trap1 nountrap2 verb
traptrap1 /træp/ ●●○ noun [countable] 
WORD ORIGINtrap1
Origin:
Old English træppe, treppeEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- I didn't take the money with me, because I was worried it might be a trap.
- If we're lucky, the thief will fall right into our trap.
- Sensing the lawyer's trap, Horvath refused to answer.
- But trappers will keep tabs on the extra traps until February, officials said.
- He informed the Sheriffs of his planned meeting, and helped lay another trap to make the final arrests.
- The sun was moving across the sky and we had almost forgotten to check our traps.
- They rolled faster and faster, a steel trap of locomotion and churning rhythms, down the hill.
- This is the phenomenon generally known as the poverty trap.
- To cap it off, the last but one trap contained a ten pounder.
- Usually Gloria told her to shut her trap.
Longman Language Activatorto make a mistake
· My spoken Spanish was okay, but I kept making mistakes in my written work.· Don't worry - everyone makes mistakes.
especially spoken to make a mistake in something that you do, say, or write, especially when this has bad or annoying results: · I've been here a year now, and my boss still gets my name wrong!· You've got your facts wrong, mate - he doesn't work here any more.get it wrong (=deal with something in the wrong way): · Once again, the government has got it wrong.
to make a mistake at a particular stage in a process, for example, with the result that the whole thing is spoiled: · Check your work again and see if you can spot where you went wrong.· If you follow the easy step-by-step instructions, you really can't go wrong.
to make a careless mistake, especially so that you lose some advantage, or spoil a chance that you had: · We'll just have to hope that the other teams slip up.slip up on: · He slipped up on just one detail.
to make a stupid mistake, usually with very serious results: · The government later admitted it had blundered in its handling of the affair.· He realized he had blundered by picking such an experienced player for the team.
American informal to make a silly mistake: · You really goofed up this time!· Some drivers admit they goofed. Others blame anyone except themselves.
to make a mistake about a person, situation, or amount by wrongly thinking that they are one thing when in fact they are another: · I'm sorry -- it seems I've misjudged you.· It's easy to misjudge the speed of a car heading toward you.· In fact, the US generals had seriously misjudged the determination and endurance of the North Vietnamese.
to do something that seems good at the time but is not sensible: · Don't fall into the trap of trying to be too clever.· It is very easy for the mother to fall into the trap of offering the child only food that she knows the child likes.
a trick a clever plan designed to make someone believe something that you want them to believe, or do something that you want them to do: · He pretended to be sick as a trick to get her to visit him.· Don't send her any money - it might be a trick.a trick question (=a question that is cleverly designed to make someone give a wrong answer): · He refused to answer, suspecting they were asking him a trick question.
a clever plan designed to harm someone, for example by making them go somewhere where they will be caught or attacked, or making them say something they will be punished for: · I didn't take the money with me, because I was worried it might be a trap.· Sensing the lawyer's trap, Horvath refused to answer.
especially written something that is said or done with the deliberate intention of deceiving people: · Ann quickly saw through his lies and deceptions.· What began as a misunderstanding quickly became a deliberate deception on the part of the network.
a trick, especially one that is amusing and not very serious: · It was just a ruse to get what I wanted!· She asked to use the telephone as a ruse to enter the house.
a false warning about something dangerous, given especially to someone in an official position, for example the police: · To everybody's great relief, the bomb scare turned out to be a hoax.· I got an email about another computer virus, but I'm pretty sure it's just a hoax.
informal a trick to get someone's money or make someone do something: · The two men were involved in an elaborate con to cheat investors out of their money.· Senior citizens are usually easy targets for con games.
when something that happens is not what it seems to be, and is really an attempt to deceive people: · Journalists suspected that the kidnapping was a put-up job.· The demonstration was a put-up job, organized by the authorities so they could arrest the cult leaders.
informal a clever and dishonest plan to get money: · The welfare scam was costing the federal government hundreds of thousands of dollars.· The offer of a "free" vacation to Florida sounds like a scam to me.
a trick that is intended to take someone's attention away from what someone else is trying to do: · Some of the prisoners started a fight as a diversion to give the others time to escape.create a diversion: · Rioters created a diversion by setting fire to vehicles close to the police station.
a person or thing that is used to trick someone by taking their attention away from an illegal or criminal act: · You act as a decoy and we'll sneak out the back.· The burglars started the fire as a decoy so that they could escape from police.
