Cambridge Dictionary: Part 5

Cambridge Dictionary:

📚 Fever, noun.

🔉  /ˈfi·vər/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a condition in which the body’s temperature is higher than usual, esp. as a sign of illness.

❗️ Examples:

1. The child has a rash and a high fever.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Criticism, noun (B2).

🔉 /ˈkrɪt.ɪ.sɪ.z(ə)m/ 🇬🇧 /ˈkrɪt̬.ɪ.sɪ.z(ə)m/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: the act of saying that something or someone is bad.

❗️ Examples:

1. The designs for the new mosque have attracted widespread criticism.

2. I have a few criticisms to make about your speech.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Increase, noun.

❓ Definition: the act of becoming larger or greater or of making something larger or greater.

❗️ Examples:

1. There was a slight increase in unemployment last month.

2. Homelessness is on the increase (= increasing) in many cities.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Fly, verb.

❓ Definition: to move or go quickly.

❗️ Examples:

1. With the explosion, glass flew across the room.

2. Cathy flew by/past me in the corridor.

3. My holiday seems to have flown (by) (= passed very quickly) this year.

4. The door/window suddenly flew open.

5. Anyway, I must fly (= leave quickly) - I didn't realize how late it was!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Even, adjective.

🔉 /ˈiː.v(ə)n/ 🇬🇧 /ˈiː.v(ə)n/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: equally likely to happen as to not happen.

❗️ Examples:

1. The chances of her getting the job are about evens.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Along, adverb.

❓ Definition: with the person or persons already mentioned.

❗️ Examples:

1. Why don’t you take him along?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Odd, adjective.

🔉  /ɑd/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: (of numbers) not able to be divided exactly by 2.

❗️ Examples:

1. Some examples of odd numbers are 1, 3, 5, and 7.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Betray, verb.

🔉  /bɪˈtreɪ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to be not loyal to your country or to someone who believes you are loyal, often by doing something harmful.

❗️ Examples:

1. Some lawmakers say they feel betrayed by the president.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Bail, verb.

🔉 /beɪl/ 🇬🇧 /beɪl/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to remove water from a boat using a container.

❗️ Examples:

1. The boat's sinking! Start bailing quickly!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Cover, verb.

❓ Definition: If something covers an area of a particular size, it is equal to an area of that size.

❗️ Examples:

1. Grand Canyon National Park covers over a million acres.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Demand, noun.

🔉  /dɪˈmænd/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: Demand is also need.

❗️ Examples:

1. We can’t meet the demand for tickets to the game.

2. Good teachers are always in demand (= needed).

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Offer, verb (B1).

🔉 /ˈɒf.ə(r)/ 🇬🇧 /ˈɑː.fɚ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to provide or supply something.

❗️ Examples:

1. It's an organization that offers free legal advice to people on low incomes.

2. It says in the guide that this area offers some of the best walks in England.

3. We are now offering you the chance to buy the complete set of pans at half price.

4. Did he offer any explanation for his strange behaviour?

5. It doesn't have much to offer as a town - its shops are fairly poor and there's only one cinema.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Regret, verb (B1).

❓ Definition: to feel sorry about a situation, especially something sad or wrong or a mistake that you have made.

❗️ Examples:

1. Is there anything you've done in your life that you regret?

2. I have always regretted not having studied harder at school.

3. The council regrets (that) the money to subsidize the youth club is no longer available.

4. British Airways regret to announce the cancellation of flight BA205 to Madrid.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Profit, noun.

❓ Definition: Profit can also mean benefit.

❗️ Examples:

1. He could see little profit in arguing with them.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Spill, noun.

🔉 /spɪl/ 🇬🇧 /spɪl/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: an amount of something that has come out of a container.

❗️ Examples:

1. A fuel spill on the road

2. Could you wipe up that spill, please?

3. In 1989, there was a massive oil spill in Alaska.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Room, noun.

🔉  /rum/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: an area within a building that has its own walls, floor, ceiling, and door.

