912-notes/words.md

Some Words

Words List

• euclidean

(adj)relating to geometry as developed by Euclid

- euclidean distance
- euclidean geometry

• zip through

(v)to go somewhere or do something very quickly

- If you zip through a page in less than an hour, you are probably going too fast.
- A lot of questions zip through his mind.

• internalize

(v)if you internalize a particular belief, attitude, behaviour etc, it becomes part of your character

- Over time, she internalized her parents' attitudes.
- You should ponder and internalize each definition.

• beige

(adj)a pale brown colour

- The walls are beige.
- Definitions are in beige boxes and theorems are in blue boxes.

• bestow

(v)to give someone something of great value or importance

- honours bestowed on him by the Queen
- Bestowing proper credit on all the contributors would be a difficult task that I have not undertaken.

• in lieu of

(adv)in place of

- extra time off in lieu of payment

• preliminary

(adj)happening before something that is more important, often in order to prepare for it
(n)something that is said or done first, to introduce or prepare for something else
(n)one of the games in the first part of the competition, when it is decided who will go to the main competition

- a preliminary draft
- After the usual preliminaries, the chairman made his announcement.
- Four teams will be eliminated in the preliminaries.

• arithmetic

(n)the science of numbers involving adding, multipying, etc.

- teaching the usual rules of reading, writing and arithmetic.

• derive

(v)to get something, especially an advantage or a pleasant feeling, from something
(v)to develop from something else
(v)to get a chemical substance from another substance

- Many students derived enormous satisfaction from the course.
- patterns of behaviour that derive from basic beliefs
- The enzyme is derived from human blood.

• enzyme

(n)a chemical substance that is produced in a plant or animal, and helps chemical changes to take place in the plant or animal.

• commutativity

(n)In mathematics, a binary operation is commutative if changing the order of the operands does not change the result.

• cumbersome

(adj)A cumbersome system or process is very complicated and inefficient.
(adj)large and heavy and therefore difficult to carry, wear, or handle

- Although the machine looks cumbersome, it is actually easy to use.
- and old and cumbersome computer system

• analogue

(n)something having the property of being analogous to something else.

• pentagon

(n) a flat shape with five sides and five angles

• hexagon

(n) a shape with six sides

• equilateral

(adj)A shape or a figure that is equilateral has sides that are all the same length.(equi + lateral)

- an equilateral triangle

• lateral

(adj)relating to the sides of something, or movement to the side

- He estimated that the lateral movement of the bridge to be between four and six inches.

• temperate

(adj)Temperate is used to describe a climate or a place which is never extremely hot or extremely cold.

- The Nile Valley keeps a temperate climate throughout the year.

• in rude health

(adv)to be extremely healthy

- To that extent at least, American democracy remains in rude health.

• desolate

(adj)A desolate place is empty of people and lacking comfort.
(adj)A desolate person feels sad, lonely and without hope.

- a desolate landscape of flat green fields
- He was desolate without her.

• whence

from where

- No one ordered him back whence he came.

• asylum

(n)protection given to someone by a government because they escaped from fighting or political trouble in their own country
(n)a mental hospital

- He has been granted (political) asylum in France.
- He applied for asylum in 1987 after fleeing the police back home.

• lunatic

(n) someone who behaves in a crazy or very stupid way -- often used humorously
(n) a very offensive word for someone who is mentally ill
(adj)insane and believed to be affected by the phases of moon

- The hotel is run by a lunatic!
- a dangerous lunatic
- lunatic behaviour; lunatic asylum = asylum

• legislature

(n)an institution that has the power to make or pass laws

- The proposals before the legislature include the creation of two special courts to deal exclusively with violent crimes.

• truce

(n)an agreement between enemies to stop fighting or arguing for a short time, or the period for which this is arranged, ceasefire.

- They agreed to call a truce.
- There was an uneasy truce between Alex and Dave over dinner.

• animate

(adj)living
(v)to give life or energy to something

- Natural philosophy involved the study of all aspects of the material world, animate and inanimate.
- Laughter animated his face for a moment.

• wretched

(adj)someone who is wretched is very unhappy or ill, and you feel sorry for them
(adj)Someone who feels wretched feels very unhappy
(adj)You use wretched to describe someone or something that you dislike or feel angry with
(adj)extremly bad or unpleasant; miseralbe

- the poor, wretched girl
- I feel really wretched and confused.
- Wretched woman, he thought, why the hell cannot she wait?
- I was shocked to see their wretched living conditions.

• formidable

(adj)very powerful or impressive, and often frightening

- The new range of computers have formidable processing power.
- The building is grey, formidalbe, not at all picturesque.

