Phrases & Expressions

To falsify financial records, usually illegally.

• The accountant was accused of cooking the books.
• They cooked the books to hide their losses.

A decision on whether a project or action can proceed or must be stopped.

• The committee will make a go/no-go decision next week.
• We need a go/no-go decision before investing more money.

To ask a country's ambassador to return home, usually because of a serious disagreement between the countries.

• They decided to recall their ambassador.
• The country will recall its ambassador in protest.

To promise in a contract that another party will not be held responsible for a loss or claim.

• The contract includes a hold harmless clause.
• We need to hold them harmless from any future claims.

The legal principle of following previous court decisions (precedents) when ruling on similar cases.

• The court must follow stare decisis.
• This case is a clear example of stare decisis.

Growth achieved through high customer retention and engagement.

• The goal is to achieve sticky growth with our new feature.
• Sticky growth means customers keep coming back.

Monitoring changes and patterns over time, often for performance analysis.

• Trend monitoring helps predict issues.
• The system performs trend monitoring automatically.

Problems or risks that are not known to exist.

• We must plan for unknown unknowns.
• The project faced many unknown unknowns.

Mutual concessions made during negotiation or discussion.

• Reciprocal concessions are common in diplomacy.
• They agreed on reciprocal concessions.

To tell a restaurant or shop what you would like to buy.

• Are you ready to place your order, sir?
• You can place your order online or by phone.