I.nounCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a code word (=a secret word you must know to get information, access etc)
▪ UMBRA was the code word for top secret information.
a key word (=an important or useful word)
▪ Once you know the key words, you can make your own sentence.
a word of advicespoken (= used when advising someone what to do )
▪ A word of advice: look at the small print in the contract very carefully.
a word of comfort
▪ He tried to find some words of comfort that would help her.
a word of warning (=used before telling someone to be careful about something)
▪ A word of warning: don’t use too much glue.
a word processing program (=one that you use for writing documents)
▪ All word processing programs can check your spelling.
a word/page count (=of how many words or pages there are)
▪ Your computer can do an automatic word count.
ambiguously worded
▪ The legislation had been ambiguously worded.
at a loss for words (=unable to think what to say)
▪ He seemed, for once, at a loss for words.
break your word (=break your promise)
▪ I’ve promised to do it and I never break my word.
cautionary note/comment/words etc
▪ Most observers were optimistic, yet some sounded a cautionary note.
chose...words
▪ He chose his words carefully as he spoke.
closing remarks/words/ceremony etc
▪ The judge gave his closing speech to the jury.
code word
▪ ‘Lively discussion’ is a code word for ‘arguing’.
cuss word
dirty word
▪ She looked at me as if I had said a dirty word.
don’t believe a word of it (=I think it is completely untrue)
▪ I don’t believe a word of it.
doubt...word (=think that he is lying)
▪ I have no reason to doubt his word.
emotive issue/subject/word etc
▪ Child abuse is an emotive subject.
four-letter word
function word
go back on your word/promise/decision
▪ Delors claimed that the President had gone back on his word.
good with words (=skilful at using words)
▪ As a politician, you need to be good with words.
harsh words (=severe criticism)
▪ He had harsh words for the Government.
have/find a good word (to say)
▪ No one had a good word to say for her.
keep your word/promise
▪ How do I know you’ll keep your word?
kind words
▪ We thanked the priest for his kind words.
linking word
news/word spreads
▪ As news of his death spread, his army disintegrated.
picking...words (=choosing what to say)
▪ Russell spoke slowly, picking his words very carefully.
portmanteau word
put in a good word
▪ Dan put in a good word for you at the meeting.
put sth into words (=say what you are feeling or thinking)
▪ She couldn’t put her feelings into words.
say some words
▪ She stopped abruptly, suddenly afraid to say the words aloud.
sb's word of honour (=a promise based on strong moral beliefs)
▪ I give you my word of honour that you will not be harmed.
sb’s exact words (=the words someone actually said)
▪ Try to remember his exact words – it’s very important.
slang word/expression/term
slur your words/speech
▪ She was slurring her words as if she was drunk.
solemn word
▪ I’ll never be unfaithful again. I give you my solemn word.
spread the news/the word
▪ He has been spreading the word about ways to beat heart disease.
stick to...word
▪ It looks as if Nick will stick to his word this time.
stuck for words (=did not know what to say)
▪ For once Anthony was stuck for words.
stumped for words/an answer/a reply
▪ Travis seemed absolutely stumped for words.
swear word
take sb’s word for it/take it from sb (=accept that what someone says is true)
▪ That’s the truth – take it from me.
the exact wording (=the words that were used in a letter, speech, etc, with nothing changed)
▪ What was the exact wording of the message?
the printed word (=words that are printed on paper)
▪ As a newspaper publisher he understood the power of the printed word.
the word of God (=what God says)
▪ Missionaries traveled the world to tell people the word of God.
twist...words
▪ He’s always trying to twist my words and make me look bad.
uttering...word
▪ Cantor nodded without uttering a word.
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.
war of words
weasel word
well-chosen words
▪ He encouraged us with a few well-chosen words.
word blindness
word processor
▪ Most reports are produced on a word processor.
words cannot express sth (=it is impossible to describe something)
▪ Words can’t express how much I miss her.
words of approval
▪ a mother’s words of approval
words of encouragement (=the things you say to someone as encouragement)
▪ The rest of the team shouted out words of encouragement.
words of praise
▪ She still had some words of praise for her ex-husband’s wit and charm.
words of wisdom
▪ You can always expect a few words of wisdom from Dave.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
final
▪ He surely could not have known that in spite of his final words.
▪ These final words make clear that Zampano has jettisoned his one remaining tie to the human race: his sense of need.
▪ Scarsone, however, got the final word, following up with a two-run homer to left.
▪ One final word on buying components, keep your eyes peeled for products that are about to be discontinued.
▪ But the irrepressible Saunders had the final word in the first half.
▪ It is usual for an interviewer to show the candidate to the door with a few final words.
▪ In Lord Jim there is no final word.
other
▪ In other words, they as pupils are not living fully in accordance with the official school rhetoric.
▪ In other words, we are our own worst enemy.
▪ In other words, they needed release from stress, and occupational therapy.
▪ In other words, money supply growth is the main cause of inflation.
▪ It was equally important to outshine everyone else around me - in other words, to achieve at the expense of others.
▪ In other words the principal carer's preference is very strongly associated with where the sufferer is living one year after referral.
▪ In other words, we learn to fulfill the demands of social living without personal resentment.