WORD SETSall-terrain, adjectivebackpedal, verbbicycle, nounbicycle, verbbike, nounbike, verbbrougham, nounbuckboard, nounbuggy, nouncab, nouncaravan, nouncarriage, nouncart, nouncarter, nouncarthorse, nouncavalcade, nounchariot, nouncharioteer, nounchuck wagon, nouncoach, nouncoachman, nouncoaster brake, nouncrossbar, nouncycle, nouncycle, verbdismount, verbdogcart, noundogsled, noundray, nounfork, nounfreewheel, verbgoad, verbgoad, nounhackney carriage, nounhandcart, nounhandlebars, nounhansom, nounharness, nounharness, verbhayride, nounhorse-drawn, adjectivehorseshoe, nounhorsewoman, nounhowdah, nounhusky, nounlandau, nounmountain bike, nounoxcart, nounpack animal, nounpack horse, nounpair, nounpedal, nounpedal, verbpenny-farthing, nounpush-bike, nounpushcart, nounreflector, nounrickshaw, nounride, verbsaddle, nounsaddle bag, nounsedan chair, nounsledge, nounsledge, verbsleigh, nounspoke, nounstagecoach, nounsurgery, nounsurrey, nountandem, nounteam, nountrace, nountrailer, nountrap, nountricycle, nountruck, noununicycle, nounvelodrome, nounwagon, nounwagon train, nounwheelwright, noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
The only way to catch mice is to set a trap. Police had set a trap for hooligans at the match. Mr Smith has walked straight into a trap laid by the Tories. people caught in the unemployment trapCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES He was fairly certain now that he was walking into a trap, and wished he’d come armed.
The only way to catch mice is to set a trap. Police had set a trap for hooligans at the match. Mr Smith has walked straight into a trap laid by the Tories. people caught in the unemployment trap· The country is trapped in a cycle of poverty and under-development.
He was fairly certain now that he was walking into a trap, and wished he’d come armed.· He was trapped in the wreckage for almost seven hours.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Shearer beat the offside trap and squared the ball for Mitchell to tap in. 3-1 to Town.· Two minutes from the interval a perfect through ball from Sheedy enabled Peacock to beat the offside trap.· Well-organised Cambridge tried to kill the game and Boro were naive when caught out so often by the offside trap.· When they showed any urgency, they made Celtic's offside trap look vulnerable.· He curled a 20-yard chip past Walkerafter springing Tottenham's offside trap to pounce on Ebbrell's clever through-ball.· However, failing to operate a successful offside trap, the Whaddon defence saw Combes walk in goal number three.
NOUN· As he reached for the phone, he realized what he was doing-he was placing his foot squarely in a bear trap.· You step into a bear trap covered with snow.· Like the jaws of a bear trap.
· He laid booby traps in his house, and built lookout posts for anyone who came on to his property.· And of course, that little shit has no right to try and ambush me or get me with a booby trap!· Numbers of large mammals, including elephants, will have fallen victim to booby traps and land-mines.· Within the first 10 minutes, we had 6 guys wounded from different booby traps, mainly hand grenades.· If it really was a bomb, unzipping the cover would almost certainly trip a booby trap.· These bodies were like booby traps.· Detectives want to establish whether Mr Jowett, 43, was killed by a booby trap or in an elaborate suicide.· We must have moved all of a foot and a half before we hit a booby trap.
· The whole lake was a death trap for birds.· Every area he tells us is secure turns out to be a death trap.· You've made a bloody death trap on the stairs.· The entrance to de Raimes' castle was a death trap, no less.· Any room with sealed-unit double glazing and only an opening top light could be a death trap.· Fire broke out in an old, litter-strewn stand which soon became a death trap in which fifty-six people perished.
· Susan George reveals the dynamic behind the debt trap.· It became a more serious potential debt trap than running up bills at retailers.· Job fears and the mortgage debt trap are failing to halt the housing slump.