❗️ Examples:

1. The house has a laundry room.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Shrink, noun.

🔉 /ʃrɪŋk/ 🇬🇧 /ʃrɪŋk/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a psychiatrist.

❗️ Examples:

1. I was so depressed that I ended up going to see a shrink.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Wide, adverb (C2).

❓ Definition: completely, or by a large amount.

❗️ Examples:

1. She left the door wide open.

2. It was 3 a.m. and we were still wide awake.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 However, adverb (A2).

🔉 /ˌhaʊˈev.ə(r)/ 🇬🇧 /ˌhaʊˈev.ɚ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: despite this.

❗️ Examples:

1. This is one possible solution to the problem. However, there are others.

2. There may, however, be other reasons that we don't know about.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Crash, verb.

🔉  /kræʃ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: (of investments) to lose value, or (of a business) to lose money and be unable to continue to operate.

❗️ Examples:

1. When the market crashed, everyone lost money.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Curious, adjective.

🔉 /ˈkjʊə.ri.əs/ 🇬🇧 /ˈkjʊr.i.əs/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: strange and unusual.

❗️ Examples:

1. There was a curious-looking man standing outside.

2. A curious thing happened to me yesterday.

3. It's curious (that) Billy hasn't phoned when he promised he would.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Affair, noun.

🔉  /əˈfeər/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a situation or subject that is being dealt with or considered; a matter.

❗️ Examples:

1. The meeting was addressed by an expert in South American affairs.

2. What I do in my spare time is my own affair (= a private matter).

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Length, noun.

🔉  /leŋkθ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: The length of a piece of writing, such as a book or story, is a measure of the material it contains.

❗️ Examples:

1. The length of the poem was 30 lines.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Widespread, adjective (C1).

🔉 /ˌwaɪdˈspred/ 🇬🇧 /ˌwaɪdˈspred/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: existing or happening in many places and/or among many people.

❗️ Examples:

1. There are reports of widespread flooding in northern France.

2. Malnutrition in the region is widespread - affecting up to 78 percent of children under five years old.

3. The campaign has received widespread support.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Tidy, adjective.

🔉  /ˈtɑɪ·di/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: (of appearance or behavior) neat.

❗️ Examples:

1. A tidy house

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Increase, verb (B1).

❓ Definition: to (make something) become larger in amount or size.

❗️ Examples:

1. Incidents of armed robbery have increased over the last few years.

2. The cost of the project has increased dramatically/significantly since it began.

3. Gradually increase the temperature to boiling point.

4. Increased/Increasing efforts are being made to end the dispute.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Acceptance, noun.

🔉  /ɪkˈsep·təns/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: Acceptance of an offer or an invitation means that you say yes to it.

❗️ Examples:

1. The White House indicated its acceptance of the offer to visit Russia.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Curious, adjective (B1).

🔉 /ˈkjʊə.ri.əs/ 🇬🇧 /ˈkjʊr.i.əs/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: interested in learning about people or things around you.

❗️ Examples:

1. I was curious to know what would happen next.

2. Babies are curious about everything around them.

3. "Why did you ask?" "I was just curious."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Crash, noun.

🔉 /kræʃ/ 🇬🇧 /kræʃ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a situation when a computer or system suddenly stops operating.

❗️ Examples:

1. A computer crash

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Instant, noun.

🔉 /ˈɪn.stənt/ 🇬🇧 /ˈɪn.stənt/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: an extremely short period of time.

❗️ Examples:

1. In an instant her mood had changed.

2. The startled boy froze for an instant, then fled.

3. "Stop that noise this instant (= now)!"

4. I'll call you the instant (= as soon as) I get home.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Mixture, noun.

🔉 /ˈmɪks.tʃə(r)/ 🇬🇧 /ˈmɪks.tʃɚ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a type of medicine that has to be shaken before being used.

❗️ Examples:

1. Cough mixture

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Gather, noun.

