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Collocations for spell - noun

1. period of time

ADJECTIVE

lengthy (esp. BrE), long, prolonged
brief, short
five-minute, ten-day, etc. (esp. BrE)
good
bad
He's going through a bit of a bad spell at the moment.
quiet
barren, lean (both esp. BrE)
Viera ended his barren spell with a goal against Parma.
cold, dry, hot, mild, sunny (esp. BrE), warm, wet
dizzy, fainting
The children began having dizzy spells from hunger.

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VERB + spell

go through, have

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PREPOSITION

during a … spell
She managed to write a letter during a quiet spell at work.
spell as (esp. BrE)
He had a brief spell as ambassador to Turkey.

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PHRASES

a spell of … weather (esp. BrE)
a spell of sunny weather

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2. magical effect

ADJECTIVE

magic, magical
powerful
hypnotic
the hypnotic spell of the cicadas singing in the trees

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VERB + spell

be under, come under, fall under
cast, perform, put, weave
The witch cast a spell on them.
This place had woven its spell over them.
break, remove
She uttered the magic word, and the spell was broken.

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spell + NOUN

book

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PREPOSITION

under a/the spell
Sleeping Beauty was under a spell when the prince found her.
under sb's spell
The audience was completely under his spell.

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Collocations for spell - verb

ADVERB

correctly, right
wrongly
backwards/backward
‘Nevaeh’ is ‘heaven’ spelled backwards/backward.

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PREPOSITION

as
The article spelled ‘survey’ as ‘servay’.
with
Is ‘necessary’ spelled with one ‘s’, or two?

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spell sth out - PHRASAL VERB

ADVERB

clearly
explicitly, fully, in detail
exactly, precisely
She spelled out precisely what she wanted.

VERB + spell out

have to, need to

PREPOSITION

for
Do I really have to spell it out for you?
to
His speech spelled out a clear message to the car industry.

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Spell is used with these nouns as the object:
beginning, disaster, doom, end, name, ruin, trouble, word

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