Cambridge Dictionary:
π Take something with a pinch of salt, phrase.
❓ Definition: Regard something as exaggerated; believe only part of something.
❗️ Examples:
1. I take anything he says with a large pinch of salt.
2. An AIB spokesman rejected the claim it was ripping off customers and said it took the report with a pinch of salt as it did not believe true like-for-like comparisons were made.
3. The next time someone says one bullet is vastly superior to another in regards to wind deflection, take their advice with a grain of salt and check for yourself.
4. Many personnel believe that no matter what they have to say, it will be taken with a grain of salt.
5. Since I had no recourse to take this route, I took the stories with a pinch of salt and never checked them out.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Exaggerated, adjective.
π /ΙͺΙ‘ΛzadΚΙreΙͺtΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Regarded or represented as larger, better, or worse than in reality.
❗️ Examples:
1. An exaggerated account of his adventures.
2. Comic book characters are drawn with exaggerated features so you will remember them.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bride, noun.
π /brΚΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A woman on her wedding day or just before and after the event.
❗️ Examples:
1. The bride and groom left early last night.
2. How do I prevent the all too familiar pre-wedding bloating experienced by so many brides on their wedding day?
3. Now there's a girl who knows how to dress for an event without stealing the bride's thunder.
4. The chair is for the bride to sit and the groom to remove the bride's garter from her leg.
5. Traditional Japanese brides wear three wedding robes - a white kimono, a coloured kimono, and a white dress and veil.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ Sling Blade (1996)
π¬ One thing he had was... this beautiful, young bride, Sarah.
π Spendthrift, noun.
π /ΛspΙn(d)ΞΈrΙͺft/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A person who spends money in an extravagant, irresponsible way.
❗️ Examples:
1. Putt was a spendthrift and a heavy gambler.
2. A spendthrift uncle.
3. Working for a multinational and being the spendthrift that he is, he doesn't have the money to buy a laptop for himself, at least not a brand new laptop.
4. Don't go down in history as a spendthrift, who threw away the country's wealth and squandered the opportunity to truly develop our nation.
5. If you are a spendthrift before retiring you will be a spendthrift during retirement.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Let the cat out of the bag, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Reveal a secret carelessly or by mistake.
❗️ Examples:
1. Now that Viola had let the cat out of the bag, she had no option but to confess.
2. Gavin Anderson apologises to those in the know for letting the cat out of the bag about this secret haven.
3. So let the cat out of the bag: admit that what you're really up to is a satire on the state of arts funding.
4. The rather inappropriately named Defence Minister let the cat out of the bag by admitting that there isn't really a threat after all.
5. Two such academics were so upset by the broadcast they injudiciously let the cat out of the bag completely.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Waltz, verb.
π /wΙΛl(t)s/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (no object • with adverbial of direction): Act casually, confidently, or inconsiderately.
❗️ Examples:
1. You can't waltz in here and bark orders at me.
2. From a male point of view I can understand they feel they've been killing themselves all these years, and why should women waltz in and get top jobs without the same sacrifice.
3. While that is a time-filler for many students, it's returned a sense of positive control to my life as I lurk for comment spammers who waltz in and mark up their unwanted remarks.
4. Well, if the right has indeed ‘stolen’ freedom as their buzzword, perhaps we might ask who left the door wide open and allowed them to waltz in and take it away from under our noses?
5. They would waltz in and out of my life at intervals and so I theorized that I got ‘used’ to not having any constant friends around.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ Memento (2000)
π¬ You can't just waltz in here dressed like that and ask for a beer.
π Ankh, noun.
π /aΕk/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: An object or design resembling a cross but having a loop instead of the top arm, used in ancient Egypt as a symbol of life.
❗️ Examples:
1. The ankh, the Egyptian symbol for eternal life, is very similar to that of the cross revered by Christians (especially in the form of the Coptic cross), itself also a symbol for eternal life.
2. The ankh is an ancient Egyptian symbol carried around by the Egyptian gods, normally signifying the ability to give or take life.
3. Under the left eye, there appeared to be a small ankh, Egyptian symbol for eternal life, which was also colored black.
4. The majority recognizes the ankh as an Egyptian symbol of mythological power.
5. He placed a bracelet and closed her fist around it, ‘The ankh, a symbol of everlasting life.’
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π @cambridge_dic
π Let sleeping dogs lie, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Avoid interfering in a situation that is currently causing no problems but may well do so as a result of such interference.
❗️ Examples:
1. And God also seems to have the highest expectations of us, not settling for second-best or letting sleeping dogs lie.
2. So the Labor party is merely going along with the masses by letting sleeping dogs lie.
3. Somebody sent me an email that said this was all the fault of the U.S. because ‘we should have let sleeping dogs lie.’
4. But then maybe it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.
5. I'll let sleeping dogs lie for a bit on that front.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Potty mouth, noun.
❓ Definition: A person who tends to use bad language.
❗️ Examples:
1. Angry viewers who assumed I was an out-of-control potty mouth.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ The Simpsons (1989) - S14E05 Comedy
π¬ Bart, watch your potty mouth.
π Every man has his price, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Everyone is open to bribery if the inducement offered is large enough.
❗️ Examples:
1. Last week he was appointed Senior manager there and it just goes to show that every man has his price.
2. I'm sure they have discovered it by now but aren't telling, but every man has his price.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bamboozle, verb.
π /bamΛbuΛz(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (informal • with object): Cheat or fool.
❗️ Examples:
1. He bamboozled Canada's largest banks in a massive counterfeit scam.
2. Courtesy is a luxury that real reporters often have to sacrifice in the line of duty, especially when bamboozled by double talk.