❓ Definition: a small fold that has been sewn into cloth.

❗️ Examples:

1. A skirt with gathers at the back

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Sneer, verb.

🔉  /snɪər/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to show in an expression on your face or in your manner of speaking that someone or something is so foolish that it deserves to be ridiculed.

❗️ Examples:

1. You may sneer (at it), but a lot of people like this kind of music.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Affordable, adjective.

❓ Definition: not expensive.

❗️ Examples:

1. Nice clothes at affordable prices

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Tight, adjective, adverb.

❓ Definition: (held or kept together) firmly or closely.

❗️ Examples:

1. You have to wrap the bandage tight enough so that it really supports your ankle.

2. Make sure the door is shut tight (= completely closed) before you leave.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Leaf, noun (B1).

🔉 /liːf/ 🇬🇧 /liːf/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: one of the flat, usually green parts of a plant that are joined at one end to the stem or branch.

❗️ Examples:

1. A palm leaf

2. Autumn leaves

3. He was raking up leaves in his garden.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Pending, .

🔉 /ˈpen.dɪŋ/ 🇬🇧 /ˈpen.dɪŋ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: used to say that one thing must wait until another thing happens.

❗️ Examples:

1. The identity of the four people was not made public, pending (the) notification of relatives.

2. Flights were suspended pending (an) investigation of the crash.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Reach, verb (B1).

❓ Definition: to arrive at a place, especially after spending a long time or a lot of effort travelling.

❗️ Examples:

1. We won't reach Miami until five or six o'clock.

2. They finally reached the coast after five weeks sailing.

3. News of his accident had only just reached us.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Commitment, noun.

🔉  /kəˈmɪt·mənt/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a promise to give yourself, your money, your time, etc., to support or buy something.

❗️ Examples:

1. Try the product for two weeks with no commitment to buy.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Engaged, adjective.

🔉 /ɪnˈɡeɪdʒd/ 🇬🇧 /ɪnˈɡeɪdʒd/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: involved in something.

❗️ Examples:

1. They've been engaged in a legal battle with the council for several months.

2. She's part of a team of scientists who are engaged on/upon cancer research.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Effect, noun.

❓ Definition: the result of a particular influence; something that happens because of something else.

❗️ Examples:

1. The medicine had the effect of making me sleepy.

2. Cold water slows hurricane growth, but warm water has the opposite effect.

3. The new management actually has not had much effect on us.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Reach, verb.

❓ Definition: to arrive somewhere.

❗️ Examples:

1. The storm continues to move west and is expected to reach the east coast of Florida tomorrow.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Fear, noun (B1).

🔉 /fɪə(r)/ 🇬🇧 /fɪr/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: an unpleasant emotion or thought that you have when you are frightened or worried by something dangerous, painful, or bad that is happening or might happen.

❗️ Examples:

1. Trembling with fear, she handed over the money to the gunman.

2. Even when the waves grew big, the boy showed no (signs of) fear.

3. I have a fear of heights.

4. The low profit figures simply confirmed my worst fears.

5. There are fears that the disease will spread to other countries.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Offer, verb.

🔉  /ˈɔ·fər/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to provide or supply something.

❗️ Examples:

1. The organization offers free legal advice to low-income people.

2. He offered excuses but no real explanation.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Interrupt, verb.

🔉  /ˌɪn·təˈrʌpt/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to stop someone from speaking by saying or doing something, or to cause an activity or event to stop briefly.

❗️ Examples:

1. Please don’t interrupt until I’m finished.

2. The picnic was interrupted by a rain shower.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Domestic, adjective (B2).

❓ Definition: belonging or relating to the home, house, or family.

❗️ Examples:

1. Domestic chores/duties/arrangements

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Process, noun (B2).

🔉 /ˈprəʊ.ses/ 🇬🇧 /ˈprɑː.ses/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a series of actions that you take in order to achieve a result.