▪ Life, in other words, had returned to normal.
right
▪ Tristan's arrival had prevented her and she would never have found the right words to accompany the gift in any case.
▪ In fact, the morale of the crew was very high, if morale was the right word.
▪ He found it difficult to pick the right words.
▪ Well, morality is not the right word, but you know what I mean.
▪ That is exactly the right word.
▪ With just the right word, glance or smile, they played the game just like he did.
▪ Smell wasn't the right word, nor was scent or perfume, nor yet aroma.
▪ Mrs Cigans has listened to me on the bus and told me they are the right words.
single
▪ Stephen did not speak at all until he was seven and even now at 15 only answers questions with a single word.
▪ Stephen didn't say a single word.
▪ Any small dictionary will provide an ample fund for single word technique.
▪ On observation it was clear that she had a marked language delay and could say only two or three clear single words.
▪ And then there was this shout, this single word, this name.
▪ Prefer the single word to the circumlocution. 4.
▪ At the top was a faded blue-painted door with the single word, Studio, emblazoned upon it in plain black lettering.
spoken
▪ But the power of X-Clan is not the spoken word.
▪ In cases of conduction aphasia, comprehension of spoken words and simple spoken sentences can be intact.
▪ The spoken word, after all, only becomes history when it is recorded.
▪ By the time the talking was over, the hearings had generated over nine million spoken words.
▪ One item which is becoming more significant is powers of communication - both spoken and written word.
▪ The spoken word must be heard clearly.
▪ Large halls ideal for music can be too reverberant for the spoken word.
written
▪ If you want your hand written words of wisdom saved for posterity use quality paper and permanent ink.
▪ But literacy and the written word do have a part to play.
▪ The medium of transmission is human influence of various kinds, the spoken and written word, personal example and so on.
▪ I was containing the threats in written words: I was taking control.
▪ In addition to publications, there are written words for films, video tapes, sound recordings, and for information used in broadcasting.
▪ It need not be confined to the written word - symbols such as the swastika, and other offensive images will suffice.
▪ Rules have developed restricting the admissibility of evidence other than the written words of the contract.
▪ Not only visual representation, but the written word, too, is not free of imperialism.
■ NOUN
processing
▪ The simplest form of electronic publishing is word processing with a typographic style of output; office publishing, if you will.
▪ Two years later, Acme decides to obtain some new computers and a more powerful word processing program.
▪ Training on word processing is useful to edit precedents, alter work outside office hours and to type confidential memos.
▪ Meanwhile June Fox is spending the Dons she earns teaching word processing on the services of an osteopath.
▪ A word processing program also has different types of memory.
▪ This could include word processing, a database, case management and optical character recognition.
▪ The major benefit of a word processing program is the flexibility it offers the user in amending documents.
▪ Harwood Personnel is based on Q&A, the database and word processing system.
processor
▪ This might well be the word processor that puts WordStar right back on the map in the word processor stakes.
▪ Things get worse when you spend a lot of time with text-intensive programs such as word processors or spreadsheets.
▪ Such pupils should be enabled to produce their written work on a word processor or concept keyboard.
▪ I now e-mail my lessons and files to school, then simply open them into a word processor.
▪ It is possible to specify the various style elements within the word processor file so making the document generation process almost automatic.
▪ Could we find a better deal on word processors?
▪ For some years I have been thinking of buying a word processor but have not yet taken the plunge.
▪ So she pushed herself, sometimes writing longhand, sometimes on a word processor.
■ VERB
choose
▪ However, the draftsman should choose his words with care.
▪ Your editor should ask for your opinions, why you chose certain words or decided to include or omit information.
▪ He listens attentively as questions are translated, chooses words carefully and dismisses several questions as too sensitive.
▪ Her carefully chosen words, and Hattie Crews's personal insight, moved the membership.
▪ No. 12 Choose a particular key word.
▪ He chose words from a special communications program and fashioned them into sentences.
▪ I hope that I chose my words with some care.
▪ Under her page boy haircut, her brow is knit; she tries to choose her words carefully.
exchange
▪ He sat with Sir Harold for a while, but they exchanged few words.
▪ He was silent, and they walked on a few yards without exchanging a word.
▪ She smiled, and exchanged a few words with him; then others came to say farewell.
▪ Without exchanging a word we lengthened our strides, splashing through puddles, and made for the door.
▪ The man was Magnus Olesen, and he and Muus did not exchange three words all afternoon.
▪ We didn't exchange a word, or even a glance.
▪ He and I exchanged sharp words when he informed me that the hamster would have to undergo the rabies test.
hear
▪ Ask the students to tell you what they think of when they hear the word slide.
▪ Desperately, she waited to hear the words.
▪ No one knows when or how Harrison first heard word of the longitude prize.
▪ She sat sadly, in her old camel coat and her feathered hat, hearing the words.
▪ When I heard the word goons, it became no longer a matter of romance but a war of wills.
▪ She wants to be off anyway - I've heard her screaming the words along the landing.
▪ Everything was still until they all heard the hidden word in the picture.
mark
▪ But he is a much younger man, going places, mark my words.
▪ The parts of speech are syntactic as well as verbal because they mark the way words are used in sentences.
▪ Livin' with a man, mark my words.