3. It can't be easy to find rich suckers who can be bamboozled into buying this.
4. Documents rarely set out to trick historians, but they can bamboozle the unwary at every turn.
5. Inconspicuously dressed in a kilt, sporran, dagger, and ‘black mask of Osiris’, Crowley crept down the suburban road from Olympia and bamboozled his way into the sacred vaults.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ The Magic of Belle Isle (2012)
π¬ Two, bamboozle: to deceive or get the better of somebody by trickery.
π Nebbish, noun.
π /ΛnΙbΙͺΚ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mainly North American • informal): A person, especially a man, who is regarded as pitifully ineffectual, timid, or submissive.
❗️ Examples:
1. He's a nebbish. No money, no prestige, no future.
2. His nebbish sensibility.
3. In the original, the men were cold and sinister; in the new version, they're nebbishes who need to be constantly drilled in masculine prerogatives by the head of the Men's Association.
4. There's nothing special about us… just a coupla nebbishes…
5. Meanwhile, in the ‘comedy,’ Melinda is the downstairs neighbor of an ambitious film director, Susan, and her nebbish husband, Hobie.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Be in the know, phrase.
❓ Definition: Be aware of something known only to a few people.
❗️ Examples:
1. He had a tip from a friend in the know: the horse was a cert.
2. In today's information-based society, there are few things more infuriating than not being in the know.
3. Well, I used to pride myself as being in the know but I have heard nothing about this idea.
4. Essentially, one needs to be in the know to make the most of Berlin's nightlife.
5. But you have to be in the know to have access to the best-kept secret in showbiz.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Irritable, adjective.
π /ΛΙͺrΙͺtΙb(Ι)l/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Having or showing a tendency to be easily annoyed.
❗️ Examples:
1. She was tired and irritable.
2. She seemed irritable, and annoyed with my every move.
3. The wait would grate so terribly on my nerves that I could easily be irritable for days afterwards, but that particular drive was different.
4. Will asked, starting to get annoyed, the pain in his head making him more irritable.
5. And these US marines smoking more than usual under the stress of battle conditions are becoming increasingly irritable.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Epilogue, noun.
π /ΛΙpΙͺlΙΙ‘/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened.
❗️ Examples:
1. The meaning of the book's title is revealed in the epilogue.
2. I always had an epilogue to the book, but originally it was my own epilogue.
3. It serves as the epilogue to one of the theologically most profound writings of the New Testament.
4. Well, I've got seven more chapters and an epilogue to write.
5. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but that's probably because there's only one more chapter and an epilogue to write.
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π @cambridge_dic
π In a flash, phrase.
❓ Definition: Very quickly; immediately.
❗️ Examples:
1. She was out of the back door in a flash.
2. I closed the door quickly and like a flash I was at the table filling my bag with the money once again.
3. They will sit on your rear bumper until they get a little bit of a straight road and then they are past you like a flash.
4. He was on to it like a flash, racing into the penalty area.
5. The cold was fierce and I was gone like a flash to get my woolies from the car before I got a dose of hypothermia.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ Evil Under the Sun (1982)
π¬ Can you make it back to the hotel? In a flash. This thing's no problem.
π Straightforward, adjective.
π /streΙͺtΛfΙΛwΙd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Uncomplicated and easy to do or understand.
❗️ Examples:
1. In a straightforward case no fees will be charged.
2. They would have felt easier with a straightforward repayment loan, where each month the debt reduced.
3. Life was easy, straightforward, and if he wanted something done, he just did it.
4. Knowing when to stop is not an easy or straightforward matter in ethnography.
5. Dispassionate analysis of American politics is neither easy nor straightforward.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Anorak, noun.
π /ΛanΙrak/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A waterproof jacket, typically with a hood, of a kind originally used in polar regions.
❗️ Examples:
1. A fine drizzle had developed, so I wore my waterproof anorak and pulled the hood up to keep from getting too wet.
2. Particularly important are a windproof jacket, or anorak, with hood or hat and a stout pair of walking boots or shoes as they may have to cross some rough ground to see the best wildlife.
3. As my sister distracted the guards, I pulled up the hood from my anorak and quickly disappeared into the large crowd.
4. Today Southampton detectives appealed for the public's help in catching the burglar, who was white, aged 15 or 16 with fair hair and wore a grey anorak or fleece jacket.
5. I was fine, wrapped in my weatherproof anorak with the hood up, and found the walk from one end of the precinct to the other a bracing and refreshing experience.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Second to none, phrase.
❓ Definition: The best, worst, fastest, etc.
❗️ Examples:
1. The group has a reputation that is second to none in the building industry.
2. The food was quite wonderful, the atmosphere perfect and the welcome second to none.
3. This is a country that's proven second to none when it comes to putting curling on the TV airwaves.
4. He worked harder than anyone and his course management was second to none.
5. The character design is second to none, and they've really taken advantage of the machine's strengths.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Ambassador, noun.
π /amΛbasΙdΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: An accredited diplomat sent by a state as its permanent representative in a foreign country.
❗️ Examples:
1. The French ambassador to Portugal.
2. He also indicated that various foreign ambassadors and high commissioners had expressed similar sentiments.
3. Benjamin Franklin was the US ambassador to absolutist France after the American Revolution.
4. It was conducted by a diplomat who had served as an ambassador to three African countries.
5. Neither letter refers to the resignation of the Eritrean ambassador to Sweden.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Prerogative, noun.
π /prΙͺΛrΙΙ‘ΙtΙͺv/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A right or privilege exclusive to a particular individual or class.
