bellwether

[yuanmingqing]

I have never come across "bellwether" before. What does it mean? Will you be kind enough to give me some examples?

[BobK]

I have never come across "bellwether" before. What does it mean? Will you be kind enough to give me some examples?

Congratulations for not writing '...weather' or '...whether', but you don't get a bonus point - there are plenty of dictionaries out there.

It's an indicator - the first to change. It's rarely used nowadays. The origin was the leading wether in a flock of sheep, who wore a bell round his neck..

Example:

In the stock market, a bellwether (barometer stock in the UK) is the stock of a company that is regarded as a leader in its given industry.

See more here: Bellwether - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

b

[TheParser]

I have never come across "bellwether" before. What does it mean? Will you be kind enough to give me some examples?

REMINDER: NOT A TEACHER


(1) I think that you have chosen a great word. If you use it (correctly) in your

writing, I think that your colleagues will be very impressed.

(2) Here are two examples I found in my dictionaries:

University campuses are often the bellwether of change. (That is, they predict what changes are coming to society.)
(The New Oxford American Dictionary)

Paris is the bellwether of the fashion industry. (That is, Paris is the leader.)
(Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary)

(3) I most respectfully suggest that you simply google the word, and see how it

is used in a variety of sentences. Then you will start to get a "feel" for the word.

[birdeen's call]

For sample sentences, it's always good to have a look here: CORPORA: 45-425 million words each: free online access