From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishto ... extentto ... extentAMOUNTused to say how true something is or how great an effect or change isto a certain extent/to some extent/to an extent (=partly) We all to some extent remember the good times and forget the bad. I do agree with him to an extent.to a great/large extent Its success will depend to a large extent on local attitudes.to a lesser/greater extent (=less or more) It will affect farmers in Spain and to a lesser extent in France. They examined the extent to which (=how much) age affected language-learning ability. To what extent (=how much) did she influence his decision?to such an extent that/to the extent that (=so much that) Violence increased to the extent that residents were afraid to leave their homes. → extent
Examples from the Corpus
to ... extent• To some extent the charge of inflexibility can also be countered by reference to the provisions sanctioning exception from the National Curriculum.• To what extent do such conditions vary from culture to culture?• Other species of Ophiolebes species have a thickened skin covering the disk and to a certain extent the arm spines.• Energy is measured in calories and comes principally from carbohydrates and fats, and to a lesser extent from protein.• First, remove the external influences to the maximum extent possible.• Or to what extent should a religious discourse be developed or avoided in favour of every-day language?• They are thus to some extent limited in where they can invest, as we discuss further in chapter 6. 