Example sentences of "be at best [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | There are many sincere souls who find the idea of God becoming a human to be at best implausible , and at worst blasphemous . |
| 2 | In the last of these veins , Harman acknowledges , ‘ The problem , on the surface at least , is the persistence , the seriousness , with which an intelligence of this order employs devices that seem to be at best witty and at worst trivial . ’ |
| 3 | Empirical therapy with class I antiarrhythmic drugs ( quinidine , procainamide , disopyramide ) was once widely practised but has been shown to be at best ineffective and at worst dangerous . |
| 4 | Even if all these animals were buried on-farm , the long term environmental consequences would be at best uncertain " . |
| 5 | In these dialect-divergent studies ( J. Milroy , 1981 ; Johnston , 1983 ; Newbrook , 1986 ) , however , it is the linguistic analysis that is the greatest immediate challenge facing the investigator : if we do not investigate the internal linguistic structure of the speech community itself , the sociolinguistic interpretation of the data will be at best superficial , and , at worst , wrong . |
| 6 | But the whole concept of past-life regression was thought to be at best unbelievable and at worst as some form of dabbling in an area which would be better left unexplored . |
| 7 | Various attempts were made to increase the sales and advertising revenue of the two party papers , though the measures taken were at best mere palliatives . |
| 8 | One must also stress that there is an insidious tendency to assume that once the population figures had reached their lowest point , their subsequent recovery was continuous ; surviving evidence , however , suggests the contrary : that periods of rising population were at best intermittent and liable to sudden check from new epidemics . |
| 9 | Palatine status was restricted to former Scottish territory , where Gloucester 's chances of carving out a significant holding for himself were at best uncertain . |
| 10 | Palatine status was restricted to former Scottish territory , where Gloucester 's chances of carving out a significant holding for himself were at best uncertain . |
| 11 | The peasantry were at best apathetic , at worst downright hostile . |
| 12 | Although the floors were at best concrete or opus signinum , most internal wall surfaces were covered in conventionally-ornamented painted plaster . |
| 13 | Clive had to have them , because the competition did , but since the benefits were at best indirect he had to come up with the idea of asking the students from each country to get together and prepare a ‘ typical national dish ’ . |
| 14 | Numerically both the Poles and the Kaszubians were declining ; socially they were at best second-class citizens . |
| 15 | Against such a background of hopelessness , compounded by living circumstances which were at best dreary and unstimulating for patients and staff alike , and at worst a contravention of basic human rights and dignity , individuals had no opportunity to develop any other picture of themselves . |
| 16 | The virgin lands of America were cleared with fire and axe , as in the middle ages ; explosives for removing tree-stumps were at best ancillary . |
| 17 | But what they produced were at best permanent monuments of erudition on which we still draw , and at worst giant-sized pamphlets which are now read , if at all , only for their interest as literature . |
| 18 | The wages of even the skilled were at best modest . |
| 19 | On the other hand , rumours , both printed and whispered , that HP is getting ready to bolt to the SVR4 camp , perhaps for the desktop with Destiny , are at best premature . |
| 20 | The Scottish Office proposals to publish the information as part of a policy to tell parents more about schools are at best valueless and at worst dangerous , the committee says . |
| 21 | If it has rights they are at best analogical ones . |
| 22 | However the ‘ correct ’ economic policies are at best subjective and in any case other political considerations frequently come into play . |
| 23 | This latter category may form the raw material or foundation for comparisons , but such studies are to be regarded as preparatory , rather than being fully comparative , since the questions asked of the data are at best implicit and few analytical statements are drawn from them . |
| 24 | However , as explanations of the nature of political intervention or development of the party they are at best partial , not least because problems over the boundaries of labourism and its location within working-class culture are not addressed . |
| 25 | With record repossession figures , house prices that are at best static , and interest rates still uncomfortably high , the property-owning democracy is going through a rough period . |
| 26 | The IMF has therefore taken fright at the thought that with the economy still in recession , the Government 's tax revenues are at best static , while spending on unemployment benefit and income supplements are rising in line with the unemployment figures , and the deficit on the Chancellor 's own admission is set to reach £37 billion this financial year and £44 billion next . |
| 27 | These , Hilton says , putting the over-enthusiastic followers of Rolle 's spirituality into perspective , are at best outward tokens of an inner grace . |
| 28 | Aspirin is the oldest and best known NSAI : some argue that the benefits of its newer rivals are at best doubtful . |
| 29 | The biggest challenge facing the city is to create a dynamic economy in the ex-socialist eastern districts , where unemployment is exploding , and where pay levels are at best 60 per cent of those in the west — sometimes little more than a third . |
| 30 | Stories brought back from gynaecological examinations and procedures carried out by male doctors are at best disturbing , at worst horrifying . |