· They just disappeared, as if they'd popped into trap doors and been spirited away.· A dim square fell out the window and lay in the snow, a trap door to other; sunnier times.· We had the trap door, the back door.· It also has trap doors in the stage for more theatrical magic.· The trap door was under her feet, but what good was that?· Clayt opened the trap door to a fight.· The only way into his protective case was through a little trap door he kept locked night and day.· Like a magic show: invisible wires and secret trap doors.
· The liquidity trap was explained in Chapter 21.· The liquidity trap occurs where the demand for money becomes perfectly interest-elastic at some very low interest rate.· This is known as the liquidity trap.· In retrospect, it might be argued that the significance of the liquidity trap was over-emphasised.· Modern econometric work has found no conclusive evidence for the existence of a liquidity trap.· Keynes himself saw the liquidity trap as merely a special case: the case where the economy is in deep recession.
· This is the phenomenon generally known as the poverty trap.· Before 1988 the implicit tax rates associated with the poverty trap were also, in some cases, greater than 100%.· This is likely to be particularly serious if either the poverty trap or the unemployment trap is encountered.· It claimed 1.25 million people could be caught in the poverty trap.· Caught in the poverty trap, they are unable to make the savings necessary for business ventures.· There is no single point in the income scale where the poverty trap begins to operate.· But they are caught in the poverty trap: they can not afford dams and irrigation systems.· Many of them are capable of organising their lives with dignity but others fall into football's in-built poverty trap.
· And the beam can't be spotted by drivers who use radar trap detectors.· At some radar traps, nearly 80 percent of speeding tickets went to out-of-state drivers.· I was pinched for dangerous driving last month, in a radar trap.
· Call it the most expensive speed trap in the world.· The plates are designed to foil police speed traps.
· So could her friends Michelle, Lenny, Tony, Sue a whole line of people caught in the unemployment trap.· This is likely to be particularly serious if either the poverty trap or the unemployment trap is encountered.· The unemployment trap has been substantially eased and the simplification of social security has had major effects.· This has led a number of commentators to argue that the unemployment trap is now of little importance to the real world.
VERB· A few books have avoided the trap.· John Champagne and Bob Guadiana avoided this trap.· During the next few months and years, we must avoid continuing in the trap that we were in before.· Anderson combines affection and horror in his version of the seventies while avoiding the trap of nostalgia.· To be fair to the tourists they appear to be avoiding that trap as the days trickle by before the Kandy Test.· Dole was clearly trying to avoid the trap in which former President Bush found himself after violating the tax vow.· Ronell avoids the trap by proceeding in ever-decreasing circles - or fractal geometry, as it is now known.· To avoid this trap, pick from the following list of ten top orders or invent your own.
· There is no need to bait the trap in any way.· That, she said later, was how life baited the trap.· Not only are they free, but one dead dolphin can bait over 350 traps.
· Finally, after three months of effort, we caught Poppy in the trap.· One day Johnny Appleseed came upon a wolf that had been caught in a trap.· She sees a person caught in the ego traps which the world sets for the unwary.· Be careful of getting caught in the trap of total involvement with your computer.· She knew she was caught in a vicious trap, sliding down a slippery spiral.· I suspected they were pack rats because they were too smart to get themselves caught in the traps I set for them.· It claimed 1.25 million people could be caught in the poverty trap.· Coyotes chew the leg off a partner caught in a leg-hold trap.
· If heat is applied, the electron may be able to escape from the deep trap.· The Smiths have thus far managed to escape this trap but just how is a matter of some debate.
· I trust that I will not fall into the same trap!· I tried to empathize with their own differing emotional reactions and the fact that they were falling into their own traps again.· Don't fall into that trap.· One who thinks she fell into that trap is 76-year-old Josephine Woods.· But to talk like this is to fall into the trap mentioned above of emphasising maintenance not mission.· Journalists can fall into the trap of being hypercritical.· During the 90s Washington fell into the trap of allowing events to dictate the relationship, with increasingly destabilising results.· When we tie it to jobs, or to survival needs, we fall into the trap of mechanistic literacy.