❗️ Examples:

1. The peace process

2. Increasing the number of women in top management jobs will be a slow process.

3. This decision may delay the process of European unification.

4. The party has begun the painful (= difficult) process of rethinking its policies and strategy.

5. Going to court to obtain compensation is a long process.

6. She arrived at the correct answer by a process of elimination (= by deciding against each answer that was unlikely to be correct until only one was left).

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Event, noun (C1).

❓ Definition: if something happens.

❗️ Examples:

1. In the event of a strike, the army will take over responsibility for firefighting.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Youth, noun.

🔉 /juːθ/ 🇬🇧 /juːθ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a boy or a young man

❗️ Examples:

1. Gangs of youths were throwing stones and bottles at the police.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Merge, verb (C2).

🔉 /mɜːdʒ/ 🇬🇧 /mɝːdʒ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to combine or join together, or to cause things to do this

❗️ Examples:

1. They decided to merge the two companies into one.

2. The country's two biggest banks are planning to merge.

3. After a while the narrow trail merges with a wider path.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Outer, adjective (B2).

🔉 /ˈaʊ.tə(r)/ 🇬🇧 /ˈaʊ.t̬ɚ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: at a greater distance from the centre

❗️ Examples:

1. Outer London

2. The outer lane of the motorway

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Suspect, verb.

🔉  /səˈspekt/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to doubt or not believe in something

❗️ Examples:

1. There is no reason to suspect their loyalty.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Affair, noun (B2).

🔉 /əˈfeə(r)/ 🇬🇧 /əˈfer/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a sexual relationship, especially a secret one

❗️ Examples:

1. She's having an affair with a married man.

2. The book doesn't make any mention of his love affairs.

3. An extramarital affair

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Succeed, verb (B1).

🔉 /səkˈsiːd/ 🇬🇧 /səkˈsiːd/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: If you succeed, you achieve something that you have been aiming for, and if a plan or piece of work succeeds, it has the results that you wanted

❗️ Examples:

1. She's been trying to pass her driving test for six years and she's finally succeeded.

2. You need to be pretty tough to succeed in the property world.

3. The campaign has certainly succeeded in raising public awareness of the issue.

4. Richard succeeded in offending (= managed unintentionally to offend) just about everybody in the room!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Divide, verb.

❓ Definition: to use different amounts of something for different purposes or activities

❗️ Examples:

1. She divides her time between her apartment in New York and her house in the Berkshires.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Struggle, verb.

🔉 //ˈstrʌɡ(ə)l// 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Make forceful or violent efforts to get free of restraint or constriction.

❗️ Examples:

1. Before she could struggle, he lifted her up

2. He struggled to break free

3. Alarmed, Darlene lurched forward, struggling to break free, but it was no use.

4. Kicking and thrashing, Jennifer desperately struggled to break free.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Carpet, verb.

🔉 /ˈkɑː.pɪt/ 🇬🇧 /ˈkɑːr.pət/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to be covered with something

❗️ Examples:

1. In spring this area is carpeted with bluebells.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Ideal, noun.

🔉  /ɑɪˈdil/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: a principle that sets a high standard for behavior

❗️ Examples:

1. I think most people share the same ideals and basic beliefs.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Vanilla, adjective.

❓ Definition: used to describe a product or service that is basic and has no special features

❗️ Examples:

1. I just want a vanilla bank account with low charges.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Anger, noun (B2).

❓ Definition: a strong feeling that makes you want to hurt someone or be unpleasant because of something unfair or unkind that has happened

❗️ Examples:

1. I think he feels a lot of anger towards his father, who treated him very badly as a child.

2. There is a danger that anger at the new law may turn into anti-government feeling.

3. The people showed no surprise or anger at their treatment.

4. He found it hard to contain (= control) his anger.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Light, verb.

🔉 /lʌɪt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Make (something) start burning; ignite.

❗️ Examples:

1. Allen gathered sticks and lit a fire

2. He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and walked away from the fire, through the village, and into the forest.

