Example sentences of "[verb] themselves against the [adj] " in BNC.
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| 1 | The trees stooped groundward under the weight of their snow-laden branches and the humans followed their daily work , once again pitting themselves against the inexorable forces of Nature . |
| 2 | But protecting themselves against the deadly virus by practising safer sex is another matter . |
| 3 | Ninety per cent of the places go to package rafting firms which means that independent spirits can not pit themselves against the boiling waters of the Colorado . |
| 4 | Leicester 's promising front row of Graham Rowntree , Richard Cockerill and Baron Garforth will relish testing themselves against the experienced Mark Linnett , Olver and Probyn . |
| 5 | Well in War and Peace it 's a story of the er I mean there are many themes go on but the broad sweep of history is about the Napoleonic invasion of Russia and the way the Russians defended themselves against the French armies . |
| 6 | Britain may still be a country where " everything is permitted which is not specifically prohibited " , but the specific prohibitions have become more numerous , without having to justify themselves against the overriding principle of public interest suggested by the Royal Commission on the Press . |
| 7 | One can easily understand the ferocity with which the more creative British filmmakers positioned themselves against the new development . |
| 8 | To disobey one 's father in traditional China would violate the filial piety integral to the whole system of mores and be seen as a threat by all ; on the other hand when the young of such a society begin to question the code and assert themselves against the old , they see a disobedience as a blow struck for all of them . |
| 9 | Cooperators can not expect to protect themselves against the threatened attack of the opposing forces without carefully preparing a united plan of campaign , in the same way that the Labour Party has mobilised its battalions … |
| 10 | Through the early growth of the brain these ape-hominoids developed greater fluency in the use of their hands and began to fashion tools to protect themselves against the powerful hunters . |
| 11 | This enables a community of humans to cooperate in working together to protect themselves against the worst effects of nature , and to obtain greater security than would otherwise be possible . |
| 12 | The reserve , the indifference and the blasé outlook which urbanites manifest in their relationships may thus be regarded as devices for immunizing themselves against the personal claims and expectations of others . |
| 13 | Nevertheless , a blow has been struck for the land-owning taxpayer , particularly those less well-off individuals who have not been able to defend themselves against the local district valuer 's increasingly aggressive commercial techniques . |
| 14 | The branches of trees stretched out as if to peer over mill walls or rest themselves against the windowless rear walls of factory buildings . |
| 15 | This does not mean that all pensioners live in poverty , but the effect of age discrimination is to depress the whole of this group 's income and it is only those with access to higher incomes through , for example , substantial occupational pensions , who are able to cushion themselves against the economic consequences . |
| 16 | Small powers seek also to come to terms with a particular great power either to guarantee themselves against the overwhelming strength of another great power or in order to prevent the great power in question from asserting its strength more directly and imperiously over them … |