· He laid booby traps in his house, and built lookout posts for anyone who came on to his property.· Trying to find out for certain if you were the burglar, and laying a little trap for you if you were.· He informed the Sheriffs of his planned meeting, and helped lay another trap to make the final arrests.· And the speaker may be totally unaware of laying a trap.· There were months of planning, false trails were laid, tests and traps set up and sprung.· Clare wouldn't put it past Sam to use a rat to lay a trap for her.
· Mercifully, he was setting up a honey trap for Jim.· He set the traps carefully under mossy logs, under grass overhanging like curtains along steep banks, and in brush piles.· Beatrix had set a trap for Maurice and he had walked straight into it.· You can also talk about the people who set the trap.· As he waited, he ran through the reasons why Newley was unlikely to have set up a trap.· The future is inexorable for all of them; for some it is set like a trap.· She sets a trap and sets off a series of events that entangle household, family and friends.· It may be necessary to set a trap for him.
· Usually Gloria told her to shut her trap.· He didn't annoy her and she shut her almighty trap.
· Arrange a net to entangle game when it springs the trap.· At the same instant, the uniformed regulars from the North decided to spring their trap.· It was then that he finally sprang his trap.· He sprang traps and ambushes on the Witch King's forces.· He curled a 20-yard chip past Walkerafter springing Tottenham's offside trap to pounce on Ebbrell's clever through-ball.· On the one hand, Jaq must seem capable of irony and flexible tolerance - perhaps only soas to spring a trap.· Will you spring the time trap?
· But, this time, she was not going to walk straight into the trap.· I feel rather that we would be walking straight into a trap.· Going back there would be walking straight into a trap.· He was fairly certain now that he was walking into a trap, and wished he'd come armed.· Chambers had freely walked into the trap, now she would spring it.· Instantly, fear welled up in him again, and he realised that he had walked into a trap.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► shut your trap!PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► shut your mouth/face/trap!
1- But do not fall into the trap of doing something I saw recently.
- Don't fall into the trap of comparing your wages and conditions with other volunteers and development workers.
- Duffy refuses to fall into the trap of spoon-feeding the material to passive students, which only increases their passivity.
- During the 90s Washington fell into the trap of allowing events to dictate the relationship, with increasingly destabilising results.
- Journalists can fall into the trap of being hypercritical.
- She was not going to fall into the trap of thinking she wanted Vitor as Vitor.
- So answer this question truthfully, lest your smart organization fall into the trap of continuing to outsmart itself.
- When we tie it to jobs, or to survival needs, we fall into the trap of mechanistic literacy.
- Tell him to keep his trap shut and let me ask the questions.
- Now he had fallen into a trap which the greenest copper would have avoided.
- And the speaker may be totally unaware of laying a trap.
- Clare wouldn't put it past Sam to use a rat to lay a trap for her.
- Before 1988 the implicit tax rates associated with the poverty trap were also, in some cases, greater than 100%.
- But they are caught in the poverty trap: they can not afford dams and irrigation systems.
- Caught in the poverty trap, they are unable to make the savings necessary for business ventures.
- It claimed 1.25 million people could be caught in the poverty trap.
- There is no single point in the income scale where the poverty trap begins to operate.
- This is likely to be particularly serious if either the poverty trap or the unemployment trap is encountered.
- This is the phenomenon generally known as the poverty trap.
- The cheaters were caught when one teacher set a trap by casually leaving a copy of the test on her desk.
- Beatrix had set a trap for Maurice and he had walked straight into it.
- It may be necessary to set a trap for him.
- Or, you can set traps for them to prevent then from reaching the pots to lay their eggs.
- She sets a trap and sets off a series of events that entangle household, family and friends.
- She must remember to tell Mrs Cooke to set a trap.
- So Gharr no only had Mala but also knew our pod and had set a trap for me.
- They are setting a trap for me, she decided.
- He sprang traps and ambushes on the Witch King's forces.
