Practice Test 12 - Road to NEC Vol3

✅ walk a (bit of a) tightrope /wɔːk ə (bɪt əv ə) ˈtaɪtrəʊp/ (idiom)

🌱 To be in a risky, delicate, or precarious situation where one must maintain careful balance between opposing pressures, dangers, or expectations.
🔗 In academic or formal writing, it often signals precariousness, fragile balance, or the need for diplomatic caution. The variant “walk a bit of a tightrope” softens the risk, suggesting a situation that is delicate but not absolutely perilous.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. In international relations, diplomats often walk a tightrope between asserting national interests and preserving global cooperation.

2. Educators must walk a bit of a tightrope when encouraging debate without letting discussions devolve into hostility.

3. Companies expanding into new markets walk a tightrope, balancing innovation with cultural sensitivity.

4. Political leaders in times of crisis walk a bit of a tightrope by attempting to reassure the public while avoiding overpromising.

5. Negotiators frequently walk a tightrope, attempting to reconcile incompatible demands from multiple stakeholders.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, analytical, and metaphorical.

• Common in political science, economics, education, law, and journalism.

• Conveys fragility, risk, and the need for balance.

🧩 Collocations:

• walk a tightrope between X and Y

• forced to walk a tightrope

• carefully walk a bit of a tightrope

• walk a political/ethical/financial tightrope

📌 Tiếng Việt: “walk a (bit of a) tightrope” = ở trong tình thế nguy hiểm / phải khéo léo cân bằng giữa hai phía / tình huống căng thẳng cần sự thận trọng.

✅ the death stare /ðə dɛθ steə/ (noun phrase)

🌱 A fierce, hostile, or intimidating glare meant to silence, threaten, or show extreme disapproval.
🔗 Common in informal, journalistic, or cultural writing to describe non-verbal aggression or dominance through eye contact.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. In classroom dynamics, students reported feeling silenced when teachers gave them the death stare for minor disruptions.

2. Political debates often feature subtle cues, such as the death stare, that communicate hostility without words.

3. Children may interpret parental discipline as embodied not only in speech but also in gestures like the death stare.

4. Social interactions can shift dramatically when one participant delivers the death stare, enforcing authority.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Informal to semi-formal.

• Often used metaphorically in journalism, media studies, psychology.

• Connotes intimidation.

🧩 Collocations:

• give someone the death stare

• receive the death stare

• shoot the death stare

🔄 Synonyms: glare, hostile stare, menacing look.

📌 Tiếng Việt: cái nhìn giết người / ánh mắt sắc lạnh.

✅ the third degree /ðə ˌθɜːd dɪˈɡriː/ (idiom, noun phrase)

🌱 Intense questioning, often aggressive or relentless, resembling interrogation.
🔗 In academic and journalistic contexts, it signals the severity of interrogation or probing into one’s private affairs.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Job applicants frequently describe interviews as if they were being given the third degree.

2. Children may resist parental oversight when it takes the form of the third degree about their whereabouts.

3. Investigative journalism sometimes mirrors the third degree, pressing subjects for truth.

4. Historical accounts of police misconduct often cite unlawful use of the third degree.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Informal but widely understood.

• Common in media, history, criminology, personal narrative.

• Conveys pressure and discomfort.

🧩 Collocations:

• give someone the third degree

• subject someone to the third degree

• go through the third degree

🔄 Synonyms: harsh questioning, grilling, interrogation.

📌 Tiếng Việt: tra hỏi gắt gao / bị chất vấn liên tục.

✅ the glad eye /ðə ɡlæd aɪ/ (idiom, British informal)

🌱 A look of sexual interest or flirtation, usually a lingering or suggestive glance.
🔗 Primarily British English; in cultural or sociolinguistic writing, it signals courtship rituals and non-verbal communication.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. In Edwardian literature, a character giving the glad eye was a subtle marker of courtship.

2. Gender studies often examine how women interpret the glad eye differently across cultures.

3. Historical accounts of dance halls depict young men giving the glad eye as a socially acceptable flirtation.

4. In film studies, close-up shots can simulate the glad eye, heightening audience awareness of desire.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Colloquial, British English, slightly dated but still understood.

• Suggests playful or sly flirtation.

• Less common in American English.

🧩 Collocations:

• give someone the glad eye

• cast the glad eye

• attract the glad eye

🔄 Synonyms: flirtatious glance, bedroom eyes, seductive look.