▪ Yet it's Donne scholar Vivian Bearing who should mark the poet's words as she approaches death.
▪ The railway will come at least as far as Witney, you mark my words.
▪ Move the cursor to the name Edison and press Alt-F5 5 Enter to mark the word as a heading.
▪ Just you mark my words, he says, the Worm Will Turn.
▪ Press Alt-F5 5 Enter to mark the words as a heading. 11.
read
▪ What other kind of lexical sub-system might be accessed when one reads a word aloud?
▪ If he survived the war and should ever read these words, I hope he may resume contact after nearly fifty years.
▪ When Yoyo was done, she read over her words, and her eyes filled.
▪ She asked the stewardess for a magazine and religiously read every word until they reached their first destination.
▪ I can read the notes and words as I sing.
▪ Encourage the child to read the words under the illustrations.
▪ At that time, I could not see or read the words.
speak
▪ Seized for a moment by the power of prophesy, Caledor spoke words that would ring down the ages.
▪ Does she read as if she knows that each spoken word is represented by a clump of letters?
▪ I knew she knew me, though she never spoke word, never, night-long.
▪ But he could speak the words.
▪ Salisbury, Butler and Macmillan spoke kind words.
▪ Hal could do this when necessary, but most of his communication with his shipmates was by means of the spoken word.
▪ Actions can speak louder than words How you act at work gives certain messages to all the people you work with.
▪ After retrieving the chalice she sat at a table in her living room and began to speak the words.
spread
▪ Then, to help it develop, we spread the word.
▪ He spread the word to his fellow monks, who experimented with other ways to consume the berries.
▪ The use of the new printing technology helped in spreading the word.
▪ I welcomed the opportunity to spread the word and to broaden my knowledge about management approaches in the private sector.
▪ Paitoni is determined to spread the good word.
▪ Members of Boston's crew weren't the only ones who helped spread the word.
▪ You will help spread the word, won't you?
▪ Additionally, the Internet is helping spread the word about the Dvorak layout far wider and faster than was previously possible.
understand
▪ At first Jane could hardly understand a word Mervyn said, but he was too good-humoured to be offended.
▪ It became clear to them that she had understood their every word.
▪ Neither of them understood the words but the music represented all that was fair and just.
▪ The learner will come to understand the word.
▪ I could understand every word she said.
▪ She may not understand the words, but the feelings are unmistakable.
▪ But in time, when you live with other eagles, you learn to understand them without words.
▪ Again, your child may not understand all your words.
use
▪ It is not like grammar which defines how we should use words.
▪ Weiser uses the example of words.
▪ I had never used the word malai in her hearing; now I'd applied it to her.
▪ Compared to pidgins, a proper language can convey such complicated concepts using relatively few words.
▪ He had used the word quite automatically.
▪ The prediction: Some one from the Cowboys or Steelers will use a four-letter word during a live locker-room interview.
▪ She gave orders to the Trapper using words neither Marian nor Allen understood.
▪ That is, he uses words to tell you he likes the juice, but not the milk.
utter
▪ Gimmelmann hadn't uttered a word during dinner.
▪ The boy had lived here for weeks without uttering such words.
▪ In fact, I challenge Prescott to utter 16 words on any subject without making an utter fool of himself.
▪ Cantor was barely able to utter this single word, so full of suspense, desire, triumph, and some deviousness.
▪ As for the unemployment issue, I have never, never, uttered one word about this sensitive and intensely sad situation.
▪ Their father has not uttered a word since he arrived two days ago.
▪ The Princess - looking very thin again - merely toyed with her food and hardly uttered a word during the hour-long trip.
▪ It does not even protect a man from an injunction against uttering words that may have all the effect of force.
write
▪ She was an idiot, coming apart at the seams, and she hadn't written a word.
▪ The course involves very little writing, except for words and phrases the students must scribble in the blanks on the pages.
▪ The Bad ` Un's strategy is to prevent the written word from becoming food for hungry souls.
▪ Even readers whose knowledge of the written word comes from cereal boxes are familiar with metaphors using battlefields and quicksand.
▪ However, it is useful for the patient to practise writing words, so a typewriter or word-processor can be the answer.
▪ And while you may not swear or shout aloud, your writing slows, words dropping stiff and stilted.
▪ Remember here that some people do not like seeing you write down their words for it interrupts their flow of thought.
▪ And as I write these words I am not even sure I would really want to.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(just) say the word
▪ Both of them said the word on the same downbeat, which made them burst into laughter at how hilarious they sounded.
▪ He could not bring himself to say the words, so great was his terror of plague.
▪ If there's anything I can do, you've only got to say the word.
▪ No one was actually prepared to say the word revolution-the one word in their vocabulary softened by success.
▪ The last team then has to say the word they had in mind.
▪ When the language helper says the words in a frame he will say them more naturally.
▪ When the truth was devastating, no wonder physicians avoided saying the words and patients refused to accept them.
(the word) failure/guilt/compromise etc is not in sb's vocabulary
(there's) many a true word spoken in jest
(you) mark my words!
▪ Mark my words, that relationship won't last.
a few choice words/phrases
▪ Meyer had a few choice words for federal bureaucrats after an error listed him as deceased.
