1.   But the sector suffered like chemicals and shipping from cyclical downturns in world demand which thinned the ranks.

2.   Higher prices have thinned the ranks of prospective home owners.

3.   Illness had thinned our ranks.

4.   These new reinforcements arrived only just before a resumption of activities which were swiftly to thin their ranks to an alarming extent.

5.   And this is now, when the ranks of telecom have been thinned by a series of giant mergers, making BellSouth the second-smallest of four Bells.

6.   As the financial ramifications of the crisis ripple through the airline industry, expect bankruptcies to thin the ranks of carriers.

7.   Because advertising rates are tied to ratings, this continued erosion has held down ad revenues for the networks and thinned the ranks of the soaps.

8.   Bonus payments plunged dramatically, nevertheless, and nearly every major company announced layoffs, thinning their ranks of bond traders and salesman.

9.   AIDS has thinned the ranks of musicians.

10.   Brent Smithy, a University of Alabama-Birmingham terrorism expert, said that, over time, counter-terrorism efforts thinned the ranks of those making public demands.