chuyenanh1

jaundiced (adj)

- judging everything as bad because bad things have happened to you in the past:

+ jaundiced view: He seems to have a very jaundiced view of life.

+jaundiced eye: I'm afraid I look on all travel companies' claims with a jaundiced eye, having been disappointed by them so often in the past.

- looking slightly yellow in colour because of having jaundice:

+He was jaundiced from liver disease.

Hallow (v)

- to give something great importance and respect, often because it is very old:

+methods that have been hallowed by centuries of use

- to make something holy:

+ The bread and wine has been hallowed by being dedicated to God.

vaunt (v)

- to speak proudly about or praise something, especially in a way that is more than acceptable or reasonable:

+ The local people like to vaunt the glories of their faded past

done/dressed (up) to the nines (idiom)

- wearing very stylish and fashionable clothes, often for a particular purpose or occasion:

+ The doorbell rang and there was Chris, all dressed up to the nines.

spiff someone/something up (phr.v)

- to make someone or something look more stylish, or cleaner and tidier:

+ He's really spiffed up his wardrobe since he started his new job.

cut a fine figure (idiom)

- to cause people to admire you because of your appearance:

+ The young soldier cut a fine figure in his new uniform.

sardonic (adj)

- humorous in an unkind way that shows you do not respect someone or something:

+ a sardonic smile/look/comment

sporadic (adj)

- happening sometimes; not regular or continuous:

+ sporadic gunfire

+ a sporadic electricity supply

+ More than 100 people have been killed this year in sporadic outbursts of ethnic violence.

vitriolic (adj)

full of violent hate and anger :

+He launched a (vitriolic attack) on the prime minister, accusing him of shielding corrupt friends.

+He does not deserve the vitriolic criticism he has received.

polemical (adj)

- (of a piece of writing or a speech) strongly attacking or defending a particular opinion, person, idea, or set of beliefs:

+a polemical essay

+Many philosophical texts have a highly polemical style.

unflagging (adj)

- If a quality, such as energy, interest, or enthusiasm, is unflagging, it never becomes weaker:

+He thanked Tony for his unflagging energy and support.

unassuming (adj)

-Someone who is unassuming is quiet and shows no wish for attention or admiration:

+He was shy and unassuming and not at all how you expect an actor to be.

unyielding (adj)

- completely unwilling to change a decision, opinion, demand, etc.:

+Korea is unyielding in its demands for a new treaty.+

inalienable (adj)

- unable to be removed:

+ inalienable right We have an inalienable right to freedom of speech

inexorable (adj)

- continuing without any possibility of being stopped:

+the inexorable progress of science

invulnerable (adj)

- impossible to damage or hurt in any way:

+The command bunker is virtually invulnerable, even to a nuclear attack.

immutable .(adj)

- not changing, or unable to be changed:

+an immutable law

+Some people regard grammar as an immutable set of rules.

permutation (n)

- any of the various ways in which a set of things can be ordered:

+ There are 120 permutations of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5: for example, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5 or 5, 1, 4, 2, 3.

sleep-deprived

- not having had enough sleep, especially for several days or more:

+No one wants to be looked after by an exhausted and sleep-deprived doctor.

haggard (adj)

-looking ill or tired, often with dark skin under the eyes:

+ He'd been drinking the night before and was looking a bit haggard.

rejuvenated (adj)

-to make someone look or feel young and energetic again:

+She felt rejuvenated by her fortnight in the Bahamas

counter-espionage (n)

- secret action taken by a country to prevent another country from discovering its military, industrial, or political secrets:

+ counterespionage officer Of all the West German counterespionage officers I had met, he was clearly the most competent.

nondescript (adj)

-very ordinary, or having no interesting or exciting features or qualities:

+Their offices are in a nondescript building on the edge of town.

nonpareil (adj)

-better than any other:

+ her nonpareil beauty

nonchalant (adj)

-behaving in a calm manner, often in a way that suggests you are not interested or do not care:

+ a nonchalant manner/shrug

Noncommittal

Adjective

- not expressing an opinion or decision:

+The ambassador was typically noncommittal when asked whether further sanctions would be introduced.

have shot your bolt (idiom)

- to have already achieved all that you have the power, ability, or strength to do and to be unable to do more:

+ He started off the game well but seemed to have shot his bolt by half-time.

inveterate (adj)

-someone who does something very often and cannot stop doing it:

+an inveterate liar, gambler, etc

indiscreet (adj)

- saying or doing things that tell people things that should be secret or that embarrass people:

+In an indiscreet moment, the president let his genuine opinions be known.