❗️ Examples:
1. In some countries, higher education is predominantly the prerogative of the rich.
2. The investment was heralded far and wide, and this Malaysian-based group was given privileges and prerogatives, including labour exemptions, apparently as part of the incentives for them to set up shop here.
3. Changing a future child's genetic makeup, and experimenting with the genetic legacy of humanity, fall outside any acceptable notion of individual rights or parental prerogatives.
4. The difference was that these middle-class Peruvians did not lose any prerogatives or privileges.
5. In India, the study of Sanskrit was denied to many segments of the Hindu population, as it was deemed to be a prerogative of only the privileged caste.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Take for granted, phrase.
❓ Definition: Fail to properly appreciate (someone or something), especially as a result of overfamiliarity.
❗️ Examples:
1. The comforts that people take for granted.
2. The right to own land and other property is taken for granted in many countries.
3. Everything ran smoothly for the next two months, but I guess I took things for granted.
4. I know I took you for granted, expecting you always to be around when that's not possible.
5. The problem with being an All-Star is that good performances are taken for granted and people expect more.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Frankly, adverb.
π /ΛfraΕkli/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: In an open, honest, and direct manner.
❗️ Examples:
1. She talks very frankly about herself.
2. It is time that the parish council told council tax payers what is going on - openly and frankly.
3. I can tell you quite frankly that the stuff from our childhoods is not to be blamed on us.
4. As an Independent councillor he will be able to express frankly what Walcot people say they need.
5. Last night, in an interview to accompany the new portrait, the prince spoke frankly about both issues.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Stewardship, noun.
π /ΛstjuΛΙdΚΙͺp/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): The job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property.
❗️ Examples:
1. The funding and stewardship of the NHS.
2. Responsible stewardship of our public lands.
3. Countryside stewardship schemes.
4. He resigned his stewardships at Westminster Abbey and St Martin's.
5. The program each year recognizes environmental stewardship efforts by retailers in 13 Midwestern states.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Been there, done that, phrase.
❓ Definition (informal): Used to express past experience of or overfamiliarity with something.
❗️ Examples:
1. I've been there, done that, got the video and the T-shirt.
2. It sometimes just feels like I've been there, done that!
3. I've been there, done that - it's for the younger players.
4. Yes, when it comes to writing 50,000 word novels in a month, I've been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.
5. I can quite confidently say that I've been there, done that, and come back.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ Predestination (2014)
π¬ Hospital records, orphanage records, medical records... Been there, done that.
π Hung-over, adjective.
❓ Definition: Suffering from a hangover after drinking alcohol.
❗️ Examples:
1. ‘You look distinctly hung-over.’
2. I was so tired that I slept through everything, and woke up late in the afternoon, refreshed, if not a little hung-over.
3. You are constantly jet-lagged, knackered or hung-over.
4. Nine years ago, whilst hung-over, I fell in the shower.
5. Are you sitting by yourself, eating corn chips, hung-over, depressed about your imminent breakdown, or the news?
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π @cambridge_dic
π Ransack, verb.
π /Λransak/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Go through (a place) stealing things and causing damage.
❗️ Examples:
1. Burglars ransacked her home.
2. The defence claimed her aunt was viciously beaten by a burglar who ransacked the house.
3. The thieves ransacked the living room but only stole a small amount of jewellery.
4. Then he bound her hands and ransacked the house, stealing what is believed to be a few hundred pounds.
5. Immediately asking for money, he forces them into their mansion and ransacks the place.
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π @cambridge_dic
π In one's birthday suit, phrase.
❓ Definition (humorous): Naked.
❗️ Examples:
1. I wanna walk around in my birthday suit.
2. I told her that despite it being cooler than usual… I'm still sleeping in my birthday suit.
3. Women looked away and parents shielded their children's eyes as a foreigner with a receding hairline pranced on the New Delhi railway platform in his birthday suit.
4. And a foxy new foreign exchange student strolls around school in her birthday suit.
5. I had to strip off and stand shivering in my birthday suit in calf-high water while she helped me wash.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ The Big Bang Theory - The Celebration Experimentation S09E17
π¬ — Have to say, you... you do look good in that suit.
— Oh. Thank you.
— Maybe later I'll, uh... get to see you in your birthday suit.
— But this is my birthday suit.
π Straightforward, adjective.
π /streΙͺtΛfΙΛwΙd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: (of a person) honest and frank.
❗️ Examples:
1. A straightforward young man.
2. There is a nice sense of menace developing in it, and I like how none of the characters are straightforward.
3. Men are intensely straightforward and logical beings, and they find this confusing.
4. They are pretty straightforward with me, they know I can handle whatever it takes.
5. Kenneth was trying to hint, but Jessica was more straightforward than the rest of them.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Imp, noun.
π /Ιͺmp/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A small, mischievous devil or sprite.
❗️ Examples:
1. You say, ‘I've never seen any imps, sprites or goblins in this whole neighborhood!’
2. On Thursday night, we will all answer the door to find assorted little devils, imps and ghosts thrusting forward a bag half filled with processed sugar to the cry of ‘Trick or treat’.
3. I looked at the tracks and saw that little goblins, imps, fairies, and sprites had been in my house.
4. When she smiled and curtsied, she reminded me of a sprite-ish imp.
5. But then I began to feel rather like a character in one of those moralistic cartoons - a man who has a mischievous imp on one shoulder and a self-righteous angel on the other.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Jump on the bandwagon, phrase.
❓ Definition: Join others in doing or supporting something fashionable or likely to be successful.
❗️ Examples:
1. Scientists and doctors alike have jumped on the bandwagon.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Junk food, noun.
❓ Definition (mass noun): Pre-prepared or packaged food that has low nutritional value.
