li ght|ning bug (lightning bugs ) N‑COUNT A lightning bug is a type of beetle that produces light from its body. [AM ]
li ght|ning con|duc|tor (lightning conductors ) N‑COUNT A lightning conductor is a long thin piece of metal on top of a building that attracts lightning and allows it to reach the ground safely. [BRIT ] in AM, use lightning rod
li ght|ning rod (lightning rods )
1 N‑COUNT A lightning rod is the same as a lightning conductor . [AM ]
2 PHRASE If you say that someone is a lightning rod for something, you mean that they attract that thing to themselves. [AM ] □ He is a lightning rod for controversy.
li ght|ning strike (lightning strikes ) N‑COUNT A lightning strike is a strike in which workers stop work suddenly and without any warning, in order to protest about something. [BRIT ] □ Bank staff are to stage a series of lightning strikes in a dispute over staffing.
light|ship /la I tʃ I p/ (lightships ) N‑COUNT A lightship is a small ship that stays in one place and has a powerful flashing lamp. Lightships are used to guide ships or to warn them of danger.
light|weight /la I twe I t/ (lightweights ) also light-weight
1 ADJ [usu ADJ n] Something that is lightweight weighs less than most other things of the same type. □ …lightweight denim. □ The company manufactures a range of innovative light-weight cycles.
2 N‑UNCOUNT [usu N n] Lightweight is a category in some sports, such as boxing, judo, or rowing, based on the weight of the athlete. □ By the age of sixteen he was the junior lightweight champion of Poland. ● N‑COUNT A lightweight is a person who is in the lightweight category in a particular sport.
3 N‑COUNT If you describe someone as a lightweight , you are critical of them because you think that they are not very important or skilful in a particular area of activity. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ Hill considered Sam a lightweight, a real amateur. ● ADJ Lightweight is also an adjective. □ Some of the discussion in the book is lightweight and unconvincing.
li ght year (light years )
1 N‑COUNT A light year is the distance that light travels in a year. □ …a star system millions of light years away.
2 N‑COUNT [usu pl] You can say that two things are light years apart to emphasize a very great difference or a very long distance or period of time between them. [INFORMAL , EMPHASIS ] □ She says the French education system is light years ahead of the English one.
lik|able /la I kəb ə l/ → see likeable
like
➊ PREPOSITION AND CONJUNCTION USES
➋ VERB USES
➌ NOUN USES AND PHRASES
➊ like ◆◆◆ /la I k, la I k/ (likes )
1 PREP If you say that one person or thing is like another, you mean that they share some of the same qualities or features. □ He looks like Father Christmas. □ Kathy is a great mate, we are like sisters. □ It's nothing like what happened in the mid-Seventies. □ This is just like old times. □ …a mountain shaped like a reclining woman.
2 PREP If you talk about what something or someone is like , you are talking about their qualities or features. □ What was Bulgaria like? □ What did she look like? □ What was it like growing up in Costa Rica?
3 PREP You can use like to introduce an example of the set of things or people that you have just mentioned. □ The neglect that large cities like New York have received over the past 12 years is tremendous. □ He could say things like, 'Let's go to the car' or 'Let us go for a walk' in French.
4 PREP You can use like to say that someone or something is in the same situation as another person or thing. □ It also moved those who, like me, are too young to have lived through the war.
5 PREP If you say that someone is behaving like something or someone else, you mean that they are behaving in a way that is typical of that kind of thing or person. Like is used in this way in many fixed expressions, for example to cry like a baby and to watch someone like a hawk . □ I was shaking all over, trembling like a leaf. □ Greenfield was behaving like an irresponsible idiot.
6 PREP You can use like in expressions such as that's just like her and it wasn't like him to indicate that the person's behaviour is or is not typical of their character. □ You should have told us. But it's just like you not to share.
7 CONJ Like is sometimes used as a conjunction in order to say that something appears to be the case when it is not. Some people consider this use to be incorrect. □ On the train up to Waterloo, I felt like I was going on an adventure.
8 CONJ Like is sometimes used as a conjunction in order to indicate that something happens or is done in the same way as something else. Some people consider this use to be incorrect. □ People are strolling, buying ice cream for their children, just like they do every Sunday. □ He spoke exactly like I did. □ We really were afraid, not like in the cinema.
9 PREP [with neg] You can use like in negative expressions such as nothing like it and no place like it to emphasize that there is nothing as good as the situation, thing, or person mentioned. [EMPHASIS ] □ There's nothing like candlelight for creating a romantic mood. □ There was no feeling like it in the world.
10 PREP [with neg] You can use like in expressions such as nothing like to make an emphatic negative statement. [EMPHASIS ] □ Three hundred million dollars will be nothing like enough. □ It's really not anything like as bad as it looks.
➋ like ◆◆◆ /la I k/ (likes , liking , liked )