Englishfor English speakers
interest
Noun
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When someone wants to know more about something or likes to do something, we say the person has an interest in it.
She has a strong interest in art. She is going to go to an art school.
What are your interests?
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When something is important to a person, or if good things happening to the thing are good for the person, we say that the person has an interest in the thing.
Because I own a house on this street, I have an interest in keeping the street clean.
I'm doing this to look after my own interests.
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When someone borrows money, they have to give back more money than they borrowed. The extra money they have to pay is called interest.
The bank gives me two percent interest per year on the money in my account.
interest
Verb
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If someone is interested, they are curious and want to find out about something.
I am interested in researching flowers.
Does maths interest you?
rate
Noun
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Speed. A rate is how fast something happens. Something can go at a fast rate or a slow rate.
The rate of water pouring out of the lake into the river is enough to make the lake empty in a year if it doesn't rain.
Her heart rate is 70 beats every minute.
If we keep writing pages at this rate we might have 2000 Simple English Wiktionary words by August 4.
rate
Verb
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Someone rates something when they decide how much its value is (how much it's worth).
I rate this book at six out of ten: it was not the best book.
margin
Noun
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A margin is the space on the sides of a page where there is no writing.
If you own the book, write notes in the margin.
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A margin is the difference between what the winner has and what the loser has.
The team won every game with an average 24-point victory margin per game.
The Board of Education voted by a narrow margin to accept the new standards.
Mitt Romney is leading in the latest polls by a slim margin, 29 percent of the vote to 's 26 percent.
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A margin is the difference between what a business pays for something and what it sells it for.
The current profit margins on those products run between 55 and 62 percent.
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A margin is extra time, room, money, etc. that you plan for in case something needs more.
There's almost no margin for error with the landing the plane.
The extra fuel that was carried along gave us a bit of a safety margin.
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A margin of error is the amount that the true value varies from the measured value.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
We produce these pieced to be 2.5 meters long, with an overall error margin of 1.4 millimeters.
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If somebody is on the margin(s), they are not a central member and have little power.