❗️ Examples:
1. I was eating too much junk food.
2. When I was a child I wasn't allowed to eat so much junk food from fast food outlets that I became overweight and ill.
3. That means an annual exposure to thousands of commercials for junk food and fast food.
4. Not only are our kids overfed on junk food and fast food, they are fast becoming victims of the techno age.
5. She may be eating a lot of junk food because the junk food comforts her without judging her.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Cockade, noun.
π /kΙΛkeΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A rosette or knot of ribbons worn in a hat as a badge of office, or as part of a livery.
❗️ Examples:
1. The cap bore the traditional cockade in silver, blue, and red.
2. Although the external decoration varied from garland to garland, similarities did exist consisting of ‘printed paper rosettes, cockades, and silk hangings’.
3. Two flunkeys stood at the back of the carriage and the little cockades in their hats were fashioned according to the rank of their employer.
4. They were staunch Jacobites, and even after Culloden they continued to bear arms and wear the white cockade.
5. In his bonnet the champion sports a cockade neither of Jacobite white nor of Hanoverian black.
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π @cambridge_dic
π On the back foot, phrase.
❓ Definition (British): Outmanoeuvred by a competitor or opponent; at a disadvantage.
❗️ Examples:
1. Messi's early goal put Milan on the back foot.
2. The government found itself on the back foot as peaceful demonstrations continued.
3. By the early summer of 1918, the German submarines were clearly on the back foot.
4. The Irish government appeared to be put on the back foot.
5. The polls may not show much change but the government gives all the appearances of being on the back foot.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Harness, noun.
π /ΛhΙΛnΙs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A set of straps and fittings by which a horse or other draught animal is fastened to a cart, plough, etc. and is controlled by its driver.
❗️ Examples:
1. He was diminutive, and how he managed to lift the heavy harness on the draught horses for ploughing was more than I could understand.
2. Iron components of the chariot were found in a good state of preservation, including the two wheel rims and hub - hoops, the yoke fittings, harness and horse bits.
3. I went about my usual morning routine, feeding Angel Wing and the pull horses, and putting on the harnesses for the carts.
4. Nash was pleased to see that Fric had padded and rigged the horse's harnesses for silence, as well as shoeing their hoofs with leather covers to muffle their trot.
5. However, small items such as brooches and horse harnesses made out of recycled bronze in native styles have occasionally been found at forts.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Allyship, noun.
π /ΛalΚΙͺΚΙͺp/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): Active support for the rights of a minority or marginalized group without being a member of it.
❗️ Examples:
1. This training should emphasize tangible ways that employees can practice allyship, such as speaking out against discrimination.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Jam tomorrow, phrase.
❓ Definition (British): A pleasant thing which is often promised but rarely materializes.
❗️ Examples:
1. A promise of jam tomorrow wasn't enough to satisfy them.
2. Policy holders want cash today, not the promise of jam tomorrow, and if people don't appreciate that then they are out of touch.
3. He should realise that promises of jam tomorrow are not helping shopkeepers in his area to swallow difficulties forced on them by the loss of parking spaces.
4. Unfortunately, in the case of human and civil rights, promises of jam tomorrow are simply not good enough.
5. We have been promised jam tomorrow but we have never got it.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Envy, verb.
π /ΛΙnvi/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable thing belonging to (someone else)
❗️ Examples:
1. He envied people who did not have to work at the weekends.
2. I envy Jane her happiness.
3. She imagined her home even lovelier than it was now, and she imagined everyone admiring her, envying her, wishing they, too, had such a gift.
4. You must mark out your territory as an artist, so that others learn to envy you and aspire to what you are doing.
5. Borges' characters can similarly be said to envy women their desire that they cannot understand and do not dare explore.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Fomites, plural noun.
π /ΛfΙΚmΙͺtiΛz/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (Medicine): Objects or materials which are likely to carry infection, such as clothes, utensils, and furniture.
❗️ Examples:
1. Transmission by virus-contaminated hands or fomites is less likely.
2. Moreover, they may contaminate fomites that can transmit the disease to persons who do not have direct contact with the animals.
3. Transmission is by person to person and fomites, such as bedding and clothing.
4. Transmission of dermatophytes also can occur indirectly from fomites.
5. Many viral infections are spread chiefly by aerosol, rather than by fomites or personal contact.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Many hands make light work, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): A task is soon accomplished if several people help.
❗️ Examples:
1. To quote the old saying, many hands make light work.
2. Just when you are thinking too many cooks spoil the broth, suddenly someone will remind you that many hands make light work.
3. Putting the Lantern Parade together is a huge job and many hands make light work.
4. But as many hands make light work, meals on wheels convenor Margaret Clark says she is always interested in hearing from people who can help getting the food to the clients.
5. The campaign was launched last Thursday night in the Seven Oaks Hotel but like all events, many hands make light work so the more people who can help make the event a success the better.
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π @cambridge_dic
π World view, noun.
❓ Definition: A particular philosophy of life or conception of the world.
❗️ Examples:
1. A Christian world view revolves around the battle of good and evil.
2. Apart from being completely unscientific and unsupported this whole line betrays a world view of utter despair.
3. This type is in quest for a comprehensive view, the world picture, the big answers to the big questions.
4. Labour have been severely punished for the social and economic policies that lie at the very core of their world view.
5. No, I'm watching the mind at work, moving fluidly between ideas before weaving them into a cohesive world view.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Eradicate, verb.
π /ΙͺΛradΙͺkeΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Destroy completely; put an end to.
