Cambridge Dictionary:
π Out of context, phrase.
❓ Definition: Without the surrounding words or circumstances and so not fully understandable.
❗️ Examples:
1. The article portrayed her as domineering by dropping quotes from her out of context.
2. He twists words, quotes people out of context and stretches the truth to suit his purpose.
3. The embarrassment was such that Gilchrist found himself explaining that his words had been taken out of context.
4. She says her words were taken out of context, but soon submits her resignation.
5. He said that his words were taken out of context and he was sorry if he had offended anyone.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Respondent, noun.
π /rΙͺΛspΙnd(Ι)nt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A person who replies to something, especially one supplying information for a questionnaire or responding to an advertisement.
❗️ Examples:
1. Most respondents to our questionnaire considered their practices to be in accordance with current medical guidelines.
2. Always be clear about how you want respondents to indicate their replies when answering closed questions.
3. The questionnaire invited respondents to comment on each of the 31 indicators.
4. At two years follow up we sent a postal questionnaire to those respondents who had been free of forearm pain at baseline.
5. The cover letter explained that there were no codes that could be used to link a completed questionnaire to a particular respondent.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Megillah, proper noun.
π /mΙΛΙ‘ΙͺlΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: One of five books of the Hebrew scriptures (the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther) that are appointed to be read on certain Jewish notable days, especially the Book of Esther, read at the festival of Purim.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π A trouble shared is a trouble halved, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Talking to someone else about one's problems helps to alleviate them.
❗️ Examples:
1. The saying, ‘a trouble shared is a trouble halved’ is just as true when it comes to your physical health as it is in relation to your emotional health.
2. They say a trouble shared is a trouble halved, but when holiday anxiety strikes, I suffer in silence.
3. Build a social support network of friends and family - remember a trouble shared is a trouble halved.
4. On the basis that a trouble shared is a trouble halved, I will share some of my troubles with you.
5. They say a trouble shared is a trouble halved and it's true.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Reversal, noun.
π /rΙͺΛvΙΛs(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A change to an opposite direction, position, or course of action.
❗️ Examples:
1. A dramatic reversal in population decline in the Alps.
2. The reversal of tidal currents.
3. The data therefore chronicle a dramatic reversal in the direction of invasion.
4. Clearly, such a reversal of the current course would not be achievable overnight.
5. The mayor's comments marked a reversal of his previous position on the issue.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Cupidity, noun.
π /kjuΛΛpΙͺdΙͺti/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): Greed for money or possessions.
❗️ Examples:
1. New wealth, however tainted by cupidity and egoism, tends to be favourable for the arts.
2. The current climate is tailor-made for a populist politician of the left to exploit, by railing against the extravagance, cupidity and even criminality of the money men.
3. They are convinced that cupidity, that the desire for wealth, that the worldliness seen in avarice is the ultimate cause for all of the social ills that they see around them.
4. In reality, the prospect is implausible: reduce a man's propensity to lust and he will compensate with an increased aggression or cupidity.
5. Whilst the greatest terror possesses the large capitalist, cupidity inspires the other; and the two elements, instead of checking one another, co-exist together.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Don't mention it, phrase.
❓ Definition: A polite expression used to indicate that thanks or an apology are not necessary.
❗️ Examples:
1. ‘Thanks very much.’ ‘Don't mention it, dear boy.’
2. Man, don't mention it; what are friends for?
3. No, don't mention it; I'm sorry I knocked you over.
4. ‘Please don't mention it,’ Vicki snapped slightly.
5. ‘Please don't mention it again,’ she said plainly.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Espionage, noun.
π /ΛΙspΙͺΙnΙΛΚ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): The practice of spying or of using spies, typically by governments to obtain political and military information.
❗️ Examples:
1. The camouflage and secrecy of espionage.
2. Balzac pumped him for information on organised crime and political espionage.
3. He denied his detention had anything to do with politics or espionage.
4. The run for the presidency is no joke, rife with political chicanery, espionage and blackmail.
5. Even if espionage had taken place at Los Alamos, they argued, it had not mattered.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Behove, verb.
π /bΙͺΛhΙΚv/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (it behoves someone to do something • with object • formal): It is a duty or responsibility for someone to do something.
❗️ Examples:
1. It behoves the House to assure itself that there is no conceivable alternative.
2. Having said that, and because I don't wish to be a downer, I must say that I believe that it behoves me to act as an optimist, because the alternative is completely without redeeming features.
3. When you come to the point where listing the components of one aspect of a poem requires more words than the poem itself it behoves you to pull back, hastily, as from a bed of fierce, fiery nettles.
4. The services should remain… and it behoves us to carry out that regardless of Europeans or anyone else… we are running the show here in the Midlands.
5. As a health board with responsibility for the delivery of health care for 400,000 people in the south east, it behoves us to make our position crystal clear.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Be party to, phrase.
❓ Definition: Be involved in.
❗️ Examples:
1. He was party to some very shady deals.
2. That is not an example that my party and other parties want to be party to at all.
3. Yes because they were party to what has turned out to be open, active aggression against a third country that in no way was a threat to them and of course their reasons for going in have proved to be absolutely baseless.
4. Mother Teresa once recounted an incident she was party to in London.
5. One wonders, too, if he was a party to, participant indeed in, the villainies of Thomas J. Wise?
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π @cambridge_dic
π Outstanding, adjective.
π /aΚtΛstandΙͺΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Exceptionally good.
❗️ Examples:
1. The team's outstanding performance.
2. Nepal is also, of course, a country of outstanding natural beauty.
3. I understood this land was an area of outstanding natural beauty.
4. The Lake District National Park is an area of outstanding natural beauty that is protected for the benefit of the nation as a whole.
5. There is an area of outstanding natural beauty right on the doorstep and it is blocked off because of the dangerous stepping stones.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Putative, adjective.
π /ΛpjuΛtΙtΙͺv/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (attributive): Generally considered or reputed to be.
❗️ Examples:
1. The putative author of the book.
2. The cuckolded father is in this sense also a helper, but we do not use the term for putative fathers.
3. Moyes does acknowledge that other putative claimants had seen the technology demonstrated.
4. These large FKBPs contain the putative domains reported for interaction with Hsp 90 in animals.
5. In the Arabidopsis genome, several putative cellulases can be recognized.
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π @cambridge_dic
π In tune, phrase.
❓ Definition: In agreement or harmony.
