MBA Vocab - Oxford Examples - Vol 1
anyhow
[anyway, haphazardly]: [two suitcases flung anyhow]
superheat
[]: [superheated steam] [we superheat the car's brakes]
arthurian
[]: [the Arthurian literary tradition]
ancestry
[ancestors, lineage]: [he was proud of his Irish ancestry] [the ancestry of the rose is extremely complicated] [the book traces the ancestry of women's poetry]
rejoicing
[exultant, exulting, jubilant, prideful, triumphal, triumphant]: [the ban was lifted in 1990 amid general rejoicing]
divisor
[factor]: [the greatest common divisor]
feudal
[feudalistic]: [the feudal system] [his view of patriotism was more than old-fashioned—it was positively feudal]
coercion
[force]: [it wasn't slavery because no coercion was used]
predict
[forecast]: [it is too early to predict a result] [he predicts that the trend will continue] [the predicted growth in road traffic]
foresight
[forethought, far-sightedness]: [he had the foresight to check that his escape route was clear]
merciful
[forgiving, show mercy to, welcome]: [William did not believe in being merciful to those who fought against him] [her death was a merciful release]
amiable
[friendly]: [the amiable young man greeted me enthusiastically]
fructose
[fruit sugar, laevulose, levulose]:
lark
[fun, larks, activity, fool about/around]: [I wanted to leave early, and was up with the lark] [I only went along for a lark] [he's serious about this music lark] [he's always joking and larking about in the office]
balcony
[gallery]: [the glass doors opened on to a balcony with a view of the park]
generic
[general, unbranded]: [chèvre is a generic term for all goat's milk cheese] [generic dance-floor fillers] [the plot of the film isn't just generic, it's insultingly stupid] [substituting generics for brand-name drugs]
hereditary
[genetic, inherited]: [the Queen's hereditary right to the throne] [a hereditary peer] [cystic fibrosis is our most common fatal hereditary disease] [either hereditary or environmental factors] [the main objection to the hereditary principle is that such peers are not elected]
shrink
[get smaller, make smaller, draw back, recoil]: [the workforce shrank to a thousand] [the sun had shrunk and dried the wood] [the shrinking market has provoked a massive price war] [she wore a sweater which had shrunk slightly] [a tiny shrunken face and enormous eyes]
overcome
[get the better of, defeat, overwhelmed]: [he overcame his pain for a time] [an experienced England side overcame the determined home team] [she was obviously overcome with excitement]
morbid
[ghoulish, diseased]: [his morbid fascination with the horrors of contemporary warfare] [the treatment of morbid obesity]
embolden
[give courage]: [emboldened by the claret, he pressed his knee against hers] [centre, embolden, and underline the heading]
submit
[give in, be governed by, put forward, contend]: [the original settlers were forced to submit to Bulgarian rule] [he submitted himself to a body search] [the United States refused to submit to arbitration] [samples submitted to low pressure while being airfreighted] [the panel's report was submitted to a parliamentary committee]
distribute
[give out, circulate, disperse]: [information leaflets are being distributed to hotels] [the journal is distributed worldwide] [the birds are mainly distributed in marshes and river valleys] [the seat is designed to ensure the weight of the passenger is evenly distributed] [a distributed system]
authorize
[give permission for, give someone the authority, approved]: [the government authorized further aircraft production] [the troops were authorized to use force]
petrify
[terrified, terrify]: [his icy controlled quietness petrified her]
well-being
[welfare]: [an improvement in the patient's well-being]
familiar
[well known, acquainted with, close, overfamiliar]: [their faces will be familiar to many of you] [a familiar voice] [the situation was all too familiar] [ensure that you are familiar with the heating controls] [she had not realized they were on such familiar terms]
efficient
[well organized]: [more efficient processing of information] [an energy-efficient heating system] [an efficient administrator]
welfare
[well-being, social security]: [they don't give a damn about the welfare of their families] [the protection of rights to education, housing, and welfare] [critics feared an increase in inequalities in the provision of welfare]
anemometer
[wind gage, wind gauge]:
volant
[winged]: [newly volant young] [a falcon volant] [her sails caught a volant wind]
sagacity
[wisdom, (deep) insight]: [a man of great political sagacity]
prudence
[wisdom, caution, thrift]: [we need to exercise prudence in such important matters]
fancy
[wish for, be attracted to, have a high opinion of oneself, think, elaborate, desire, imagination, idea]: [do you fancy a drink?] [I really fancy him] [he fancied himself as an amateur psychologist] [I fancy him to win the tournament] [he fancied he could smell the perfume of roses]
shrivel
[wither, withered, parched]: [the flowers simply shrivelled up] [a heatwave so intense that it shrivelled the grapes in every vineyard] [as American interest shrivelled, so did the government's] [she shrivelled him with one glance]
verbatim
[word for word, word for word]: [subjects were instructed to recall the passage verbatim] [a verbatim account]
deify
[worship, idolize]: [she was deified by the early Romans as a fertility goddess]
return
[go back, happen again, give back, restore, reciprocate, answer, hit back, deliver, yield, elect, homecoming, recurrence, giving back, returned item, return ticket/fare, yield, statement, in exchange for]: [he returned to America in the late autumn] [I'll be glad when things return to normal] [he returned to his newspaper] [her appetite had returned] [McAllister went out in 43 and returned in 32]
grapple
[wrestle, seize, tackle]: [passers-by grappled with the man after the knife attack] [he grappled the young man around the throat] [other towns are still grappling with the problem]
incorrect
[wrong, mistaken, inappropriate]: [the doctor gave you incorrect advice] [strictly speaking, the form of address was incorrect]
annual
[yearly, year-long]: [the sponsored walk became an annual event] [an annual report] [an annual rate of increase] [his basic annual income] [annual weeds]
meander
[zigzag, stroll, ramble, prattle, bend, wander]: [a river that meandered gently through a meadow] [kids meandered in and out] [a stylish offbeat thriller which occasionally meanders] [the river flows in sweeping meanders] [a leisurely meander round the twisting coastline road]
handsome
[good-looking, striking, substantial]: [handsome cookery books] [he was elected by a handsome majority]
assistance
[help]: [the work was completed with the assistance of carpenters] [schemes offering financial assistance to employers] [she will be glad to give advice and assistance] [the guide will be of assistance to development groups] [the speaker was hoping for someone to come to his assistance]
jocular
[humorous]: [she sounded in a jocular mood] [his voice was jocular]
humbug
[hypocrisy, hypocrite, deceive]: [his comments are sheer humbug] [you see what a humbug I am] [poor Dave is easily humbugged] [she was always ready to help him, provided he didn't humbug] [Christmas is looming. Bah humbug!]
sickness
[illness, nausea, vomiting]: [she was absent through sickness] [a sickness allowance] [botulism causes fodder sickness of horses] [a woman suffering an incurable sickness] [she felt a wave of sickness wash over her]
inhibit
[impede]: [cold inhibits plant growth] [they felt inhibited by the presence of healthcare professionals]
unrelenting
[implacable, continual]: [the heat was unrelenting] [unrelenting opponents]
flipping
[impudent, insolent, snotty-nosed]: [are you out of your flipping mind?] [it's flipping cold today]
inertia
[inactivity]: [the bureaucratic inertia of the various tiers of government] [the power required to overcome friction and the inertia of the moving parts] [the thermal inertia of the oceans will delay the full rise in temperature for a few decades]
conclusive
[incontrovertible, emphatic]: [conclusive evidence] [the findings were by no means conclusive] [a conclusive 5-O win]
intoxicate
[inebriate, drunk, exhilarate]: [he was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated] [he became intoxicated with his own power]
native
[inhabitant, citizen, mother, indigenous, domestic, home-grown, innate]: [a native of Montreal] [New York in the summer was too hot even for the natives] [he led an expedition to New Guinea and was wounded by a native's spear] [the marigold is a native of southern Europe] [he's a native New Yorker]
internal
[inner, inside, domestic, mental]: [the tube had an internal diameter of 1.1 mm] [internal bleeding] [an internal telephone system] [internal flights] [internal feelings]
didactic
[instructive]: [a didactic novel that set out to expose social injustice] [his tone ranged from didactic to backslapping]
contumacious
[insubordinate]: [his refusal to make child support payments was contumacious]
insurgency
[insurgence]: [rebels are waging an armed insurgency to topple the monarchy] [efforts to counter terrorism and insurgency]
mental
[intellectual, psychiatric]: [mental faculties] [mental phenomena] [a quick mental calculation] [she made a mental note to ring him later] [a mental hospital]
wit
[intelligence, wittiness, wag]: [she does not lack perception or native wit] [he needed all his wits to figure out the way back] [I had the wit to realize that the only way out was up] [his caustic wit cuts through the humbug] [she is such a wit]
lucid
[intelligible, rational, bright]: [a lucid account] [write in a clear and lucid style] [he has a few lucid moments every now and then] [birds dipped their wings in the lucid flow of air]
obtrude
[intrude]: [a sound from the reception hall obtruded into his thoughts] [I felt unable to obtrude my private sorrow upon anyone]
encroach
[intrude]: [rather than encroach on his privacy she might have kept to her room] [the sea has encroached all round the coast]
interference
[intrusion, disruption]: [concerns about government interference in church life] [an unwarranted interference with personal liberty] [Elizabeth was quick to run interference and said that the Professor would be very busy]
annulment
[invalidation, repeal]: [the applicant sought the annulment of the decision] [grounds for an annulment]
compulsive
[irresistible, obsessive, inveterate, fascinating]: [compulsive eating] [a compulsive liar] [this play is compulsive viewing]
captor
[jailer]: [he managed to escape from his captors two nights later]
hustle
[jostle, manhandle, coerce, activity]: [they were hissed and hustled as they went in] [I was hustled away to a cold cell] [Stockwell hustled into the penalty area] [Linda hustled money from men she met] [don't be hustled into anything unless you really want to]
juridical
[judicial, juridic]: [clear words are a matter of practical rather than juridical significance] [the referendum was juridically invalid]
control
[jurisdiction, restraint, constraint, self-control, switch, controls, headquarters, standard of comparison, be in charge of, run, restrain, limit, restrict, regulate, uncontrollable]: [the whole operation is under the control of a production manager] [the situation was slipping out of her control] [he lost control of his car] [improve your ball control] [crime control]
defensible
[justifiable, secure]: [a morally defensible penal system] [a fort with a defensible yard at its feet]
excuse
[justify, forgive, let off, justification, pretext, travesty of]: [he did nothing to hide or excuse Jacob's cruelty] [you must excuse my brother] [he could be excused for feeling that he was born at the wrong time] [sit down—excuse the mess] [his ability excuses most of his faults]
belated
[late, overdue]: [a belated apology]
delinquent
[lawless, negligent, offender]: [delinquent teenagers] [delinquent accounts] [juvenile delinquents]
bequest
[legacy]: [a bequest of over £300,000] [a painting acquired by bequest]
deflate
[let down, go down, subdue, reduce]: [he deflated one of the tyres] [the balloon deflated] [the news left him feeling utterly deflated] [her anger was deflated] [the budget deflated the economy]
admit
[let in]: [the Home Office finally admitted that several prisoners had been injured] ['I am feeling pretty tired,' Jane admitted] [he was sentenced to prison after admitting 47 charges of burglary] [the paramilitaries admitted to the illegal possession of arms] [after searching for an hour, she finally had to admit defeat]
listless
[lethargic, languid]: [bouts of listless depression]
torpor
[lethargy]: [they veered between apathetic torpor and hysterical fanaticism]
lithesome
[lissom, lissome, lithe, slender, supple, svelte, sylphlike]:
vitality
[liveliness]: [changes that will give renewed vitality to our democracy] [the vitality of seeds]
scout
[lookout, reconnaissance, talent spotter, search, reconnoitre]: [forward scouts reported that the enemy were massing at two points ahead] [a scout vehicle] [I returned from a lengthy scout round the area] [a single-seater scout] [Brock slid the ball in from 14 yards to impress watching scouts]
adoration
[love, worship, worship]: [he gave her a look of adoration] [it was enough to earn him the adoration of the fans] [the Adoration of the Magi]
grandiose
[magnificent, ambitious]: [the court's grandiose facade] [grandiose plans to reform the world]
predominantly
[mainly]: [it is predominantly a coastal bird] [predominantly Russian areas]
announce
[make public, introduce, signal]: [the President's office announced that the siege would be lifted] [he announced his retirement from international football] ['I have a confession to make,' she announced] [they were announcing her train]
sharpen
[make sharp/sharper, improve]: [she sharpened her pencil] [her tone sharpened] [they've got to sharpen up in front of the goal] [students will sharpen up their reading skills]
predator
[marauder, piranha, vulture]: [wolves are major predators of small mammals] [a sexual predator] [a defensive move to prevent the business falling into the hands of an overseas predator]
calvary
[martyrdom]:
carnivorous
[meat-eating]:
depression
[melancholy, recession, hollow]: [self-doubt creeps in and that swiftly turns to depression] [she was referred by a psychiatrist treating her for depression] [the depression in the housing market] [depression of the plunger delivers two units of insulin] [the original shallow depressions were slowly converted to creeks]
refer
[mention, pass, apply to, denote, consult]: [her mother never referred to him again] [the Royal Navy is referred to as the Senior Service] [I refer my honourable friend to the reply that I gave some moments ago] [the star refers to items which are intended for the advanced learner] [the prisoner may require the Secretary of State to refer his case to the Parole Board]
mining
[minelaying]: [close linkages between mining and other sectors of the economy] [a mining town] [coal mining]
misinterpret
[misunderstand]: [I think you're misinterpreting the situation] [Soanes claimed his remarks had been misinterpreted]
misapprehend
[misunderstand]: [they seemed not to mind that their more profound utterances were misapprehended as self-help maxims]
assortment
[mixture]: [the room was filled with an assortment of clothes]
corner
[nook, bend, district, predicament, drive into a corner, gain control of, close by, coming]: [Jan sat at one corner of the table] [the colour TV in the corner of the room] [the huge bookshop on the corner] [they took the corner in a skidding turn] [fountains are discovered in quiet corners and sleepy squares]
census
[nose count, nosecount]: [a traffic census]
advertisement
[notice, commercial]: [advertisements for alcoholic drinks] [unhappy clients are not a good advertisement for the firm]
perceptible
[noticeable]: [a perceptible decline in public confidence]
recondite
[obscure]: [the book is full of recondite information]
heinous
[odious]: [a battery of heinous crimes]
progeny
[offspring, descendants]: [shorthorn cattle are highly effective in bestowing their characteristics on their progeny]
emeritus
[old]: [emeritus professor of microbiology] [the National Gallery's director emeritus]
unilaterally
[one-sidedly]: [in 1996 the region unilaterally declared independence] [would Britain dare to act unilaterally in the face of world opinion?] [TB can involve the pleura unilaterally or bilaterally] [unilaterally deaf dogs]
outdoors
[open, open air, out-of-doors]: [it was warm enough to eat outdoors] [a lover of the great outdoors]
tolerant
[open-minded]: [we must be tolerant of others] [a more tolerant attitude towards other religions] [rye is reasonably tolerant of drought] [fault-tolerant computer systems]
institution
[organization, home, practice, installation, initiation]: [an academic institution] [a certificate from a professional institution] [about 5 per cent of elderly people live in institutions] [the institutions of democratic government] [City institutions]
packet
[pack, carton, a fortune]: [a packet of crisps] [a hectic social life could cost a packet] [packeted fruit pies]
venial
[pardonable]: [we cannot prevent ourselves sometimes from dreaming of performing venial if not mortal sins] [everything I've disclosed up to now can be seen as venial]
enactment
[passing, bill, enactments, acting]: [the enactment of equal pay legislation] [enactments covering food safety] [the story becomes an enactment of his fantasies]
meek
[patient, gentle, submissive]: [she brought her meek little husband along]
olive-branch
[peace offering]: [the government is holding out an olive branch to the demonstrators]
infiltrate
[penetrate, permeate, spy]: [the organization has been infiltrated by informers] [they infiltrated an agent into the factory] [one of the tumours infiltrated the submucosa] [virtually no water infiltrates deserts such as the Sahara] [lignocaine was infiltrated into the wound]
acquiescence
[permit, consent]: [in silent acquiescence, she rose to her feet]
license
[permit]: [a pub has to be licensed by the local justices] [he ought not to have been licensed to fly a plane] [a licensing authority] [the company expect that the drug will soon be licensed for use in the USA] [he was licensed to do no more than send a message]
importunate
[persistent]: [importunate creditors]
euphonious
[pleasant-sounding]: [a stream of fine, euphonious phrases]
arctic
[polar, (bitterly) cold, the far north]: [an Arctic explorer] [Arctic plants] [February brought arctic conditions] [the arctic weather of 1981]
pauper
[poor person]: [he died a pauper] [he was buried in a pauper's grave]
regent
[powerful]: [the queen regent of Portugal]
absurdly
[preposterously]: [he brags absurdly about his horse] [the share price is absurdly low]
prophetic
[prescient]: [his warnings proved prophetic] [the prophetic books of the Old Testament]
persuade
[prevail on, cause]: [it wasn't easy, but I persuaded him to do the right thing] [health boards were finally persuaded of the desirability of psychiatric units] [he did everything he could to persuade the police that he was the robber] [the cost of the manor's restoration persuaded them to take in guests]
restrain
[prevent, prohibit, control, tie up]: [the need to restrain public expenditure] [he had to be restrained from walking out] [Cara put a restraining hand on his arm] [Amiss had to restrain his impatience] [leg cuffs are used for restraining and transporting violent criminals]
genital
[private parts]: [the genital area]
misfortune
[problem]: [the project was dogged by misfortune] [never laugh at other people's misfortunes]
cornucopia
[profuseness, profusion, richness]: [the festival offers a cornucopia of pleasures]
proprietary
[proprietorship]: [the company has a proprietary right to the property] [he looked about him with a proprietary air] [proprietary brands of insecticide]
unadulterated
[pure]: [unadulterated whole-milk yogurt] [pure, unadulterated jealousy]
supposedly
[purportedly]: [the adverts are aimed at women, supposedly because they do the shopping]
install
[put, swear in, ensconce]: [we're planning to install a new shower] [he was installed as Prime Minister in 1966] [Ashley installed herself behind her table]
spar
[quarrel]: [one contestant broke his nose while sparring] [mother and daughter spar regularly over drink, drugs, and career] [Buster was his spar and he didn't want to let him down]
enquiry
[question, investigation]: [the police were making enquiries in all the neighbouring pubs] [her mind was buzzing with possible lines of enquiry]
resurrect
[raise from the dead, revive]: [he queried whether Jesus was indeed resurrected] [the deal collapsed and has yet to be resurrected]
discursive
[rambling, fluent]: [students often write dull, second-hand, discursive prose] [the short story is concentrated, whereas the novel is discursive] [the attempt to transform utterances from one discursive context to another]
ecstasy
[rapture]: [there was a look of ecstasy on his face] [they went into ecstasies over the view]
ruffian
[thug]:
applicable
[relevant]: [the same considerations are equally applicable to accident claims]
confide
[reveal, open one's heart to]: [he confided his fears to his mother] [he confided that stress had caused him to lose a stone in weight] ['I have been afraid,' she confided] [she was in a confiding mood] [he confided in friends that he and his wife planned to separate]
gyration
[rotation]: [the gyrations of the dancers' arms and legs]
impertinence
[rudeness, impudence]: [they gasped at the impertinence of the suggestion]
sow
[scatter, plant, cause]: [fill a pot with compost and sow a thin layer of seeds on top] [catch crops should be sown after minimal cultivation] [the field used to be sown with oats] [the night sky was sown with stars] [the field had both British and German mines sown in it]
scratch
[score, graze, rub, search, cross out, withdraw, score, graze, good enough]: [the car's paintwork was battered and scratched] [he scratched at a stain on his jacket] [her arms were scratched by the thorns] [I scratched myself on the tree] [Jessica lifted her sunglasses and scratched her nose]
abolition
[scrapping]: [the abolition of the death penalty]
secant
[sec]:
clandestine
[secret]: [she deserved better than these clandestine meetings]
dregs
[sediment, scum]: [coffee dregs] [the dregs of society]
discipline
[self-control, field (of study), train, punish, reprimand]: [a lack of proper parental and school discipline] [he was able to maintain discipline among his men] [the tariqa offered spiritual discipline] [Kung fu is a discipline open to old and young] [he doesn't have to submit to normal disciplines]
officious
[self-important]: [the security people were very officious] [an officious bystander]
hedonistic
[self-indulgent]: [a hedonistic existence of booze, drugs, and parties]
discrete
[separate]: [speech sounds are produced as a continuous sound signal rather than discrete units]
resolve
[settle, determine, vote, break down, analyse, turn into, determination, decision]: [the firm aims to resolve problems within 30 days] [endoscopic biliary drainage can rapidly resolve jaundice] [symptoms resolved after a median of four weeks] [dissonant notes resolve conventionally by rising or falling to form part of a new chord] [you would not want to resolve a melodic line on to the minor sixth interval]
carnal
[sexual]: [carnal desire]
fetter
[shackles, shackle, restrict]: [he lay bound with fetters of iron] [the fetters of convention] [a ragged and fettered prisoner] [he was not fettered by tradition]
embarrass
[shame]: [she wouldn't embarrass either of them by making a scene] [he would be embarrassed by estate duty] [the state of the rivers will embarrass the enemy] [I do not apprehend that this case will be embarrassed by that decision]
unstated
[unexpressed, unsaid, unspoken, unuttered, unverbalised, unverbalized, unvoiced]: [a series of unstated assumptions]
hapless
[unfortunate]: [the hapless victims of the disaster]
pitiless
[unkind]: [a pitiless executioner] [a night of pitiless rain]
out-and-out
[utter]: [an out-and-out rogue] [he was induced to part out and out with all the money]
waistcoat
[vest]:
blizzard
[snowstorm]: [a blizzard of forms]
envision
[visualize, imagine]: [she envisioned the admiring glances of guests seeing her home]
fashion
[vogue, clothes, manner, construct, to a certain extent, fashionable, unfashionable]: [the latest Parisian fashions] [a fashion magazine] [the work is done in a rather casual fashion] [the bottles were fashioned from green glass] [the skins were fashioned into boots and shoes]
roam
[wander]: [tigers once roamed over most of Asia] [roaming elephants] [gangs of youths roamed the streets unopposed] [her eyes roamed over the chattering women] [he let his eyes roam her face]
atrophy
[waste away, peter out, wasting]: [the calf muscles will atrophy] [in some beetles, the hindwings are atrophied] [the imagination can atrophy from lack of use] [gastric atrophy] [extensive TV viewing may lead to atrophy of children's imaginations]
aquatic
[water]: [animals have eyes adapted to the hues of their aquatic home] [those who favour cycling or various aquatic sports] [aquatic plants] [the bay could support aquatic life] [water lilies and other deep-water aquatics]
privileged
[wealthy, lucky, confidential]: [in the nineteenth century only a privileged few had the vote] [I felt I had been privileged to compete in such a race] [he accused me of giving away privileged information] [the ombudsman's reports are privileged]
unwavering
[steady]: [she fixed him with an unwavering stare]
stagnate
[stop flowing, become stagnant]: [teaching can easily stagnate into a set of routines] [stagnating consumer confidence]
direct
[straight, non-stop, face to face, exact, frank, directly, administer, aim, give directions to, address, target, instruct]: [there was no direct flight that day] [the complications are a direct result of bacteria spreading] [I had no direct contact with Mr Clark] [ferns like a bright position out of direct sunlight] [a direct descendant of Edward III]
tactic
[strategy, tactics, battle plans, moves]: [the minority attempted to control the Council by a delaying tactic] [these are possible tax-saving tactics to discuss with your accountant] [basic infantry tactics were taught by guest instructors]
tractor
[]:
bibliography
[]: [a bibliography of his publications]
ore
[]: [a good deposit of lead-bearing ores] [the mine's reserves of ore]
jammy
[]: [a jammy doughnut] [you always were a jammy beggar when it came to women]
pebble
[]: [a narrow pebble beach] [pebble glasses]
inquest
[]: [an inquest by New York newspapers into a subway fire]
campus
[]: [for the first year I had a room on campus]
dime
[]: [he didn't have a dime] [experts in this field are a dime a dozen] [boats that can turn on a dime]
virality
[]: [new metrics will allow marketeers to better assess the virality of their campaigns]
tsunami
[]: [the loss of human lives from this latest tsunami is staggering] [a tsunami of data pours into the CNBC newsroom every minute of every trading day]
pneumatic
[]: [the machines with pneumatic loading are more efficient]
nylon
[]: [the tent is made of blue nylon] [nylon carpet] [a pair of nylons]
eligibility
[]: [your eligibility for benefits will depend on your income] [restrictions governing the eligibility of candidates]
slightly
[a little]: [he lowered his voice slightly] [they are all slightly different] [a slightly built girl]
handful
[a small number, nuisance]: [a small handful of fresh coriander] [only a handful of people were in the pub] [the kids could be such a handful]
stomach
[abdomen, paunch, digest, tolerate]: [severe stomach pains] [Blake hit him in the stomach] [Virginia had a sick feeling in her stomach] [she doesn't have the stomach to eat anything] [the teams proved to have no stomach for a fight]
ingest
[absorb, assimilate, take in]: [lead will poison anyone if enough is ingested] [they ingest oxygen from the air] [he spent his days ingesting the contents of the library]
engulf
[absorb, engross, immerse, plunge, soak up, steep]: [the cafe was engulfed in flames] [Europe might be engulfed by war] [a feeling of anguish so great that it threatened to engulf him]
desist
[abstain, stop]: [each pledged to desist from acts of sabotage]
ludicrous
[absurd]: [it's ludicrous that I have been fined] [every night he wore a ludicrous outfit]
established
[accepted, usual, well known]: [the ceremony was an established event in the annual calendar] [an established artist] [thick, established plants can be pruned by cutting out about one third of all stems] [America had no established Church]
inadvertently
[accidentally]: [his name had been inadvertently omitted from the list]
liability
[accountability, financial obligation, liabilities, hindrance]: [once you contact the card protection scheme your liability for any loss ends] [valuing the company's liabilities and assets] [she said the party had become a liability to green politics]
familiarity
[acquaintance with, ordinariness, informality, closeness, overfamiliarity]: [his familiarity with the works of Thomas Hardy] [the reassuring familiarity of his parents' home] [familiarity allows us to give each other nicknames] [the unnecessary familiarity made me dislike him at once]
compliance
[acquiescence, obedience to]: [the ways in which the state maintains order and compliance] [the appalling compliance with government views shown by the commission] [all imports of timber are in compliance with regulations] [this paper estimates the compliance costs of such a policy change]
deed
[act, legal document]: [doing good deeds] [their deeds will live on in song] [she had erred in both deed and manner] [mortgage deeds] [they deeded their property to their children]
cohesive
[adhesive]: [each parish was formerly a cohesive unit] [family life can be a cohesive force in society]
contiguity
[adjacency, contiguousness]: [nations bound together by geographical contiguity] [contiguity is necessary in all forms of learning]
confluent
[affluent, feeder, tributary]: [these confluent tones helped to fuse and unite his landscapes]
accusation
[allegation]: [accusations of bribery] [there was accusation in Brian's voice]
prentice
[apprentice, intern, learner]:
altercate
[argufy, dispute, quarrel, scrap]:
guileless
[artless]: [his face, once so open and guileless]
ambitious
[aspiring, eager, difficult]: [a ruthlessly ambitious woman] [an ambitious enterprise]
onslaught
[assault]: [a series of onslaughts on the citadel] [in some parks the onslaught of cars and people far exceeds capacity]
cosmonaut
[astronaut]:
notice
[attention, notification, resignation, dismissal, information sheet, review, observe, pay no attention (to)]: [their silence did not escape my notice] [it has come to our notice that you have been missing school] [interest rates are subject to fluctuation without notice] [she handed in her notice] [his employers gave him two weeks' notice]
interested
[attentive, concerned, partisan]: [I had always been interested in history] [seeking views from all interested parties]
appealing
[attractive, inviting]: [village life is somehow more appealing] [an appealing look]
exceed
[be more than, surpass]: [production costs have exceeded £60,000] [the Tribunal's decision clearly exceeds its powers under the statute] [economic growth exceeded expectations this year]
attend
[be present at, deal with, care for, pay attention, escort, be accompanied by]: [the whole sales force attended the conference] [her family were not invited to attend] [all children are required to attend school] [he muttered that he had business to attend to] [the severely wounded had two medics to attend to their wounds]
appear
[become visible, be revealed, become available, arrive, perform, seem]: [smoke appeared on the horizon] [the major life forms appeared on earth] [the paperback edition didn't appear for another two years] [the symbol appears in many paintings of the period] [by ten o'clock Bill still hadn't appeared]
crab
[beef, bellyache, bitch, gripe, grouse, holler, squawk]: [the time his friend had crabs] [he began crabbing sideways across the roof] [George crabbed the plane into the wind] [watermen were crabbing on the bay] [a lone tank drew the crabs on them]
commence
[begin]: [his design team commenced work] [a public inquiry is due to commence on the 16th]
wager
[bet]:
obligate
[bind, hold, oblige]: [the medical establishment is obligated to take action in the best interest of the public] [the money must be obligated within 30 days] [an obligate intracellular parasite]
streaking
[blotch, mottle]: [streaking and lowlights give a flattering effect] [you can get telltale streaking if you are not very careful with application]
physique
[body]: [a sturdy, muscular physique] [they were much alike in physique]
audacity
[boldness, impudence]: [he whistled at the sheer audacity of the plan] [she had the audacity to suggest I'd been carrying on with him]
lower
[bottom, subordinate, cheaper, move down, soften, reduce, subside, degrade, lower oneself]: [the lower levels of the building] [managers lower down the hierarchy] [lower costs will encourage people to buy] [Lower Cretaceous] [Lower Palaeolithic]
presumptuous
[brazen, overhasty]: [I hope I won't be considered presumptuous if I offer some advice]
digestion
[breaking down]: [he suffered with his digestion]
nurture
[bring up, encourage, encouragement, upbringing]: [Jarrett was nurtured by his parents in a close-knit family] [my father nurtured my love of art] [for a long time she had nurtured the dream of buying a shop] [the nurture of children] [we are all what nature and nurture have made us]
emphasize
[bring/call/draw attention to, stress]: [they emphasize the need for daily, one-to-one contact between parent and child] [I would emphasize that I am not an economist] [his father emphasized the wrong words in his sentence] [a hip-length jacket which emphasized her shape]
protrusion
[bump, sticking out]: [a protrusion of rock jutted from the mountainside]
downtown
[business district]: [downtown Chicago] [a downtown bar] [I drove downtown] [the heart of Pittsburgh's downtown]
headland
[cape]:
replace
[substitute, take the place of, put back]: [Ian's smile was replaced by a frown] [the glass had not long been replaced after a fight] [the government dismissed 3,000 of its customs inspectors, replacing them with new recruits] [he drained his glass and replaced it on the bar]
cowhand
[cattleman, cowboy, cowherd, cowman, cowpoke, cowpuncher, puncher]:
cheque
[check out]: [they presented him with a cheque for £4,000] [fees are payable by cheque or postal order]
impart
[communicate, give]: [the teachers imparted a great deal of knowledge to their pupils] [shiitake mushrooms impart a wonderfully woody flavour to the salad]
intelligible
[comprehensible]: [use vocabulary that is intelligible to your audience] [a barely intelligible reply]
concise
[succinct, terse]: [a concise account of the country's history]
egregious
[crying, flagrant, glaring, gross, rank]: [egregious abuses of copyright]
impair
[damage]: [a noisy job could permanently impair their hearing]
decry
[denounce]: [they decried human rights abuses]
cataclysmic
[disastrous]: [a cataclysmic earthquake] [a novel about a cataclysmic world war] [the concert was a cataclysmic failure]
incredulous
[disbelieving]: [an incredulous gasp]
eruption
[discharge, outbreak, rash]: [the eruption of Vesuvius] [a sudden eruption of street violence] [irritable skin eruptions]
haul
[drag, haul, transport, booty]: [he hauled his bike out of the shed] [she hauled on the reins] [he hauled himself along the cliff face] [he is to be hauled before the Press Council] [the engine hauls the overnight sleeper from London Euston]
desiccate
[dried]: [desiccated coconut] [a desiccated history of ideas]
sip
[drink slowly, mouthful]: [I sat sipping coffee] [she sipped at her tea] [she took a sip of the red wine]
exorcise
[drive out, rid]: [an attempt to exorcise an unquiet spirit] [infants were exorcised prior to baptism] [she wanted to exorcise some of the pain]
imitation
[emulation, impersonation, copy]: [a child learns to speak by imitation] [he attempted an atrocious imitation of my English accent] [an imitation sub-machine gun]
captivate
[enthral, charm, charming, enchanting]: [he was captivated by her beauty]
interpretation
[explanation, analysis, meaning, rendition]: [the interpretation of data] [this action is open to a number of interpretations] [his unique interpretation of the Liszt études]
nucleus
[core]: [the nucleus of a British film-producing industry]
voucher
[coupon]:
caitiff
[cowardly, fearful]: [a caitiff knight]
mist
[haze, fog, steam up]: [the peaks were shrouded in mist] [a mist rose out of the river] [a breeze cooled the mist of perspiration that had dampened her temples] [Ruth saw most of the scene through a mist of tears] [Sardinia's origins are lost in the mists of time]
eminent
[illustrious, obvious]: [one of the world's most eminent statisticians] [the book's scholarship and eminent readability]
imminent
[impending]: [they were in imminent danger of being swept away]
celebrated
[historied, storied]: [a celebrated mathematician]
assault
[hit, rape, attack, (physical) violence, attack]: [he pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer] [she was sexually assaulted as a child] [they left their strong position to assault the hill] [thunder assaulted the ears] [his imprisonment for an assault on the film director]
moustache
[mustache]: [a clergyman with long grey moustaches]
vacate
[leave, resign from]: [rooms must be vacated by noon on the last day of your holiday] [he vacated his office as Director] [the Justices vacated a ruling by the federal appeals court]
clarion
[loud]: [clarion trumpeters] [he issued a clarion call to young people to join the Party]
venerate
[revere, revered]: [Philip of Beverley was venerated as a saint]
militia
[reserves]: [creating a militia was no answer to the army's manpower problem] [small detachments of militia]
shareholder
[shareowner, stockholder]:
considerable
[sizeable, much, distinguished]: [a position of considerable influence] [Snow was a limited, but still considerable, novelist]
heedless
[unmindful of]: ['Elaine!' she shouted, heedless of attracting unwanted attention] [his heedless impetuosity]
deaf
[unmoved by]: [I'm a bit deaf so you'll have to speak up] [deaf children] [she is deaf to all advice] [their pleas fell on deaf ears] [he turned a deaf ear to all appeals]
unbridled
[unrestrained]: [a moment of unbridled ambition] [unbridled lust]
menial
[unskilled, servant]: [menial factory jobs]
deride
[ridicule]: [the decision was derided by environmentalists]
dilapidated
[run down]: [old, dilapidated buildings] [the tank was now rather dilapidated]
tentatively
"[]: [the project is tentatively scheduled for next year] [unions tentatively agreed to a three-year contract] [""Are you all right?"" Claire asked tentatively] [I walked tentatively across the bridge] "
acetic
[]:
in common
[]: [a sect that had wives in common]
immigrate
[]: [an Australian who immigrated to Britain in 1982]
longitude
[]: [at a longitude of 2° W] [lines of longitude]
hospice
[]: [hospice workers]
solder
[]: [remove the fitting using a blowtorch to melt the solder] [the Roman silversmith did indeed use several different solders] [the wires to this clip are soldered to the circuit board] [the soldered terminal joints]
inceptive
[]: [the inceptive period of the program]
via
[]: [they came to Europe via Turkey] [most people buy a home with a mortgage via a building society] [a file sent via electronic mail]
rookery
[]: [they congregate cheek by jowl in unwholesome rookeries chosen for cheapness and convenience]
tribal
[]: [tribal people in Malaysia] [people don't want political parties stuck in rigid tribal boundaries] [their concern to avoid tribally based parties]
illuminant
[]: [until 1880, oil was the only illuminant in use]
upcast
[]: [upcast light]
buoyancy
[ability to float, lift, cheerfulness, optimism, vigour]: [she plunged into the sea, grateful for the buoyancy of the salt water] [there is renewed buoyancy in the demand for steel]
stimulation
[arousal]: [the stimulation of a revolution in intelligence affairs] [the stimulation of a debate about the future of the theatre] [the child needs plenty of stimulation as bored hands can make mischief] [lack of intellectual stimulation] [stimulation of the vagus nerve slows heart rate]
relic
[artefact, remains]: [a museum of railway relics] [miracles wrought by the relics of St Stephen] [the supermodel has become an embarrassing relic from the early 1990s]
plastic
[artificial, malleable]: [mains pipes should be made of plastic or copper] [bottles can be made from a variety of plastics] [he pays with cash instead of with plastic] [plastic bottles] [a holiday rep with huge white teeth and a plastic smile]
weapon
[artillery]: [nuclear weapons] [resignation threats had long been a weapon in his armoury]
deign
[condescend]: [she did not deign to answer the maid's question] [he had deigned an apology]
crustacean
[crustaceous]:
impaired
[damaged, anosmic, broken, dickey, dicky, diminished, lessened, vitiated, weakened, dysfunctional, dyslectic, dyslexic, injured]: [an impaired banking system] [impaired driving charges] [sight-impaired children]
hazardous
[dangerous, chancy]: [we work in hazardous conditions] [it is hazardous to personal safety]
venal
[corrupt]: [local customs officers are notoriously venal] [their generosity had been at least partly venal]
hybrid
[cross, composite]: [the bird was a hybrid of a goose and a swan] [jungle is a hybrid of reggae and house music] [hybrid diesel-electric buses] [a hybrid variety] [hybrid offspring]
lever
[crowbar, handle, prise]: [a tyre lever] [a control lever] [rich countries use foreign aid as a lever to promote political pluralism] [she levered the lid off the pot with a screwdriver] [she levered herself up against the pillows]
applaud
[clap, praise]: [the crowd whistled and applauded] [his speech was loudly applauded] [Jill applauded the decision]
horde
[crowd]: [a horde of beery rugby fans] [Tartar hordes]
divination
[fortune telling, clairvoyance]: [the Celtic art of divination] [the mediums are hired to perform divinations]
delineate
[describe, outline]: [the law should delineate and prohibit behaviour which is socially abhorrent] [his finger found a precisely outlined section delineated in red marker]
due process
[due process of law]:
fallible
[error-prone]: [experts can be fallible]
countless
[innumerable]: [she'd apologized countless times before]
impalpable
[intangible, indefinable]: [an impalpable ghost] [how would anyone come to a decision about something so impalpable as personhood?]