❗️ Examples:
1. This disease has been eradicated from the world.
2. It eradicates cowardice, destroys doubt, fills you with vitality, lets you do the impossible…
3. By the end of next month we will have succeeded in eradicating the illiteracy of 1,300,000 Venezuelans.
4. It is difficult to erase it from the memory of the brain even after eradicating the disease.
5. We continue to do that and our campaign to eradicate pensioner poverty goes on.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Answer to the name of, phrase.
❓ Definition (humorous): Be called.
❗️ Examples:
1. A missing gent answering to the name of Bloom.
2. The owner's children were distraught, as they had travelled as far as Wexford in search of their pet that answers to the name of Prince.
3. He answers to the name of Sam and was last seen on Sunday, September 22 in the Borris Road area.
4. The parrot, which is still missing, has red tail feathers and a blue plastic ring on his foot and answers to the name of Monty.
5. He is grey with a white nose and paws and was wearing a white collar, he answers to the name of Socks.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Irritant, noun.
π /ΛΙͺrΙͺt(Ι)nt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A thing that is continually annoying or distracting.
❗️ Examples:
1. In 1966 Vietnam was becoming an irritant to the government.
2. Still, these are mostly minor irritants that can easily be dismissed as necessary game requirements.
3. Another constant irritant for the judge was poor media reporting.
4. What should be a service to the community is seen as a major irritant.
5. - But Greenpeace had become a bigger irritant for the French than it had realised.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Babushka, noun.
π /bΙΛbΚΚkΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: (in Russia) an old woman or grandmother.
❗️ Examples:
1. Shouldn't we give up the nervous fingering of the beads of the grandmas and the babushkas?
2. My babushka was called Ceceila, an unusual name in Russia.
3. The children continued their swimming exercises in the pond, and the babushkas proceeded with their grave and slow discussions about their grandchildren, prices, and pensions.
4. The losers walk away with their tails between their legs as small children hurl rocks at them and wizened babushkas cackle insults in obscure Slavic dialects.
5. They vie for pavement space with old babushkas selling everything from flowers to cigarettes to kittens in socks, calendar style.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Nothing succeeds like success, phrase.
❓ Definition (proverb): Success leads to opportunities for further and greater successes.
❗️ Examples:
1. At the end of the day, nothing succeeds like success.
2. But in America, nothing succeeds like success.
3. In mitigation, this run of bad results was closely tied to a string of away fixtures that would test any team but it once again proved that if nothing succeeds like success then failure facilitates a firing.
4. You know that saying, nothing succeeds like success?
5. Well, its an old saying and a true one: nothing succeeds like success.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bewitch, verb.
π /bΙͺΛwΙͺtΚ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Cast a spell over (someone)
❗️ Examples:
1. A handsome prince who had been bewitched by a sorceress.
2. According to historians, Boyan was not a magician in the sense that he was able to cast spells, bewitch people and transform into animals, but he was a learned man and a poet.
3. I was bewitched when I cast my eyes on him at my father's place.
4. Trying to remain calm Leo asked, ‘And who is this lady sorceress that you say has bewitched men everywhere, and why should you warn me?’
5. The witch doctor poisons a chicken, and, from the way the chicken staggers before dropping dead, the witch doctor determines that the rash has been caused by the client's sister-in-law bewitching him.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Put the bite on, phrase.
❓ Definition (North American, Australian, New Zealand • informal): Borrow or extort money from.
❗️ Examples:
1. A deadbeat diner tried to put the bite on a restaurant.
2. Damn, I thought, putting the bite on me for food money.
3. I'm no elitist and I'm all for genuine homeless people getting a better deal all round, but it beggared belief to see him shopping with the people he was putting the bite on just minutes before.
4. It is scandalous is that while Catholic schools across the country have missed out on anywhere between $560 million and $2-3 billion over the past four years, they have put the bite on parents to make up some of the difference.
5. Meanwhile, the governor - through a special economic development fund overseen by his office - also has been putting the bite on a host of companies and other special interests to contribute to his pet cause.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Erase, verb.
π /ΙͺΛreΙͺz/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Remove all traces of; destroy or obliterate.
❗️ Examples:
1. Over twenty years the last vestiges of a rural economy were erased.
2. The magic of the landscape erased all else from her mind.
3. If women participated in this myth-making in order to understand themselves and their place in the world, the traces have been erased or repressed.
4. In some parts of Latin America, there's been an attempt to erase many of the traces of liberation theology in any of its forms.
5. That element of my nightmare had been erased, diminished, dissolved.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bezoar, noun.
π /ΛbiΛzΙΛ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A small stony concretion which may form in the stomachs of certain animals, especially ruminants, and which was once used as an antidote for various ailments.
❗️ Examples:
1. They induced him to swallow therapeutic potions of oriental bezoar stone from the stomach of a goat and boiled spirits from a human skull.
2. An obstruction series or plain abdominal radiographs may be necessary to distinguish obstruction from parasites or bezoars.
3. Endoscopy revealed a large gastric bezoar and a 2 x 3 em lower esophageal ulcer that was thought to be the source of bleeding.
4. This sometimes results in a serious medical problem called gastric bezoar - more commonly known as a hairball - which may require surgical removal.
5. Patients were still observed to empty liquids rapidly, leading to the ‘dumping syndrome’, and to retain solids, leading to bezoar formation.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Not a bit of it, phrase.
❓ Definition (British): Not at all.
❗️ Examples:
1. Am I being unduly cynical? Not a bit of it.
2. After the torrential rain on Saturday, we had thought the event might be a bit of a wash-out, but not a bit of it.
3. It sounds like a recipe for gross self-indulgence, but not a bit of it: ‘I've actually lost nearly a stone and a half since coming here.’