❗️ Examples:
1. Retailers are becoming more in tune with what the consumers want.
2. The urban radio stations talking about ‘peace in the streets ‘are out of tune with reality.’
3. Martin Dunne: ‘Central policy makers are totally out of tune with the views of the people around the country.’
4. It just seemed to us that the politicians - all of them, in all the different parties - are out of tune with how ordinary people feel about this.
5. We have laws in place which are clearly out of tune with the views of the majority of the population.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Whizz-kid, noun.
π /ΛwΙͺzkΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (informal): A young person who is outstandingly skilful or successful at something.
❗️ Examples:
1. A computer whizz-kid.
2. Aspiring computer whizz-kids will get the chance to learn from the experts.
3. Here, a team of young computer science whizz-kids are putting the finishing touches to Alex.
4. Now they're musicians, computer whiz-kids and heads of corporations.
5. The program features interviews with businessmen as diverse as toilet-seat designers, magazine editors and computer whiz-kids.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Vibrissae, plural noun.
π /vΚΙͺΛbrΙͺsiΛ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (Zoology): Long stiff hairs growing around the mouth or elsewhere on the face of many mammals, used as organs of touch; whiskers.
❗️ Examples:
1. They also have large vibrissae, stiff whisker-like hairs above the upper lip and at the corners of the mouth.
2. Rather, they find food via the sensitive touch of their 600 to 700 vibrissae, or whiskers, which have been likened to multifingered hands on the animals' snouts.
3. They use their vibrissae as sensing organs underwater to monitor the movements of fishes and other prey.
4. Another notable mode of sensation in cats are whiskers, or vibrissae.
5. Whiskers, also known as vibrissae are touch receptors that provide the animal with information about its immediate surroundings.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Cold feet, phrase.
❓ Definition: Loss of nerve or confidence.
❗️ Examples:
1. After arranging to meet I got cold feet and phoned her saying I was busy.
2. The Rochdale cabaret singer feared his Norwegian bride had got cold feet and decided to return to her homeland without him.
3. The central government has developed cold feet on the promised legislation to regulate fee and admissions in professional colleges.
4. Apparently, one - or possibly more - of the investors may have gotten cold feet.
5. They believed the hype about the cost and got cold feet.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Grooming, noun.
π /ΛΙ‘ruΛmΙͺΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): The practice of brushing and cleaning the coat of a horse, dog, or other animal.
❗️ Examples:
1. Regular grooming is essential to the well-being of your dog.
2. Wash your pet outdoors or talk to your veterinarian about professional pet grooming.
3. Shih Tzu can require careful daily grooming.
4. Unless a camper or owns a horse or pony, it's hard for riders to learn proper grooming, tacking, feeding, and equine first aid.
5. Proper grooming helps develop a bond between owner and horse and should never be neglected or rushed.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Propinquity, noun.
π /prΙΛpΙͺΕkwΙͺti/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun • formal): The state of being close to someone or something; proximity.
❗️ Examples:
1. He kept his distance as though afraid propinquity might lead him into temptation.
2. He found himself disgusted with their close propinquity.
3. Frequency of successful exchange between taxa will depend on propinquity, metabolic compatibility, adaptations to their abiotic environment, gene expression systems, and gene transfer mechanisms.
4. Due to historical ties and geographic propinquity, until the middle of the 14th century, Galician and Portuguese were in fact the same language, known as ‘Galaico Portugues’.
5. Sexual relationships tend to grow with propinquity and propinquity includes propinquity of work.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Two of a kind, phrase.
❓ Definition: The same or very similar.
❗️ Examples:
1. She and her sister were two of a kind.
2. I myself had doubts at first until I went further in and found clothes that are two of a kind.
3. You're two of a kind - genetically designed to get into trouble - and all we bystanders can do is pick up the pieces and try to stick them back together again afterward.
4. Lizzie, can't you tell, we're two of a kind.
5. When I opened my eyes there she was - April from work, with her face up against mine telling me how we were two of a kind, and how we needed to do something about that, her and me.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Boisterous, adjective.
π /ΛbΙΙͺst(Ι)rΙs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Noisy, energetic, and cheerful.
❗️ Examples:
1. A group of boisterous lads.
2. He is a boisterous, loud, energetic man, completely at odds with the surroundings.
3. He was noisy and boisterous and Bowyer said he moved away from them because of his behaviour.
4. He was surrounded by noisy and boisterous children as he sat motionless on his throne.
5. In 1756 he transferred across the road to Pembroke College, having found his Peterhouse neighbours boisterous and noisy.
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π @cambridge_dic
π A penny for your thoughts, phrase.
❓ Definition: Used to ask someone what they are thinking about.
❗️ Examples:
1. I haven't heard anyone say that for years - a penny for your thoughts.
2. Next time someone offers you a penny for your thoughts… sell!
3. So, a penny for your thoughts here: what criteria, if any, should be applied in selecting names?
4. When did the phrase "a penny for your thoughts" originate?
5. It's in this book that we find the earliest known citation of the line, "A penny for your thoughts."
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π @cambridge_dic
π Shady, adjective.
π /ΛΚeΙͺdi/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (informal): Of doubtful honesty or legality.
❗️ Examples:
1. He was involved in his grandmother's shady deals.
2. This belongs to the secret world of state-to-state relations, with all their intrigues, shady deals and questionable trade-offs, which most governments hide from their citizens.
3. Because she did not suspect a shady deal was brewing, when she found out the loan was approved, she signed on the dotted line.
4. He walked into the debriefing room and was greeted by General Li, a suspicious and shady character.
5. Although employed at a delicatessen near the East India docks, he is a shady character whose motive for being in the area I suspect has to do with the opium dens.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bring something to bear, phrase.
❓ Definition: Exert influence or pressure so as to achieve a particular result.
❗️ Examples:
1. They brought pressure to bear on him to resign.
2. She had reservations about how much influence she could bring to bear.
3. And who, at this distance, can tell what pressures were brought to bear on ordinary citizens to make them conform.
4. NASA finally relented, but only after much pressure was brought to bear.
5. Another way that pressure can be brought to bear on offending nations is through economic sanctions.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Matter of fact, noun.
❓ Definition: A fact as distinct from an opinion or conjecture.