+indiscreet about They have been rather indiscreet about their affair.

indolent(adj)

-showing no real interest or effort:

+an indolent wave of the hand

+an indolent reply

long-winded (adj)

- A long-winded speech, letter, article, etc. is too long, or uses too many words.

truncate (v)

- to make something shorter or quicker, especially by removing the end of it:

+Television coverage of the event was truncated by a technical fault

stipulate (v)

- to say exactly how something must be or must be done:

+ She agreed to buy the car, but stipulated racing tyres and a turbo-powered engine.

obviate (v)

- to remove a difficulty, especially so that action to deal with it becomes unnecessary:

+ A peaceful solution would obviate the need to send a UN military force.

distraught (adj)

- extremely worried, nervous, or upset:

+ The missing child's distraught parents made an emotional appeal for information on TV.

disaffected (adj)

- no longer supporting or being satisfied with an organization or idea:

+disaffected voter The party needs to take steps to attract disaffected voters.

- Young people who are disaffected are no longer satisfied with society's values:

+disaffected teenager It's hard to cope with a class of disaffected teenagers.

+disaffected youth There were serious riots among economically disaffected youths in some cities.

dishevelled (adj)

- (of people or their appearance) very untidy:

+dishevelled hair/clothes/appearance

+He ran in looking dishevelled.

have a good war (idiom)

- to behave in a way that is successful and admired during a war, or during a difficult time period that can be seen as similar to a war:

+ Unlike so many of his shell-shocked generation, Spencer had a good war.

fight the good fight (idiom)

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the toast of something (idiom)

- The toast of a particular place is a person who is very much admired there for something they have recently done:

+ Not so long ago Diana was a little-known actress playing in a provincial theatre - these days she's the toast of New York/the town.

blow/knock your socks off (idiom)

- If something knocks your socks off, you find it extremely exciting or good:

+ I'm going to take you to a restaurant that'll knock your socks off.

copacetic (adj)

- very good or going very well:

+ Everything was copacetic between them

catatonic (adj)

- If someone is catatonic, they are stiff and not moving or reacting, as if dead.

+ However, the exact relationship of these cognitive deficits to catatonic symptoms remains unclear.

catatonia (n)

-a state in which someone is stiff and not moving or reacting, caused by various medical conditions, including schizophrenia:

+Catatonia has historically been associated with schizophrenia.

beatific (adj)

- appearing happy and calm, especially in a holy way:

+The angels in the painting have beatific smiles.

haptic (adj)

-A haptic device creates a physical feeling such as a push or vibration so that you know, for example, when you have pressed or touched something on a screen:

+haptic touchscreen: The haptic touchscreens buzz gently when a key has been touched.

+haptic screen

+haptic device

(all) hot and bothered (idiom)

-worried or angry, and sometimes physically hot

on pins and needles (idiom)

-worried or excited about something that is going to happen:

+Don't keep Margaret on pins and needles - give her a call.

have all the cares of the world on your shoulders

idiom

-to be very worried by many different problems:

+ You look as if you have all the cares of the world on your shoulders.

I shudder to think

idiom

- said when you are worried about something unpleasant that might happen or might have happened:

+I shudder to think what my parents will say when I tell them I've failed my exams.

shiver (v)

- When people or animals shiver, they shake slightly because they feel cold, ill, or frightened:

+The poor dog - it's shivering!

+He shivered with cold in his thin cotton shirt.

quiver (v)

-to shake slightly, often because of strong emotion:

+Lennie's bottom lip quivered and tears started in his eyes.

vibrate (v)

-to shake slightly and quickly, or to cause something to do this, in a way that is felt rather than seen or heard:

+The whole station seemed to vibrate as the express train rushed through.

con (v)

- to make someone believe something false, usually so that that person will give you their money or possessions:

+be conned into: She felt she had been conned into buying the car.

+con someone out of something :Thieves conned him out of his life savings.

+con something out of someone: He managed to con £20 out of them (= get that amount from them by deceiving them).

conman/ conartist (n)

- someone who uses dishonest or illegal methods to trick people into giving them money:

+Wheeler, a convicted conman, tricked the elderly couple into signing over their property to him.

confect (v)

-to create something, especially in a way that seems artificial or false:

+ As an artist she is not interested in confecting happy endings.

contrive (v)

-to arrange a situation or event, or arrange for something to happen, using clever planning:

+ Couldn't you contrive a meeting between them? I think they'd really like each other.

curate's egg (idiom)

-something that is partly good but mainly bad:

+The film is something of a curate's egg.

pass muster (idiom)

-to reach an acceptable standard:

+ New teams won't be admitted to the league if their stadiums don't pass muster.

assemblage (n)

-a collection of things or a group of people or animals:

+ A varied assemblage of birds was probing the mud for food.

rough edges

idiom

-If something such as a product, a piece of work or a performance has rough edges, some parts of it could be improved:

+ He's a great player, but his game still has a few rough edges

keep a civil tongue in one's head (idiom)

- used to tell someone to stop being rude

gracious (adj)

-behaving in a pleasant, polite, calm way:

+ a gracious smile

+ gracious enough He was gracious enough to thank me.

