Questions tagged [phrase-request]
This tag is for questions seeking a phrase that fits a meaning. If you are looking for a word, or don't care, see the "word-request" tag too.
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How do I Americanize "Fat lot of good X will do you"?
I learned British English, but I work exclusively with Americans. I'll often say "Fat lot of good X did for us", and I get confused looks from others. For example, the other day, I said &...
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Is the phrase "a sense of feeling" correct?
For example if you say:
Do you have a sense of feeling that you are better than everyone?
Is the above sentence correct? if yes, what does the word sense mean in this context?
Thank you!
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What is a noun that expresses a loud noise caused by strong air pressure puffing out?
There is a truck tire exploded by its air pressure in it. That causes a loud noise.
Is it correct to say "I heard a (loud) puff/pop coming from the parked truck"?
What is a noun that ...
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What do you call the decimal part of a decimal?
What do you call the decimal part of a decimal? Is it "decimal values"?
3.14159
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1
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How do we express naturally a thing that is used not a clean one?
There are 2 cloths on the table: one is clean and one is used.
The used one is not too dirty as I have used it to wipe his hand. I want to damp a cloth and wipe my counter with it. So, it is ...
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What is the natural expression saying that we get some air in the mouth so that we could breathe under the water longer?
When people want to stay in water longer, they often open their mouths and store some air in the mouths so that they can breathe longer under water.
Is it natural to say "take a sip of air so ...
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1
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What's another word for a square?
Cambridge Dictionary says this definition of square is old-fashioned:
a boring person who does not like new and exciting ideas.
Then, what's another non-old-fashioned word or phrase for it?
...
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5
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Is it natural to say "put out your hand to say no"?
Do we have a specific verb to express the action of the woman in the picture above?
I can list some phrases:
-Hold out your hand to say no
-put up your hand to say no
-put out your hand to say no
-...
- 21.6k
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2
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Do we say "the crowd gave him a round of boos"?
In the dictionary
round of applause/cheers
a short period during which people show their approval of
somebody/something by clapping
There was a great round of applause when the dance ended.
it seems ...
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What do you call an undergrad student who completed his degree?
I'm trying to write the following sentence correctly:
X is a graduated undergraduate student from my same undergraduate university.
I hope you get the gist. X is a student who completed his ...
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what's the expression for an argument that is not easy to talk on as it's likely to offend someone
I used the phrase 'slippery slope' to mention such an argument that is not easy to talk on because it's not possible to say a word without offending someone. Later I noticed that 'slippery slope' was ...
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What do you call this kind of wrinkles on clothes for decoration?
On some clothes, there are added wrinkle details for decoration, like in the picture below.
What do you call this kind of wrinkles on clothes for decoration?
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Do we have a preposition meaning "divided by" the same way the preposition "times" meaning "multiplied by"?
"multiply" is a verb and "multiplied" is an adjective while "times" (meaning "multiplied by") is a preposition
We say
"2 multiplied by 4 is/equals 8" ...
- 21.6k
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1
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Is it correct to say "My sense of taste got changed when I have Covid 19"? [closed]
Currently, I have Covid 19.
On the day I started to feel the symptom, I ate some braised meat in the afternoon and it tasted ok, but on the evening of the same day, the same braised meat tasted really ...
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Is there a common idiom to express the idea: "if you blame your wife once, then you should blame yourself ten times"?
A wife and a husband don't get along well with each other.
One day, the husband puts a pack of pills (that was half-used) on the kitchen counter while cleaning the kitchen. The wife thought the pack ...
- 21.6k
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Is an electric kick scooter still a kick scooter (even though you don't have to kick)?
Is an electric kick scooter still a kick scooter (even though you don't have to kick)? What would you call it?
The distinction between "kick scooters" and simply "scooters" is ...
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How to express the meaning of "less close to each other"
By "such activities", I mean leisure activities like going out to dinner with friends. I remember that I learned somewhere that "alienated" implies mental conflicts. But here I ...
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What do you call a reply or comment that shows great quick wit?
In daily communications or under an online video, there may be a reply or a comment that shows great quick wit. It can be playful or not. For example, someone encounters an embarrassing situation, but ...
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How to describe a situation where someone is prone to missing a simple error after spending too much time on something
What would be a phrase or an idiom for a situation where somebody spent too much time looking at something or thinking about something or otherwise spent too much time on a problem or in certain ...
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What is the opposite of "She turned him down" in spoken language?
turn somebody/something down: means "to reject or refuse to consider an offer, a proposal, etc. or the person who makes it"
What is the opposite of "She turned him down" or &...
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What do you call an episode that is not closely related to the main plot?
In some TV shows, in order to develop a character, there may be some episodes that are not closely related to the main story, e.g., an episode of the background story of a supporting character ...
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Is it correct to say "the child was so into the game that he forgot to do things"?
I remembered I asked this question before but I couldn't find it.
A child is playing a game and he liked it so much that he forgot to go for a pee and he peed his pants.
I remembered "Kate ...
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What do you call dough with fat?
What do you call dough with fat (as opposed to bread dough or noodle dough)? In Russian, we call it "сдобное тесто". It may contain things like butter, margarine, eggs, vegetable oil. I ...
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"Good day" in modern AmE
The phrase "Good day" used in old-fashioned English, as a greeting or when one was going to say goodbye during the day.
Perhaps it is still in common use in Australian English though.
I am ...