❗️ Examples:
1. It's a matter of fact that they had a relationship.
2. Some were matters of opinion, others were matters of fact.
3. The extent of flooding is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact.
4. An interpretation is a matter of opinion; it is not a matter of fact.
5. You have raised a matter of fact and I have no reason to doubt you.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Hydra, noun.
π /ΛhΚΙͺdrΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A minute freshwater coelenterate with a tubular body and a ring of tentacles around the mouth.
❗️ Examples:
1. The Phylum Cnidaria includes such diverse forms as jellyfish, hydra, sea anemones, and corals.
2. The same is true for hydra, a freshwater cnidarian.
3. There are some animals that don't belong to the Bilateria, though: members of the phylum Cnidaria, the jellyfish, hydra, sea anemones, and corals, which are typically radially symmetric.
4. Several drawings depict forms that have the amorphous shapes of sea life such as hydras and jellyfish.
5. Roughly like a giant squid, or one of those micoscopic hydras, but blown up to immense proportions.
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π @cambridge_dic
π On the shelf, phrase.
❓ Definition (British • informal, dated): Past an age when one might expect to have the opportunity to marry (typically used of a woman)
❗️ Examples:
1. I'm all depressed about being left on the shelf cos I'm turning 27 on Sunday.
2. And under no circumstances would I fear being past it or left on the shelf.
3. A woman has few options but to find a husband and provider in Georgian England and Bennet is determined that her girls will not be left on the shelf.
4. And she had decided to try to make the best of being left on the shelf.
5. Beginning to think you are going to be left on the shelf forever and end up as an elderly spinster dying alone and being eaten by your own cats?
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π @cambridge_dic
π Antithesis, noun.
π /anΛtΙͺΞΈΙsΙͺs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.
❗️ Examples:
1. Love is the antithesis of selfishness.
2. The Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the 1980s was the direct antithesis of the Flyers.
3. Again, one could infer that it is the direct antithesis to works.
4. Yet Edward always saw reconciliation in the form of its antithesis or opposite.
5. Fixed identities rooted in the past represent the antithesis of historical thinking.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Pandiculation, noun.
π /ΛpandΙͺkjΚΛleΙͺΚn/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (Medicine • rare): The act of stretching (extending the limbs and neck), as a manifestation of weariness, a sign of disease, etc. In later use also: yawning (rare).
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Money is the root of all evil, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Avarice gives rise to selfish or wicked actions.
❗️ Examples:
1. Perhaps he should reflect on Timothy's words, ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil.’
2. Many people say that money is the root of all evil.
3. They're also taught at the same time, money is the root of all evil.
4. If money is the root of all evil, I'd like to be bad.
5. Now he's talking about the old adage that money is the root of all evil.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Picturesque, adjective.
π /ΛpΙͺktΚΙΛrΙsk/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: (of a place or building) visually attractive, especially in a quaint or charming way.
❗️ Examples:
1. Ruined abbeys and picturesque villages.
2. Wiltshire is home to some of the most picturesque towns and villages in the country, often attracting filmmakers to the county.
3. Properties in the village range from picturesque cottages and council houses to large private homes.
4. People like Austrian resorts for their village atmosphere and picturesque settings.
5. We villagers of Dundrum are extremely lucky to live in such a picturesque place in an area of outstanding beauty.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Specious, adjective.
π /ΛspiΛΚΙs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Superficially plausible, but actually wrong.
❗️ Examples:
1. A specious argument.
2. This is a specious argument that he has been making.
3. These arguments are specious, but they are based on rosy assumptions or bad analogies.
4. We should take care to use arguments that aren't specious.
5. Occasionally, you hear the specious argument that musicians don't need the money they might lose to the Internet services.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Flatten the curve, phrase.
❓ Definition: Prevent a rate or quantity from greatly intensifying or increasing within a short time.
❗️ Examples:
1. Taking actions to slow the spread of this virus will flatten the curve and protect the vulnerable.
2. Excessive falls in bond yields will flatten the curve and erode pension funds.
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π @cambridge_dic
π File, noun.
π /fΚΙͺl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A collection of information about a particular person or thing.
❗️ Examples:
1. MI5 were keeping a file on him.
2. The ideal for any organisation is that their employees can access all company information, documents or files within seconds - no matter where they are in the world.
3. Confidential files allegedly containing detailed information about his visit were found on a London Street.
4. My information is that the files pertaining to this particular arrest were sitting on the desk of the DPP for some time previously.
5. They found that nearly one-fifth of them still contained sensitive information such as company files and bank-account details.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Longanimity, noun.
π /ΛlΙΕΙ‘ΙΛnΙͺmΙͺti/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Patience, forbearance, especially under provocation; long-sufferance. Formerly also: †foresight, long-sightedness; confidence in the future (obsolete).
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π The shape of things to come, phrase.
❓ Definition: The way the future is likely to develop.
❗️ Examples:
1. Unlike Agee, then, who was drawn to elegy, MartΓnez is drawn to prophecy: he sees the provinces as the future, the towns of CherΓ‘n and Warren as the shape of things to come.
2. Albeit clever, imaginative, notably fertile, this squeaky-voiced, scurrying little ladies' man, the prophet of the shape of things to come, fell short, in every sense, of his predecessor's measure.
3. Every day, a creation takes place as new uses, new mistakes, new copy is generated, each creating a new meaning for the shape of things to come.
4. For those of you living off-campus already, enjoy a stroll down memory lane; for the residents, beware of the shape of things to come.
5. He predicted no end to the poetic image, for the central aim of poetry is to insinuate the shape of things to come, and that is a perpetual process.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Heart-to-heart, adjective.
π /ΛhΙΛttΙΛhΙΛt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: (of a conversation) candid, intimate, and personal.
❗️ Examples:
1. A heart-to-heart chat.
2. In fact, we need heart-to-heart dialogues between friends, between teachers and students, between husbands and wives, between parents and children.
3. He used to drive his children to school in order to get a chance to have heart-to-heart discussions with them.
4. The happy and complacent resolution to the potentially tragic events, brought about apparently by a couple of five-minute heart-to-heart conversations, should satisfy no one.
5. But what you and I need to learn to do is to have real heart-to-heart communion with God, because, after all, that is what prayer is.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Brummagem, adjective.
π /ΛbrΚmΙdΚ(Ι)m/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (attributive • informal): Relating to Birmingham or the dialect of English spoken there.