▪ And he also had a few choice words about my means of protecting myself.
▪ Or has rapper Puff been on the blower from New York with a few choice words?
a good word for sb/sth
▪ He put in a good word for him at meetings of the Jockey Club.
▪ No, beaming would be a better word for it.
▪ Poky would have been a good word for it, or dingy.
▪ Yes, maybe that was a good word for St Andrews.
a man of few words
▪ He was a man of few words except when he mounted the stage to recite his poetry.
▪ Bill Templeman was a man of few words.
▪ Blitherdick, usually a man of few words, had become lachrymose about Blenkinsop's enjoyment of a good wine.
▪ He had a clear scientific mind but was self-effacing, modest, and a man of few words.
▪ He was a man of few words but many graphic gestures.
▪ He was a man of few words in any case, Maggie noted.
▪ I am therefore a man of few words and I have been very brief throughout my professional career.
a man of his word
▪ He was a man of his word, and I had great respect for his intellect.
▪ But Dan is a man of his word.
▪ Crazy Horse was a man of his word and was furious at the duplicity of the white man....
▪ He was, as much as was possible in a world where the buck was almighty, a man of his word.
actions speak louder than words
▪ As ever, though, actions speak louder than words.
▪ In any event the user's opinion of a product is reflected in the standard achieved so actions speak louder than words.
▪ In the kitchen, actions speak louder than words.
▪ On this playing field, actions speak louder than words.
bandy words (with sb)
▪ Voice over Here it's a virtue to have no belief in what you say, bandying words is an admired skill.
▪ We can not bandy words with Nature, or deal with her as we deal with persons.
be a household name/word
▪ Apple computers became a household word in the late '80s.
▪ He was the first Aboriginal to have mastered a western mode of painting and by 1940 his was a household name.
▪ His was a household name when the craze for stereoscopic views was fashionable.
▪ However, a number are household names; the obvious examples are the Severn and the Thames.
▪ I won't tell you who she is because the name is a household word.
▪ It sold world-wide, was a household name, and had virtually no competition.
▪ Its heroes are household names and millions of pounds are at stake when it is staged.
▪ Of course, her name was a household word.
▪ Plus, it's not as if the Barn Burners, Helm's current band, is a household name.
be as good as your word
▪ The President promised to lower income taxes, and he's been as good as his word.
be lost for words
▪ For once in her life, she was lost for words, and uncertain of her argumentative ground.
▪ He was lost for words at the time, and had to apologise and thank the donors later in private.
be the last word in sth
▪ It's the last word in luxury resorts.
▪ But if airships were the last word in luxury then the penultimate word belonged to the flying boat.
▪ It may be the last word in consumer issues but it has never been available on news stands.
▪ Needless to say, this is not going to be the last word in the debate between the constructivists and the nativists.
▪ Sandy Lyle at the new club which is the last word in luxury golfing.
▪ With its 700-feet-long façade and 600-feet-long porte cochère, it is the last word in grandiose monumentalism.
carefully/clearly/strongly etc worded
▪ A strongly worded White House statement on March 7 had appealed for international support in stopping the operation of the Rabta plant.
▪ His criticisms have become so predictable and strongly worded that they are counter-productive.
▪ In a carefully worded address, Wyman argued the paradoxical facts.
▪ In a strongly worded letter this week to several dozen television stations, Rep.
▪ On the eve of the talks, the two sides had exchanged strongly worded statements on the issue.
▪ Once again, the agency sent a strongly worded warning letter, but took no punitive action.
▪ Pete Wilson yesterday, drawing a strongly worded veto but defining the battle lines after months of debate and anguished decisions.
▪ The agreement was carefully worded to give some satisfaction to both parties.
clip your words
eat your words
▪ I never thought Clare would be any good at this job, but I've had to eat my words.
▪ They think we can't compete with them - I'll make them eat their words.
▪ When Tottenham went to the top of the league early in the season, people said it wouldn't last. They have had to eat their words.
▪ Anthony Troon, eat your words!
▪ But Sun will have to eat its words and may have to declare a product like its News windowing system dead.
▪ I reply, eating my words as I speak them.
▪ It is now time, however, that I eat my words.
▪ Lugh was going to fool Medoc very neatly, and they would all eat their words.
▪ So let the Review Board eat its words, when I win the annual all-industry award for originality.
▪ Some day they will eat their words.
▪ We check out a sound card that will make them eat their words - the Laserwave Plus.
empty words/gestures/promises etc
▪ Hadn't he said that to express it would be just empty words?
▪ He expected her to trust him, but as far as she could see they were just empty words.
▪ He listens politely, then makes plausible but essentially empty gestures.
▪ I tried to make choices, but wound up with empty gestures.
▪ These are not empty words and phrases, but principles given powerful institutional sanction.
▪ This is the circus of empty promises and dry press releases that are part and parcel of meetings like these.
▪ To all these petitions the Crown returned empty promises of redress.
exchange words/looks etc (with sb)
▪ He and Kemp pound down the stairway, exchanging words.
▪ Hughes exchanged words with umpire Steve Randell after a confident appeal against Richie Richardson was turned down when he was on 47.
▪ I would hear the women exchange words with Miss Fingerstop.
