Cambridge Dictionary:
π Skyrocket, verb.
π /ΛskΚΙͺrΙkΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (informal • no object): (of a price, rate, or amount) increase very steeply or rapidly.
❗️ Examples:
1. The cost of the welfare system has skyrocketed.
2. Grind and roast those beans, and the value skyrockets more than 10 times, to $18 a kilo.
3. The entertainment level just skyrockets on that second viewing.
4. As tuition skyrockets, financial aid has become as elusive as that needle in the proverbial haystack.
5. Homer's popularity skyrockets when he is chosen as the leader of a secret organization.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Guardee, noun.
π /Ι‘ΙΛΛdiΛ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (British • informal): A guardsman, especially one seen as representing smartness or elegance.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π In the groove, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Performing confidently or consistently well.
❗️ Examples:
1. The team are not really in the groove tonight.
2. It might take me a couple of races to get back into the groove.
3. A musician himself, he first discusses the experiences had by musicians who are in the groove, who are performing at their peak as it all comes together.
4. While he started out shaky, as he's done in his previous performances, he got into the groove quickly and stuck with it through the end of the song.
5. He has resorted to that long putter to get his performances back into the groove.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Mudroom, noun.
π /ΛmΚdruΛm/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (North American): A small room or entryway where footwear and outer clothes can be removed before entering a house.
❗️ Examples:
1. Shoes don't come into the house — they are removed and stashed away in the mudroom.
2. The old kitchen was transformed into a mudroom.
3. More storage, often in the form of a back-door mudroom, is a must.
4. They stood in the aptly named mudroom just off of the great kitchen trying to remove the grime.
5. A mudroom, which features a playroom above, separates the family space from the garage.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Levant, verb.
π /lΙͺΛvant/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic • no object): Run away, typically leaving unpaid debts.
❗️ Examples:
1. The clerk had levanted before his employer returned from America.
2. Clutching same, he levanted from Paris and headed for the US via London.
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π @cambridge_dic
π All of a sudden, phrase.
❓ Definition: Suddenly.
❗️ Examples:
1. I feel really tired all of a sudden.
2. All of a sudden, he's being asked to dinner by leading writers and noblemen.
3. All of a sudden, the normal drone of the training room was shattered by peals of laughter!
4. All of a sudden, you're face to face with a black, hairy spider the size of a beach ball.
5. All of a sudden, the sky cleared, became blue and a perfect rainbow arched over me with one end in the sand.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Dreadfully, adverb.
π /ΛdrΙdfΙli/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (British • often as submodifier): Extremely.
❗️ Examples:
1. You're dreadfully thin.
2. I'm dreadfully sorry!
3. I am really, truly, extremely, dreadfully, horribly sorry!
4. His behaviour was terrible and I am dreadfully sorry that you were exposed to it.
5. I feel dreadfully sorry for her and I know Michael will be really upset about it.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Frostie, noun.
π /ΛfrΙsti/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (Australian • informal): An ice-cold can or bottle of beer.
❗️ Examples:
1. Each fan transports his own frosties.
2. If you can bring your cold frosties out with you to enjoy on the lake, then you sure as heck can bring your garbage back with you when you leave.
3. He sat down, noticed Warnie with a frostie and asked, "What the hell are you doing with a beer?"
4. You know, night after night it was a feed, a frostie, and a feature.
5. The politicians operate a magnificent conspiracy at maintaining the people in their everything-is-just-beaut-so-let's-crack-another-frostie mood.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Money talks, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Wealth gives power and influence to those who possess it.
❗️ Examples:
1. I twisted Billy's statement to demonstrate that money talks, and therefore gives its bearer power that others lack.
2. I know money talks but at the end of the day it is always going to be the player's choice as to where he plays his rugby.
3. The state of the union is that money talks and public policy is sold to the highest bidder.
4. Meritocracy was not totally absent in this story - if anything, it shows that money talks, but it doesn't necessarily call the shots.
5. Petitions and letters are nice, but money talks.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Conceal, verb.
π /kΙnΛsiΛl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Prevent (something) from being known; keep secret.
❗️ Examples:
1. They were at great pains to conceal that information from the public.
2. The problem for me is how unfreedom is hidden, concealed in precisely what is presented to us as new freedoms.
3. The knowledge of this has always been there, but it's been half hidden, concealed for its own good.
4. Humankind's deceptive nature is probably the one thing we cannot hide or conceal.
5. She said he concealed his darker side behind a veneer of respectability in order to hide his true character from adoring fans.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Blub, verb.
π /blΚb/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (informal • no object): Cry noisily and uncontrollably; sob.
❗️ Examples:
1. Their mummies blub when they kiss them goodbye.
2. She had the urge to blub her eyes out.
3. I was ok for the most part until my cousin went to speak, and then I could no longer restrain my tears, and blubbed hideously into the tissues I'd luckily remembered to bring with me, turning them into soggy balls of snot and tears.
4. When they eventually troop off, and away, I blub and snivel for hours because the house is suddenly so terribly empty.
5. Its very sad and I always recall blubbing at the end.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Quite a —, phrase.
❓ Definition: Used to indicate that the specified person or thing is perceived as particularly notable, remarkable, or impressive.
❗️ Examples:
1. Quite a party, isn't it?
2. Quite the little horsewoman, aren't you?
3. There was quite the little gong show to prep for the party.
4. He is quite the ladies' man, always chasing the girls.
5. Sure, it wasn't quite the indulgences of our 20's.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Underneath, preposition.
π /ΚndΙΛniΛΞΈ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Situated directly below (something else)
❗️ Examples:
1. Our bedroom is right underneath theirs.
2. Four names written underneath each other.
3. She was no longer hiding underneath her black hair and had showed her true colors during the auditions.
4. A girl wearing thick sunglasses with her hair tucked underneath a black hat pushed her way through the crowd.
5. He fetched a garbage bag from underneath the sink and, without entering the bedroom, handed it to her.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Accouchement, noun.
π /ΙΛkuΛΚmΙ̃/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic • mass noun): The action of giving birth to a baby.
❗️ Examples:
1. Ayurveda has very beautifully described the accouchement ward where the mother of the child is to be kept after delivery.
