Example sentences of "[adj] and [prep] [adj -est] " in BNC.

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1 The report that was put to committee by the the officers have arguments which I feel are fatuous , fallacious , erroneous and at best equivocal .
2 Such reactions have been at best unhelpful and at worst extremely damaging .
3 He was no longer indifferent to the cars around him — they had become alien and aggressive , peopled by spectres whose driving was at best incompetent and at worst downright criminal .
4 If such complacent thinking brought popular credibility to those in power , NCOAP policy was best tactically misguided and at worst symptomatic of a stubborn refusal to encounter poverty rather than pauperism .
5 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 . ’
6 ‘ At the best it is dubious and at worst it could be costing us a lot of money . ’
7 He accused successive Education Secretaries of serving the UK poorly , listening only partially , and having ‘ an apparent determination to push through so-called reforms with a consultation process which is at best minimal and at worst cynical . ’
8 It was at best a mere palliative and at worst it actively sustained the unfit and degenerate elements of the population in their reckless overbreeding .
9 It may reassure your readers who need protection from reality , but grown-ups must find it at best sloppy and at worst malicious .
10 The model obtained by combining rational expectations and the simple natural rate hypothesis produces a particularly dramatic policy conclusion , and one which gave rational expectations some initial notoriety , for it suggested that the Keynesian approach to macroeconomic policy which governments in many countries had adopted after the Second World War was at best unnecessary and at worst harmful .
11 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 .
12 This account is at best naive and at worst apologetic for the behaviour of the Organization 's largest member — the United States .
13 This is a particular threat given the present NHS management ethos , which is at best distant and disinterested and at worst disregards workforce morale .
14 This can sometimes be achieved by reacting to individual happenings to media enquiries but at best this approach is haphazard and at worst it is inefficient and potentially dangerous .
15 This is the complement of many people 's memories of being in school as a pupil : one or two teachers , and a handful of ‘ high spots ’ , stand out against a background that was , for many , at best unmemorable and at worst something to be deliberately forgotten .
16 The earlier one , on the Eurodisc label , was disappointing mainly on account of the choral singing of the Leipzig Radio Chorus which was at best lustreless and at worst inadequate .
17 At worst it was looked upon as evil and at best no more than a utilitarian pest-destroyer .
18 It is therefore clear that the distinction between the different ‘ pillars ’ of the Maastricht Treaty is at best intended to be temporary and at worst is wholly meaningless .
19 Instead of taking decisive action , however , the cabinet 's reaction was at best ineffective and at worst irresponsible .
20 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 .
21 To pretend , therefore , that unemployment is a temporary phenomenon , which can be cured by a combination of retraining and market forces , is at best naively optimistic and at worst politically dishonest .
22 ‘ Research , in the context of Brixton , was at best irrelevant and at worst a tool in the hands of the enemy … the enemy , of course , varying with the personal perspective of the speaker …
23 I repeat that the Home Secretary will rely on Bills like this , which are at best irrelevant and at worst unreasonable .
24 I do n't like heavy knocking campaigns which at best seem sour and at worst backfire .
25 Disgruntled governors who feel , rightly or wrongly , that they are not fully informed about the school can become at best difficult and at worst disruptive to LMS and its development .
26 ‘ Her reports were at the best misleading and at worst untrue reports , ’ Mr McMillan said .
27 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 .
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