📌 Tiếng Việt: ánh mắt đưa tình / liếc mắt đưa tình.

✅ lay down /leɪ daʊn/ (phrasal verb)

🌱 To put something in position, or metaphorically to establish, prescribe, or surrender (e.g. arms, rules, principles).
🔗 Formal and institutional; common in law, philosophy, politics, military contexts.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The constitution lays down fundamental rights for citizens.

2. After prolonged resistance, the rebels were forced to lay down their weapons.

3. Enlightenment thinkers laid down the principles of rational debate.

4. Ethical guidelines are laid down to protect research integrity.

🧩 Collocations:

• lay down the law

• lay down rules/guidelines

• lay down arms

✅ nail down /neɪl daʊn/ (phrasal verb)

🌱 To fasten firmly, or metaphorically to define, clarify, or finalise something uncertain.
🔗 Common in academic, business, and negotiation contexts, signalling precision and closure.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Scientists are striving to nail down the origins of the virus.

2. The committee finally nailed down the date for the conference.

3. It is difficult to nail down abstract concepts such as beauty.

4. The parties spent weeks negotiating before they nailed down a settlement.

🧩 Collocations:

• nail down the details

• nail down an agreement

• nail down the cause

✅ tick down /tɪk daʊn/ (phrasal verb, rare)

🌱 To decrease gradually, usually like the ticking of a clock—referring to time, numbers, or rates.
🔗 Used in time-sensitive or quantitative contexts: economics, sports, countdowns.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. As the final minutes ticked down, the team intensified their efforts.

2. Inflation rates have begun to tick down after months of volatility.

3. The seconds ticked down toward the examination’s end.

4. Market indicators ticked down slightly after the announcement.

🧩 Collocations:

• seconds/minutes tick down

• rates tick down

• clock ticks down

✅ stick down /stɪk daʊn/ (phrasal verb, informal)

🌱 To attach or fasten something using glue, tape, or similar; by extension, to jot something down quickly.
🔗 Informal, practical, everyday English—used in crafts, tasks, or casual note-taking.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The labels were stuck down with adhesive for durability.

2. He quickly stuck down his observations before they faded from memory.

3. The decorator stuck down the carpet edges securely.

4. Students were asked to stick down their answers on the worksheet.

🧩 Collocations:

• stick down with glue/tape

• stick down notes

• stick down edges

✅ obsequiousness /əbˈsiːkwiəsnəs/ (noun)

🌱 Excessive eagerness to please or obey someone, often to the point of servility.
🔗 Signals sycophancy, power imbalance, and lack of independence; common in political critique, leadership studies, and moral philosophy.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The minister’s obsequiousness towards the monarch undermined his credibility.

2. In corporate hierarchies, obsequiousness can stifle innovation by discouraging dissent.

3. Historians note the obsequiousness of courtiers in absolutist regimes.

4. Literature often portrays servants’ obsequiousness as both comic and tragic.

🔄 Synonyms: servility, sycophancy, subservience.
📌 Tiếng Việt: sự nịnh bợ, sự khúm núm.

✅ capitulation /kəˌpɪtjʊˈleɪʃən/ (noun)

🌱 The act of surrendering or yielding, especially after resistance.
🔗 Used in political history, negotiations, and debates where one side abandons its stance under pressure.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The treaty was seen as a humiliating capitulation to foreign powers.

2. Philosophical relativism is sometimes criticised as a capitulation to scepticism.

3. The company’s retreat was a strategic capitulation in the face of competition.

4. Students protested against what they perceived as the administration’s capitulation to corporate interests.

🔄 Synonyms: surrender, submission, concession, yielding.
📌 Tiếng Việt: sự đầu hàng, sự nhượng bộ.

✅ insularity /ˌɪnsjʊˈlærɪti/ (noun)

🌱 Narrow-mindedness or isolation; literally “island-like” thinking, detached from broader perspectives.
🔗 Common in sociology, cultural studies, and critiques of nationalism.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The novel critiques the insularity of small-town life.

2. Economic insularity prevented the region from adapting to global trends.

3. Scholars warn against academic insularity, urging interdisciplinary dialogue.

4. The community’s insularity fostered suspicion of outsiders.

🔄 Synonyms: narrow-mindedness, parochialism, isolationism.
📌 Tiếng Việt: tính cục bộ, tính khép kín.

