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60 Cards in this Set
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Discipline |
Noun Training that makes people more willing to obey or more able to control themselves, often in the form of rules, and punishments if these are broken, or the behaviour produced by this training:
There should be tougher discipline in schools. Maintaining classroom discipline (= control of the students) is the first task of every teacher. |
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quaint |
Adjective attractive because of being unusual and especially old-fashioned: a quaint old cottage In Spain, we visited a cobblestone plaza with quaint little cafés around its perimeter. |
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reign |
Noun The period of time when a king or queen rules a country: The reign of Henry VIII The original chapel was built in the reign of Charles I. |
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Vigorous |
Adjective very forceful or energetic:
A vigorous debate. There has been vigorous opposition to the proposals for a new road. |
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Rigorous |
Adjective Detailed and careful:
I want rigorous financial analysis of the options. The selection process is extremely rigorous. |
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Gauge |
Noun A device for measuring the amount or size of something: |
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Haphazard |
Adjective Lacking order or purpose; not planned:
Haphazard record-keeping made it difficult for the agency to keep track of its clients. |
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Competence |
Noun The ability to do something well:
Her competence as a teacher is unquestionable. |
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Yearn |
Adjective To desire something strongly, esp. something difficult or impossible to obtain:
Joy yearns to earn enough money from her job as a doctor’s assistant for her to become independent. |
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Haphazard |
Adjective Lacking order or purpose; not planned:
Haphazard record-keeping made it difficult for the agency to keep track of its clients. |
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Yearn |
Adjective To desire something strongly, esp. something difficult or impossible to obtain:
Joy yearns to earn enough money from her job as a doctor’s assistant for her to become independent. |
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Yield |
Verb to produce something positive such as a profit, an amount of food or information:
The investigation yielded some unexpected results. Favourable weather yielded a good crop. |
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Porous |
Adjective Something that is porous has many small holes, so liquid or air can pass through, especially slowly: porous soil with good drainage |
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Porous |
Adjective Something that is porous has many small holes, so liquid or air can pass through, especially slowly: porous soil with good drainage |
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Temperamental |
Adjective A temperamental person is someone whose mood often changes very suddenly:
Be careful how you approach her - she's very temperamental. |
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Agencies |
Plural of agency
A business that represents one group of people when dealing with another group:
The holiday was cancelled so the travel agency had to refund everybody the price of the tickets. |
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supersede |
Verb To replace something, especially something older or more old-fashioned:
Most of the old road has been superseded by the highways. |
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supersede |
Verb To replace something, especially something older or more old-fashioned:
Most of the old road has been superseded by the highways. |
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Oscillate |
Verb to move repeatedly from one position to another.
The stock has spent most of the past five years oscillating between $3 and $5. |
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baulk |
Verb to be unwilling to do something or to allow something to happen:
They really wanted the house, but they baulked at the price. he balked at such a drastic solution. |
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Mountainous |
Adjective Having a lot of mountains:
A mountainous region |
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Riotous |
Adjective Very loud and uncontrolled, and full of energy:
We went to a riotous party and danced all night.
Five students were arrested for riotous behaviour. |
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Riot |
Noun an occasion when a large number of people behave in a noisy, violent, and uncontrolled way in public, often as a protest:
Food protests and riots have erupted in more than 30 countries. |
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Perilous |
Adjective Extremely dangerous:
The country roads are quite perilous. |
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Scandalous |
Making people shocked and upset
It's scandalous that we do so little to prevent homelessness. |
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resuscitate |
Verb Revive (someone) from unconsciousness or apparent death.
Her heart had stopped, but the doctors successfully resuscitated her. |
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Resurrect |
Verb to bring someone back to life:
Almost all Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. |
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resuscitate |
Verb to bring someone or something back to life or wake someone or something:
Her heart had stopped, but the doctors successfully resuscitated her. |
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Baulk(Balk) |
Verb to be unwilling to do something or to allow something to happen:
They really wanted the house, but they baulked at the price. He balked at such a drastic solution. |
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subordinate |
Adjective having a lower ranking or less important position.
He left the routine checks to one of his subordinates. |
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Pursuit |
Noun The act of trying to achieve a plan, activity, or situation, usually over a long period of time:
The pursuit of happiness
The company is ruthless in its pursuit of profit. |
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Radial |
Verb To make a phone call again to a number that you have just called because the line was busy the previous time :
Some callers had to radial as many as 40 times to get through to an operator. |
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Jeopardy |
In jeopardy
In danger of being damaged or destroyed:
The lives of thousands of birds are in jeopardy as a result of the oil spill. Bad investments have put the company’s future in jeopardy. |
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Brevity |
Noun The use of few words:
The essays were written with admirable brevity. |
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Lacerate |
Verb to cut or tear something, especially flesh.