- On the one hand, Jaq must seem capable of irony and flexible tolerance - perhaps only soas to spring a trap.
for animals a piece of equipment for catching animals: The only way to catch mice is to set a trap. He stepped into a bear trap covered in snow. → mousetrap2clever trick a clever trick that is used to catch someone or to make them do or say something that they did not intend tolay/set a trap (for somebody) Police had set a trap for hooligans at the match.fall/walk into a trap Mr Smith has walked straight into a trap laid by the Tories.3bad situation an unpleasant or difficult situation that is difficult to escape from: Amanda felt that marriage was a trap.debt/unemployment etc trap people caught in the unemployment trap4fall into/avoid the trap of doing something to do something that seems good at the time but is not sensible or wise, or to avoid doing this: Don’t fall into the trap of investing all your money in one place.5keep your trap shut spoken a rude way of telling someone to not say anything about things that are secret: Just keep your trap shut.6shut your trap! spoken a rude way of telling someone to stop talking7vehicle a vehicle with two wheels, pulled by a horse8sport American English sandtrap SYN bunker British English9dog race a special gate from which a greyhound is set free at the beginning of a race → booby trap, death trap, → poverty trap at poverty(3), → speed trap, tourist traptrap1 nountrap2 verb
traptrap2 ●●○ verb (past tense and past participle trapped, present participle trapping) [transitive] VERB TABLE
trap
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | trap |
| he, she, it | traps | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | trapped |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have trapped |
| he, she, it | has trapped | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had trapped |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will trap |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have trapped |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am trapping |
| he, she, it | is trapping | |
| you, we, they | are trapping | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was trapping |
| you, we, they | were trapping | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been trapping |
| he, she, it | has been trapping | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been trapping |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be trapping |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been trapping |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Greenhouse gases trap heat in the earth's atmosphere.
- Police have the man trapped inside a bar on the city's southside.
- Police have the man trapped inside the bar.
- The men were trapped at a road block near the junction of I-95 and Route 128.
- Workers were trapped in the ship's engine room by the fire.
- Also, one photo shows a large object that resembles an iceberg trapped in solid sea ice.
- I meant at least to insulate the nest with some polystyrene ceiling tiles, but I was afraid of trapping the animal inside.
- Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, each molecule trapping 25 times as much heat radiation as one molecule of carbon dioxide.
- Some trapped heat is necessary to sustain life, but excessive accumulation can lead to warming.
- The pollution is worst during winter, when thermal inversions trap the warmer polluted air above the city.
- Then the Eustachian tube collapsed and the material was trapped.
- You know there is a gay man trapped in her body!
THESAURUS
to stop someone who is trying to escape, especially by running after them and then holding them: · He raced after her, but he couldn’t catch her.· The police caught the bank robbers after a car chase through the city.
if the police arrest someone, they take him or her to a police station because they think that person has done something illegal: · Wayne was arrested for dangerous driving.· The police arrested him and charged him with murder.
formal if the police apprehend someone they think has done something illegal, they catch him or her: · The two men were later apprehended after they robbed another store.· The killers were never apprehended.· All of the kidnappers were apprehended and convicted.
to catch an enemy or a criminal in order to keep them as a prisoner: · The French king was captured by the English at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356.· The gunmen were finally captured after a shoot-out with the police.
to catch someone, especially in a war, in order to keep them as a prisoner: · 350 soldiers were killed and another 300 taken prisoner.· Ellison was taken prisoner by the Germans during the retreat to Dunkirk.
to make someone go to a place from which they cannot escape, especially by using your skill and intelligence: · Police trapped the man inside a bar on the city’s southside.
to force someone into a place from which they cannot escape: · He was cornered outside the school by three gang members.
Longman Language Activatorto catch someone after chasing them to stop someone from escaping, especially by running after them and then catching them - used especially by children when playing games: · "I bet you can't catch me!" yelled Katie, skipping away.· You choose sides, and one team hides and the other team tries to catch them.
to catch someone by forcing them into a room or space etc that they cannot escape from: · Douglas was cornered by the killers in the back bedroom of a seventh-floor apartment.· The boys cornered him on a subway platform and began beating him.
to catch someone that you have been chasing or trying to catch for some time: · Agents finally caught up with Danvers in Mexico City.
to catch someone in order to kill, hurt, or punish them, after chasing them or trying very hard to catch them: hunt down somebody: · Army troops are hunting down the guerrillas.hunt somebody down: · The agency was created to hunt down war criminals and bring them to justice.