✅ condemned /kənˈdɛmd/ (adjective, past participle of condemn)

🌱 Describes someone or something declared guilty, unfit, or destined for punishment, destruction, or disapproval. At its heart, it carries the sense of being officially judged negatively.
🔗 In academic, legal, and historical writing, it often refers to punitive judgment, moral censure, or structural unfitness. In literature, it resonates with fate and inevitability.

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🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The prisoners were condemned to death after a swift and controversial trial.

2. The building was condemned as unsafe and subsequently demolished.

3. Enlightenment thinkers often condemned tyranny as incompatible with human dignity.

4. The poet depicts humanity as condemned to repeat cycles of violence and desire.

5. International law has condemned the use of chemical weapons as a crime against humanity.

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🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Strongly formal, weighty, judgment-laden.

• Common in legal, religious, ethical, and literary contexts.

• Conveys a sense of finality and moral force.

🧩 Collocations:

• condemned prisoner

• condemned building

• condemned to death/life of suffering

• universally condemned

• condemned by history

📚 Wordform Table

Form	Part of Speech	Meaning
condemn	verb	to declare guilty, to strongly disapprove
condemned	adjective/pp	judged unfit, guilty, doomed
condemnation	noun	act of disapproving, punishment, censure

🔄 Synonyms: denounced, censured, doomed, judged, damned.

📌 Tiếng Việt: bị kết án, bị lên án, bị tuyên bố là không an toàn hoặc không chấp nhận được.

✅ nebulous /ˈnɛbjʊləs/ (adjective)

🌱 Vague, ill-defined, or hazy—literally “cloud-like.” Describes concepts, plans, or ideas that lack clear boundaries.
🔗 In academic writing, it signals imprecision, indistinctness, or conceptual vagueness. Common in philosophy, law, and critical essays.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The boundaries between art and propaganda remain nebulous.

2. The policy’s objectives were criticised as overly nebulous, lacking measurable criteria.

3. Early cosmology was based on nebulous notions of the universe.

4. The philosopher rejected nebulous abstractions in favour of logical clarity.

🧩 Collocations:

• nebulous idea

• nebulous concept

• nebulous plan

• nebulous boundaries

🔄 Synonyms: vague, indistinct, amorphous, imprecise.
📌 Tiếng Việt: mơ hồ, mập mờ, không rõ ràng.

✅ obstinate /ˈɒbstɪnət/ (adjective)

🌱 Stubbornly refusing to change one’s mind or behaviour, even when faced with reason or persuasion.
🔗 In academic and formal critique, it signals rigidity, resistance, or persistence—negative when it blocks progress, positive when it shows resilience.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The regime remained obstinate, resisting international pressure for reform.

2. He was obstinate in defending his thesis, despite mounting counter-evidence.

3. The obstinate refusal of some groups to adapt has hindered social progress.

4. Evolutionary theory suggests that obstinate traits can persist even when maladaptive.

🧩 Collocations:

• obstinate refusal

• obstinate resistance

• obstinate belief

• obstinate child

🔄 Synonyms: stubborn, headstrong, intransigent, unyielding.
📌 Tiếng Việt: bướng bỉnh, ngoan cố, cứng đầu.

✅ to dash one’s hope(s) /tuː dæʃ wʌnz həʊps/ (idiom, verb phrase)

🌱 To destroy or shatter someone’s expectations, dreams, or optimism suddenly and often cruelly. The verb dash here carries the force of violently throwing down and breaking apart.
🔗 In academic or formal essays, it is often used metaphorically to describe the collapse of aspirations due to external forces—political, economic, or personal.

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🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The economic crisis dashed the hopes of many young graduates seeking stable employment.

2. The failure of international negotiations dashed hopes for an immediate resolution to the conflict.

3. Technological optimism was dashed when the invention proved commercially unviable.

4. The unexpected court ruling dashed the hopes of activists campaigning for reform.

5. Scientific progress, though impressive, has often dashed hopes of achieving universal equality.

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🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal to semi-formal; metaphorical and emphatic.

• Common in political science, history, sociology, and commentary.

• Conveys emotional weight: disappointment, loss, disillusionment.

🧩 Collocations:

• dash someone’s hopes/expectations/dreams

• hopes were dashed

• utterly/completely dashed hopes

🔄 Synonyms: shatter hopes, crush dreams, quash expectations, extinguish optimism.

📌 Tiếng Việt: làm tan vỡ hy vọng, dập tắt hy vọng.