2. People in Anatolia resort to a number of practices, to protect against the mother or baby-snatcher, who is believed to live in stables, haylofts, mills, deserted ruins, wells, water sources and places where women in accouchement and newborn babies are left alone.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Rest on one's laurels, phrase.
❓ Definition: Be so satisfied with what one has already done or achieved that one makes no further effort.
❗️ Examples:
1. With TV sports coverage becoming increasingly competitive, the BBC should beware of resting on its laurels.
2. He has experienced more adventure than most of us enjoy in a lifetime but he is not resting on his laurels and is already planning further adventures.
3. He is not resting on his laurels and has already begun working for further improvement.
4. We cannot rest on our laurels after the efforts of the weekend.
5. But I've rested on my laurels and never put effort into anything.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Surrender, verb.
π /sΙΛrΙndΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (no object): Stop resisting to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.
❗️ Examples:
1. Over 140 rebels surrendered to the authorities.
2. The policy, while savage, often meant the next towns along the way would surrender rather than resist.
3. Two days later, on May 2, 1945, all enemy forces in Italy surrendered unconditionally.
4. Noriega eventually surrendered voluntarily to U.S. authorities.
5. Enemy soldiers can also surrender and go home as civilians as soon as the war is over.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Accouchement, noun.
π /ΙΛkuΛΚmΙ̃/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic • mass noun): The action of giving birth to a baby.
❗️ Examples:
1. Ayurveda has very beautifully described the accouchement ward where the mother of the child is to be kept after delivery.
2. People in Anatolia resort to a number of practices, to protect against the mother or baby-snatcher, who is believed to live in stables, haylofts, mills, deserted ruins, wells, water sources and places where women in accouchement and newborn babies are left alone.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Easy does it, phrase.
❓ Definition: Used to advise someone to approach a task carefully and slowly.
❗️ Examples:
1. With father's wine in the back I mustn't drive too fast, so easy does it.
2. Easy, easy does it, not too much, just a little bit more.
3. So easy does it with the imagery from now on, I promise.
4. Whether your sending out a quick ‘hello’ or ‘meet us here later’, it's easy does it all the way.
5. Carter shushed her, ‘Hey, easy does it there, Laura.’
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π @cambridge_dic
π Veil, noun.
π /veΙͺl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A piece of fine material worn by women to protect or conceal the face.
❗️ Examples:
1. A white bridal veil.
2. The simple veil headpiece works great with elaborate bridal gowns since the veil does not detract from the overall look.
3. Women wear long dresses with embroidered bodices and side panels, and tall hats with long white veils.
4. Black party hats with veils made of black pantyhose or some other translucent material can also be made.
5. For a dinner of state, like tonight, the dancers were covered in light, flowing material with veils, only their faces showing.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Moil, verb.
π /mΙΙͺl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (North American • archaic, dialect • no object): Work hard.
❗️ Examples:
1. Men who moiled for gold.
2. I rose early and sat late, I toiled and moiled, and in the sweat of my brow and of my soul I strove to gain this money, that I might have some honour among my fellow-creatures.
3. He truly toiled and moiled just to accept God's will when he prayed at Gethsemane.
4. But in much of the rest of the world, the willful individual, moiling away against the system, may attain nobility in some moral order but is nonetheless fated to be crushed.
5. For five rainy days he tramped ever-widening circles out from the base, traversing ridges and saddles and moiling through valleys while the armed guard followed him every step of the way.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Used to express indifference to an insult or abuse.
❗️ Examples:
1. If anyone ever tells you that little rhyme ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,’ well tell them they are full of it.
2. We say things like ‘actions speak louder than words’, or ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’.
3. But the child's nursery rhyme is true: sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.
4. As that old saying goes, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.
5. Remember the old saying, sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me?
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π @cambridge_dic
π Reinforcement, noun.
π /riΛΙͺnΛfΙΛsm(Ι)nt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): The process of encouraging or establishing a belief or pattern of behaviour.
❗️ Examples:
1. Positive feedback leads to reinforcement.
2. Teachers are often unaware that they encourage inappropriate behavior through reinforcement.
3. It is essential to teach and model desired behaviours, and the benefits of positive reinforcement are well established.
4. All owners will be told how to correct the dog's behaviour and how reinforcement of good behaviour will pay more dividends than punishment.
5. However, some will need continued encouragement and positive reinforcement from parents and teachers for this good start not to become swamped by schoolyard attitudes.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Cack-handed, adjective.
π /kakΛhandΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (British • informal): Inept; clumsy.
❗️ Examples:
1. A great song ruined by cack-handed production.
2. It is difficult to conceive a more cack-handed, clumsy way of running a regional fund programme, even assuming there was a case on enhanced economic performance grounds for doing so.
3. He said: ‘I can only describe it as an amateurish, cack-handed attempt at health promotion by some staggeringly inept students.’
4. Yesterday, though, there were no such difficulties as the belly putter he adopted just a few weeks back, and the cack-handed grip with which he has been experimenting these past few days, combined to take him out in 32 and back in 30.
5. In the same way that referees who call too much attention to themselves on the pitch demean the spectacle by disrupting everyone's concentration, cack-handed sportscasters are also an obstacle to our enjoyment of live sport.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Sort out the men from the boys, phrase.
❓ Definition: Show or prove who is the best at a particular activity.
❗️ Examples:
1. The mountains apparently sort out the men from the boys.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Passage, noun.
π /ΛpasΙͺdΚ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A narrow way allowing access between buildings or to different rooms within a building; a passageway.
❗️ Examples:
1. The larger bedroom was at the end of the passage.
2. The house is old and creaky, stairs to half-floors leading from narrow rooms and confusing passages as if designed by M.C. Escher.
3. Excavations revealed a massive timber gate about halfway along the passage allowing access to be controlled.
4. As one walks through the different rooms, passages and interstices of the gallery, there is a tremendous but transient concatenation of sound.
5. Within the narrow passages candles were placed along the walls, dimly lighting up the blood red stone.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Lappy, noun.
π /Λlapi/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (British • informal): A laptop.
