(n.) An instrument for determining the weight or pressure of the atmosphere, and hence for judging of the probable changes of weather, or for ascertaining the height of any ascent.
Example Sentences:
(1) Both are barometers of acceptable levels of violent punishment and their elimination is a hallmark of a maturing and decent society.
(2) In the Caribbean , resort costs have fallen sharply in Barbados, accounting for a 26% drop in the barometer basket to £84.24.
(3) Our Guardian Cities global city brand barometer certainly saw the pressure rise in the comments thread.
(4) These data suggest that the clinical neurological examination alone is not an adequate barometer to predict neurourological dysfunction and that video-urodynamic evaluation provides a more precise diagnosis for each patient.
(5) The Stoke contest is likely to offer the clearest barometer since the referendum of whether leave-voting Labour supporters still trust the party.
(6) Our recent Manufacturing Barometer survey, which questioned the leaders of over 500 businesses, provides strong clues as to why manufacturers are bucking the trend and, more importantly, how they are doing it.
(7) Despite Hooper's triumph at the Directors Guild of America awards a month ago , which are generally considered an accurate barometer of the Academy's intentions (only six times in their 63-year history have they not correlated), momentum had seemed to be falling back into the hands of David Fincher, who took both the Golden Globe and the Bafta two weeks ago.
(8) Gavin Kibble, the project manager at Coventry foodbank, which fed 7,500 people in 2010-11, its first year of operation, described the foodbank as a "barometer of the state of the nation".
(9) Two closely watched barometers of factory activity released on Tuesday were at multi-year lows, reviving concerns about the state of the country’s economy which caused a major sell-off on the world’s financial markets last week .
(10) After suffering badly during the recession and the UK's sluggish recovery, Thursday's survey showed that the Purchasing Managers' Index – a barometer of manufacturing's strength – rose from 52.9 in June to 54.6 in July.
(11) The latest Euro-barometer of public opinion shows for the first time that overall distrust of the EU outstrips trust, predominantly so in Britain, Germany and France.
(12) Legislators not on the secretive panels often look to their colleagues who serve on them as barometers of opinion about the appropriateness of intelligence activities.
(13) I know there was discrimination in 1965, but I also know that what we were doing then is not a relevant barometer of what we are doing now in 2013.
(14) Dealers and analysts were divided on whether sales figures, which are often read as a barometer of the economy, could sustain their growth throughout the year.
(15) It shares first place with Sri Lanka in the annual Post Office Worldwide Holiday Costs Barometer – which compares in-resort prices for a shopping basket of eight items including drinks, suncream and a meal for two – as the best value places to stay out of 42 surveyed.
(16) As a key barometer for the mood of the NHS, this is entirely understandable, especially in years when one set of changes after another seemed to loom ahead, waiting to be foisted on a service which could only wait and hope it survived.
(17) The presence of traditional fishermen is a barometer of a sea’s health.
(18) The Ifo business climate index, a barometer of economic health in Europe's largest economy, rose to 101.4 from 100.0 last month, an increase for the first time since six consecutive declines.
(19) Obama’s most vociferous critics are unwilling to call for a re-escalation in Afghanistan, a barometer of how brittle US support for its longest war actually is.
(20) The television satirist seen as the barometer for free speech in post-revolutionary Egypt, Bassem Youssef , has ended his show because he feels it is no longer safe to satirise Egyptian politics.
Bellwether
Definition:
(n.) A wether, or sheep, which leads the flock, with a bell on his neck.
(n.) Hence: A leader.
Example Sentences:
(1) Click here to view the video In a way, Youssef's fate is a bellwether for the state of free speech in post-2011 Egypt.
(2) They see the trial as a bellwether for his administration's line on dissent – 18 group members have been arrested since March in a protracted crackdown , and many are still awaiting trial.
(3) Those responsible and accountable for the delivery of medical education locally must take the appropriate steps to ensure the training of doctors remains protected, particularly as medical training is so often a bellwether for the quality and safety of patient care, and because patients are directly at risk if the support and supervision of doctors in training is inadequate,” he wrote in the letter.
(4) The price of gyudon has become an unofficial bellwether for the health of the world’s third biggest economy, which has been beleaguered by more than two “lost decades” of stagnation as consumers have resolutely refused to start spending and lift their economy out of trouble.
(5) Nonetheless, with more stimulus in the pipeline, we still believe the economy will look stronger soon.” Corporations considered bellwethers of the global economy have also warned of a sharp slowdown.
(6) Morecambe and Lunesdale is a bellwether seat currently held by a Tory former hairdresser called David Morris – who, curiously, used to be a member of Rick Astley’s backing band – on an 866 majority and, like all down-at-heel seaside towns, is of interest to Ukip.
(7) But decisions made by voters in several cities and states could be an important bellwether of sentiment ahead of next year’s presidential elections.
(8) State of the state: Democrats are scrambling to hold on to their one US Senate seat for this New England bellwether state and to protect Shaheen, a former New Hampshire governor, one of 20 women in the upper chamber and a member of America’s only all-female congressional delegation.
(9) Womens’ rights, including the high-profile issue of driving, are another signifcant bellwether.
(10) But as well as the number of seats won or lost, Corbyn’s critics in parliament will also be closely watching the party’s performance in bellwether councils such as Crawley, where it currently has 19 seats against the Tories’ 18.
(11) But the improvement at Ford, a bellwether name in American industry, was of special significance, indicating that the business might finally have turned the corner.
(12) September is a critical month for determining the mood of advertisers rebounding from the quiet summer period, and analysts expected a modest single-digit decline at ITV1, which is considered a bellwether for the health of the commercial TV industry.
(13) A League-backed candidate from Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia won the bellwether race in Liguria, and the League even won 20% of the vote in the leftwing bastion of Tuscany in regional elections on 31 May, much to the dismay of Renzi, who was the mayor of Florence before he became prime minister.
(14) Twigg could be described as a bellwether candidate.
(15) Both companies are seen as bellwethers of the wider economy and analysts are predicting both firms to report a decline in earnings.
(16) Though Germany’s second-least populous state, state elections in the Saarland region are being treated as an important bellwether ahead of federal elections in September, with some commentators predicting the region could become the first in the old west of the country to be governed by a coalition between the centre-left and the left parties.
(17) But Watford has elected MPs from all three main parties over the past century and is a classic bellwether seat, one which changes hands when the governing party changes: it did in 1906, 1945, 1964, 1979 and again in 1997.
(18) Had we just relied on the old idea that Missouri was the ultimate bellwether , as it once was, we would have thought that John McCain was in good position in 2008.
(19) Michigan , the first major industrial state to vote, is considered a bellwether for the November election.
(20) Gardner only just edged Udall in Jefferson County , a bellwether for Colorado.