to catch someone by using your skill and intelligence, or by forcing them into a place where they cannot escape: · The men were trapped at a road block near the junction of I-95 and Route 128.· Police have the man trapped inside a bar on the city's southside.
unable to escape · I've locked all the doors and windows - he can't get out.· Two of the children couldn't escape, and died in the fire.
unable to escape from a dangerous place or an unpleasant situation: · The miners have been trapped underground for three days.· He was beginning to feel trapped in his job.· The two trapped firefighters were rescued on the second day.
especially spoken to be unable to escape from an unpleasant or boring situation: be stuck in/with/here: · I don't want to be stuck in an office all my life.· I'm tired of being stuck here with the kids all day.
informal to be unable to leave a place, so that you feel bored or very impatient: be cooped up in: · I didn't want to be cooped up in a small hotel room, while everyone else enjoyed the sea.be cooped up with: · I don't know how she survives being cooped up with three screaming kids all day!
used to say that there does not seem to be any way of escaping from a dangerous or unpleasant place or situation: · Don't even try to get out of here - there's no escape.there is no escape from: · There seems to be no escape from the noise and confusion of city life.
to be unable to escape, or feel too frightened to escape, from the place where you are or from an unpleasant situation: · Some of these old people are imprisoned in their own homes by the threat of violence on the streets.
to be unable to escape, for example from a place, an unpleasant situation, or your own thoughts and opinions, so that you feel you cannot do anything to change things: · The door was locked from the outside, and suddenly they realized they were prisoners.be a prisoner of: · In some respects I'm a prisoner of my past - I don't feel I can just start over.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY pain from a trapped nerveCOLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES He was fairly certain now that he was walking into a trap, and wished he’d come armed.
pain from a trapped nerve· The country is trapped in a cycle of poverty and under-development.
He was fairly certain now that he was walking into a trap, and wished he’d come armed.· He was trapped in the wreckage for almost seven hours.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN· The pollution is worst during winter, when thermal inversions trap the warmer polluted air above the city.· The guard hairs are hollow, trapping air within and between them, and the underfur also traps air.· Dacron Hollofil: bonded polyester, each fibre has a hollow core trapping still air and aiding warmth.· Dacron Hollofil: Bonded polyester from Dupont, each fibre having a hollow core which traps air and increases warmth value.· The ice is fickle, sometimes weakened by sunlight, or corroded by trapped air.· It is a very warm fabric, as the construction traps a lot of air.· As you breathe out you will trap some of this air in this mask and slowly breathe it back in.
· The pistol had jerked from his hand and was trapped under his body.· You know there is a gay man trapped in her body!· Something had been trapped underneath the body.· His mind, alert, was trapped inside a reluctant body.
· So that squad was ordered to stay in place: We figured the whole area was booby-trapped.· The gooks would booby-trap heavily traveled areas.
· Fuel spilled and ignited, burning to death 11 passengers who were trapped in the leading car.· The kids were trapped in the car for several hours until the Mounties arrived.· I remember thinking that if I had been trapped in the car, the firemen would not have reached me in time.· At clinic defenses I saw doctors and patients trapped inside cars in the sweltering heat, surrounded by violent antiabortion demonstrators.· She was trapped between the car and a hedge.· Two men who were trapped atop their car for more than a hour were rescued by a National Guard helicopter.· The woman was trapped in the car and found to be dead by emergency teams.
· As levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane increase, the greenhouse effect will trap increasing amounts of heat.· Many scientists blame the warming on industrial pollutants that trap infrared heat in the atmosphere rather than letting it escape into space.· The walls trapped the heat and reflected it back.· As the quantity of gases increases, more heat is trapped.· They act like a greenhouse, trapping the sun's heat within the atmosphere.· Some trapped heat is necessary to sustain life, but excessive accumulation can lead to warming.
· He must confront a severe economic crisis: 7m of the country's 12m population are trapped in poverty.· In short, it was the poorer sections of the working class who were trapped in poverty with little prospect of escape.
· The dams also render the animals easy prey for hunters and trap them when the water is drained for irrigation.· The dam trapped sediments, and water releases fluctuated wildly, depending on hydroelectric-power needs.· The trapped water pools and backs up under the shingles, where it can leak into the house.· They will help prevent trapped water from going up and under the shingles.
