▪ The limits are imposed after futures prices drop sharply.
fall
▪ Yet the jobless rate is falling sharply.
▪ After that, volumes were expected to fall sharply.
▪ Eurotunnel shares fell sharply following revelations of spiralling costs.
▪ The Potomac was clean again, a haven for windsurfers, and certain airborne pollutants had fallen sharply.
▪ Bombay: Prices fell sharply for the second day running.
▪ In late morning trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell sharply, down 115.09 at 10,380.19.
▪ Individual contributions fell sharply in the recession of the early 1980s.
▪ Never let sharply falling markets discourage you from investing.
increase
▪ Since then extra-marital conceptions have increased sharply while all conceptions, and all births, have fallen.
▪ Meanwhile, drug use among children increased sharply after more than a decade of decline.
▪ But the number of suburban areas deemed in need of extra government aid has increased sharply.
▪ And now we discover that only the emotion of anger in election campaigns increases sharply with education.
▪ In these cases, shift increases by up to 1Å and Xdisp also increases sharply.
▪ Thomas said the program is successful and already had increased sharply the number of people intending to buy a Nissan this year.
▪ By last year it had risen to 28 %, and the numbers have increased sharply in recent months.
▪ Admission to inpatient status of children and adolescents has increased sharply in recent years.
look
▪ Gabriel looked sharply in their direction.
▪ In her hands she carried two things that made Creusa, in all her preoccupation, start and look sharply at them.
▪ He had caught her looking sharply at him when she thought he wouldn't notice.
▪ Jean looked sharply at her, but she must have been mistaken.
move
▪ It was also during this period that his political ideas began moving sharply to the right.
▪ The value of the option will likely rise if the Ecu begins to move sharply in one direction or the other.
▪ And then anger took its place, and she moved sharply across to her bed and rang the bell.
▪ In the past the yaw damper has occasionally moved sharply, causing abrupt plane movements.
▪ A neat step-over by Rocastle sent Thomas hurtling in on goal but Rhodes moved sharply off his line to smother the shot.
▪ Bedwyr moved sharply, and his horse flung up its head against my restraining hand.
react
▪ Critics of the reforms reacted sharply last night.
reduce
▪ Expenditures will reduce sharply during 1993 as several developments are completed and as obligations are reduced as a result of asset sales.
▪ Long-term research projects within companies will most likely be abandoned altogether or sharply reduced.
▪ The use of molecular markers will sharply reduce or even eliminate field trials.
▪ Though sharply reduced in the last couple of years, federal budget deficits continue.
▪ It has sharply reduced the growth of Medicaid and taken away much of a special tax break now given the working poor.
▪ This was followed by a long expansion and sharply reduced inflation.
▪ The Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse is sharply reducing its longstanding role as a military contractor in order to strengthen ties to the entertainment industry.
▪ In a world of deflation the pressure to act is sharply reduced.
rise
▪ The importance attached to every other issue rose sharply when the campaign opened but the importance attached to defence hardly changed.
▪ Meanwhile, stock prices of several investment banking firms rose sharply Thursday.
▪ The share of total sterling lending to the private sector-households and businesses - has risen sharply.
▪ The frequency of talking politics rises sharply from the primary to the secondary to the university levels in all five countries.
▪ It has risen sharply in real terms, as the hon. Gentleman knows only too well.
▪ At least eight storm-related deaths were reported late last night and the toll was expected to rise sharply.
▪ But in tests for 11-year-olds standards have risen sharply.
▪ If prospects for a deal dim, investors worry that long-term interest rates will rise sharply.
speak
▪ Mrs Taxos spoke sharply and Meg scrambled all anyhow on to the warm fur back and gripped the springy mane.
▪ He has spoken sharply to Mr Dach about it and has received his assurance that such a thing will never happen again.
▪ Each word was distinctly, carefully and sharply spoken.
▪ The coroner spoke sharply to Wells, asking him about his statement and why he had not followed it up.
▪ I didn't mean to speak sharply.
▪ If we'd raised our hand to them, or even spoken sharply, they'd all have had instant heart attacks.
▪ She spoke sharply, and her niece saw that she was upset for some reason.
▪ One or two people spoke sharply to him as he elbowed and trod on feet.
turn
▪ It turned sharply, giving panoramic views over the valley, but fell away beyond the wildflowers into nothingness.
▪ Mount Tarumae rose on the left as the train began to turn sharply inland, towards Sapporo on the Chitose Line.
▪ He turned sharply, looking back to where the sleeping Balor lay.
▪ He turned sharply, saw her, dropped his hands.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ sharply rising prices
▪ Opinion is sharply divided in the local community.
▪ Our sales declined sharply in the last quarter.
▪ The White House reacted sharply to the accusations of improper deals.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As a result, in many countries, the wage gap between lowly and highly skilled workers has widened sharply.
▪ But the ratio would then fall sharply in the second and third decades of the twenty-first century.
▪ He has spoken sharply to Mr Dach about it and has received his assurance that such a thing will never happen again.
▪ However, households also paid sharply more for some items they bought every few days, such as gasoline and dairy products.
▪ In the morning, he sharply criticized Jones for maverick marketing policies and accused him of trying to tear down the league.
▪ The rich colour came to her cheeks at the daring thoughts and she caught her breath sharply.
▪ What is needed is a couple of examples to bring out the difference sharply.
▪ When Gore was the Democratic front-runner for the presidential election, his satellite drew a sharply mixed reaction.