• picturesque

(adj)a picturesque place is pretty and interesting in an old-fashioned way.
(adj)picturesque languages uses unusual, interesting, or sometimes rude words to describe something
(n)picturesque things

- a quiet fishing village with a picturesque harbour
- a picturesque account of his trip to New York
- lovers of the picturesque

• thence

(adj)from there or following that

- We went to Trieste, and thence by train to Prague.
- the conversion of sunlight into heat and thence into electricity

• posterity

(n)all the people in the future who will be alive

- a priceless work of art that must be kept for posterity

• diligent

(adj)someone who is diligent works hard and is careful and thorough

- a diligent student

• skilful

(adj) = skillful(American)

• offspring

(n)a person's children or an animal's young

- Eleanor was now less anxious about her offspring than she had once been.
- a young mother trying to control her offspring

• approximate

(adj)close but not exact
(v)to be close to a particular number
(v)to be similar to but not exactly the same as something

- This figure approximates to a quarter of the UK's annual consumption.
- Your story only approximates to the real facts.

• antecedent

(n)An antecedent of something happened or existed before it and was similar to it in some ways.

- We shall first look briefly at the historical antecedents of this theory.

• frugal

(adj)careful to buy only what is necessary; (oppo)extravagant
frugality(n)

- He led a remarkably frugal existence.

• henceforth

(adv)from this time on

- never to permit the child henceforth to enter his former home

• sanitary

(adj)relating to the ways that dirt, infection, and waste are removed, so that places are clean and healthy for people to live in
(adj)clean and not causing any danger to people's health

- Diseases were spread through poor sanitary conditions.
- Often, the camps were not very sanitary.

• hereditary

(adj)A hereditary characteristic or illness is passed on to a child from its parents before it is born
(adj)A title or position in society that is hereditary is one that is passed on as a right from parent to child

- a hereditary disease
- The position of the head of the state is hereditary.

• serf

(n)In former times, serfs were a class of people who had to work on a particular person's land and could not leave without that person's permission

• squalor

(n)the condition of being dirty and unpleasant because of a lack of care or money

- He was out of work and living in squalor.

• aristocracy

(n)a class of people in some countries who have a high social rank and special titles.

- a member of the aristocracy 

• rabble

(n)a noisy crowd of people who seem likely to cause trouble

- a rabble of angry youths

• destitute

(adj)having no money, no food, no home, etc
be destitute of sth: to be completely without something

- The floods left many people destitute.
- a man who is destitute of mercy

• sedition

(n)speech, writing, or actions intended to encourage people to disobey a government

- Government officials charged him with sedition.

• ordinance

(n)a law, usually of a city or town, that forbids or restricts an activity

- a city ordinance that says park must be closed at 11 p.m.
- a wise ordinance of Nature

• wax

(v)to become larger, more powerful, etc

- The moon is waxing.

• wane

(v)If something wanes, it becomes gradually weaker or less, often so that it eventually disappears.

- My enthusiasm for the project was waning.
- Interest in the show has waxed and waned.

• perish

(v)to die, especially in a terrible or sudden way.

- Hundreds perished when the ship went down.
- Most of the butterflies perish in the first frosts of autumn.

• annals

(n, pl)in the annals of sth, means in the whole history of sth

- one of the most unusual cases in the annals of crime
- He has become a legend in the annals of military history.

• mentor

(n)an experienced person who advises and helps a less experienced person
(v)to give someone help and advice over a period of time, especially help and advice related to their job

- Leon Sullivan was my mentor and my friend.
- He had mentored scores of younger doctors.

8th, Sep

• genome

(n)all the genes in one type of living thing

- the human genome

• kin

(n)your relatives

• kinship

(n)a family relationship
(n)a strong connection between people

- The ties of kinship may have helped the young man find his way in life.
- She evidently felt a sense of kinship with the woman.

• befriend

(v)to behave in a friendly way towards someone, especially someone who is younger or needs help

- They befriended me when I first arrived in London as a student.
- The film's about an elderly woman and a young nurse who befriends her.

• ancestry

(n)the members of your family who lived a long time ago

- Her mother is of German ancestry.
- Helen's family can trace their ancestry back to the 1700s.

• ethnic

(adj)relating to a particular race, nation, or tribe and their customs and traditions.
(adj)cooking, fashion etc from countries that are far away, which seems very different and unusual.

- The school teaches pupils from different ethnic groups.
- ethnic music, a magnificent range of ethnic fabrics

• see

(v)make sure that something is done

- See that you take care of her.

• disrupt

(v)to prevent something from continuing in its usual way by causing problems

- Climate change could disrupt the agricultural economy.
- Anti-war protestors disrupted the debate.

