Gradually, however, if all goes well, the bond should loosen and each become aware of their different needs and strive for some degree of independence.

And he shows how the bonds of corporate loyalty, once the wonder of American business-school professors, are now loosening.

There were rumblings throughout the evening and into the early morning today that the bonds were loosening.

So the social and intellectual bonds loosened.

Every once in a while, he felt the bonds loosen a bit more.

THE weekend kgotla meeting showed how the bonds of male-dominated tradition were slowly loosening.

Only after three such encounters will the bonds loosen.

With credibility oozing away, the bonds of loyalty loosen.

As Princess Katrina's ka accepts its new home within this other woman, the bond between the two worlds loosens.

But that bond may be loosening, in part because of a revival of the casino gambling industry.