internalize
[interiorise, interiorize, internalise]: [people learn gender stereotypes and internalize them] [industry must internalize the cost of disposal]
innovate
[introduce]: [the company's failure to diversify and innovate competitively] [we continue to innovate new products]
square
[marketplace, (old) fogey, quadrilateral, fair, level, old-fashioned, agree, pay, level, bribe]: [a grid of ruled squares] [she tore a bit of cloth into a four-inch square] [a small square of chocolate] [move the white king's pawn forward two squares] [a market square]
wistful
[regretful]: [a wistful smile]
oratory
[rhetoric]: [the gift of persuasive oratory] [learned discussions degenerated into pompous oratory]
expert
[specialist, skilful]: [an expert in health care] [a financial expert] [he had received expert academic advice] [I have a friend who is very expert at the language]
sophistry
[specious reasoning, fallacious argument]: [trying to argue that I had benefited in any way from the disaster was pure sophistry]
mettlesome
[spirited]: [their horses were beasts of burden, not mettlesome chargers]
proficient
[skilled]: [I was proficient at my job] [she felt reasonably proficient in Italian]
sullen
[surly]: [a sullen pout] [a sullen sunless sky]
gulp
[swallow, gobble, choke back, mouthful]: [he gulped down the last of his coffee] [she gulped back the tears] [Laura gulped nervously] [she finished her drink in one gulp] [I took a gulp of beer]
grateful
[thankful]: [I'm grateful to you for all your help] [she gave him a grateful smile] [the grateful shade]
sanguinary
[bloodthirsty, bloody-minded]: [they lost heavily in the sanguinary campaigns that followed]
fasten
[bolt, buckle, become closed, attach, focus]: [the tunic was fastened with a row of gilt buttons] [a blue nightie that fastens down the back] [she fastened her locket round her neck] [work the stitch and fasten off the thread] [the critics fastened upon two sections of the report]
arboretum
[botanical garden]:
animism
[]: [beneath the veneer of Hindu religion, ancient animism runs strong]
peruse
[]: [he has spent countless hours in libraries perusing art history books and catalogues] [I perused several online reviews] [Laura perused a Caravaggio] [documents will be perused rather than analysed thoroughly]
tenderly
[]: [he spoke tenderly of his parents] [she tenderly kissed him] [a tenderly funny and poignant love story] [a large piece of tenderly cooked meat] [tenderly textured and tasty, Brazil nuts are a source of selenium]
post war
[]: [post-war Britain] [post-war reconstruction]
postal
[]: [postal services] [a postal ballot]
retraction
[abjuration, recantation]: [prey are grasped between the jaws upon tongue retraction] [he issued a retraction of his allegations]
litigate
[action, process, sue]: [the plaintiff is prepared to litigate] [even a claim which is litigated and defended successfully involves high legal costs]
performer
[actor, actress, performers]: [a circus performer]
supplementary
[additional, appended]: [the programme offers supplementary information about the news] [the development of databases supplementary to existing ones]
sensuous
[aesthetically pleasing, sexually attractive]: [the work showed a deliberate disregard of the more sensuous and immediately appealing aspects of painting] [her voice was rather deep but very sensuous]
fearful
[afraid, nervous, timid, terrible, very great]: [they are fearful of the threat of nuclear war] [he's fearful that his career is over] [a fearful accident] [he was in a fearful hurry]
torturous
[agonising, agonizing, excruciating, harrowing, torturesome, torturing]: [a torturous five days of fitness training] [a torturously hot day]
permit
[allow, authorization]: [the law permits councils to monitor any factory emitting smoke] [he would not permit anybody access to the library] [the country is not ready to permit any rice imports] [the car park was too rutted and stony to permit ball games] [weather permitting, guests can dine outside on the veranda]
calendar
[almanac, timetable]: [the social calendar] [it was at their discretion whether to index or calendar the records]
modify
[alter, moderate]: [she may be prepared to modify her views] [the traps of insectivorous plants are modified leaves] [the target noun is modified by a 'direction' word]
astounding
[amazing]: [the summit offers astounding views]
plenteous
[ample, copious, plentiful, rich]: [the meal was astonishingly plenteous]
vial
[ampoule, ampul, ampule, phial]:
felicitous
[apt, fortunate]: [a felicitous phrase] [the view was the room's only felicitous feature]
ox
[bull]: [he was tall and broad and as strong as an ox] [an ox cart]
circulatory
[circulative]:
ultramontane
[cisalpine]: [ultramontane Catholicism] [ultramontane basins where almost no rain fell]
collegian
[college boy, college man]:
complicity
[collusion]: [they were accused of complicity in the attempt to overthrow the government]
immortalize
[commemorate]: [he will be forever immortalized in the history books]
surly
[bad-tempered]: [the porter left with a surly expression]
vanquish
[conquer]: [he successfully vanquished his rival]
modernity
[contemporaneity]: [an aura of technological modernity] [Hobbes was the genius of modernity]
insulting
[contemptuous, disdainful, scornful]: [insulting remarks] [their language is insulting to women] [an insultingly low salary]
contentment
[contentedness]: [he found contentment in living a simple life in the country]
impasse
[deadlock]: [the current political impasse]
putrescent
[decaying]: [the odour of putrescent flesh]
shortcoming
[defect]: [he discussed the shortcomings of his wife]
defensive
[defending, guarding, self-justifying]: [defensive barriers] [a defensive player] [a poor defensive record] [he was very defensive about that side of his life] [British forces were on the defensive]
denote
[designate, suggest]: [this mark denotes purity and quality] [the level of output per firm is denoted by X]
subvert
[destabilize, corrupt]: [an attempt to subvert democratic government]
flap
[beat, flutter, panic, fold, flutter, panic, fuss]: [a pheasant flapped its wings] [gulls flapped around uttering their strange cries] [lines of washing flapped in the wind] [he flapped the envelope in front of my face] [she flapped my hands away as she sat up]
apiary
[bee house]:
ideology
[beliefs]: [the ideology of republicanism] [a critique of bourgeois ideology]
potable
[beverage, drink, drinkable]: [there is no supply of potable water available]
boon
[blessing]: [the route will be a boon to many travellers]
remonstrate
[protest, object strongly to]: [he turned angrily to remonstrate with Tommy] ['You don't mean that,' she remonstrated]
haughty
[proud]: [a look of haughty disdain] [a haughty British aristocrat]
commissariat
[provender, provisions, viands, victuals]:
salutation
[greeting]: [we greeted them but no one returned our salutations] [he raised his glass in salutation] [we would not expect a love letter to include a formal address and salutation]
matrix
[ground substance, intercellular substance]: [Oxbridge was the matrix of the ideology] [nodules of secondary limestone set in a matrix of porous dolomite] [such fossils will often be partly concealed by matrix] [the lipid matrix of olfactory cells] [the matrix of gravel paths is hoed regularly]
beneficiary
[heir]:
dependence
[helplessness, reliance on, addiction]: [Japan's dependence on imported oil] [the dependence of our medical schools on grant funds] [alcohol dependence]
semicircle
[hemicycle]: [chairs were in a semicircle round the hearth]
upland
[highland]: [conservation of areas of upland]
isolate
[identify]: [a country which is isolated from the rest of the world] [his difficulty will be to isolate the factors which are most significant] [engineers isolated the gas supply to the house] [the medical world would never come to grips with polio until it could isolate the virus which caused it] [social isolates often become careless of their own welfare]
fragmentary
[incomplete]: [excavations have revealed fragmentary remains of masonry]
adumbrate
[insinuate, intimate]: [Hobhouse had already adumbrated the idea of a welfare state] [the walls were only adumbrated by the meagre light] [tenors solemnly adumbrate the fate of the convicted sinner] [her happy reminiscences were adumbrated by consciousness of something else]
informative
[instructive]: [a thought-provoking, informative article]
disobedience
[insubordination]: [disobedience to law is sometimes justified]
deficiency
[insufficiency, defect]: [deficiencies in material resources] [for all its deficiencies it remains his most powerful play] [a budget deficiency of $96 billion]
islet
[isle]:
isle
[islet]: [Crusoe's fabled isle] [the British Isles]
loneliness
[isolation, solitariness, isolation]: [feelings of depression and loneliness] [the loneliness of a sailor's life] [the loneliness of the farm]
bump
[jolt, hump, swelling, hit, meet (by chance), bounce]: [a nasty bump on the head] [the children were given the bumps] [bumps in the road] [her mosquito bites had come up in huge red bumps] [there was a bump in the number of outbound flights]
anarchy
[lawlessness]: [he must ensure public order in a country threatened with anarchy]
lexicographer
[lexicologist]:
finite
[limited]: [every computer has a finite amount of memory]
assembly line
[line, production line]:
craving
[longing]: [a craving for chocolate]
the lion's share
[most]:
polyglot
[multilingual]: [a polyglot career woman] [polyglot and bilingual technical dictionaries] [Slovenians, being surrounded by many countries, are mostly polyglots]
orderly
[neat, tidy, well organized, well behaved]: [an orderly arrangement of objects] [the crowd was quiet and orderly] [the orderly sergeant]
frantic
[panic-stricken]: [she was frantic with worry] [frantic attempts to resuscitate the girl]
despise
[detest]: [he despised himself for being selfish]
exorbitant
[extortionate]: [some hotels charge exorbitant rates for phone calls]
agriculture
[farming]:
sequel
[follow-up, consequence]: [the sequel toHome Alone] [The Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel] [this encouragement to grow potatoes had a disastrous sequel some fifty years later] [this modification of style, as will become clearer in the sequel, does not invalidate our earlier approach]
affection
[fondness]: [she felt affection for the wise old lady] [he won a place in her affections] [an affection of the skin]
for free
[free of charge, gratis]: [these professionals were giving their time for free]
personnel
[staff]: [many of the personnel involved require training] [sales personnel]
carious
[unhealthy]:
reprobate
[rogue, unprincipled, criticize]: [he had to present himself as more of a lovable reprobate than a spirit of corruption] [reprobate behaviour] [his neighbours reprobated his method of proceeding]
artful
[sly, shrewd]: [her artful wiles] [an artful photograph of a striking woman]
preferential
[special]: [preferential interest rates may be offered to employees] [preferential trade terms]
grandeur
[splendour]: [the majestic grandeur and simplicity of Roman architecture] [his facade of grandeur]
undifferentiated
[uniform]: [by six weeks the sexual glands are as yet undifferentiated between male and female]
seamless
[unlined, unseamed]: [seamless stockings] [the seamless integration of footage from different sources]
inconsistency
[unpredictability, incompatibility]: [the inconsistency between his expressed attitudes and his actual behaviour] [a book riddled with inconsistencies and contradictions]
unforeseen
[unpredicted]: [our insurance package enables you to protect yourself and your dependants against unforeseen circumstances]
irrational
[unreasonable]: [irrational feelings of hostility]
volcanic
[unstable]: [types of volcanic activity] [thick deposits of black volcanic ash] [the kind of volcanic passion she'd felt last night]
inappropriate
[unsuitable]: [there are penalties for inappropriate behaviour] [it would be inappropriate for me to comment]
jumble
[untidy heap, junk, mix up]: [the books were in a chaotic jumble] [we are collecting jumble for charity] [a drawer full of letters jumbled together]
blowsy
[untidy, red-faced]: [the cheap perfume worn by the blowsy woman] [blowsy, old-fashioned roses]
operational
[up and running]: [the new laboratory is fully operational] [the coffee bar's initial operational costs] [an operational fighter squadron]
modernize
[update, renovate, get up to date]: [he modernized the health service]
bedlam
[uproar]: [there was bedlam in the courtroom]
valedictorian
[valedictory speaker]:
vegetable
[veg, veggie]: [fresh fruit and vegetables] [a vegetable garden] [vegetable soup] [I thought I'd sort of flop back and be a vegetable for a bit] [decaying vegetable matter]
shroud
[winding sheet, covering, cover]: [he was buried in a linen shroud] [the trigger shroud prevents snagging on clothing] [a shroud of mist] [they operate behind a shroud of secrecy] [the body was washed and shrouded]
secession
[withdrawal]: [the republics want secession from the union]
stripling
[youth]: [he's a mere stripling]
neopaganism
[]:
sour grapes
[]: [government officials dismissed many of the complaints as sour grapes]
theocracy
[]: [his ambition is to lead a worldwide theocracy] [it is a society just emerging from theocracy]
stock in trade
[]: [information is our stock-in-trade] [flippancy is his stock-in-trade] [my client will provide sufficient funds for you to purchase your stock-in-trade]
venison
[]: [venison steaks]
molest
[abuse, harass]: [he was charged with molesting and taking obscene photographs of a ten-year-old boy] [the crowd were shouting abuse and molesting the two police officers]
approve
[accept, agree with, admiring]: [the budget was approved by parliament] [places on approved courses] [I don't approve of romance] [they would not approve] [he approved himself ripe for military command]
overall
[all-inclusive, generally]: [the governors and head have overall responsibility for managing the school] [the overall effect is impressive] [overall, 10,000 jobs will go] [men in grubby blue overalls] [a pair of overalls]
intently
[attentively]: [he gazed at her intently] [everybody was listening intently]
hibernal
[brumal, hiemal]: [hibernal eczema]
censorship
[censoring, security review]: [the regulation imposes censorship on all media] [we have strict censorship laws] [he celebrated a triumph together with his father and they held the censorship jointly]
condemnation
[censure]: [there was strong international condemnation of the attack]
chameleon
[chamaeleon]: [voters have misgivings about his performance as a political chameleon]
exhaustive
[comprehensive]: [the guide outlines every bus route in exhaustive detail]
ecstatic
[enraptured]: [ecstatic fans filled the stadium] [an ecstatic vision of God]
encomium
[eulogy]:
quarterly
[every quarter]: [a quarterly newsletter is distributed to members] [interest is paid quarterly]
case in point
[example]: [the 'green revolution' in agriculture is a good case in point]
absolution
[forgiveness]: [absolution from the sentence] [she had been granted absolution for her sins]
sibilate
[hiss, siss, sizz]: [two gentlemen turned round to me and sibilated the word 'Poet'] ['Do you think it's worthwhile,' sibilated Miss Miranda]
limp
[hobble, lameness, tired]: [he limped heavily as he moved] [he limped off during Saturday's game] [the badly damaged aircraft limped back to Sicily] [the accident left him with a pronounced limp] [she let her whole body go limp]
resort
[holiday destination, recourse to, expedient, have recourse to, ultimately]: [a seaside resort] [a health resort] [places of public resort] [Germany and Italy tried to resolve their economic and social failures by resort to fascism] [workers may regard an all-out strike as a measure of last resort]
medal
[honour, decoration]: [they medalled in all the relay events] [the most medalled athlete in Britain]
aggression
[hostility, confidence]: [his chin was jutting with aggression] [territorial aggression between individuals of the same species] [he called for an end to foreign aggression against his country] [the president has been emboldened by the success of his latest aggressions] [the sheer volume and aggression of his playing]
monumental
[huge, terrible, impressive, commemorative]: [it's been a monumental effort] [additional details are found in monumental inscriptions]
colossal
[huge]: [a colossal amount of mail] [a colossal mistake]
hydrous
[hydrated]: [a hydrous lava flow]
non-existent
[imaginary]: [she pretended to tie a non-existent shoelace]
imply
[implicit, insinuate, involve]: [salesmen who use jargon to imply superior knowledge] [the report implies that two million jobs might be lost] [the forecasted traffic increase implied more roads and more air pollution]
entreat
[implore]: [his friends entreated him not to go] [his entreating eyes] [a message had been sent, entreating aid for the Navahos] [the King, I fear, hath ill entreated her]
signification
[import, meaning, significance]: [film comes closer than other forms of signification to resemblance of reality] [many words acquired a signification coloured by legal construction]
palatial
[impressive]: [her palatial apartment in Mayfair]
effrontery
[impudence, dare]: [one juror had the effrontery to challenge the coroner's decision]
episode
[incident, period, instalment]: [the whole episode has been a major embarrassment] [acute psychotic episodes] [the final episode of the series] [this change is followed by an episode in this new key]
inflame
[incite, aggravate, enrage, red, swollen]: [high fines further inflamed public feelings] [her sister was inflamed with jealousy] [comments that inflame what is already a sensitive situation] [the finger joints were inflamed with rheumatoid arthritis] [inflamed eyes and lips]
incompatibility
[inconsistency, mutual exclusiveness, repugnance]: [genetic incompatibility] [the incompatibility between industry and nature] [a strategy for resolving incompatibilities] [our different backgrounds had something to do with our incompatibility] [defects due to software incompatibility]
hassle
[inconvenience, disagreement, harass, harassed]: [the hassle of child care] [travelling can be a hassle] [when I told them I would not work on Sundays I got hassle] [an election-year hassle with farmers] [you want to sit and relax and not get hassled]
sign
[indication, portent, gesture, symbol, signs, notice, write, endorse, autograph, recruit, gesture, relinquish, transfer, enlist]: [flowers are often given as a sign of affection] [the shops are full, which is a sign that the recession is past its worst] [the signs are that counterfeiting is growing at an alarming rate] [there was still no sign of her] [clinical signs of liver disease]
needle
[indicator, stylus, goad, irritate]: [a darning needle] [the meter needle barely moved] [she wound the gramophone and lowered the needle on to the record] [just left of the needle is a steep wall for those who like bold climbing] [Cleopatra's Needle]
curiosity
[inquisitiveness, peculiarity, oddity]: [filled with curiosity, she peered through the window] [curiosity got the better of me, so I called him] [he showed them some of the curiosities of the house]
voracious
[insatiable]: [a voracious appetite] [she's a voracious reader]
vapid
[insipid]: [tuneful but vapid musical comedies]
interconnect
[interlink]: [the way human activities interconnect with the environment] [the lakes are interconnected by trails filled with joggers]
spasmodic
[intermittent]: [spasmodic fighting continued] [a spasmodic cough]
wry
[ironic, disgusted]: [a wry smile] [wry comments] [a remedy for wry necks]
benignity
[kindness]: [his air of benignity]
pantry
[larder]:
attorney
[lawyer]:
hegemony
[leadership]: [Germany was united under Prussian hegemony after 1871]
illimitable
[limitless]: [the illimitable human capacity for evil]
supple
[lithe, pliant]: [her supple fingers] [my mind is becoming more supple] [this body oil leaves your skin feeling deliciously supple]
lithograph
[lithograph machine]: [a set of lithographed drawings]
outlive
[live on after]: [women generally outlive men] [the organization had largely outlived its usefulness] [the world has outlived much]
contemplate
[look at, think about, consider]: [he contemplated his image in the mirrors] [she couldn't even begin to contemplate the future] [he sat morosely contemplating] [he was contemplating action for damages]
mathematics
[math, maths]: [a taste for mathematics] [James immerses himself in the mathematics of baseball]
sober
[not drunk, serious, unemotional, sombre, become sober, make sober, become (more) serious, make (more) serious]: [a sober view of life] [his expression became sober] [a sober grey suit] [that coffee sobered him up] [I ought to sober up a bit]
sporadic
[occasional]: [sporadic fighting broke out]
rhetoric
[oratory, bombast]: [he is using a common figure of rhetoric, hyperbole] [all we have from the Opposition is empty rhetoric]
dimly
[palely, pallidly]: [a single lamp glowed dimly in the gloom] [a dimly lit corridor] [the desert is dimly visible in the light of the moon] [the dimly outlined figure of a young boy] [we became dimly aware of voices]
outcast
[pariah]: [she went from trusted pal to ostracized outcast overnight] [they can be made to feel outcast and inadequate]
navigable
[passable]: [a navigable channel] [many of the rivers ceased to be navigable] [a good cart track, navigable by cars]
vehemence
[passion]: [the vehemence of his reaction]
imperious
[peremptory]: [his imperious demands]
epitome
[personification, summary]: [she looked the epitome of elegance and good taste]
photoelectric
[photoelectrical]: [photoelectric detection systems]
conserve
[preserve, jam]: [the funds raised will help conserve endangered meadowlands] [industry should conserve more water] [the momentum of a system is conserved unless an external force acts on it] [the adjacent sequence is conserved over large evolutionary distances] [highly conserved regions of the protein]
rattlesnake
[rattler]:
niche
[recess, ideal position]: [each niche holding a shepherdess in Dresden china] [he is now head chef at a leading law firm and feels he has found his niche] [the niche left vacant by the disappearance of wolves] [he believes he has found a niche in the market] [smaller cooperatives must find and develop a niche for their speciality product]
haven
[refuge, anchorage]: [a haven for wildlife]
avenue
[road, line]: [tree-lined avenues surround the hotel] [Shaftesbury Avenue] [7th Avenue] [an avenue of limes] [three possible avenues of research suggested themselves]
skyrocket
[rocket]: [the cost of the welfare system has skyrocketed]
wily
[shrewd, crafty]: [his wily opponents]
savvy
[shrewdness, shrewd, realize]: [the corporate-finance bankers lacked the necessary political savvy] [Bob is a savvy veteran who knows all the tricks] [many of us pride ourselves on being savvy enough to spot a fake] [most of us are pretty web-savvy—when an email arrives saying we need to enter our bank details, we don't click] [these fashion-savvy consumers are not afraid of taking risks with little-known designers]
expertise
[skill]: [technical expertise]
miniature
[small-scale]: [children dressed as miniature adults] [seven full-size car bodies and three miniatures were used] [he drank miniatures of brandy on the flight] [miniatures for your rock garden] [an exhibition of one hundred pastels and miniatures]
lull
[soothe, assuage, abate, pause, calm]: [the rhythm of the boat lulled her to sleep] [the rarity of earthquakes there has lulled people into a false sense of security] [conversation lulled for an hour] [for two days there had been a lull in the fighting]
actuary
[statistician]:
halt
[stop, cease, terminate, stop, cessation]: [there is growing pressure to halt the bloodshed] [she halted in mid sentence] [company, halt!] [a halt in production] [a bus screeched to a halt]
survivor
[subsister]: [he was the sole survivor of the massacre] [a survivor from last year's team] [she is a born survivor]
environ
[surround]: [the stone circle was environed by an expanse of peat soil]
makeshift
[temporary]: [arranging a row of chairs to form a makeshift bed]
tercentenary
[tercentennial, triennial]: [events arranged to mark the Library's tercentenary] [the conference celebrates the tercentenary of the Scottish architect William Adam] [his tercentenary year]
knot
[tie, nodule, cluster, tie, tangled, rapidly]: [tie a knot at the end of the cord] [a complicated knot of racial politics and pride] [you need to master two knots, the clove hitch and the sheet bend] [her stomach was in knots as she unlocked the door] [a knot of spectators was gathering]
cultivate
[till, grow, try to acquire, seek the friendship of, improve]: [the peasants who cultivated the land became its owners] [damp, well-cultivated soil] [they were encouraged to cultivate basic food crops] [walnuts were cultivated for salad oil] [blood cells that can be most easily cultivated are macrophages]
embryology
[]:
helmet
[]:
gourmand
[glutton]:
prehension
[grasping, seizing, taking hold]:
legal
[judicial, lawful]: [the European legal system] [a legal requirement] [he claimed that it had all been legal] [a yellow legal pad]
reflector
[reflecting telescope]:
kinsfolk
[relatives]:
testator
[testate]:
thesaurus
[wordfinder]:
leopard
[Panthera pardus]: [a leopard-print outfit] [they saw him as an opportunist who was capable of changing his spots at any moment]
sparrow
[Prunella modularis, dunnock, hedge sparrow]:
silicon
[Si, atomic number 14]:
deter
[put off, prevent]: [only a health problem would deter him from seeking re-election] [strategists think not only about how to deter war, but about how war might occur]
drachma
[Greek drachma]:
alfalfa
[Medicago sativa, lucerne]:
benevolence
[kindness, generosity]:
deer
[cervid]:
jugular
[jugular vein, vena jugularis]:
regnant
[reigning, ruling]: [a queen regnant] [the regnant belief]
malnutrition
[undernourishment]: [nearly 67% of the country's population suffers from malnutrition] [children die every day from malnutrition and disease]
mock
[ridicule, sneering, parody, imitation]: [opposition MPs mocked the government's decision] [at Christmas, arguments and friction mock our pretence at peace] [he ought to find out who used his name, mocked his voice, and aped a few of his guitar lines] [a mock-Georgian red brick house] [Jim threw up his hands in mock horror]
reactionary
[right-wing, right-winger]: [reactionary attitudes toward women's rights] [he was later to become an extreme reactionary]
proverb
[saying]:
brash
[self-assertive, garish]: [he was brash, cocky, and arrogant] [the cafe was a brash new building] [brash ice] [cutting up the timber and burning the brash]
fatuous
[silly]: [a fatuous comment]
synagogue
[tabernacle, temple]:
demonstrable
[verifiable]: [the demonstrable injustices of racism]
tome
[volume]: [a weighty tome]
coward
[weakling]: [they had run away—the cowards!]
menagerie
[zoo, zoological garden]:
sorcery
[(black) magic]:
solecism
[(grammatical) mistake, faux pas]:
celestial
[(in) space, heavenly]: [a celestial body] [the celestial city] [the celestial beauty of music]
ic
[99, ninety-nine]: [the IC engine]
diphthong
[]:
hydrostatics
[]:
incisor
[]:
incompressible
[]:
indian summer
[]:
insulin
[]:
bacon
[]: [crisp rashers of bacon] [a bacon sandwich] [I have to go to work because it brings home the bacon] [you don't have to be in a high-tech industry to bring home the bacon] [only hard braking and a quick turn on to the hard shoulder saved our bacon]
diffusible
[]: [diffusible factors in the cytoplasm]
digital
[]: [digital TV] [a digital recording] [the digital revolution]
all manner of
[]: [echinacea is used by American Indians for all manner of ailments]
outpace
[]: [he outpaced all six defenders] [import growth outpaced export growth in the second quarter]
felony
[]: [he pleaded guilty to six felonies] [an accusation of felony]
whereupon
[]: [he qualified in February, whereupon he was promoted to Sergeant]
shrapnel
[]: [he was killed by flying shrapnel] [shrapnel wounds] [little more than a few pounds and a handful of shrapnel]
wildfire
[]: [the news had spread like wildfire]
condole
[]: [the priest came to condole with Madeleine]
irrigation
[]: [the river supplies water for irrigation of agricultural crops] [sprinkler irrigation systems] [for sinus congestion, saline nasal irrigation can be helpful]
forerun
[]: [the vast inquietude that foreruns the storm]
pamphleteer
[]: [there was relatively little controversial pamphleteering at this time]
abominate
[abhor, execrate, loathe]: [they abominated the very idea of monarchy]
detest
[abhor]: [she really did detest his mockery]
anathema
[abhorrent, curse]: [racial hatred was anathema to her] [the Pope laid special emphasis on the second of these anathemas] [the sergeant clutched the ruined communicator, muttering anathemas]
appurtenance
[accessories]: [the appurtenances of consumer culture]
complement
[accompaniment, amount, accompany]: [local ales provide the perfect complement to fine food] [at the moment we have a full complement of staff] [almost half the ship's complement of 322 were wounded] [a classic blazer complements a look that's smart or casual] [the proposals complement the incentives already available]
cumulate
[accumulate, amass, conglomerate, gather, pile up]: [the systems cumulate data over a period of years] [all unpaid dividend payments cumulate and are paid when earnings are sufficient] [they appear to have formed from cumulates in the root of a magma chamber] [cumulate gabbro]
attain
[achieve]: [clarify your objectives and ways of attaining them] [he attained the rank of Brigadier] [dolphins can attain speeds in water which man cannot yet emulate]
atrocity
[act of barbarity, barbarity]: [a textbook which detailed war atrocities] [atrocities in cheap red nylon]
diurnal
[active during the day, daily]: [diurnal rhythms] [diurnal aberration]
executive
[administrative, chief, administration]: [an executive chairman] [executive authority] [the executive branch of government] [account executives] [the chief executive]
concede
[admit, capitulate, surrender]: [I had to concede that I'd overreacted] ['All right then,' she conceded] [reluctantly, Ellen conceded defeat] [they conceded the match to their opponents] [in 475 the emperor conceded the Auvergne to Euric]
entertainment
[amusement, show]: [everyone just sits in front of the television for entertainment] [a theatrical entertainment] [the suite provides the setting for entertainment on the grand scale]
anchorman
[anchor, anchorperson]: [the anchorman of the Hampshire batting]
archaism
[archaicism]: [conscious archaisms inspired by French harpsichord music] [Mozart's use of archaism]
presently
[at present, soon]: [there are presently 1,128 people on the waiting list] [this will be examined in more detail presently]
bewildered
[at sea, baffled, befuddled, bemused, confounded, confused, lost, mazed, mixed-up]: [he saw the bewildered look on my face]
simultaneously
[at the same time]: [the telethon was broadcast simultaneously on 31 US networks] [it works simultaneously as character study, teen drama and sci-fi thriller]
corpuscle
[atom, molecule, mote, particle, speck]: [these subparticles at the centre of an antimony corpuscle are fluid and volatile]
invader
[attacker, intruder]: [it is a country that has repelled all invaders] [the arrival of Spanish invaders]
concomitant
[attendant]: [she loved travel, with all its concomitant worries] [concomitant with his obsession with dirt was a desire for order] [he sought promotion without the necessary concomitant of hard work]
reverse
[back, alter, swap, turn upside down, turn inside out, opposite, backward, opposite, setback, other side]: [the lorry reversed into the back of a bus] [she reversed the car into a side turn] [the ship's engines reversed and cut out altogether] [the damage done to the ozone layer may be reversed] [the experimenter and the subject reversed roles and the experiment was repeated]
pennant
[banner]:
alkali
[base]: [flint is not subject to chemical weathering except by strong alkalis] [the reaction is followed by measuring the concentration of alkali at various times]
rudimentary
[basic, primitive, vestigial]: [he received a rudimentary education] [a rudimentary stage of evolution]
combat
[battle, fight]: [five Hurricanes were shot down in combat] [pilots re-enacted the aerial combats of yesteryear] [a combat zone] [electoral combat] [an effort to combat drug trafficking]
depend
[be contingent on, rely on]: [differences in earnings depended on a wide variety of factors] [we can depend on her to deliver a quality product] [a town which had depended heavily upon the wool industry] [his tongue depended from open jaws] [it all depends how you look at it]
abound
[be plentiful, abundant, be full of]: [rumours of a further scandal abound] [this area abounds with caravan sites]
mendicant
[begging, beggar]: [a mendicant friar]
judiciary
[bench]: [the independence of the judiciary] [judges were drawn from all the national judiciaries]
moreover
[besides]: [moreover, statistics show that competition for places is growing]
obstruct
[block, impede]: [she was obstructing the entrance] [they had to alter the course of the stream and obstruct the natural flow of the water] [fears that the regime would obstruct the distribution of food] [the appellants were arrested, and later convicted of obstructing the police] [an indirect free kick is awarded for intentionally obstructing an opponent]
indoctrinate
[brainwash]: [broadcasting was a vehicle for indoctrinating the masses] [he indoctrinated them in systematic theology]
millenarian
[chiliast, millenarist]: [millenarian Marxists] [mainstream theologians argue that millenarians misuse scriptural prophecies]
opt
[choose]: [consumers will opt for low-priced goods] [pupils opting to continue with physics] [the database would not include a person's name unless he opted in] [you can opt out of the state pension scheme] [opting out might allow schools greater freedom]
allegation
[claim]: [he made allegations of corruption against the administration] [allegations that the army was operating a shoot-to-kill policy]
redound
[contribute to, rebound on]: [his latest diplomatic effort will redound to his credit] [may his sin redound upon his head!]