❗️ Examples:
1. I'm going to transfer my CD collection to the lappy.
2. The graphics will be viable for any rig or lappy.
3. The technicians came today to install the new motherboard in my lappy.
4. I have a place to set up the lappy in the computer room; not a lot of privacy to write blog entries in I'm afraid.
5. We're going to pick a winner at random, so all of you have an equal chance to snatch yourself a lappy.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Fight one's corner, phrase.
❓ Definition: Defend one's position or interests.
❗️ Examples:
1. We need someone in the cabinet to fight our corner.
2. The company argues that the fact the shareholders are getting anything at all - something some creditors fiercely opposed at the time - was only because the company fought their corner.
3. The same ferocity with which a young, disadvantaged Motherwell side have fought their corner for much of the league campaign was the game's most compelling feature.
4. I fought my corner to the very last, though, and as we waited at the check-out I gave it a final shot.
5. But Mr Jones fought his corner and delivered a prepared, three-minute speech pressing his argument that public services needed to be reformed and firms had to deal with the increasing demands of competition.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Conceal, verb.
π /kΙnΛsiΛl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Not allow to be seen; hide.
❗️ Examples:
1. A line of sand dunes concealed the distant sea.
2. My dark hair conceals my damp yellow eyes, like a funeral veil that hides a widow's tears.
3. She carefully picked up two small bottles, concealing one with the other.
4. The room in which was entered was both dead and dark, concealing everything that existed in it.
5. No legislation allows that drugs can be concealed in the patients' food.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Blokeish, adjective.
π /ΛblΙΚkΙͺΚ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (British • informal): Indulging in or relating to stereotypically male behaviour and interests.
❗️ Examples:
1. It is not very blokeish of me, I admit, but I have a passion for shopping.
2. And if they're not blokish, they say, ‘Well, we might as well talk to our friends in the pub.'’
3. Her outfits and blokish humour are viewed with muted approval, although even she is eventually portrayed as self-serving and unreliable.
4. Then he spoils his image as an incurable romantic with a blokish aside.
5. I'd agree that it is head-and-shoulders above most sitcoms but it follows hackneyed gender traditions (men are blokeish and committment-phobic; women are insecure and needy).
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π @cambridge_dic
π Hang loose, phrase.
❓ Definition (North American • informal • often as imperative): Be relaxed; refrain from taking anything too seriously.
❗️ Examples:
1. Hang loose, baby!
2. Still, if you go in not expecting very much, and relax and just hang loose, you will find a lot to smile about.
3. He likes to joke around and is tremendous about creating a positive atmosphere so the guys can stay loose.
4. The key I believe is to stay loose and just write whatever pops into your head.
5. ‘Just chill out and hang loose,’ she said knowingly.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Particle, noun.
π /ΛpΙΛtΙͺk(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A minute portion of matter.
❗️ Examples:
1. Tiny particles of dust.
2. Uncatchables were like magnets for loose electrons, and whenever they became solid, it was because they had attracted all of the minute particles of matter in the area towards them.
3. It is true that Newton did suggest that if we could know the forces that operate on the minute particles of matter, we could understand why macroscopic processes occur in the ways they do.
4. Cloud seeding is a snowmaking technique that discharges minute particles of a chemical called iodide into winter storm clouds to create snow.
5. His entire body was caked with minute particles of dried salt, and it was beginning to drive his Sentinel sense of touch off the irritation scale.
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π @cambridge_dic
π As if there was no tomorrow, phrase.
❓ Definition: With no regard for the future consequences.
❗️ Examples:
1. I ate as if there was no tomorrow.
2. He gnawed and bit and scratched as if there was no tomorrow!
3. The banks are still lending as if there was no tomorrow.
4. She and Dan would swim and swim as if there was no tomorrow.
5. Before I could say anything, he was kissing me as if there was no tomorrow.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Aisle, noun.
π /ΚΙͺl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A passage between rows of seats in a building such as a church or theatre, an aircraft, or train.
❗️ Examples:
1. The musical had the audience dancing in the aisles.
2. Turtle chose his seat on the train across the aisle from Tim in the row behind Megan and Jeff.
3. The bus was headed from the Western Wall to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood on the city's outskirts, and families with children were packed in the seats and aisles.
4. Thirty unarmed INS agents accompanied the flight, guarding the handcuffed deportees in shifts, standing in aircraft's aisles at every fifth row.
5. At a humanist ceremony at York Crematorium, conducted by Maggie Blunt, mourners sat and kneeled in the aisles because every seat was taken.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Kine, plural noun.
π /kΚΙͺn/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic): Cows collectively.
❗️ Examples:
1. The lowing kine came home at twilight.
2. The crops of Egypt withered in the fields and the kine died in the pasture, and the children of Egypt went hungry; their ribs and bones stuck out like those of corpses.
3. The twelfth-century Metrical Dinshenchas also contain a place name stanza about Howth which mentions ‘seven hundred kine, red eared, pure white.’
4. In addition, such c/k pairs arose as cat and kitten, cow and kine.
5. Like Virgil's, Horace's garden had its vines, olives, bees and kine.
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π @cambridge_dic
π All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Constant work without rest or relaxation is harmful to one's personal life and well-being.
❗️ Examples:
1. In addition to firm information, we have a little game because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
2. All work and no play is stressful.
3. Being in shape doesn't have to be all work and no play.
4. It won't be all work and no play at the show.
5. Though you agree that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, the industrious and methodical part of you will do justice to your work.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Spare, adjective.
π /spΙΛ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: (of time) not taken up by one's usual duties or activities; available for leisure.
❗️ Examples:
1. He tried to write poetry in his spare time.
2. For most acts, this wouldn't work, but Lemon Jelly has a style that requires headphones and a spare 45 minutes to absorb the album from start to finish.
3. A question from another child revealed Mr Blunkett wishes he had more spare time.
4. I have more spare time and I'm more perceptive of my life and my surroundings.
5. With more spare time than younger people, we can spend some of it at the casino.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Preloading, noun.
π /ΛpriΛlΙΚdΙͺΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (British • informal • mass noun): The action or practice of drinking alcohol, especially in large quantities, before going out socially.
❗️ Examples:
1. Binge drinking and preloading are two behaviours the government hopes to curb by imposing a minimum price for alcohol.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Like hell, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Very much (used for emphasis)
❗️ Examples:
1. My head hurts like hell.
2. All I know is that my mouth hurts like hell and I've about as much chance of getting in to see my dentist this week as I have getting into a size 10 dress.