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Is it correct to say "Mike delegated his customers to Mary"?
Look at this situation.
Mike and Mary works in a same company they are salespeople and noone has higher rank than the other.
Mike has some Chinese customers who can not speak English. However, Mary ...
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2
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Can "elastic" be used for candy or food?
Normally, we use "elastic" for materials such as rubber.
What is the common word for candy that can be bent or stretched easily like jelly?
We can say "jelly candy", but there are ...
- 21.6k
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What do you call those posters eye doctors use to test your eyesight? [closed]
What do you call those posters eye doctors use to test your eyesight?
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"temporal scope" is to time as X is to area?
A statement which is temporally scoped implies that the statement stands only in that timepoint or between that time interval.
What should I use if I want to express that the statement holds only in a ...
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Is it correct to say "he wrote a note of 'Mom, we are out of milk'"?
A note is "a short piece of writing to help you remember something".
I expect dictionaries will have some examples using the noun "note" with direct quote but they have none.
We ...
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When you meet an overseas colleague whom you've been contacting only via email
Let's say this is the first time you meet a certain colleague of the overseas branch in person, but you have been already communicating with them only via email several times for the past two years. ...
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Seeking synonyms for "prices move in step" or "prices move in unison"
I am looking for synonym expressions to say "prices move in step" or "prices move in unison".
The number of "prices" mentioned in the above examples are indefinite, but ...
user163195
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How do you describe someone who does not eat those food they dislikes?
Some people can be very picky about food, they may not eat any of the food they dislike. How do you describe this type of people except picky eaters?
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Can we use the verb "milk" with humans, for example, "The mom milked her breast / herself by machine"?
In the dictionary,
milk something: to take milk from a cow, goat, etc.
So, we often use the verb "milk" with animals
Can we use the verb "milk" with humans?
For example, The mom ...
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1
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How do we express a vehicle on a lane moves in a wrong direction?
A street might have 2 opposite flows of traffic. It is divided into 2 halves or 2 lanes. One half/lane allows traffic to move one direction and the other half/lane allows traffic to move the opposite ...
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2
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What do you call a certain picture in a movie or a music video?
In The Shawshank Redemption, there is such a picture of Norton looking
What do you call this kind of picture depicting certain people or things in a movie or a music video? Is it a shot, a scene or ...
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What is the American equivalent of "I called my mom to ask after her"?
In British English, "to ask after" mean "to say that you would like to know how somebody is, what they are doing, if they are well etc.".
Say, Mary lives far away from her mom and ...
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How do you express the idea that someone drives (rides) their car (bike) in the opposite direction?
Suppose that in the US, where right-hand traffic is the practice, someone is driving on the left-hand side of the road while they should be on the right-hand side.
How do you describe this kind of ...
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Is "in part" a counterpart of "in full" as in "They refunded my money in full/in part"?
I often hear people say "The shop refunded my money in full".
How to say that "a shop refunded my money partially"?
Can we say "The shop refunded my money in part"?
But ...
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What do you call a person that is both kind and evil?
Every now and then, we could read in news that an 'always-warm-hearted' man is actually a murderer. For another example, a great contributor in stackexchange who has devoted himself/herself to the ...
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Is the verb "hook" a movement verb?
See the word "hook" in the dictionary
hook 2 ●○○ verb [transitive]
1 FISH to catch a fish with a hook
I hooked a 20-pound salmon last week.
2 FASTEN [always + adverb/preposition] to fasten ...
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What do you call a 'quick' marriage?
If a couple get married shortly after they met each other and get divorced not long after their marriage. What do you call their marriage? Or how do you describe this situation?
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Is it natural to say someone excels in his class? [closed]
If Tom is a top student in his class, can I say 'Tom excels in his class'? Are there other alternatives?
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What do you call a guess that is not based on knowledge or experience?
Suppose that someone guessed something correctly, but it's totally a guess, he knew nothing about it. What do you call this guess? Is it natural to say a blind guess?
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How do you express the idea that someone is getting worse and worse grades in their tests/exams?
Let's say William is performing worse and worse in his tests/exams recently, how do you describe this situation? Is it natural to use the word 'regress'?
William is regressing in his studies.
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How does one say that someone pours some drink on another guy?
Image two people A and B are talking in a bar or somewhere else. A says something that hurts B. B gets angry and suddenly holds forward his\her wine glass so that the drink in the glass splashes on A'...
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Can we say "The fire alarm is going off" to express the state of making sound?
We say “the fan is on” to express its current state.
and “the fan suddenly went on” to express an action.
Normally we use the simple past tense for an action because it happened.
if I say “the fan is ...
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What is a word that express the quality of a person thinking his thing is missing but it is just right next to him?
My child is looking for a pencil case in her heap of toys.
She screams "where is my pencil case?" and then throws a tantrum.
I come to the heap and immediately see the pencil case almost ...
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Is the fake ice cream on top of an ice cream truck called an "ice cream figure"?
My daughter looked at the above picture and she said "a truck with a fake ice cream on its head".
What is it called?
Is it called "an ice cream figure"?
I am not sure because it ...
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Do we say "a bar of staples"?
We say a bar of chocolate.
Do we call it "a bar of staples" as shown in the above picture?
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They're mine as long as I come by latest Friday
I only reserved the tickets, but they're mine as long as I come by latest Friday.
Hi. How do I express in a natural way that my deadline to pick up the tickets is Friday? 'Cause I'm pretty sure "...
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