14 N‑SING You can refer to the direction you are travelling in as your way . [SPOKEN ] □ She would say she was going my way and offer me a lift.
15 N‑SING If you lose your way , you take a wrong or unfamiliar route, so that you do not know how to get to the place that you want to go to. If you find your way , you manage to get to the place that you want to go to. □ The men lost their way in a sandstorm and crossed the border by mistake.
16 N‑COUNT You talk about people going their different ways in order to say that their lives develop differently and they have less contact with each other. □ When we each went our separate ways I began to learn how to do things for myself. □ You go your way and I'll go mine.
17 N‑SING If something comes your way , you get it or receive it. □ Take advantage of the opportunities coming your way in a couple of months. □ If I run into anything that might interest you, I'll send it your way.
18 N‑SING [in/out of N ] If someone or something is in the way , they prevent you from moving forward or seeing clearly. □ 'You're standing in the way,' she said. 'Would you mind moving aside'. □ Get out of my way!
19 N‑SING You use way in expressions such as the right way up and the other way around to refer to one of two or more possible positions or arrangements that something can have. □ The flag was held the wrong way up by some spectators. □ It's important to fit it the right way round.
20 ADV [ADV adv/prep] You can use way to emphasize, for example, that something is a great distance away or is very much below or above a particular level or amount. [EMPHASIS ] □ Way down in the valley to the west is the town of Freiburg. □ These exam results are way above average.
21 N‑PLURAL [num N ] If you split something a number of ways , you divide it into a number of different parts or quantities, usually fairly equal in size. □ When she retires her job is to be split three ways. □ Splitting the price six ways had still cost them each a bundle. ● COMB [ADJ n] Way is also a combining form. □ …a simple three-way division.
22 N‑SING Way is used in expressions such as a long way , a little way , and quite a way , to say how far away something is or how far you have travelled. □ Some of them live in places quite a long way from here. □ A little way further down the lane we passed the driveway to a house.
23 N‑SING Way is used in expressions such as a long way , a little way , and quite a way , to say how far away in time something is. □ Success is still a long way off. □ August is still an awfully long way away.
24 N‑SING You use way in expressions such as all the way , most of the way and half the way to refer to the extent to which an action has been completed. □ He had unscrewed the caps most of the way. □ When was the last time you listened to an album all the way through?
25 PHRASE You use all the way to emphasize how long a distance is. [EMPHASIS ] □ He had to walk all the way home.
26 PHRASE You can use all the way to emphasize that your remark applies to every part of a situation, activity, or period of time. [EMPHASIS ] □ Having started a revolution, we must go all the way.
27 PHRASE If someone says that you can't have it both ways , they are telling you that you have to choose between two things and cannot do or have them both. □ Countries cannot have it both ways: the cost of a cleaner environment may be fewer jobs.
28 PHRASE You say by the way when you add something to what you are saying, especially something that you have just thought of. [SPOKEN ] □ The name Latifah, by the way, means 'delicate'. □ By the way, how did your seminar go?
29 PHRASE You use by way of when you are explaining the purpose of something that you have said or are about to say. For example, if you say something by way of an introduction , you say it as an introduction. □ 'I get very superstitious about things like that,' she said by way of explanation.
30 PHRASE If someone changes their ways or mends their ways , they permanently improve their behaviour or their way of doing something. □ What can be done to encourage convicted offenders to change their ways?
31 PHRASE If you clear the way , open the way , or prepare the way for something, you create an opportunity for it to happen. □ The talks are meant to clear the way for formal negotiations on a new constitution. □ The decision could open the way for other children to sue their parents.
32 PHRASE If you say that someone takes the easy way out , you disapprove of them because they do what is easiest for them in a difficult situation, rather than dealing with it properly. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ It is the easy way out to blame others for our failure.
33 PHRASE You use either way in order to introduce a statement which is true in each of the two possible or alternative cases that you have just mentioned. □ The sea may rise or the land may fall; either way the sand dunes will be gone in a short time.
34 PHRASE If you say that a particular type of action or development is the way forward , you approve of it because it is likely to lead to success. [APPROVAL ] □ …people who genuinely believe that anarchy is the way forward.
35 PHRASE If someone gets their way or has their way , nobody stops them doing what they want to do. You can also say that someone gets their own way or has their own way . □ She is very good at using her charm to get her way.