3. We both lit our Bic lighters as if we were at a Grateful Dead concert.

4. Almost every month my neighbour has a bonfire: last Friday at 9.15 pm he lit one.

5. He lit a further cigarillo, coughing glutinously as he did so.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Reach, verb.

🔉 /riːtʃ/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Arrive.

❗️ Examples:

1. Just round that corner, by them mango trees, and we reach

2. I am here to make sure that she reaches back to the house safely.

3. Who would have thought that we would reach there so quickly?

4. Sorry, I was in such a rush to reach I forgot the digi cam.

5. Since I am on the planning committee it means I have to reach before it starts.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Hang, verb.

🔉 /haŋ/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Be killed by hanging.

❗️ Examples:

1. Both men were sentenced to hang

2. They just sentenced this woman to hang for killing her boyfriend, who she says routinely abused her.

3. In 1945, he was sentenced to hang for treason.

4. He became the last man sentenced to hang by Bedford Assizes and was executed in the town's prison on April 4, 1962.

5. He was sentenced to hang but cheated the gallows.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 House, verb.

🔉 /haʊs/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Fix (something) in a socket or mortise.

❗️ Examples:

1. The joinery not only meets the requirements of modern engineering, it is the classic housed mortise and tenon joinery that has withstood the test of time.

2. A socket for receiving the wedge base electric lamp houses socket terminals serving to retain the electric lamp and to provide contact with lead wires of the electric lamp.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Joint, adjective (B2).

🔉 /dʒɔɪnt/ 🇬🇧 /dʒɔɪnt/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: belonging to or shared between two or more people

❗️ Examples:

1. A joint bank account

2. The project was a joint effort between the two schools (= they worked on it together).

3. The two Russian ice skaters came joint second (= they were both given second prize) in the world championships.

4. In court, the parents were awarded joint custody of their son (= the right to care for him was shared between them).

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Release, verb.

🔉 /rɪˈliːs/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Allow or enable to escape from confinement; set free.

❗️ Examples:

1. The government announced that the prisoners would be released

2. He releases himself and falls free of the burning aircraft.

3. But questions remain about whether the big cat escaped or was somehow released.

4. On August 10, 1974, he was expecting to be given the news that he was to be released from solitary confinement.

5. Sylvia's mother decides to prove that Tom's sister cannot be released from confinement in a mental hospital.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Cast, verb (C2).

🔉 /kɑːst/ 🇬🇧 /kæst/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to try to remember

❗️ Examples:

1. If you cast your mind back, you might recall that I never promised to go.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Process, verb.

🔉 /ˈprəʊ.ses/ 🇬🇧 /ˈprɑː.ses/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to think about a difficult or sad situation so that you can gradually accept it

❗️ Examples:

1. Returning soldiers need time to process what they have experienced in combat.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Start, noun.

🔉 /stɑːt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: An act of beginning to do or deal with something.

❗️ Examples:

1. I can make a start on cleaning up

2. An early start enabled us to avoid the traffic

3. The home side made a good start with early scores and were well in command for the first half.

4. His weight alarmed the club's coaching staff and led to a sluggish start to the season.

5. We make an immediate start to constructing a coal-fired power station in Fife.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Headquarters, noun.

🔉 /hɛdˈkwɔːtəz/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: The premises occupied by a military commander and the commander's staff.

❗️ Examples:

1. Its main generating unit was the staff headquarters of the Red Army's Rear Services.

2. We received initial guidance from our higher headquarters and our commanding general.

3. Their military headquarters were located at the Hotel Regina in Paris.

4. Most of the staff at the US military headquarters were evacuated after the crash.

5. Even its military headquarters - the Pentagon - wanted to be an architectural wonder.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Hold, verb.

🔉 /həʊld/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Stay or cause to stay at a certain value or level.

