anglu Flashcards
draw up
if you draw up an official document, you write it
Collocates: draw up a contract/document
I draw up all the contracts and deal with any contractual
issues | she finished drawing up the guidelines for the
new project | a detailed policy document was drawn up
dump
if you dump something somewhere, you put it there for a
while in a quick or careless way
just dump your stuff down here for the moment | he’d
dumped all the dirty washing on the bed | she dumped
her bag on the floor and ran into the garden | can I
dump my suitcase here?
eager
someone who is eager is very keen to do something or
have something
Collocates: eager to do something
I was so eager to start work that I got there an hour
early | he was always helpful and eager to please | I was
eager for more news about their travels | the students
were eager to learn and easy to get to know | he
seemed eager to get back to work
Adverb: eagerly | Noun: eagerness
they are waiting eagerly for the release of the next Star
Wars film | the children were eagerly looking forward
to Christmas | he listened quietly, but with eagerness | I
knocked over a vase in my eagerness to get to the door
input
to input information into a computer means to put it in
there, for example by using a keyboard
I have to input information into the database | the team
in the next office are inputting sales orders | once we’ve
input the revised figures, we’ll get an idea of how much
profit we’ve made
Noun: input
each page has fields which require input | the input data
had been corrupted
invoice
an invoice is a document which lists goods or services
that have been supplied and says how much you have to
pay for them
Collocates: issue an invoice | submit an invoice | pay an
invoice
invoices are now issued electronically | payment is due
seven days after the date of invoice | please make sure
the invoice number is included in all correspondence
| I submitted my invoice six weeks ago and they still
haven’t paid me | we still have too many unpaid invoices
Verb: invoice
we will invoice you at the end of the month | you will be
invoiced in Euros, not dollars
liaise
to liaise with someone in a different department or
organisation means to communicate with them and
share information so that you can both work more
effectively
Collocates: liaise closely/directly (with someone)
I liaise closely with the design team throughout the
project | you should liaise directly with the Paris office |
the successful candidate will liaise with staff at all levels,
so good communication skills are required | they liaised
regularly with the local council
Noun: liaison
she’s our press liaison officer (the person whose job is
to liaise with the press) | the bank holds regular liaison
meetings with local businesses
place
when you make an arrangement for something
to be done, such as ordering goods or having an
advertisement appear in a publication, you place an
order, place an advertisement, etc.
I want to place an ad in next month’s magazine | you
can place your order online | he placed a bet on the
result of the World Cup final
ropes
the ropes are all the things you need to know to be able
to do a new job or work in a new place
Collocates: show someone the ropes | learn the ropes |
know the ropes
this is Jenny; she’ll show you the ropes | I’ve only been
here a week so I’m still learning the ropes | working here
is quite good fun once you know the ropes
schedule
a schedule is a list of activities and the time when they
will all happen. If you schedule something, you arrange
for it to happen at a particular time
Collocates: schedule a meeting/appointment | schedule
a time/date
shall I schedule a meeting for tomorrow? | I’ve just
emailed them to schedule a time for the video call | she’s
got three appointments scheduled for the afternoon | we
need to schedule a date for the next press conference
Noun: schedule
Collocates: a busy schedule | a tight schedule
I’ve got a busy schedule tomorrow, but I could see
you for 10 minutes at 8 o’clock | I’m worried that the
schedule is too tight (there are too many things to do
in too short a time) | the project is two months behind
schedule (things are happening later than they are
meant to)
settle in
when you settle in, you become comfortable in a new
place or job and feel that you belong there they’re all very friendly here and I’m sure you’ll settle in
quickly | it was my first time away from home and it took
a while to settle in | once you’re settled in, you’ll never
want to leave
spot
a spot is a particular place
we’ll find you a spot later | this would be a good spot for
a picnic | the farmhouse occupied a lovely spot on the
side of the valley
temperamental
someone who is temperamental is likely to lose their
temper suddenly and unexpectedly. Temperamental
machines or systems don’t always work properly or in
the way that they are expected to
the photocopier is a bit temperamental | he was
not as temperamental as his father had been | his
temperamental reaction to the news was quite
unexpected | the weather is rather temperamental at
this time of year
Noun: temperament