+ gracious in The losing team was gracious in defeat.

minced oath (idiom)

-a word or phrase that is used instead of saying an offensive word, often humorously:

+ When people search for alternatives to swearing, they often resort to minced oaths.

camp it up (phr.v)

-to behave in a camp manner

bury the lede (idiom)

-to not give emphasis to the most important point of a news story, for example by putting it far down in the article:

+ Do you think the Times buried the lede on this one?

go off on a tangent (idiom)

-to suddenly start talking or thinking about a completely new subject:

+ It's hard to get a firm decision out of him - he's always going off on a tangent.

take root (idiom)

-If an idea, belief, or system takes root somewhere, it starts to be accepted there:

+ Communism has never really taken root in England.

lay bare (idiom)

-to make something known:

+It's been promoted as the biography that lays bare the truth behind the legend.

cloud bank (n)

- a big, low mass of cloud

+On the side of the mountains where these cloud banks form, the camanchaca is a dense fog that does not drop any rain.

sock something/someone in (with sb)

phrasal verb

-to stop all travel or movement of vehicles in an area because of bad weather:

+ The entire coast was socked in all week with fog.

as if to the manner born (idiom)

- If you do something as (if) to the manner born, you do it very well and very naturally as if it is usual and easy for you.

bright as a button (idiom)

- very intelligent and quick to learn, or very happy and full of energy:

+ Their little girl, bright as a button, wanted to know everything they were saying.

ventral (adj)

- relating to the human abdomen (= the lower part of the body containing the stomach), or the front side of the body generally:

+The patient had a ventral hernia repair.

+The brain regions that are active are located mainly in the ventral and dorsal visual processing pathways.

abdominal (adj)

- the part of the body that contains stomach, bowels, and other organs in a person or animal

+ This virus causes terrible abdominal pain.

cerebral (adj)

-relating to the brain or the cerebrum:

+He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage.

+The patients frequently had a history of disease leading to cerebral damage.

cerebrally challenged

-stupid:

+ I have heard quite enough about his ex-wife and her cerebrally challenged new husband.

visceral (adj)

-based on deep feeling and emotional reactions rather than on reason or thought:

+ His approach to acting is visceral rather than intellectual.

+visceral hatred

+visceral excitement

intestinal fortitude (n)

-courage and determination:

+ The fact that he's still trying for the championship is a tribute to his intestinal fortitude.

alacrity (n)

-speed and eagerness:

+with alacrity She accepted the money with alacrity.

fecundity (n)

-the ability to produce a lot of crops, fruit, babies, young animals, etc.:

+ female fecundity

+ This part of the state is a lush land of great fecundity.

verity (n)

-the quality of being true:

+ In the film, he plays a spy whose mission is to confirm the verity of a secret military document.

temerity (n)

- a willingness to do or say something that shocks or upsets other people:

+ [ + to infinitive ] She had the temerity to call me a liar.

presence of mind (n)

-the ability to make good decisions and to act quickly and calmly in a difficult situation or an emergency:

+ When the gunmen came into the bank, she had the presence of mind to press the alarm.

like a steel trap (idiom)

- (of someone's mind or memory) very sharp and quick to understand or remember things:

+ mind like a steel trap She is an incredible investigative researcher who has a mind like a steel trap.

maddening (adj)

-making you angry:

+ She has a maddening habit of interrupting me when I'm talking to her.

exasperating (adj)

- annoying, especially because you can do nothing to solve a problem:

+It's so exasperating when he won't listen to a word that I say.

entersprising (adj)

-good at thinking of and doing new and difficult things, especially things that will make money:

+The business was started by a couple of enterprising young women.

+enterprising of: That was very enterprising of you, Vijay!

rally (n)

- a public meeting of a large group of people, especially supporters of a particular opinion:

+5,000 people held an anti-nuclear rally.

+ an election/campaign rally

unsettling (adj)

-causing worry or anxiety:

+ One of the documentary's many unsettling images is of a child playing with her father's gun.