3. I didn't really think about it much as I grew up, unless I bashed my hand against something then the tiny scar hurt like hell.
4. Either way, it hurts like hell on my right side when I breathe in.
5. It really is a magnificent bruise and I have no doubt it hurts like hell.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Leisure, noun.
π /ΛlΙΚΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): Time when one is not working or occupied; free time.
❗️ Examples:
1. People with too much enforced leisure.
2. Little did he realize the magnitude of the issue which he raised, and that it would occupy his leisure for nearly twenty years.
3. Rather than giving up work at the age of 65, they will ‘cycle’ between periods of work and leisure well into their golden years.
4. Intelligent soldiers never waste the long periods of leisure that characterize peacetime service.
5. I don't buy the idea that the pre-industrial period was a golden age of self-determination and leisure for the vast majority of the British.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bealing, adjective.
π /ΛbiΛlΙͺΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (Scottish, Irish • informal): Extremely angry.
❗️ Examples:
1. She spiralled from miffed to riled to totally bealing.
2. He must be bealing that the team is winding up.
3. The sign for "angry" can mean anything from irritated to bealing.
4. He went racing off the park at full-time and was bealing! We ran riot that night.
5. Fans will be bemused and bealing that it was their own gaffer who shattered their dream of a clean sweep.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Play hard to get, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Deliberately adopt an aloof or uninterested attitude, typically in order to make oneself more attractive or interesting.
❗️ Examples:
1. They are playing hard to get with the media, and are keeping us all interested.
2. Sometimes when dates played hard to get, it made the chase more interesting and the inevitable surrender more satisfying.
3. ‘He tried to talk to me for a while after we met, but I was playing hard to get,’ she said with a slight smile.
4. In this love affair, like many others, playing hard to get can only make for a better relationship.
5. After months of being cautious and playing hard to get, I'm going to bravely risk rejection this time.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Big Brother, noun.
❓ Definition: A person or organization exercising total control over people's lives.
❗️ Examples:
1. Big Brother will be watching you from this week when spy cameras start to operate in Essex.
2. For executives who want the Big Brother touch, there are monitoring systems to keep track of employees.
3. Until September 17 of last year, the Canadian government didn't have any Big Brothers on their payroll and we all lived together in blessed harmony within the wonderful realm of free speech.
4. There is much speculation about what it is that the Big Brothers from Brussels will say, good and bad, about Bulgaria.
5. We can help erode the power of these Big Brothers by highlighting some home truths.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Ackers, plural noun.
π /ΛakΙz/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (British • informal): Money.
❗️ Examples:
1. What you get for your ackers is two CDs.
2. If you've promised to send me money for a t-shirt, please get the ackers to me soon.
3. Come on Walter, now we've had to stump up the ackers, lets get our moneys worth out of Thomas and let him prove he is one of Europes finest.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Give or take —, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): To within a specified amount.
❗️ Examples:
1. Three hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a few.
2. They found that the mass extinction occurred 46,400 years ago, give or take 3,000 years.
3. He departed this vale two decades or so ago, give or take a few years.
4. Although no one knows for certain, most authorities agree that the pug originated in China around 2,500 years ago, give or take a few centuries.
5. Eight hours ago - give or take a couple minutes - his aunt had flown to California to visit an old roommate from her college years.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Rebel, noun.
π /ΛrΙb(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A person who rises in opposition or armed resistance against an established government or leader.
❗️ Examples:
1. Tory rebels.
2. Rebel forces.
3. This date marks the 200th Anniversary to the very day when the rebel leader ended his resistance and walked through the gates of Humewood and into captivity.
4. Forked story paths in the beginning allow you to choose between siding with the armed rebels in resistance or the Soviets in appeasement.
5. However, during the truce, the party's militia would respond with force in the event it came under attack from government security forces, the rebel leader said.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Crinkum-crankum, noun.
π /krΙͺΕkΙmΛkraΕkΙm/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic • mass noun): Elaborate decoration or detail.
❗️ Examples:
1. Ay, here's none of your straight lines here, but all taste, zig-zag, crinkum-crankum, in and out, right and left, so and again, twisting like a worm.
2. The crackle-glaze boulder shapes, the crinkum-crankum ledges, the skewed pagoda silhouettes of the mountains belonged to no Occidental geography.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Take it or leave it, phrase.
❓ Definition (usually in imperative): Said to express that the offer one has made is not negotiable and that one is indifferent to another's reaction to it.
❗️ Examples:
1. That's the deal — take it or leave it.
2. This looks like an opening gambit rather than a take it or leave it offer.
3. We have already been told that the moving of the market and interchange are not negotiable and that, in effect, we can either take it or leave it.
4. Would they tell them to take it or leave it, this is what we offer?
5. He offered the cash and said take it or leave it and the bank eventually came back and said it would accept the cash.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Influential, adjective.
π /ΛΙͺnflΚΛΙnΚ(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Having great influence on someone or something.
❗️ Examples:
1. Her work is influential in feminist psychology.
2. A quarter of a century on, the clergyman remains a powerful and influential figure even in death.
3. So, what do you think is the most important and influential car ever to be sold in Britain?
4. So a handful of votes will determine the direction of the world's most powerful and influential country.
5. National actors play important and influential roles at all stages of the EU policy process.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Forfend, verb.
π /fΙΛΛfΙnd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object • archaic): Avert or prevent (something evil or unpleasant)
❗️ Examples:
1. ‘The fiend forfend’ said the grim Earl.
2. This forfends what one may call the natural development of the natural man so overlaid with social man.
3. Brenda forfended this possibility by isolating groups of sculptures inside a designated pathway: they stood aloof from touch save by imagination.
4. Thus a tradition died, and thus the Masters and Wardens of today rejoice in a happy immunity, all unknowing of the danger their predecessors forfended.
5. The reinforcement with the additional U-shaped flexible elongated metal folder improves the structure of conventional end hook in enhancing considerably the strength to withstand the stress of impact, forfending the usual disadvantage of fracture or rupture of the tape and rivet failure.