roast
[cook]: [she was going to roast a leg of mutton for Sunday dinner] [roasted chestnuts] [she checked the meat roasting in the oven for lunch] [decaffeinated coffee beans are roasted and ground] [the fire was hot enough to roast anyone who stood close to it]
obituary
[death notice]: [his obituary of Samuel Beckett] [an obituary notice] [it is premature to write the obituary of British science]
dissent
[disagreement, differ]: [there was no dissent from this view] [rural communities with a long tradition of Dissent] [he was sent off for dissent] [he wasted no time in cranking out nine majority opinions, as well as three dissents] [two members dissented from the majority]
giddy
[dizzy, flighty]: [Luke felt almost giddy with relief] [her giddy rise to power] [Isobel's giddy young sister-in-law]
orthodoxy
[doctrine, conventionality]: [monetarist orthodoxy] [he challenged many of the established orthodoxies] [writings of unimpeachable orthodoxy] [she was brought up in orthodoxy]
dolphin
[dolphinfish, mahimahi]:
dejected
[downcast]: [he stood in the street looking dejected]
protract
[draw out, extend, prolong]: [he had certainly taken his time, even protracting the process]
carouse
[drink and make merry]: [they danced and caroused until the drink ran out] [a night of carousing] [corporate carouses]
channel
[duct, means, convey, hollow out]: [the movement has spread across the Channel] [buoys marked the safe limits of the channel] [the river is confined in a narrow channel] [a new television channel] [they didn't apply through the proper channels]
jettison
[dump, discard]: [six aircraft jettisoned their loads in the sea] [the scheme was jettisoned] [the jettison lever]
extinction
[dying out]: [the extinction of the great auk] [mass extinctions] [a private debt extinction fund] [ultraviolet extinction]
exuberance
[ebullience, luxuriance]: [a sense of youthful exuberance] [plants growing with wild exuberance]
eatable
[edible]: [eatable fruits] [parcels of eatables and gifts]
efficacy
[efficaciousness]: [there is little information on the efficacy of this treatment]
affinity
[empathy, relationship, similarity]: [he had a special affinity with horses] [a semantic affinity between two words] [the distinction between kinship and affinity is not always clear-cut] [the bacterial proteins bind to these molecules with high affinity]
vacant
[empty, blank, empty-headed]: [40 per cent of the offices are still vacant] [the President resigned and the post was left vacant] [a vacant stare]
blank
[empty, expressionless, baffled, outright, space, void]: [a blank wall] [the screen went blank] [a blank sheet of paper] [blank tax-return forms] [blank cassettes]
purple
[empurple, purpurate]: [the painting was mostly in shades of blue and purple] [he was too young to assume the purple] [a faded purple T-shirt] [Edmund's cheeks purpled] [the neon was purpling the horizon above the highway]
termination
[ending, abortion]: [the termination of a contract] [they would not want a termination even if the baby was disabled] [workers were informed of the terminations on Wednesday] [a good result and a happy termination]
survival
[endurance]: [the animal's chances of survival were pretty low] [he was fighting for his political survival] [his shorts were a survival from his army days]
emissary
[envoy]:
saga
[epic, rigmarole]: [a figure straight out of a Viking saga] [launching into the saga of her engagement]
epistolary
[epistolatory]: [an epistolary novel]
eponymous
[eponymic]: [the eponymous hero of the novel] [their eponymous debut LP]
equivalence
[equality]: [knowledge of equivalence of units is required] [precise equivalences between qualifications across Europe]
rig
[equip, set up hastily, dress, apparatus, uniform, manipulate, falsify]: [the catamaran will be rigged as a ketch] [a gaff-rigged cutter] [most sails are kept ready rigged] [he had rigged up a sort of tent] [the power plant of the lifeboat had been rigged to explode]
apparatus
[equipment, structure]: [firemen wearing breathing apparatus] [the apparatus of government] [one thing about the book's apparatus does irritate: the absence of an index of titles]
entrench
[establish, ingrained]: [ageism is entrenched in our society] [by 1947 de Gaulle's political opponents were firmly entrenched in power] [the more powerful and entrenched classes and groups] [steady progress was made in entrenching the individual rights of noblemen] [the corps was now fully entrenched on the Right Bank]
approximate
[estimated, be close to]: [the approximate time of death] [a leasing agreement approximating to ownership] [reality can be approximated by computational techniques] [I had to approximate the weight of my horse]
apparent
[evident, seeming]: [for no apparent reason she laughed] [it became apparent that he was talented] [his apparent lack of concern]
redolent
[evocative, smelling of]: [names redolent of history and tradition] [the church was old, dark, and redolent of incense] [a rich, inky, redolent wine]
frustration
[exasperation, thwarting]: [tears of frustration rolled down her cheeks] [the inherent frustrations of assembly line work] [the frustration of their wishes]
excellency
[excellence]: [His Excellency the Indian Consul General] [the characteristic excellencies of Wordsworth's poetry are listed]
superlative
[excellent]: [a superlative piece of skill] [the critics ran out of superlatives to describe him] [he was superlatively fit]
sterling
[excellent]: [prices in sterling are shown] [issues of sterling bonds] [a sterling spoon] [this organization does sterling work for youngsters]
excitation
[excitement]: [thermal excitation] [these neurotransmitters can produce excitation or inhibition] [continuous rotation of the motor by sequential excitation of the phase windings] [two parallel coils with opposing excitation windings] [a state of sexual excitation]
exempt
[excuse]: [these patients are exempt from all charges] [a tax-exempt savings plan] [they were exempted from paying the tax]
bomb
[explosive, nuclear weapons, a fortune, bombard]: [a bomb attack] [a 100 lb van bomb] [she joined the fight against the bomb] [that silk must have cost a bomb] [that bomb of an old movie]
shower
[fall, volley, avalanche, deluge, rain, deluge, lavish]: [a day of sunny spells and scattered showers] [a shower of dust sprinkled his face] [all rooms have private shower and WC] [she turned off the shower and reached for a towel] [she had a nice refreshing shower]
prominence
[fame, good coverage, hillock, protuberance]: [she came to prominence as an artist in the 1960s] [the commission gave the case a prominence which it might otherwise have escaped] [radiographs showed enlargement of the right heart with prominence of the pulmonary outflow tract] [the steep, rocky prominence resembled a snow-capped mountain]
smart
[fashionable, clever, brisk, sharp, sting, feel annoyed, be quick]: [you look very smart] [a smart blue skirt] [a smart green van] [a smart restaurant] [if he was that smart he would never have been tricked]
success
[favourable outcome, prosperity, triumph, hit, star]: [the president had some success in restoring confidence] [the success of his play] [to judge from league tables, the school is a success] [I must make a success of my business] [the good or ill success of their maritime enterprises]
banquet
[feast, dinner]: [a state banquet at Buckingham Palace] [a lavish five-course banquet] [a veritable banquet of seasonal events] [a banqueting hall]
lame
[feeble]: [his horse went lame] [despite his lame leg, he fled] [the TV licensing teams hear a lot of lame excuses] [I found the programme pretty lame and not very informative] [anyone who doesn't know that is obviously lame]
barrier
[fence, obstacle]: [the mountain barrier between Norway and Sweden] [a language barrier] [the cultural barriers to economic growth]
even
[flat, level, equal, uniform, even-tempered, flatten, equalize, surprisingly, still, while, nevertheless, have one's revenge]: [prepare the site, then lay an even bed of mortar] [run a file along the saw to make all of the teeth even with each other] [an even gender balance among staff and students] [the first half of the match was fairly even] [they travelled at an even and leisurely pace]
compress
[flatten, squeeze, purse, abridge]: [the skirt can be folded and compressed into a relatively small bag] [compressed gas] [her face compressed into a frown] [most sea snakes have a compressed tail] [Viola compressed her lips together grimly]
shear
[fleece]: [Paul has never sheared a sheep before] [demonstrations of sheep shearing] [I'll shear off all that fleece] [they were shorn of their hair] [the richest man in the US was shorn of nearly $2 billion]
torrent
[flood, downpour, outburst]: [rain poured down in torrents] [after the rains, the stream becomes a raging torrent] [she was subjected to a torrent of abuse]
thrive
[flourish, flourishing]: [the new baby thrived] [education groups thrive on organization]
impel
[force, propel]: [financial difficulties impelled him to desperate measures] [a lack of equality impelled the oppressed to fight] [vital energies impel him in unforeseen directions]
prognosis
[forecast]: [the disease has a poor prognosis] [it is very difficult to make an accurate prognosis] [gloomy prognoses about overpopulation]
progress
[forward movement, development, go, develop, under way, going on]: [the darkness did not stop my progress] [they failed to make any progress up the estuary] [we are making progress towards equal rights] [as the century progressed the quality of telescopes improved] [work on the pond is progressing]
moat
[fosse]: [a moated castle]
futuristic
[futurist]: [a swimming pool and futuristic dome] [his blackly comic futuristic fantasy] [Futuristic embroidery]
respirator
[gas helmet, gasmask]: [for a time everyone had to work with respirators]
assembly
[gathering, construction]: [an assembly of dockers and labourers] [the 577-seat National Assembly] [the UN General Assembly] [a decree guaranteeing freedom of assembly] [he was told off for talking in assembly]
exalt
[glorify, uplift]: [the party will continue to exalt their hero] [this naturally exalts the peasant above his brethren in the same rank of society] [romanticism liberated the imagination and exalted the emotions]
pursue
[go after, woo, strive for, engage in, conduct, investigate]: [the officer pursued the van] [a heavily indebted businessman was being pursued by creditors] [Sophie was being pursued by a number of men] [should people pursue their own happiness at the expense of others?] [mercy lasts as long as sin pursues man]
impiety
[godlessness, sin]: [he blamed the fall of the city on the impiety of the people]
ensemble
[group, whole, outfit]: [a Bulgarian folk ensemble] [Cherubini's numbers, with solos and ensembles intermingled, have a freedom and originality] [a high level of tuning and ensemble is guaranteed] [the buildings in the square present a charming provincial ensemble] [her elegant pink and black ensemble put most outfits in the shade]
burgeon
[grow rapidly]: [manufacturers are keen to cash in on the burgeoning demand]
grouse
[grumble, grumble]: [she heard him grousing about his assistant] [our biggest grouse was about the noise of construction work] [the car was a grouse tomato red which everyone liked]
grouchy
[grumpy]: [the old man grew sulky and grouchy]
warranty
[guarantee]: [the car comes with a three-year warranty] [as your machine is under warranty, I suggest getting it checked] [you have no warranty for such an audacious doctrine]
guesstimate
[guestimate]: [a rough guesstimate of public expenditure] [the task is to guesstimate the total vote]
bristle
[hair, bristles, prickle, rise, get angry, abound]: [a toothbrush with nylon bristles] [the heads are made with natural bristle] [the hair on the back of his neck bristled] [the cat bristled in annoyance] [she bristled at his rudeness]
dangle
[hang (down), hanging, offer]: [saucepans dangled from a rail] [they were dangling their legs over the water] [the defence portfolio could be the carrot to dangle before him] [he was kept dangling—offered a place in the team and then dropped]
befall
[happen to, happen]: [a tragedy befell his daughter] [she was to blame for anything that befell]
occur
[happen, be found, enter one's head/mind]: [the accident occurred at about 3.30 p.m.] [radon occurs naturally in rocks such as granite] [it occurred to him that he hadn't eaten]
salubrious
[healthy, pleasant]: [odours of far less salubrious origin] [an over-priced flat in a none too salubrious area]
profound
[heartfelt, far-reaching, wise, complex, abstruse]: [profound feelings of disquiet] [the implications of this discovery are profound] [a case of profound liver failure] [a profound philosopher] [expressing profound truths in simple language]
incapacitated
[helpless]: [Richard was temporarily incapacitated]
rent
[hire charge, hire, occupy temporarily, let (out), rip, gorge]: [I cannot even afford to pay the rent on this flat] [the rise in council house rents] [they rented a house together in Sussex] [a rented apartment] [he purchased a large tract of land and rented it out to local farmers]
accolade
[honour, tribute]: [the hotel has won numerous accolades] [poignant accolades and urgent testimonials of thanks]
loafer
[idler]: [his handmade Italian loafers]
illusive
[illusory]: [an illusive haven]
callow
[immature, inexperienced]: [earnest and callow undergraduates]
insolence
[impertinence]: [she was sacked for insolence]
incredibly
[implausibly, improbably, unbelievably]: [Michele was incredibly brave] [incredibly, he was still alive]
utensil
[implement, utensils]: [kitchen utensils]
urgency
[importance, insistence]: [the discovery of the ozone hole gave urgency to the issue of CFCs] [these are the grave urgencies facing us] [Emilia heard the urgency in his voice]
salient
[important]: [it succinctly covered all the salient points of the case] [the salient object in my view] [this decisive battle broke the Germans' ability to attack any further into the Kursk salient]
foist
[impose, foist something on to someone]: [she had no desire to have an elderly relative foisted on her]
operative
[in force, functioning, key, machinist, agent, detective]: [the transmitter is operative] [the mining ban would remain operative] [I was madly—the operative word—in love] [wounds needing operative treatment] [the operatives clean the machines at the end of every shift]
apprise
[inform]: [I thought it right to apprise Chris of what had happened]
colloquial
[informal]: [colloquial and everyday language] [colloquial phrases]
resident
[inhabitant, guest, living, live-in, permanent]: [it was a beautiful hamlet with just 100 residents] [arctic residents are joined annually by long-distance migrants] [the hotel restaurant is open to residents and guests of residents] [he has been resident in Brazil for a long time] [resident farm workers]
dissonant
[inharmonious, incongruous]: [irregular, dissonant chords] [Jackson employs both harmonious and dissonant colour choices]
dissonance
[inharmoniousness, incongruity]: [an unusual degree of dissonance for such choral styles] [a session full of jangling dissonances] [the party faithful might be willing to put up with such dissonance among their candidates]
maim
[injure]: [100,000 soldiers were killed or maimed]
creative
[inventive]: [change unleashes people's creative energy] [creative writing] [a creative team of designers] [the most important people in the mix will be creatives and direct marketing specialists]
enthrone
[invest, vest]: [the new archbishop was enthroned in York Minster] [he was enthroned as the guru of the avant-garde]
invincible
[invulnerable]: [an invincible warrior]
crossing
[junction, pedestrian crossing, traversal]: [a stream of cars was waiting for the railway crossing barriers to be opened] [we were thirty yards from the crossing when a man stepped off the pavement] [a border crossing] [the crossing of the Pennines] [a short ferry crossing]
avid
[keen]: [an avid reader of science fiction] [she was avid for information about the murder inquiry]
chivalry
[knight errantry, gallantry, courtesy]: [the age of chivalry] [tales of chivalry and knightly deeds] [he still retained a sense of chivalry towards women] [I fought against the cream of French chivalry]
stellar
[leading, prima, star, starring]: [stellar structure and evolution] [a stellar cast had been assembled] [his restaurant has received stellar ratings in the guides]
blade
[leaf blade]: [cut cleanly using a sharp blade] [Lydia is being taught to run on blades] [the Paralympics brought prosthetics such as running blades into the limelight.] [a blade of grass] [the director, a young blade in an oversized suit]
depart
[leave, deviate]: [they departed for Germany] [a contingent was departing from Cairo] [he departed from the precedent set by many] [he will soon depart his post as high commissioner to Britain] [he departed this life with a putrid liver]
nuclei
[lens nucleus]:
tie up
[link]: [marketing tie-ups] [technology tie-ups] [Holsteins in a tie-up] [tie-ups extending for 30 miles]
amplify
[louden, expand]: [amplified pop music] [the manufacturers have developed a system of amplifying the radio signal] [urban policy initiatives amplified social polarization] [the notes amplify information contained in the statement] [genomic DNA was amplified using the polymerase chain reaction]
atone
[make amends]: [a human sacrifice to atone for the sin]
mirth
[merriment]: [his six-foot frame shook with mirth]
missive
[message]: [yet another missive from the Foreign Office]
figurative
[metaphorical]: [a figurative expression]
germ
[microbe, embryo, start]: [the germ of a brilliant idea]
motley
[miscellaneous, multicoloured]: [a motley crew of discontents and zealots] [they wore the motley coat of jesters] [a motley of interacting interest groups] [life-size mannequins in full motley]
anachronism
[misdating, mistiming]: [the town is a throwback to medieval times, an anachronism that has survived the passing years] [it is anachronism to suppose that the official morality of the age was mere window dressing]
adversity
[misfortune]: [resilience in the face of adversity] [she overcame many adversities]
accident
[mishap, crash, chance, fortuitously]: [he had an accident at the factory] [if you are unable to work owing to accident or sickness] [four people were killed in a road accident] [he had a little accident, but I washed his shorts out] [the pregnancy was an accident]
oversight
[mistake, carelessness, supervision]: [he had simply missed Parsons out by an oversight] [was the mistake due to oversight?] [effective oversight of the financial reporting process]
hazy
[misty, vague]: [it was a beautiful day but quite hazy] [hazy memories] [the picture we have of him is extremely hazy] [school-leavers were often hazy about employment]
monosyllable
[monosyllabic word]: [if she spoke at all it was in monosyllables]
fable
[moral tale, myth]: [the fable of the sick lion and the wary fox] [he had conjured up a monster fit for any fable] [the unnatural monsters of fable] [believers accused the cosmologists of inventing fables on the birth of the universe] [I do not dream nor fable]
hillock
[mound]:
emigrate
[move abroad]: [Rose's parents emigrated to Australia]
locomotion
[movement]: [the muscles that are concerned with locomotion] [he preferred walking to other forms of locomotion]
muddy
[mud-caked, dingy, incoherent, make muddy, make unclear, obscure]: [they changed their muddy boots] [the original colours were blurred into muddy pink and yellow] [an awful muddy sound that renders his vocals incoherent] [some sentences are so muddy that their meaning can only be guessed] [the linoleum flooring was muddied]
butcher
[murderer, slaughter, massacre, spoil]: [a pork butcher] [they rounded up and butchered 250 people] [the film was butchered by the studio that released it]
bilateral
[mutual, reciprocal]: [bilateral hearing] [the bilateral agreements with Japan]
nude
[naked]: [a painting of a nude model] [she won't do any nude scenes] [a nude camisole under a sheer blouse] [balance the intensity of the eyes with a soft lip color in a nude shade] [nude tights]
identity
[name, identification, individuality, identicalness]: [he knows the identity of the bombers] [she believes she is the victim of mistaken identity] [he wanted to develop a more distinctive Scottish Tory identity] [an identity card] [an identity between the company's own interests and those of the local community]
instinct
[natural tendency, talent]: [the homing instinct] [they retain their old authoritarian instincts] [his instinct for making the most of his chances] [instinct told her not to ask the question] [these canvases are instinct with passion]
requirement
[need]: [choose the type of window that suits your requirements best] [applicants must satisfy the normal entry requirements]
neologism
[new word]:
absence
[non-attendance, lack, failing]: [the letter had arrived during his absence] [I supervised the rehearsal in the absence of the director] [repeated absences from school] [she found his total absence of facial expression disconcerting] [his reply conveyed his absence of mind]
amateur
[non-professional, bungler, non-professional, incompetent]: [it takes five years for a top amateur to become a real Tour de France rider] [his last fight as an amateur] [that bunch of stumbling amateurs] [an amateur archaeologist] [amateur athletics]
charity
[non-profit-making organization, financial assistance, philanthropy, goodwill]: [the charity provides practical help for homeless people] [the proceeds of the sale will go to charity] [the care of the poor must not be left to private charity] [an unemployed teacher living on charity] [she found it hard to look on her mother with much charity]
sentimental
[nostalgic, soft-hearted, mawkish]: [she felt a sentimental attachment to the place creep over her] [a sentimental ballad] [I'm a sentimental old fool]
placard
[notice]: [they were placarding the town with posters]
anomaly
[oddity]: [there are a number of anomalies in the present system] [the apparent anomaly that those who produced the wealth were the poorest] [the position abounds in anomaly]
exaggeration
[overstatement]: [it would be an exaggeration to say I had morning sickness, but I did feel queasy] [he was prone to exaggeration]
pallid
[pale, insipid]: [his face, with its wrinkled, pallid complexion] [a pallid ray of winter sun] [pallid liberalism]
impecunious
[penniless]: [a titled but impecunious family]
relevant
[pertinent]: [what small companies need is relevant advice] [the candidate's experience is relevant to the job] [critics may find themselves unable to stay relevant in a changing world] [her films are relevant for feminists today]
fossil
[petrified remains]: [sites rich in fossils] [a fossil fish] [he can be a cantankerous old fossil at times]
brawn
[physical strength]: [commando work required as much brain as brawn] [a slice of brawn] [pork brawn]
potential
[possible, possibilities]: [a campaign to woo potential customers] [a young broadcaster with great potential] [the potentials of the technology were never wholly controllable] [pesticides with the potential to cause cancer] [a change in gravitational potential]
predatory
[predacious, exploitative]: [predatory species of shark] [she always felt at the mercy of predatory men]
raptorial
[predatory, rapacious, ravening, vulturine, vulturous]: [raptorial birds] [raptorial front legs]
likely
[probable, suitable, likely to succeed, probably, unlikely]: [speculation on the likely effect of opting out] [it was likely that he would make a televised statement] [sales are likely to drop further] [a likely-looking spot] [we will most likely go to a bar]
process
[procedure, method, summons, deal with, in the course of, course]: [military operations could jeopardize the peace process] [the ageing process] [the manufacturing process is relatively simple] [process inks] [the salmon is quickly processed after harvest to preserve the flavour]
secrete
[produce, discharge, conceal]: [insulin is secreted in response to rising levels of glucose in the blood] [the assets had been secreted in Swiss bank accounts]
propellant
[propellent, propelling, propulsive]: [the main uses of CFCs are in aerosols as propellants] [aerosols are wastefully packaged, because they contain a lot of propellant as well as the product] [the common gun propellants are either nitrocellulose or a mixture of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine] [the company produced all sizes of propellant for weapons] [rocket propellants]
decorous
[proper]: [Charlotte gave David a decorous kiss]
standard
[quality, guideline, principle, standards, flag, normal, definitive]: [their restaurant offers a high standard of service] [the government's ambition to raise standards in schools] [half of the beaches fail to comply with European standards] [their tap water was not up to standard] [she was still in boarding school and had twice repeated the same standard]
misgiving
[qualm]: [we have misgivings about the way the campaign is being run] [I felt a sense of misgiving at the prospect of retirement]
reinterpret
[re-explain]: [excavated market buildings have now more plausibly been reinterpreted as temples] [Picasso had simplified and reinterpreted the human form]
willing
[ready, prepared, readily given]: [he was quite willing to compromise] [willing and prompt obedience]
relief
[reassurance, alleviation, freedom, respite, help, replacement]: [much to her relief, she saw the door open] [it was a relief to find somewhere to stay] [tablets for the relief of pain] [the kiss-and-tell tale gave the nation some light relief from page after page of war coverage] [raising money for famine relief]
reproof
[rebuke, disapproval]: [she welcomed him with a mild reproof for leaving her alone] [a look of reproof]
identify
[recognize, determine, associate, equate with, empathize]: [the judge ordered that the girl should not be identified] [the men identified themselves as federal police] [a system that ensures that the pupil's real needs are identified] [she identifies as a feminist] [3.2% of the men identified as gay or bisexual]
lessen
[reduce, grow less, diminish]: [the years have lessened the gap in age between us] [the warmth of the afternoon lessened]
recollect
[remember]: [he could not quite recollect the reason] ['Can you recollect how he reacted?'] [he had a look round, recollected himself, and prepared for the day] [the blood is thence recollected dorsally into further arterial vessels]
atonement
[reparation]: [he submitted his resignation as an act of atonement] [an annual ceremony of confession and atonement for sin]
indignation
[resentment]: [the letter filled Lucy with indignation]
inverse
[reverse, opposite]: [numerous studies have shown an inverse relationship between exercise and the risk of heart disease] [inverse logarithms] [power is the inverse of dependence] [the age of such a universe is simply the inverse of the Hubble constant]
oratorical
[rhetorical]: [oratorical skills]
thoroughly
[rigorously, utterly]: [he searched the house thoroughly] [I thoroughly enjoyed the day] [she was soon thoroughly bored]
undulate
[rise and fall]: [her body undulated to the thumping rhythm of the music] [delightful views over undulating countryside]
opponent
[rival, adversary, opposer]: [he beat his Republican opponent by a landslide margin] [an opponent of the economic reforms]
tile
[roofing tile]: [trees shook violently and tiles were dislodged from rooftops] [plain tiles in the kitchen will help to create a sense of space] [the lobby was tiled in blue] [it won't be the first time he's spent a night on the tiles]
sacrosanct
[sacred]: [the individual's right to work has been upheld as sacrosanct]
crew
[sailors, team, crowd]: [he was one of nine members of the crew killed when the plane went down] [the ship's captain and crew may be brought to trial] [a film crew] [a crew of assorted computer geeks] [a graffiti crew called the Syndicate]
salience
[saliency, strikingness]: [the political salience of religion has a considerable impact]
specimen
[sample]: [specimens of copper ore] [a specimen paper of the new test] [Carla could not help feeling a degree of reluctant admiration for this odd female specimen]
sanitation
[sanitisation, sanitization]: [they could afford to erect new dwellings with a reasonable standard of construction and sanitation]
parody
[satire, distortion, satirize]: [the film is a parody of the horror genre] [his provocative use of parody] [he gave her a parody of a smile] [his speciality was parodying schoolgirl fiction] [he parodied his friend's voice]
apologize
[say sorry]: [I must apologize for disturbing you like this] [we apologize to him for our error]
cynical
[sceptical, pessimistic]: [he was brutally cynical and hardened to every sob story under the sun] [most residents are cynical about efforts to clean mobsters out of their city] [he gave a cynical laugh] [a cynical manipulation of public opinion]
chastise
[scold, punish, beat]: [he chastised his colleagues for their laziness] [her mistress chastised her with a whip for blasphemy]
bumptious
[self-important]: [an impossibly bumptious and opinionated ass]
pair
[set of two, couple, two horses, match, get together]: [a pair of gloves] [three pairs of shoes] [Jacobs had two pairs] [a company run by a pair of brothers] [get out, the pair of you]
psychopathic
[severely mentally ill]: [a psychopathic disorder] [an obsessive attention to detail that looked almost psychopathic]
iridescent
[shimmering]: [the drake's head has an iridescent purple sheen]
excel
[shine, surpass]: [she excelled at landscape painting] [the keeper excelled himself to keep out an Elliott header]
sibilant
[sibilant consonant]: [his sibilant whisper]
frizzle
[sizzle, curl]: [Elsie had the fat frizzling in the chip pan] [add diced frizzled salt pork to taste] [the frizzle of the pan] [the damp weather had frizzled her hair into little corkscrews] [she shook out her frizzled hair]
tablet
[slab, pill, bar]: [at the corner of the apse is a memorial tablet] [headache tablets] [ecstasy tablets]
drowsy
[sleepy, soporific]: [the wine had made her drowsy] [the drowsy heat of the meadows] [a drowsy suburb called Surrey Hills]
absorption
[soaking up, incorporation, reduction, immersion]: [the country's absorption into the Ottoman Empire] [shock absorption] [her absorption in the problems of the Third World]
interpersonal
[social]: [you will need good interpersonal skills]
witchcraft
[sorcery]: [children and goods were believed to be vulnerable to the witchcraft of jealous neighbours]
nuisance
[source of annoyance/irritation]: [it's a nuisance having all those people clomping through the house] [I hope you're not going to make a nuisance of yourself]
astronaut
[spaceman, spacewoman]:
extravaganza
[spectacular]: [an extravaganza of dance in many forms]
expeditious
[speedy]: [an expeditious investigation]
abdominal
[stomach]: [abdominal pain] [Pilates greatly benefits the lower abdominals]
foolish
[stupid]: [he was foolish enough to confide in her] [a foolish decision]
subsidiary
[subordinate, subordinate company]: [a subsidiary flue of the main chimney] [many argue that the cause of animal rights is subsidiary to that of protecting the environment] [all the firm's subsidiary companies have to operate under broad general guidelines] [a subsidiary of Cable and Wireless] [the firm's Spanish subsidiary]
underling
[subordinate]: [she was shouting orders at underlings between gulps of coffee]
saucy
[suggestive, cheeky, jaunty]: [saucy postcards] [the beret was perched at a saucy angle on her blonde hair]
apt
[suitable, inclined, clever]: [the theme could not be more apt] [he is apt to be swayed by irrational considerations] [she proved an apt pupil]
synopsis
[summary]: [a synopsis of the insurance cover provided is set out below]
resistless
[supine, unresisting]: [a resistless impulse]
veneer
[surface, lamination, facade]: [a fine-grained veneer] [the ceiling was of maple veneer] [her veneer of composure cracked a little] [a veneered cabinet] [he exuded an air of toughness, lightly veneered by the impeccably tailored suit]
gush
[surge, enthuse, surge]: [water gushed out of the washing machine] [the tanker began to gush oil from its damaged hull] [everyone came up to me and gushed about how lucky I was] [a gush of blood]
raid
[surprise attack, robbery, swoop, attack, plunder, rob, search]: [a bombing raid] [an early morning raid on a bank] [a police raid on his home] [officers raided thirty homes yesterday] [she crept downstairs to raid the larder]
setting
[surroundings, mounting]: [a romantic house in a wonderful setting beside the River Wye] [short stories with a contemporary setting] [a garnet in a heavy gold setting] [a setting of Yevtushenko's bleak poem] [if you find the room getting too hot, check the thermostat setting]
philharmonic
[symphony, symphony orchestra]: [the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra]
consistently
[systematically]: [the vehicle consistently outperforms some of the best competitors] [a team that consistently demonstrates a desire to win] [students have to be treated consistently by all staff members]
rigging
[tackle]: [I'm listening to the wind in the rigging]
participate
[take part]: [thousands participated in a nationwide strike] [both members participate of harmony]
calculus
[tartar, tophus]: [biliary calculi]
cab
[taxi, compartment]: [she hailed a cab] [cab drivers] [Roger cabbed home] [the party is the first cab off the rank in opposing this bill]
dogma
[teaching, blind faith]: [the dogmas of faith] [the rejection of political dogma]
monotony
[tedium, tonelessness]: [you can become resigned to the monotony of captivity] [depression flattens the voice almost to monotony]
occult
[the supernatural, supernatural]: [a secret society to study alchemy and the occult] [an occult ceremony] [a weird occult sensation of having experienced the identical situation before] [the typically occult language of the time] [careful palpation sometimes discloses occult spina bifida]
verity
[the true, trueness, truth]: [the eternal verities] [irrefutable, objective verity]
theology
[theological system]: [a theology degree] [in Christian theology, God comes to be conceived as Father and Son] [a willingness to tolerate new theologies]
abstract
[theoretical, non-representational, extract, summarize, summary]: [abstract concepts such as love or beauty] [the novel was too abstract and esoteric to sustain much attention] [we have been discussing the problem in a very abstract manner] [abstract pictures] [to abstract science and religion from their historical context can lead to anachronism]
hypothesis
[theory]: [his 'steady state' hypothesis of the origin of the universe] [the hypothesis that every event has a cause]
propulsion
[thrust]: [they dive and use their wings for propulsion under water]
exhaust
[tire out, tiring, use up, say all there is to say about]: [her day out had exhausted her] [the country has exhausted its treasury reserves] [she seemed to have exhausted all permissible topics of conversation] [you should never exhaust bathroom air into your attic] [buses spewing out black clouds of exhaust]
indefatigable
[tireless]: [an indefatigable defender of human rights]
dealer
[trader, stockbroker]: [a dealer in foreign stamps] [a brash young dealer arrived on the dealing floor] [she was sucked into an underworld of heroin addicts, dealers, pimps, prostitution, and theft] [his mother was a crack dealer and he had a very troubled family life]
huckster
[trader]: [a door-to-door huckster] [they were clearly embarrassed at having to huckster for cash] [he was huckstering a video]
pellucid
[translucent, easily understood]: [mountains reflected in the pellucid waters] [he writes, as always, in pellucid prose] [his pellucid singing tone]
quiver
[tremble, flutter, tremor]: [the tree's branches stopped quivering] [Juliet's lower lip quivered] [the bird runs along in a zigzag path, quivering its wings] [she couldn't help the quiver in her voice] [he had created a whole new quiver of boards specifically for Hawaii]
ditch
[trench, dig a ditch in, throw out, break up with]: [their car went out of control and plunged into a ditch] [he was praised for ditching the coastal areas] [they would have to pay for hedging and ditching] [plans for the road were ditched following a public inquiry] [she ditched her husband to marry the window cleaner]
triangle
[trigon, trilateral]: [an equilateral triangle] [a small triangle of grass]
intolerable
[unbearable]: [the intolerable pressures of his work]
unsubstantiated
[unconfirmed]: [unsubstantiated claims]
dungeon
[underground cell]:
unregistered
[undocumented]: [unregistered births]
ignorant
[uneducated, without knowledge, rude]: [he was told constantly that he was ignorant and stupid] [I was largely ignorant of the effects of radiotherapy] [this ignorant, pin-brained receptionist] [I is an ignorant man—even police don't meddle with me]
cohort
[unit, group]: [a cohort of civil servants patiently drafting legislation] [the 1940-4 birth cohort of women] [young Jack arrived with three of his cohorts] [a long-time cohort of the band] [young Jack arrived with three of his cohorts]
unanimous
[united, uniform]: [the doctors were unanimous in their diagnoses] [this requires the unanimous approval of all member states] [the decision to go ahead was unanimous]
unused
[unutilized, left over, pristine, unaccustomed]: [any unused equipment will be welcomed back] [unused to spicy food, she took a long mouthful of water]
utilization
[utilisation]: [steps to increase the utilization of resources] [efficient storage utilization]
disappear
[vanish, die out, get lost]: [he disappeared into the trees] [the sun had disappeared] [the tension had completely disappeared] [my wallet seems to have disappeared] [the family disappeared after being taken into custody]
evanescent
[vanishing, ephemeral]: [the evanescent Arctic summer]
fluctuate
[vary]: [[trade with other countries tends to fluctuate from year to year] ] [[a fluctuating level of demand] ]
fluctuate
[vary]: [trade with other countries tends to fluctuate from year to year] [a fluctuating level of demand]
verbiage
[verbosity]: [the basic idea here, despite all the verbiage, is simple] [there is plenty of irrelevant verbiage] [we need to look at how the rule should be applied, based on the verbiage]
tremendous
[very great, very loud, excellent]: [Penny put in a tremendous amount of time] [there was a tremendous explosion] [the crew did a tremendous job]
obloquy
[vilification, disgrace]: [he endured years of contempt and obloquy] [conduct to which no more obloquy could reasonably attach]
vitalize
[vitalise]: [yoga calms and vitalizes body and mind]
indulge
[wallow in, treat oneself, satisfy, pamper]: [we indulged in a cream tea] [I don't indulge in idle gossip] [I only indulge on special occasions] [she was able to indulge a growing passion for literature] [a luxury service used to indulge the chief executive]
hospitable
[welcoming]: [two friendly, hospitable brothers run the hotel] [one of the least hospitable places in North America]
assurance
[word of honour, self-confidence, certainty, insurance]: [he gave an assurance that work would begin on Monday] [she drove with assurance] [assurance of faith depends on our trust in God]
serve
[work for, be of service to, be a member of, carry out, dish up/out, act as waiter/waitress, attend to, deliver to, suffice, act as, treat]: [Malcolm has served the church very faithfully] [a hospital which serves a large area of Wales] [he had hoped to serve with the Medical Corps] [he is serving a ten-year jail sentence] [they serve wine instead of beer]
proletarian
[working-class, working-class person]: [a proletarian ideology] [they are true proletarians]
studio
[workshop]: [mostly the painting is done in the studio, working from drawings] [the Department of Music has a professional recording studio] [the broadcasts will be transmitted from the Middlesbrough studios] [its dance studio is spacious enough to cater for aerobics classes] [the big names are being snapped up by major studios in the film capital]
lactic
[]:
landlord
[]:
leo
[]:
loam
[]:
medicare
[]:
metronome
[]:
millet
[]:
obvert
[]:
ordonnance
[]:
pantoscope
[]:
payee
[]:
unyoke
[]:
vase
[]:
do one's utmost
[]: [Dan was doing his utmost to be helpful]
parisian
[]: [a Parisian boulevard]
biopsy
[]: [a bone marrow biopsy] [cirrhosis was confirmed by biopsy] [the lesions may be malignant and should be biopsied]
democratically
[]: [a democratically elected government] [wage scales should be decided democratically]
distiller
[]: [a family-owned whisky distiller]
millionaire
[]: [he is now a millionaire several times over] [a millionaire businessman]
hexapod
[]: [researchers noted that hexapods and crustaceans shared a different set of important morphological characters] [the oldest known land animal is a hexapod found in Scotland, dated at 405 million years] [each of the hexapod's legs are equipped with pressure sensors which allow the bot to respond to its terrain]
thereby
[]: [students perform in hospitals, thereby gaining a deeper awareness of the therapeutic power of music]
urbanite
[]: [such countryside leisure activities suck in large numbers of urbanites and their cars]
herein
[]: [the Company does not accept responsibility for any information contained herein] [the statues are sensual to the point of erotic and herein lies their interest]
physiology
[]: [the physiology of the brain]
superadd
[]: [the presence of superadded infection by bacteria]
chirm
[]: [the presidential guard acted as meek as a chirm of finches]
abundant
[abounding, galore, ample, copious, plenteous, plentiful, rich, copious, voluminous, easy, exuberant, lush, luxuriant, profuse, riotous, thick, long, overabundant, plethoric, rife, plentiful, rampant, rank, superabundant, teeming, torrential, verdant, ample, rich]: [there was abundant evidence to support the theory] [the riverbanks were abundant in beautiful wild plants]
excoriate
[abrade]: [the discharge is acrid and excoriates the skin of the nose] [he excoriated the government for censorship]
unquiet
[agitated, uneasy, disruptive, riotous, troubled, tumultuous, turbulent, squalling, squally, wild]: [poor Amy's unquiet spirit] [an unquiet mind]
omnipotence
[all-powerfulness]: [God's omnipotence]
antenatal
[antepartum, prenatal]: [antenatal care]
cupidity
[avarice, avariciousness, covetousness]: [new wealth, however tainted by cupidity and egoism, tends to be favourable for the arts]
admittedly
[avowedly, confessedly, true]: [admittedly, the salary was not wonderful]
realization
[awareness, actualization, fulfilment]: [a growing realization of the need to create common economic structures] [realization dawned suddenly] [he did not live to see the realization of his dream] [a perfect realization of Bartók's Second Violin Concerto on disc] [verbal sequences were produced using segmental realization]
apart