▪ Linda buried herself in the crowd, exchanging words with this one and that and heading for the bar.
▪ Nurses busily went up and down, sometimes pausing to exchange words and careless laughter.
▪ The patients loved it and several laughed out loud at her antics, while Martha and Yvonne exchanged looks of glee.
▪ They exchanged looks full of sadness, as if they had both lost something.
▪ They exchanged words, not all of which appeared to be in jest.
famous last words
▪ So he said, with those famous last words, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."
fighting words/talk
▪ And we need to warn them that the words they are using can very easily become fighting words.
▪ It sounds like good fighting talk but, beyond the active birth arena, I wonder how accurate a picture it represents.
▪ Today in the 1980s many Christians don't like this fighting talk.
▪ Where I come from that's fighting talk.
for want of a better word/phrase etc
▪ Just horses and ploughs and, for want of a better word, peasants.
▪ Now, hands are, well, handed for want of a better word.
form of words
▪ It is an attempt to find a form of words around which people of different views can unite.
▪ Not only is the subject unknown but the form of words is probably unfamiliar too.
▪ Other forms of words instilled into the young are also present.
▪ Regular inflected forms of words are not given their own specific dictionary definitions.
▪ The draftsman employed several different forms of words to achieve this result.
▪ You need to know what will be said and a suitable, accurate form of words should be specifically agreed.
hang on sb's words/every word
▪ And the children of Elvis did hang on his every word.
▪ As a result, you find yourself hanging on to every word and gesture.
▪ We weren't all hanging on your every word anyway, even back then.
have a quiet word (with sb)
▪ When all they needed to do was lift up the phone and have a quiet word.
in other words
▪ "Well, Randy's not quite ready to make a decision yet." "So, in other words, we have to wait, right?"
▪ He prides himself on his powers of persuasion -- or, in other words, his salesmanship.
▪ The books and materials are kept on closed access, in other words available only to the library staff.
▪ The tax only affects people on incomes over $200,000 - in other words, the very rich.
▪ This is supposed to be a democracy - in other words, one person one vote.
▪ What we need is a more sustainable transport system, in other words, more buses and trains, and fewer cars.
▪ An entrepreneur, in other words, uses resources in new ways to maximize productivity and effectiveness.
▪ At the beginning of the twentieth century, in other words, the hour of reform had not yet struck.
▪ It insists, in other words, that they must treat as law what conventions stipulates is law.
▪ Not a literary artist, in other words.
▪ Their utilitarian contribution to our welfare should not, in other words, be our criterion as to whether they survive or not.
▪ They signify, in other words, that everything is gift.
▪ What the king did, in other words, was to use the assembly to defuse trouble in the provinces.
▪ Why, in other words, should we want to get true beliefs rather than false ones?
magic number/word
▪ The Maharishi's followers say that 7000 is a magic number.
▪ Al knew at once that he had heard A very secret magic word.
▪ Bacon could argue that Antichrist would invoke stellar influences and magic words having the power to produce physical effects.
▪ Charles would capture one of the boys and only release him if he said the magic word.
▪ For Geteles and others, potential was the magic word, the answer to all the talk about standards.
▪ If that magic number is reached, the deal becomes an international treaty.
▪ Once a patient has his magic number, does it have any effect?
▪ The magic words had been uttered.
▪ This is done by listening to a tape and writing on your application form a magic number.
manage a few words/a smile etc
mum's the word
my word is my bond
not a solitary word/thing etc
▪ His father had not spoken a single word to him, just followed him around the house, not a solitary word.
not breathe a word
▪ You've got to promise not to breathe a word to anyone.
▪ He did not breathe a word.
not have a bad word to say about/against sb
not mince (your) words
▪ Helmut didn't mince any words in his criticism of the department.
▪ Blue does not mince words, however.
▪ Let's not mince words, Cathal Coughlan is the most compulsively watchable frontman in Britain today.
▪ That was the great thing about country music, it did not mince words.
play on words
▪ But most of all, children laugh at jokes that are a play on words.
▪ In this chapter, I hope to show that these distinctions are important and not merely a play on words.
▪ None the less the play on words is there in the text, and is appropriate.
▪ Perhaps the best solution is to see the place as a play on words.
▪ Some scholars believe that Matthew is making a play on words and that the original word was Nezer.
▪ Such, at least, is the suggestion of that play on words.
▪ This was a play on words.
▪ With Abraham's and Sarah's laughter the storyteller is indulging in another play on words.
play with words/language
▪ But why shouldn't feminists play with language for political ends?
▪ Children learn vocabulary from talking, reading, writing, and from playing with words.
▪ Recognising this, some feminists have used the alternative strategy of deliberately playing with words rather than attempting straightforwardly to redefine them.
▪ Rhymesters, poets, writers, and jokers of all kinds - and their audiences - have always loved playing with words.
▪ She was given to playing with words in that way.
▪ Young children play with language, trying out sounds before they start experimenting with words.
rumour/legend/word has it
▪ After all, stranger things have happened: legend has it that the hooked burrs of plants inspired the invention of Velcro.
▪ And rumour has it that the big-name band will be outrageous rockers Guns N' Roses.
▪ But word has it that the Tucson Symphony is taking over the building sometime in mid-December.