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π @cambridge_dic
π In the flesh, phrase.
❓ Definition: In person or (of a thing) in its actual state.
❗️ Examples:
1. They decided that they should meet Alexander in the flesh.
2. Reminds me though, I once had a lunch with a blind colleague whom I'd spoken to on the phone a lot but not met in the flesh before.
3. Not only does he not want journalists to meet people in the flesh, he will actively discourage them from doing any such thing.
4. At any rate, it turns out that I have recently met another blogger, in the flesh.
5. The Fan Faire was a rare opportunity for them to meet in the flesh.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Hatred, noun.
π /ΛheΙͺtrΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): Intense dislike; hate.
❗️ Examples:
1. Racial hatred.
2. His murderous hatred of his brother.
3. They must make it clear that religious hatred will not be tolerated and they must be seen to take a stand.
4. It set an end to a terrible century of war and hatred between France and Germany.
5. I read them and am hurt by the injustice and often outright hatred of some of the posters.
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π @cambridge_dic
π In person, phrase.
❓ Definition: With the personal presence or action of the individual specified.
❗️ Examples:
1. He had to pick up his welfare cheque in person.
2. Otherwise people can go there in person and pay a visit to the kids since the center is not that far.
3. His thesis is undoubtedly better presented in person rather than in the context of a dry academic paper.
4. The cyclists who objected to the scheme presented their views in person to the inquiry.
5. There's also an added bonus for people, like myself, who're extremely shy in person.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Incite, verb.
π /ΙͺnΛsΚΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Encourage or stir up (violent or unlawful behaviour)
❗️ Examples:
1. They conspired to incite riots.
2. The Public Order Act of 1986 made it a criminal offence to incite racial hatred - but its provisions do not extend to sexual orientation.
3. I am aware that Britain has legislation which makes it a criminal offence to incite racial hatred.
4. Many priests refused to collaborate with the authorities, and some incited disobedience.
5. Generally, it is perfectly obvious what kind of language or imagery incites racial hatred.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Tronc, noun.
π /trΙΕk/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: (in a hotel or restaurant) a common fund into which tips and service charges are paid for distribution to the staff.
❗️ Examples:
1. The main target and focus for the Revenue may have changed, but troncs are still very much on the radar.
2. Last year the Revenue lost a long-running court battle regarding troncs and National Insurance contributions.
3. He explores the tax treatment of tips and troncs for restaurants and other hospitality businesses.
4. In effect the revenue has conceded that an employer can offer advice on how tronc is allocated provided the troncmaster is not the employer and the troncmaster freely decides how the tronc is divided.
5. Today's announcement is very welcome and provides yet further clarity on the tax treatment of tips and troncs.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Every dog has its day, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Everyone will have good luck or success at some point in their lives.
❗️ Examples:
1. There comes a time to stop, every dog has its day, and I think I have had mine.
2. In parallel with his ascendancy to the top of the NFL tree went his present team, their unlikely transformation from zeroes to heroes last season illustrating that every dog has its day.
3. It's not nice to keep losing but every dog has its day.
4. I'm aware that, very, very occasionally a performance is given which astonishes us all, but every dog has his day, and England's problem is having too few of these.
5. However, no sooner had I written this than I get to find out every dog has his day, right?
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π @cambridge_dic
π Englished, adjective.
π /ΛΙͺΕ(Ι‘)lΙͺΚt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Made English in character or form; translated into English.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Mure, verb.
π /mjΚΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic • with object): Imprison or shut up in an enclosed space.
❗️ Examples:
1. They are not a little tired of being mured up in the cottage.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Get laid, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Have sex.
❗️ Examples:
1. He was keeping himself busy with his life's work - trying and failing to get laid.
2. He had a Playboy duvet cover and still got laid!
3. I don't go out to get laid - I go out to have fun.
4. What does one's opinion on politics have to do with getting laid?
5. It's like they all just went on the show to get laid more than usual.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Instigate, verb.
π /ΛΙͺnstΙͺΙ‘eΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Bring about or initiate (an action or event)
❗️ Examples:
1. They instigated a reign of terror.
2. I will be instigating legal proceedings.
3. Here the audience obtains a glimpse of the power bloc which oversaw and instigated the events.
4. Over the years she has instigated various events in the Court and the town itself.
5. Does the development team have the power and flexibility to instigate catastrophic events in the game?
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π @cambridge_dic
π Unget-at-able, adjective.
π /ΚnΙ‘ΙtΛatΙb(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (informal): Inaccessible.
❗️ Examples:
1. Unget-at-able towns.
2. George Orwell, who came here to write 1984, described it as ‘an extremely unget-at-able place.’
3. They are usually deepest and most unget-at-able just where critical thought is most needed in morals, religion and politics.
4. Nevertheless, materials and technologies as used in its construction embody a standard, which for the time being remains unget-at-able in the Lithuanian housing market.
5. Even in the limited context of services, the government would rather remain unget-at-able to the two largest trading partners of the country in the medium term.
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π @cambridge_dic
π The coast is clear, phrase.
❓ Definition: There is no danger of being observed or caught.
❗️ Examples:
1. The streetcleaners kept stopping off for a smoke when the coast was clear.
2. She then looks up and down the street, as if she's making sure the coast is clear, and then she just takes off.
3. And then, if the coast is clear, we can safely follow.
4. Our characters were supposed to look around to make sure the coast is clear, then jump in the truck and race off.
5. They all start running off and, thinking the coast is clear, I get out of my car.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Exaggerated, adjective.
π /ΙͺΙ‘ΛzadΚΙreΙͺtΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Regarded or represented as larger, better, or worse than in reality.
❗️ Examples:
1. An exaggerated account of his adventures.
2. Comic book characters are drawn with exaggerated features so you will remember them.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Podged, adjective.
π /pΙdΚd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (Northern English • informal): Having eaten a large amount of food; very full.
❗️ Examples:
1. I'm so podged I can't move.
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π @cambridge_dic
π On a roll, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Experiencing a prolonged spell of success or good luck.