4. When the Express closed, and then later the ill - fated Scottish Daily News, you'd have thought the bar would close but not a bit of it.
5. You would think after 20 years he would be jaded, but not a bit of it.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Vivid, adjective.
π /ΛvΙͺvΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind.
❗️ Examples:
1. Memories of that evening were still vivid.
2. A vivid description.
3. New moving images may become as vivid and powerful as traumatic memories in the mind of a child survivor.
4. Kit could feel the anger coursing through his mind and everything was vivid and clear.
5. She had another terrible nightmare and could not shake the vivid images from her mind.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Evanesce, verb.
❓ Definition (literary • no object): Pass out of sight, memory, or existence.
❗️ Examples:
1. Water moves among reeds, evanesces, shines.
2. There was also the folk memory of real poverty, which might be rapidly evanescing, but still persisted in most families.
3. Like the lovers seated on the grass outside, the music evanesces along the narrowing vista between the trees, and the fountain flows only to ebb.
4. One of the greatest linguists of the day, Noam Chomsky, believes that the complexity of English has many advantages, signposting roots and connections while allowing subtleties that might otherwise evanesce.
5. In Untitled, 2000, the artist's forehead dissolves into an expansive, pastel checkerboard pattern that in turn evanesces into light.
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π @cambridge_dic
π The world, the flesh, and the devil, phrase.
❓ Definition: All forms of temptation to sin.
❗️ Examples:
1. Rossetti struggled with these words in her desire to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil.
2. A rich understanding of the roles of God, the world, the flesh, and the devil in suffering will aid counselors in determining the best responses to their clients' pain.
3. The daily, hourly conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil, shall at length be at an end: the enemy shall be bound; the warfare shall be over; the wicked shall at last cease from troubling; the weary shall at length be at rest.
4. In other words, the world, the flesh, and the devil are formidable obstacles to responding to the light and grace that God gives.
5. Epicurus' dubious reputation reflected the Christian tendency to regard earthly pleasures as the evil lures of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Encompass, verb.
π /ΙͺnΛkΚmpΙs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Surround and have or hold within.
❗️ Examples:
1. This area of London encompasses Piccadilly to the north and St James's Park to the south.
2. Surrounding me, encompassing my being as a whole, was a whirlwind of earth and wind, fire and water, increasing in intensity and speed.
3. A cacophony of pounding engines, honking of horns, screeching of brakes and Spanish profanity encompasses me, surround-sound style.
4. They had chosen to walk within the forest encompassing much of the land beyond the Estate.
5. Furthermore the constructed peptide is completely encompassed within the cutoff radius.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Neurodiversity, noun.
❓ Definition (mass noun): The range of differences in individual brain function and behavioural traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population (used especially in the context of autistic spectrum disorders)
❗️ Examples:
1. His book about living with bipolar disorder is having some influence on the way people in his home country view neurodiversity.
2. He will help design and co-teach a one-credit course on neurodiversity to be offered through interdisciplinary studies in the spring.
3. They say brain differences, like body differences, should be embraced, and argue for an acceptance of 'neurodiversity.'
4. The neurodiversity movement is based on the belief that there is no such thing as "normal" when it comes to the human mental landscape.
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π @cambridge_dic
π None other than, phrase.
❓ Definition: Used to emphasize the surprising identity of a person or thing.
❗️ Examples:
1. Her first customer was none other than Henry du Pont.
2. The first victims of his surprise visit were none other than presspersons themselves.
3. And it was none other than Rossellini who advised him to turn professional.
4. This church is supposed to have been founded by none other than Charlemagne.
5. She's played by none other than Kitty Bruce, daughter of standup legend Lenny Bruce.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Ceasefire, noun.
π /ΛsiΛsfΚΙͺΙ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A temporary suspension of fighting; a truce.
❗️ Examples:
1. The latest ceasefire seems to be holding.
2. A ceasefire agreement.
3. War with people who break their ceasefire agreements is the default position.
4. Amid great excitement, the government and rebels reached a ceasefire agreement at the beginning of last year.
5. The Good Friday 1998 power sharing agreement led to a ceasefire by most of the paramilitary organisations.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Look on the bright side, phrase.
❓ Definition: Be optimistic or cheerful in spite of difficulties.
❗️ Examples:
1. ‘I expect I shall manage,’ she said, determined to look on the bright side.
2. He was always the one who looked on the bright side, the optimistic one.
3. With so many good things happening, it is so difficult not to look on the bright side, isn't it?
4. At first, anti-dam activists looked on the bright side.
5. The move might seem like nothing more than a disruption, but the director is looking on the bright side.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Bat, verb.
π /bat/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (no object): (of a sports team or player) take the role of hitting rather than throwing the ball.
❗️ Examples:
1. Australia reached 263 for 4 after choosing to bat.
2. We almost got out of the inning on our own, but mercifully, the other team had batted through the lineup, which meant it was our turn to bat.
3. Frankly, the team batted worse than it did in the first innings at Lahore.
4. The Indian team batted perfectly, bowled like champions and fielded like tigers.
5. In test cricket, where there are no limits on how long a player may bat, double centuries are considered a major achievement, but they are not all that uncommon.
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π @cambridge_dic
π If you can't beat them, join them, phrase.
❓ Definition (humorous): If you are unable to outdo rivals in some endeavour, you might as well cooperate with them and thereby possibly gain an advantage.
❗️ Examples:
1. Steve took the view that if you can't beat them, join them.
2. You're saying if you can't beat them, join them.
3. But they have increasingly taken the view that if you can't beat them, join them, and begun offering similar, competitive services.