❗️ Examples:
1. 'Proper Brummie: A Dictionary of Birmingham Words and Phrases', compiled by Steve Thorne and Carl Chinn, represents the first serious attempt to comprehensively document the Brummagem dialect.
2. The dropped "h" and the excessive conjunctions of Brummagem dialect clash with the conventional prose of Richard's speech.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Once and for all, phrase.
❓ Definition: Now and for the last time; finally.
❗️ Examples:
1. It is better to strengthen your determination and stop smoking once for all rather than slowing it down.
2. I'd appreciate any information which serves to conclude this dispute once and for all.
3. Several months earlier he had still been despairing over the work and no doubt wondering whether another seizure would leave him speechless once for all.
4. This is one issue that residents and pedestrians would like to see completed once and for all.
5. If there had ever been any doubters, they were silenced once and for all.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Deem, verb.
π /diΛm/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (formal • with object and complement): Regard or consider in a specified way.
❗️ Examples:
1. The event was deemed a great success.
2. The strike was deemed to be illegal.
3. At the same time, reports have emerged that the provincial government is making preparations to have the strike declared illegal by deeming it a public emergency.
4. Food was given between two and three stars with judges deeming the service to be slow at times.
5. In the event that scores are deemed to be level, a fourth round is contested to find an overall winner.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Sit on the fence, phrase.
❓ Definition: Avoid making a decision or choice.
❗️ Examples:
1. But he's going to make change and he's going to bring a lot of confidence to a lot of people who are sitting on the fence with the same decision.
2. You should make a decision; you cannot sit on the fence.
3. If that brings to mind a lot of dithering and sitting on the fence, you couldn't be more wrong.
4. As someone who has deferred the choice thus far (rather than actively making a decision), I know I could be accused of sitting on the fence.
5. They want someone to make all their choices for them, so they just sit on the fence and wait to be told what to do.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Avarice, noun.
π /Λav(Ι)rΙͺs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): Extreme greed for wealth or material gain.
❗️ Examples:
1. He was rich beyond the dreams of avarice.
2. Being free from avarice, the material wealth has absolutely no significance for Shiva.
3. The staggering truth, as we discovered, was that the degree of avarice and greed was so much that you could actually work yourself all the way up.
4. In a time when avarice and greed is epidemic, why is a belief system that targets desire and possessions as the cause of unhappiness drawing hundreds of new followers each year?
5. It's the roar of selfishness, greed, vanity, avarice, addiction, lust and pointless stupidity.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Cry for the moon, phrase.
❓ Definition: Ask for what is unattainable or impossible.
❗️ Examples:
1. There must be no more self-pity, no more time wasted on crying for the moon.
2. If she cried for the moon, he'd borrow every ladder in the parish and lash 'em together to get up.
3. When my brother was a baby, he cried for the moon and would not be comforted.
4. When the baby cries for the moon, you do not give him what he wants.
5. I haven't cried for the moon, and have been sensible in my demands; but there has nevertheless been this sense of boredom with everything, with my family and with my work.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Interest rate, noun.
❓ Definition: The proportion of a loan that is charged as interest to the borrower, typically expressed as an annual percentage of the loan outstanding.
❗️ Examples:
1. Reduced interest rates encourage people to spend money on home improvements.
2. An interest rate of 10 per cent.
3. The student loan interest rate will stay at 7 % for the year.
4. Higher taxes and surging interest rates in the 1990s limited the growth of the industry and drove some galleries out of business.
5. The biggest concern for voters was the future of interest rates.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Sustainability, noun.
π /sΙsteΙͺnΙΛbΙͺlΙͺti/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
❗️ Examples:
1. The sustainability of economic growth.
2. Schemes to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project.
3. Healthy soil is identified as the first priority for long-term sustainability of food production.
4. Consultants questioned the long-term financial sustainability of the healthcare system.
5. There can be no fiscal sustainability without a return to economic growth.
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π @cambridge_dic
π When one's ship comes in, phrase.
❓ Definition: When one's fortune is made.
❗️ Examples:
1. The right honourable gentleman opposite is a very naughty man, and he will laugh on the other side of his face when my ship comes in.
2. She's the kind of real life gal who'll buy you a beer, let you cry on her shoulder and be the first one to give you a high-five when your ship comes in.
3. Uptown girl, you know I can't afford to buy her pearls, but maybe someday when my ship comes in, she'll understand what kind of guy I am.
4. But my worst fear - echoing my elder daughter's prediction that ‘Dad, when your ship comes in you'll be at the airport!’
5. I remember hearing my parents talk about how much better life would be when their ship came in, but I never knew whether or not they really expected it to happen.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Welfare, noun.
π /ΛwΙlfΙΛ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): The health, happiness, and fortunes of a person or group.
❗️ Examples:
1. They don't give a damn about the welfare of their families.
2. He said that the health, safety and welfare of officers was always of concern.
3. Provision for the pupils' care, health, safety and welfare is very good.
4. After a month or so a programme of home visits begins, and enquiries are made about the health and general welfare of each family.
5. All or most states already have laws to protect the health and welfare of animals.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Versal, adjective.
π /ΛvΙΛs(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Relating to a style of ornate capital letter used to start a verse, paragraph, etc., in a manuscript, typically built up by inking between pen strokes and with long, rather flat serifs.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π A shoulder to cry on, phrase.
❓ Definition: Someone who listens sympathetically to someone's problems.
❗️ Examples:
1. He was a fatherly shoulder to cry on when the going was tough.
2. I mean, where's the harm in a guy wanting a drinking buddy, a shoulder to cry on and a sympathetic ear?
3. Both of them said if I ever needed anything - a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen - to call them.
4. They offer us a shoulder to cry on and place a comforting arm around our shoulders to lighten the burden of sorrow and misfortune.
5. Mrs O'Toole is a shoulder to cry on for her customers and has experience in talking about the most sensitive subjects.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Atrocity, noun.
π /ΙΛtrΙsΙͺti/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: An extremely wicked or cruel act, typically one involving physical violence or injury.
❗️ Examples:
1. A textbook which detailed war atrocities.
2. They are forced to commit atrocities against their own families and communities.
3. Those responsible for atrocities against the Acehnese should be brought to trial.
4. Rights advocates say that the number of atrocities against women in the country is increasing.
5. Much of the fighting and many atrocities against civilians took place in Bosnia.
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π @cambridge_dic
π A tough nut to crack, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): A difficult problem or an opponent that is hard to beat.