❗️ Examples:
1. The organization is on a roll.
2. With his last few albums, he has been on a roll, consistently producing jazz of the very highest standard.
3. New Zealand film is apparently on a roll according to our media.
4. All the smaller underground clubs are on a roll and the commercialised side of dance music is starting to wane.
5. Sinatra had been on a roll since his breakthrough part in From Here To Eternity.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Belligerent, adjective.
π /bΙΛlΙͺdΚ(Ι)r(Ι)nt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Engaged in a war or conflict, as recognized by international law.
❗️ Examples:
1. A conference of socialists from all belligerent countries.
2. It is based upon the customary international laws of belligerent occupation, including the Hague Regulations.
3. It is widely recognized that access by belligerent groups to the gains from drug production and trafficking contributes to the intensity and prolongation of military conflict.
4. Take also the case of lawful belligerent reprisals (for example, the use of prohibited weapons).
5. Even between belligerent states, such treaties will not necessarily be suspended; a fortiori, if the conflict is not international, treaty rules will in general continue to apply.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Jakes, noun.
π /dΚeΙͺks/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic): A toilet, especially an outdoor one.
❗️ Examples:
1. A jakes, of course, was the Elizabethan word for a mouldy toilet.
2. Nothing fancy, just a long drop, probably leading to a cistern that served several other jakes, but it was a luxury here.
3. Bloom kicks open "the crazy door of the jakes." In the cobwebbed privacy of the biffy with "the stench of mouldy limewash and stale cobwebs" Bloom "eases himself".
4. You're told about table manners to relieve yourself in a jakes above a stream.
5. Out with the boss for a power lunch? Don't excuse yourself to use the "rest room", how dull: announce that you are headed for the jakes!
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π @cambridge_dic
π A dog's breakfast, phrase.
❓ Definition (British • informal): A poor piece of work; a mess.
❗️ Examples:
1. We made a real dog's breakfast of it.
2. All in all it is a dog's dinner, literally, with local residents living with the mess and hazard.
3. In design terms it's a dog's breakfast, a grey, smudgy mess that seems to stagger off ancient presses each week.
4. It all adds up to a dog's breakfast of departmental rivalry, layer upon layer of confused delivery and strategic confusion.
5. Speaking after the council agreed to hold the ballot, he said: ‘The wording on the ballot papers is a dog's dinner.’
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bill, noun.
π /bΙͺl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A draft of a proposed law presented to parliament for discussion.
❗️ Examples:
1. A debate over the civil rights bill.
2. Within a few weeks a draft bill was presented to parliament; it had two clauses later to become sections 1 and 2 of the Act of 1916.
3. Last week, a private members' bill was presented to Parliament calling for a ban on masts near classrooms and homes.
4. The government has presented around 30 bills to the parliament, which it wants to pass rapidly during final two weeks of August.
5. I guess we can tell that we are at the dog-end when the best the Government can do is present to Parliament bills of this nature for consideration.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Gammer, noun.
π /ΛΙ‘amΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic): An old countrywoman.
❗️ Examples:
1. Old Gammer Green.
2. When he turned away from the hedge, he heard the voice of an old gammer, coming from the next garden.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Get the picture, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Understand a situation.
❗️ Examples:
1. Any trouble your father might have we can hide — d'you get the picture?
2. To be honest, I believe it was more difficult to get the picture than to catch the carp.
3. I realize that sounds completely revolting, but I think you get the picture.
4. Scott didn't seem to get the picture, his brain still working on understanding what Jesse had just told him.
5. This includes, buses, trains, lifts, public buildings, pubs, restaurants; I think you have probably got the picture.
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π @cambridge_dic
A fatal error has just happened.
That happens when the dictionary accidentally gives the bot definitions in Spanish. We don't need Spanish definitions on English platform, so we block such requests. You can repeat your request in a couple of minutes to check whether the error shows up again.
π Plainly, adverb.
π /ΛpleΙͺnli/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: In a direct and honest way without concealment or deception.
❗️ Examples:
1. To speak plainly, I suffer from a lack of confidence.
2. I will ask you plainly: are you a spy?
3. As he told his tale, he spoke as plainly as he could.
4. To put it plainly, the young grandmaster made the opening look like it loses by force!
5. Make sure that the conditions for using this insurance are plainly stated in the house rules.
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π @cambridge_dic
π So long, phrase.
π /ΛsΙΚ ΛlΙΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (informal): Goodbye till we meet again.
❗️ Examples:
1. When she walked out on the Sugababes as they hit the big time, it looked like so long, Siobhan.
2. I just want it to be done with, but I don't want to deal with any of the moving or saying so long stuff.
3. ‘So long!’, Catharine waved goodbye to Audrey as the door closed.
4. So long, Mother. Be expecting a postcard or two in the mail, if you're lucky.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Proxy war, noun.
❓ Definition: A war instigated by a major power which does not itself become involved.
❗️ Examples:
1. The end of the Cold War brought an end to many of the proxy wars through which the two sides struggled to exert their influence.
2. People are supposed to ‘liberate’ themselves, not rely on some external force to come to their land and fight a proxy war for them.
3. Thus, as noted, David Aaronovitch describes the assault on Nicaragua as part of ‘the proxy war fought between the two superpowers for power and influence’.
4. Rollback was the American end of the proxy war fought between the two superpowers for power and influence in the developing world.
5. The proxy war in Kashmir between India and Pakistan also demonstrates that irregulars can fight limited wars for limited purposes, especially when the threat of nuclear war or conventional escalation is high.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Larcener, noun.
π /ΛlΙΛs(Ι)nΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic): A thief.
❗️ Examples:
1. A nervous larcener with a sharp blade.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Get rid of, phrase.
❓ Definition: Take action so as to be free of (a troublesome or unwanted person or thing)
❗️ Examples:
1. We have been campaigning to get rid of the car tax for 20 years.
2. Perhaps you should dig it up, getting rid of all the roots, and try something else as a windbreak.
3. Having a shave and getting rid of unwanted body hair in the heat or sauna is also supposed to be relaxing for the nerves and skin.
4. Can you advise on the best way of getting rid of the smell?
5. I've been trying to get rid of the smoke smell too.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Earring, noun.
π /ΛΙͺΙrΙͺΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A piece of jewellery worn on the lobe or edge of the ear.