4. The only solution as far as I can see it is if you can't beat them, join them.
5. Like everyone says, if you can't beat them, join them.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Birthplace, noun.
π /ΛbΙΛΞΈpleΙͺs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: The place where something started or originated.
❗️ Examples:
1. Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance.
2. However, the balance of power could well shift full circle to Asia, the original birthplace of the game.
3. Soon the gene banks in Mexico, birthplace of the original corn varieties, may also be contaminated.
4. It does nothing to burnish the city's proud heritage as the birthplace of American freedoms.
5. The Wright Brothers were born in Ohio, hence Ohio is the birthplace of aviation.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Turn a blind eye, phrase.
❓ Definition: Pretend not to notice.
❗️ Examples:
1. Please, don't turn a blind eye to what is happening.
2. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye or ear and pretend that all is well when many people are hurting and yearning for help.
3. In many ways, I think he's given the Saudis a pass and he's turned a blind eye to them.
4. It is a problem people are prepared to turn a blind eye to it because people rarely notice these sites as they are covered over.
5. Please, don't turn a blind eye or passively ignore what is happening.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Solitude, noun.
π /ΛsΙlΙͺtjuΛd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (mass noun): The state or situation of being alone.
❗️ Examples:
1. She savoured her few hours of freedom and solitude.
2. It tells us that God is, in a sense, a community of persons, not a solitary living in solitude, alone and distant.
3. As increasing numbers of people choose to live or work alone, solitude is often celebrated in 2001.
4. As someone whose self reposes on a great slab of solitude, such a situation would drive me nuts.
5. A lyrical, a scholarly, a fastidious mind might have used seclusion and solitude to perfect its powers.
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π @cambridge_dic
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 Handed-down, adjective.
❓ Definition: Passed on to a later generation or age.
❗️ Examples:
1. Handed-down family recipes.
2. Without handed-down prejudices, children will behave in a spirit of complete even-handedness.
3. He was without personal vanity, surprising the Heythrop hunt by turning out in a yellow cardigan and his colleagues by wearing handed-down clothes and his son's shoes.
4. As for beauty, granny had to depend on handed-down tips and recipes made from easily obtainable ingredients.
5. The Hebrews must certainly have encountered them, and learned the handed-down traditions of early Mesopotamia, the myths and tales.
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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 Abate, verb.
π /ΙΛbeΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (no object): (of something unpleasant or severe) become less intense or widespread.
❗️ Examples:
1. The storm suddenly abated.
2. November to April is the wet season but heavy tropical storms can abate as suddenly as they arrive.
3. The spring saw the quick end of major combat abroad, while the threat of a widespread SARS epidemic abated.
4. The challenges of rising health care costs and Medicare premiums will not suddenly abate.
5. The increase in September over the previous year was a dramatic 61.5% and there is no sign of this trend abating.
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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 Enchanted, adjective.
π /ΙͺnΛtΚΙΛntΙͺd/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Placed under a spell; bewitched.
❗️ Examples:
1. An enchanted garden.
2. A righteous emperor defeated the evil demon with the help of an enchanted sword.
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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 Notorious, adjective.
π /nΙ(Κ)ΛtΙΛrΙͺΙs/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: Famous or well known, typically for some bad quality or deed.
❗️ Examples:
1. Los Angeles is notorious for its smog.
2. He was a notorious drinker and womanizer.
3. The list is endless, but here are a few of the more notorious celebrations of recent times.
4. In the process he became the most celebrated, or at least most notorious, journalist of his era.
5. For Dylan is not only the most renowned protest singer of his era but also its most notorious renegade.
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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 Restrain, verb.
π /rΙͺΛstreΙͺn/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Prevent (someone or something) from doing something; keep under control or within limits.
❗️ Examples:
1. The need to restrain public expenditure.
2. He had to be restrained from walking out.
3. Younger children may strike their older siblings, while older siblings are restrained from hitting back.
4. They say the state banks were restrained from inflating to excess by the regular requirement that they pay their balances to the federal branch offices in hard money.
5. Headcount freezes mean they are restrained from filling existing vacancies or creating new ones.
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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 Foretell, verb.
π /fΙΛΛtΙl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Predict (the future or a future event)
❗️ Examples:
1. A seer had foretold that the earl would assume the throne.
2. In the Greek theatre Chorus speaks for the citizens, comments on events and foretells the future.
3. A science which teaches to judge of the effects and influences of the stars, and to foretell future events, by their situation and different aspects.
4. In pagan times poets were thought to be gifted with second sight, able in a trance or frenzy to foretell future events.
5. The true prophet does not foretell an inevitable future, but warns of likely consequences should a present course of action continue.
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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 Dumpling, noun.
π /ΛdΚmplΙͺΕ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A small savoury ball of dough (usually made with suet) which may be boiled, fried, or baked in a casserole.
❗️ Examples:
1. Both Chiao and Sharipov have requested a special take-out of dim sum dumplings and fried rice for their Christmas meal.
2. Appetizers include Spring Rolls, dumplings, Deep fried Wontons, a selection of salad rolls and even a Pan-Fried Turnip Cake.
3. Jacket potatoes are now becoming the preferred option to chips, pasta salads have replaced stew and dumplings, and beef burgers have made way for chicken tikka.
4. Vicky was particularly keen on the dim sum, which consisted of the Chinese dumplings, spinach wonton, Peking ravioli and mini-spring roll, served with a spicy soy dip and sweet chilli sauce.
5. I ordered a potful of chrysanthemum tea and a batch of the fried pork dumplings.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Paean, noun.
π /ΛpiΛΙn/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A song of praise or triumph.