• disruptive

(adj)causing problems and preventing something from continuing in its usual way.

- way to handle disruptive pupils
- Alcohol can produce violence, disruptive behaviour.

• pick pace

(v)pick up speed

- Pick up the pace, guys - we are late.

9th, Sep

• abdicate

(v)to give up the position of begin king or queen
(v)to refuse to be responsible for something, when you should be or were before

- The king was forced to abdicate the throne.
- The government has largely abdicated its responsibility in dealing with housing needs.

• the writing is on the wall

mean that there are clear signs that something will fail or no longer exist

- The writing is on the wall for the local football club: bankruptcy seems certain.s

• monarch

(n)a king or queen

- He was an absolute monarch.(arbitrary king)

• monarchy

(n)a system in which a country is ruled by a king or queen.
(n)a country that has a monarch

- a serious debate about the future of the monarchy
- Britain is a constitutional monarchy

• polarize

(v)to divide into clear separate groups with opposite beliefs, ideas, or opinions, or to make people do this

- The issue has polarized the country.
- As the car rental industry polarizes, business will go to the bigger companies.

• transcendence

(n)the quality of being able to go beyond normal limits or boundaries

- The Arab-American Society promotes the transcendence of racial and religious differences.

• infest

(v)if insects, rats etc infest a place, there are a lot of them and they usually cause damage
(v)if things or people you do not want infest a place, there are too many of them

- The prison is infested with rats.
- Crime and drugs are infesting the inner cities.
- an area infested with holiday homes

• downside

(n)The downside of a situation is the aspect of it which is less positive, pleasant, or useful than its other aspects.

- The downside of this approach is a lack of clear leadership.

10th, Sep

• symbolic

(adj)Something that is symbolic of a person or thing is regarded or used as a symbol of them.

- Yellow clothes are worn as symbolic of spring.
- Today's fighting is symbolic of the chaos which the country is facing.

• embody

(v)to be a very good example of an idea or quality, represent.

- She embodies everything I admire in a teacher.

• strive

(v)to make a great effort to achieve something

- We must continue to strive for greater efficiency.
- He strives hard to keep himself very fit.

• intrusive

(adj)affecting someone's private life or interrupting them in an unwanted and annoying way.

- They found the television cameras too intrusive.

• embodiment

(n)someone of sth that represents or is very typical of an idea of quality.

- He is the embodiment of evil.
- A baby is the embodiment of vulnerability.

• sweeping

(adj)affecting many things, or making an important difference to something.
(adj)sweeping statement: a statement etc that is too general and that does not consider all the facts.

- They want to make sweeping changes to education policies.
- sweeping generalizations about women drivers.

• reckless

(adj)not caring or worrying about the possible bad or dangerous results of your action.

- He was accused of causing death by reckless driving.
- a reckless disregard for safety
- He ran into the burning house with reckless abandon(= without caring about the danger).

• discern

(v)to notice or understand something by thinking about it carefully
(v)to be able to see something, but not clearly

- Officials are keen to discern how much public support there was.
- We could just discern a town in the distance.

• lame

(adj)unable to walk properly because your leg or foot is injured or weak.
(n)people who are lame
(adj)a lame excuse or explanation is weak and difficult to believe.

- She gave some lame excuse about missing the bus.
- "Lovely house!"I said lamely.

• scrutiny

(n)careful and thorough examination of someone or something.

- His private life came under media scrutiny.
- Careful scrutiny of the company's accounts revealed a whole series of errors.

• dearth

(n)a situation in which there are very few of something that people want or need.

- a dearth of job opportunties.
- Construction had slowed because of a dearth of labourers.

• collective

(adj)shared or made by every member of a group or society.
(n)A collective is a business or farm which is run, and often owned, by a group of people.

- a collective devision made by all board members.
- our collective responsiblity for the environment

• morale

(n)the level of confidence and positive feelings that people have, especially people who work together, who belong to the same team etc.

- The media feels pressure to keep the morale of the country up in war time.
- low staff morale
- A win is always good for morale.

• moral

(n)principles and beliefs concerning right and wrong behaviour.
(adj)relating to beliefs about what is right or wrong.

- If we accept that certain babies should be allowed to die, we place doctors in a moral dilemma.
- the corruption of public morals

• ethical

(adj)relating to principles of what is right and wrong, moral. (adj)morally good or correct

- The use of animals in scientific tests raised difficult ethical questions.
- I don't think it's echical for you to accept a job you know you can't do.

• doctrine

(n)a set of beliefs that form an important part of a religion or system of ideas.
(n)a formal statement by a government about its future plans

- traditional doctrine of divine power
- Marxist doctrine
- the announcement of the Truman Doctrine.