(1) to accept/reject a recommendation
(2) The committee made recommendations to the board on teachers' pay and conditions.
(3) I had the operation on the recommendation of my doctor.

(1) a predominant feature
(2) Yellow is the predominant colour this spring in the fashion world.
(3) a predominant culture

(1) Surgeons have successfully transplanted a liver into a four-year-old boy.
(2) Patients often reject transplanted organs.
(3) Japanese production methods have been transplanted into some British factories.

(1) an executive lounge (= at an airport)
(2) an executive suite (= in a hotel)
(3) an executive car/home

(1) He's always mocking my French accent.
(2) The other children mocked her, laughing behind their hands.
(3) You can mock, but at least I'm willing to have a try!

(1) We're dismal enough without conjuring up ghosts and visions to perplex us.
(2) This problem is hard enough to perplex even the teacher.
(3) I have no wish to perplex the issue.

(1) to pay sb a compliment (= to praise them for sth)
(2) ‘You understand the problem because you're so much older. ’ ‘I'll take that as a compliment ! ’
(3) It's a great compliment to be asked to do the job.

(1) It was decreed that the following day would be a holiday.
(2) The government decreed a state of emergency.
(3) to issue/sign a decree

(1) peripheral information
(2) Fund-raising is peripheral to their main activities.
(3) the peripheral nervous system

(1) This decision signified a radical change in their policies.
(2) This mark signifies that the products conform to an approved standard.
(3) The white belt signifies that he's an absolute beginner.

(1) The tug nearly turned turtle twice, but I managed to keep her upright.
(2) Sea turtle has been improved.
(3) Come on, Mr. turtle!

(1) A smile hovered on her lips.
(2) He hovered on the edge of consciousness.
(3) Temperatures hovered around freezing.

(1) He didn't like the media probing into his past.
(2) a TV programme that probed government scandals in the 1990s
(3) The doctor probed the wound for signs of infection.

(1) a symmetrical pattern
(2) ...the neat rows of perfectly symmetrical windows.
(3) A symmetrical element model for acoustic coupling analysis of the automobile passenger compartment is set up.

(1) party politics
(2) local politics
(3) He's thinking of going into politics (= trying to become a Member of Parliament, Congress, etc.)

(1) ultrasonic waves
(2) In ultrasonic cutting process, the cutting pressure is still essential for achieving good quality cutting process.
(3) In this paper, bleaching of cotton knitting fabric with peracetic acid under ultrasonic was discussed.

(1) He has recently been diagnosed with angina.
(2) He was diagnosed (as) a diabetic when he was 64.
(3) The illness was diagnosed as cancer.

(1) medical terminology
(2) The disagreement arose over a different use of terminology.
(3) ...gastritis, which in medical terminology means an inflammation of the stomach.

(1) a rational argument/choice/decision
(2) rational analysis/thought
(3) There is no rational explanation for his actions.

(1) Horizontal boiler and vertical boiler is the invention of the Europeans, squatting boiler is my invention.
(2) The engine is letting off steam to relieve the pressure in the boiler.
(3) Wash dish boil an one boiler the meal of rawness.

(1) North American literature is the main theme of this year's festival.
(2) The President stressed a favourite campaign theme─greater emphasis on education.
(3) The naked male figure was always the central theme of Greek art.

(1) The infinite distances of space are too great for the human mind to comprehend.
(2) She could not comprehend how someone would risk people's lives in that way.
(3) He stood staring at the dead body, unable to comprehend.

(1) the Baltic seaports
(2) ...the Baltic seaport of Rostock.
(3) Build so the big seaport in our country is the first time.

(1) a compact camera
(2) The kitchen was compact but well equipped.
(3) a compact mass of earth

(1) the bloody massacre of innocent civilians
(2) Nobody survived the massacre.
(3) The game was a 10–0 massacre for our team.

(1) Soldiers oversee the food handouts...
(2) Each family is being given a cash handout of six thousand rupees.
(3) ...the tendency of politicians to use money on vote-buying handouts rather than on investment in the future...

(1) Again and again passages in his essays exasperate or bewilder.
(2) So many questions bewilder me.
(3) The letter would only bewilder the mother.

(1) a common/everyday/frequent/regular occurrence
(2) Vandalism used to be a rare occurrence here.
(3) The program counts the number of occurrences of any word, within the text.

(1) marine/river deposition
(2) the deposition of the King
(3) The jury heard 200 pages of depositions.

(1) a prevalent view
(2) These prejudices are particularly prevalent among people living in the North.
(3) This condition is more prevalent in women than in men...

(1) colour/flash/aerial, etc. photography
(2) fashion photography by David Burn
(3) Her hobbies include hiking and photography.

(1) I'd love to go on a round-the-world cruise.
(2) a luxury cruise ship
(3) They cruised down the Nile.

(1) a tube of glue
(2) He sticks to her like glue (= never leaves her) .
(3) She glued the label onto the box.

(1) grapes on the vine
(2) vine leaves
(3) Every square metre of soil was used, mainly for olives, vines, and almonds.

(1) He has known great misfortune in his life.
(2) We had the misfortune to run into a violent storm.
(3) She bore her misfortunes bravely.

(1) a cattle/sheep ranch
(2) ranch hands (= the people who work on a ranch )
(3) He lives on a cattle ranch in Australia.

(1) Our society is in a state of flux .
(2) a flux of neutrons
(3) Education remains in a state of flux which will take some time to settle down.

(1) A firm secures a needed commodity and is protected against price fluctuation.
(2) The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.
(3) Sometimes temporal fluctuation may take place inthe local velocity.

(1) There's no need to flap─I've got everything under control.
(2) the flap of the sails
(3) She gets in a flap over the slightest thing.

(1) to untie a knot
(2) I quickly untied the package and peeped inside.
(3) He untied the rope and pushed the boat into the water.