✅ cop out /kɒp aʊt/ (phrasal verb, informal)

🌱 To avoid responsibility or commitment by making excuses or retreating from a duty.
🔗 In essays, often used critically to describe evasion, moral weakness, or institutional avoidance.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Governments that delay climate action are accused of copping out of their ethical responsibility.

2. Labelling poverty as “inevitable” is a convenient way to cop out of genuine reform.

3. The committee copped out by postponing the decision rather than confronting the controversy.

4. To deny scientific consensus is to cop out of rational debate.

🔄 Synonyms: evade, shirk, avoid, duck responsibility.
📌 Tiếng Việt: thoái thác, trốn tránh trách nhiệm.

✅ rope in /rəʊp ɪn/ (phrasal verb, informal)

🌱 To persuade, enlist, or involve someone in a task—often reluctantly.
🔗 In formal analysis, can describe mobilising, recruiting, or co-opting individuals into projects or causes.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Volunteers were roped in to support the campaign despite limited resources.

2. Governments often rope in private corporations to achieve large-scale infrastructure goals.

3. Parents were roped in to assist with educational initiatives.

4. The movement roped in intellectuals to lend legitimacy to its cause.

🔄 Synonyms: enlist, recruit, drag in, co-opt.
📌 Tiếng Việt: kéo vào, lôi kéo tham gia.

✅ whip up /wɪp ʌp/ (phrasal verb)

🌱 To stir up emotions, enthusiasm, or anger; literally to beat or mix quickly, figuratively to generate intensity.
🔗 In academic critique, it often signals manipulation of mass emotion or manufactured excitement.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Politicians frequently whip up nationalist sentiment to consolidate power.

2. Social media can whip up outrage with astonishing speed.

3. The protest leader successfully whipped up support for the strike.

4. Sensational journalism often whips up fear rather than presenting facts.

🔄 Synonyms: incite, rouse, stir up, provoke.
📌 Tiếng Việt: kích động, khuấy độn

✅ push on /pʊʃ ɒn/ (phrasal verb)

🌱 To continue moving forward despite difficulty, fatigue, or resistance.
🔗 In academic or formal writing, signals perseverance, persistence, or progress under adversity.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Despite harsh criticism, reformers pushed on with their proposals.

2. The scientists chose to push on with the experiment, even in the face of limited funding.

3. History often honours those who push on despite overwhelming odds.

4. The organisation pushed on with its humanitarian mission despite political obstacles.

🔄 Synonyms: persevere, forge ahead, press on, continue.
📌 Tiếng Việt: tiếp tục tiến lên, kiên trì vượt khó.

✅ thoroughly recommend /ˈθʌrəli ˌrekəˈmɛnd/ (verb phrase, collocation)

🌱 To endorse something with complete conviction, leaving no doubt about its value, usefulness, or quality. The adverb thoroughly intensifies the verb recommend, giving it a strong, emphatic force.
🔗 In formal or academic writing, this collocation is often used in evaluations, reviews, and recommendations, especially in academic reports, literature reviews, and professional advice.

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🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Based on the evidence presented, I would thoroughly recommend further investment in renewable energy technologies.

2. The study’s methodological clarity is exemplary, and I would thoroughly recommend it as a model for future research.

3. Given its practical applicability, the framework can be thoroughly recommended to policymakers.

4. The author’s balanced perspective leads me to thoroughly recommend the text to scholars of comparative politics.

5. For its clarity of argumentation, the article is thoroughly recommended for inclusion in undergraduate syllabi.

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🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, evaluative, emphatic.

• Frequently used in academic peer reviews, recommendation letters, professional endorsements.

• Carries authority and certainty—stronger than simply “recommend.”

🧩 Collocations:

• thoroughly recommend + book/study/article/course/policy

• can be used in active (I thoroughly recommend this text) or passive (This text is thoroughly recommended).

🔄 Synonyms (contextual): strongly recommend, highly recommend, emphatically recommend, unequivocally recommend.

📌 Tiếng Việt: rất khuyến nghị, hết sức đề cử, đánh giá cao.

✅ be no contest /biː nəʊ ˈkɒntɛst/ (idiom, phrase)

🌱 Used to emphasise that one person, idea, or thing is vastly superior to another, leaving no room for real competition. It signals an outcome that is clear, decisive, and beyond dispute.
🔗 In academic and formal writing, it is often employed metaphorically to highlight clear superiority of evidence, arguments, or outcomes.

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🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. When it comes to long-term sustainability, renewable energy is no contest compared to fossil fuels.