❗️ Examples:

1. MCI shares held at 77p

2. They are trying to hold public spending to £244.5 billion

3. Rather than cutting spending, it should be held at current levels to create stability in the system.

4. It has been held at that level for the whole time this Government has been in office.

5. The decision was widely expected by analysts and borrowing costs have now been held at their current levels since the start of June.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 That, determiner.

🔉 /ðat/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Used in singling out someone or something and ascribing a distinctive feature to them.

❗️ Examples:

1. I have always envied those people who make their own bread

2. The conversion was a formality in line with much of that which had gone before.

3. You never had a single advocate other than those paid for through legal aid.

4. If they don't fall asleep themselves, then those observing them certainly would.

5. It's assured, beautiful and an immediate classic, according to those have heard it.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Lead, noun.

🔉 /liːd/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: An item or implement made of lead.

❗️ Examples:

1. The ladder was over-short, and it required an effort to heave oneself from it through the casement on to the leads.

2. The church was restored by the late Godfrey Allen, who renewed the leads of the roof.

3. A man leaped into the chains, and lowering down the lead sounded in seven fathoms.

4. Deep soundings above 6 fathoms (11 m) were impracticable so the practice then was to sound the depth using a line and lead.

5. You'll feel weed fall against the line and the lead get picked up by the swell.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Office, noun.

🔉 /ˈɒfɪs/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: A service done for another or others.

❗️ Examples:

1. Rescued through the good offices of the Italian Ambassador, he was returned safely to England

2. The offices of a nurse

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Speech, noun (B1).

🔉 /spiːtʃ/ 🇬🇧 /spiːtʃ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: the ability to talk, the activity of talking, or a piece of spoken language

❗️ Examples:

1. Children usually develop speech in the second year of life.

2. People who suffer a stroke may experience a loss of speech.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Hold, verb.

🔉 /həʊld/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Refrain from adding or using (something, typically an item of food or drink)

❗️ Examples:

1. A strawberry margarita, but hold the tequila

2. Add a slice of cheese to your sandwich, but hold the mayonnaise.

3. As more Americans hold the cream and cut the carbs, Starbucks has been forced to respond.

4. Would Steve McQueen have been a skinny latte man? Does Sean Penn ask them to hold the fries and the bun when he orders a burger?

5. When she ate there, once or twice a month, she asked them to hold the cheese on her burger and give her a salad instead of fries.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Disturb, verb (C2).

🔉 /dɪˈstɜːb/ 🇬🇧 /dɪˈstɝːb/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: to cause someone to be worried or upset

❗️ Examples:

1. Some scenes are violent and may disturb younger viewers.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Disgrace, noun (B2).

🔉 /dɪsˈɡreɪs/ 🇬🇧 /dɪsˈɡreɪs/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: embarrassment and the loss of other people's respect, or behaviour that causes this

❗️ Examples:

1. They were sent home in disgrace.

2. He brought disgrace on the whole team by falsifying the results.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Pocket, noun.

🔉 /ˈpɒkɪt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: A narrow sack in which agricultural produce is sold, used as a measure for trading.

❗️ Examples:

1. Consumers are paying the same for 10 kg pockets of potatoes as they paid for 15 kg pockets last year

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Reach, verb (B2).

❓ Definition: to communicate with someone in a different place, especially by phone or email

❗️ Examples:

1. I've been trying to reach you on the phone all day.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Valuable, adjective (B2).

🔉 /ˈvæl.jə.b(ə)l/ 🇬🇧 /ˈvæl.jə.b(ə)l/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: Valuable information, advice, etc. is very helpful or important

❗️ Examples:

1. He was able to provide the police with some valuable information.

2. Parents gave the school valuable support in its case for getting its facilities improved.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Hold, verb.

🔉 /həʊld/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Have (a belief or opinion)

❗️ Examples:

1. I feel nothing but pity for someone who holds such chauvinistic views

2. They hold that all literature is empty of meaning

3. Only 24 hours later, few within the party itself could pretend to hold such an optimistic opinion on the future of their leader.