VERB· I had become trapped in the Black-White duality.· Rocky and shallow coastlines create the most spectacular pools, where small seaside animals become temporarily trapped in these natural aquariums.· We become trapped by our dexterity in doing so.· They become trapped within the theories and procedures that they have been taught, unable to break out of those frameworks.
· Suddenly she felt as if she was trapped in a terrifying maze, not knowing which way to turn.· Many employees in bureaucratic governments feel trapped.· Your face feels as if it's trapped in a dwindling pocket of air by your limbs.· Its small size and subtropical climate made me feel like I was trapped in a steam room.· She had felt trapped by the old mesh of loyalty and shame.· Today she had something of her own that she wanted to do and she felt trapped.· But they also feel trapped because of their fear.
· The anniversary had remained trapped in the unconscious, never reflected on.· It can opt for the paralysis of inaction and, thus, remain trapped in a crisis of belief and fear.
· The tokens were not of bondage, no one was trying to trap me, to possess me, to take me over.· We tried trapping him every way we could think of.· The reality is a slow moving animal that you have to try hard to be trapped by.· So many times when you would not believe me, when you tried to trap we with your questions.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRYPHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► shut your mouth/face/trap!
1in a dangerous place to prevent someone from escaping from somewhere, especially a dangerous place: - At 31, Peggy feels trapped in a boring job.
- I felt trapped inside this person that was taking up more and more room.
- If they delayed any longer they'd be trapped.
- It means you could be trapped in the flat if fire breaks out.
- Many employees in bureaucratic governments feel trapped.
- She wanted to be gone, away from this turmoil of passion, and yet she felt trapped by a sensuality undreamed of.
- Someday he will probably be trapped.
- They would be trapped in sun and light enough crossing the great unwinking glare and oven breath on their journey home.
- Without it, I fear, I could be trapped in Tuzla.
- Now he had fallen into a trap which the greenest copper would have avoided.
- And the speaker may be totally unaware of laying a trap.
- Clare wouldn't put it past Sam to use a rat to lay a trap for her.
- Before 1988 the implicit tax rates associated with the poverty trap were also, in some cases, greater than 100%.
- But they are caught in the poverty trap: they can not afford dams and irrigation systems.
- Caught in the poverty trap, they are unable to make the savings necessary for business ventures.
- It claimed 1.25 million people could be caught in the poverty trap.
- There is no single point in the income scale where the poverty trap begins to operate.
- This is likely to be particularly serious if either the poverty trap or the unemployment trap is encountered.
- This is the phenomenon generally known as the poverty trap.
- The cheaters were caught when one teacher set a trap by casually leaving a copy of the test on her desk.
- Beatrix had set a trap for Maurice and he had walked straight into it.
- It may be necessary to set a trap for him.
- Or, you can set traps for them to prevent then from reaching the pots to lay their eggs.
- She sets a trap and sets off a series of events that entangle household, family and friends.
- She must remember to tell Mrs Cooke to set a trap.
- So Gharr no only had Mala but also knew our pod and had set a trap for me.
- They are setting a trap for me, she decided.
- He sprang traps and ambushes on the Witch King's forces.
- On the one hand, Jaq must seem capable of irony and flexible tolerance - perhaps only soas to spring a trap.
Twenty miners were trapped underground. The building collapsed, trapping dozens of people in the rubble. There’s no way out! We’re trapped!GRAMMAR Trap is often passive in this meaning.2in a bad situation be/feel trapped to be in a bad situation from which you cannot escapetrap in Julia felt trapped in her role of wife and mother.3animal to catch an animal or bird using a trap4catch somebody to catch someone by forcing them into a place from which they cannot escape: The police trapped the terrorists at a roadblock.► see thesaurus at catch5trick to trick someone so that you make them do or say something that they did not intend totrap somebody into (doing) something I was trapped into signing a confession.6crush British English to get a part of your body crushed between two objects SYN pinch American English: Mind you don’t trap your fingers in the door. pain from a trapped nerve7gas/water etc to prevent something such as gas or water from getting away: solar panels that trap the sun’s heat