2. In terms of explanatory power, the structuralist model is no contest against its postmodern counterpart.

3. For cost-effectiveness and efficiency, digital communication is no contest when compared with traditional postal systems.

4. In the realm of innovation, collaborative research is no contest versus isolated individual effort.

5. Between short-term relief and systemic reform, the latter is no contest in achieving lasting social impact.

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🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Semi-formal to informal; idiomatic but sharp.

• In essays, best used sparingly for rhetorical effect.

• Conveys confidence, decisiveness, and a sense of absolute clarity.

🧩 Collocations:

• “X is no contest compared with Y”

• “It’s no contest: …”

• “There is no contest between …”

🔄 Synonyms: undeniable superiority, clear winner, no competition, decisive advantage.

📌 Tiếng Việt: không có gì để so sánh, vượt trội hoàn toàn, áp đảo.

✅ courtesy of /ˈkɜːtəsi əv/ (idiom, prepositional phrase)

🌱 Means thanks to, made possible by, or provided by someone or something. It highlights the source or agent through which something is achieved or granted.
🔗 In academic writing, it is occasionally used metaphorically to attribute cause, sponsorship, or agency—though it is more common in journalism and commentary.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Many of the breakthroughs in biotechnology have arrived courtesy of interdisciplinary collaboration.

2. The globalisation of culture proceeds largely courtesy of digital platforms that transcend borders.

3. Economic growth in emerging nations has accelerated courtesy of foreign investment.

4. The preservation of endangered languages has, in some cases, survived courtesy of community-driven initiatives.

   courtesy of = nhờ vào, nhờ có, được cung cấp bởi

✅ effrontery /ɪˈfrʌntəri/ (noun, uncountable)

EFFORT

🌱 Shameless boldness; insolent or arrogant behaviour that disregards social norms, propriety, or respect. The word suggests an audacious disregard for boundaries.
🔗 In academic or critical writing, it is often used to condemn brazen actions, intellectual dishonesty, or audacious claims.

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🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The corporation had the effrontery to claim environmental responsibility while being the region’s largest polluter.

2. Some critics argue that it is an act of effrontery for governments to curtail civil liberties in the name of security.

3. The author’s dismissal of centuries of scholarship was regarded as sheer effrontery by her peers.

4. To exploit vulnerable communities while presenting oneself as a benefactor is the height of effrontery.

5. The regime’s censorship, coupled with the effrontery of presenting it as “protection of truth,” exemplifies authoritarian arrogance.

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🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Highly formal, caustic, and critical.

• Often carries a moral or ethical judgement.

• Common in polemical essays, critiques, and high-register journalism.

🧩 Collocations:

• sheer/barefaced effrontery

• have the effrontery to (do something)

• display/show effrontery

• the effrontery of + noun/gerund

🔄 Synonyms: insolence, impudence, audacity, shamelessness, brazenness.

📌 Tiếng Việt: sự trơ tráo, sự láo xược, sự trâng tráo.

✅ consummate /ˈkɒnsəmət/ (adjective & verb)

CONSUME

🌱 As an adjective: showing great skill, perfection, or mastery; as a verb: to complete or bring something to the highest degree.
🔗 In academic writing, it signals excellence, mastery, or flawless execution.

🎓 Examples:

1. Mandela was a consummate statesman, balancing pragmatism with vision.

2. The argument is presented with consummate clarity and precision.

3. The scientist’s consummate dedication ensured the project’s success.

4. As an orator, she was a consummate persuader of public opinion.

🔄 Synonyms: exemplary, masterful, peerless, accomplished.
📌 Tiếng Việt: tuyệt vời, hoàn hảo, xuất sắc.

✅ wunderkind /ˈvʊndərkɪnd/ (noun, from German)

🌱 A child prodigy or exceptionally talented young person who achieves success at an unusually early age.
🔗 In essays, often used to discuss youth talent, innovation, or precocity.

🎓 Examples:

1. Mozart remains history’s archetypal wunderkind of music.

2. The tech industry is replete with stories of the entrepreneurial wunderkind.

3. She was hailed as a political wunderkind after winning office at just twenty-five.

4. The dangers of labelling children as wunderkinds lie in unrealistic expectations.

🔄 Synonyms: prodigy, genius, gifted child.
📌 Tiếng Việt: thần đồng, nhân tài trẻ.

✅ germinate /ˈdʒɜːmɪneɪt/ (verb)

🌱 Literally: to begin to grow (of a seed); figuratively: to develop, arise, or come into existence.
🔗 In academic contexts, it often describes ideas, ideologies, or social movements taking root.