❗️ Examples:
1. Her wedding ring and plain gold earrings are her only jewellery, plus a few red beads and tight bangles on one wrist.
2. In the painting I am wearing a turquoise sari and some gold and ruby earrings with a necklace and a few bangles.
3. She was carrying a small black bag and wearing large silver hoop earrings and a rope bracelet.
4. Alicia returned her attentions to the mirror and slipped her favourite pearl drop earrings into her lobes.
5. He put the cloak back on me, and as I pulled the hood up, the edge caught my earring, and tugged it away.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Soz, adjective.
π /sΙz/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (British • informal): Sorry (used to express apology)
❗️ Examples:
1. Soz, I forgot.
2. No action in this chapter either, soz!
3. April 27th, 2010 at 3:44 am: soz, hit submit twice!
4. Soz, I've lost the receipt.
5. Soz it's been so long since I've updated.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Soft touch, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): A person who readily gives or does something if asked.
❗️ Examples:
1. We've shown people we're not a soft touch and that we won't be pushed over by the criticism.
2. The bit that still gets to me is the look on her face as she approached me, as though she thought I was a soft touch and I was going to bow down at her feet and beg forgiveness.
3. The trouble with caring too much is becoming a soft touch.
4. I think you know very well that you ought to stop being such a soft touch.
5. They are no soft touch, as they proved again last night.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Enact, verb.
π /ΙͺΛnakt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Make (a bill or other proposal) law.
❗️ Examples:
1. Legislation was enacted to attract international companies.
2. Remember, there has been no significant piece of reformist legislation enacted into law for nearly 30 years.
3. Rather, Parliament was enacting legislation in which a number of classes of persons have significant interests.
4. In the United States, several states have already enacted genetic privacy laws.
5. The statute was enacted pursuant to Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Peradventure, adverb.
π /Λp(Ι)rΙdΛvΙntΚΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic, humorous): Perhaps.
❗️ Examples:
1. Peradventure I'm not as wealthy as he is.
2. The story begins with Balak, king of the Moabites, entreating Balaam to ‘curse me this people for he is too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite him, and that I may drive him out of the land ’.
3. And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
4. And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the Horses and Mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
5. For they who find great fault say it is too much, whereas peradventure Truth would say after all, it is not yet enough.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Things that go bump in the night, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal, humorous): Unexplained and frightening noises at night, regarded as being caused by ghosts.
❗️ Examples:
1. The fear of long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night.
2. As a youngster I had a dreadful fear of ghost stories and things that go bump in the night.
3. Meanwhile, professional ghost-finders are set to launch a three-day festival in York dedicated to the things that go bump in the night.
4. You are thinking about things that go bump in the night and monsters under your bed and vampires peering at you through your window.
5. I have a fear of things that go bump in the night.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bandwagon, noun.
π /ΛbandwaΙ‘Ιn/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Used in reference to an activity, cause, etc. that is currently fashionable or popular and attracting increasing support.
❗️ Examples:
1. The environmental bandwagon is feeling mighty crowded.
2. Concerns over the risk posed by this emerging technology threaten to derail the bandwagon.
3. Apart from the integrated oil outfits, lots of other businesses are now climbing on board the environmental bandwagon.
4. FOXY BROWN is the latest member of the hip hop contingent to jump on the fashion bandwagon.
5. One thing Clinic could never be accused of is copying anyone's sound or jumping aboard the latest fashionable bandwagon.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Orison, noun.
π /ΛΙrΙͺz(Ι)n/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (usually orisons • archaic): A prayer.
❗️ Examples:
1. The orisons of fury will be sung… with a new found desperation Zaile sprinted into the dark.
2. For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
3. Among these elements were the language of sacrifice, the vesture of Aaronic priests, clouds of incense rising like orisons to the throne, and the prayer of worship chanted by priests and people alike.
4. Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remember'd.
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π @cambridge_dic
π From the bottom of one's heart, phrase.
❓ Definition: Very sincerely.
❗️ Examples:
1. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Handwriting, noun.
π /ΛhandrΚΙͺtΙͺΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): A person's particular style of writing.
❗️ Examples:
1. Her handwriting was small and neat.
2. And the style of your handwriting at that point of time could bare your soul in the presence of others.
3. The handwriting and style were that of a class geek that Jeremy probably bullied into writing.
4. Style, flair, neatness and layout of handwriting are the criteria that judges use to assess the entries.
5. I sometimes try to write in between the pictures but my handwriting does not seem to suit the style.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Demob-happy, adjective.
❓ Definition (British • informal): Feeling elated because one is about to leave a stressful or responsible job or situation.
❗️ Examples:
1. He's looking a little more relaxed these days, though he's not demob-happy quite yet.
2. With the end of filming in sight, Schama has the air of the demob happy.
3. It might be an exaggeration to say that Henrik Larsson is demob happy.
4. But as our parliamentarians get demob happy, the temptation to look to a future in light entertainment grows stronger.
5. She admitted feeling "very demob-happy" when he finally left the Tory front benches in 1999.
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π @cambridge_dic
π As plain as the nose on someone's face, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Very obvious.
❗️ Examples:
1. I knew what he was up to — it was as plain as the nose on his face.
2. He explained why he chose him: ‘That was a decision I felt had to be made as plain as the nose on my face - and that's fairly apparent.’
3. What's the point of saying something that is as plain as the nose on your face?
4. After eliminating the impossibilities, the master of deduction explained, he had been left with one simple irrevocable conclusion, as plain as the nose on one's face.
5. After the verdict was handed down, the press were talking to the jurors, interviewing the jury, and the one juror said Michael's innocence was as plain as the nose on his face.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Absorb, verb.
π /ΙbΛzΙΛb/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Take in or soak up (energy or a liquid or other substance) by chemical or physical action.
❗️ Examples:
1. Buildings can be designed to absorb and retain heat.
2. Steroids are absorbed into the bloodstream.
3. Molecules may change their rotational energy levels by absorbing energy from electromagnetic radiation in the microwave region of the spectrum.
4. Carbon dioxide primarily absorbs infrared energy emitted by the Earth, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect and warming the Earth's surface and the atmosphere.
5. Electrons in the mineral absorb the energy from the activator and become excited.
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π @cambridge_dic
π My way or the highway, phrase.