[away from each other, separately, to one side, to pieces, except for]: [two stone gateposts some thirty feet apart] [studies from as far apart as America and Iceland] [the two sides remained far apart on the issue of cruise missiles] [alcoholism had driven us apart] [Isabel stepped away from Joanna and stood apart]
infant
[baby, developing]: [healthy infants] [infant mortality] [their first year at infant school] [the infant Labour Party]
bacchanalian
[bacchanal, bacchic, carousing, orgiastic]: [a bacchanalian orgy]
backdrop
[backcloth, background]: [the conference took place against a backdrop of increasing diplomatic activity] [the rolling hills that backdropped our camp]
repartee
[banter]: [he had a quick mind and a splendid gift of repartee] [quick-fire repartee]
keg
[barrel]:
belle
[beauty]: [the belle of the ball]
duplex
[bidirectional]: [a plush Mayfair duplex flat]
pull in
[bring in, clear, earn, gain, make, realise, realize, take in]: [he pulled in at the kerb] [he was ready and waiting half an hour before the express pulled in]
brogue
[brogan, clodhopper, work shoe]: [a fine Irish brogue] [a sweet lilt of brogue in her voice]
overhear
[catch, take in]: [I couldn't help overhearing your conversation]
carefully
[cautiously]: [they must be carefully handled and stored] [he listened carefully to the way people spoke]
scolding
[chiding, objurgation, tongue-lashing]: [she'd get a scolding from Victoria]
pottery
[china]: [an extensive collection of nineteenth-century pottery] [courses include drawing, painting, and pottery] [a visit to a Staffordshire pottery]
purity
[cleanness, virtue]: [the purity of our drinking water] [white is meant to represent purity and innocence]
obviously
[clearly]: [she was obviously unwell] [obviously, everyone has to do what they think is right]
apparel
[clothes]: [they were dressed in bright apparel] [all the vestments in which they used to apparel their Deities]
express
[communicate, communicate one's thoughts/opinions/views, squeeze out, express train, explicit, sole]: [he expressed complete satisfaction] [with a diplomatic smile, she expressed herself more subtly] [constants can be expressed in terms of the Fourier transform] [she must withdraw to express her milk in private] [the genes are expressed in a variety of cell lines]
provisory
[conditional]:
congress
[conference, legislature]: [an international congress of mathematicians] [legislative power is held by a 72-member National Congress] [changes in taxation required the approval of Congress] [sexual congress]
turmoil
[confusion, in confusion]: [the country was in turmoil] [he endured years of inner turmoil]
join
[connect, meet, become a member of, enlist]: [the tap was joined to a pipe] [join the paragraphs together] [where the River Drave joins the Danube] [they joined up with local environmentalists] [countries join together to abolish restrictions on trade]
preservation
[conservation, continuation, conserving]: [the preservation of the city's green spaces] [food preservation] [the chapel is in a poor state of preservation]
conspirator
[conspirer, plotter]: [conspirators had planned to seize the state]
pose
[constitute, put forward, be a model, position, pretend to be, behave affectedly, posture, pretence]: [the sheer number of visitors is posing a threat to the area] [the statement posed more questions than it answered] [the prime minister posed for photographers] [he posed her on the sofa] [an armed gang posed as policemen to ambush a postman]
embassy
[consulate, envoy, delegation]: [the Chilean embassy in Moscow] [the embassy denied any involvement in the murder] [Worsley failed to be selected to join the embassy to Sweden]
cunning
[crafty, guile]: [a cunning look came into his eyes] [plants have evolved cunning defences] [Baby will look too cunning for anything in that pink print] [a statesman to whom cunning had come as second nature] [what resources of energy and cunning it took just to survive]
incommodious
[cramped]:
vertebrate
[craniate]:
petulant
[cranky, fractious, irritable, nettlesome, peckish, peevish, pettish, scratchy, techy, testy, tetchy]: [he was moody and petulant] [a petulant shake of the head]
imprecation
[curse, swear word, imprecations]: [I pushed my way through, screaming imprecations]
bend
[curve, turn, stoop, mould, direct, curve, mad]: [the wire has to be bent back tightly] [poppies bending in the wind] [the road bent left and then right] [she bent down and yanked out the flex] [I bent over my plate]
curator
[custodian]: [the curator of drawings at the National Gallery]
disinherit
[cut someone out of one's will]: [the Duke is seeking to disinherit his eldest son]
corpse
[dead body]: [the corpse of a man lay there] [he believed that fascism would revive the corpse of Europe] [Peter just can't stop himself corpsing when he is on stage] [one singer ad libbed and corpsed his colleagues on stage]
rot
[decay, go bad, deteriorate, decay, deterioration, nonsense]: [the chalets were neglected and their woodwork was rotting away] [caries sets in at a weak point and spreads to rot the whole tooth] [the education system has been allowed to rot] [has anybody been rotting you?] [the leaves were turning black with rot]
resolutely
[decisively]: [she resolutely refused to be bullied by those around her] [the staff remained resolutely loyal]
decay
[decompose, decomposed, decomposing, deteriorate, declining, decomposition, rot, deterioration]: [the body had begun to decay] [decayed animal and plant matter] [the odour of decaying fish] [the fungus will decay soft timber] [facilities decay when money is not spent on refurbishment]
bass
[deep-toned]: [a bass clarinet]
neglectful
[delinquent, derelict, remiss]: [you are being neglectful of our guests]
illusory
[delusory]: [she knew the safety of her room was illusory]
insistence
[demand, assertion]: [Alison's insistence on doing the washing-up straight after the meal]
abhorrent
[detestable]: [racism was abhorrent to us all]
digress
[deviate]: [I have digressed a little from my original plan]
contrast
[difference, opposite, differ from, set off, compare]: [the day began cold and blustery, in contrast to almost two weeks of uninterrupted sunshine] [a contrast between rural and urban trends] [Kos is an island of contrasts] [match the trimming with one of the stronger colours in the pattern to provide contrast] [careful adjustment of the contrast to suit the prevailing light is critical]
sedulous
[diligent]: [he watched himself with the most sedulous care]
apostle
[disciple, missionary, advocate]: [Kiril and Metodije, the apostles of the Slavs] [a man once known as the apostle of free-market economics]
dissuade
[discourage]: [his friends tried to dissuade him from flying]
disillusion
[disenchantment, disabuse, disenchant]: [the old enthusiasm for the government evaporated into a more cynical disillusion] [if they think we have a magic formula to solve the problem, don't disillusion them]
crockery
[dishes]:
separative
[disjunctive]:
epitaph
[elegy, inscription]: [a poignant epitaph to his creative career] [the story makes a sorry epitaph to a great career]
acme
[elevation, height, meridian, peak, pinnacle, summit, superlative, tiptop, top]: [physics is the acme of scientific knowledge]
emigrant
[emigre, emigree, outgoer]: [she was a Polish emigrant who came to Scotland during the Second World War] [emigrant workers]
spew
[emit, pour]: [buses were spewing out black clouds of exhaust] [great screeds of paper spewed out of the computer] [he felt faint and nauseous—he had to get out before he spewed]
perennial
[everlasting]: [his perennial distrust of the media] [perennial manifestations of urban crisis] [he's a perennial student] [cow parsley is perennial] [spring streams rise from perennial springs]
barring
[except for]: [barring accidents, we should win]
improvisation
[extemporization]: [she specializes in improvisation on the piano] [improvisation is a performer's greatest creative act] [free-form jazz improvisations]
international
[external, outside]: [international trade] [a violation of international law] [large international hotels] [the Murrayfield rugby international]
conversant
[familiar with]: [you need someone who is conversant with the new technology]
statuette
[figurine]:
conflagration
[fire]: [tinder-dry conditions sparked fears of a conflagration in many drought-devastated communities]
sandy
[flaxen]: [pine woods and a fine sandy beach] [pale eyes and receding sandy hair]
per capita
[for each person, of each person]: [the state had fewer banks per capita than elsewhere] [lower than average per capita spending]
obsequies
[funeral rites]:
fungous
[fungal]:
maize
[gamboge, lemon, lemon yellow]:
parasite
[hanger-on]: [the parasite attaches itself to the mouths of fishes] [an intestinal parasite of cattle] [the capitalist is really a parasite on the workers]
epic
[heroic poem, saga, epic film, blockbuster, heroic, ambitious]: [the romances display gentler emotions not found in Greek epic] [a Hollywood biblical epic] [the business of getting hospital treatment soon became an epic] [our national epic poem Beowulf] [his epic journey around the world]
dignity
[high rank, stateliness, self-esteem]: [the dignity of labour] [he promised dignities to the nobles in return for his rival's murder] [he bowed with great dignity] [it was beneath his dignity to shout]
inextricable
[inseparable, inescapable]: [the past and the present are inextricable] [an inextricable situation]
sheltered
[invulnerable]: [the plants need a shady, sheltered spot in the garden] [I was a mathematics don at Cambridge living a rather sheltered life] [a sheltered childhood]
extraneous
[irrelevant, external]: [one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous material] [when the transmitter pack is turned off no extraneous noise is heard] [other insects attach extraneous objects or material to themselves]
disappoint
[let down, thwart]: [I have no wish to disappoint everyone by postponing the visit] [the governing coalition had bitterly disappointed the hopes of its voters]
organism
[living thing, structure, system]: [fish and other organisms have been destroyed over large areas of the creek] [the heart's contribution to the maintenance of the human organism] [the Church is a divinely constituted organism]
accommodate
[lodge, hold, help, adjust]: [the cottages accommodate up to six people] [any language must accommodate new concepts] [making users accommodate to the realities of today's marketplace]
affordable
[low-cost, low-priced]: [affordable homes] [affordably priced hotel rooms]
limpid
[lucid]: [the limpid waters of the Caribbean] [the limpid grey eyes gazed trustfully at her] [the limpid notes of a recorder]
stagger
[lurch, astonish, astonished, spread (out), alternate]: [he staggered to his feet, swaying a little] [the treasury staggered from one crisis to the next] [the collision staggered her and she fell] [I was staggered to find it was six o'clock] [the staggering bills for maintenance and repair]
operator
[machinist, contractor, manipulator]: [a radio operator] [calls are made through the operator] [a tour operator] [her reputation as a cool, clever operator]
magistracy
[magistrature]: [he twice ran for a magistracy in his home town] [the problem is to persuade both their supporters and the judiciary and magistracy]
anchor
[mainstay, presenter, secure]: [the boat, no longer held fast by its anchor, swung wildly] [an anchor chain] [this idiot in front slammed on his anchors at a crossing] [the European Community is the economic anchor of the New Europe] [he signed off after nineteen years as CBS news anchor]
make sure
[make a point]: [go and make sure she's all right] [he made sure that his sons were well educated]
impoverish
[make poor, poor, weaken, weakened]: [the wars had impoverished him] [impoverished villages] [the soil was impoverished by annual burning] [an impoverished and debased language]
manor
[manor house]: [a Tudor manor house in the English countryside] [Kelmscott Manor] [the right to mine ores within the manor of Little Langdale] [they were the undisputed rulers of their manor]
multifaceted
[many-sided, miscellaneous, multifarious]: [the diamond's multifaceted surface] [his extraordinary and multifaceted career]
spoil
[mar, ruin, go bad, overindulge, eager for, booty, loot, benefits]: [I wouldn't want to spoil your fun] [a series of political blunders spoilt their chances of being re-elected] [she was afraid of spoiling Christmas for the rest of the family] [the group called on its supporters to spoil their papers] [I've got some ham that'll spoil if we don't eat it tonight]
melon
[melon vine]: [a ripe melon will smell sweet] [a slice of melon]
blend
[mix, harmonize, mixture]: [blend the cornflour with a tablespoon of water] [add the grated cheese and blend well] [a blended whisky] [I blend basic information for the novice with some scientific gardening for the more experienced] [a blending of romanticism with a more detached modernism]
shift
[move, move, change, veer, get rid of, movement, change, work period, group, stratagem, cope (on one's own)]: [a team from the power company came to shift the cables away from the house] [the roof cracked and shifted] [he shifted a little in his chair] [she's shifting the blame on to me] [the wind had shifted to the east]
fungus
[mushroom]: [truffles are fungi but not mushrooms] [fallen logs were overgrown with bright fungus] [fungus infections like athlete's foot] [farmed fish often get fungus] [there was a fungus of outbuildings behind the house]
immigrant
[newcomer]: [they found it difficult to expel illegal immigrants] [immigrant workers] [an immigrant village]
significant
[notable, meaningful]: [a significant increase in sales] [in times of stress her dreams seemed to her especially significant] [she gave him a significant look]
infamous
[notorious, abominable]: [an infamous war criminal] [the medical council disqualified him for infamous misconduct]
many
[numerous, the people]: [many people agreed with her] [the solution to many of our problems] [many think bungee jumping is a new craze] [one of my many errors] [music for the many]
convent
[nunnery]: [Maria entered the convent at the age of eighteen] [the long windy path behind the convent]
servile
[obsequious]: [bowing his head in a servile manner] [the servile condition of the peasants]
deferential
[obsequious]: [people were always deferential to him]
witness
[observer, attestor, evidence, see, countersign, attest to]: [police are appealing for witnesses to the accident] [I was witness to one of the most amazing comebacks in sprinting history] [a key witness at the trial] [oral evidence set down in witness statements] [a deed signed in the presence of a witness]
archaic
[obsolete]: [prisons are run on archaic methods] [a term with a rather archaic ring to it] [the archaic temple at Corinth]
coincide
[occur simultaneously, tally]: [publication is timed to coincide with a major exhibition] [on Friday afternoons we generally coincided] [the two long-distance walks briefly coincide here] [the interests of employers and employees do not always coincide] [the members of the College coincide in this opinion]
commonplace
[ordinary, common, everyday thing/event, platitude]: [unemployment was commonplace in his trade] [the usual commonplace remarks] [bombing has become almost a commonplace of public life there] [it is a commonplace to talk of the young being alienated]
outlast
[outlive]: [the kind of beauty that will outlast youth]
tart
[pastry, pie, dress oneself up, decorate, sour, acerbic]: [an apple tart] [she wears skirts this short all the time—she's such a tart] [the tarts were touting for trade] [she came back only to tart herself up for the next evening] [the page layouts have been tarted up with cartoons]
hiatus
[pause, opening]: [there was a brief hiatus in the war with France]
superannuate
[pensioned off]: [his pilot's licence was withdrawn and he was superannuated]
auger
[plumber's snake]:
constable
[police constable]:
forbidden
[prohibited]: [a list of forbidden books]
plebeian
[proletarian, commoner, lower-class, uncultured]: [the feeling was shared by plebeians, gentry, and clergy] [two dancers, one royal and one plebeian] [he is a man of plebeian tastes]
grenadier
[rattail, rattail fish]:
receipt
[receiving, proof of purchase, proceeds]: [I would be grateful if you would acknowledge receipt of this letter] [families in receipt of supplementary benefit] [always make sure you get a receipt] [box office receipts] [she spent hours in the kitchen, trying all sorts of receipts]
come round
[regain consciousness, be converted (to), occur, recur]: [I'd just come round from a drunken stupor] [I came round to her point of view] [Friday had come round so quickly]
coverage
[reporting]: [the grammar did not offer total coverage of the language] [the programme won an award for its news coverage] [a network of eighty transmitters would give nationwide coverage] [coverage is 6.5 square metres per litre] [man-to-man coverage]
typical
[representative, normal, characteristic]: [a typical day] [a typical example of 1930s art deco] [typical symptoms] [he brushed the incident aside with typical good humour] [how typical of Iris to think of such a detail]
saviour
[rescuer, Christ]: [politicians of the era usually portray themselves as the nation's saviours]
reverberate
[resound]: [her deep booming laugh reverberated around the room] [the hall reverberated with laughter] [oft did the cliffs reverberate the sound] [the statements by the professor reverberated through the Capitol]
retool
[revise]: [textile-makers must retool plants to meet the demand for smaller quantities] [we were going to have to retool] [the enormous cost of retooling] [he has had little time to retool his candidacy]
scrub
[scour, abolish]: [he had to scrub the floor] [she was scrubbing herself down at the sink] [she scrubbed furiously at the plates] [it took ages to scrub off the muck] [the doctor scrubbed up and donned a protective gown]
covert
[secret]: [covert operations against the dictatorship] [it is a good omen when a covert of coots have taken to any particular locality]
clause
[section]:
profane
[secular, irreverent, obscene, desecrate]: [a talk that tackled topics both sacred and profane] [he was an agnostic, a profane man] [a profane person might be tempted to violate the tomb] [it was a serious matter to profane a tomb]
civil
[secular, non-military, internal, polite]: [civil aviation] [civil strife] [a civil action] [a civil court] [they were comparatively civil to their daughter]
sitting
[session, sedentary]: [twenty pieces of music is a bit much to take in at one sitting] [at the end of five forty-minute sittings my portrait was finished] [there will be two sittings for Christmas lunch] [all-night sittings of Parliament] [a special sitting of Basildon magistrates]
circumstance
[situation, the facts, financial/material position]: [we wanted to marry but circumstances didn't permit] [he was found dead but there were no suspicious circumstances] [they were thrown together by circumstance] [the artists are living in reduced circumstances] [pomp and circumstance]
lax
[slack]: [lax security arrangements at the airport] [he'd been a bit lax about discipline in school lately] [muscles have more potential energy when they are stretched than when they are lax] [the merger of tense and lax vowels before 'l'] [I wore pads and a helmet whenever I played lax]
complacent
[smug]: [you can't afford to be complacent about security] [the local people proved complaisant and cordial]
cafe
[snack bar]:
subacid
[sour]: [the subacid pulp contains many seeds]
peer
[squint, aristocrat, equal, contemporary]: [Faye peered at her with suspicion] [the towers peer over the roofs] [for yet a many of your horsemen peer] [hereditary peers could still dominate the proceedings of the House of Lords] [he has incurred much criticism from his academic peers]
stagecoach
[stage]:
staircase
[stairway]: [he descended the broad staircase] [a mirrored staircase]
stapler
[stapling machine]:
standing
[status, seniority, duration, permanent, stagnant]: [their standing in the community] [a man of high social standing] [she heads the world championship standings] [two teams desperate to improve their league standings] [an inter-departmental squabble of long standing]
sojourn
[stay, stay]: [her sojourn in Rome] [she had sojourned once in Egypt]
glutinous
[sticky]: [glutinous mud]
discontinue
[stop, no longer available]: [the ferry service was discontinued by the proprietors] [he discontinued his visits] [their current top-of-the-range running shoe is being discontinued]
plug
[stopper, piece of publicity, wad, stop (up), publicize, shoot, toil]: [somewhere in the pipes there is a plug of ice blocking the flow] [she pulled out the plug and got out on to the sodden bath mat] [the cable is fitted with a two-pin plug] [the vacuum cleaner cord snaked away to a hidden plug] [he threw in a plug, boasting that the restaurant offered many entrées for under £5]
warehouse
[storeroom]: [a discount warehouse] [the pallets were warehoused the following day] [our objective is not to warehouse prisoners but to help inmates build new lives]
trying
[stressful, annoying, tiresome]: [it had been a very trying day]
pungent
[strong, sour, caustic]: [the pungent smell of frying onions] [he has expressed some fairly pungent criticisms]
elegance
[style, neatness]: [a slender woman with grace and elegance] [the simplicity and elegance of the solution]
subjection
[subjugation]: [the country's subjection to European colonialism]
brace
[support, prop, drill, pair, bracket, support, steady, prepare]: [a neck brace] [thirty brace of grouse] [the posts were braced by lengths of timber] [she braced her feet against a projecting shelf] [he stood with legs braced]
assumption
[supposition, acceptance, seizure]: [they made certain assumptions about the market] [we're working on the assumption that the time of death was after midnight] [the assumption of an active role in regional settlements]
domesticate
[tame, tame, cultivate, naturalize, naturalized, housewifely]: [mammals were first domesticated for their milk] [the potato was first domesticated on Andean slopes] [you've quite domesticated him]
experiment
[test, research, conduct experiments]: [a laboratory which carried out experiments on pigs] [I have tested this by experiment] [the previous experiment in liberal democracy had ended in disaster] [experimenting on animals causes suffering] [the designers experimented with new ideas in lighting]
instructor
[trainer]: [a driving instructor]
convey
[transport, project, communicate, express, transfer]: [pipes were laid to convey water to the house] [the real virtues and diversity of America had never been conveyed in the movies] [it's impossible to convey how lost I felt] [Mr Harvey and his daughter have asked me to convey their very kind regards] [no application for registration is required when the property is conveyed following a court order]
unexpected
[unforeseen]: [his death was totally unexpected] [he seemed to have a knack for saying the unexpected]
chubby
[plump]: [a pretty child with chubby cheeks]
awash
[flooded]: [the boat rolled violently, her decks awash] [the city was awash with journalists] [a rock awash outside the reef entrance]
brandish
[flourish]: [a man leaped out brandishing a knife]
fluency
[fluidity, articulacy, eloquence]: [fluency in Spanish is essential]
thwart
[foil]: [he never did anything to thwart his father] [he was thwarted in his desire to punish Uncle Fred] [the government had been able to thwart all attempts by opposition leaders to form new parties] [a pink-tinged cloud spread thwart the shore]
folio
[page number, pagination, paging]:
cylinder
[piston chamber]:
pyx
[pix, pix chest, pyx chest]:
customarily
[usually]: [the leaves are customarily used for animal fodder]
vaporizer
[vaporiser]:
dissipate
[disappear, squander]: [the concern she'd felt for him had wholly dissipated] [he wanted to dissipate his anger] [the cloud of smoke dissipated] [he inherited, but then dissipated, his father's fortune] [no power is dissipated in this sort of control element]
realistically
[]: [how well can each candidate realistically expect to do?] [realistically, at his age opportunities are few and far between] [this film realistically simulates the effects that a nuclear war could have] [Cubist artists did not try to paint realistically]
jet lag
[]: [she was suffering from jet lag and needed to rest]
blast
[shock wave, explosion, gust, blare, reprimand, blow up, fire (away), shoot (down), honk, blare, reprimand, blight, destroy, be launched]: [they were thrown backwards by the blast] [a bomb blast] [a shotgun blast] [United's four-goal blast] [the icy blast hit them]
massacre
[slaughter, slaughter]: [reports of massacres by government troops] [the 25,000 ecstatic fans that packed into Coruna's shabby Riazor Stadium witnessed a massacre] [thousands were brutally massacred by soldiers] [we haven't been massacred in any game over the last six years] [the choir was massacring 'In the Bleak Midwinter']
alignment
[alinement, alliance, coalition]: [the tiles had slipped out of alignment] [four railways, all on different alignments] [present-day road alignments] [there were originally at least four massive stone alignments running from west to east] [the uncertain nature of political alignments]
affiliate
[associate with, associated]: [they are national associations affiliated to larger organizations] [the main party agreed to affiliate four Conservative associations] [almost all students affiliate to the Students' Union] [the firm established links with American affiliates]
cognate
[associated, similar, related]: [the term is obviously cognate with the Malay segan] [cognate subjects such as physics and chemistry]
presumption
[assumption, brazenness]: [underlying presumptions about human nature] [the presumption of innocence] [the planning policy shows a general presumption in favour of development] [he lifted her off the ground, and she was enraged at his presumption]
adoption
[assumption, selection]: [she gave up her children for adoption] [the widespread adoption of agricultural technology]
amazing
[astonishing]: [an amazing number of people registered] [it is amazing how short memories are] [she makes the most amazing cakes]
picturesque
[attractive, vivid]: [ruined abbeys and picturesque villages] [the salad has no regional or picturesque name]
comely
[attractive]: [the comely Italian actress Valeria Golino] [a comely specimen]
bona fide
[authentic]: [she was a bona fide expert] [the court will assume that they have acted bona fide]
magisterial
[authoritative, domineering]: [a magisterial pronouncement] [he dropped his somewhat magisterial style of questioning] [magisterial districts] [magisterial officers]
warrant
[authorization, voucher, justification, justify, guarantee]: [magistrates issued a warrant for his arrest] [an extradition warrant] [we'll issue you with a travel warrant] [warrant bonds] [there is no warrant for this assumption]
vehicle
[automobile, channel]: [the vehicle was sent skidding across the road] [a heavy goods vehicle] [I use paint as a vehicle for my ideas] [casein was used as a vehicle for pigments by the medieval painters] [a vehicle for a star who was one of Hollywood's hottest properties]
stampede
[charge, bolt]: [the herd was fleeing back to the high land in a wild stampede] [a stampede of bargain hunters] [the Calgary Stampede] [the nearby sheep stampeded as if they sensed impending danger] [the children stampeded through the kitchen, playing tag or hide-and-seek]
handout
[charity, leaflet]: [dependence on central government handouts]
beguile
[charm, deceive, charming, entertain, while away]: [he beguiled the voters with his good looks] [they were beguiled into signing a peace treaty] [to beguile some of the time they went to the cinema]
graph
[chart, plot]:
optimistic
[cheerful, encouraging]: [the optimistic mood of the Sixties] [the government was optimistic that reform would take place] [previous estimates of whale numbers may be wildly optimistic]
lump
[chunk, swelling, combine, put up with it]: [there was a lump of ice floating in the milk] [he was unhurt apart from a huge lump on his head] [I won't stand a chance against a big lump like you] ['Working?' 'Only on the lump, here and there'] [lump labour]
parachute
[chute, jump]: [the saviour of many pilots has been the parachute] [the planes came over the coast and started to drop supplies by parachute] [a parachute regiment] [airborne units parachuted in to secure the airport] [an air operation to parachute relief supplies into the region]
tout
[commend, peddle, ticket tout]: [Sanjay was touting his wares] [shop managers would stand in the street touting for business] [she was touted as a potential Prime Minister] [he made his fortune touting tickets] [le tout Washington adored him]
creditable
[commendable]: [a very creditable 2-4 defeat]
committal
[commission, perpetration]: [his committal to prison] [the high level of committals] [committal proceedings] [the funeral service was held on May 12, followed by committal at Forest Lawn Cemetery]
local
[community, confined, local person, pub]: [researching local history] [the local post office] [the village has an excellent local bus service] [a local infection] [migration can regulate the local density of animals]
organization
[company, planning, efficiency, structure]: [a research organization] [the organization of conferences] [his lack of organization] [the spatial organization of the cells]
wholly
[completely, exclusively]: [she found herself given over wholly to sensation] [the distinction is not wholly clear]
outright
[completely, explicitly, instantly, all at once, out-and-out, definite]: [logging has been banned outright] [she couldn't ask him outright] [the impact killed four horses outright] [they decided to buy the company outright] [an outright refusal]
altogether
[completely, in all, on the whole]: [I stopped seeing her altogether] [I'm not altogether sure that I'd trust him] [he had married several times and had forty-six children altogether] [altogether it was a great evening] [there are six bedrooms altogether]
obedient
[compliant, dutiful, docile]: [she was totally obedient to him]
colonial
[compound]: [British colonial rule] [colonial expansion] [beautiful colonial villages of New Hampshire] [a big, white, colonial church] [corals can be solitary or colonial]
concession
[compromise, admission, surrender, reduction, right]: [the government was unwilling to make any further concessions] [this strict rule was relaxed by concession] [her only concession to fashion was her ornate silver ring] [tax concessions] [railcard holders can obtain concessions]
accountant
[comptroller, controller]:
brotherhood
[comradeship, society]: [the bonds of brotherhood] [a gesture of solidarity and brotherhood] [a religious brotherhood] [the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America]
solicitude
[concern]: [I was touched by his solicitude]
potion
[concoction]: [a healing potion]
coincident
[concurrent, in agreement]: [the fall in the stock market was coincident with the slowdown in economic activity] [the stake of defence attorneys is not always coincident with that of their clients]
simultaneous
[concurrent]: [a simultaneous withdrawal of troops] [simultaneous translation]
criminal
[condemnable, deplorable, reprehensible, vicious]: [these men are dangerous criminals] [they are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage] [a criminal offence] [a criminal court] [he may never fulfil his potential, and that would be a criminal waste]
censure
[condemnation]: [the company was heavily censured by inspectors from the Department of Trade] [shareholders censured the bank for its extravagance] [two MPs were singled out for censure] [despite episcopal censures, the practice continued] [the country was censured for human rights abuses]
condensate
[condensation]:
secrecy
[confidentiality, clandestineness]: [the bidding is conducted in secrecy]
sequestrate
[confiscate]: [the power of courts to sequestrate the assets of unions] [in November 1956 the property was sequestrated by the authorities] [a trustee in a sequestrated estate] [two more poll tax rebels were sequestrated]
befog
[confused]: [her brain was befogged with lack of sleep]
existence
[alive, actuality, way of life]: [the organization has been in existence for fifteen years] [she kept the company alive when its very existence was threatened] [our stressed-out urban existence] [a person may be reaping the consequences of evil deeds sown in previous existences] [he believed in the essential unity of all existence]
outstretch
[]: [I walked with my arms outstretched] [their good intentions far outstretched their capacity to offer help]
skiff
[]: [a fresh skiff of snow lay on the ground]
of the first water
[]: [a gem of the first water] [she was a bore of the first water]
technician
[]: [a laboratory technician] [Liszt was one of the greatest piano technicians of all time]
urbanism
[]: [a lot of their songs are about cities and urbanism] [his interests include issues related to architectural design and urbanism]
posthumously
[]: [a number of songs were posthumously published in 1924]
round trip
[]: [a round-trip air fare]
infrequently
[]: [a storage area for infrequently used items] [he cooks, but only infrequently]
persiflage
[]: [an air of persiflage]
electronic
[]: [an electronic calculator] [an electronic organ] [electronic dance music] [a degree in electronic engineering] [the electronic edition of the newspaper]
perfumery
[]: [an oil used in perfumery] [a department store perfumery]
poetics
[]: [both poetics and rhetoric make use of narrative structure] [the terminology of traditional poetics]
countercharge
[]: [charges and countercharges concerning producers, quotas, and affidavits] [there was a further clash as a crowd charged the police and was dispersed by a countercharge]
hibernation
[]: [grizzly bears gorge on seeds to prepare for hibernation] [honey bees are waking from their winter hibernation] [the fair-weather cyclists are emerging from winter hibernation] [we shut down, went into hibernation for a week]
there and then
[]: [he agreed to it there and then]
reseat
[]: [he reseated himself in his armchair] [we reseated the orchestra for each variation] [the coaches were reseated last year to increase capacity]
conversely
[]: [he would have preferred his wife not to work, although conversely he was also proud of what she did]
rollover
[]: [investments would be returned after four months unless a rollover was requested] [group rollover relief] [the lottery jackpot rollover is close to £4 million] [it gives extra protection in side impacts and rollovers] [a rollover bar]
constituency
[]: [most politicians are more interested in the voice of their constituency] [a parliamentary candidate in the Hampstead and Highgate constituency] [the right needed to move beyond its blue-blood constituency]
diatomic
[]: [only diatomic molecules are easy to study in this way, as larger molecules invariably fragment]
exponentially
[]: [our business has been growing exponentially] [values distributed exponentially according to a given time constant] [the coefficients show an exponentially decaying trend]
her
[]: [she knew I hated her] [I told Hannah I would wait for her] [the crew tried to sail her through a narrow gap] [it must be her] [he was younger than her]
oar
[]: [she pulled hard on the oars] [I was stroke oar and John was in the bow] [oaring the sea like madmen] [oaring through the weeds] [she was talking to me just now, before you put your oar in]
upend
[]: [she upended a can of soup over the portions] [an upended box] [a pair of swans were feeding by upending]
vivisection
[]: [the abolition of vivisection] [the vivisection of America's seamy underbelly]
microcosm
[]: [the city is a microcosm of modern Malaysia] [the belief in correspondences between the Universe and Man—between microcosm and macrocosm]
visibly
[]: [the defendant paled visibly as the guilty verdict was announced] [she stretched out a visibly shaking hand] [he was visibly irritated at the way he had been undermined]
levee
[]: [the great stop on the Washington social circuit was the diplomat's levee] [he was presented at one of Prince Albert's levees in 1850]
americanism
[]: [the term is an Americanism dating back to the late nineteenth century] [Americanisms such as the barbecue and the swimming pool] [Americans in Europe have almost all preserved their Americanism]
kingship
[]: [upon his succession to the kingship David retained his English estates] [Edmund assumed kingship of Mercia]
adduce
[abduce, cite]: [a number of factors are adduced to explain the situation]
accomplice
[abetter]: [an accomplice in the murder]
capability
[ability]: [he had an intuitive capability of bringing the best out in people] [the company's capability to increase productivity] [the job is beyond my capabilities] [a graphics capability] [their nuclear weapons capability]
unnatural
[abnormal, perverted, uncaring, artificial, affected]: [death by unnatural causes] [wanting to help other people is not unnatural] [the artificial turf looks an unnatural green] [the formal tone of the programmes caused them to sound stilted and unnatural]
overhead
[above, aerial, running costs]: [a helicopter buzzed overhead] [the sun was directly overhead] [an overhead cam four-cylinder engine] [government departments generally baulk at paying full overhead costs] [overheads, such as lighting, equipment, and any little extras, are paid for out of a centralized fund]
hands-on
[active]: [hands-on in-service training]
craft
[activity, skill, cunning, vessel]: [the craft of cobbling] [art and craft] [the shop sells local crafts] [a craft fair] [the artist learned his craft in Holland]
adjacent
[adjoining]: [adjacent rooms] [the area adjacent to the station]
acknowledge
[admit, express gratitude for, recognized, greet, answer]: [the plight of the refugees was acknowledged by the authorities] [the government acknowledged that the tax was unfair] ['That's true,' she acknowledged] [the art world has begun to acknowledge his genius] [the hotel is widely acknowledged as one of Cornwall's finest]
reservation
[advance booking, booking, doubt, reserve]: [the reservation of positions for non-Americans] [do you have a reservation?] [some generals voiced reservations about making air strikes] [the boy's family live on an Indian reservation] [the retention of a right to enter the demised property will be a reservation]
breakthrough
[advance]: [a major breakthrough in the fight against AIDS] [his big breakthrough came in 1988 when he had two paintings accepted by the RSA] [the band's breakthrough album]
recommendation
[advice, commendation]: [the committee put forward forty recommendations for change] [he selected his staff by personal recommendation]
recommend
[advocate, advise, have in one's favour]: [George had recommended some local architects] [a book I recommended to a friend of mine] [some doctors recommend putting a board under the mattress] [the report recommended that criminal charges be brought] [the recommended daily intake of vitamins]
aggrandize
[aggrandise, blow up, dramatise, dramatize, embellish, embroider, lard, pad]: [an action intended to aggrandize the Frankish dynasty] [he hoped to aggrandize himself by dying a hero's death]
invasive
[aggressive, fast-growing, strong-growing]: [patients suffering from invasive cancer] [the sound of the piano was invasive] [minimally invasive surgery]
torment
[agony, ordeal, torture, tease]: [their deaths have left both families in torment] [the journey must have been a torment for them] [he was tormented by jealousy] [every day I have kids tormenting me because they know I live alone]
agrarian
[agricultural, farming]: [Brazil is rapidly diversifying its agrarian economy] [the agrarian reforms]
atmosphere
[air, ambience]: [part of the sun's energy is absorbed by the earth's atmosphere] [these beetles breed best in a damp atmosphere] [the hotel has won commendations for its friendly, welcoming atmosphere] [a superb restaurant, full of atmosphere]
landing
[alighting, harbour]: [we made a perfect landing at the airstrip] [the landing of men on the moon] [the D-Day landings] [the ferry landing] [he ran across the landing to his bedroom]
aver
[allege, say]: [he averred that he was innocent of the allegations] ['I don't have to do anything—it's his problem,' Rory averred] [the defendant does not aver any performance by himself]
confederation
[alliance]: [a confederation of trade unions] [Canada became a confederation in 1867] [a referendum on confederation]
admissible
[allowable]: [the tape recording was admissible as evidence] [foreigners were admissible only as temporary workers]
exclusively
[alone, entirely, only, solely]: [paints produced exclusively for independent retailers] [exclusively female concerns] [I can exclusively reveal that Gail shares a birthday with Rod Stewart]
murky
[dark, gloomy, dirty, muddy, questionable, suspicious]: [the sky was murky and a thin drizzle was falling] [the murky silt of a muddy pond] [a government minister with a murky past]
sunrise
[dawn]: [an hour before sunrise] [a spectacular sunrise over the summit of the mountain]
abruptly
[dead, short, suddenly]: [the film ends rather abruptly] [a drama about two young brothers who are abruptly abandoned by their father] [she barely conceals her irritation and speaks briefly and abruptly to the woman] [the forested terrain ascends abruptly]
transaction
[deal, transactions, negotiation, proceedings]: [in an ordinary commercial transaction a delivery date is essential] [the transaction of government business] [intellectual transactions in the classroom] [transaction processing]
disintegration
[decay, radioactive decay]: [the twin problems of economic failure and social disintegration] [the disintegration of infected cells]
duplicity
[deceitfulness]: [the president was accused of duplicity in his dealings with Congress]
deceit
[deception, sham]: [a web of deceit] [hypocrisy and deceit were anathema to her] [a series of lies and deceits]
determinant
[deciding, determinative, determining]: [pure force of will was the main determinant of his success]
proclaim
[declare, declare, demonstrate]: [the government's chief scientific adviser proclaimed that the epidemic was under control] [army commanders proclaimed a state of emergency] [he proclaimed King James II as King of England] [she proclaimed that what I had said was untrue] [he proclaimed the car to be in sound condition]
bedeck
[decorate]: [he led us into a room bedecked with tinsel]
medallion
[decoration, laurel wreath, medal, palm, ribbon]:
proclamation
[decree, announcement]: [the issuing by the monarch of a proclamation dissolving Parliament] [the government restricted the use of water by proclamation] [they often make proclamations about their heterosexuality]
infer
[deduce]: [from these facts we can infer that crime has been increasing] [the speaker implied that the General had been a traitor] [we inferred from his words that the General had been a traitor] [are you inferring that I'm a liar?] [are you implying that I'm a liar?]