▪ His name is cited in the four gospels. Legend has it that he obtained the holy grail from the last supper.
▪ It started with a cross placed along the railroad tracks, where legend has it that he was lynched.
▪ Pass the spliff, mon. Word has it the band is compelling as hell in person.
▪ This was initiated, so legend has it, when the lavatories were out of order.
▪ Turn right to the Cerne Giant viewing point. Legend has it that a real giant terrorised the locals.
sb's word is law
send word
▪ Finally he sent word that he was ready for her to come and marry him.
▪ He sent word, but never sent for them.
▪ He had sent word to Eochaid, and the gates opened.
▪ He operates from Southern California and sends words of hope and encouragement worldwide.
▪ Jody sends word for the bus to take the girls back to the Hyatt hotel.
▪ Minu sent word that I should stay with her in Ghanerao.
▪ The Lord of the Manor had sent word that he wished to see the players.
▪ When Lee learned what the Federals were doing, he sent word for his scattered columns to converge west of Gettysburg.
sth is a dirty word
string words/a sentence together
▪ Female speaker I can say the odd word, but I can't string a sentence together yet.
the magic word
▪ Charles would capture one of the boys and only release him if he said the magic word.
▪ Even the magic word processor can not solve the problem of afterthoughts, which are likely to alter a complete structure.
▪ For Geteles and others, potential was the magic word, the answer to all the talk about standards.
▪ That was the secret, the magic word which would open all the doors.
▪ They can only mean the magic word - Connie!
the operative word
▪ He's a kind of amateur psychologist, and amateur is the operative word here.
▪ Edgy is the operative word here.
▪ Fast, by the way, is the operative word.
▪ I was madly - and that's the operative word - head over heels in lust.
▪ The word liberty is the operative word.
▪ There are now programs on the market that can almost read as well as humans - almost being the operative word, of course.
the spoken word
▪ But the power of X-Clan is not the spoken word.
▪ During secondary education, the use of the spoken word increases.
▪ Hal could do this when necessary, but most of his communication with his shipmates was by means of the spoken word.
▪ He showed a little smile, as if only the spoken word might perk his interest.
▪ Large halls ideal for music can be too reverberant for the spoken word.
▪ Other symptoms of dyslexia can include difficulty in writing, calculating or even understanding the spoken word.
▪ The most important bias of dictionaries is to the written rather than the spoken word.
the written word
▪ Millions of illiterate Americans do not have access to the written word.
▪ But literacy and the written word do have a part to play.
▪ Even readers whose knowledge of the written word comes from cereal boxes are familiar with metaphors using battlefields and quicksand.
▪ In fact, the 1959 Act has worked to secure a very large measure of freedom in Britain for the written word.
▪ Not only visual representation, but the written word, too, is not free of imperialism.
▪ The direct experience of oral communication was displaced by the second-hand experience of the written word.
▪ They record thoughts which apparently, at some moment in time, seemed worthy of the written word.
▪ Without the help of the written word, film and videotape can not portray temporal dimensions with any precision.
▪ WordPerfect word processing software handles both the written word and graphic interpretation with ease.
true to your word/principles etc
▪ A man true to his word.
▪ But true to his word, before I left, my uncle gave me help.
▪ Jim, true to his word, may be the man to fix it after all.
▪ Otto had been true to his word and left out for me a pair of boy's shorts.
▪ The captain was true to his word.
▪ The Characters A young girl: Lazy but true to her word.
▪ We have been true to our word and true to our mission because of your skill and professionalism.
umbrella term/word/title etc
▪ This is an umbrella term, used widely and well understood in an educational context.
▪ We use mime as an umbrella term for all the art forms.
weigh your words
▪ He began to weigh his words with great care, struggling to express himself as economically and clearly as possible.
your word of honour
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ 'Casa' is the Italian word for 'house'.
▪ Are there any words in the passage that you don't understand?
▪ I don't know all the words to the song.
▪ In 500 words or less, write down why you want the scholarship.
▪ Is 'lunchtime' one word or two?
▪ Look up any words you don't know in a dictionary.
▪ On the word "go" I want you to start running.
▪ The word 'origami' comes from Japanese.
▪ What's another word for 'way out'?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ However, he appreciated the cathartic nature of expressing himself through the written word.
▪ In fact different groups of people see the world in different ways and develop words for their concepts.
▪ It is obvious that Matson is a poet, if only for her precise word choice.
▪ It seems only fair to allow Wordsworth the last word.
▪ It was too calculated a word to describe what had happened between them.
▪ On 4 May it was played through an Auxetophone to the diners so they could all hear his words.
▪ The word was before them, the fire ran through the brushwood.
II.verbCOLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
carefully
▪ The agreement was carefully worded to give some satisfaction to both parties.
▪ In a carefully worded address, Wyman argued the paradoxical facts.
▪ In the prisoners' case, letters to the authorities should be worded carefully and courteously.
strongly
▪ A strongly worded White House statement on March 7 had appealed for international support in stopping the operation of the Rabta plant.
▪ Once again, the agency sent a strongly worded warning letter, but took no punitive action.
▪ Pete Wilson yesterday, drawing a strongly worded veto but defining the battle lines after months of debate and anguished decisions.