❗️ Examples:
1. A paean of praise for the great poets.
2. Where other singers had songs that (even tangentially) referred to the hardships of life, the Copper family's songs are mostly paeans of praise to a farming life that is hard work, but rewarding.
3. The priests and nuns routinely punctuated their prayers with paeans in praise of the goodness and greatness of Pius XII.
4. Lyric poetry included dithyrambs, encomia, paeans, and hymns.
5. These are not songs filled with surreal invocations but just paeans to love, life and the simple pleasures that make it all worthwhile.
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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 Fulfil, verb.
π /fΚlΛfΙͺl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Achieve or realize (something desired, promised, or predicted)
❗️ Examples:
1. He wouldn't be able to fulfil his ambition to visit Naples.
2. By destroying trees and killing animals man may be able to fulfill his short-term desires, but he was causing a few irreversible problems in the long run.
3. April suddenly felt her desire to fulfill her oath to Zoe redouble.
4. For if I desire to know the principles of natural things, as soon as I know them this desire is fulfilled and brought to an end.
5. Some aid workers question whether the government is able to fulfil its pledge.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ 30 Rock (2006) - S03E16 Apollo, Apollo
π¬ I have decided to fulfill my dream of going into space.
π Enkindle, verb.
❓ Definition (literary • with object): Set on fire.
❗️ Examples:
1. The glare from its enkindled roof illumined its innermost recesses.
2. When their husbands died in the battles and enemies invaded their forts, they would enkindle wood fire and jump into it to join their husbands in the next world.
3. Disastrous miscalculations and conflict can enkindle violent wildfires.
4. Come, Holy Spirit, and enkindle in my heart the fire of God's love.
5. May God, through the merits and intercession of Saint Monica, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and enkindle the fire of charity in our hearts.
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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 Fad, noun.
π /fad/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: An intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived; a craze.
❗️ Examples:
1. Some regard green politics as no more than the latest fad.
2. What started off as a fad among stamp enthusiasts has now grown into a veritable cult.
3. It is really quite wonderful, and I truly hope it is the beginning of a trend, not a short-lived fad.
4. Unlike more transitory fads and fashions, however, financial manias and panics have real and lasting economic consequences.
5. Because of that, they captured trends and fads that were happening at the moment more accurately than movies that took a year to make.
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π @cambridge_dic
π¬ I Declare War (2012)
π¬ It was a psychological fad, a therapistinduced disorder perpetuated by an unending barrage of TV talk shows and novels and illconceived Hollywood movies.
π Inspissate, verb.
π /ΙͺnΛspΙͺseΙͺt/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (with object): Thicken or congeal.
❗️ Examples:
1. Whatever tends to inspissate sap has the property of causing flower buds to be produced.
2. Secretions become viscous and inspissated (ie, glutinous and thickened by evaporation or absorption), and calcium carbonate precipitates, which results in ductal stone formation.
3. At autopsy, the airways are often devoid of inspissated secretions and contain more neutrophils and eosinophils in the submucosa.
4. In these studies, ‘mucous balls,’ an accumulation of inspissated mucus that adheres to the catheter tip, caused infrequent, but serious, complications.
5. Coming back to Japan and the inspissated gloom hereabouts - as found among artists, novelists, intellectuals and the press - my view is that it is always going to be there, and is a great thing for Japan.
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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 Heritage, noun.
π /ΛhΙrΙͺtΙͺdΚ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (in singular): Valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that have been passed down from previous generations.
❗️ Examples:
1. Europe's varied cultural heritage.
2. The estuary has a sense of history and heritage.
3. History is necessary to instil patriotism and pride in the younger generation about the cultural heritage, values systems and religions, she says.
4. The ruins evoke the nation's Indian past and legitimizes both Peru's historical heritage and cultural tradition.
5. In addition, this model helps non-Asian readers to understand and value the cultural heritage of others.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Kith, noun.
π /kΙͺΞΈ/ π¬π§
❓ Definition (usually in phrase kith and kin • treated as plural): One's friends, acquaintances, and relations.
❗️ Examples:
1. I had a reunion today with all my kith and kin.
2. A widow without kith or kin.
3. They mourn as if their kith who are arrested face certain doom.
4. About 70 families turned up for the event along with their kith and kin to exchange their greetings and their cherished memories.
5. She has brought light in the lives of unfortunate children, most of who have been abandoned by their kith and kin.
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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 Waybill, noun.
π /ΛweΙͺbΙͺl/ π¬π§
❓ Definition: A list of passengers or goods being carried on a vehicle.
❗️ Examples:
1. An air waybill.
2. A sea waybill.
3. It quickly and accurately transforms the data on their cargo air waybills into a stream of financial and strategic information.
4. A big man in a cowboy hat, his fist full of invoices and waybills, had climbed down from the tractor and was walking over to the warehouse door.
5. A similar direction was printed clearly on the waybills that accompanied the shipment.
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π @cambridge_dic
π Diasporic, adjective.
❓ Definition: This definition is derivative of «diaspora».
❗️ Examples:
1. Sephardic culture was diasporic, indeed, all the more so because it formed from a previous diaspora, necessitated by the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 ce.
2. Its translation perspectives were not only shaped by Hellenistic thought patterns but also its texts made diasporic Jews become aware of God's plan for other nations.
3. Let us grant Goffman's contention that marginalized, diasporic cultures are transgressive in nature and lead to cultural hybridity.
4. Zion becomes a vital, if vulnerable, textual homeland in diasporic culture.
5. The Jewish diasporic experience is deeply embedded in the way he imagines the economic, political, and cultural struggles of other human beings.
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π @cambridge_dic