in a fit of temperament (having suddenly become angry),
he threw his golf club in the lake
tender loving care
tender loving care is gentle, kind, and sympathetic
treatment that you show someone or something. Tender
loving care is often spoken and written as TLC
the copier has a tendency to jam if you don’t treat it
with tender loving care | he’s very upset and in need of
a bit of tender loving care | with a bit of TLC we should
get another year or two out of the car | thanks to all that
TLC, the apple tree gave us more fruit this year than
ever before
troubleshoot
if you troubleshoot a problem, you find out exactly what
is causing the problem and then you fix it
I troubleshoot any problems with the computer system |
if you ring the helpdesk, they will troubleshoot the issue
for you | we can now troubleshoot issues from a central
location in the UK | I tried to troubleshoot the problem
using the FAQ but I couldn’t do it
Noun: troubleshooter | Noun: troubleshooting
he took on the job of being the company’s international
troubleshooter | students will learn basic troubleshooting
techniques
admiration
admiration is a feeling of respect and liking for someone
or for something they have achieved
I enjoyed the admiration while it lasted | I have a lot of
admiration for the work he’s done | he has expressed
admiration for several of the performances | she felt a
grudging admiration for the old lady (she admired her,
but didn’t want to admit it)
Verb: admire | Adjective: admiring | Adverb: admiringly
| Adjective: admirable | Adverb: admirably
the two actors admired each other’s work greatly | her
novels were admired by readers on both sides of the
Atlantic | he looked at her with an admiring glance | he
looked round admiringly at the furniture and the books |
her courage was admirable | he coped admirably with a
very difficult situation
blissfully
bliss is a feeling of great happiness. When you feel like
that, you are blissful. When you want to emphasise how
happy someone is, you can say they are blissfully happy
Collocates: blissfully happy
I’m blissfully happy in my new job | it was blissfully quiet
after the children had gone to bed | life on the island
was blissfully simple and carefree
Noun: bliss | Adjective: blissful
Collocates: sheer/pure bliss
the first few months living in Rome were pure bliss
| wedded bliss (the happiness of being married to
someone you love) | we spent a blissful week travelling
around the south of France
commit
if you commit to something, you say that you will
definitely do it or spend a lot of your time on it
Collocates: commit to something | commit yourself to
something
they paid for me to do an MBA in return for me
committing to the company afterwards | when he came
back from Thailand he committed himself to finishing his
degree course
Adjective: committed
Collocates: committed to (doing) something
our company is committed to producing high quality, low
cost bicycles | the only thing he was really committed to
was football
conspiracy
a conspiracy is a secret, organised plan by a group of
people to do something wrong or illegal
Collocates: conspiracy to do something | a conspiracy
theory
security forces uncovered a conspiracy to assassinate
the prime minister | he was charged with conspiracy to
commit robbery | a conspiracy theory (a belief held by
a few people that there is a particular conspiracy even
though most other people don’t believe it) | conspiracy
theorists still claim Kennedy was killed by the CIA | a
conspiracy of silence (when several people refuse to say
anything about a particular subject which ought to be
discussed in public)
Verb: conspire | Noun: conspirator
Collocates: conspire to do something | conspire against
someone
they conspired to rob the largest bank in Italy | several
of his closest colleagues conspired against him | Guy
Fawkes was only one of several conspirators involved
in the plot to blow up Parliament | twenty conspirators
were arrested and jailed
drain
if your energy or strength drains or if something drains it,
you start to feel tired my vitality drained away | hours of swimming had
drained his strength more than he had expected
Adjective: drained | Adjective: draining
by the end of the meeting I felt totally drained (very tired)
| teaching young children can be emotionally draining
drift
if your mind drifts or drifts off, you start thinking about
other things when you are meant to be concentrating on
something else
I spent hours drifting off into my own little world | the
longer the speech went on, the further her mind drifted
| I watched him in the meeting and you could see when
his mind was drifting of
enthuse
if someone or something enthuses you, or if you are
enthused by them, you feel very excited and impressed
about something and are eager to be involved in it
we had an English teacher who enthused and inspired
us | not everyone was so enthused by the lecture | this is
a book which will enthuse anyone with an interest in the
future of the planet | they were all impressed and very
enthused by what they saw that day
Adjective: enthusiastic | Adverb: enthusiastically |
Noun: enthusiasm