❗️ Examples:
1. He should prove a tough nut to crack over tomorrow's extended three miles.
2. Japan has proved a tough nut for Microsoft's console division to crack.
3. Nine-year-olds are tough nuts to crack, as Peter Loraine, head of marketing at S Club Juniors' label Polydor, points out.
4. Now they, like the rest of Europe, are tough nuts to crack.
5. Upgrading a module that combines PHP with SQL is a tougher nut to crack, and it seems as though the XOOPS people have done an admirable job.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Estate, noun.
π /ΙͺΛsteΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: An extensive area of land in the country, usually with a large house, owned by one person, family, or organization.
❗️ Examples:
1. The grandparents then withdraw to another house on the family estate and cultivate their own land as long as they can.
2. These include extensive country estates at Emmersdorf and Mollenburg and a house in a top location in Vienna's city centre.
3. His family owns an estate in the country as well as a house in town and as eldest son he stands to inherit quite a tidy sum.
4. For 400 years it was the seat of the Tremayne family, an estate of over 1000 acres.
5. He owns a family estate in Mittagong, a south coast beach house, and a string of other investments.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Celluloid, noun.
π /ΛsΙljΚlΙΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): A transparent flammable plastic made in sheets from camphor and nitrocellulose, formerly used for cinematographic film.
❗️ Examples:
1. The boots have been immortalised on celluloid in her latest film, Strictly Sinatra, directed by Peter Capaldi.
2. New materials like celluloid simulated expensive ivory and tortoiseshell.
3. Under the current analogue process, finished films are copied on celluloid, put on reels and physically delivered to cinemas.
4. If you are the lucky one in Berlin, you can catch football fever filmed on celluloid by 45 film-makers.
5. For the future, it's counting on helping Hollywood switch from celluloid to digital films.
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π @cambridge_dic
π The mother of all ——, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): An extreme example or very large specimen of a specified thing.
❗️ Examples:
1. I got stuck in the mother of all traffic jams.
2. Perhaps, the cricket coaches and psychologists should speak to them about how to motivate the team to win the mother of all cricketing contests.
3. I look around to see, watching me, two glass bead eyes stitched onto the mother of all big handbags.
4. Next, the restaurant lays out the mother of all meals, a Royal Thai degustation feast.
5. They are the mother of all prawns and fetch handsome prices for those who net them from the wild.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Estate, noun.
π /ΙͺΛsteΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: All the money and property owned by a particular person, especially at death.
❗️ Examples:
1. In his will, he divided his estate between his wife and daughter.
2. He is alleged to have taken money from the estates of ten deceased people, including a husband and wife over a ten-year period.
3. The cause of action is deemed to have subsisted before the death, allowing the claimant to sue the estate.
4. If he had done so, on his death his estate would have been entitled to a cash sum to be applied for the purchase of an annuity for his dependants.
5. The will of Dennis Reece provided that Anna receive all of his estate on his death.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Sumpsimus, noun.
π /ΛsΚmpsΙͺmΙs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (historical): A correct expression, notion, or custom which replaces one that is incorrect but popular or traditional. Contrasted with mumpsimus.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π The end justifies the means, phrase.
❓ Definition: Wrong or unfair methods may be used if the overall goal is good.
❗️ Examples:
1. We excuse our greed by claiming that the end justifies the means.
2. I understand that for them the end justifies the means, but I can't help worrying about where society will eventually draw the line.
3. A career cop who followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, he believes the end justifies the means.
4. But I still cannot believe in the idea that the end justifies the means.
5. When it comes to winning arguments, they seem to think that the end justifies the means and that truth is an irrelevance.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Exempt, adjective.
π /ΙͺΙ‘ΛzΙm(p)t/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Free from an obligation or liability imposed on others.
❗️ Examples:
1. These patients are exempt from all charges.
2. A tax-exempt savings plan.
3. The national department is to amend current exemption procedures and criteria later this year to ensure all those who cannot pay fees are duly exempt from doing so.
4. Book stores, corner stores and TV shops are also exempt from the bylaw.
5. As a middle-aged baby boomer, I am certainly not exempt from the wishes and dreams of the anti-aging movement.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Run out of steam, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Lose impetus or enthusiasm.
❗️ Examples:
1. A rebellion that had run out of steam.
2. Sandy Neilson's production, enthusiastically performed by the resident company, strikes an appropriate, rollicking tone but gradually runs out of steam.
3. The two very sexy stars provide enough chemistry in this stylized thriller but the movie runs out of steam halfway through.
4. I'd like watch as each argument just runs out of steam, leaving just the prejudice and chauvinism for all to see.
5. It is laid back, ambling on its jolly way, and just when it should be gathering momentum it runs out of steam.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Probate, noun.
π /ΛprΙΚbeΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun • count noun): A verified copy of a will with a certificate as handed to the executors.
❗️ Examples:
1. She has been granted a probate to execute her late father's estate.
2. There will be workshops each day and talks on a variety of subjects, including how to research your family history online, how to use the Census, service records, wills and probates.
3. Oddly, the reply refers to only 12 probates from San Francisco, in contrast to the ‘few hundred’ he claimed to have examined when Seckora interviewed him.
4. Hood draws upon probates, tax records, account books, newspaper ads, tax records and other government records in a study that contributes to social and family history as well as economic history and the history of technology.
5. Wills, probates, property and tax records are also valuable sources of information.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Mammock, verb.
π /ΛmamΙk/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (dialect): To break, cut, or tear into fragments or shreds.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Show of hands, phrase.
❓ Definition: A vote carried out among a group by the raising of hands, with numbers typically being estimated rather than counted.
❗️ Examples:
1. A show of hands suggested he has little support.
2. A union motion calling for the policy to be scrapped was clearly carried on a show of hands.
3. After a while, they switched to voting by a show of hands.
4. Each meeting ended with a vote by a show of hands.
5. To cheers in the hall it was carried on a show of hands.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Earnestly, adverb.
π /ΛΙΛnΙͺstli/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: With sincere and intense conviction; seriously.
❗️ Examples:
1. They earnestly hope to come back in the summer.
2. Any given scientific project may be good, but it may also be earnestly pursued and gravely in error.
3. I know that he earnestly and seriously believes the factual content of everything he says.
4. Many of the youngsters entering the arena of serious theatre now take this objective quite earnestly.
5. I earnestly looked through the magazine hoping to find some justification for the cover.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Refractory, adjective.