❓ Definition (North American • informal): Said to assert the view that there is no alternative (apart from leaving) but to accept the speaker's opinions or policies.
❗️ Examples:
1. They know no way but the way of the autocrat — it's my way or the highway.
2. It's always the ultimatum, my way or the highway.
3. ‘Listen bud,’ she said as she leaned towards him, one arm on the table as she did so, ‘It's my way or the highway.’
4. One former international summed up his approach to getting his plans through: ‘With Jim, it's always been my way or the highway.’
5. When he first moved into coaching, I did fear for him because, in some ways, he could be old school and rather intolerant - my way or the highway.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Upcoming, adjective.
π /ΚpΛkΚmΙͺΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: About to happen; forthcoming.
❗️ Examples:
1. The upcoming election.
2. If he feels well enough and wants to run in an upcoming election, I'd vote for him again.
3. Do you think there has been a lack of international coverage of the upcoming elections?
4. The headland's fate now seems to hang in the result of the upcoming federal election.
5. It will be up to councillors to justify their decision at upcoming elections.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Untogether, adjective.
π /ΚntΙΛΙ‘ΙΓ°Ι/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (informal): (of a person) not well organized or sensible.
❗️ Examples:
1. No matter how untogether you are feeling, there'll be plenty of folk whose private lives are even more chaotic than yours.
2. They're similarly untogether as a bunch of people.
3. Now I'm at home feeling very untogether.
4. Other people are too untogether or too immoral or too passive, so there's no point in me trying to mobilize them.
5. Thinking back to the very untogether Al I met at that Sea Of Love interview, I comment that he appears cool, calm and collected today.
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π @cambridge_dic
π From time to time, phrase.
❓ Definition: Occasionally.
❗️ Examples:
1. Although he is now fluent in Bulgarian, Matt still confuses the odd word from time to time.
2. Chances are you won't get one, but I understand that you feel the need - we all do from time to time.
3. Place on a high heat and bring to the boil, stirring from time to time.
4. Friday night was one of those pleasant surprises the Internet throws my way from time to time.
5. Pack little surprises from time to time like stickers, a novelty pen or a joke.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Sinful, adjective.
π /ΛsΙͺnfΚl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Wicked and immoral; committing or characterized by the committing of sins.
❗️ Examples:
1. Sinful men.
2. A sinful way of life.
3. Because of the corruption of human reason, which took place in the Fall, humanity has a tendency, not merely to err, but to make wicked, sinful choices.
4. But we live in a fallen, sinful world in which sin invades family units as it does all other aspects of society.
5. Certainly, the real reason man lives wickedly or violently is his corrupt sinful nature.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Speewah, noun.
π /ΛspiΛwΙΛ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (the Speewah • Australian • informal): An imaginary place used as a setting for fanciful stories of the outback.
❗️ Examples:
1. The sheep on the Speewah are so big it takes several days to shear each animal.
2. Droughts are not over until the people of the Speewah are able to have water in their tea.
3. Hoop snakes and giant mosquitoes are commonplace on the Speewah.
4. The Speewah shearing shed is so large it takes two men and a boy standing on each other's shoulders to see the whole of it.
5. In some Speewah stories, Crooked Mick is the cook and is said to have made pastry so light that it floated into the air when the wind blew.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Trip the light fantastic, phrase.
❓ Definition (humorous): Dance, in particular engage in ballroom dancing.
❗️ Examples:
1. They enjoyed a four-course dinner, charity auction and a dance band so they could trip the light fantastic.
2. They are great fans of this style of dancing and trip the light fantastic each Thursday night to keep in practice.
3. She tap-dances and trips the light fantastic in a couple of big-production numbers, wearing a Gloria Swanson-style wig and fabulous frocks.
4. In recent years, ‘6O's nights’ have become very popular, bringing out some not so young rockers for a nostalgic night of tripping the light fantastic.
5. Many who attended the festival in those years have still remained fans and those same drama fans, who were big on dancing, are more at ease in the seats at a play than tripping the light fantastic in earlier years.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Transgression, noun.
π /trΙΛnsΛΙ‘rΙΚn/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: An act that goes against a law, rule, or code of conduct; an offence.
❗️ Examples:
1. I'll be keeping an eye out for further transgressions.
2. Few ministers now stand down because of sexual transgressions.
3. Her transgression of genteel etiquette.
4. Mobiles ringing in the dressing room, lateness and the wrong kit are all transgressions that can lead to coughing up dollars.
5. One admits to a crime, a transgression, not an illness, unless the illness is a crime, and depression is not.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Umpy, noun.
π /ΛΚmpi/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (Australian Rules Football • informal): An umpire.
❗️ Examples:
1. They took so long that the umpy could almost have started the game without them.
2. "Look umpy," said Gibbs, "I'm retiring after this match and I've always wanted to be the first footballer ever to kick a goal in the nude."
3. The umpy was said to be as blind as ever.
4. Even the umpies were in on the joke, blowing their whistles for marks before he got his hands on the ball.
5. We crack some tinnies, and if it turns cold we go inside to watch the replays on the telly and abuse the umpy.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Turn traitor, phrase.
❓ Definition: Betray a group or person.
❗️ Examples:
1. She'd had the gall to deny she had turned traitor.
2. But there were other, subtler ways of turning traitor, and he felt her coming absence, looming two afternoons a week, as proof of that.
3. One of the key prosecution witnesses at his trial was a trusted comrade who had turned traitor.
4. Others have turned traitor, switching allegiances from synthesisers to guitars.
5. Friends turn traitor and fellow countrymen become the enemy in a war-torn world where the old rules are worthless.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Frenzy, noun.
π /ΛfrΙnzi/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (usually in singular): A state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behaviour.
❗️ Examples:
1. Doreen worked herself into a frenzy of rage.
2. And in a wild frenzy, Jones also tried to bite other people as police struggled to arrest him.
3. Then suddenly there was a frenzy of excitement in one corner of the square.
4. The sea always reminds me of a slumbering monster, waiting for a storm to whip it into a wild frenzy.
5. Dozens of people come and go in a frenzy of excitement fuelled by coffee and politics.
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π @cambridge_dic