slander
[defamation, defame]: [he is suing the TV company for slander] [I've had just about all I can stomach of your slanders] [they were accused of slandering the head of state]
respectful
[deferential, polite]: [they sit in respectful silence]
fierce
[ferocious, powerful, intense]: [fierce fighting continued throughout the day] [fierce storms lashed the country] [his fierce loyalty] [there was fierce local opposition to the plans] [the fire door had a fierce pneumatic return]
retaliate
[fight back]: [the blow stung and she retaliated immediately] [they used their abilities to retaliate the injury]
battle
[fight, conflict, fight, scramble]: [the battle lasted for several hours] [the Battle of Waterloo] [he died in battle] [the battle against ageing] [he has been battling against the illness]
brawl
[fight, fight]: [he'd got into a drunken brawl in a bar] [a street brawl] [he ended up brawling with a lout outside his house]
solve
[find an/the answer to]: [the policy could solve the town's housing crisis] [a murder investigation that has never been solved]
nuance
[fine distinction]: [he was familiar with the nuances of the local dialect] [the effect of the music is nuanced by the social situation of listeners]
delicate
[fine, subtle, fragile, sickly, difficult, careful, deft, sensitive]: [a delicate lace shawl] [delicate pastel shades] [a delicate, sweet flavour] [delicate china] [his delicate health]
calibrate
[fine-tune, graduate]: [the depth gauge is calibrated in centimetres] [a separate control experiment is then carried out to calibrate the calorimeter] [the radiocarbon results would need to be calibrated to convert them to calendar ages] [the regulators cannot properly calibrate the risks involved] [their carefully calibrated economic policies]
stable
[firm, well balanced, secure]: [specially designed dinghies that are very stable] [he is now in a stable condition in hospital] [the officer concerned is mentally and emotionally stable] [a stable relationship] [prices have remained relatively stable]
debut
[first appearance]: [the film marked his debut as a director] [a debut album] [the Rolling Stones debuted at the Marquee] [the model is expected to debut at $19,000] [the company is to debut new software]
premiere
[first performance]: [the world premiere of his new play] [his first stage play was premiered at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre] [the show premiered in New York this week]
fissile
[fissionable]: [a fissile isotope] [flat-bedded and very highly fissile shale]
rivet
[fixed, fascinated, fascinating, fixed on]: [a rectangular plate containing an iron rivet] [a device for punching rivet holes] [the linings are bonded, not riveted, to the brake shoes for longer wear] [the riveted plates of the floor] [the grip on her arm was firm enough to rivet her to the spot]
steward
[flight attendant, major-domo, official, (estate) manager]: [Chief Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster] [farmers pride themselves on being stewards of the countryside] [the event was organized and stewarded properly] [security is found in reparticipating in community and stewarding nature]
frivolous
[flippant, impractical, time-wasting, giddy]: [frivolous ribbons and lacy frills] [rules to stop frivolous lawsuits] [the frivolous, fun-loving flappers of the twenties]
file
[folder, dossier, files, batch of data, categorize, apply, bring, line, walk in a line, smooth]: [a file of correspondence] [MI5 were keeping a file on him] [you can save the file to your hard disk] [what progress has the Prime Minister made on the unity file?] [the contract, when signed, is filed]
proscribe
[forbid, condemn, outlaw]: [strikes remained proscribed in the armed forces] [certain customary practices which the Catholic Church proscribed, such as polygyny] [a plaque on which were the names of proscribed traitors]
pump
[force, spurt, inflate, ask]: [a petrol pump] [the pump of blood to her heart] [the bacterium's sodium pump] [the blood is pumped around the body] [blood was pumping from a wound in his shoulder]
absent-minded
[forgetful, distracted, forgetfulness, distractedness]: [an absent-minded smile]
excusable
[forgivable]: [the error is excusable]
redoubtable
[formidable]: [he was a redoubtable debater] [the redoubtable ladies]
chip
[fragment, nick, chips, counter, nick, break (off), whittle, contribute, interrupt]: [granite chips] [keep an eye out for any scratches or chips on the bodywork that might need treating] [he always enjoyed fish and chips] [a poker chip] [he made no mistake with a chip and a par putt from four feet to seal victory]
fragility
[frailty, tenuousness]: [osteoporosis is characterized by bone fragility] [a film about the fragility of relationships] [his emotional fragility]
glacial
[freezing]: [thick glacial deposits] [a glacial lake] [glacial temperatures] [his glacial blue eyes] [an official described progress in the talks as glacial]
repeatedly
[frequently]: [they have been warned repeatedly with no effect]
scare
[frighten, fright]: [the rapid questions were designed to scare her into blurting out the truth] [the ugly scenes scared the holiday crowds away] [I don't think I scare easily] [gosh, that gave me a scare!] [the event was postponed earlier this year due to the foot-and-mouth scare]
fruitful
[fruit-bearing, fertile, productive]: [this seed will grow into a lovely fruitful tree] [memoirs can be a fruitful source of information] [and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply] [be happy, be fruitful]
fraught
[full of, anxious]: [marketing any new product is fraught with danger] [there was a fraught silence] [she sounded a bit fraught]
groove
[furrow, rut]: [his thoughts were slipping into a familiar groove] [her vocals drift delicately across a soaring soul groove] [deep lines grooved her face] [they were grooving to Motown] [the rhythm section grooves in the true Basie manner]
secondly
[furthermore]: [he was presented first of all as a hopelessly unqualified candidate and secondly as an extremist]
futurist
[futuristic]: [the agency hired a futurist to pinpoint trends] [the Futurist painters] [the grim urban setting of the novel would have been a futurist nightmare]
lodge
[gatehouse, house, den, section, submit, deposit, become fixed, reside, accommodate]: [a hunting lodge] [Cumberland Lodge] [he dined at the Master's Lodge] [the foundation of the Grand Lodge of England] [he has 28 days in which to lodge an appeal]
generalization
[generalisation, generality]: [he was making sweeping generalizations] [such anecdotes cannot be a basis for generalization]
generality
[generalization, universality, majority]: [he confined his remarks to generalities] [policy should be formulated at an appropriate level of generality] [his service was better than that offered by the generality of doctors]
venereal
[genital]: [the venereal act] [a steady increase in venereal infection] [a plague struck the Israelites which could have been venereal in origin]
breeze
[gentle wind, easy task, saunter]: [tantalizing cooking smells wafted on the evening breeze] [travelling through London was a breeze] [Roger breezed into her office] [Milan had breezed through their first defence of the European Cup]
authenticity
[genuineness, reliability]: [the paper should have established the authenticity of the documents before publishing them]
sprout
[germinate, grow, spring up]: [the weeds begin to sprout] [many black cats sprout a few white hairs] [crocuses sprouted up from the grass] [plush new hotels are sprouting up everywhere] [the flower pots are full of green sprouts]
salute
[gesture of respect, greet, pay tribute to]: [he raises his arms in a triumphant salute] [he stood to attention but did not return the salute] [he acknowledged the salute of the policeman on duty] [the public were taunted with Nazi salutes] [a twenty-one-gun salute]
vacation
[holiday, quitting, holiday]: [the Easter vacation] [he took a vacation in the south of France] [people come here on vacation] [his marriage was the reason for the vacation of his fellowship] [I was vacationing in Europe with my family]
integrity
[honesty, unity, soundness]: [a gentleman of complete integrity] [upholding territorial integrity and national sovereignty] [the structural integrity of the novel] [integrity checking]
desperation
[hopelessness, recklessness]: [she wrote to him in desperation]
grasshopper
[hopper]:
immense
[huge]: [the cost of restoration has been immense] [a factor of immense importance]
buzz
[hum, audible warning, thrill, hum, purr, bustle, have an air of]: [the buzz of the bees] [a buzz of conversation] [I'll give you a buzz] [there is a real buzz about the place] [I got such a buzz out of seeing the kids' faces]
core
[heart, central, centre]: [a pineapple core] [the plan has the interests of children at its core] [managers can concentrate on their core activities] [a flexible core of permanent employees] [nothing will strengthen your core like balancing a heavy barbell on your back or lifting one off the floor]
shepherd
[herdsman, guide]: [she had to submit the control of her career and money to a group who shepherded her] [I shepherded them through the door]
transposition
[heterotaxy]: [transposition of word order] [a transposition of an old story into a contemporary context] [many acclaimed novels and plays have been little more than modern transpositions of classic myth]
ladder
[hierarchy]: [employees on their way up the career ladder] [one of Sally's stockings developed a ladder] [her tights were always laddered] [they laddered the minute I put them on]
reverence
[high esteem, revere]: [rituals showed honour and reverence for the dead] [the messenger made his reverence] [I regret, Your Reverence, that I cannot come to meet you] [the many divine beings reverenced by Hindu tradition]
civilization
[human development, culture]: [the Victorians equated the railways with progress and civilization] [the great books of Western civilization] [the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt] [in the UK nowhere is very far from civilization]
lowly
[humble]: [she'd been too good for her lowly position] [lowly paid workers]
shame
[humiliation, guilt, disgrace, discredit to, pity, humiliate, outshine]: [she was hot with shame] [he felt a pang of shame at telling Alice a lie] [the incident had brought shame on his family] [ignorance of Latin would be a disgrace and a shame to any public man] [what a shame Ellie won't be here]
athirst
[hungry, thirsty]: [she was athirst for news]
allergic
[hypersensitive, averse]: [an allergic reaction to penicillin] [one and a half per cent of the population is allergic to bee venom] [I'm allergic to the hype]
cant
[hypocrisy, sanctimoniousness, slang, slope]: [he had no time for the cant of the priests about sin] [thieves' cant] ['herstories' rather than 'histories' as the cant phrase goes] [if they'd stop canting about 'honest work' they might get somewhere] [he canted his head to look at the screen]
thought
[idea, anticipation, hope, intention, thinking, attention, compassion]: [Maggie had a sudden thought] [I asked him if he had any thoughts on how it had happened] [Mrs Oliver's first thought was to get help] [he's very much in our thoughts and prayers] [she hadn't given a thought to Max for some time]
perfect
[ideal, superb, flawless, exact, ideal, absolute, improve]: [she strove to be the perfect wife] [life certainly isn't perfect at the moment] [the equipment was in perfect condition] [a perfect circle] [Giles was perfect for her—ten years older and with his own career]
theorist
[idealogue, theoretician, theoriser, theorizer]:
diagnose
[identify]: [two doctors failed to diagnose a punctured lung] [she was finally diagnosed as having epilepsy] [20,000 men are diagnosed with skin cancer every year]
bug
[illness, obsession, insect, listening device, fault, record]: [their ham was found to be contaminated with food bugs] [he'd just recovered from a flu bug] [they caught the sailing bug] [a thick green scum which crawls with bugs, centipedes, and worse] [they cleaned out the bugs and wiretaps]
unbiased
[impartial]: [his assessment of the benefits and drawbacks was unbiased] [they give clear, unbiased advice]
neutrality
[impartiality, non-alignment]: [during the war, Switzerland maintained its neutrality] [the clinical neutrality of the description] [the structure has overall electrical neutrality]
stolid
[impassive]: [a stolid bourgeois gent]
embed
[implant]: [he had an operation to remove a nail embedded in his chest] [the Victorian values embedded in Tennyson's poetry] [the embedded sentence has no overt introducer] [you can embed the videos into a blog post.] [it eliminates the need for an embedded controller on the plotter]
incriminate
[implicate]: [he refused to answer questions in order not to incriminate himself] [incriminating evidence]
upgrade
[improve, promote]: [upgraded computers] [he will be upgraded from an Undersecretary to a seat at the cabinet table] [a room upgrade from a twin to a duplex suite] [check that the upgrade is installed and performing correctly] [the horse gained his first win and is clearly very much on the upgrade]
enhancement
[improvement]: [this programme of enhancements will improve the daily experience of passengers] [the enhancement of civic amenities]
pert
[impudent, jaunty]: [a pert, slightly plump girl called Rose] [no need to be pert, miss] [she had a pert nose and deep blue eyes]
present
[in attendance, in existence, current, now, at the moment, for the time being, hand over, submit, introduce, be present, host, demonstrate, stage, represent, occur, gift]: [a doctor must be present at the ringside] [the speech caused embarrassment to all those present] [gases present in the atmosphere] [she did not expect to find herself in her present situation] [the present article cannot answer every question]
virtually
[in effect]: [the disease destroyed virtually all the vineyards in Orange County] [the college became virtually bankrupt]
notably
[in particular, remarkably]: [a diet low in animal fat protects against potentially fatal diseases, notably diabetes] [such a statement is notably absent from the government's proposals]
immigration
[in-migration]: [a barrier to control illegal immigration from Mexico] [the airport has long queues at immigration and baggage reclaim]
congenital
[inborn, inveterate]: [a congenital malformation of the heart] [a congenital liar]
carelessly
[incautiously]: [roadsides are full of litter thrown carelessly by passers-by] [he replied carelessly]
disposed
[inclined, willing, liable]: [James didn't seem disposed to take the hint] [he is favourably disposed towards the proposals]
escalate
[increase rapidly, grow]: [the price of tickets escalated] [the escalating cost of health care] [the disturbance escalated into a full-scale riot] [we do not want to escalate the war]
liberty
[independence, freedom, right, free, free, act with overfamiliarity]: [compulsory retirement would interfere with individual liberty] [people who attacked phone boxes would lose their liberty] [individuals should enjoy the liberty to pursue their own preferences] [the Bill of Rights was intended to secure basic civil liberties] [how did he know what she was thinking?—it was a liberty!]
sectional
[individual, group]: [a sectional championship] [the chairman of the commission looked on sectional interests as a danger to the common good] [sectional drawings] [sectional sills, made from more than one piece of timber]
inseparable
[indivisible, devoted]: [research and higher education seem inseparable] [they met 18 months ago and have been inseparable ever since]
indigestible
[inedible, uneatable, flatulent, heavy, nondigestible, undigested, stodgy]: [haute cuisine was largely indigestible to the majority] [a turgid and indigestible book]
wreak
[inflict]: [torrential rainstorms wreaked havoc yesterday] [the environmental damage wreaked by ninety years of phosphate mining] [he was determined to wreak his revenge on the girl who had rejected him] [grant me some knight to wreak me for my son] [they wrought havoc on the countryside]
rare
[infrequent, unusual, exceptional]: [a rare genetic disorder] [it's rare to see a house so little altered] [one of Britain's rarest birds, the honey buzzard] [he plays with rare sensitivity] [rare roast beef]
infraction
[infringement]:
resign
[leave, give up, renounce, reconcile oneself to, patient]: [he resigned from the government in protest at the policy] [four deputies resigned their seats] [he lost his Queen and resigned in 45 moves] [she resigned herself to a lengthy session] [he seems resigned to a shortened career]
appointment
[meeting, nomination, job]: [she made an appointment with my receptionist] [his appointment as President] [she took up an appointment as head of communications] [government ministers and other political appointments are frequently replaced] [the room was spartan in its appointments]
recollection
[memory]: [to the best of my recollection no one ever had a bad word to say about him] [a biography based on his wife's recollections]
dangerous
[menacing, hazardous]: [a dangerous animal] [insecticides which are dangerous to the environment] [it is dangerous to convict on his evidence]
dementia
[mental illness]:
scoff
[mock, eat, food]: [Patrick professed to scoff at soppy love scenes in films] ['You, a scientist?' he scoffed] [scoffs of disbelief] [his army was the scoff of all Europe] [he can scoff a cannelloni faster than you can drink a pint]
financial
[monetary]: [an independent financial adviser] [he needs to pay serious attention to his financials, particularly cash flow] [at the end of the year fund managers sell their worst-performing stocks—and financials have fared badly this year]
mercenary
[money-oriented, soldier of fortune]: [she's nothing but a mercenary little gold-digger] [he had planned to seize power with the aid of a group of mercenaries] [cricket's most infamous mercenary]
monogamy
[monogamousness]: [Judaism has journeyed from polygamy to strict monogamy] [AIDS can be contained by monogamy as well as by early sex education] [younger men were more likely to stray, saying monogamy was outdated] [monogamy is rare in most animal groups, but is common among birds]
monotone
[monotonic]: [he sat and answered the questions in a monotone] [his monotone reading of the two-hour report] [the monotone housing estates of the big cities]
transit
[movement, en route]: [a painting was damaged in transit] [Guatemala is to have freedom of transit across Belize] [the transits of Mercury across the sun's disc] [the new large ships will be too big to transit the Panama Canal] [at the end of February Jupiter transits the meridian]
legend
[myth, celebrity, caption, explanation]: [the legend of King Arthur] [according to legend he banished all the snakes from Ireland] [the mosaics illustrate the Legends of the Saints] [the man was a living legend] [a screen legend]
prerequisite
[necessary condition, necessary]: [sponsorship is not a prerequisite for any of our courses] [the student must have the prerequisite skills]
flip
[overturn, throw, flick, thumb (through)]: [the plane flipped over and then exploded] [the six-foot wave flipped the dinghy over] [she flipped off her dark glasses] [she flipped a few coins on to the bar] [he flipped a switch and the front door opened]
pack
[packet, group, backpack, fill, stow, wrap (up), throng, expel, resign from, give up, send off, break down]: [a pack of cigarettes] [the reports were a pack of lies] [an information pack] [I had doubts about Swansea's pack at the beginning of the season] [Price broke from the pack to pursue him]
enclosure
[paddock, area, insertion]: [a deer enclosure] [the members' enclosure] [the cemetery lay within a high walled enclosure] [one of the chief effects of enclosure was to increase the number of landless workers] [the nuns kept strict enclosure]
discomfort
[pain, embarrassment, inconvenience, discomfit]: [the patient complained of discomfort in the left calf] [his remarks caused her discomfort] [the discomforts of too much sun in summer] [the unknown leaker's purpose was to discomfort the Prime Minister] [if the patient's condition has discomforting symptoms, these should be controlled]
portrait
[painting, photograph, description]: [a portrait of George III] [a portrait painter] [the writer builds up a fascinating portrait of a community] [you can print landscape and portrait pages in the same document]
milky
[pale]: [a cup of sweet milky coffee] [the milky little Jersey seems to be successful in the tropics] [not a blemish marred her milky skin] [the old man's milky, uncomprehending eyes] [they just talk that way to make you turn milky]
palsy
[paralysis]: [a kind of palsy had seized him] [is the calmness of philosophy, or the palsy of insensibility, to be looked for?] [she feels as if the muscles on her face are palsied] [the old boy network laid its palsied hand upon the business of wealth creation]
muse
[ponder]: [Yeats' muse, Maud Gonne] [the landscape was Gorky's primary muse] [he was musing on the problems he faced] ['I think I've seen him somewhere before,' mused Rachel] [the sergeant stood, his eyes musing on the pretty police constable]
papacy
[pontificate]: [relations between the English state and the papacy] [a papacy in decline] [during the papacy of Pope John]
hedgehog
[porcupine]:
salacious
[pornographic]: [salacious stories]
omen
[portent]: [the ghost's appearance was an ill omen] [a rise in imports might be an omen of recovery] [the raven seemed a bird of evil omen]
arrangement
[positioning, preparations, agreement, adaptation]: [the arrangement of the furniture in the room] [an intricate arrangement of gravel paths] [all the arrangements for the wedding were made] [the travel agents have an arrangement with the hotel] [by special arrangement, students can take a course in other degree programmes]
posse
[posse comitatus]: [tea was handed round by a posse of mothers] [the followers of the so-called Techno phenomenon, the vibed-up whistle posse]
thrall
[power]: [she was in thrall to her abusive husband]
influential
[powerful, important, significant]: [her work is influential in feminist psychology] [young influentials] [networks of influentials]
habit
[practice, mannerism, accustomed to, addiction, garment]: [he has an annoying habit of interrupting me] [good eating habits] [we stayed together out of habit] [a cocaine habit] [a shrub of spreading habit]
extol
[praise enthusiastically]: [he extolled the virtues of the Russian peoples]
acclaim
[praise, proclaim, celebrated, praise]: [the conference was acclaimed as a considerable success] [she has won acclaim for her commitment to democracy]
magnify
[praise]: [the retinal image will be magnified] [you had problems before you went to Vietnam, and 'Nam magnified them] [praise the Lord and magnify Him]
forestall
[pre-empt]: [they will present their resignations to forestall a vote of no confidence] [he would have spoken but David forestalled him]
antedate
[precede]: [a civilization that antedated the Roman Empire] [there are no references to him that would antedate his birth]
commandment
[precept, teaching]: [the Sabbath had to be kept as ordered in the Fourth Commandment] [she had followed her mother's commandments for long enough]
bias
[prejudice, diagonal, prejudice, prejudiced]: [there was evidence of bias against black applicants] [the bias towards younger people in recruitment] [his work showed a discernible bias towards philosophy] [a turquoise silk dress cut on the bias] [readers said the paper was biased towards the Conservatives]
concoct
[prepare, make up, devise]: [she began to concoct a dinner likely to appeal to him] [his cronies concocted a simple plan]
priority
[prime concern, precedence, right of way]: [the safety of the country takes priority over any other matter] [housework didn't figure high on her list of priorities] [priority is given to traffic already on the roundabout]
capitalism
[private enterprise]: [an era of free-market capitalism] [private ownership is a key feature of capitalism]
confidential
[private]: [confidential information] [he dropped his voice to a confidential whisper] [a confidential secretary]
privateer
[privateersman]: [she was captured by a French 44-gun privateer] [Francis Drake disliked other privateers poaching prizes he regarded as his own] [it may be instructive to compare the supposedly wasteful public sector with the supposedly lean privateers] [he finished top privateer in the world championships]
abundance
[profusion]: [the tropical island boasts an abundance of wildlife] [vines and figs grew in abundance] [she was blessed with talent and charm in abundance] [the growth of industry promised wealth and abundance] [estimates of the abundance of harp seals]
emphasis
[prominence, stress]: [they placed great emphasis on the individual's freedom] [different emphases and viewpoints] [inflection and emphasis can change the meaning of what is said] [he spoke with emphasis and with complete conviction]
prostrate
[prone, overwhelmed, worn out, throw oneself flat, overwhelm]: [there was a man praying before an idol, lying prostrate] [they surged forward around the prostrate figure on the ground] [his wife was prostrate with shock] [mats of prostrate herbs can be used to break up expanses of soil] [she prostrated herself on the bare floor of the church]
dictum
[pronouncement, dictate, saying]: [the dicta of High Court Judges] [the old dictum 'might is right']
blessing
[protection, benediction, advantage, sanction]: [may God continue to give us his blessing] [a priest gave a blessing as the ship was launched] [great intelligence can be a curse as well as a blessing] [it's a blessing we're alive] [he gave the plan his blessing even before it was announced]
substantiate
[prove]: [they had found nothing to substantiate the allegations]
propinquity
[proximity, close kinship]: [he kept his distance as though afraid propinquity might lead him into temptation]
provident
[prudent]: [she had learned to be provident]
prudential
[prudent]: [the US prudential rules prevented banks from lending more than fifteen per cent of their capital to any one borrower]
tow
[pull, tug, accompanying]: [a pickup van towing a trailer] [a man called to tow the car away] [the authorities refused to allow the tanker to be towed into their ports] [she saw Florian towing Nicky along by the hand] [the cruiser got a tow from a warship after its engine failed]
laxative
[purgative]: [laxative drugs] [the laxative properties of sodium sulphate] [he may prescribe a laxative to ease the congestion]
refinement
[purification, improvement, style]: [the refinement of uranium] [this gross figure needs considerable refinement] [recent refinements to production techniques] [her carefully cultivated veneer of refinement] [the refinement of Hellenistic art]
press
[push (down), clasp, squeeze, cluster, smooth, flatten, crush, plead, urge, pressurize, call, have too little, printing press, publishing house, the media, reports]: [he pressed his face to the glass] [her body pressed against his] [he pressed a button and the doors slid open] [Winnie pressed his hand] [the mob was still pressing forward]
shove
[push, push (one's way), push, go away]: [police started pushing and shoving people down the street] [kids pushed, kicked, and shoved] [Woolley shoved past him] [she shoved the books into her briefcase] [I told the selectors to shove it]
propel
[push/move forwards, throw, spur]: [the boat is propelled by using a very long paddle] [a rocket-propelled grenade launcher] [fear propelled her out of her stillness]
scotch
[put an end to]: [a spokesman has scotched the rumours] [feudal power in France was scotched, though far from killed] [he soon scotched himself against a wall] [when Lucille reached the depot, the coachman shouted 'Scotch the wheels!'] [scotch with your knife the back of the Carp]
organize
[put in order, make arrangements for]: [organize lessons in a planned way] [she was unsuited to anything where she had to organize herself] [we all believed in the need to organize women] [social programmes are organized by the school] [Julie organized food and drink for the band]
arrange
[put in order, organize, adapt]: [she had just finished arranging the flowers] [the columns are arranged in 12 rows] [they hoped to arrange a meeting] [my aunt arranged for the furniture to be stored] [I arranged with my boss to have the time off]
comment
[remark, discussion, note, remark on, remark]: [you asked for comments on the new proposals] [the plans were sent to the council for comment] [the exhibition has aroused comment] [she denies that the film is a comment on the perils of celebrity] [additional notes and comments]
curable
[remediable]: [most skin cancers are completely curable] [a radiation-curable coating]
repentance
[remorse]: [each person who turns to God in genuine repentance and faith will be saved]
delete
[remove, cross out]: [the passage was deleted] [any program in memory will be deleted before the new one is loaded] [their EMI release has already been deleted] [if one important gene is deleted from an animal's DNA, other genes can stand in] [you can use delete to remove a number of lines from your program]
erase
[delete, destroy, removable]: [graffiti had been erased from the wall] [over twenty years the last vestiges of a rural economy were erased] [the magic of the landscape erased all else from her mind] [the tape could be magnetically erased and reused] [the file has been erased from the hard disk]
delectable
[delicious, delightful, beautiful]: [delectable handmade chocolates] [the delectable Ms Davis]
luscious
[delicious, sexy]: [a luscious and fragrant dessert wine] [the luscious brush strokes and warm colours of these late masterpieces] [he'll fall for a luscious Spanish girl who can match him in passion]
gladden
[delight]: [the high, childish laugh was a sound that gladdened her heart]
exacting
[demanding]: [the exacting standards laid down by the organic food industry]
degrade
[demean, humiliated, degenerate, break down]: [she thought that many supposedly erotic pictures degraded women] [vast areas of natural habitats have been degraded] [the bacteria will degrade hydrocarbons] [he was degraded from his high estate]
contradict
[deny, challenge, conflict with]: [the survey appears to contradict the industry's claims] [he did not contradict what he said last week] [he did not contradict her but just said nothing] [within five minutes he had contradicted himself twice] [the existing layout of the city contradicted the logic of the new centre]
resignation
[departure, notice, patience]: [he announced his resignation] [I've handed in my resignation] [a shrug of resignation]
reliability
[dependability, dependableness, reliableness]: [the car's background gives me every confidence in its reliability] [these data throw doubt on the reliability of national statistics]
reliant
[dependent]: [the company is heavily reliant on the baby market]
deponent
[deposer, testifier]:
educe
[derive]: [out of love obedience is to be educed] [more information can be educed from these statistics]
account
[description, financial record, bill, bank account, importance, performance, consider, reputedly, because of, never, consider, consider, explain, dispose of, constitute]: [a detailed account of what has been achieved] [the barman was doing his accounts] [there's no money to pay the tradesmen's accounts this month] [a bank account] [I began buying things on account]
abandon
[desert, relinquish, renounce, give up, indulge in, uninhibitedness]: [her natural mother had abandoned her at an early age] [derelict houses were abandoned] [an attempt to persuade businesses not to abandon the area to inner-city deprivation] [he had clearly abandoned all pretence of trying to succeed] [negotiations were abandoned and fighting intensified]
tyranny
[despotism]: [refugees fleeing tyranny and oppression] [the tyranny of her stepmother] [the tyranny of the nine-to-five day] [we need tankers to overcome the tyranny of distance]
fate
[destiny, future, death, the weird sisters, be predestined]: [fate decided his course for him] [his injury is a cruel twist of fate] [he stared at the faces of the committee, trying to guess his fate] [the guards led her to her fate] [the regime was fated to end badly]
annihilate
[destroy]: [a simple bomb of this type could annihilate them all] [a crusade to annihilate evil] [the stronger force annihilated its opponent virtually without loss] [a fraction of the mass of atomic nuclei is annihilated] [mesons are unstable because the quark and antiquark can annihilate each other]
remove
[detach, take off, take out, produce, take away, clean off, delete, uproot, cut off, take off, withdraw, abolish, dismiss, distant, distance]: [Customs officials removed documents from the premises] [she sat down to remove her make-up] [he sat down and quickly removed his shoes and socks] [he removed to Wales and began afresh] [a man is removed to the tribal district of his forbears]
deterrence
[determent, intimidation]: [nuclear missiles remain the main deterrence against possible aggression] [they contend that a death penalty is necessary as a form of deterrence]
preparation
[devising, instruction, arrangements, mixture]: [the preparation of a draft contract] [the project is in preparation] [she continued her preparations for the party] [there are several effective preparations you can buy over the counter] [a microscope preparation]
dedicate
[devote, inscribe, devote]: [Joan has dedicated her life to animals] [volume four is dedicated to wasps] [the novel is dedicated to the memory of my mother] [today the President dedicates the new Second World War memorial in Washington] [the parish church is dedicated to St Paul]
sleight
[dexterity, deception]: [except by sleight of logic, the two positions cannot be harmonized] [a nifty bit of sleight of hand got the ashtray into the correct position] [this is financial sleight of hand of the worst sort]
variation
[difference, change, deviation, variant]: [regional variations in house prices] [the figures showed marked variation from year to year] [hurling is an Irish variation of hockey] [Elgar's Enigma Variations] [he makes the preparation for his variation with utmost care and accuracy]
discriminate
[differentiate, be biased]: [babies can discriminate between different facial expressions] [features that discriminate this species from other gastropods] [existing employment policies discriminate against women]
louse
[dirt ball, insect, worm]: [he loused up my promotion chances]
incapacity
[disability, disqualification]: [they can be sacked only for incapacity or misbehaviour] [they are not subject to any legal incapacity]
deforest
[disafforest, disforest]: [404,000 sq. km had been deforested]
vanish
[disappear, come to an end, dwindle]: [Moira vanished without trace] [the environment is under threat—hedgerows and woodlands are vanishing]
unsatisfactory
[disappointing]: [years of living in unsatisfactory rented accommodation]
deprecate
[disapprove of]: [what I deprecate is persistent indulgence] [he sniffed in a deprecating way] [this feature is deprecated and will be removed in later versions] [avoid the deprecated blink element that causes text to flash on and off] [he deprecates the value of children's television]
tragedy
[disaster, tragic drama]: [a tragedy that killed 95 people] [his life had been plagued by tragedy] [Shakespeare's tragedies] [Greek tragedy]
emit
[discharge, utter]: [even the best cars emit carbon dioxide] [she emitted a sound like laughter]
discredit
[disgrace, disprove, dishonour, disgrace]: [his remarks were taken out of context in an effort to discredit him] [a discredited government] [his explanation for the phenomenon was soon discredited] [they committed crimes which brought discredit upon the administration] [the ships were a discredit to the country]
unruly
[disorderly]: [a group of unruly children] [Kate tried to control her unruly emotions]
vilify
[disparage]: [he has been vilified in the press]
expendable
[dispensable, disposable]: [the region is expendable in the wider context of national politics] [unmanned and expendable launch vehicles]
upheaval
[disruption]: [major upheavals in the financial markets] [times of political upheaval] [the first upheaval produced a hill which was called Roof Mountain]
profligacy
[dissipation, dissolution, licentiousness, looseness]: [the government returned to fiscal profligacy] [his financial prudence corrected the profligacies of Nero] [the emperor's sexual profligacy] [an era of extreme decadence and profligacy]
decadence
[dissipation]: [he denounced Western decadence] [cream cakes on a Wednesday—pure decadence]
distillation
[distilling, pressing]: [the petroleum distillation process] [this book represents the distillation of years of experience in the private sector] [the film is a distillation of personal experiences]
august
[distinguished]: [she was in august company] [the sultry haze of late August] [the wettest August in six years]
encyclical
[distributed]:
fracas
[disturbance, argument]: [the fracas was broken up by stewards]
maladjusted
[disturbed]: [a home for maladjusted youths] [schools for the maladjusted]
defunct
[disused]: [the now defunct Somerset Dorset railway line]
deviation
[divergence]: [deviation from a norm] [sexual deviation] [deviations from Standard English] [a significant deviation from the average value]
multifarious
[diverse]: [multifarious activities] [a vast multifarious organization]
reciprocate
[do the same (in return), requite]: [the favour was reciprocated] [perhaps I was expected to reciprocate with some remark of my own] [her passion for him was not reciprocated] [a reciprocating blade]
prosper
[do well, thrive]: [his business prospered] [the state hopes to prosper from free trade with the United States] [areas where grey squirrels cannot prosper] [God has wonderfully prospered this nation]
manuscript
[document]: [an illuminated manuscript] [early Gothic manuscripts] [several manuscripts in his own hand] [her autobiography remained in manuscript]
hound
[dog, harass, force, pursue]: [a hound came running through the trees, nose to the ground] [he has a reputation as a publicity hound] [she was hounded by the Italian press] [his opponents used the allegations to hound him out of office]
tyrannize
[domineer over]: [she tyrannized her family] [he tyrannizes over the servants]
dubious
[doubtful]: [I was rather dubious about the whole idea] [extremely dubious assumptions] [timeshare has been brought into disrepute by dubious sales methods] [he holds the dubious distinction of being relegated with every club he has played for]
deposit
[down payment, accumulation, seam, put (down), leave behind, lodge]: [cash funds which are an alternative to bank or building society deposits] [we've saved enough for a deposit on a house] [a refundable €100 deposit is payable on arrival at the villa] [he lost his deposit but was credited with contributing to the Conservatives' defeat] [the deposits of salt on the paintwork]
diagram
[drawing]: [a diagram of the living room] [the experiment is diagrammed on page fourteen]
pad
[dressing, cushion, notebook, stuff, spin out, walk quietly]: [a pad of cotton wool] [cricket pads] [a dog's pads will bleed profusely if cut] [she sketched something on a big white pad] [an office building with a helicopter pad]
drip
[dribble, drop, drop, weakling, wimp]: [the tap won't stop dripping] [his hands were dripping with blood] [water dripped from her clothing] [the candle was dripping wax down one side] [the women were dripping with gold and diamonds]
madden
[drive mad, infuriate]: [the tribe say that millet was discovered by a woman maddened by famine] [this is ridiculous, he told her, maddened by her reaction]
pendulous
[drooping]: [pendulous branches]
inebriate
[drunk]: [I got mildly inebriated] [he was marked down as an inebriate] [he had been known to get hopelessly inebriate] [inebriate times by the Bay]
dehydrate
[dry up, dry]: [his body temperature was high and he had become dehydrated] [the nurses made sure I didn't dehydrate] [dehydrated mashed potatoes]
stale
[dry, hackneyed]: [stale bread] [their marriage had gone stale] [a top executive tends to get stale] [justifications for adverse possession go beyond stale claims] [she would cut up yesterday's leftover bread, staling now]
vernal
[early-blooming, early-flowering, late-spring-blooming, spring-blooming, spring-flowering]: [the vernal freshness of the land]
earthquake
[earth tremor]: [a political earthquake]
clay
[earth]: [the soil is mainly clay] [a clay soil] [a clay tile] [the rocks are covered by various mixtures of loose clays and sands] [she won more matches on clay than any other player]
devour
[eat hungrily, destroy, afflict]: [he devoured half of his burger in one bite] [the hungry flames devoured the old house] [she spent her evenings devouring the classics] [she was devoured by need]
ordinance
[edict, rite]: [they issued an ordinance limiting the length of nets] [his strict observance of religious ordinances was no doubt quickened by the remorse he felt]
academy
[educational institution]: [a police academy] [he was educated privately at academies in Margate] [Mark left St Andrews Academy with five highers, and studied maths at Glasgow University] [the Royal Academy of Arts]
influence
[effect, power, example to/for, affect, sway, persuade]: [the influence of television violence] [I was still under the influence of my parents] [their friends are having a bad influence on them] [the institute has considerable influence with teachers] [Fiona was a good influence on her]
voter
[elector]:
voltage
[electric potential, potential, potential difference, potential drop]: [the ratio of two voltages] [the distortion is proportional to voltage]
electrical
[electric]: [electrical appliances]
graceful
[elegant, fluid]: [she was a tall girl, slender and graceful]
induction
[elicitation, evocation]: [induction into membership of a Masonic brotherhood] [an induction course] [the induction of malformations by radiation] [the admission that laws of nature cannot be established by induction]
spheroid
[ellipsoid of revolution]:
mortify
[embarrass, subdue, become gangrenous]: [she was mortified to see her wrinkles in the mirror] [how mortifying to find that he was right] [return to heaven by mortifying the flesh] [a scratch or cut in Henry's arm had mortified]
discomfit
[embarrass]: [he was not noticeably discomfited by her tone]
adornment
[embellishment]: [the necktie is no longer a necessary male adornment] [precious stones have been used for the purposes of adornment for over 7,000 years]