▪ In a strongly worded letter this week to several dozen television stations, Rep.
vaguely
▪ A final warning ought not to be worded vaguely.
▪ But he said the order was vaguely worded.
■ NOUN
letter
▪ To imagine the wording of the letter to the magazine describing my own disappearance.
▪ Once again, the agency sent a strongly worded warning letter, but took no punitive action.
▪ In a strongly worded letter this week to several dozen television stations, Rep.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(the word) failure/guilt/compromise etc is not in sb's vocabulary
(there's) many a true word spoken in jest
a few choice words/phrases
▪ Meyer had a few choice words for federal bureaucrats after an error listed him as deceased.
▪ And he also had a few choice words about my means of protecting myself.
▪ Or has rapper Puff been on the blower from New York with a few choice words?
a good word for sb/sth
▪ He put in a good word for him at meetings of the Jockey Club.
▪ No, beaming would be a better word for it.
▪ Poky would have been a good word for it, or dingy.
▪ Yes, maybe that was a good word for St Andrews.
a man of few words
▪ He was a man of few words except when he mounted the stage to recite his poetry.
▪ Bill Templeman was a man of few words.
▪ Blitherdick, usually a man of few words, had become lachrymose about Blenkinsop's enjoyment of a good wine.
▪ He had a clear scientific mind but was self-effacing, modest, and a man of few words.
▪ He was a man of few words but many graphic gestures.
▪ He was a man of few words in any case, Maggie noted.
▪ I am therefore a man of few words and I have been very brief throughout my professional career.
a man of his word
▪ He was a man of his word, and I had great respect for his intellect.
▪ But Dan is a man of his word.
▪ Crazy Horse was a man of his word and was furious at the duplicity of the white man....
▪ He was, as much as was possible in a world where the buck was almighty, a man of his word.
actions speak louder than words
▪ As ever, though, actions speak louder than words.
▪ In any event the user's opinion of a product is reflected in the standard achieved so actions speak louder than words.
▪ In the kitchen, actions speak louder than words.
▪ On this playing field, actions speak louder than words.
be a household name/word
▪ Apple computers became a household word in the late '80s.
▪ He was the first Aboriginal to have mastered a western mode of painting and by 1940 his was a household name.
▪ His was a household name when the craze for stereoscopic views was fashionable.
▪ However, a number are household names; the obvious examples are the Severn and the Thames.
▪ I won't tell you who she is because the name is a household word.
▪ It sold world-wide, was a household name, and had virtually no competition.
▪ Its heroes are household names and millions of pounds are at stake when it is staged.
▪ Of course, her name was a household word.
▪ Plus, it's not as if the Barn Burners, Helm's current band, is a household name.
be as good as your word
▪ The President promised to lower income taxes, and he's been as good as his word.
be lost for words
▪ For once in her life, she was lost for words, and uncertain of her argumentative ground.
▪ He was lost for words at the time, and had to apologise and thank the donors later in private.
be the last word in sth
▪ It's the last word in luxury resorts.
▪ But if airships were the last word in luxury then the penultimate word belonged to the flying boat.
▪ It may be the last word in consumer issues but it has never been available on news stands.
▪ Needless to say, this is not going to be the last word in the debate between the constructivists and the nativists.
▪ Sandy Lyle at the new club which is the last word in luxury golfing.
▪ With its 700-feet-long façade and 600-feet-long porte cochère, it is the last word in grandiose monumentalism.
carefully/clearly/strongly etc worded
▪ A strongly worded White House statement on March 7 had appealed for international support in stopping the operation of the Rabta plant.
▪ His criticisms have become so predictable and strongly worded that they are counter-productive.
▪ In a carefully worded address, Wyman argued the paradoxical facts.
▪ In a strongly worded letter this week to several dozen television stations, Rep.
▪ On the eve of the talks, the two sides had exchanged strongly worded statements on the issue.
▪ Once again, the agency sent a strongly worded warning letter, but took no punitive action.
▪ Pete Wilson yesterday, drawing a strongly worded veto but defining the battle lines after months of debate and anguished decisions.
▪ The agreement was carefully worded to give some satisfaction to both parties.
empty words/gestures/promises etc
▪ Hadn't he said that to express it would be just empty words?
▪ He expected her to trust him, but as far as she could see they were just empty words.
▪ He listens politely, then makes plausible but essentially empty gestures.
▪ I tried to make choices, but wound up with empty gestures.
▪ These are not empty words and phrases, but principles given powerful institutional sanction.
▪ This is the circus of empty promises and dry press releases that are part and parcel of meetings like these.
▪ To all these petitions the Crown returned empty promises of redress.
famous last words
▪ So he said, with those famous last words, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."
for want of a better word/phrase etc
▪ Just horses and ploughs and, for want of a better word, peasants.
▪ Now, hands are, well, handed for want of a better word.
form of words
▪ It is an attempt to find a form of words around which people of different views can unite.
▪ Not only is the subject unknown but the form of words is probably unfamiliar too.
▪ Other forms of words instilled into the young are also present.
▪ Regular inflected forms of words are not given their own specific dictionary definitions.
▪ The draftsman employed several different forms of words to achieve this result.