as in London, the New York audiences were wildly
enthusiastic | Tim was very enthusiastic about
starting swimming lessons | the audience clapped
enthusiastically | he spoke enthusiastically about the
opportunities there would be in a new country | make
sure you express your enthusiasm for the job at the
end of the interview | she has a genuine enthusiasm
for music
fiercely
you use fiercely to emphasise how strong or severe
something is
you have to be fiercely competitive to get ahead
in business | the proposal was fiercely opposed by
local residents | she was fiercely critical of the new
government | they were fiercely independent children
Adjective: fierce
the president has come in for fierce criticism |
competition between the two shops is fierce | when they
played tennis, her sister was her fiercest rival
formality
if a process or action is a formality, it happens but it
won’t change anything because the result has already
been decided
with his backing for my request, the process was a
formality (no one was going to object) | the interview
was just a formality and they offered me the job on the
spot | it has to be approved by the head of department,
but that’s just a formality in this case | the vote was a
formality as there was only one candidate
hangover
if you have a hangover, you have a headache and feel ill
because you drank too much alcohol the previous day
two-thirds of young professionals have called in sick
because of a hangover | the next day we both woke
up with a bad hangover | I’ve never found an effective hangover cure | if you drink lots of water before you go
to bed you won’t get a hangover
Adjective: hungover
he was too hungover to go into work that morning | she
regularly went to work hungover
immensely
you use immensely to emphasise the strength of a
particular quality
nursing is immensely rewarding | conditions in the
refugee camp were immensely difficult | getting my
degree at the age of 30 was immensely satisfying | both
girls were immensely talented musicians
Adjective: immense
this fact is of immense importance | the news came as
an immense relief
inevitability
the inevitability of something is the fact that it will
definitely happen
Collocates: an inevitability about something | the
inevitability of something
there was a depressing inevitability about his reaction
| we shouldn’t accept the inevitability of this state of
affairs | he kept talking about the inevitability of death
Adjective: inevitable | Adverb: inevitably
by June 1939 everyone knew that war was inevitable |
it was almost inevitable that he would lose the election
| the arrest of two teachers inevitably appeared on the
front page of the local newspaper | there will inevitably
be disagreements in the course of the project
inherently
an inherent quality is one that something naturally has
and needs. Something that is inherently true is true
because it involves an inherent quality
IT is inherently interesting | boxing is an inherently
violent sport | any investment on the stock market is
inherently risky | nuclear physics is an inherently difficult
subject to understand
Adjective: inherent
such dangers are inherent in contact sports such as rugby
| this material has an inherent ability to absorb water
mind-numbing
if you feel numb, you cannot think clearly because you
are shocked, frightened, or very upset. Something that is
mind-numbing is so boring that you cannot think.
sitting through a two-hour speech was a mind-numbing
experience | my first job in a factory was monotonous
and mind-numbing | I was stuck in the most mindnumbing meeting imaginable
Adverb: mind-numbingly | Adjective: numb | Verb:
numb | Adjective: numbed
most of his novels are mind-numbingly boring | the train
rolled through some mind-numbingly dull landscape |
when they told me she had died, I just went numb | we
were all numbed by the news | I sat, numbed, in the
waiting room
payroll
a company’s payroll is the amount of money it spends on
paying its workers. If someone is on the payroll, they are
an employee of the company
we’ve got over 200 people on the payroll | its annual
payroll exceeds £200 million | half the people in this
town are on the government payroll (working for a public
service)
redundancy
redundancy is when a company tells a worker he or
she has to leave their job because they are no longer
needed or because the company cannot afford to keep
paying them. When this happens, the worker is made
redundant
Collocates: voluntary redundancy | compulsory
redundancy
she got a good redundancy payment | they asked me if
I wanted to take voluntary redundancy | management
denied that there would be any more compulsory
redundancies | another 30 redundancies were
announced at their Manchester factory | unions feared
there would be mass redundancies (a large number of
people losing their job)
Adjective: redundant
Collocates: make someone redundant
50% of the workforce were made redundant | the
company offered help in finding work for the redundant
workers
remotely
if you say that something is not remotely interesting,
funny, similar, etc., you mean that it is not at all
interesting, funny, similar, etc.