loom
[emerge, be imminent]: [vehicles loomed out of the darkness] [there is a crisis looming] [dearer mortgages loomed large last night] [the loom of the land]
emergent
[emerging]: [the emergent democracies of eastern Europe] [knowledge is an emergent of this interactive process] [emergents tower above the top canopy]
confine
[enclose, restrict, limits]: [he does not confine his message to high politics] [you've confined yourself to what you know] [the troops were confined to their barracks] [he was confined to bed for four days with a bad dose of flu] [she was confined for nearly a month]
cheer
[encourage, acclaim, raise someone's spirits, perk up, raise someone's spirits, hurrah, cheers, happiness, fare]: [she cheered from the sidelines] [a cheering crowd] [MPs rose to cheer the Chancellor] [the cyclists were cheered on by the crowds] [he seemed greatly cheered by my arrival]
jolly
[encourage]: [he was a jolly man full of jokes] [we had a very jolly time] [he jollied people along] [they were trying to jolly her out of her torpor] [ideas to jolly up a winter's party]
dynamic
[energetic]: [a dynamic economy] [the dynamic content of these sites keeps their audience informed and up to date] [a dynamic young advertising executive] [evaluation is part of the basic dynamic of the project]
relish
[enjoyment, condiment, enjoy, look forward to]: [she swigged a mouthful of wine with relish] [I was appointed to a post for which I had little relish] [use salsa as a relish with grilled meat or fish] [the tired glutton finds no relish in the sweetest meat] [the relish of wine]
prodigious
[enormous, unnatural]: [the stove consumed a prodigious amount of fuel] [her memory was prodigious] [rumours of prodigious happenings, such as monstrous births] [a prodigiously gifted artist]
furious
[enraged, fierce]: [he was furious when he learned about it] [he drove at a furious speed]
tangle
[entangle, ravelled, confused, come into conflict, snarl, muddle]: [the broom somehow got tangled up in my long skirt] [a ploy to tangle matters even further] [they usually come a cropper when they tangle with the heavy mobs] [a tangle of golden hair] [the home team's defence got into an awful tangle]
fulsome
[enthusiastic]: [the press are embarrassingly fulsome in their appreciation] [the fulsome details of the later legend] [she was fulsome in her praise for the people who organized it]
highlight
[high point, main feature, call attention to]: [he views that season as the highlight of his career] [Gary Lineker presents the highlights of today's semi-final] [the issues highlighted by the report] [a vast backdrop with the colourful logo highlighted with lasers] [a photocopy with sections highlighted in green]
encumbrance
[hindrance, responsibility]: [the horse raised its hind leg as if to rid itself of an encumbrance] [for parents, childhood is too long a period of encumbrance] [details of encumbrances on property]
lag
[fall behind]: [they waited for Tim who was lagging behind] [a time lag between infection and symptoms] [all pipes and tanks in the attic should be lagged] [a lagged hot-water tank] [both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment]
valedictory
[farewell]: [a valedictory wave] [this book of memoirs reads like his valedictory]
livestock
[farm animal, stock]: [markets for the trading of livestock]
arable
[farmable]: [acres of arable land] [open arable fields] [arable crops] [arable farming] [vast areas of arable and pasture]
defective
[faulty, lacking]: [complaints over defective goods] [dystrophin is commonly defective in muscle tissue]
sovereign
[ruler, supreme, independent]: [the Emperor became the first Japanese sovereign to visit Britain] [in modern democracies the people's will is in theory sovereign] [a sovereign, democratic republic] [our most sovereign lord the King] [a sovereign remedy for all ills]
rustic
[rural, unsophisticated, plain, countryman, countrywoman]: [a party of Morris dancers decked out in rustic costume] [you are a rustic halfwit] [a rustic oak bench] [a rustic bridge] [rustic capitals were much easier to form]
poky
[small, cramped]: [five of us shared the poky little room] [his speech was poky, like he was a little simple]
slight
[small, minor, slim, insult, snub, insulting, insult, snub]: [a slight increase] [a slight ankle injury] [the chance of success is very slight] [a slight romantic comedy] [she was slight and delicate-looking]
spoon
[smooch]: [three spoons of sugar] [Rosie spooned sugar into her mug] [I saw them spooning on the beach] [he spooned his shot high over the bar]
contraband
[smuggling, smuggled]: [customs men had searched the carriages for contraband] [the salt trade (and contraband in it) were very active in the town] [contraband brandy] [the contraband market]
surreptitiously
[sneakily]: [Mary surreptitiously slipped from the room] [surreptitiously recorded conversations]
avalanche
[snowslide, barrage]: [he was swept to his death by an avalanche in 1988] [an avalanche of mud] [we have had an avalanche of applications for the post] [the climbers were avalanched down the south face of the mountain]
subterranean
[subterraneous, ulterior]: [the terrors and hazards of subterranean exploration] [the subterranean world of the behind-the-scenes television power brokers]
summit
[top, acme, meeting]: [she climbed back up the path towards the summit] [the dramas are considered to form one of the summits of world literature] [two binding treaties were agreed at the summit] [a summit meeting] [in 2013, 658 climbers summited Everest]
topographical
[topographic]: [the topographical features of the river valley] [he was one of the most faithful topographical artists to paint the lake] [a topographical analysis of neuronal loss in Alzheimer's patients]
torque
[torsion]: [the three-litre engine has lots of torque] [during the excitation of each phase the motor produces equal positive and negative torques] [he gently torqued the hip joint]
poignant
[touching]: [a poignant reminder of the passing of time] [the poignant scent of her powder]
toupee
[toupe]:
barter
[trade, swap, trading]: [he often bartered a meal for drawings] [they were able to buy or barter for most of what they needed] [paper money ceases to have any value and people resort to barter] [I took a supply of coffee and cigarettes to use as barter]
transmit
[transfer, broadcast]: [knowledge is transmitted from teacher to pupil] [sexually transmitted diseases] [the theatrical gift of being able to transmit emotion] [the programme was transmitted on 7 October] [the three bones transmit sound waves to the inner ear]
conveyance
[transportation, vehicle, transfer]: [a busy centre for the conveyance of agricultural produce from the Billingshurst area] [adventurers attempt the trail using all manner of conveyances, including mountain bikes and motorcycles] [a role that demands much more than the conveyance of simple emotions] [art's conveyance of meaning is complicated] [such protective measures might be taken before the conveyance is concluded]
explore
[travel over, investigate]: [he explored the Fontainebleau forest] [the project encourages children to explore the world of photography] [the company has been granted licences to explore for petroleum] [he sets out to explore fundamental questions] [the firm will explore joint development projects]
wile
[tricks]: [she had been trying out her feminine wiles on Sam] [she could be neither driven nor wiled into the parish kirk] [the gang had played monopoly as they wiled away the hours] [he was wile when he was young] [losing the final was a wile blow]
mere
[trifling]: [questions that cannot be answered by mere mortals] [the city is a mere 20 minutes from some stunning countryside] [his stomach rebelled at the mere thought of food] [the stream widens into a mere where hundreds of geese gather] [Hornsea Mere]
stumble
[trip, stagger, stammer, come across]: [her foot caught in the rug and she stumbled] [his legs still weak, he stumbled after them] [she stumbled over the words] [a policeman had stumbled across a gang of youths] [he broke a bone in his foot in a stumble down an Alpine pass]
succeed
[triumph, be successful, replace, inherit, follow, subsequent]: [he succeeded in winning a pardon] [a mission which could not possibly succeed] [the management and business skills you need to succeed] [he would succeed Hawke as Prime Minister] [he succeeded to his father's kingdom]
jungle
[tropical forest, complexity, labyrinth, the survival of the fittest]: [we set off into the jungle] [the lakes are hidden in dense jungle] [the garden was a jungle of bluebells] [it's a jungle out there] [power politics reflected the law of the jungle]
linger
[wait around, persist]: [she lingered in the yard, enjoying the warm sunshine] [she let her eyes linger on him suggestively] [she lingered over her meal] [the tradition seems to linger on] [we are thankful that she didn't linger on and suffer]
cloister
[walkway, abbey, confine]: [the shadowed cloisters of the convent] [he was inclined more to the cloister than the sword] [the monastery was where the Brothers would cloister themselves to meditate]
waterproof
[watertight, raincoat]: [a waterproof hat] [waterproof ink] [she put on boots and a waterproof] [a plastic case waterproofs this disposable camera]
economy
[wealth]: [he favours tax cuts to stimulate the economy] [a free-market economy] [fuel economy] [an economy pack of soap flakes] [a technique based on economy of effort]
erosion
[wearing away]: [the problem of soil erosion] [the erosion of support for the party] [the total area of haemorrhagic erosion] [patients with gastric erosions]
wherever
[wheresoever]: [meet me wherever you like] [it should be available wherever you go to shop] [wherever can he have gone to?] [use wholegrain breakfast cereals wherever possible] [they need to keep in touch with their editors in New York or Washington or wherever]
maelstrom
[whirlpool, turbulence]: [the train station was a maelstrom of crowds]
villainy
[wickedness, crime]: [the villainy of professional racketeers] [minor villainies]
devilry
[wickedness, mischief, black magic]: [some devilry was afoot] [a perverse sense of devilry urged her to lead him on]
readily
[willingly, easily]: [he readily admits that the new car surpasses its predecessors] [transport is readily available]
curl
[wind, crimp, perm, go curly, nestle, spiral, wind, ringlet, spiral, shock]: [her fingers curled round the microphone] [a slice of ham had begun to curl up at the edges] [she used to curl her hair with rags] [she curled up and went to sleep] [a wisp of smoke curling across the sky]
nugatory
[worthless, futile]: [a nugatory and pointless observation] [the teacher shortages will render nugatory the hopes of implementing the new curriculum]
sprain
[wrench, wrench]: [he left in a wheelchair after spraining an ankle] [a compress for treating sprains and bruises]
erroneous
[wrong]: [employers sometimes make erroneous assumptions]
impropriety
[wrongdoing, transgression]: [she was scandalized at the impropriety of the question] [there are no demonstrable legal improprieties]
mistakenly
[wrongly, by accident]: [they mistakenly believed her to be pregnant] [warplanes mistakenly bombed a village]
fete
[celebrate]: [a church fete] [she was an instant celebrity, feted by the media]
refringent
[]:
conceivably
[]: [it may conceivably cause liver disease]
winsome
[appealing]: [a winsome smile]
unguent
[balm, ointment, salve, unction]:
intrust
[commit, confide, entrust, trust]:
fiscal year
[financial year]:
handkerchief
[pocket handkerchief, hanky]:
lucrative
[profitable]: [a lucrative career as a stand-up comedian]
pioneer
[settler, developer, develop]: [a famous pioneer of birth control] [the technique was pioneered by a Swiss doctor in the 1930s]
astronomer
[stargazer, uranologist]:
criminology
[]:
decagon
[]:
demurrage
[]:
dermatology
[]:
dioxide
[]:
kerchief
[]:
pentavalent
[]:
philogynist
[]:
pneumonia
[]:
polyarchy
[]:
polygamy
[]:
polyhedron
[]:
ravine
[]:
receptionist
[]:
reflectible
[]:
rejuvenescence
[]:
remonstrant
[]:
semicivilized
[]:
skyscraper
[]:
stanchion
[]:
steppe
[]:
subtrahend
[]:
terrane
[]:
tripod
[]:
triumvir
[]:
kidney
[]: [I hoped that he would not prove of similar kidney]
callosity
[callousness, hardness, insensibility, unfeelingness]:
nominee
[campaigner, candidate]: [an Oscar nominee] [an offshore nominee company]
aluminium
[Al, aluminum, atomic number 13]:
archangel
[Angelica Archangelica, garden angelica]:
polar
[Arctic, Antarctic, cold, opposite]: [the polar regions] [most polar birds breed seasonally] [the polar radius of Jupiter is 66,550 km] [depression and its polar opposite, mania]
southern
[Confederate, gray, grey]: [the southern hemisphere] [the warm southern wind] [the southern rural poor] [a faintly southern accent]
seabed
[Davy Jones, Davy Jones's locker, ocean bottom, ocean floor, sea bottom, sea floor]:
helium
[He, atomic number 2]:
ambidextrous
[Janus-faced, deceitful, double-dealing, double-faced, double-tongued, duplicitous, two-faced]: [few of us are naturally ambidextrous] [an ambidextrous tile gauge]
occident
[New World, western hemisphere]:
surgery
[OR, operating room, operating theater, operating theatre]: [cardiac surgery] [he had surgery on his ankle] [Doctor Bailey had finished his evening surgery]
closet
[W.C., loo, water closet]: [he has a closet full of designer suits] [his brother's decision to come out of the closet] [she tries to have a relationship with another woman while remaining in the closet] [a closet smoker] [he was closeted with the king]
aerostatics
[]:
ampersand
[]:
annalist
[]:
augustinian
[]:
bight
[]:
bodice
[]:
bronchitis
[]:
caret
[]:
carnivore
[]:
chronometer
[]:
cicerone
[]:
comet
[]:
astonishing
[amazing]: [an astonishing achievement] [I find it astonishing that they ever thought it could work]
chromatic
[amber, brownish-yellow, yellow-brown, amber-green, amethyst, auburn, aureate, gilded, gilt, gold, golden, avocado, azure, bright blue, cerulean, sky-blue, beige, blackish-brown, blackish-red, blae, blue, blueish, bluish, blue-green, bluish green, cyan, teal, blue-lilac, bluish-lilac, blue-purple, bluish-purple, blue-violet, bluish-violet, blushful, rosy, bottle-green, bright-red, raspberry-red, bronze, bronzy, bronze-red, brown, brownish, chocolate-brown, dark-brown, brown-green, brownish-green, brown-purple, brownish-purple, buff, buff-brown, canary, canary-yellow, caramel, caramel brown, carnation, chartreuse, chestnut, chestnut-brown, copper colored, coppery, coral, coral-red, creamy, creamy-yellow, cress green, cresson, watercress, crimson-magenta, crimson-purple, crimson-yellow, dark-blue, deep-pink, deep-yellow, dull-purple, dun, earthlike, fuscous, taupe, golden-yellow, golden-brown, golden-green, gray-blue, grayish-blue, grey-blue, greyish-blue, gray-brown, grayish-brown, grey-brown, greyish-brown, gray-green, grayish-green, grey-green, greyish-green, gray-pink, grayish-pink, grey-pink, greyish-pink, dark-green, green, greenish, light-green, greenish-brown, hazel, hazel-brown, honey, jade, jade-green, khaki, lavender, lilac, lilac-colored, lavender-tinged, light-blue, pale blue, lilac-blue, violet-blue, lavender-pink, lilac-pink, violet-pink, lilac-purple, magenta, magenta pink, brownish-red, maroon, maroon-purple, mauve, mauve-blue, mauve-pink, moss green, mosstone, mouse-colored, mouselike, mousey, mousy, ocher, ochre, olive-brown, drab, olive-drab, olive, orange, orangish, orange-red, orangish-red, orange-brown, peachy, peachy-colored, peachy-coloured, peacock-blue, pea-green, pink, pinkish, pink-lavender, pinkish-lavender, pink-orange, pinkish-orange, salmon, pink-red, pink-tinged, pink-purple, pinkish-purple, powder blue, powdery-blue, purple, purplish, violet, purple-blue, purplish-blue, purple-brown, purplish-brown, purple-green, purplish-green, purple-lilac, purplish-lilac, purple-red, purplish-red, purple-tinged, purple-tinted, blood-red, carmine, cerise, cherry, cherry-red, crimson, red, reddish, ruby, ruby-red, ruddy, scarlet, mahogany-red, red-brown, reddish-brown, red-lavender, reddish-lavender, reddish-pink, flame-orange, red-orange, reddish-orange, red-purple, reddisn-purple, red-violet, reddish-violet, rosaceous, rose, roseate, rose-red, rose-lavender, rose-lilac, rose-mauve, rose-purple, rosy-purple, rose-tinged, rose-tinted, russet, rust, rust-brown, rusty, rust-red, rusty-red, rusty-brown, sage, sage-green, sapphire, scarlet-crimson, scarlet-pink, sea-green, silver-blue, silvery-blue, silver-green, silvery-green, chukker-brown, mummy-brown, snuff, snuff-brown, brownish-orange, sorrel, stone, straw, sulfur-yellow, sulphur-yellow, tan, tannish, tangerine, tawny, tawny-brown, ultramarine, umber, Chinese-red, cinnabar, vermilion, vermillion, vinaceous, violet-tinged, violet-tinted, white-pink, wine-red, xanthous, yellow, yellowish, yellow-beige, yellowish-beige, yellow-green, yellow-orange, yellowish-orange, yellow-tinged, colored, colorful, coloured]: [the master of the chromatic harmonica]
nihilist
[anarchist, syndicalist]: [dogmatic atheists and nihilists could never defend the value of human life]
pedigree
[ancestry, pure-bred]: [they are looking for animals with pedigrees] [a spaniel of distinguished pedigree] [with a pedigree equal to many of the gentry] [the debate about pedigree and family fortunes] [the scheme has a long pedigree]
enrage
[anger, very angry]: [the students were enraged at these new rules]
fauna
[animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature]: [the flora and fauna of Siberia] [the local Mesozoic rocks and their faunas]
vivify
[animate, quicken, reanimate, recreate, renovate, repair, revive, revivify]: [outings vivify learning for children]
irritate
[annoy, annoyed, inflame]: [his tone irritated her] [sprays and polishes can irritate dry, sensitive skin]
chagrin
[annoyance]: [to my chagrin, he was nowhere to be seen] [he was chagrined when his friend poured scorn on him]
troublesome
[annoying, disruptive]: [schools are removing troublesome pupils]
bothersome
[annoying]: [most childhood stomach aches, though bothersome, aren't serious]
nullify
[annul, repeal, cancel out]: [judges were unwilling to nullify government decisions] [insulin can block the release of the hormone and thereby nullify the effects of training]
solution
[answer, services, mixture]: [there are no easy solutions to financial and marital problems] [the solution to this month's crossword] [an Internet marketing firm specializing in e-commerce solutions] [a solution of ammonia in water] [gum tragacanth in solution is best used thinly on paper]
expectation
[anticipation, prospects]: [reality had not lived up to expectations] [I sat down in expectation of a feast of nostalgia] [students had high expectations for their future] [as the White House tries to paint a rosy economic picture, they are also trying to manage expectations] [the company needs to be very sure it has a hit or it should start managing its customers' expectations]
expectancy
[anticipation]: [they waited with an air of expectancy] [our expectancies about the future]
raiment
[apparel, clothe, dress, enclothe, fit out, garb, garment, habilitate, tog]: [ladies clothed in raiment bedecked with jewels]
claimant
[applicant]: [one in four eligible claimants failed to register for a rebate]
randomly
[arbitrarily, at random, every which way, haphazardly, indiscriminately, willy-nilly]: [troops fired randomly from tanks] [I randomly split the ironing into two piles] [each clinic surveyed 20 patients who were selected randomly] [her entry was randomly drawn from around 10,000 others to win the first prize car]
prelate
[archpriest, hierarch, high priest, primate]:
quarrelsome
[argumentative]: [a moody, quarrelsome man]
elbow
[arm joint, bend, push (one's way), dismiss, sack]: [she propped herself up on one elbow] [I darned the elbows of my corduroy jacket] [a cross-fitting with elbows and straight pipework] [one player had elbowed another in the face] [he elbowed his way through the crush]
armour
[armor]: [knights in armour] [a suit of armour] [infantry, armour, and logistic units] [his armour of self-confidence] [the knowledge armoured him against her]
avow
[assert, declared]: [he avowed that he had voted Labour in every election] [he avowed his change of faith]
abet
[assist]: [he was not guilty of murder, but guilty of aiding and abetting others] [we are aiding and abetting this illegal traffic]
canvas
[canvass]: [the painting is oil on canvas] [a canvas bag] [they found a canvas and he seated his model] [he is used to painting large canvases] [Turner's late canvases]
wonder
[awe, marvel, ponder, marvel, be surprised]: [he observed the intricacy of the ironwork with the wonder of a child] [have you ever explored the wonders of a coral reef?] [Athens was a place of wonder and beauty] [we all eat cakes from Gisella—she's a wonder] [you're all a bunch of gutless wonders!]
infancy
[babyhood, beginnings]: [a son who died in infancy] [opinion polls were in their infancy]
championship
[backing, backup, patronage]: [the final round of the championship will be in Japan] [the team's final match before the European championships] [the world chess championship] [a championship course] [Louise Gibson retained the women's championship]
retrograde
[backward, for the worse]: [a retrograde flow] [the outer satellites move in retrograde orbits] [to go back on the progress that has been made would be a retrograde step] [the retrograde form of these inscriptions] [our history must retrograde for the space of a few pages]
disinfectant
[bactericide]: [all surfaces are cleaned manually or by pressure washer with disinfectant] [a cat won't use its litter box if it's cleaned with smelly disinfectants] [cleansing and disinfectant products]
misrule
[bad government, lawlessness]: [a country that is recovering from decades of misrule] [there was a tradition of misrule before, during, and after games] [he misruled his country for fourteen years]
tape
[band, adhesive tape, recording, cassette, record, bind, cordon, understand fully]: [a reel of tape] [a dirty apron fastened with thin tapes] [secure the bandage with tape] [double-sided sticky tape] [they put four songs on tape]
rod
[bar, staff, corporal punishment]: [concrete walls reinforced with steel rods] [a curtain rod] [the royal insignia included the ring, the sceptre, and the rod] [the roof is formed of willow and hazel rods woven between willow rafters] [he swung the rod again in a threatening arc]
desolate
[barren, deserted, miserable, devastate, dishearten]: [a desolate Pennine moor] [I suddenly felt desolate and bereft] [the droughts that desolated the dry plains] [he was desolated by the deaths of his treasured friends]
transpire
[become known, happen]: [it transpired that millions of dollars of debt had been hidden in a complex web of transactions] [as it transpired, he was right] [I'm going to find out exactly what transpired] [a cactus does not transpire as freely as most plants] [moisture is transpired from plants much more quickly than is realized]
cabin
[berth, compartment, cab, hut]: [she lay in her cabin on a steamer] [animals are not allowed in the cabin of the aircraft] [the cabin lay three miles into the reserve] [the cabined and confined lives of the poor]
optimum
[best]: [the optimum childbearing age] [the plant grows within a range of 68 and 78°F, the optimum being 74°] [the optimum must lie between these two values]
treachery
[betrayal]: [many died because of his treachery] [his distaste for plots and treacheries] [the treachery of language]
traitor
[betrayer]: [he was a traitor to his own class] [she'd had the gall to deny she had turned traitor]
engagement
[betrothal, appointment, participation, battle]: [she'd broken off her engagement to Paul] [a good long engagement to give you time to be sure] [a dinner engagement] [Britain's continued engagement in open trading] [the war's most significant engagements were fought to keep these sea lanes open]
horn
[between the devil and the deep blue sea]: [she took endless horn and pressure, but now she wants a divorce] [powdered rhino horn] [keyboards, horns, and drums] [a car horn] [the bull horned him out of the way]
menu
[bill of fare]: [the waiter handed her a menu] [politics and sport are on the menu tonight] [a no-fuss dinner-party menu]
hoarding
[billboard]:
incumbent
[binding, current, holder]: [the government realized that it was incumbent on them to act] [the incumbent President was defeated] [powerful incumbent airlines] [the present incumbent will soon be retiring]
owl
[bird of Minerva, bird of night, hooter]:
iota
[bit]: [Iota Piscium] [nothing she said seemed to make an iota of difference]
mouthful
[bite, draught, tongue-twister]: [he took a mouthful of beer] [poliomyelitis is a bit of a mouthful] [she gave him a mouthful—I'd never heard her speak like this before]
benediction
[blessing, blessedness]: [he said the benediction] [she went with Maureen to Benediction] [he eventually wins benediction]
occlude
[block, close up, impede, jam, obstruct, obturate]: [thick make-up can occlude the pores] [they were occluding the waterfront with a wall of buildings] [it is placed at eye level with one eye occluded] [in monkeys and apes, the upper canine occludes with the lower first premolar] [occluded within these crystals are other molecules]
frank
[candid, stamp, stamp]: [a long and frank discussion] [to be perfectly frank, I don't know] [Kate looked at Sam with frank admiration] [frank ulceration] [each cover will be franked with a specially designed postmark]
explode
[blow up, detonate, lose one's temper, increase suddenly, disprove]: [an ammunition lorry exploded with a roar] [Britain had not yet exploded her first nuclear weapon] [lead ensures that petrol burns rather than explodes] [an exploded diagram of the rifle's parts] [tension which could explode into violence at any time]
bravado
[boldness]: [he possesses none of the classic wheeler-dealer's casual bravado]
barrage
[bombardment, abundance, deluge, dam]: [his forces launched an artillery barrage on the city] [a barrage of questions] [they are considering a tidal barrage built across the Severn estuary] [his doctor was barraged with unsolicited advice]
wampum
[boodle, bread, cabbage, clams, dinero, dough, gelt, kale, lettuce, lolly, loot, lucre, moolah, pelf, scratch, shekels, simoleons, sugar]: [strings of wampum] [a belt consisting of thousands of wampum]
hombre
[bozo, cat, guy]: [the Raiders quarterback is one tough hombre]
ramose
[branched, branching, ramate, ramous]: [ramose corals]
valiant
[brave]: [she made a valiant effort to hold her anger in check] [a valiant warrior]
betray
[break one's promise to, reveal, traitor]: [a double agent who betrayed some 400 British and French agents to the Germans] [many of those employed by diplomats betrayed secrets] [the men who have betrayed British people's trust] [she drew a deep breath that betrayed her indignation]
rupture
[break, burst, break, sever, hernia, rift]: [if the main artery ruptures he could die] [the impact ruptured both fuel tanks] [one of the boys was ruptured and needed to be fitted with a truss] [once trust and confidence has been ruptured it can be difficult to regain] [a small hairline crack could develop into a rupture]
brittle
[breakable, rigid, harsh, edgy]: [her bones became fragile and brittle] [a brittle laugh] [her manner was artificially bright and brittle] [peanut brittle]
awesome
[breathtaking]: [the awesome power of the atomic bomb] [the band is truly awesome!]
fleeting
[brief]: [for a fleeting moment I saw the face of a boy]
genius
[brilliance, talent, brilliant person]: [she was a teacher of genius] [that woman has a genius for organization] [a mathematical genius] [he sees Adams as the man's evil genius] [this young man is my good genius, my guardian angel]
rim
[brim, edge]: [a china egg cup with a gold rim] [the fitting of radials on new rims] [she wore spectacles with thin gold rims] [he grinned at her from over the rim of his spectacles] [the outer rim of the solar system]
deliver
[bring, hand over, provide, administer, bowl, utter, give birth to, save]: [the products should be delivered on time] [we'll deliver direct to your door] [he had been able to deliver votes in huge numbers] [she's waiting for him to deliver on his promise] [there was a reward if you were delivered unharmed to the nearest British post]
verge
[brink, tend towards]: [they came down to the verge of the lake] [the grass verge outside the church] [I was on the verge of tears] [despair verging on the suicidal] [his style verged into the art nouveau school]
prospectus
[brochure]:
peremptory
[brusque, incontrovertible]: ['Just do it!' came the peremptory reply] [a peremptory order of the court]
cruelty
[brutality, callousness]: [he has treated her with extreme cruelty] [we can't stand cruelty to animals] [the cruelties of forced assimilation and genocide] [she divorced my stepfather for persistent cruelty]
clam
[buck, dollar, dollar bill, one dollar bill]: [November is one of the worst times for clamming] [as soon as I ask if any of this can go on the record, he clams up]
bale
[bundle]: [the fire destroyed 500 bales of hay] [world cotton consumption was a record 86 m bales] [the straw is left on the field to be baled later]
saddle
[burden, in charge]: [follow the road which goes across the saddle between two tors] [feathers at the rear of a rooster's saddle] [a saddle of lamb] [a recipe for saddle of hare] [he was in the stable saddling up his horse]
import
[buy from abroad, imported commodity, importation, meaning, importance]: [supermarkets may no longer import cheap jeans from Bulgaria] [imported cigarettes] [new beliefs were often imported by sailors] [having thus seen, what is imported in a Man's trusting his Heart] [they passed a resolution importing that they relied on His Majesty's gracious promise]
purchase
[buy, acquisition, grip]: [Mr Gill spotted the manuscript at a local auction and purchased it for £1,500] [the victory was purchased by the death of Rhiwallon] [the large number of videos currently available for purchase] [she made her purchases carefully] [she stowed her purchases in the car]
alone
[by oneself, unaided, lonely, only]: [she was alone that evening] [he lives alone] [team members are more effective than individuals working alone] [they were not alone in dissenting from the advice] [she was terribly alone and exposed]
lane
[byroad]: [she drove along the winding lane] [Park Lane] [the car moved into the outside lane] [a bus lane] [she went into the final in lane three]
hoard
[cache, store]: [he came back to rescue his little hoard of gold] [a hoard of Romano-British bronzes] [a hoard of secret information about his work] [thousands of antiques hoarded by a compulsive collector] [a year's worth of hoarded resentments and grudges]
cancel
[call off, annul, neutralize]: [he was forced to cancel his visit] [his visa had been cancelled] [I intend to cancel your debt to me] [cancelling stamps on registered mail] [the electric fields may cancel each other out]
denominate
[call]: [the borrowings were denominated in US dollars] [two principal types of word associates can be denominated paradigmatic and syntagmatic]
surrender
[capitulate, give up, abandon, capitulation, relinquishment]: [over 140 rebels surrendered to the authorities] [she surrendered only twenty games in her five qualifying matches] [the president has surrendered to panic and is making things worse] [he surrendered himself to the mood of the hills] [in 1815 Denmark surrendered Norway to Sweden]
overturn
[capsize, upset, cancel]: [the crowd proceeded to overturn cars and set them on fire] [a coach hit a car and overturned] [the results overturned previous findings] [he fought for eight years to overturn a conviction for armed robbery]
custody
[care, imprisonment]: [the property was placed in the custody of a trustee] [he was trying to get custody of their child] [my father was being taken into custody]
discreet
[careful, tactful, unobtrusive, subtle]: [we made some discreet inquiries] [a discreet cough] [a finite number of discrete categories] [you can rely on him to be discreet]
bear
[carry, display, conduct oneself, support, sustain, withstand, endure, tolerate, give birth to, produce, veer, yield results, take into account, testify to, advance on, be relevant to, confirm, cope, be patient with]: [he was bearing a tray of brimming glasses] [the warriors bore lances tipped with iron] [steamboats bear the traveller out of Kerrerra Sound] [many of the papers bore his flamboyant signature] [he bore the surname Tiller]
deject
[cast down, demoralise, demoralize, depress, dismay, dispirit, get down]: [nothing dejects a trader like the interruption of his profits]
mould
[cast, character, pattern, determine, mildew, earth]: [the smith would pour the molten metal into the shaped mould] [a jelly mould] [a lobster mould with a sauce of carrots and port] [he's a superb striker in the same mould as Gary Lineker] [he planned to conquer the world as a roving reporter in the mould of his hero]
classify
[categorize]: [mountain peaks are classified according to their shape] [elements are usually classified as metals or non-metals] [government officials classified 6.3 million documents in 1992]
grade
[category, rank, mark, class, slope, classify, assess, pass, come up to standard]: [sea salt is usually available in coarse or fine grades] [high-grade steel] [clerical and secretarial grades] [a Grade I listed building] [I got good grades last semester]
ranch
[cattle farm, cattle ranch, spread]: [a beef cattle ranch] [fur ranches for silver fox and mink] [cattle ranching] [ranched salmon] [we've ranched this area for almost two decades]
arouse
[cause, stir up, excite, wake]: [something about the man aroused the guard's suspicions] [the letter aroused in him a sense of urgency] [an ability to influence the audience and to arouse the masses] [his touch, which had so aroused her moments before, unnerved her now] [she told him how aroused she was]
generate
[cause]: [changes which are likely to generate controversy] [the income generated by the sale of council houses]
engender
[cause]: [the issue engendered continuing controversy]
careful
[cautious, mindful, prudent, attentive]: [I begged him to be more careful] [be careful not to lose her address] [he was very careful of his reputation] [his mother had always been careful with money] [a careful consideration of the facts]
wary
[cautious, suspicious]: [dogs which have been mistreated often remain very wary of strangers] [a wary look]
astronomical
[celestial]: [astronomical observations] [he wanted an astronomical fee]
percentile
[centile]: [the tenth percentile for weight] [she passed the state board exam in the top percentile]
brain
[cerebrum, intelligence, clever person]: [a brain tumour] [an electronic brain] [I didn't have enough brains for the sciences] [success requires brain as well as brawn] [Tom was the brains of the outfit]
definitely
[certainly]: [I shall definitely be at the airport to meet you] [we couldn't plan to go elsewhere until we had heard from you more definitely]
certitude
[certainty]: [the question may never be answered with certitude] [the collapse of the old political certitudes in eastern Europe]
dissolution
[cessation, disbandment, dissolving, disintegration]: [the dissolution of their marriage] [the Prime Minister asked the queen for a dissolution of Parliament] [minerals susceptible to dissolution] [the dissolution of the flesh] [an advanced state of dissolution]
chairman
[chair]: [the chairman of the conference] [he was chairman of the finance committee] [he received an offer to become the company's chairman and chief executive] [the party chairman]
turnaround
[change of mind, flip-flop, reversal, turnabout]: [it was a remarkable turnaround in his fortunes] [a seven-day turnaround] [short hops with quick turnarounds and limited in-flight service]
alter
[change, change]: [Eliot was persuaded to alter the passage] [our outward appearance alters as we get older] [an altered state] [plans to alter the dining hall]
alteration
[change]: [careful alteration of old buildings] [alterations had to be made]
transition
[change]: [students in transition from one programme to another] [a transition to multiparty democracy] [she had been living as a woman for eight years at that point and had completed her transition in 2001] [he began the transition from female to male in the 10th grade] [he transitioned into filmmaking easily]
strait
[channel, a bad/difficult situation]: [the Straits of Gibraltar] [the economy is in dire straits] [redundancy left him in severe financial straits] [the road was so strait that a handful of men might have defended it] [my captivity was strait as ever]
remembrance
[commemoration, recollection, memory, memento]: [a flash of remembrance passed between them] [a chapel of remembrance] [they exchanged fond remembrances of his gentle ways] [I went through the papers and remembrances in his drawers]
scar
[cicatrix, mark, scars, trauma, disfigure, damage, traumatize]: [a faint scar ran the length of his left cheek] [the attack has left mental scars on Terry and his family] [Max could see scars of the blast] [this fossil bark is typified by its lozenge-shaped leaf scars] [high limestone scars bordered the road]
hold
[clasp, embrace, support, detain, maintain, continue, remain available, be convincing, have a capacity of, accommodate, possess, occupy, believe, convene, grip, purchase, influence, control, obtain, contact, cherish, cherish, stand in, be tenable, postpone, hesitate, hinder, withhold, occupy, speak at length, declaim, resist, wait, wait, retain, resist, last, postpone, support, delay, obstruct, impede, rob, approve of]: [she was holding a brown leather suitcase] [he held on to the back of a chair] [I held the door open for him] [Mark pulled her into his arms and held her close] [I reached up to the nearest branch which seemed likely to hold my weight]
rattle
[clatter, jingle, jolt, unnerve, clatter, death rattle, anger, reel off, prattle]: [the roof rattled with little gusts of wind] [he rattled some change in his pocket] [trains rattled past at frequent intervals] [the house was too big—we just rattled around in it] [she turned quickly, rattled by his presence]
fist
[clenched hand]: [she pummelled him furiously with her fists] [Karr clenched his fists] [he fisted a goal-bound shot over the bar] [she fisted her hands on her hips] [they're all solid citizens, all capable of making a good fist of being an MP]
platitude
[cliché]: [she began uttering liberal platitudes]
mantle
[cloak, covering, role, cover]: [she was wrapped tightly in her mantle] [the houses were covered with a thick mantle of snow] [many gulls are all white except for dark grey mantle and wings] [the second son has now assumed his father's mantle] [magmas erupted at mid-ocean ridges are derived from the upper mantle]
robe
[cloak, garb, vestment, dressing gown, dress oneself]: [a young man in a fez and ragged robe] [a baby in christening robes] [he was dressed in his archbishop's robes after some function] [he was clad in a short towelling robe] [a circle of robed figures]
cape
[cloak, headland]: [he was wearing a flowing cape] [the robe was decorated with gold lace on the fronts, cape, and hem] [the hair on a cape for the taxidermist can spoil in warm weather] [the film shows a man expertly caping a charging bull] [we could see the island from the cape]
intimacy
[closeness, sexual relations]: [the intimacy between a husband and wife] [the room had a peaceful sense of intimacy about it] [here she was sitting swapping intimacies with a stranger] [he acquired an intimacy with Swahili literature]
attire
[clothing, dress, dressed]: [the usually sober attire of British security service personnel] [Lady Agatha was attired in an elaborate evening gown] [stylishly attired teenagers in stonewashed jeans]
wiry
[coarse, sinewy]: [his wiry black hair] [Bernadette was a small, wiry woman]
spoiler
[coddler, mollycoddler, pamperer]: [it is a sad thing that so many so-called book lovers are book spoilers] [he is perceived as a genuine factor in the presidential election, a certified political spoiler] [the paper ran a spoiler]
specie
[coinage, metal money, mintage]: [the Bank of England in 1795 had held around £8 million in specie] [the plaintiff could not be sure of recovering his goods in specie]
buffet
[cold table, cafe, sideboard, batter, afflict, shock]: [a cold buffet lunch] [rough seas buffeted the coast] [the wind was buffeting at their bodies] [he was buffeted from side to side] [they were buffeted by a major recession]
chill
[coldness, cold, unfriendliness, make cold, cold]: [there was a chill in the air] [the draughty chill of the castle] [heat exhaustion symptoms include nausea, chills, dizziness and dehydration] [we had better return before you catch a chill] [he was confined to bed with a severe chill]
anthology
[collection]: [an anthology of European poetry] [a double-CD anthology of Moby Grape, the legendary Sixties San Francisco band]
editorial
[column, newspaper column]: [the editorial team] [there are now fewer editorial pages] [the paper ran an editorial denouncing his hawkish stand] [we are giving readers more for their money—quality editorial and more colour]
pillar
[column, stalwart]: [a pillar of rock] [he was a pillar of his local community] [they were pushed from pillar to post from the moment they left their homes]
amalgamate
[combine]: [he amalgamated his company with another] [numerous small British railway companies amalgamated] [amalgamated zinc]
incendiary
[combustible, inflammatory, explosive, arsonist, agitator]: [incendiary bombs] [incendiary rhetoric] [an incendiary live performer] [the Holy City was blasted by incendiaries] [he was an English incendiary, responsible for the burning of three French battleships]
assemble
[come together, bring together, construct]: [a crowd had assembled outside the gates] [he assembled the surviving members of the group for a tour] [my new machine is being assembled and my old one dismantled] [assemble the program and produce a file suitable to input to the simulator]
quilt
[comfort, comforter, puff]: [the roof space should be insulated with a glass-fibre quilt at least 100 mm thick] [a blue quilted jacket] [more than one bloke I've seen Joe quilt good and proper]
humour
[comical aspect, mood, indulge, pamper]: [his tales are full of humour] [their inimitable brand of humour] [her good humour vanished] [the clash hadn't improved his humour] [and have you really burnt all your Plays to please a Humour?]