π /rΙͺΛfrakt(Ι)ri/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (formal): Stubborn or unmanageable.
❗️ Examples:
1. His refractory pony.
2. In his reply, Mr Goggins said: ‘Special accommodation may only be used for the temporary confinement of a violent or refractory prisoner, and not as punishment.’
3. Threats of the same treatment prevented refractory congregations from using disused churches they had hired for private worship.
4. Kippenberger, even at his most refractory, is an artist of energy, sharp insight, great skill and considerable integrity.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bounce an idea off, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Share an idea with (someone) in order to refine it.
❗️ Examples:
1. He thrives on bouncing ideas off other people.
2. If someone needs to bounce an idea off of someone, another person is able offer honest insight and feedback.
3. This guy also gave me his card and told me to call him if I wanted to bounce an idea off him.
4. It's for people who need that extra ear, are going it alone, or simply need to bounce an idea off a smart group of people.
5. If you have questions or just want to bounce an idea off us, please give us a call.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Condemn, verb.
π /kΙnΛdΙm/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Express complete disapproval of; censure.
❗️ Examples:
1. Most leaders roundly condemned the attack.
2. The plan was condemned by campaigners.
3. Needless to say, Rampersad was roundly condemned and his plan is probably gathering dust somewhere in the archives.
4. Campaigners have condemned the Government's plans, with non-food pubs exempt from restrictions, as ‘half measures’.
5. All such diabolic, yet cowardly actions must be severely condemned, censured and deterred with steeled resolve and equally resolute counteraction.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Arboreal, adjective.
π /ΙΛΛbΙΛrΙͺΙl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Living in trees.
❗️ Examples:
1. Arboreal rodents.
2. The Siberian flying squirrel is a nocturnal arboreal rodent, which nests in tree cavities, twig dreys, and nest-boxes.
3. The authors remind us that no living primate has such hands and feet ‘for any purpose other than to meet the demands of full or part-time arboreal (tree dwelling) life.’
4. Within the ground beetle family, a few eat seeds, a few concentrate near water, and some readily climb trees and consume arboreal insects, including aphids and forest tent caterpillars.
5. Many species of the salamander genus Bolitoglossa are arboreal (tree living), rather than typically terrestrial, and their feet are modified for climbing on smooth surfaces.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Blood is thicker than water, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Family relationships and loyalties are the strongest and most important ones.
❗️ Examples:
1. I know there are people out there who believe that blood is thicker than water and that family is the most important thing in the world, but I have to say - I just don't feel it.
2. He believes in honour and trust between friends, loyalty between lovers, and that blood is thicker than water between family members, but he discovers all these notions have fallen apart.
3. Families can be difficult and demanding, but blood is thicker than water.
4. The relationship between the trade union movement and the Labor Party is always one that is like a family and that is where blood is thicker than water.
5. It's not that you don't love them, and it's not that you are not grateful - but I do think that blood is thicker than water.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Fuss, noun.
π /fΚs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): A display of unnecessary or excessive excitement, activity, or interest.
❗️ Examples:
1. I don't know what all the fuss is about.
2. ‘There is no room in my life for drugs, fights, divorce, adultery, sadism, unnecessary fuss and sex,’ he says now.
3. That was the whole dream - no excitement, no fuss, no great drama.
4. She appeared bored, and I knew she thought I was making a lot of unnecessary fuss.
5. A lot of unnecessary fuss is being created about the registration procedure required under the bill.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Polliniferous, adjective.
π /ΛpΙlΙͺΛnΙͺf(Ι)rΙs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Of a flower, anther, etc.: producing pollen. Of a sedimentary deposit: containing pollen.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bat for the other team, phrase.
❓ Definition (humorous): Be gay.
❗️ Examples:
1. I'm sorry to break the news to you ladies but I think he may bat for the other team.
2. I swear all the good-looking guys are batting for the other team.
3. I am seriously considering switching to batting for the other side.
4. Got my gaydar going - he's batting for the other team.
5. I've known several "straight" married men who decided after much soul-searching to bat for the other side.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Sanctum sanctorum, noun.
π /saΕ(k)ΛtΙΛrΙm/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (humorous): A very private or highly secret place or area of activity.
❗️ Examples:
1. The sanctum sanctorums of foreign policy.
2. Equally striking was that he earned the warmest welcome from the audience, which in its front ranks was composed of Cabinet ministers and diplomats, with the general public to the rear, beyond the sanctum sanctorum of the VIP area.
3. Now for Cola companies to allow those lucky few winners to enter the game's arena during the course of a match violates one its sanctum sanctorum.
4. With the cameras of the world focused on it, St. Peter's has become the sancta sanctorum of the digital world.
5. The sancta sanctorum, guarded by three sad-looking security staffers, is the podium, where I count roughly one hundred seats.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Apophthegm, noun.
π /ΛapΙΞΈΙm/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A concise saying or maxim; an aphorism.
❗️ Examples:
1. The apophthegm ‘tomorrow is another day’
2. His apophthegm, or maxim by which he is remembered, is: ‘All men are bad’ an unambiguous example of selection bias.
3. You belong where the witty apothegms of Lords, the silly moralities of matrons, the blinding high of opium, and the beauty of visual arts mingle to form one convoluted world.
4. Prose romances were rewritten as plays, old plays were rewritten as new, classical texts were translated, adapted, and plundered for moral sententiae, apothegms, and imagery.
5. It was shown in the last paper that the political apothegm there examined does not require that the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments should be wholly unconnected with each other.
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π @cambridge_dic
π One good turn deserves another, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): If someone does you a favour, you should take the chance to repay it.
❗️ Examples:
1. She stabbed him a season or two back and one good turn deserves another.
2. ‘As I see it,’ the woman said, ‘one good turn deserves another.’
3. His eyes hardened, ‘Well, I guess one good turn deserves another.’
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π @cambridge_dic
π Next of kin, noun.
❓ Definition (treated as singular or plural): A person's closest living relative or relatives.
❗️ Examples:
1. The police notified the next of kin.
2. The driver's name was being withheld until police could notify next of kin.
3. People worried about who would be notified as their next of kin in case of medical emergency are being urged to carry a new card to avoid confusion.
4. He said next of kin would be notified before the man's identity was released.
5. The British embassy in Manila said it could not confirm details until it had notified the next of kin.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Equanimity, noun.