🎓 Examples:

1. Radical ideas began to germinate during the Enlightenment.

2. The theory germinated from a chance observation in the laboratory.

3. Within these constraints, new forms of art germinated.

4. Resistance movements often germinate under oppressive conditions.

🔄 Synonyms: sprout, originate, emerge, incubate.
📌 Tiếng Việt: nảy mầm, hình thành, khởi sinh.

✅ woodenly /ˈwʊdənli/ (adverb)

🌱 In a stiff, unnatural, or emotionless manner; lacking fluidity or spontaneity.
🔗 In writing, often used critically to describe communication, behaviour, or performance that feels forced.

🎓 Examples:

1. The speaker delivered the address woodenly, draining it of passion.

2. The actor’s lines were recited woodenly, with little emotional nuance.

3. Bureaucracies often respond woodenly to crises, ignoring human urgency.

4. Students who learn only by rote may write woodenly, without intellectual vitality.

🔄 Synonyms: stiffly, mechanically, lifelessly, awkwardly.
📌 Tiếng Việt: cứng nhắc, thiếu tự nhiên, máy móc.

✅ gush over /ɡʌʃ ˈəʊvə(r)/ (phrasal verb, informal)

🌱 To express admiration, affection, or enthusiasm for someone or something in an excessive, effusive, or unrestrained way. The word gush conveys imagery of emotions pouring out uncontrollably, like water under pressure.
🔗 In academic or critical writing, it is often used metaphorically to critique uncritical praise, exaggerated enthusiasm, or bias.

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🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Critics were quick to gush over the new policy, though its long-term feasibility remained untested.

2. The media tended to gush over celebrity activism, overlooking the superficiality of such gestures.

3. Scholars caution against gushing over technological innovation without interrogating its ethical implications.

4. Audiences gushed over the performance, yet serious reviewers noted its lack of originality.

5. Politicians often gush over economic growth figures while ignoring widening social inequality.

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🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Informal in origin, but can be used in formal critique with ironic or analytical tone.

• Conveys a sense of imbalance: praise that is disproportionate, possibly naïve or manipulative.

🧩 Collocations:

• gush over + achievements / celebrity / performance / innovation

• uncritically gush over

• continue to gush over

🔄 Synonyms: rave about, enthuse over, idolise, glorify, extol excessively.
📌 Tiếng Việt: khen lấy khen để, tâng bốc, xuýt xoa quá mức.

✅ doohickey /ˈduːˌhɪki/ (noun, informal, US)

🌱 A slang word for a small gadget, device, or object whose name is forgotten or unknown.
🔗 Rare in academic writing, but useful in commentary to highlight triviality, gadget-obsession, or the fetishisation of technology.

🎓 Examples:

1. The new smartphone is lauded for its countless doohickeys, though few improve functionality.

2. Consumer culture thrives on selling flashy doohickeys as “must-haves.”

3. He improvised a repair with a random doohickey from the toolbox.

4. The obsession with minor technological doohickeys distracts from systemic innovation.

📌 Tiếng Việt: đồ lặt vặt, thiết bị nhỏ không rõ tên.

✅ afoot /əˈfʊt/ (adjective, literary/formal)

🌱 Something in progress, happening, or being prepared—often secretive or significant.
🔗 In essays, it works well for signalling emerging trends, shifts, or underlying change.

🎓 Examples:

1. Social transformations are already afoot, reshaping how communities interact.

2. The reforms now afoot suggest a gradual shift in political priorities.

3. There is a quiet revolution afoot in attitudes towards sustainability.

4. The negotiations afoot could redefine international alliances.

📌 Tiếng Việt: đang diễn ra, đang âm thầm tiến hành.

✅ be up to a certain point (idiom, phrase)

🌱 To indicate that something is true, valid, or effective only within limits, not absolutely.
🔗 In academic argument, it is a precise hedge, allowing you to concede partial truth while still qualifying.

🎓 Examples:

1. The theory is convincing up to a certain point, but it fails to address cultural variability.

2. Economic growth reduces poverty up to a certain point, after which inequality resurfaces.

3. The model is reliable up to a certain point, though exceptions remain.

4. Education enhances opportunity up to a certain point, but systemic barriers persist.

📌 Tiếng Việt: đúng/hiệu quả trong chừng mực nào đó.

