Advanced Vocabulary and Cultural Concepts

A comprehensive vocabulary review set covering advanced idioms, cultural concepts, sociological terms, and descriptive expressions compiled from Units 1 and 2 lecture notes.

Forge a reputation

To successfully create or build a reputation.

Harbour (v)

To cherish, foster, or hold a feeling or thought in mind.

Blaze a trail

To pioneer

Garner (v)

To gather, collect

Rest on one's laurels

To become satisfied with past successes and cease making effort

Defy expectation

To go against or surpass what was predicted or expected.

Lay down one's life

To sacrifice one's life.

Weather (v)

To endure and survive difficulties, or to undergo erosion and wear.

Formative years

The early, impressionable years of life that shape future development.

Be credited with

To be publicly recognized or acknowledged for an achievement.

Spring back

To bounce back, recover, or return to an original shape after being bent, stretched, or facing difficulty.

Be revered by

To be deeply respected and admired by others.

Embark on

To start doing something important or significant.

Succumb to

To yield, surrender, or die from an illness or hardship.

Be survived by

To leave behind living family members upon one's death.

Tenacious

Persistent and determined; possessing tenacity.

Posthumous

Occurring, awarded, or published after a person's death.

Distinguished

Respected, admired, and recognized for excellence.

Tenure

The period or term during which an official position or office is held.

A visionary

A person with foresight, imagination, and forward-looking ideas.

Set off

To highlight, accentuate, or make something stand out prominently.

Branch out into

To start doing a new activity or business that is different from one's usual work.

Insatiable

Too great to be satisfied.

Chequered

Characterized by many ups and downs or marked by varied fortunes.

Prodigious

Enormous, extraordinary, or remarkably great in extent or size.

Byword

A symbol, person, or thing that is a quintessential example of a quality.

Punctuate

To interrupt periodically at intervals, or to add punctuation marks.

Rupture

A break, split, or breach in a structure or relationship.

Obstinacy

Stubbornness; the quality of being unyielding and difficult to change.

Static anomalies

Deviations or atypical phenomena occurring in a stationary, motionless state.

Bulwark

A defensive wall, rampart, or strong protective barrier.

Veneer

A decorative outer covering or an attractive superficial appearance.

Cultural homogenization

The process of different cultural practices blending into a single, uniform culture.

Confluence

An act or process of merging or flowing together.

Patrimony

Heritage, estate, or property inherited from one's ancestors.

Insularity

The state of being narrow-minded, parochial, or isolated from outside influences.

Fastidious

Very attentive to accuracy, highly demanding, and hard to please.

Discriminating

Having or showing refined taste, judgment, and discernment.

Hegemony

Leadership or dominant authority exerted by one group or nation over others.

Parochialism

A narrow, limited outlook or scope of mind.

Restitution

The restoration of something lost or stolen to its proper owner.

Proliferation

A rapid increase in numbers, quantity, or scale.

Egalitarian

Believing in or advocating the principle that all people are equal.

Perpetuate

To cause something to continue indefinitely or last forever.

Curtail

To reduce in extent, cut back, or restrict.

Forfeit

To lose or give up a right or privilege as a penalty.

Jeopardize

To put something at risk or endanger it.

Bristle at

To react with anger, indignation, or resentment toward something.

Trivialization

The act of making something seem unimportant, insignificant, or ordinary.

Omnipresence

The state of being widely or constantly present everywhere at once.

Omnipotence

The state of possessing unlimited, absolute, or universal power.

Omniscience

The state of possessing complete, infinite, or universal knowledge.

Bedrock

The fundamental principles or core foundation on which something is based.

Coalesce

To come together to form one mass, whole, or single entity.

Atrocity

An extremely cruel, violent, and wicked act.

Intercultural competence

The ability to communicate and work effectively with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.