4. Lavoisier's belief reveals that he still held a somewhat traditional view of elements.

5. It is a subject on which Evangelicals hold differing opinions.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Survey, noun.

🔉 /ˈsɜː.veɪ/ 🇬🇧 /ˈsɝː.veɪ/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: the measuring and recording of the details of an area of land

❗️ Examples:

1. A geological survey

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Surprise, verb (B1).

❓ Definition: to make someone feel surprise

❗️ Examples:

1. The news surprised everyone.

2. It doesn't surprise me that their parents don't want them to get married.

3. It will not surprise anyone to learn that the offer has been rejected.

4. Janet was surprised how quickly the time passed.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Compliment, noun.

🔉 /ˈkɒm.plɪ.mənt/ 🇬🇧 /ˈkɑːm.plə.mənt/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: If you give something to someone with your compliments, you give it to that person free

❗️ Examples:

1. We enclose a copy of our latest brochure, with our compliments.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Plot, noun.

🔉 /plɒt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: A plan made in secret by a group of people to do something illegal or harmful.

❗️ Examples:

1. There's a plot to overthrow the government

2. I have no ulterior motives, no plots or secret schemes.

3. A bungling thief who masterminded a plot to defraud cashpoint customers by installing a camera in an ATM machine has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

4. Subsequent interrogations of him and other accomplices revealed that a series of plots were being planned.

5. She and her brother had planned the getaway plot for so long, and they were so sure that it would work.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Loosen, verb.

🔉 /ˈluːs(ə)n/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Relax (one's grip or muscles)

❗️ Examples:

1. He loosened his hold so she could pull her arms free

2. Having a stretch loosens your muscles and relaxes your body.

3. Emma immediately relaxed and loosened her grip on my leg.

4. Bandit loosened his grip, relaxing his arms until his hold on her turned into a real embrace.

5. Lucas only hung his head and loosened his grip on the pole in response.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Plunge, verb.

🔉 /plʌn(d)ʒ/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Embark impetuously on a speech or course of action.

❗️ Examples:

1. He came to a decision, and plunged on before he had time to reconsider it

2. Taking a deep breath, he plunged on with his speech.

3. And he plunged ahead without understanding or preparing for the consequences of the post-war.

4. The best thing about these mini games is that they don't distract from the main quest, they're there if you want them, but easily ignored if you want to keep on plunging ahead.

5. Why is the U.S. blindly plunging ahead with such a potentially disastrous and outmoded concept?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Deal, verb.

❓ Definition: to cause someone or something, usually a plan or hope, to fail or to be affected very badly

❗️ Examples:

1. The latest trade figures have dealt a severe blow to hopes of an early economic recovery.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 When, conjunction.

🔉 /wɛn/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Although; whereas.

❗️ Examples:

1. I'm saying it now when I should have told you long ago

2. People could at times be standing at the back when there was room in the front of the train.

3. They behaved as if they were in their living room at home, when, clearly they weren't.

4. The danger is trying to put your nose through when there is no room and it ends in an accident.

5. I had this idea of him being loud and brash when in fact he's laidback and quiet with this fantastic wit.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Adoption, noun (B2).

🔉 /əˈdɒp.ʃ(ə)n/ 🇬🇧 /əˈdɑːp.ʃ(ə)n/ 🇺🇸

    

❓ Definition: the act of legally taking a child to be taken care of as your own

❗️ Examples:

1. She was homeless and had to put her child up for adoption (= ask for the child to be taken by someone else as their own).

2. The last ten years have seen a dramatic fall in the number of adoptions.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Flicker, noun.

🔉 /ˈflɪkə/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: A tiny movement.

❗️ Examples:

1. The flicker of an eyelid

2. He caught a flicker of movement off to his right and vaguely heard the soft sounds of a small stream.

3. She thought she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to peer intently that way.

4. She kept low and watched the wagons disappear, but a flicker of movement caught her eye and she turned her head in time to see a red spider logo on the back of a jacket.

