{
    "term": "blessing",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "God’s help and protection, or a prayer asking for this",
            "labels": "(North American English)",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "to pray for God’s blessing"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The bishop said the blessing."
                },
                {
                    "text": "They asked God's blessing on their pastoral work."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The blessing was said in Hebrew."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Religion and festivals"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["traditional", "papal", "divine"],
                "verb + blessing": ["bestow", "give", "make"],
                "preposition": ["blessing on"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "approval of or permission for something",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The government **gave its blessing** to the new plans."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He went **with** his parents' **blessing**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He went off to Latin America with his mother's blessing."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She received the full blessing of her employers."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The budget was pushed through by the government without the blessing of the opposition."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The document received official blessing."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["full", "official"],
                "verb + blessing": ["have", "give somebody/​something", "get"],
                "preposition": [
                    "with somebody’s blessing",
                    "without somebody’s blessing"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "something that is good or helpful",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Lack of traffic is one of the blessings of country life."
                },
                {
                    "text": "**It's a blessing** that nobody was in the house at the time."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her instant success turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["great", "real", "mixed"],
                "preposition": ["blessing for"],
                "phrases": ["a blessing in disguise", "count your blessings"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "something that seems to be a problem at first, but that has good results in the end",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Losing your job might turn out to be a blessing in disguise."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to be grateful for the good things in your life",
            "examples": []
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈblesɪŋ/",
                "audio": "bl/blessing/blessing__gb_3.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈblesɪŋ/",
                "audio": "bl/blessing/blessing__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": null
}