✅ in an effort to (do sth) /ɪn ən ˈɛfət tuː/ (phrase)

🌱 Used to introduce purpose or intention behind an action. It highlights deliberate attempts made to achieve a specific result.
🔗 In academic writing, it frequently frames policies, reforms, research methods, or human initiatives in a neutral, formal way.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Governments implemented stricter regulations in an effort to reduce carbon emissions.

2. The researchers adjusted their methodology in an effort to minimise bias.

3. Protesters mobilised in an effort to secure greater political transparency.

4. The curriculum was reformed in an effort to align with global educational standards.

5. Technological advances are being pursued in an effort to enhance public health.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, purposeful, explanatory.

• Common in essays, reports, and academic articles.

• Highlights goal-oriented human action.

🔄 Synonyms: with the aim of, for the purpose of, in pursuit of, with the intention of.
📌 Tiếng Việt: nhằm mục đích, với nỗ lực để.

✅ filter toxins from (sth) /ˈfɪltə ˈtɒksɪnz frɒm/ (verb phrase, scientific/figurative)

🌱 Literally: to remove poisonous or harmful substances from a medium (air, blood, water, etc.); Figuratively: to eliminate harmful influences or ideas.
🔗 In academic writing, it can appear in biological, environmental, or metaphorical contexts, signalling purification or refinement.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The liver plays a vital role in filtering toxins from the bloodstream.

2. Modern filtration systems are designed to filter toxins from industrial waste.

3. Critical thinking serves to filter toxins from the flood of online misinformation.

4. Educational institutions are expected to filter toxins from cultural narratives that perpetuate prejudice.

5. Advanced research aims to filter toxins from contaminated environments to restore biodiversity.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Neutral, scientific, versatile.

• Can shift from biology/environmental science to metaphorical use in essays.

• Carries a cleansing, protective connotation.

🔄 Synonyms: cleanse, purify, eliminate impurities, detoxify.
📌 Tiếng Việt: lọc bỏ độc tố khỏi …

✅ blood flow /blʌd fləʊ/ (noun phrase)

🌱 The continuous circulation of blood through the body’s vessels; figuratively, the movement of resources, ideas, or energy.
🔗 In academic writing, appears in medicine, biology, and metaphorical analyses of circulation, vitality, or exchange.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Aerobic exercise improves blood flow, enhancing overall cardiovascular health.

2. Chronic stress may impede blood flow to the brain, affecting cognition.

3. The metaphor of blood flow is employed to describe the circulation of financial capital.

4. Modern economies depend on the unrestricted blood flow of information.

5. Political theorists often liken public discourse to the blood flow of democracy.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Scientific, metaphorical, or analytical.

• Common in medicine, economics, and political discourse.

• Connotes vitality, circulation, and movement.

🔄 Synonyms: circulation, stream, current, lifeblood.
📌 Tiếng Việt: dòng máu; dòng chảy (ẩn dụ).

✅ frantically /ˈfræntɪkli/ (adverb)

🌱 Describes action performed with desperation, haste, or panic, often in response to crisis.
🔗 In academic writing, conveys urgency, disorder, or unstable human behaviour.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Policymakers acted frantically to contain the sudden financial collapse.

2. Citizens frantically sought resources during the pandemic.

3. Governments frantically revised policies under international pressure.

4. Companies frantically restructured to adapt to disruptive innovation.

5. History shows how rulers frantically attempted to preserve fading empires.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Vivid, urgent, descriptive.

• Found in historical accounts, social analysis, crisis studies.

• Implies panic-driven or chaotic action.

🔄 Synonyms: desperately, feverishly, hysterically, hurriedly.
📌 Tiếng Việt: một cách cuống cuồng, điên cuồng.

✅ relish /ˈrɛlɪʃ/ (verb, noun)

🌱 Verb: to enjoy or take deep satisfaction in; Noun: keen enjoyment or appreciation.
🔗 In academic essays, often signals intellectual delight, moral satisfaction, or ironic enjoyment.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Intellectuals often relish debates that challenge prevailing norms.

2. Political leaders may relish opportunities to showcase authority.

3. The critic approached the controversy with evident relish.

4. Citizens seldom relish austerity measures, even when justified.

5. The researcher seemed to relish dismantling oversimplified theories.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal to semi-formal.

• Useful for analytical writing where enjoyment or satisfaction is foregrounded.

• Can imply irony or subtle criticism.

🔄 Synonyms: delight in, take pleasure in, savour, enjoy greatly.
📌 Tiếng Việt: thích thú, tận hưởng.

