word-vault

{ "term": "story", "partOfSpeech": "noun", "ox3000": true, "cefr": "a1", "definitions": [ { "senseNumber": 1, "definition": "a description of events and people that the writer or speaker has invented in order to entertain people", "sensetop": "story about somebody/somethingstory of somebody/somethingin the story", "labels": "(US English)", "cefr": "a1", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "a tragic **love story**" }, { "text": "adventure/detective stories" }, { "text": "a **bedtime story**" }, { "text": "Shall I **tell you a story**?" }, { "text": "He **read** the children **a story**." }, { "text": "She writes poems and stories for children." }, { "text": "a story about time travel", "contextForm": "story about somebody/something" }, { "text": "The book tells the story of a man who leads a double life.", "contextForm": "story of somebody/something" }, { "text": "What are the key events in the story?", "contextForm": "in the story" }, { "text": "I always read the children a bedtime story." }, { "text": "a collection of stories by modern writers" }, { "text": "The story is set in India in the 1930s." }, { "text": "The story opens with a man hiding from the police under a woman's skirt." }, { "text": "The motives of the hero become clearer as the story unfolds." }, { "text": "My dad sometimes read me a story at bedtime." }, { "text": "The book contains stories from all over the world." }, { "text": "Who was the story written by?" }, { "text": "The play tells the story of a young woman called Rosa." }, { "text": "The simple moral of the story is that dreams will come true if you work hard." }, { "text": "The story ended tragically." } ], "topics": ["Literature and writing"], "collocations": { "adjective": ["true", "plausible", "false"], "… of stories": ["collection"], "verb + story": ["hear", "read (somebody)", "write"], "story + verb": ["circulate", "go around", "go round"], "story + noun": ["teller", "telling", "line"], "preposition": ["according to a/the story", "story about", "story of"], "phrases": [ "a fragment of a/the story", "a part of a/the story", "the rest of the story" ] } }, { "senseNumber": 2, "definition": "the series of events in a book, film, play, etc.", "cefr": "a2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "Her novels always have the same basic story." }, { "text": "The screenplay sticks to the original story." }, { "text": "The character's central **story arc** involves a difficult choice between love and duty." }, { "text": "The film lacks a coherent story." }, { "text": "The film is the rags-to-riches story of a country girl who becomes a famous singer." }, { "text": "The film tells the improbable story of a monkey that becomes a politician." } ] }, { "senseNumber": 3, "definition": "an account of past events or of how something has developed", "sensetop": "story of something/somebodystory behind something/somebody", "cefr": "a2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "The film is based on a **true story**." }, { "text": "to recount/relate a story" }, { "text": "He told us the story of his life.", "contextForm": "story of something/somebody" }, { "text": "the story of the Beatles" }, { "text": "the story of the building of the bridge" }, { "text": "Every piece of art has an interesting story behind it.", "contextForm": "story behind something/somebody" }, { "text": "the epic story of a family's escape from war" }, { "text": "the familiar story of a star who turns to drink and drugs" }, { "text": "The story of jazz is the story of modern America." }, { "text": "The real story is much more interesting than the film version." }, { "text": "There are different versions of her story." } ], "collocations": { "adjective": ["true", "plausible", "false"], "… of stories": ["collection"], "verb + story": ["hear", "read (somebody)", "write"], "story + verb": ["circulate", "go around", "go round"], "story + noun": ["teller", "telling", "line"], "preposition": ["according to a/the story", "story about", "story of"], "phrases": [ "a fragment of a/the story", "a part of a/the story", "the rest of the story" ] } }, { "senseNumber": 4, "definition": "an account, often spoken, of what happened to somebody or of how something happened", "sensetop": "story about something/somebodystory of something/somebody", "cefr": "b1", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "The police didn't believe her story." }, { "text": "I suspected he hadn't told us **the whole story**." }, { "text": "It was many years before **the full story** was made public." }, { "text": "The students were asked to **share their stories**." }, { "text": "We must stick to our story about the accident.", "contextForm": "story about something/somebody" }, { "text": "We all **hear stories** about young people leaving the countryside." }, { "text": "It's a story of courage.", "contextForm": "story of something/somebody" }, { "text": "I can't decide until I've heard **both sides of the story**." }, { "text": "Many years later I returned to Africa but **that's another story** *(= I am not going to talk about it now)*." }, { "text": "‘How come you've only got one shoe on?’ ‘It's a long story.’" }, { "text": "A story was going around that the factory was in line for closure." }, { "text": "According to Rachel's version of the story, they threw the key in the river." }, { "text": "At first he denied everything, but then he changed his story and said it was an accident." }, { "text": "She told the police a false story about being attacked." }, { "text": "Stories abound of vandalism and looting." }, { "text": "There is one popular story in the town of a man-eating cat that lives in the forest." }, { "text": "We had difficulty in piecing together the fragments of her story." }, { "text": "We swapped stories about our worst teachers." }, { "text": "lurid stories of politicians' sexual adventures" }, { "text": "scare stories about the harmful effects of the vaccination" }, { "text": "the story of his arrest" }, { "text": "He's been spreading malicious stories about you." }, { "text": "His life was a sorry story of betrayal and rejection." }, { "text": "The moral of this story is that you should never take things for granted." }, { "text": "The official story was that the singer had broken his arm falling in the shower." }, { "text": "The teacher punished me without listening to my side of the story." }, { "text": "This story illustrates the dangers of living on credit." }, { "text": "What's the story on the trial?" }, { "text": "All of them had an interesting story to tell." }, { "text": "Answers can take any form from personal stories to poems." } ], "collocations": { "adjective": ["true", "plausible", "false"], "… of stories": ["collection"], "verb + story": ["hear", "read (somebody)", "write"], "story + verb": ["circulate", "go around", "go round"], "story + noun": ["teller", "telling", "line"], "preposition": ["according to a/the story", "story about", "story of"], "phrases": [ "a fragment of a/the story", "a part of a/the story", "the rest of the story" ] } }, { "senseNumber": 5, "definition": "a report in a newspaper, magazine or news broadcast", "cefr": "b1", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "a front-page story" }, { "text": "Now for a summary of tonight's main **news stories**." }, { "text": "Let's check the **top stories** right now." }, { "text": "the two **biggest stories** of the day" }, { "text": "He was **covering the story** for the ‘Glasgow Herald’." }, { "text": "We'll have more on this breaking story as developments come in to us." }, { "text": "The story broke in January." }, { "text": "The New York Times broke the story and others picked it up." }, { "text": "We will continue to follow this story and bring you the latest developments." }, { "text": "The magazine chose the peace process as its cover story." }, { "text": "The magazine gives the inside story of life in a rock band." }, { "text": "The biggest story of the day was the signing of the peace agreement." }, { "text": "National Geographic ran a feature story on dinosaurs." }, { "text": "More than one correspondent filed a story about the incident." }, { "text": "He's covering the story in Gaza for CNN." }, { "text": "Full story on page 3." }, { "text": "Every newspaper carried the story." }, { "text": "And now back to our top story tonight…" }, { "text": "This interview may be the biggest story of his career." }, { "text": "No newspaper would publish the story." }, { "text": "Le Monde ran the story on the front page." } ], "topics": ["TV, radio and news"], "collocations": { "adjective": ["big", "huge", "top"], "verb + story": ["file", "write", "carry"], "story + verb": ["break"], "preposition": ["story about", "story of"] } }, { "senseNumber": 6, "definition": "something that somebody says which is not true", "labels": "(informal)", "examples": [ { "text": "She knew the child had been **telling stories** again." } ] }, { "senseNumber": 7, "definition": "a level of a building; a floor", "labels": "(US English)British English", "examples": [] }, { "senseNumber": null, "definition": "used to show that you do not believe what somebody has said", "labels": "(informal, ironic)", "examples": [ { "text": "You just found it lying in the street? A likely story!" }, { "text": "He said he'd met Rihanna. A likely story." } ] }, { "senseNumber": null, "definition": "used when you are saying that you will get to the point of what you are saying quickly, without including all the details", "labels": "(informal)", "examples": [ { "text": "To cut a long story short, we didn’t get home until 3 in the morning!" }, { "text": "Anyway, long story short: we had this argument and I haven't seen him since." } ] }, { "senseNumber": null, "definition": "what usually happens", "examples": [ { "text": "It's the same old story of a badly managed project with inadequate funding." } ] }, { "senseNumber": null, "definition": "to tell somebody a story or make an excuse that is not true", "labels": "(informal)", "examples": [] }, { "senseNumber": null, "definition": "used to describe something that people are saying although it may not be correct", "examples": [ { "text": "She never saw him again—or so the story goes." }, { "text": "The story goes that this castle was founded by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa." } ] }, { "senseNumber": null, "definition": "to give some information that is different from what you expect or have been told", "examples": [ { "text": "These drugs are widely believed to be effective medications. The data, however, tell a different story." } ] }, { "senseNumber": null, "definition": "to explain itself, without needing any further explanation or comment", "examples": [ { "text": "Her face told its own story." } ] }, { "senseNumber": null, "definition": "when you say that’s the story of my life about a bad experience you have had, you mean you have had many similar experiences", "labels": "(informal)", "examples": [ { "text": "Another missed opportunity—that’s the story of my life!" }, { "text": "Out of work with no money—that's the story of my life." } ] } ], "pronunciations": { "uk": [ { "pronunciation": "/ˈstɔːri/", "audio": "st/story/story__gb_1.mp3" } ], "us": [ { "pronunciation": "/ˈstɔːri/", "audio": "st/story/story__us_1.mp3" } ] }, "wordOrigin": "Middle English (denoting a historical account or representation): shortening of Anglo-Norman French estorie, from Latin historia from Greek historia ‘finding out, narrative, history’, from histōr ‘learned, wise man’, from an Indo-European root shared by wit ‘have knowledge’." }