15/7/20 Flashcards
in question
PHRASE
The person, thing, or time in question is one which you have just been talking about or which is relevant:
The player in question is Mark Williams.
Add up all the income you’ve received over the period in question.
Synonyms: under discussion, at issue, under consideration, in doubt
stereotype
noun [ C ] disapproving
a set idea that people have about what someone or something is like, especially an idea that is wrong:
racial/sexual stereotypes
He doesn’t conform to/fit/fill the national stereotype of a Frenchman.
The characters in the book are just stereotypes.
cognizant
adjective (UK usually cognisant)
understanding or realizing something:
We should be cognizant of the fact that every complaint is not a justified complaint.
lowbrow
adjective mainly disapproving
(of entertainment) not complicated or demanding much intelligence to be understood:
He regards the sort of books I read as very lowbrow.
I like a lowbrow action movie once in a while.
dime store
noun [ C ]
a store that sells a range of cheap goods:
You won’t find expensive cosmetics at the dime store.
preoccupation
noun
an idea or subject that someone thinks about most of the time:
My main preoccupation now is trying to keep life normal for the sake of my two boys.
flair
noun
natural ability to do something well:
He has a flair for languages.
exuberance
noun [ U ]
the quality of feeling energetic, or the behaviour of someone who feels this way:
He maintained a youthful exuberance.
One thing that stands out is her exuberance and zest for life
tinted
adjective [ before noun ]
(of glass) with colour added:
Tinted glasses (= glasses with slightly darkened lenses) are good for driving in bright sunlight. The president arrived at the airport in a car with tinted windows (= windows with darkened glass so that people cannot see into the car).
termite
noun [ C ]
a small tropical insect that eats wood
Rhesus macaque
লাল বান্দর
panoply
noun [ S ] formal
a wide range or collection of different things:
There is a whole panoply of remedies and drugs available to the modern doctor.
detractor
noun [ C ]
omeone who criticizes something or someone, often unfairly:
His detractors claim that his fierce temper makes him unsuitable for leadership.
alchemy
noun [ U ]
a type of chemistry, especially in the Middle Ages, that dealt with trying to find a way to change ordinary metals into gold and with trying to find a medicine that would cure any disease
She manages, by some extraordinary alchemy, to turn the most ordinary of ingredients into the most delicious of dishes.
pseudo-science
noun [ C usually singular ]
a system of thought or a theory that is not formed in a scientific way
beset
adjective [ after verb ]
having a lot of trouble with something, or having to deal with a lot of something that causes problems:
With the amount of traffic nowadays, even a trip across town is beset by/with dangers.
comport
verb
If an idea or statement, etc. comports, it matches or is similar to something else:
The findings of this research do not comport with accepted theory.
vent
noun
a small opening that allows air, smoke, or gas to enter or leave a closed space:
If you have a gas fire in a room, you should have some kind of outside vent.
vicinity
noun [ S ]
the area around a place or where the speaker is :
There are several hotels in the immediate vicinity of the station.
We could see that there were several open Wi-Fi networks in the vicinity.
Anyone who happened to be in the vicinity could have been injured or killed
beneath
preposition
in or to a lower position than someone or something, under someone or something:
Jaime hid the letter beneath a pile of papers.
We huddled together for warmth beneath the blankets.
After weeks at sea, it was wonderful to feel firm ground beneath our feet once more.
Emma was so tired and hungry that her legs were beginning to give way beneath her (= she was about to fall over).
crust
noun
a hard outer covering of something:
pie crust (= the cooked pastry on top) the earth's crust
archaea
[biology]
an order of prokaryotic microorganisms
clam
[noun]
a type of sea creature with a shell in two parts that can close together tightly, and a soft body that can be eaten
ridge
noun [ C ]
a long, narrow raised part of a surface, especially a high edge along a mountain:
We walked along the narrow mountain ridge.
figurative A ridge (= a narrow area) of high pressure will bring good weather this afternoon.
limestone
noun [ U ]
a white or light grey rock that is used as a building material and in the making of cement
intermingle
verb [ I ]
to become mixed together:
The flavours intermingle to produce a very unusual taste.
Fact is intermingled with fiction throughout the book.
mantle
noun
dismantle
the responsibilities of an important position or job, especially as given from the person who had the job to the person who replaces them:
She unsuccessfully attempted to assume the mantle of the presidency.
He has been asked to take on the mantle of managing director in the New York office
- VERB
If you dismantle a machine or structure, you carefully separate it into its different parts.
He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: take apart, strip, demolish, raze More Synonyms of dismantle - VERB
To dismantle an organization or system means to cause it to stop functioning by gradually reducing its power or purpose.
…opposition to the president’s policy of dismantling apartheid. [VERB noun]
Public services of all kinds are being dismantled. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: abolish, end, overturn, suppress
foster
verb
fester
to take care of a child, usually for a limited time, without being the child’s legal parent:
Would you consider fostering (a child)
- VERB
If you say that a situation, problem, or feeling is festering, you disapprove of the fact that it is being allowed to grow more unpleasant or full of anger, because it is not being properly recognized or dealt with.
[disapproval]
Resentments are starting to fester. [VERB]
…the festering wounds of rejection. [VERB-ing]
Synonyms: intensify, gall, smoulder, chafe More Synonyms of fester - VERB
If a wound festers, it becomes infected, making it worse.
The wound is festering, and gangrene has set in. [VERB]
Many of the children are afflicted by festering sores. [VERB-ing]
Synonyms: putrefy, decay, become infected, become inflamed More Synonyms of fester - VERB
If you say that food is festering, you mean that it is decaying in a very unpleasant way.
[British]
The chops will fester and go to waste. [VERB]
…stale sauces festering in fridges. [VERB]
Synonyms: rot, break down, spoil, corrupt
faction
noun [ C ] mainly disapproving
a group within a larger group, especially one with slightly different ideas from the main group:
the left-wing faction of the party
archetypical
adjective
typical of an original thing from which others are copied:
an archetypal English gentleman
They live in an archetypal country village.
edifice
noun [ C ] formal
a large building, especially an impressive one:
The town hall is the only edifice surviving from the 15th century.
conservatory
noun [ C ]
a school for the teaching of music or sometimes acting or art
draftsman
noun [ C ]
someone who writes legal documents
corona
noun [ C usually singular ] specialized
a circle of light that can sometimes be seen around the moon at night, or around the sun during an eclipse (= a time when the moon is positioned exactly between the sun and the earth)
interplanetary
adjective [ before noun ]
between planets:
interplanetary space
aurora
noun [ C ] ENVIRONMENT specialized
a natural appearance of coloured light in the sky, that is usually seen in the latitudes (= parts of earth) nearest the Arctic or Antarctic
comet
noun [ C ]
an object that moves around the sun, usually at a great distance from it, that is seen on rare occasions from the earth as a bright line in the sky
deflect
verb [ I or T ]
to (cause to) change direction, or to prevent something from being directed at you:
The ball deflected off my shoulder, straight into the goal.
The crowd cheered as the goalkeeper deflected the shot.
He deflected the ball away from the goal.
The prime minister deflected mounting criticism today by announcing tax cuts.
incinerate
verb [ T ]
to burn something completely:
to incinerate waste
The spacecraft and its crew were incinerated by the billion-degree temperatures generated by the fireball.
assimilate
verb [ I or T ]
to become part of a group, country, society, etc., or to make someone or something become part of a group, country, society, etc.:
The European Union should remain flexible enough to assimilate more countries quickly.
You shouldn’t expect immigrants to assimilate into an alien culture immediately.