π /ΛΙkwΙΛnΙͺmΙͺti/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): Calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation.
❗️ Examples:
1. She accepted both the good and the bad with equanimity.
2. One suspects he will need the wisdom of Solomon to handle the situation with total equanimity.
3. It is difficult to behave with equanimity under such provocation.
4. The Indians have been watching all this, with equal fits of paroxysms of disbelief in private, and cool equanimity in public.
5. A hymn to me is a song that contains a sense of equanimity and compassion, and a reverence for human relationships.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Beggars can't be choosers, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): People with no other options must be content with what is offered.
❗️ Examples:
1. But my funds are getting down to the wire and so beggars can't be choosers…
2. I've had more glowing reviews, but beggars can't be choosers.
3. Sadly not a two-seater but beggars can't be choosers.
4. It was worth a lot more but beggars can't be choosers.
5. This is going to be a little messier than I like, but beggars can't be choosers.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Viral, adjective.
π /ΛvΚΙͺr(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: (of an image, video, piece of information, etc.) circulated rapidly and widely from one internet user to another.
❗️ Examples:
1. A viral ad campaign.
2. The video went viral and was seen by millions.
3. The resulting viral spread of hype ensured that their debut album became the fastest selling record in British history.
4. In fact the email is not viral, but the product of an online marketing initiative run by the e-card company.
5. Weblogs are a viral medium of expression, spread by contact with webloggers.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Thrawn, adjective.
π /ΞΈrΙΛn/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (Scottish): Twisted; crooked.
❗️ Examples:
1. A slightly thrawn neck.
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π @cambridge_dic
π A watched pot never boils, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Time seems to drag endlessly when you're waiting for something to happen.
❗️ Examples:
1. Another way of putting it is: a watched pot never boils.
2. They say a watched pot never boils, so you might want to do something else at this point.
3. ‘Um, I hate to sound clichΓ©, but I thought a watched pot never boils,’ Rachel said with interest.
4. While you're waiting (because a watched pot never boils, you know!) go outside and cut the culprits down to their crowns.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Vitally, adverb.
π /ΛvΚΙͺt(Ι)li/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: In a way that is absolutely necessary or essential.
❗️ Examples:
1. They depend vitally on government subsidies.
2. The music plays a vitally important role.
3. He argued that the Bank's zero interest rate policy was precluding vitally required economic restructuring.
4. They are consulted on every issue that vitally affects the country.
5. What is so enjoyable about this is seeing him come into his own, and make a vitally valid contribution to music.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Hardscrabble, adjective.
π /hΙΛdΛskrabl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (North American): Involving hard work and struggle.
❗️ Examples:
1. The film recounts a year in the hardscrabble life of a tenant farmer.
2. He's been through hard times: his hardscrabble childhood on the veld would make David Copperfield's seem cosseted by comparison.
3. Edwards, a wealthy trial lawyer first elected to the Senate in 1998, has built his candidacy around the belief that his hardscrabble upbringing uniquely equips him to understand the struggles of Democratic voters.
4. He remembered his own hardscrabble youth in Texas and vowed that the poor armadillos he grew up with would have a fighting chance at the American Dream if he could have any say in the matter.
5. Most of them struggle just to lead a hardscrabble life.
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π @cambridge_dic
π No rest for the weary, phrase.
❓ Definition (humorous): Used as a wry observation on the heavy workload or absence of relaxation that seem to characterize a person's situation.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Stew, noun.
π /stjuΛ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): A dish of meat and vegetables cooked slowly in liquid in a closed dish or pan.
❗️ Examples:
1. Lamb stew.
2. Add to casseroles, stews, and sauces.
3. He lifted up the lid of the pot where lamb stew was simmering.
4. They cooked a thick stew for dinner and had mulled cider.
5. Meat stews are often cooked with fruits such as quince.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Machinate, verb.
π /ΛmakΙͺneΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (no object): Engage in plots; scheme.
❗️ Examples:
1. He machinated against other bishops.
2. They have no place machinating behind the scenes now.
3. American cinema has, for years, worked its magic to manipulate popular opinion, machinating to fortify racial stereotypes, prejudice, jingoism, and hegemonic control - especially during times of political change.
4. Focusing on the GCC has given the impression that climate change obstructionism is confined to a handful of goggle-eyed fossil fuel fundamentalists machinating on the margins of respectable corporate society.
5. He can already be seen machinating a bureaucratic coup.
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π @cambridge_dic
π A real live —, phrase.
❓ Definition (humorous): Used to emphasize the existence or presence of something surprising or unusual.
❗️ Examples:
1. A real live detective had been at the factory.
2. I think there is a real live monkey living in my computer and he messes with my head by dealing me hands that cannot be won.
3. After three years I am actually taking a real live vacation where I pack a suitcase, get on a plane, and sleep in a hotel.
4. Have I ever shared with you my actual fear of real live trains?
5. He had the advantage of hearing some actual real live witnesses, I gather?
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π @cambridge_dic
π Curry, noun.
π /ΛkΚri/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A dish of meat, vegetables, etc., cooked in an Indian-style sauce of hot-tasting spices and typically served with rice.
❗️ Examples:
1. We went out for a curry.
2. A beef curry.
3. I've been eating a lot of curry.
4. The foods served in the Balti pan are freshly cooked aromatically spiced curries.
5. Lunch consists of rice served with vegetable and meat curries and sauces such as sambol, a spicy mixture of grated coconut and chili, peppers, pickles, and chutneys.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Lackadaisical, adjective.
π /ΛlakΙΛdeΙͺzΙͺk(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy.
❗️ Examples:
1. A lackadaisical defence left Spurs adrift in the second half.
2. The lackadaisical attitude of the members is one of the main impediments to the club expanding its activities.
3. There was a lackadaisical attitude to the extension of the copyright term in the European Union.
4. I don't want people to get the impression the school will have a lackadaisical approach to teaching though.
5. The cast and filmmakers are largely to blame, as they treat the material in a lackadaisical manner, while also telegraphing too many plot points ahead of time.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Tired and emotional, phrase.
❓ Definition (humorous): Used euphemistically to indicate that someone is drunk.
❗️ Examples:
1. Tired and emotional party people.
2. It has the added advantage that he tends to update it when leglessly tired and emotional, so value added humour is practically guaranteed.
