Example sentences of "[adj] at the best of times " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | I 'm not sure that a radial-arm saw is accurate enough for this at the best of times , but , at the moment , mine rattles up and down its rails like a train in the sidings , and is definitely not fit for the job . |
| 2 | There were clearly changes occurring , and the borderlines between social classes , never very clear at the best of times , were probably less precise than they had been before the First World War — though class barriers were by no means collapsing in the real world of health , education and social opportunity . |
| 3 | I did my ‘ let's invade Poland ’ impersonation , which is n't very funny at the best of times . |
| 4 | Finding a lone man amid open ocean is doubtful at the best of times , and we had just been through the densest fog bank either one of us had ever experienced . |
| 5 | CASWELL is n't very stealthy at the best of times : stand him within ten feet of a fragile object and he 'll break it just by looking at it . |
| 6 | Change is uncomfortable at the best of times and the patient is discomforted . |
| 7 | What with their incapacity to move onto proper City jobs , even occasionally to jobs in their own industry , it is no wonder that employees of many licensed dealers , temperamental at the best of times , were often driven to drink . |
| 8 | If Gould could be hyperactive and despotic at the best of times , how much more demanding must he have been in preparing for this journey of a lifetime . |
| 9 | Negotiating the Magic Roundabout in Swindon can be hair-raising at the best of times … for a Reliant Robin driver , it 's like dicing with death . |
| 10 | Negotiating the Magic Roundabout in Swindon can be hair-raising at the best of times … for a Reliant Robin driver , it 's like dicing with death . |
| 11 | Relations between Lang and Salmond are not good at the best of times but , given that the SNP had been in the same lobby as the Government the night before , it might have been expected that Lang would have been at least polite . |
| 12 | In fact Polanski , unconventional at the best of times , takes us to the limit — and beyond . |
| 13 | Memory was mischievously selective at the best of times Trivia stuck limpet-like and the useful filtered away . |
| 14 | Since he was inclined to be dyspeptic at the best of times , no one was greatly surprised , unless perhaps at the severity of this attack . |
| 15 | She did look ill , and Tippy looked rough at the best of times . |
| 16 | This is hazardous at the best of times , using a crane and the natural motion of the sea to lock and unlock the mexeflote cells . |
| 17 | Mother Bombie 's joints , stiff at the best of times , even after an internal oiling with home brew , seized up completely . |
| 18 | He was in no state to break such news to a woman like Mrs Browning whose sensibilities were tender at the best of times . |
| 19 | But the Lab oratory , lit by rows of fluorescent lights and with its low ceiling , was stuffy and ill-ventilated , and this afternoon the central heating , unreliable at the best of times , had concentrated all its efforts on the top of the building . |
| 20 | It is difficult at the best of times to persuade consumers to try a new product , but when it is more expensive than rump steak the problem is exacerbated , particularly when one of the undeniable attractions of vegetarianism is that it is such a cheap alternative to eating meat . |
| 21 | Unfortunately these conditions also much reduced their rate of march and they got only as far as Polmood , for they were now in the high uplands of the infant Tweed and the going difficult at the best of times . |
| 22 | It is difficult at the best of times , however , to distinguish the sexes , and only of academic interest once stung . |
| 23 | They can be a bit thick at the best of times , ; you know that amphora you sent me ? well my lot only went and peed in it — I have to go now , Tony 's coming for his Osso Buco . |
| 24 | A panel full of increment/decrement wheels and pads can be confusing at the best of times , but in the heat of the moment the effect on a performance can prove more than negative — it can be destructive . |
| 25 | Slow , badly coordinated vector graphics are awful at the best of times , but when they 're trying to convey the scintillating action of such a classic film their inadequacy is more poignant . |
| 26 | ‘ Pretty chequered at the best of times . |
| 27 | But back in LA , the tension between illusion and reality — taut at the best of times — has finally snapped . |
| 28 | He is not bright at the best of times . |
| 29 | It was horrible at the best of times , but on Saturdays it was worse . |