The sharp branches lacerated my bare arms. |
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Litigious |
Adjective Too often taking arguments to a court of law for a decision:
The US is the most litigious society in the world. |
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Misogyny |
Noun Hatred of women. Feelings of hating women, or the belief that men are much better than women.
This is a culture that promotes violence and misogyny. |
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Phosphorescent |
Adjective In simple terms, phosphorescence is a process in which energy absorbed by a substance is released relatively slowly in the form of light. This is in some cases the mechanism used for glow-in-the-dark materials which are "charged" by exposure to light. |
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Rancour |
Noun A feeling of hate and continuing anger about something in the past:
They cheated me, but I feel no rancour against them. |
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Rancour |
Noun A feeling of hate and continuing anger about something in the past:
They cheated me, but I feel no rancour against them. |
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Scimitar |
A sword with a curved blade that is sharp only on its outer edge.
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Moult |
Verb (of a bird or animal) to lose feathers, skin, or hair as a natural process at a particular time of year so that new feathers, skin, or hair can grow.
By August the male will have begun to moult and will become almost indistinguishable from the female. |
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Voila |
Voilà is essentially a combination of two words: voir (to see/look) and là (there). So literally speaking, voilà is an instruction. When you use it, you are telling people to 'look there'. So you can use voilà to draw attention to something that you can physically see.
Corn tortillas can be cut into strips, fried until golden, and sprinkled with salt - voilà! tortilla chips. |
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Wraith |
A ghost or ghostlike image of someone, especially one seen shortly before or after their death. Used in reference to a pale, thin, or insubstantial person or thing.
Heart attacks had reduced his mother to a wraith.
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Wraith |
A ghost or ghostlike image of someone, especially one seen shortly before or after their death. Used in reference to a pale, thin, or insubstantial person or thing.
Heart attacks had reduced his mother to a wraith.
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omit |
Verb Leave out or exclude (someone or something), either intentionally or forgetfully.
He was omitted from the second test. I’d be upset if my name were omitted from the list of contributors. |
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Relegation |
Noun The transfer of a sports team or player to a lower division of a league.
At the end of each season, the teams that finish at the bottom of the league are "relegated" (or forced down) to the division below. Teams that finish at the top of a league move up to a higher league, if they are not already at the top. |
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Taffeta |
Noun A stiff, shiny cloth made from silk or artificial material, used especially for dresses to be worn at special events:
A room is illuminated by sunlight passing through a red taffeta curtain. |
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Replenish |
Verb To fill something up again:
Food stocks were replenished by/with imports from abroad. Does your glass need replenishing? |
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Skulduggery |
Noun Secret and dishonest behaviour.
We shall then know whether the government involved in any skulduggery during 1960.
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Redemption |
Noun The state of being kept from improving morally, too bad to be saved.
The political leadership in that state is so corrupt that it’s beyond redemption (= it will always be morally bad).
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Sovereign |
Noun Put simply, your sovereign is your king or queen. George III was the sovereign of Great Britain and her colonies. Sovereign as an adjective can be used to indicate the ultimate power of a state, whether a monarchy or not.
We must respect the rights of sovereign nations to conduct their own affairs. |
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insolent |
Adjective Rude and not showing respect:
That is a most insolent and offensive remark. |
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Zenith |
Noun The time at which something is most powerful or successful.
His career reached its zenith in the 1960s. |
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dictator |
Noun someone who rules a country with complete power, has complete control over the armed forces, and destroys any political opposition.
Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany and Kim Jong Un are the primary examples of dictators. |
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dictatorship |
Noun a country ruled by a dictator:
The dictatorship of Franco lasted for nearly 40 years. |
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Fellowship |
Noun The position of a fellow at a college or university:
He was elected to an honorary fellowship at St John's College. |
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Purist |
Noun someone who believes in and follows very traditional rules or ideas in a subject:
Purists eat smoked salmon with nothing more than lemon and black pepper. |
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Quiescent |
Adjective temporarily quiet and not active:
The political situation was now relatively quiescent. |
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accommodation |
Noun A place to live, work, stay, etc. in:
There's a shortage of cheap accommodation. |