▪ You need to know what will be said and a suitable, accurate form of words should be specifically agreed.
have a quiet word (with sb)
▪ When all they needed to do was lift up the phone and have a quiet word.
in other words
▪ "Well, Randy's not quite ready to make a decision yet." "So, in other words, we have to wait, right?"
▪ He prides himself on his powers of persuasion -- or, in other words, his salesmanship.
▪ The books and materials are kept on closed access, in other words available only to the library staff.
▪ The tax only affects people on incomes over $200,000 - in other words, the very rich.
▪ This is supposed to be a democracy - in other words, one person one vote.
▪ What we need is a more sustainable transport system, in other words, more buses and trains, and fewer cars.
▪ An entrepreneur, in other words, uses resources in new ways to maximize productivity and effectiveness.
▪ At the beginning of the twentieth century, in other words, the hour of reform had not yet struck.
▪ It insists, in other words, that they must treat as law what conventions stipulates is law.
▪ Not a literary artist, in other words.
▪ Their utilitarian contribution to our welfare should not, in other words, be our criterion as to whether they survive or not.
▪ They signify, in other words, that everything is gift.
▪ What the king did, in other words, was to use the assembly to defuse trouble in the provinces.
▪ Why, in other words, should we want to get true beliefs rather than false ones?
magic number/word
▪ The Maharishi's followers say that 7000 is a magic number.
▪ Al knew at once that he had heard A very secret magic word.
▪ Bacon could argue that Antichrist would invoke stellar influences and magic words having the power to produce physical effects.
▪ Charles would capture one of the boys and only release him if he said the magic word.
▪ For Geteles and others, potential was the magic word, the answer to all the talk about standards.
▪ If that magic number is reached, the deal becomes an international treaty.
▪ Once a patient has his magic number, does it have any effect?
▪ The magic words had been uttered.
▪ This is done by listening to a tape and writing on your application form a magic number.
mum's the word
my word is my bond
not a solitary word/thing etc
▪ His father had not spoken a single word to him, just followed him around the house, not a solitary word.
not have a bad word to say about/against sb
play on words
▪ But most of all, children laugh at jokes that are a play on words.
▪ In this chapter, I hope to show that these distinctions are important and not merely a play on words.
▪ None the less the play on words is there in the text, and is appropriate.
▪ Perhaps the best solution is to see the place as a play on words.
▪ Some scholars believe that Matthew is making a play on words and that the original word was Nezer.
▪ Such, at least, is the suggestion of that play on words.
▪ This was a play on words.
▪ With Abraham's and Sarah's laughter the storyteller is indulging in another play on words.
sb's word is law
sth is a dirty word
the magic word
▪ Charles would capture one of the boys and only release him if he said the magic word.
▪ Even the magic word processor can not solve the problem of afterthoughts, which are likely to alter a complete structure.
▪ For Geteles and others, potential was the magic word, the answer to all the talk about standards.
▪ That was the secret, the magic word which would open all the doors.
▪ They can only mean the magic word - Connie!
the operative word
▪ He's a kind of amateur psychologist, and amateur is the operative word here.
▪ Edgy is the operative word here.
▪ Fast, by the way, is the operative word.
▪ I was madly - and that's the operative word - head over heels in lust.
▪ The word liberty is the operative word.
▪ There are now programs on the market that can almost read as well as humans - almost being the operative word, of course.
the spoken word
▪ But the power of X-Clan is not the spoken word.
▪ During secondary education, the use of the spoken word increases.
▪ Hal could do this when necessary, but most of his communication with his shipmates was by means of the spoken word.
▪ He showed a little smile, as if only the spoken word might perk his interest.
▪ Large halls ideal for music can be too reverberant for the spoken word.
▪ Other symptoms of dyslexia can include difficulty in writing, calculating or even understanding the spoken word.
▪ The most important bias of dictionaries is to the written rather than the spoken word.
the written word
▪ Millions of illiterate Americans do not have access to the written word.
▪ But literacy and the written word do have a part to play.
▪ Even readers whose knowledge of the written word comes from cereal boxes are familiar with metaphors using battlefields and quicksand.
▪ In fact, the 1959 Act has worked to secure a very large measure of freedom in Britain for the written word.
▪ Not only visual representation, but the written word, too, is not free of imperialism.
▪ The direct experience of oral communication was displaced by the second-hand experience of the written word.
▪ They record thoughts which apparently, at some moment in time, seemed worthy of the written word.
▪ Without the help of the written word, film and videotape can not portray temporal dimensions with any precision.
▪ WordPerfect word processing software handles both the written word and graphic interpretation with ease.
true to your word/principles etc
▪ A man true to his word.
▪ But true to his word, before I left, my uncle gave me help.
▪ Jim, true to his word, may be the man to fix it after all.
▪ Otto had been true to his word and left out for me a pair of boy's shorts.
▪ The captain was true to his word.
▪ The Characters A young girl: Lazy but true to her word.
▪ We have been true to our word and true to our mission because of your skill and professionalism.
umbrella term/word/title etc
▪ This is an umbrella term, used widely and well understood in an educational context.
▪ We use mime as an umbrella term for all the art forms.
your word of honour
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Let me word the question a little differently.