gloomy
[dark, despondent, pessimistic]: [a gloomy corridor badly lit by oil lamps] [gloomy forecasts about the economy]
gather
[congregate, harvest, understand, summon, clasp, pleat]: [as soon as a crowd gathered, the police came] [information that we have gathered about people] [I gathered up the prescription and went to the door] [the harvest of wheat and barley had been gathered in] [the Bushmen live by hunting and gathering]
result
[consequence, verdict, mark, answer, follow, end in]: [the tower collapsed as a result of safety violations] [different approaches have been tried with somewhat mixed results] [determination and persistence guarantee results] [if we can get a result in that game we might qualify] [oil companies have reported better results]
orthodox
[conservative, conventional]: [Burke's views were orthodox in his time] [orthodox medical treatment] [orthodox Hindus] [a relatively orthodox artist] [they avoided orthodox jazz venues]
contagion
[contamination]: [the rooms held no risk of contagion] [through personal hygiene the spread of common contagions is discouraged] [the contagion of disgrace] [a political fear, a contagion that spread from city to city]
progressive
[continuing, modern, innovator]: [a progressive decline in popularity] [progressive liver failure] [steeply progressive income taxes] [a relatively progressive Minister of Education] [the most progressive art school in Britain]
deny
[contradict, refuse]: [both firms deny any responsibility for the tragedy] [an anti-environmentalist campaign group that denies climate change] [the inquiry was denied access to intelligence sources] [he had denied himself sexually for years] [the servants are ordered to deny him]
perversity
[contrariness, bloody-mindedness, unreasonableness]: [they responded with typical perversity] [the perversity of being able to carry a gun but not purchase a drink]
rust
[corrode]: [paint protects your car from rust] [the MPs are here to scrape the rust off the derelict machinery of government] [her rust-coloured coat] [the blades had rusted away] [rusting machinery]
debauch
[corrupt, seduce]: [Hitler debauched the moral climate of Germany] [he debauches the doctor's teenage daughter] [Patrick looked utterly untouched by the previous night's debauch] [his life had been spent in debauch]
expectorate
[cough out, cough up, spit out, spit up]: [she was expectorating dirty coloured sputum] [a sign asks visitors not to expectorate in the sinks]
procedure
[course of action]: [the police are now reviewing procedures] [parliamentary procedure] [the standard procedure for informing new employees about conditions of work] [the procedure is carried out under general anaesthetic]
undercover
[covert]: [an undercover police operation] [he worked undercover in Northern Ireland]
crevice
[crack]: [many creatures hide in crevices in the rock]
wrinkle
[crease, guideline, wrinkles, creased, crease]: [she smoothed out the wrinkles from her skirt] [the organizers have the wrinkles pretty well ironed out] [learning the wrinkles from someone more experienced saves time] [Dotty's wrinkled stockings] [he sniffed and wrinkled his nose]
crawl
[creep, grovel to, be full of]: [they crawled from under the table] [the tiny spider was crawling up Nicky's arm] [the traffic was crawling along] [I turned without stopping and crawled back to the deep end] [glazes can crawl away from a crack in the piece]
pony
[crib, trot]: [he had been playing the ponies on the side] [a pony of vodka] [he ponied up $450 for the project]
delinquency
[crime, negligence]: [social causes of crime and delinquency] [he relayed this in such a manner as to imply grave delinquency on the host's part]
huddle
[crowd, curl up, crowd, collection, consultation]: [they huddled together for warmth] [she huddled up close to him] [a man with his clothes all huddled on anyhow] [the colonel huddled with A.J. at the dining-room table] [a huddle of huts]
essential
[crucial, basic, necessity, fundamentals]: [it is essential to keep up-to-date records] [fibre is an essential ingredient of our diet] [the essential weakness of the plaintiff's case] [essential hypertension] [we only had the bare essentials in the way of equipment]
perspicuous
[crystal clear, limpid, lucid, luculent, pellucid]: [it provides simpler and more perspicuous explanations than its rivals]
plough
[cultivate, career, crash into, trudge, persevere, invest in]: [she saw a brown strip of plough] [poses such as the plough promote circulation and the drainage of blood from the legs] [the fields had all been ploughed up] [a ploughed field] [icebergs have ploughed furrows on the seabed]
brake
[curb, slow down]: [he slammed on his brakes] [a brake pedal] [constrained resources will act as a brake on research] [she had to brake hard to avoid a milk float] [an anti-lock braking system]
slit
[cut, opening, cut]: [make a slit in the stem under a bud] [arrow slits] [give me the truth or I will slit your throat] [he slit open the envelope] [a wide recording head magnetizes the tape before it is slit to domestic size]
decagram
[dag, dekagram, dkg]:
impairment
[damage, harm]: [a degree of physical or mental impairment] [a speech impairment]
peril
[danger]: [you could well place us both in peril] [the movement is in peril of dying] [a setback to the state could present a peril to the regime] [she first witnessed the perils of pop stardom a decade ago] [Jonathon perilled his life for love of David]
bold
[daring, audacious, striking, heavy]: [a bold attempt to solve the crisis] [no journalist was bold enough to take on the Prime Minister] [she tossed him a bold look] [I slapped him when he was bold] [a coat with bold polka dots]
tempt
[entice, run a risk]: [there'll always be someone tempted by the rich pickings of poaching] [jobs which involve entertaining may tempt you to drink more than you intend] [I was tempted to look at my watch, but didn't dare] [he was tempted out of retirement to save the team from relegation] [how is it that ye have agreed together, to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?]
prerogative
[entitlement]: [in some countries, higher education is predominantly the prerogative of the rich] [it's not a female prerogative to feel insecure] [the monarch retained the formal prerogative power to appoint the Prime Minister]
access
[entrance, (the) use of, admission, fit, retrieve]: [the staircase gives access to the top floor] [wheelchair access] [do you have access to a computer?] [awards to help people gain access to training] [we were denied access to our grandson]
machinery
[equipment, workings]: [farm machinery] [long hair should be tied back to avoid it getting stuck in machinery] [the machinery of the state]
undermine
[erode, tunnel under, subvert]: [the flow of water had undermined pillars supporting the roof] [the demolition engineers did eventually undermine two of the tower's six sides] [this could undermine years of hard work]
fallacious
[erroneous, false]: [fallacious arguments]
conjoin
[espouse, get hitched with, get married, hook up with, marry, wed]: [an approach which conjoins theory and method]
consistency
[evenness, thickness, texture]: [the consistency of measurement techniques] [we know we have the ability at the club—what we need is consistency] [the sauce has the consistency of creamed butter]
ultimate
[eventual, fundamental, best, utmost]: [their ultimate aim was to force his resignation] [the ultimate constituents of anything that exists are atoms] [the ultimate accolade] [the ultimate in decorative luxury]
deplete
[exhaust]: [fish stocks are severely depleted] [Mansfield started the game with a heavily depleted side] [supplies are depleting fast]
gallery
[exhibition room, balcony, passage]: [an art gallery] [the National Gallery] [an extensive gallery of colour photographs] [in the minstrels' gallery, a string orchestra plays themes from film soundtracks] [he lashed a two-iron on to the green, bringing gasps from the gallery]
interpret
[explain, decipher, understand, portray, translate]: [the evidence is difficult to interpret] [he would no longer interpret her silence as indifference] [interpreting the music well takes hours of listening and experimentation] [I agreed to interpret for Jean-Claude]
clarification
[explanation]: [please advise us if you require further clarification] [the remaining changes are small clarifications]
soluble
[explicable, answerable, resolvable, solvable]: [the poison is soluble in alcohol] [there have been periods when crime and disorder seemed soluble problems]
detonate
[explode, set off]: [two other bombs failed to detonate] [a trigger that can detonate nuclear weapons]
debunk
[explode]: [she debunks all the usual rubbish about acting] [comedy takes delight in debunking heroes]
plumb
[explore, find, right, utterly, vertically, vertical, install]: [I plumbed the depth and found the bottom of the shelf to be seven metres down] [at its deepest the lake scarcely plumbed seven feet] [she had plumbed the depths of depravity] [they are valuable aids in plumbing the frames and keeping the side of the ship fair] [trading opportunities plumb in the centre of central Europe]
improvise
[extemporize, impromptu, contrive, makeshift]: [he invited actors to improvise dialogue] [he was improvising to a backing of guitar chords] [I improvised a costume for myself out of an old blue dress]
infusion
[extract]: [a strong rosemary infusion] [the infusion of $6.3 million for improvements] [an infusion of youthful talent] [a four-hour intravenous infusion]
dazzling
[extremely bright, impressive, excellent]: [the sunlight was dazzling] [a dazzling smile] [a dazzling display of football]
exceedingly
[extremely]: [the team played exceedingly well] [the supply multiplied exceedingly]
outgoing
[extrovert, uninhibited, departing, expenses]: [she's always been very outgoing and she's got heaps of friends] [the outgoing Prime Minister] [incoming and outgoing calls] [if your outgoings regularly exceed your incomings, you have a problem] [the inward deliveries and outgoings of raw materials]
opposite
[facing, facing, conflicting, reverse]: [a crowd gathered on the opposite side of the street] [a word that is opposite in meaning to another] [currents flowing in opposite directions] [the opposite ends of the price range] [we were opposites in temperament]
sect
[faction]: [two of the older sects—the Congregationalists and the Baptists—were able to increase their membership dramatically] [the radical sect Friends of the Earth campaigned against aerosols containing CFC gases]
accuracy
[factuality, precision]: [we have confidence in the accuracy of the statistics] [the accuracy of radiocarbon dating] [accuracies of 50-70 per cent]
abortive
[failed]: [the rebel officers who led the abortive coup were shot] [abortive medusae] [abortive techniques]
equality
[fairness]: [an organization aiming to promote racial equality]
retrieve
[get back, put right]: [I was sent to retrieve the balls from his garden] [Steven stooped and retrieved his hat] [labradors are used to retrieve the birds after the flush] [when he reaches the breakers, with you retrieving furiously, he'll probably change course] [other features include the ability to store, update, retrieve, and print your data]
reclaim
[get back, save]: [you can reclaim £25 of the £435 deducted] [when Dennis emerged I reclaimed my room] [societies for reclaiming beggars and prostitutes] [allow a week or ten days for reclaiming the bird] [much of the Camargue has now been reclaimed]
nursery
[glasshouse, greenhouse]: [a toy-strewn nursery] [toys and nursery furniture] [that nursery of traitors] [this estuary provides a vast nursery for fish] [a six-furlong nursery handicap]
sparkle
[glitter, glittering, be lively, brilliant, glitter, vivacity]: [her earrings sparkled as she turned her head] [after a glass of wine, she began to sparkle] [there was a sparkle in his eyes] [she's got a kind of sparkle]
bubble
[globule, bubbles, illusion, sparkle, boil, overflow]: [we'd shake up a piece of soap in a tin of warm water and blow bubbles] [the white foamy part of a broken wave is largely made up of air bubbles] [we both lived in a bubble, the kind provided by occupying a privileged pied-à-terre in Greenwich Village] [the US economy squandered trillions as a result of the 1990s stock market bubble] [many companies enjoyed rapid expansion before the bubble burst]
health
[good physical condition, state of health]: [he was restored to health] [a health risk] [bad health forced him to retire] [a standard for measuring the financial health of a company]
chasm
[gorge, breach]: [a chasm a mile long] [he was engulfed in a chasm of despair] [the chasm between rich and poor]
slope
[gradient, hill, piste, slant, at a slant, leave]: [he slithered helplessly down the slope] [the roof should have a slope sufficient for proper drainage] [the backward slope of the chair] [a ten-minute cable car ride delivers you to the slopes] [the garden sloped down to a stream]
dignitary
[grandee]: [the guests included former shareholders, local dignitaries, and many of the people directly involved with the project] [I presented bouquets to visiting dignitaries at my prep school]
chart
[graph, hit parade, follow, tabulate]: [the doctor recorded her blood pressure on a chart] [she topped the charts for eight weeks] [a chart of the English coast] [Cook charted the coasts and waters of New Zealand] [the pilot found his craft taking a route he had not charted]
verdant
[green, lush]: [verdant valleys] [a deep, verdant green] [a serving of hideously verdant mushy peas]
grasp
[grip, take advantage of, understand, grip, reach, understanding]: [she grasped the bottle] [Edward grasped her by the wrist] [many companies grasped the opportunity to expand] [the press failed to grasp the significance of what had happened] [the child slipped from her grasp]
justification
[grounds]: [the justification of revolutionary action] [he made a speech in justification of his career] [there is no justification for an increase in charges] [all these incidents were used again as a justification for my sacking]
community
[group, brotherhood, district, population, similarity, joint ownership]: [Montreal's Italian community] [the gay community in London] [the scientific community] [a community of nuns] [a rural community]
surety
[guarantor, pledge, collateral]: [the rights of wives who act as sureties for their husband's debts] [the magistrate granted bail with a surety of £500] [the surety of my impending fatherhood] [who can tell that for a surety?] [Alfonso agreed to stand surety for his friend's behaviour]
ordnance
[guns]: [the gun was a brand new piece of ordnance] [unexploded ordnance] [the ordnance corps]
recidivist
[habitual criminal, repeater]: [the third lowest recidivist rate in the country] [women are rarely recidivist]
hackney
[hackney carriage, hackney coach]: [a hackney coach]
forge
[hammer out, build, fake, fake, advance steadily, advance rapidly]: [he forged a great suit of black armour] [the two women forged a close bond] [the country is forging a bright new future] [the signature on the cheque was forged] [he forged through the crowded streets]
script
[handwriting, text]: [her neat, tidy script] [Russian script] [it was perfectly scripted and beautifully acted] [Campbell flips the script on the old beauty-and-the-beast formula] [she decided to flip the script and ask her boyfriend of eight years to marry her]
pernicious
[harmful]: [the pernicious influences of the mass media]
yoke
[harness, tyranny, bond, harness]: [the yoke of imperialism] [a yoke of oxen] [the pinafore fell amply from a short yoke] [a plough drawn by a camel and donkey yoked together] [Hong Kong's dollar has been yoked to America's]
virago
[harridan]: [that virago of a wife of his needs locking up]
heave
[haul, throw, let out, rise and fall, vomit]: [she heaved the sofa back into place] [he heaved himself out of bed] [she heaved half a brick at him] [he heaved a euphoric sigh of relief] [his shoulders heaved as he panted]
disapprove
[have/express a poor opinion of, reproachful, critical, reject]: [Bob strongly disapproved of drinking and driving] [a company may take power to disapprove the transfer of shares]
therapeutic
[healing]: [diagnostic and therapeutic facilities] [a therapeutic shampoo] [a therapeutic silence] [current therapeutics for asthma]
come across
[meet/find by chance, hand over]: [I came across these old photos recently] [she has come across with some details]
stunt
[inhibit, small, feat]: [some weeds produce chemicals that stunt the plant's growth] [the recovery of our industries is stunted by lack of funds] [an emotionally stunted young woman] [the stunt involved jumping out of a hot-air balloon while attached to a piece of elastic] [the display is by some of the world's top stunt fliers]
inaugurate
[initiate, admit to office, open]: [he inaugurated a new policy of trade and exploration] [the new President will be inaugurated on January 20] [the museum was inaugurated on September 12]
gumption
[initiative]: [the president would hire almost any young man who had the gumption to ask for a job]
grievance
[injustice, complaint]: [a website which enabled staff to air their grievances] [three pilots have filed grievances against the company] [he was nursing a grievance]
clearly
[intelligibly, obviously]: [her ability to write clearly] [on white paper, the seeds are clearly visible] [clearly, things have changed in the last six weeks]
unabated
[intense]: [the storm was raging unabated]
ingenuity
[inventiveness]: [considerable ingenuity must be employed in writing software] [the ingenuity of Haydn's scoring]
embroil
[involve]: [the organization is currently embroiled in running battles with pressure groups] [the film's about a journalist who becomes embroiled with a nightclub owner] [what merit do you claim for having embroiled everything in which you are concerned?]
entanglement
[involvement, affair]: [many dolphins die from entanglement in fishing nets] [romantic entanglements] [the attackers were caught up on wire entanglements]
sequester
[isolate oneself, confiscate]: [she is sequestered in deepest Dorset] [the artist sequestered himself in his studio for two years] [their property was sequestered by Parliament] [non-precipitating water softeners use complex phosphates to sequester calcium and magnesium ions] [the organic sequestering agent EDTA]
merge
[join (together), amalgamate, mingle]: [the merchant bank merged with another broker] [he agreed to merge his broadcasting company with a multinational concern] [he crouched low and endeavoured to merge into the darkness of the forest] [he placed a sheet of paper over the fresh paint to merge the colours]
verdict
[judgement]: [the jury returned a verdict of not guilty] [this seems a fair verdict on the tabloids]
rationalize
[justify, streamline, reorganize]: [she couldn't rationalize her urge to return to the cottage] [if we rationalize production, will that mean redundancies?] [Parliament should seek to rationalize the country's court structure]
exclude
[keep out]: [the public were excluded from the board meeting] [apply flux to exclude oxygen] [one cannot exclude the possibility of a fall in house prices] [clauses seeking to exclude liability for loss or damage]
benign
[kindly, temperate, favourable, harmless]: [his benign but firm manner] [the climate becomes more benign as we move nearer to the Black Sea] [the cycle as a benign form of transport] [an ozone-benign refrigerant] [a benign condition]
ornament
[knick-knack, decoration, decorate]: [tables covered with ornaments and books] [Gothic buildings notable for their finely detailed ornament] [sense of humour is an ornament to character] [the composer marked the vocal part with many aspirations, accents, and other ornaments] [a jewel to ornament your wife's lovely throat]
working class
[labor, labour, proletariat]: [the housing needs of the working classes] [a working-class community]
plaint
[lament, lamentation, wail]: [it is a familiar plaint—no jobs for young researchers]
scenery
[landscape, stage set]: [spectacular views of mountain scenery] [they had all helped with scenery and costumes] [the sluggish pace picks up a bit in the second half, when Robbins really gets to chew the scenery]
circuit
[lap, track, tour]: [I ran a circuit of the village] [Hockenheim was a fast circuit but was regarded as one of the safest] [the alternative cabaret circuit] [circuit training] [a circuit judge]
extensive
[large, comprehensive]: [an extensive garden] [an extensive collection of silver] [extensive farming techniques]
majority
[larger part/number, the majority, (winning) margin, coming of age]: [in the majority of cases all will go smoothly] [it was a majority decision] [Labour retained the seat with a majority of 9,830] [kids get control of the money when they reach the age of majority] [the majority of cases]
final
[last, irrevocable, decider]: [the final version of the report was presented] [the final cost will easily run into six figures] [the decision of the judging panel is final] [the World Cup finals] [she was doing her history finals]
uncover
[lay bare, unwrap, detect, expose]: [he uncovered the face of the dead man] [he stopped short, reverentially uncovered, and stood bare-headed till the line of mourners had passed] [further evidence has been uncovered]
vein
[layer, streak, mood]: [he felt the adrenaline course through his veins] [gold-bearing quartz veins] [he managed to tap into the thick vein of discontent to his own advantage] [United have hit a rich vein of form] [he closes his article in a somewhat humorous vein]
lounge
[laze, public room, living room]: [several students were lounging about reading papers] [the hotel has a pleasant lounge and bar] [a TV lounge] [the departure lounge]
idle
[lazy, unemployed, not in use, unoccupied, frivolous, empty, do nothing, fritter, saunter, tick over]: [idle students] [10.3 per cent of the workforce is now idle] [the mill has been standing idle for eight years] [at no time in the day must there be an idle moment] [he did not want to waste valuable time in idle chatter]
detour
[roundabout route]: [he had made a detour to a cafe] [he detoured around the walls] [I would detour the endless stream of motor homes]
incidental
[less important, minor, chance, connected with, extras]: [for the fieldworker who deals with real problems, paperwork is incidental] [incidental expenses] [the incidental catch of dolphins in the pursuit of tuna] [the ordinary risks incidental to a fireman's job] [an allowance to cover meals, taxis, and other incidentals]
generously
[liberally, munificently]: [everyone is asked to give generously to this worthy cause] [food is shared generously] [the public applauded generously] [she graciously and generously acknowledges their influence] [generously butter a pudding dish]
emancipated
[liberated]: [emancipated young women]
promiscuous
[licentious, indiscriminate]: [she's a wild, promiscuous, good-time girl] [promiscuous behaviour] [the city fathers were promiscuous with their honours] [Americans are free to choose from a promiscuous array of values]
raise
[lift, set upright, build, cause to rise, increase, increase, promote, bring up, give rise to, cause to appear, get, recruit, levy, bring up, breed, grow, end, contact, rise, cause a disturbance, remonstrate]: [she raised both arms above her head] [his flag was raised over the city] [Melody managed to raise him to his feet] [a fence was being raised around the property] [the galloping horse raised a cloud of dust]
frivolity
[light-heartedness]: [a night of fun and frivolity] [they concerned themselves almost entirely with frivolities]
levity
[light-heartedness]: [as an attempt to introduce a note of levity, the words were a disastrous flop]
congenial
[like-minded, pleasant]: [his need for some congenial company] [he went back to a climate more congenial to his cold stony soul]
electrician
[lineman, linesman]:
philology
[linguistics]:
melt
[liquefy, soften, vanish]: [the hot metal melted the wax] [asparagus with melted butter] [place under a hot grill until the cheese has melted] [beautiful objects are being melted down and sold for scrap] [add 400g sugar and boil until the sugar melts]
agenda
[list of items]: [the question of nuclear weapons had been removed from the agenda] [he vowed to put jobs at the top of his agenda] [the government had its own agenda] [Miller has his own agenda and it has nothing to do with football] [the rights of minorities would be high on the agenda at the conference]
roster
[list]: [next week's duty roster] [a cluster of outstanding players on the club's roster] [the label assembled an extraordinarily eclectic roster of artists] [the locomotive is rostered for service on Sunday]
wee
[little]: [when I was just a wee bairn] [the lyrics are a wee bit too sweet and sentimental] [there was wee all over the floor] [I went in for a wee]
cohabit
[live together]: [an increasing number of couples are cohabiting] [Mary is now cohabiting with Paul] [animals that can cohabit with humans thrive]
vivacity
[liveliness]: [he was struck by her vivacity, humour and charm]
missing
[lost, absent from]: [a quantity of cash has gone missing] [you can fill in the missing details later] [he has been reported as a missing person] [four soldiers had been wounded and one man was missing] [servicemen listed as missing in action]
blur
[make indistinct, make vague, obscure, become dim, indistinct, indistinct shape]: [tears blurred her vision] [his novels blur the boundaries between criticism and fiction] [in front of him the page blurred] [the pale blur of her face] [the words were a blur]
liquefy
[make/become liquid]: [the minimum pressure required to liquefy a gas] [as the fungus ripens, the cap turns black and liquefies]
bleach
[make/turn white, go/grow/turn/become white]: [a new formula to bleach and brighten clothing] [permed and bleached hair] [his contributions to the album are bleached of personality] [how can I get all those stains out of my wash without bleach?]
administration
[management, government, dispensation]: [the day-to-day administration of the company] [a career in arts administration] [the university administration took their demands seriously] [the company went into administration] [the inhabitants of the island voted to remain under French administration]
disfigure
[mar]: [litter disfigures the countryside] [a disfiguring birthmark]
landmark
[marker, monument, boundary marker, turning point]: [the spire was once a landmark for ships sailing up the river] [the entire town has been designated a National Historic Landmark] [at certain points of the boundary the men would beat the landmark with their sticks] [the vaccine is a landmark in the history of preventive medicine]
monolithic
[massive, featureless, inflexible]: [later Byzantine columns were monolithic and usually made of marble] [IPC moved the paper from Covent Garden to the monolithic King's Reach Tower] [rejecting any move towards a monolithic European superstate] [a video converter on a single monolithic chip]
marital
[matrimonial]: [she wanted to talk about their marital problems]
motto
[maxim]: [the family motto is 'Faithful though Unfortunate'] [they were developing the use of leitmotifs or mottoes that appear throughout an opera]
labyrinth
[maze, tangle]: [you lose yourself in a labyrinth of little streets] [a labyrinth of conflicting laws and regulations]
interim
[meantime, provisional]: [in the interim I'll just keep my fingers crossed] [an interim arrangement] [an interim dividend]
mechanics
[mechanism]: [the laws of mechanics and electricity predicted that the electrons would spiral inward until they collided with the nucleus] [he looks at the mechanics of a car before the bodywork] [skills like carpentry, motor mechanics, and electrics] [the mechanics of cello playing]
require
[need, essential, desired, necessitate, order, demand]: [three patients required operations] [please indicate how many tickets you require] [it would have required much research to produce a comprehensive list] [the minimum car insurance required by law] [you will be required to attend for cross-examination]
exigency
[need, urgency]: [women worked long hours when the exigencies of the family economy demanded it] [he put financial exigency before personal sentiment]
coinage
[neologism, neology]: [the volume of coinage in circulation] [the controller of the coinage of tin] [decimal coinage] [the word is of Derrida's own coinage] [the recent coinage 'Eurointellectuals']
impersonal
[neutral, aloof, formal]: [the impersonal power of a government] [an impersonal tower block] [he gradually came to believe in an impersonal God]
ecumenical
[non-denominational]: [he was a member of ecumenical committees] [the ecumenical movement]
opaque
[non-transparent, obscure]: [bottles filled with a pale opaque liquid] [technical jargon that was opaque to her]
inextensible
[nonextensile, nonprotractile]:
asexual
[nonsexual]: [she wore a grey frock, discreet and asexual] [asexual parasites]
pronounced
[noticeable]: [he had a pronounced squint]
infamy
[notoriety, wickedness]: [a day that will live in infamy] [he thrived on the infamy and vilification] [one of history's greatest infamies] [an act of infamy]
compulsion
[obligation, urge]: [the payment was made under compulsion] [he felt a compulsion to babble on about what had happened]
necessary
[obligatory, inevitable, money]: [they granted the necessary planning permission] [it's not necessary for you to be here] [a necessary consequence] [not merely luxuries, but also the common necessaries] [poor people complaining for want of the necessaries of life]
accommodating
[obliging]: [we always found the our local branch most accommodating]
hurdle
[obstacle, fence]: [a hurdle race] [the 100 m hurdles] [many would like to emigrate to the United States, but face formidable hurdles] [a handicap hurdle] [this gelding hurdled fluently]
refractory
[obstinate, bloody-minded]: [his refractory pony] [some granules are refractory to secretory stimuli] [it will treat ores considered refractory to normal flotation methods] [healing of previously refractory ulcers] [turkeys can be infected when young but are refractory as adults]
available
[obtainable, free]: [refreshments will be available all afternoon] [community health services available to Londoners] [the nurse is only available at certain times] [the minister was not available for comment] [there's no available women here]
invasion
[occupation, influx, violation]: [Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812] [in 1546 England had to be defended from invasion] [there was a brief pitch invasion when Sunderland scored] [random drug testing of employees is an unwarranted invasion of privacy]
medieval
[of the Middle Ages]: [a medieval castle] [without other people around I would let my flat degenerate into medieval levels of squalor]
astray
[off target, off course, into wrongdoing]: [we went astray but a man redirected us] [he was led astray by boozy colleagues] [the money had gone astray]
errant
[offending, travelling]: [an errant husband coming back from a night on the tiles] [an errant strand of hair] [fear of being hit by an errant bullet] [that same lady errant]
former
[one-time, earlier, first-mentioned]: [her former boyfriend] [the seafarers of former times] [I take the former view] [the powers of the former are more comprehensive than those of the latter] [the longest of the three books]
sole
[only]: [the soles of their feet were nearly black with dirt] [the join between the upper and the sole] [there was mud caked between the heel and the sole] [a big blister on each heel and sole] [he wanted several pairs of boots to be soled and heeled]
receptive
[open-minded]: [a receptive audience] [the institution was receptive to new ideas] [the goldfish's vision is receptive to a wider band of light than almost any other animal] [only the dominant male would have had access to the receptive female]
practicable
[operable]: [the measures will be put into effect as soon as is reasonably practicable] [signal processing can let you transform a signal into a practicable form]
manoeuvre
[operation, stratagem, tactic, training exercises, steer, intrigue, manipulate]: [snowboarders performed daring manoeuvres on precipitous slopes] [shady financial manoeuvres] [the economic policy provided no room for manoeuvre] [the Russian vessel was on manoeuvres] [the lorry was unable to manoeuvre comfortably in the narrow street]
providential
[opportune, divine]: [his appearance had seemed more than just providential] [they took it for granted that the order of the world reflects a designing providential hand]
cantata
[oratorio]:
decree
[order, judgement, order]: [the decree guaranteed freedom of assembly] [presidential decrees] [the king ruled by decree] [the president decreed that the military was to be streamlined]
decorate
[ornament, paint, wallpaper, give a medal to]: [the town was decorated with Christmas lights] [the five bedrooms are individually decorated] [he was decorated for outstanding bravery]
preponderate
[outbalance, outweigh, overbalance]: [the advantages preponderate over this apparent disadvantage]
crust
[outer layer/part, covering, layer, living]: [a sandwich with the crusts cut off] [I tore off several pieces of crust from the loaf] [a kindly old woman might give her a crust] [a crust of snow] [the earth's crust]
proportion
[part, ratio, balance, relative to, incommensurate with]: [the proportion of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is rising] [the proportion of examination to coursework] [the bleach can be diluted with water in the proportion one part bleach to ten parts water] [the view of what constitutes perfect bodily proportions changes from one generation to the next] [the room, despite its ample proportions, seemed too small for him]
specific
[particular, exact]: [savings were made by increasing the electricity supply only until it met specific development needs] [when ordering goods be specific] [information needs are often very specific to individuals] [the differences between them can only be on the specific level] [specific dielectric strength]
spend
[pay out, use up, pass, put in]: [the firm has spent £100,000 on hardware] [she couldn't buy any more because she had already spent her money] [the initial surge of interest had spent itself] [she spent a lot of time travelling] [the average spend at the cafe is £10 a head]
hook
[peg, fastener, fish hook, billhook, punch, attach, curl, catch, by any means, completely, out of trouble]: [a picture hook] [companies are looking for a sales hook] [strong, funky vocals with a hook that gets into your head] [a perfectly timed right hook to the chin] [the truck had a red lamp hooked to its tailgate]
whistle
[pennywhistle, tin whistle]: [the whistle of the boiling kettle] [the audience cheered and whistled] [the postman whistled an old Rolling Stones number] [the kettle began to whistle] [the wind was whistling down the chimney]
thoughtful
[pensive, profound, considerate]: [brows drawn together in thoughtful consideration] [her work is thoughtful and provocative] [he was attentive and thoughtful] [how very thoughtful of you!]