3. A source told The Mirror, ‘They'd been at Studio 57 for an hour and a half and were both pretty tired and emotional when Charlotte wanted to move on.’
4. Finally, somewhat tired and emotional, we ended up having a nightcap around 3am - some 12 hours after we started drinking - before retiring to bed.
5. Increasingly tired and emotional, Cochrane gave Wilson a demonstration of the art of the ‘Glasgow kiss’ - much to the amusement of all concerned.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Underdog, noun.
π /ΛΚndΙdΙΙ‘/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A competitor thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest.
❗️ Examples:
1. We go into this game as the underdogs.
2. In his lifetime, he became a symbol of courage to a deprived country, the underdog in all his fights and still coming out on top.
3. We are all on the same side, underdogs fighting against social and environmental oppression.
4. The underdogs in any fight usually prepare body and mind meticulously before stepping into the ring.
5. My vote was giving the underdog a chance; it was a sympathy vote.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Obnubilate, verb.
π /ΙbΛnjuΛbΙͺleΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (literary • with object): Darken or cover with or as if with a cloud; obscure.
❗️ Examples:
1. Never to be short of illusions, to obnubilate himself: such was his dream.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Come off it, phrase.
❓ Definition (British • informal • in imperative): Said when vigorously expressing disbelief.
❗️ Examples:
1. ‘Come off it, he'll know that's a lie.’
2. Indeed, she claims that there is an unspoken English rule that she calls ‘the importance of not being earnest’, along with a peculiarly English injunction to say, ‘Oh, come off it!’
3. Come off it, that's not something ‘worth remembering’.
4. My honest (and admittedly, somewhat cruel) reaction is ‘Oh, come off it, you're not that special.’
5. ‘Oh come off it, mate,’ he said, because he is not only a hawk, but has a keen and impatient mind.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Blurred, adjective.
π /blΙΛd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Unable to see or be seen clearly.
❗️ Examples:
1. Blurred vision.
2. The camera caught only two blurred images.
3. We certainly wouldn't be trying to emulate people with blurred vision.
4. The darkness was unworldly, he thought; objects blurred into each other, colors shifted to become unnatural.
5. Symptoms included nausea, vertigo, headaches and blurred vision.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Nonesuch, noun.
π /ΛnΙnsΚtΚ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (archaic): A person or thing regarded as excellent or perfect.
❗️ Examples:
No examples.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Be just what the doctor ordered, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Be very beneficial or desirable under the circumstances.
❗️ Examples:
1. A 2–0 victory is just what the doctor ordered.
2. A media-savvy leader with a vision, with seriousness of purpose, with honesty and decisiveness as his strongest points, a diplomat par excellence, he is exactly what the doctor ordered.
3. The style is apparently a cross between ancient tragedy and TV news, which sounds like exactly what the doctor ordered for a sultry summer weeknight.
4. Meantime, let's just say that London is exactly what the doctor ordered - in other words, I am very happy to be here.
5. I know killer heels aren't exactly what the doctor ordered, but I'll take the psychological boost any day.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Carefree, adjective.
π /ΛkΙΛfriΛ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Free from anxiety or responsibility.
❗️ Examples:
1. We were young and carefree.
2. The carefree days of the holidays.
3. I'd watched the small children splash around in the sea, so carefree and free from responsibility.
4. The summer is generally associated with being a bright, happy and carefree time of year.
5. It was really nice, sunny weather and these songs remind me of a carefree, happy time in my life.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Oligopoly, noun.
π /ΛΙlΙͺΛΙ‘Ιp(Ι)li/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A state of limited competition, in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers.
❗️ Examples:
1. With limited competition, or oligopolies, the various players within a particular industry will most likely have different cost structures.
2. For the rest of the farming community, the future is precarious, with economic independence destroyed by market oligopolies, and by the decline in flexibility and choice which this entails.
3. Mr Mosho said that commercial banks might be colluding making the market into an oligopoly with little benefit to the consumers.
4. Theoretically, Weber's method may hold for the market structures of full competition and monopoly, but in oligopolies, or competition among the few, at least a much more complicated concept of rationality seems to be warranted.
5. An oligopoly market is dominated by a small number of sellers who provide a large share of the total market output.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Make common cause, phrase.
❓ Definition: Unite in order to achieve a shared aim.
❗️ Examples:
1. Nationalist movements made common cause with the reformers.
2. Let the humanists make common cause with them to achieve freedom.
3. Today, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on what these developments have meant for your colleagues in public broadcasting, and share some ideas about how our institutions might make common cause in the future.
4. As a hunter-gatherer nation, Australia could play a further role in world affairs by making common cause without a hunter-gatherer peoples, all of whom are taking a terrible hammering.
5. On certain foreign policy issues, Switzerland and Bulgaria have a track record of making common cause.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Plausible, adjective.
π /ΛplΙΛzΙͺb(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: (of an argument or statement) seeming reasonable or probable.
❗️ Examples:
1. A plausible explanation.
2. It seems plausible that one of two things may happen.
3. The chain comes to an end where neither your plausible responses nor mine change as the reasoning continues.
4. There is no plausible reason and explanation why the amount should be increased.
5. If they are representative, the only plausible answer is to consider their supposed ideology.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Ubiety, noun.
π /juΛΛbΚΙͺΙͺti/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (literary • mass noun): The condition of being in a definite place.
❗️ Examples:
1. Considering the ubiety of the bridges and the surroundings, this paper focused on the water recognition based on feature extraction.
2. The ubiety between runoff and deposit is the primary factor that brings on the particularity of hydrogeology characteristics about mines along river.
3. “The object has a certain ‘objectivity’ about it (a certain whereness, though we do not wish to restrict this ubiety to the prison house of the page).”
4. The current view does not accept either ubiety or velocity as permanent objective realities.
5. My ubiety involves being at 40.748 latitude and -74.050 longitude.
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π @cambridge_dic
π What makes someone tick, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): What motivates someone.
❗️ Examples:
1. People are curious to know what makes British men tick.
2. We're good at finding out about people, what makes them tick, what they are interested in, what they have bees in their bonnets about - a key networking skill.
3. I'd like the opportunity to find out a bit what they were like as people, what makes them tick, and, you know, enjoy their company.
4. No one really knows how these people think, what makes them tick, and which of the five contenders stirs their blood.
5. I get a thrill when I can get into the male psyche and learn about what makes them tick.
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π @cambridge_dic