listening to golf on the radio is not even remotely
interesting | I never thought clowns were remotely
funny when I was a child | nothing remotely similar has
happened for over 100 years | it doesn’t sound remotely
like her voice
screw
if someone screws you, they treat you badly and
dishonestly and try to get money from you unfairly
but I wasn’t screwing the system – the system was
screwing me | they screwed £100 out of me | record
companies have always screwed the artists | it was only
afterwards that we realised we’d been screwed
slump
if you slump, or if your head or shoulders are slumped,
you sit or walk with your head down because you are
tired or miserable
I’d get home with my shoulders slumped and my mind
numb | he slumped over the steering wheel | she
slumped forward and nearly fell off the chair
small talk
small talk is polite conversation about unimportant
things
Collocates: make small talk
in the lift he tried to start some small talk | I was never
very good at small talk | making small talk with George
wasn’t easy | OK – enough of the small talk. Let’s get
down to business
soul-destroying
something that is soul-destroying makes you very
unhappy because it is very boring or because you know
there is no point to it but you have to keep doing it
doing nothing might seem fun at first, but in the end
it’s soul-destroying | every morning we’d have a souldestroying progress meeting which just wasted the first
hour of the day | there is nothing so soul-destroying as the
daily one-hour commute on a crowded train into London
soul-searching
soul-searching is long and careful thought when you
are trying to make a very important decision or trying
to decide the right thing to do after things have
gone wrong
the shooting led to a lot of soul-searching and calls
for restrictions on gun ownership | after much soulsearching, they both decided the marriage was over
technically
if something is, for example, technically difficult or
technically complicated, it needs very particular skills
and abilities for someone to be able to do it
the piano is a technically difficult instrument to play |
gardening is technically demanding | the surgeon said
the operation wasn’t technically complicated
Adjective: technical
he has a lot of technical ability | she spent years learning
the technical skills required of a world-class opera singer
under-
under- is added to some words to make other words
that describe how there is not enough of something in a
particular situation
much of the workforce is under-employed (they do not
have enough work to do) | under-employment happens
because workers won’t admit that they don’t have
enough to do | the animals were underfed (they did
not have enough to eat) | a village in one of the most
underdeveloped regions in the country
Opposite – Prefix: overI always overeat at Christmas | the figure of 70,000 is a
serious overestimation
absenteeism
absenteeism is regular failure to be at work or at school
we’ve launched a crackdown on absenteeism |
absenteeism has become a big problem at the factory
| there was a rise in absenteeism during the World
Cup | we have a happy workforce with low rates of
absenteeism
Adjective: absent | Noun: absence
three children in my class were absent yesterday |
you’ve had a long absence so it will take you quite a
while to catch up with the others
casualisation
casualisation of the workforce is when an employer
doesn’t use so many permanent staff and employs
workers on short-term contracts the casualisation of the workforce | unions fought
against casualisation of labour | employers were
accused of having secret casualisation plans
Verb: casualise | Adjective: casualised |
Adjective: casual
Collocates: casual labour/workers
unions have been fighting plans to casualise the
workforce here | a casualised workforce | the new bridge
was built using casual labour
compassionate leave
compassionate leave is time off work that someone gets
when a close relative is seriously ill or has died
when my father died I was granted two months’
compassionate leave | he was allowed home from the
army on compassionate leave | when he returned from
compassionate leave he found that everything had
changed
condemn
if you condemn something, you say that you strongly
disapprove of it and think it is bad or morally wrong
the government condemned the strike | politicians
from all sides condemned the violence | of course we
condemn any acts of terror | the killings were strongly
condemned by the church
Noun: condemnation
the government’s action provoked international
condemnation | he expressed condemnation of all use
of violence
crèche
a crèche is a place where very young children are
looked after while their parents are at work
we have a crèche at work where I can leave my
daughter | the crèche opens at 8 in the morning | crèche
facilities are available for a limited number of children
dip into
if you dip into a container, you put your hand in there in
order to take something out
he decided to dip into a biscuit tin that he found in the
office | she dipped into her handbag for her keys | I
dipped into my briefcase and pulled out the photos | he
dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a
five-pound note
dismissal
someone’s dismissal is the fact of their being removed
from their job
Collocates: unfair dismissal | constructive dismissal
he won compensation for unfair dismissal | constructive
dismissal (when an employer makes someone’s
conditions so bad that they feel they have to resign) | his
dismissal came after three written warnings | such an
offence would justify instant dismissal
Verb: dismiss
both employees were dismissed when the theft was
uncovered | the employment tribunal ruled that he had
been unfairly dismissed
duty
your duties are things that you have to do as part of
your job
Collocates: fulfil/carry out your duties
the union worried about members being unable to fulfil
all their duties at that age | his duties included locking
up at night | administrative duties are carried out by
the team on the second floor | she reports for duty at
8 every morning
final straw
straw is dried stems of wheat or other plants. If you say
that something is the straw that broke the camel’s back,
or is the final straw, you mean that it was the latest in a
series of unfortunate events and it has finally caused you
to become angry or upset about the situation
a straw hat | missing the last train was the final straw |
the last straw was when they took my car away | I put
up with a lot from them, but the straw that broke the
camel’s back came when they told me I was too old to
go dancing with them
grant
if someone in authority grants someone something, they
give it to them or allow them to have it
Collocates: grant permission | grant a request
I was granted two months’ compassionate leave | the
local council have granted permission for the building
to be demolished | he granted several requests for
interviews | the judge granted her a divorce on the
grounds of her husband’s unreasonable behaviour
labour
labour is hard physical work
forced labour (being made to do very hard physical work
as a punishment) | it was hard manual labour (working
with your hands) | the new machinery will save a lot of
time and labour | he came home tired out by the labour
of building a wall
Verb: labour | Noun: labourer
he laboured hard all day and managed to finish just
before dark | my grandfather laboured in the fields all his
working life | unskilled labourers | a farm labourer
mourn
if you mourn someone who has died, you feel sad that
they are dead and behave quietly and respectfully for
a while
Collocates: mourn someone’s death | mourn for
someone
she was widely mourned throughout Japan | following
his death in 1965, the whole nation mourned | it was
painful watching him mourn for his daughter | the family
were left to mourn in private | the community mourned
the loss of one its most popular characters
Noun: mourning | Noun: mourner
a week of national mourning was declared | the
mourning period was extended to 21 days | a fleet of
black cars brought mourners to the cemetery | mourners
gathered by the graveside
perk
a perk is something that you get for free from your
employer, for example free or cheap food, a car, or
medical insurance
we all get subsidised travel, which is a nice perk | other
perks include free tea and coffee from the machine | the
company’s employees enjoy a number of perks
slavery
slavery is the system under which some people were
bought as slaves, and were legally owned by the people
who had bought them
slavery was abolished in Britain in 1833 | the abolition
of slavery | millions of people around the world are
victims of slavery | domestic slavery (the use of slaves as
servants in someone’s home) | slavery continued on the
island until about 1863
Noun: slave | Verb: enslave
prisoners were used as slave labour | ironically, the
US constitution was written by slave owners | British
companies were engaged in the slave trade (the buying
and selling of slaves) | whole families were enslaved and
sent to North America
stationery
stationery is paper, pens, envelopes and other things
that are used for writing
lots of people take stationery home from work | is there
a stationery shop near here? | you’ll find everything you
need in the stationery cupboard | I just need some basic
office stationery
statutory
statutory means relating to what must happen because
of a law or rule
the government have agreed to raise the statutory
minimum wage | the council has a statutory duty to
provide housing for homeless families | there is no
statutory requirement to keep a record of such minor
incidents | we get four weeks’ statutory holiday a year
tribunal
a tribunal is a kind of court that has authority to make
decisions about particular problems
Collocates: employment/industrial/military tribunal
he took his employer to a tribunal and won
compensation | an employment tribunal | the tribunal
ruled that he had been unfairly dismissed | he took
his case to an industrial tribunal (one that deals with
employment rights)