palpable
[perceptible, tangible]: [a palpable sense of loss] [to talk of dawn raids in the circumstances is palpable nonsense] [the palpable bump at the bridge of the nose]
audible
[perceptible]: [some ultrasound is audible to dogs] [he saw two safeties sneaking up and called an audible]
visible
[perceptible]: [the church spire is visible from miles away] [the visible spectrum] [a visible improvement] [a highly visible member of the royal entourage] [the visible trade gap]
persistence
[perseverance]: [Cardiff's persistence was rewarded with a try] [the persistence of huge environmental problems]
own
[personal, be the owner of, admit, stand firm, alone, unaided, confess (to)]: [they can't handle their own children] [I was an outcast among my own kind] [the Church would look after its own] [I used to design all my own clothes] [they claimed the work as their own]
subjective
[personal]: [his views are highly subjective] [there is always the danger of making a subjective judgement]
convince
[persuade, induce]: [Robert's expression had obviously convinced her of his innocence] [we had to convince politicians that they needed to do something] [she convinced my father to branch out on his own] [she convinced my father to branch out on his own] [he convinced me that he was right]
phonic
[phonetic]: [the devices of poetry foreground phonic elements that are usually ignored in practical speech] [the English language presents difficulties if a purely phonic approach is attempted]
column
[pillar, article]: [a wide entrance portico of eight Ionic columns] [the pulpit is hexagonal and stands on seven columns] [a great column of smoke] [a Spitfire control column] [turn to page five, column seven]
bolster
[pillow, strengthen]: [the fall in interest rates is starting to bolster confidence] [I snuggled down into the heavily bolstered seat]
hose
[pipe]: [a sprinkler hose] [her hose had been laddered] [Elizabethan doublet and hose] [he was hosing down the driveway]
pacify
[placate]: [he had to pacify angry spectators] [the general pacified northern Italy]
juxtapose
[place/set side by side]: [black-and-white photos of slums were starkly juxtaposed with colour images]
itinerary
[planned route]: [his itinerary included an official visit to Canada] [we will send you an itinerary]
strategic
[planned, essential]: [strategic planning for the organization is the responsibility of top management] [alarms are positioned at strategic points around the prison] [Newark Castle was of strategic importance] [British strategic and commercial interests] [a large strategic air force]
understate
[play down]: [the press have understated the extent of the problem]
undertaking
[pledge, enterprise]: [I give an undertaking that we shall proceed with the legislation] [the knowing undertaking of an obligation] [a mammoth undertaking that involved digging into the side of a cliff face] [national transport undertakings]
conspiracy
[plot, plotting]: [a conspiracy to destroy the government] [they were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice] [the ministers took part in a conspiracy of silence over the decision to close the steelworks]
shuttle
[ply, ferry]: [the nine o'clock shuttle from Edinburgh] [a shuttle bus departs every 30 minutes] [the Secretary of State shuttled to and fro seeking compromise] [the river taxi shuttled employees between the newspaper's offices and the capital]
polygon
[polygonal shape]:
bombastic
[pompous]: [bombastic rhetoric] [bombastic music that drowned out what anyone was saying]
cover
[put something on top of, cake, blanket, travel, report, include, offset, insure, mask, give an alibi to, stand in for, sleeve, coating, binding, bedclothes, shelter, undergrowth, front, insurance, conceal]: [the table had been covered with a checked tablecloth] [her husband had covered up his bald patch] [he was covered in mud] [she was covered in confusion] [the barn floor was covered in straw]
interrogate
[question]: [he was interrogated by MI6] [an interactive system enables users to interrogate the database] [a ground-based transmitter sends a signal to interrogate an instrument on the aircraft]
interrogation
[questioning]: [would he keep his mouth shut under interrogation?] [he had conducted hundreds of criminal interrogations]
gallop
[race, canter]: [the horse broke into a furious gallop] [a mounted police charge at full gallop] [Wilfred went for a gallop on the sands] [she ran after them at a gallop] [West Ham began at the gallop]
passion
[rage, love, fervour, enthusiasm, obsession, crucifixion]: [a man of impetuous passion] [oratory in which he gradually works himself up into a passion] [their all-consuming passion for each other] [she nurses a passion for Thomas] [the English have a passion for gardens]
gradation
[range, level]: [the Act fails to provide both a clear and defensible gradation of offences] [gradations of size] [amorphous shapes in subtle gradations of green and blue]
seldom
[rarely]: [Islay is seldom visited by tourists] [he was seldom absent] [an old seldom-used church] [a great but seldom pleasure]
actual
[really]: [the estimate was much less than the actual cost] [the book could be condensed into half the space, but what of the actual content?] [using actual income to measure expected income] [people talk as if he was a monster—in actual fact he was a very kind guy] [is this a drop of your actual feminine intuition?]
motive
[reason, motif, kinetic]: [police were unable to establish a motive for his murder] [the charge of gas is the motive force for every piston stroke] [the motive principle of a writer's work]
revolution
[rebellion, dramatic change, single turn, turning]: [the country has had a socialist revolution] [when I grew up it was the Marxism that was very strong, it was like the revolution was coming next week] [marketing underwent a revolution] [one revolution a second] [revolution about the axis of rotation]
reception
[receipt, response, greeting, (formal) party]: [sensation is not the passive reception of stimuli] [the election budget got a stony reception in the City] [a microchip that will allow parents to block reception of violent programmes] [I had to put up with poor radio reception] [his 49 receptions included six touchdowns]
accept
[receive, say yes to, go along with, welcome, believe, recognized, tolerate]: [he accepted a pen as a present] [she accepted a temporary post as a clerk] [he would accept their offer and see what happened] [Tim offered Brian a lift home and he accepted] [Reginald was a good match and she ought to accept him]
quote
[recite, cite, estimate]: [I realized she was quoting passages from Shakespeare] [he quoted from the scriptures] [a military spokesman was quoted as saying that the border was now quiet] [the examples quoted above could be multiplied from case studies from all over England] [heavy teaching loads are often quoted as a bad influence on research]
accredit
[recognize as, ascribe, recognize, official]: [he was accredited with being one of the world's fastest sprinters] [the discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs] [institutions that do not meet the standards will not be accredited for teacher training] [an accredited practitioner] [no journalist accredited to the UN has ever been expelled]
chorus
[refrain, choir, chorus line, in unison]: [strong guitar-driven songs with big, big choruses] [a selection of choruses from the 'Messiah'] [a typical service includes several hymns and choruses sung by all] [he has words of praise for the RSNO Chorus] [the orchestra lacked polish and the chorus were inclined to rush ahead regardless]
asylum
[refuge, psychiatric hospital]: [she applied for asylum and was granted refugee status] [his asylum application was refused] [we provide asylum for those too ill to care for themselves] [he'd been committed to an asylum]
dialect
[regional language]: [the Lancashire dialect seemed like a foreign language]
index
[register, guide, pointer]: [clear cross references supplemented by a thorough index] [exam results may serve as an index of the teacher's effectiveness] [the hundred-shares index closed down 9.3] [the oral hygiene index was calculated as the sum of the debris and calculus indices] [the list indexes theses under regional headings]
symmetry
[regularity, balance]: [this series has a line of symmetry through its centre] [a crystal structure with hexagonal symmetry] [the overall symmetry makes the poem pleasant to the ear] [the political symmetry between the two debates] [history sometimes exhibits weird symmetries between events]
restoration
[reinstatement]: [the restoration of Andrew's sight] [the altar paintings seem in need of restoration] [the restoration of capital punishment] [published restorations are dodgy, based on single bones] [the restoration of a democratic government]
survive
[remain alive, continue, outlive]: [against all odds the child survived] [he has survived several assassination attempts] [he was survived by his wife and six children] [there were no surviving relatives] [she had to work day and night and survive on two hours' sleep]
regulation
[rule, official, adjustment, supervision]: [planning regulations] [regulation army footwear] [a regulation Western parody] [the regulation of financial markets]
eliminate
[remove, knock out]: [a policy that would eliminate inflation] [the police have eliminated Lawrence from their inquiries] [teams who had fought their way through the eliminating rounds] [this diet claims to eliminate toxins from the body] [the acid portion of one molecule reacts with the basic portion of the other, and water is eliminated]
pluck
[remove, pick off, pull (at), remove the feathers from, strum, courage]: [she plucked a blade of grass] [he plucked a tape from the shelf] [she plucked his sleeve] [brambles plucked at her jeans] [the turkeys are plucked and cleaned by machine]
translation
[rendering, rendition, change, relocation]: [the translation of the Bible into English] [a Spanish translation of Calvin's great work] [the translation of research findings into clinical practice] [the translation of the relics of St Thomas of Canterbury]
glory
[renown, magnificence, wonder, praise, take great pleasure in]: [to fight and die for the glory of one's nation] [the train has been restored to all its former glory] [the glories of Paris] [images of Christ in glory] [they gloried in their independence]
reorient
[reorientate]: [the country began reorienting its economic and social policies in 1988] [slowly they advanced, stopping every so often and then reorienting themselves]
refund
[repay, give back, reimburse, repayment]: [if you're not delighted with your purchase, we guarantee to refund your money in full] [I'll refund you for the apples and any other damage] [you may be allowed to claim a refund of the tax]
reiterate
[repeat]: [she reiterated that the government would remain steadfast in its support] ['I just want to forget it all,' he reiterated] [he reiterated the points made in his earlier speech]
penitence
[repentance]: [a public display of penitence]
supplant
[replace, oust]: [domestic production has been supplanted by imports and jobs have been lost]
check in
[report]: [you must check in at least one hour before take-off] [the check-in counter]
delegate
[representative, assign, entrust, authorize]: [congress delegates rejected the proposals] [she must delegate duties so as to free herself for more important tasks] [the power delegated to him must never be misused] [Edward was delegated to meet new arrivals]
reprove
[reprimand]: [he was reproved for obscenity] ['Don't be childish, Hilary,' he reproved mildly] [a reproving glance]
reticence
[reserve, uncommunicativeness]: [the traditional emotional reticence of the British]
reticent
[reserved]: [she was extremely reticent about her personal affairs]
sonorous
[resonant, impressive]: [he read aloud with a sonorous and musical voice] [the alloy is sonorous and useful in making bells] [he relished the sonorous words of condemnation]
reaction
[response, backlash, conservatism]: [my immediate reaction was one of relief] [prices fell in reaction to intense competition] [a skilled driver with quick reactions] [such allergic reactions as hay fever and asthma] [the work of these painters was a reaction against Fauvism]
constraint
[restriction, inhibition]: [time constraints make it impossible to do everything] [the availability of water is the main constraint on food production] [they would be able to talk without constraint]
continuation
[resumption, extension]: [the continuation of discussions about a permanent peace] [the government's continuation in office] [once a separate village, it is now a continuation of the suburbs]
revitalization
[resurgence, revitalisation, revival, revivification]: [the city has seen revitalization of its economy]
expose
[reveal, unprotected, make vulnerable, introduce, uncover, revelation]: [at low tide the sands are exposed] [the coast is very exposed to the south-west] [many newcomers are exposing themselves to injury] [students were exposed to statistics in high school] [police are hunting a man who exposed himself to a schoolgirl]
amendment
[revision]: [an amendment to existing bail laws] [the First Amendment] [you can add some soil-texturizing amendments to improve soil drainage]
repeal
[revoke, revocation]: [the legislation was repealed five months later] [the House voted in favour of repeal]
rotation
[revolving, turn, sequence]: [the moon moves in the same direction as the earth's rotation] [several solar rotations] [it has become common for senior academics to act as heads of department in rotation] [traditional practices such as crop rotation] [short rotation forestry]
paraphrase
[reword, rewording]: [you can either quote or paraphrase literary texts] [scattered here and there in the text are frank paraphrases of lines from Virgil, Cicero, and Quintilian] [it is characteristic of poetic metaphors that they are not susceptible to paraphrase]
roll out
[roll]: [the official roll-out is on 30 July] [campaigns these days look a lot like product roll-outs] [a national roll-out of digital satellite systems] [bumpy ground during the roll-out can start a series of sharp little bounces] [the team incorporated roll-outs and half rolls into the offense]
turbulence
[rough air currents, roughness, turmoil]: [the plane shuddered as it entered some turbulence] [political turbulence]
gruff
[rough, abrupt]: [she spoke with a gruff, masculine voice] [Robert's gruff, no-nonsense approach]
cycle
[round, series]: [the recurrent cycle of harvest failure, food shortages, and price increases] [the cells are shed over a cycle of twenty-eight days] [the familiar four cycles of intake, combustion, ignition, and exhaust] [the storks' breeding cycle] [AC reverses its direction of flow sixty times a second at 60 cycles]
cruise
[sail, coast, boat trip]: [they were cruising off the California coast] [she cruised the canals of France in a barge] [a police van cruised past us] [my idea of a perfect Sunday afternoon is cruising car lots and checking out the new models] [he spends his time cruising and just hanging out in New Orleans]
consecrate
[sanctify, dedicate]: [the present Holy Trinity church was consecrated in 1845] [consecrated ground] [they received the host but not the consecrated wine] [he was consecrated bishop of York] [the gun room was a male preserve, consecrated to sport]
hypocritical
[sanctimonious]: [we don't go to church and we thought it would be hypocritical to have him christened] [it would be entirely hypocritical of me to say I regret it because I don't]
acceptable
[satisfactory, welcome, pleasing, bearable]: [the electoral arrangements must be acceptable to the people] [an acceptable substitute for champagne] [some coffee would be most acceptable] [pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable level] [the film's breezy domesticity is the acceptable face of sentimental guff]
pan
[saucepan, hollow, criticize, sift for, turn out, succeed, swing (round)]: [heat the olive oil in a heavy pan] [a pan of hot water] [she sifted flour on to the wide brass pan of the scales] [peroxide is what they put down the lavatory to disinfect the pan] [he washed the gold-free surface gravel out over the rim of the pan]
cafeteria
[self-service restaurant]: [employers who offer cafeteria plans and other flexible programs]
statesman
[senior politician]: [guests included members of the European royal families, diplomats, and statesmen]
maudlin
[sentimental, mawkish]: [a bout of maudlin self-pity] [a maudlin jukebox tune]
series
[sequence, set of programmes]: [the explosion was the latest in a series of accidents] [he gave a series of lectures on modern art] [the first four books in the Toybox Science series] [a series of travel books] [the Test series against Australia]
frame
[setting, framework, body, structure, mount, formulate, falsely incriminate, mood]: [the wooden frame of the huge bed] [an old bicycle frame] [this goodly frame the Earth] [a shiver shook her slim frame] [the establishment of conditions provides a frame for interpretation]
whet
[sharpen, stimulate]: [she took out her dagger and began to whet its blade in even, rhythmic strokes] [here's an extract to whet your appetite] [the selection of quotations may whet your curiosity to investigate the source material] [he swallowed his two dozen oysters as a whet]
break
[shatter, fracture, pierce, stop working, decipher, interrupt, stop, cushion, give up, exceed, contravene, give way, destroy, change, dawn, crash, falter, erupt, reveal, interruption, change, rest, holiday, gap, opportunity, escape, leave, stop working, fail, burst into tears, knock down, divide, analyse, commit burglary, interrupt, train, burgle, interrupt, begin suddenly, snap off, snap off, end, suspend, flare up, escape from, come to an end, disperse, split up, burst out laughing, disperse]: [the rope broke with a loud snap] [windows in the street were broken by the blast] [she had broken her leg in two places] [what if his leg had broken?] [the bite had scarcely broken the skin]
ledge
[shelf, projection]: [he heaved himself up over a ledge] [a reef ledge]
shifting
[shift]: [diverse districts with shifting demographics] [whether something is accepted depends upon the shifting sands of taste]
brief
[short, concise, skimpy, instructions, summary of the facts, inform of]: [the president made a brief working visit to Moscow] [introductions were brief and polite] [be brief and don't talk for longer than is necessary] [Alison sported a pair of extremely brief black shorts] [his brief is to turn round the county's fortunes]
astute
[shrewd]: [an astute businessman]
blink
[shut and open, be surprised, flash]: [I blinked in astonishment] [he blinked his eyes nervously] [she blinked away her tears] [Elizabeth blinked back tears] [he doesn't blink at the unsavoury aspects of his subject]
bashful
[shy]: [everything you need to know but have been too bashful to ask] [suddenly bashful, she could think of nothing to say] [don't be bashful about telling folk how you feel]
ratify
[sign]: [both countries were due to ratify the treaty by the end of the year]
homogeneous
[similar, uniform]: [if all jobs and workers were homogeneous] [a homogeneous society] [homogeneous catalysis]
facile
[simplistic]: [facile generalizations] [a man of facile and shallow intellect] [a facile seven-lengths victory]
individual
[single, characteristic, original, person, individualist]: [individual tiny flowers] [the individual needs of the children] [a casserole served in individual portions] [she was surprised at how individual the others' bodies were] [she creates her own, highly individual landscapes]
straddle
[sit/stand astride, lie on both sides of, be equivocal about]: [he turned the chair round and straddled it] [he shifted his legs, straddling them to keep his balance] [the colonel straddled in front of the fire] [a mountain range straddling the Franco-Swiss border] [a man who had straddled the issue of taxes]
marginal
[slight, borderline]: [marginal notes] [water lilies and marginal aquatics] [it seems likely to make only a marginal difference] [the cost is negligible, less than marginal] [the issue is to estimate the marginal benefit from the increased frequency of screening examinations against the marginal increased cost]
flake
[sliver, fall asleep]: [he licked the flakes of croissant off his finger] [the snow was coming down in thick flakes] [flake tools] [the paint had been flaking off for years] [my nails have started to flake at the ends]
absorb
[soak up, assimilate, incorporate, use (up), deaden, preoccupy]: [buildings can be designed to absorb and retain heat] [steroids are absorbed into the bloodstream] [she absorbed the information in silence] [the family firm was absorbed into a larger group] [arms spending absorbs roughly two per cent of the national income]
expenditure
[spending, outgoings]: [the expenditure of taxpayers' money] [cuts in public expenditure] [work is the expenditure of energy]
patronage
[sponsorship, power of appointment, condescension, custom]: [the arts could no longer depend on private patronage] [recruits are selected on merit, not through political patronage] [a twang of self-satisfaction—even patronage—about him] [the direct train link was ending because of poor patronage]
blot
[spot, blemish, eyesore, soak up, smudge, erase, conceal, wipe out]: [a blot of ink] [the only blot on an otherwise clean campaign] [wind power turbines are a blot on the landscape] [Henry blotted the page] [the writing was messy and blotted]
diffuse
[spread out, verbose]: [technologies diffuse rapidly] [the problem is how to diffuse power without creating anarchy] [oxygen molecules diffuse across the membrane] [gas is diffused into the bladder] [the diffuse community which centred on the church]
crush
[squash, pulverize, crease, suppress, mortify, crowd, infatuation, squash]: [you can crush a pill between two spoons] [a labourer was crushed to death by a lorry] [the crushed remains of a Ford Cortina] [the government had taken elaborate precautions to crush any resistance] [I was crushed—was I not good enough?]
balance
[stability, fairness, composure, scale(s), counterbalance, remainder, steady, weigh, counterbalance, correspond, uncertain, overall]: [she lost her balance and fell] [the obligations of political balance in broadcasting] [try to keep a balance between work and relaxation] [the way to some kind of peace and personal balance] [the balance of the voices is good]
figure
[statistic, figures, digit, price, arithmetic, physique, silhouette, human representation, person, shape, diagram, feature, calculate, suppose, make sense, plan on, work out]: [the trade figures] [by 1998, this figure had risen to 14 million] [the figure 7] [a six-figure sum of money] [a figure of two thousand pounds]
consistent
[steady, compatible]: [the parents are being consistent and firm in their reactions] [a consistent worldwide application of its policies] [he is Rangers' most consistent player this season] [the mixtures are of consistent quality] [a consistent explanation]
stereo
[stereophonic, two-channel]: [even without the benefit of stereo it sounds glorious] [stereo sound] [the dull throb of a neighbour's stereo] [a car stereo] [stereo equipment]
infertility
[sterility]: [chlamydia can cause infertility in women] [a couple undergoing infertility treatment] [ecological problems such as increasing soil infertility]
grim
[stern, dreadful, black, bleak, merciless]: [his grim expression] [the grim news of the murder] [some moments of grim humour] [rows of grim, dark housing developments] [few creatures thrive in this grim and hostile land]
tempest
[storm, turmoil]: [a raging tempest] [a worldwide tempest of economic recession]
peculiar
[strange, bizarre, unwell, distinctive, characteristic of]: [he gave her some very peculiar looks] [Stella thought the play peculiar] [I felt a little peculiar for a while] [any attempt to explicate the theme is bound to run into peculiar difficulties] [some languages are peculiar to one region]
forte
[strength]: [small talk was not his forte]
consolidate
[strengthen, combine]: [the first phase of the project is to consolidate the outside walls] [the company consolidated its position in the international market] [all manufacturing activities have been consolidated in new premises] [consolidated accounts] [the Companies Act 1948 and subsequent enactments were consolidated by the Companies Act 1985]
vigorously
[strenuously]: [she shook her head vigorously] [he vigorously denied the allegation]
elasticity
[stretchiness, adaptability]: [aging can decrease the elasticity of your skin] [the price elasticity of electricity demand]
elastic
[stretchy, adaptable]: [a tourniquet of rubber tubing or other elastic material is placed around the upper arm] [the definition of nationality is elastic in this cosmopolitan country] [the labour supply is very elastic] [a polythene bag tied with elastic]
discord
[strife, disagreement, dissonance]: [a prosperous family who showed no signs of discord] [the discord between indigenous and Western cultures] [the music faded in discord] [we discorded commonly on two points] [the party's views were apt to discord with those of the leading members of the government]
powerful
[strong, intoxicating, violent, influential, cogent]: [a fast, powerful car] [computers are now more compact and powerful] [the world's most powerful nation] [his photomontages are powerful anti-war images] [walking is powerful hot work]
suppress
[subdue, conceal, censor]: [the rising was savagely suppressed] [she could not suppress a rising panic] [the report had been suppressed] [use of the drug suppressed the immune response]
assimilate
[subsume, absorb]: [Marie tried to assimilate the week's events] [pop trends are assimilated into the mainstream with alarming speed] [the sugars in the fruit are readily assimilated by the body] [philosophers had assimilated thought to perception] [the Churches assimilated to a certain cultural norm]
endangered
[vulnerable]: [legislation to protect endangered species] [elephants are acutely endangered in East Africa]
sequence
[succession, excerpt]: [the content of the programme should follow a logical sequence] [the poems should be read in sequence] [a restless search for interesting harmonic sequences] [these are enzymes which will cleave only at specific base sequences in the DNA] [a gruelling sequence of exercises]
heir
[successor]: [his eldest son and heir] [the heir to the throne] [they saw themselves as heirs of the Cubists] [the future King wants to follow in his parents' footsteps by producing the minimum royal issue of an heir and a spare]
juicy
[succulent, very interesting]: [a juicy apple] [a juicy steak] [juicy gossip] [the promise of juicy returns]
lactation
[suckling]:
adequate
[sufficient, acceptable, equal to]: [this office is perfectly adequate for my needs] [adequate resources and funding]
dominance
[supremacy]: [the worldwide dominance of Hollywood] [all had, in conformity with the principle of dominance, round seeds with yellow cotyledons] [some plants produce structures to outcompete other species for dominance in a given habitat]
facet
[surface, aspect]: [a blue and green jewel that shines from a million facets] [a philosophy that extends to all facets of the business] [a multifaceted approach]
subsist
[survive, continue, lie]: [he subsisted on welfare and casual labour] [the problem of subsisting the poor in a period of high bread prices] [the court may treat a contract as still subsisting] [the peace subsisted between 1303 and 1324] [the effect of genetic maldevelopment may subsist in chromosomal mutation]
overwhelm
[swamp, overcome, defeat (utterly/heavily/easily)]: [floodwaters overwhelmed hundreds of houses] [they were overwhelmed by farewell messages] [I was overwhelmed with guilt] [the Irish side was overwhelmed 15-3 by Scotland] [the Stilton doesn't overwhelm the flavour of the trout]
distend
[swell, swollen]: [the abdomen distended rapidly] [air is introduced into the stomach to distend it]
flurry
[swirl, burst, fluster, spate, swirl]: [a flurry of snow] [there was a brief flurry of activity in the hall] [a flurry of editorials hostile to the government] [gusts of snow flurried through the door] [the waiter flurried between them]
turgid
[swollen, bombastic]: [a turgid and fast-moving river] [some turgid verses on the death of Prince Albert]
act
[take action, comply with, represent, behave, operate, affect, perform, pretend, deed, pretence, law, division, performance, malfunction, misbehave]: [they urged Washington to act] [governments must act to reduce pollution] [I shall certainly act on his suggestion] [one's ability to act for community change] [he chose a solicitor to act for him]
fend
[take care of oneself, ward off]: [she left her 14-year-old daughter to fend for herself] [Meredith tried frantically to fend him off] [he fended off the awkward questions]
compete
[take part, contend, rival]: [universities are competing for applicants] [he competed with a number of other candidates] [competing political ideologies] [no one can compete with his physical prowess] [he competed in numerous track meets as a child]
discuss
[talk over, examine]: [I discussed the matter with my wife] [they were discussing where to go for a drink] [in Chapter Six I discuss problems that arise in applying Darwin's ideas]
fiscal
[tax]: [monetary and fiscal policy] [the domestic fiscal crisis] [the budget deficit for fiscal 1996]
storm
[tempest, volley, uproar, outburst, assault, stride angrily, rant]: [two men were taken by a storm of bullets] [the book caused a storm in America] [the manager is at the centre of a drugs storm in Germany] [the disclosure raised a storm of protest] [she burst into tears and stormed off]
entice
[tempt, tempting]: [a show which should entice a new audience into the theatre] [the treat is offered to entice the dog to eat]
abort
[terminate, miscarry, halt, fail]: [Louisiana allows women to abort an embryo up to 12 weeks old] [the right to abort must remain a key element of a woman's 'reproductive rights'] [an organism that infects sheep and can cause pregnant ewes to abort] [the flight crew aborted the take-off] [an abort because of bad weather]
dreadful
[terrible, unpleasant, outrageous]: [there's been a dreadful accident] [the weather was dreadful] [I feel dreadful—I hate myself] [she looked quite dreadful and she was struggling for breath] [this was all a dreadful mistake]
hell
[the netherworld, a misery, be severely reprimanded, reprimand severely, harass, as fast as possible]: [irreligious children were assumed to have passed straight to the eternal fires of hell] [I've been through hell] [he made her life hell] [oh, hell—where will this all end?] [who the hell are you?]
fibre
[thread, material, roughage]: [the basket comes lined with natural coco fibres] [ordinary synthetics don't breathe as well as natural fibres] [high strength carbon fibre] [there were degenerative changes in muscle fibres] [she wanted him with every fibre of her being]
fling
[throw, good time, affair]: [he picked up the debris and flung it away] [she flung herself down on his bed] [I was flung into jail] [he flung back the bedclothes] [Jennifer flung open a door]
giggle
[titter, titter]: [they giggled at some private joke] [three young, giggling girls] [I got a fit of the giggles] [it should be a right giggle]
liberal
[tolerant, permissive, progressive, wide-ranging, flexible, abundant, generous]: [liberal views towards divorce] [liberal citizenship laws] [a liberal democratic state] [the Liberal leader] [the provision of liberal adult education]
roll
[turn round and round, lurch, stagger, travel, wheel, flow, pass, billow, undulating, wind, fold (up), flatten, rumble, cylinder, reel, wad, throw, rocking, rumble, list, pour in, arrive, launch, arrive]: [the car rolled down into a ditch] [she rolled the ball across the floor] [she rolled on to her side] [they rolled him over on to his back] [Sarah rolled her eyes to the ceiling]
distort
[twist, twisted, misrepresent, misrepresented]: [a grimace distorted her fine mouth] [the pipe will distort as you bend it] [many factors can distort the results] [you're distorting the sound by overdriving the amp]
unpalatable
[unappetizing, disagreeable]: [scraps of unpalatable food] [the unpalatable fact that many of the world's people are starving]
institutional
[unappetizing, dreary, organized]: [institutional care] [an institutional investor] [the rooms are rather drab and institutional] [institutional religion] [institutional racism]
disbeliever
[unbeliever]: [she intends to prove the disbelievers wrong]
impartial
[unbiased]: [the minister cannot be impartial in the way that a judge would be]
hesitancy
[uncertainty, dithering, reluctance]: [Jackson took advantage of some hesitancy in the defence to rifle in a shot]
unqualified
[uncertificated, unsuitable, unconditional]: [no company would permit an unqualified accountant to audit its books] [he was totally unqualified for his job as a senior house doctor] [I am singularly unqualified to write about football] [the experiment was not an unqualified success] [the situation is unqualifiedly and unredeemably wicked]
insensible
[unconscious, unaware of, imperceptible]: [they knocked each other insensible with their fists] [the horny and insensible tip of the beak] [they slept on, insensible to the headlight beams] [varying by insensible degrees]
downfall
[undoing]: [the crisis led to the downfall of the government] [his intractability will prove to be his downfall] [the wind was whipping up the downfall into deep drifts on the moor]
unadorned
[unembellished]: [it was very simple, its walls unadorned] [the unadorned truth]
undo
[unfasten, revoke, ruin]: [the knot was difficult to undo] [there wasn't any way Evelyn could undo the damage] [you can frequently undo the error if you notice it in time] [Iago's hatred of women undoes him] [the undo command]
ingratitude
[ungratefulness]: [he returned his daughter's care with ingratitude and unkindness]
misery
[unhappiness, affliction, killjoy]: [a man who had brought her nothing but misery] [the misery of the miner's existence] [the miseries of war] [have we really been such a bunch of miseries to work with?] [the blackmail that was making his father's life a misery]
insignificant
[unimportant]: [the sum required was insignificant compared with military spending] [she was so small and insignificant] [insignificant yet enchanting phrases]
bland
[uninteresting, tasteless, temperate]: [bland, mass-produced pop music] [a bland and unadventurous vegetarian dish] [standardized bland beers of mediocre quality] [his expression was bland and unreadable]
inhospitable
[uninviting, unwelcoming]: [the inhospitable landscape]
indiscernible
[unnoticeable, indistinct]: [an indiscernible shape among the shadows]
invidious
[unpleasant, unfair]: [she'd put herself in an invidious position] [it seems invidious to make special mention of one aspect of his work]
undisclosed
[unrevealed]: [the precise terms of the agreement remained undisclosed]
clumsy
[unwieldy, gauche]: [the cold made his fingers clumsy] [a very clumsy attempt to park] [clumsy devices] [the legal procedure is far too clumsy] [his choice of words was clumsy]
precious
[valuable, valued, affected]: [precious works of art] [my time's precious] [look after my daughter—she's very precious to me] [you and your precious schedule—you've got to lighten up!] [a precious lot you know about dogs!]
ravenous
[very hungry, voracious]: [I'd been out all day and was ravenous] [a ravenous appetite]
contemplation
[viewing, thought]: [the road is too busy for leisurely contemplation of the scenery] [he would retire to his room for study or contemplation] [substantial fitting work is in contemplation]
patrol
[vigil, patrolman/patrolwoman, keep guard (on)]: [we were ordered to investigate on a night patrol] [a police patrol stopped the man and searched him] [the police were on patrol when they were ordered to investigate the incident] [a submarine patrol] [there were two schools but no crossing patrol]
roughly
[violently, harshly, approximately]: [the man picked me up roughly] [people were crouching over roughly built brick fireplaces] [this is a walk of roughly 13 miles] [the narrative is, roughly speaking, contemporary with the earliest of the gospels]
explosive
[volatile, fiery, tense, sudden, bomb]: [an explosive device] [Ruth let out an explosive sound of disbelief] [Marco's explosive temper] [the idea was politically explosive] [the explosive growth of personal computers in the 1980s]
sacrificial
[votive]: [an altar for sacrificial offerings]
lewd
[vulgar]: [she began to gyrate to the music and sing a lewd song]
ambulate
[]: [people who make use of crutches to ambulate] [tortoises are diurnally active, ambulating mainly over the course of the day]
combination
[amalgamation, cooperation]: [a magnificent combination of drama, dance, and music] [the combination of recession and falling property values proved fatal to the business community] [this colour combination is stunningly effective] [these four factors work together in combination] [the canvases may be arranged in any number of combinations]
ankle
[ankle joint, articulatio talocruralis, mortise joint]: [Jennie fell downstairs, breaking her ankle] [an ankle injury] [her slim ankles] [we can ankle off to a new locale] [he ankled the series to do a movie]
debatable
[arguable]: [it is debatable whether the country is coming out of recession]
raft
[batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad]: [great rafts of cormorants, often 5,000 strong] [I have rafted along the Rio Grande] [the stores were rafted ashore] [we rafted the boats together off the shores of Murchison Island] [a raft of government initiatives]
gripe
[beef, bitch, kick, squawk]: [it's no use griping about your boss or your pay] ['Holidays make no difference to Simon,' Pat griped] [spasmodic griping pains] [Hilyard griped his dagger] [my only gripe is the size of the page numbers]
decapitate
[behead]: [a decapitated body] [the Church had been decapitated by the arrest and deportation of all its bishops]
bring home the bacon
[come through, deliver the goods, succeed, win]: [I have to go to work because it brings home the bacon] [you don't have to be in a high-tech industry to bring home the bacon]
brave
[courageous, endure]: [she was very brave about the whole thing] [it was a time to remember the brave] [his medals made a brave show] [these six men braved the rough seas] [many people braved the elements to enjoy the attractions]
expunge
[erase]: [the kind of man that could expunge an unsatisfactory incident from his memory]
phrase
[expression, express, expression]: ['to improve standards' is the key phrase here] [his favourite phrase is 'it's a pleasure'] [the succession of downward phrases in the orchestra is so moving] [it's important to phrase the question correctly] [original phrasing brought out unexpected aspects of the music]
prescience
[far-sightedness]: [with extraordinary prescience, Jung actually predicted the Nazi eruption]
endow
[finance, provide]: [he endowed the Church with lands] [he endowed three chairs at Liverpool University] [he was endowed with tremendous physical strength] [the girl on page three is well endowed]
glorify
[give praise to, ennoble]: [music is used to glorify God] [God can be glorified through a life of scholarship] [a football video glorifying violence]
affect
[influence, upset, touching, pretend, assume]: [the dampness began to affect my health] [your attitude will affect how successful you are] [he was visibly affected by the tragedy] [their gender need not affect their career] [move the cursor until you get the effect you want]
quibble
[minor criticism, evasion, quibbles, find fault with, be evasive]: [the only quibble about this book is the price] [they are always quibbling about the amount they are prepared to pay]
accordion
[piano accordion, squeeze box]: [her five brothers and sisters were singing to the accompaniment of an accordion] [an accordion player] [an accordion pleat]
tip
[point, cap, cap, overturn, upset, lean, pour, gratuity, hint, give a tip to, predict, warn]: [George pressed the tips of his fingers together] [the northern tip of Scotland] [the rubber tip of the walking stick] [mountains tipped with snow] [steel-tipped spears]
interrogative
[questioning]: [a hard, interrogative stare] [an interrogative adverb] [interrogatives are not likely to crop up very often in the speech of a person who is being interviewed]
posterior
[rear, later than, buttocks, behind]: [the posterior part of the gut] [a basal body situated just posterior to the nucleus] [a posterior labour] [a date posterior to the first Reform Bill]
rivulet
[rill, run, runnel, streamlet]: [sweat ran in rivulets down his back]
idealize
[romanticize]: [Helen's idealized accounts of their life together]
diploma
[sheepskin]:
slender
[slim, meagre]: [her slender neck] [slender iron railings] [people of slender means] [a slender majority of four]
shortly
[soon, curtly]: [the new database will shortly be available for consultation] [the flight was hijacked shortly after takeoff] [they received a letter shortly outlining the proposals] ['Do you like cricket?' 'I do not,' she said shortly]
disseminate
[spread]: [health authorities should foster good practice by disseminating information] [disseminated colonic cancer]
superfluity
[surplus]: [a superfluity of unoccupied time] [they thought the garrison a superfluity] [servants who had nothing to do but to display their own superfluity]
startling
[surprising, disturbing, frightening]: [he bore a startling likeness to their father] [she had startling blue eyes]
undervalue
[underrate]: [the skills of the housewife remain undervalued in society] [the company's assets were undervalued in its balance sheet] [his truck was sold at an undervalue]
differ
[vary, deviate from, disagree]: [the second set of data differed from the first] [tastes differ, especially in cars] [widely differing circumstances] [he differed from his contemporaries in ethical matters]