precious seconds/minutes/hours/time We cannot afford to waste precious time.
planes delivering precious supplies of medicine and food
our planet’s precious resources
2) rare and worth a lot of money
precious gem/stone/jewel a statue covered with precious jewels
1) a multitude of somebody/something (formal) or (literary) a very large number of people or things
I had never seen such a multitude of stars before.
a multitude of possible interpretations
in‧ter‧pre‧ta‧tion W2 AC
/ɪnˌtɜːprˈteɪʆn $ -ɜːr-/noun [C,U]
1) the way in which someone explains or understands an event, information, someone’s actions etc
One possible interpretation is that they want you to resign.
It’s difficult to put an accurate interpretation on (=explain) the survey results.
What exactly the author meant by that statement is open to interpretation (=able to be understood or explained in different ways) .
2) the way in which someone performs a play, a piece of music etc and shows what they think and feel about it
Laurence Olivier’s brilliant interpretation of Henry V
man‧u‧al1 AC /ˈmænjuəl/ adjective
1) manual work involves using your hands or your physical strength rather than your mind SYN blue-collar manual job/labour/worker etc low-paid manual jobs
People in manual occupations have a lower life expectancy.
2) operated or done by hand or without the help of electricity, computers etc OPP automatic a manual typewriter
a five-speed manual gearbox
It would take too long to do a manual search of all the data.
3) relating to how well you use your hands to make or do things
No great manual dexterity (=skill in using your hands) is required to perform the technique.
manual2 AC noun [C]
1) a book that gives instructions about how to do something, especially how to use a machine
instruction/training/reference etc manual
Consult the computer manual if you have a problem.
a user manual
2) on manualif a machine is on manual, it can only be operated by hand and not AUTOMATICALLY
de‧tract /dɪˈtrækt/ verb
detract from something phrasal verb [not in progressive] to make something seem less good OPP enhance One mistake is not going to detract from your achievement.
in‧tru‧sive /ɪnˈtruːsɪv/ adjective
affecting someone’s private life or interrupting them in an unwanted and annoying way
They found the television cameras too intrusive.