(papers, papering, papered)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
Paper is a material that you write on or wrap things with. The pages of this book are made of paper.
He wrote his name down on a piece of paper for me...
She sat at the table with pen and paper.
...a sheet of pretty wrapping paper.
...a paper bag.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
A paper is a newspaper.
I'll cook and you read the paper.
N-COUNT
3.
You can refer to newspapers in general as the paper or the papers.
You can't believe everything you read in the paper...
N-COUNT: the N
4.
Your papers are sheets of paper with writing or information on them, which you might keep in a safe place at home.
Her papers included unpublished articles and correspondence.
N-PLURAL: usu with poss
5.
Your papers are official documents, for example your passport or identity card, which prove who you are or which give you official permission to do something.
They have arrested four people who were trying to leave the country with forged papers.
= identification
N-PLURAL: usu poss N
6.
A paper is a long, formal piece of writing about an academic subject.
He just published a paper in the journal Nature analyzing the fires.
N-COUNT
7.
A paper is an essay written by a student. (mainly AM)
...the ten common errors that appear most frequently in student papers.
N-COUNT
8.
A paper is a part of a written examination in which you answer a number of questions in a particular period of time.
We sat each paper in the Hall...
N-COUNT
9.
A paper prepared by a government or a committee is a report on a question they have been considering or a set of proposals for changes in the law.
...a new government paper on European policy.
N-COUNT
10.
Paper agreements, qualifications, or profits are ones that are stated by official documents to exist, although they may not really be effective or useful.
We're looking for people who have experience rather than paper qualifications.
ADJ: ADJ n
11.
If you paper a wall, you put wallpaper on it.
We papered all four bedrooms...
The room was strange, the walls half papered, half painted.
VERB: V n, V-ed
12.
If you put your thoughts down on paper, you write them down.
It is important to get something down on paper...
PHRASE: PHR after v
13.
If something seems to be the case on paper, it seems to be the case from what you read or hear about it, but it may not really be the case.
On paper, their country is a multi-party democracy...
PHRASE
14.
If you say that a promise, an agreement, or a guarantee is not worth the paper it's written on, you mean that although it has been written down and seems to be official, it is in fact worthless because what has been promised will not be done.
PHRASE: Vs inflect [disapproval]