5. Near the mistline a flicker of movement in the uppermost section of waterfall caught our attention.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Reflect, verb.

🔉 /rɪˈflɛkt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: (of an action or situation) bring (credit or discredit) to the relevant parties.

❗️ Examples:

1. The main contract is progressing well, which reflects great credit on those involved

2. Chapman reflects the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

3. It is a sorry tale which reflects no credit on either party.

4. Leeds did manage to stage a late rally, which reflected huge credit on their fighting qualities.

5. Yet of all the ways in which to lose, few could have reflected more credit on either side.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Start, verb.

🔉 /stɑːt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Cause to happen or begin.

❗️ Examples:

1. Two men started the blaze

2. Those women started all the trouble

3. I'm starting a campaign to get the law changed

4. Fire chiefs believe the blaze may have been started by arsonists.

5. A Hampshire firefighter became an arsonist so that he would be called out to the blazes he had started himself.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Hand, noun.

🔉 /hand/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Help in doing something.

❗️ Examples:

1. Do you need a hand?

2. Bradford's Industrial Museum has been giving a helping hand to a textile archive in Leeds.

3. "Do you need a hand?" I ask.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Race, verb.

🔉 /reɪs/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Compete with another or others to see who is fastest at covering a set course or achieving an objective.

❗️ Examples:

1. The vet took blood samples from the horses before they raced

2. Two drivers raced each other through a housing estate

3. The pair raced down the backstretch well clear of the rest of the field and turning into the stretch Tango for Tips put her nose in front.

4. Fantastic Light will be one of the leading contenders for the Classic although he has never previously raced on a dirt track.

5. Family and friends race each other and compete out on the water.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Ground, adjective.

🔉 /ɡraʊnd/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Reduced to fine particles by crushing or mincing.

❗️ Examples:

1. Ground cumin

2. This is not always necessary as some butchers sell finely ground mince.

3. Richworth produce a fine ground up trout pellet that is ideal for my purposes.

4. Remove from the oven, dry on paper towels and then toss them in the cumin, chilli and salt and freshly ground pepper.

5. We like to see the tiny flakes of finely ground pepper in the jelly.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Tint, noun.

🔉 /tɪnt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: An artificial dye for colouring the hair.

❗️ Examples:

1. The orange tint coloured her hair and made her skin look ill, but I recognised her.

2. Some other things that can cause a very bad hair day include over processing your hair with color, tints, bleach or perms.

3. It is a way of life, whether it be a change in colour, tints, hairpieces or whatever.

4. For more information about tints and dyes, circle the corresponding number on the reader service card.

5. At a very simplified level, hair coloring is all about finding the right amount of color to add or subtract from your current hair tint.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Light, noun.

🔉 /lʌɪt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: Decorative illuminations.

❗️ Examples:

1. Christmas lights

2. For the past couple of years, the appearance of Christmas lights and festive decorations has heralded the arrival of a weighty travel anthology.

3. Fairy lights were switched on and music played.

4. Instead of the usual studio lighting he used the available light sources visible in the shot, such as lamps, Christmas tree lights and so forth.

5. Good use was also made of neon lights, phosphorescent glow sticks, reflectors, fiber optics, and a thumping dance floor.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic

📚 Result, noun.

🔉 /rɪˈzʌlt/ 🇬🇧 

    

❓ Definition: The outcome of a business's trading over a given period, expressed as a statement of profit or loss.

❗️ Examples:

1. Oil companies have reported better results

2. Elan is in the closed period before it reports results for the first quarter of 2003.

3. Analysts are not expecting any surprises in the hotel group's results following its pre-closed period trading statement in April.

4. Psion itself reported impressive results showing a 47 per cent increase in sales over the same period last year.

5. The company reported strong profit margins in its fourth quarter results, although revenues were below expectations.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌀 @cambridge_dic