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Vocabulary > Vocabulary 4 > Flashcards

Vocabulary 4 Flashcards

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1
Q

By the scruff of the neck ?

A

Take complete control of

Ex:

He took him by the scruff of the neck to warn him, this would be the last time he would try to pull such a stunt

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2
Q

Take smth with a pinch of salt ?

A

Be careful at something/not totally believe it

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3
Q

Coax out ?

Coax along ?

A

to persuade someone gently to do something or go somewhere, by being kind and patient, or by appearing to be:

Coax out : try to take something (not a person) physically out

Coax along: bring someone with you (she coaxed me along)

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4
Q

To enable ?

A

to make someone able to do something, or to make something possible:

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5
Q

To embody ?

A

To represent a role

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6
Q

Palatable

A

Good enough to drink or eat

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7
Q

Make a fruitless/vein endeavour to ?

A

Try to do something but fruitless

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8
Q

Give free rein to ?

A

to allow something to happen freely and completely:

Ex.

This is a post which will give your talents full rein.

It’s a task that requires you to allow full rein to your imagination.

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9
Q

To garner smth ?

A

To collect smth usually after much work of difficulty

Ex:

The album has garnered positive reviews

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10
Q

Sophisticated ?

A

having a good understanding of the way people behave and/or a good knowledge of culture and fashion:

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11
Q

Revamp ?

A

to change or arrange something again, in order to improve it:

Refurbish : to make a building look new again by doing work such as painting, repairing, and cleaning:

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12
Q

White-knuckle ?

A

A white-knuckle experience or activity makes you feel very frightened and often excited:

Ex:

a white-knuckle ride in a theme park

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13
Q

Steep ? (Hill/angle)

A

Raide or expensive

Ex:

London is pretty expensive

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14
Q

Muster up (courage/strength/resources) ?

A

If you muster up a feeling of courage or energy, you try hard to find that quality in yourself because you need it in order to do something:

[ + to infinitive ] She finally mustered up the courage to ask him for more money.

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15
Q

To coin a word/term/phrase

A

To create

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16
Q

Oppress ?

A

Oppresser

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17
Q

When it comes to the crunch ?

A

if/when a situation becomes extremely serious and a decision must be made:

Ex:

When it comes to the crunch and the absolute worst happens, you can stay with me and I’ll look after you

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18
Q

Perch on stm?

A

Sit in the edge of sth

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19
Q

Cumbersome ?

A

Annoying, awkward because of being large, heavy, or not effective:

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20
Q

Relegate to (secondary role) ?

A

to put someone or something into a lower or less important rank or position:

Ex:

She resigned when she was relegated to a desk job.

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21
Q

Tangible ? (Excitement/relief/fear)

A

real and not imaginary; able to be shown, touched, or experienced:

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22
Q

Deem ?

A

to consider or judge something in a particular way:

Their opinion were deemed to be crucial for the compagny

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23
Q

Speak volumes ? (Action/silence/result)

A

Convey a strong message without really using words (ex: Rosa Parks)

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24
Q

Ensue ? (Chaos/battle)

A

to happen after something else, especially as a result of it:

Ex:

My cats, when dinner time comes and my mum forgets to feed them chaos ensues.

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25
Q

Stuffy - unstuffy ?

A

A stuffy room or building is unpleasant because it has no fresh air:

Ex:

a stuffy office

It’s really hot and stuffy in here - let’s open the window.

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26
Q

Causalities ?

A

Victims

Ex:

Children are the casualties of war

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27
Q

Give/ have kudos (informal)

A

the public admiration that a person receives as a result of a particular achievement or position in society:

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28
Q

Smth goes the way of the dodo

A

Something is going to disappear

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29
Q

Have pockets of (languages/communities/resistance)

A

Have groups of

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30
Q

X is a good jumping off point

A

a point from which to start a journey or activity

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31
Q

A last ditch attempt/effort

A

Last effort

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32
Q

Change tack

A

Change direction

Ex:

My students weren’t getting the grammar, no matter how many times I told them, so I changed tack and we just played a game that helped them get the concept

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33
Q

To coast through something/sail through

A

to succeed very easily in something, especially a test:

Ex:

Rachel sailed through her finals and got A’s in everything.

You can’t expect to just sail through without doing any work.

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34
Q

In the pipelines

A

Being planned

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35
Q

Go through the motions

A

Following something but without being really involved in

to do something without thinking it is very important or having much interest in it:

Ex:

He says he’s been investigating my complaint, but I feel he’s just going through the motions

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36
Q

Pipe dream ?

A

Unattainable dream

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37
Q

Demise of something ?

A

End of something

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38
Q

Forge bonds

A

Forger des liens

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39
Q

Ah overriding theme ?

A

A thème that occurs often

40
Q

To mitigate (risk/damage/the impact of/threats/hazards)

A

to make something less harmful, unpleasant, or bad

Ex:

It is unclear how to mitigate the effects of tourism on the island.

41
Q

Strive to do ?

A

to try very hard to do something or to make something happen, especially for a long time or against difficulties:

Ex:

Mr Roe has kindled expectations that he must now strive to live up to.

In her writing she strove for a balance between innovation and familiar prose forms.

42
Q

Plagued with (problems/anxiety)

A

Suffer from

43
Q

Be at your wits end

A

When you are done/so tired of something

Ex:

I was at my wits end with my thesis

44
Q

There is no harm in ?

A

Pas de mal à

45
Q

Fall short of expectations

A

Disappointment

46
Q

Take priority over ?

A

If something takes priority over something else, it is more important:

47
Q

Give food for thought

A

Make you think

48
Q

I have every intention of

A

J’ai toute l’intention de

49
Q

Have a serious effect on

A

Avoir un effet sur

50
Q

Can be relied on to

A

Se reposer sur

51
Q

It never occurred to me to ask

A

Ne m’a pas traversé l’esprit de demander

52
Q

He was given a life sentence for

A

Peine à vie pour

53
Q

Is apt to

A

Est apte à

54
Q

Is subject to change

A

Est sujet à changement

55
Q

Have a command of (ex: German)

A

Master something

56
Q

To nail

A

Succeed very well

57
Q

Will be exempt from

A

Exempté de

58
Q

Cold beyond belief

A

Very cold

59
Q

In the mood for v-Ing

A

D’humeur à

60
Q

Show their disapproval of

A

Montrer son désaccord

61
Q

Has his hands full

A

to be very busy or involved with something:

62
Q

Put someone’s life in jeopardy

A

Put someone in danger

63
Q

By the look of something

A

Au regard de

64
Q

It springs to mind

A

Ça saute à l’esprit

65
Q

Come to mind

A

Vient à l’esprit

66
Q

Call someone out

A

to criticize someone or ask them to explain their actions:

Ex:

Jenny always calls out students for being in their phones when they should be concentrating

67
Q

Bounce (ideas/suggestions) off each other ?

A

If you bounce something off someone, you tell someone about an idea or plan in order to find out what they think of it:

Ex:

Can I bounce a couple of ideas off you?

68
Q

To grate on ?

A

to have an annoying or painful effect:

Ex:

Something that my mum always does that grated on me is asking way too many questions when I’m trying to concentrate

69
Q

To rub someone the wrong way

A

to annoy someone without intending to:

Ex:

As soon as they met they started to rub each other the wrong way.

His joke really rubbed me the wrong way

70
Q

Cause friction between

A

Causer une friction

71
Q

To rant

A

to speak, write or shout in a loud, uncontrolled, or angry way, often saying confused or silly things:

Ex:

He’s always ranting (on) about the government.

72
Q

Jump the gun ?

A

Done something earlier / sauter les étapes

73
Q

Jump on the bandwagon

A

to become involved in an activity that is successful so that you can get the advantages of it yourself:

Ex:

The success of the product led many firms to try to jump on the bandwagon.

74
Q

Jump through hoops

A

to do a lot of difficult things before you are allowed to have or do something you want

75
Q

Come on leaps and bounds

A

To improve a lot

76
Q

Spring sthm on someone ?

A

to suddenly tell or ask someone something when they do not expect it:

77
Q

Leap to conclusions (about/after/on)

A

Jump to conclusions

78
Q

Know no bounds (after/between)

A

If someone has a quality that knows no bounds, it is extreme:

Ex:

Her generosity knows no bounds.

79
Q

Spring into action

A

To act immediately

80
Q

Jump for joy

A

to be extremely happy:

81
Q

Jump down someone’s throat/neck (at/with)

A

to react angrily to something that someone says or does:

82
Q

Gloss over (information)

A

to avoid considering something, such as an embarrassing mistake, to make it seem not important, and to quickly continue talking about something else:

Ex:

She glossed over the company’s declining profits.

The documentary glossed over some important issues.

83
Q

A waking dream ?

A

A dream in reality

84
Q

A dark horse ?

A

a person who keeps their interests and ideas secret, especially someone who has a surprising ability or skill:

85
Q

Palpable ?

A

You can almost touch it

Ex:

Palpable tension between 2 people

86
Q

Get a slap on the wrist

A

a small punishment when a more severe punishment is deserved:

Ex:

They rob someone on the street and they get a slap on the wrist – thirty days in jail.

87
Q

Up-and-coming (artist/area/trend) ?

A

likely to achieve success soon or in the near future:

Ex:

up-and-coming young actresses

88
Q

Precarious (house/job/situation)

A

Précaire

89
Q

Give leeway

A

freedom to act within particular limits:

90
Q

To skirt around sthm?

A

To avoid talking about something because it’s difficult or embarrassing

Ex:

He won’t tell me if he wants to go out with me or not directly he just tends to skirt around answering

91
Q

Hard-pressed to do sthm

A

having a lot of difficulties doing something, especially because there is not enough time or money:

Ex:

The latest education reforms have put extra pressure on teachers who are already hard-pressed.

Because of shortages, the emergency services were hard-pressed to deal with the accident.

Most people would be hard-pressed (= would find it difficult) to name more than half a dozen members of the government.

92
Q

Inevitable

A

Inevitable

93
Q

Sedentary

A

involving little exercise or physical activity:

94
Q

Tag along

A

to go somewhere with a person or group, usually when they have not asked you to go with them:

Ex:

I don’t know her, she just tagged along with us.

95
Q

Thrive on

A

to grow, develop, or be successful/

Ex:

She seems to thrive on stress.

She seems to thrive on hard work.

96
Q

Sink your teeth into sth

A

Put really hard work in something

97
Q

Take to like a duck to water

A

to discover when you start to do something for the first time that you have a natural ability to do it:

Ex:

He took to fatherhood like a duck to water.

Vocabulary (13 decks)

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