🗓️ Idiom: A Conflict of Interests (n)
💬 Meaning
- A situation where someone’s personal benefit could unfairly influence their professional decisions.
- A problem that happens when someone has competing responsibilities or loyalties.
🧠 Example Sentences
- It would be a conflict of interests for her to work with the supplier she owns shares in.
- The board member stepped down due to a conflict of interests.
- We need to avoid any conflict of interests during this hiring process.
🏛️ Origin
This phrase comes from legal and business language. It began to appear in the early 1900s to describe situations where a person’s judgment could be affected by personal gain. It is now widely used in ethics policies across many industries.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The lawyer couldn’t represent the company because it would be __________.
Answer
a conflict of interests
2. Choose the correct meaning of “a conflict of interests”:
A) A fight between two coworkers
B) A situation where someone’s personal interests affect their professional role
C) A disagreement in a meeting
Answer
B) A situation where someone’s personal interests affect their professional role
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“He shouldn’t approve the budget for a company where his wife works.” → Change the sentence using: a conflict of interests
Answer
Approving the budget would be a conflict of interests.
ℹ️ Other Useful Pages
Rob is a CELTA qualified English teacher with 15 years of international experience. He has a BSc and PGDip from Loughborough and St Andrews universities in the UK. He has taught in Thailand and Saudi Arabia and now works with professionals worldwide.
