ADJ
- distinct
- The process has three distinct stages
- early, first, initial, opening, preliminary
- advanced, closing, final, last, late, latter, terminal
- Her husband was in the advanced stages of cancer
- halfway, intermediate, secondary
- transitional
- successive
- critical, crucial, important, key, main
- easy
- The book guides you through making your own website in easy stages
- difficult
- delicate, vulnerable
- embryonic, larval, pupal
- experimental, exploratory
- committee, design, development/developmental, formative, planning
- The scheme is still at the planning stage
- knockout, semi-final, etc.
- Colombia's win sent them through to the knockout stage of the tournament
VERB + STAGE
- go/move/pass through
- The water goes through three stages of purification
- enter, reach
- We've entered a crucial stage in the project
PREP
- at a/the ~
- You should read this article at some stage
- by ~s
- The university was put together by stages
- during/in a/the ~
- in the early stages of the job
- in ~s
- We renovated the house in two stages
- ~ in
- an important stage in her life
- ~ of
- the latter stages of the race
PHRASES
- the beginning/end of a stage
- Pupils are tested at the end of each stage of the course
- a/one stage further
- take the investigation one stage further
- a stage of development/life
ADJ
- centre (often figurative)
- A new actress will take centre stage in next month's production of ' The Doll's House '
- revolving
VERB + STAGE
- go on, take (to)
- He was too nervous to go on stage. I was shaking as I took the stage. She took to the stage when she was at university
- leave
- She left the stage to tumultuous applause
- set
- (often figurative) The thrilling semi-finals set the stage for what should be a great game
- boo sb off
STAGE + NOUN
- management, manager
- direction
- Shakespeare's famous stage direction: 'Exit, pursued by a bear.'
- play, production, show
- appearance, performance, role
- set
- The stage set is the most expensive ever built
- door
- name
- David Harries adopted the stage name Dixon Hare when he became a full-time actor
- left, right
- fright
- Even experienced actors can suffer from stage fright
PREP
- off ~
- A trumpet sounded off stage
- on ~
- The entire cast is on stage in the final scene