✅ offer powerful tools to (do sth) (verb phrase)

🌱 To provide effective methods, resources, or means to achieve a result.
🔗 Common in academic writing when describing innovations, theories, or technologies.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Digital platforms offer powerful tools to democratise access to knowledge.

2. Neuroscience offers powerful tools to examine the nature of human thought.

3. Big data analytics offers powerful tools to predict consumer behaviour.

4. International law offers powerful tools to resolve global disputes.

5. Renewable energy offers powerful tools to mitigate climate change.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Neutral, formal, analytical.

• Highlights potential, capability, and efficacy.

• Frequent in academic and policy discourse.

🔄 Synonyms: provide effective means to, enable, equip, furnish methods to.
📌 Tiếng Việt: cung cấp công cụ mạnh mẽ để …

✅ build stronger bonds with (sb) (verb phrase)

🌱 To create closer, more resilient, and meaningful relationships.
🔗 Used in academic writing about sociology, psychology, culture, and international relations.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Rituals help individuals build stronger bonds with their communities.

2. Shared adversity often builds stronger bonds with colleagues.

3. Cultural exchange programmes aim to build stronger bonds with global partners.

4. Parents build stronger bonds with children through shared routines.

5. Civic engagement builds stronger bonds with democratic institutions.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, relational, constructive.

• Common in sociology, anthropology, and international studies.

• Emphasises durability and closeness in relationships.

🔄 Synonyms: strengthen ties with, deepen relationships with, foster connections with.
📌 Tiếng Việt: xây dựng mối gắn kết bền chặt với …

✅ serve various functions (verb phrase)

🌱 To perform multiple roles or purposes within a system.
🔗 In academic writing, highlights versatility and multifunctionality of an object, institution, or concept.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Rituals serve various functions, from reinforcing identity to maintaining order.

2. Universities serve various functions, including education, research, and social mobility.

3. Social media serves various functions in contemporary life.

4. Language serves various functions, from persuasion to solidarity.

5. Constitutions serve various functions in balancing power and protecting rights.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Analytical, explanatory.

• Used in sociology, linguistics, institutional analysis.

• Stresses diversity of roles.

🔄 Synonyms: fulfil multiple roles, play different parts, perform diverse tasks.
📌 Tiếng Việt: đảm nhiệm nhiều chức năng.

✅ waste of resources /weɪst əv rɪˈzɔːsɪz/ (noun phrase)

🌱 Inefficient use, mismanagement, or squandering of valuable assets like time, money, or energy.
🔗 Common in critiques of policy, economics, education, and governance.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Excessive bureaucracy represents a waste of resources.

2. Poor planning in education often leads to a waste of resources.

3. Military over-spending has been criticised as a waste of resources.

4. Misguided infrastructure projects are a tragic waste of resources.

5. Redundancy in research funding risks a waste of resources.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, critical, evaluative.

• Useful for essays critiquing inefficiency.

• Highlights loss and mismanagement.

🔄 Synonyms: misuse of resources, inefficiency, squandering, misallocation.
📌 Tiếng Việt: lãng phí tài nguyên/nguồn lực.

✅ struggle to take account of (sth) (verb phrase)

🌱 To face difficulty in considering or accommodating certain factors.
🔗 Academic writing uses it to highlight theoretical or practical limitations.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Economic models often struggle to take account of cultural variables.

2. Policy frameworks struggle to take account of rapid technological change.

3. Historical narratives may struggle to take account of marginalised perspectives.

4. Urban planning frequently struggles to take account of environmental realities.

5. Legal systems sometimes struggle to take account of ethical complexities.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, analytical, evaluative.

• Useful in critiques of policy, research, or institutions.

• Conveys limits and challenges of integration.

🔄 Synonyms: fail to consider, neglect, overlook, find it hard to incorporate.
📌 Tiếng Việt: khó tính đến / khó xem xét đến …

✅ tantamount (to sth) /ˈtæntəmaʊnt/ (adjective + preposition)

🌱 Equivalent in seriousness, effect, or value — though not identical in form.
🔗 In academic writing, often signals strong equivalence between actions and their implications, especially in law, ethics, or politics.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Ignoring climate change is tantamount to endorsing ecological collapse.

2. The suppression of dissent was viewed as tantamount to censorship.

3. Failing to provide education is tantamount to denying basic human rights.

4. In some cultures, silence is tantamount to consent.

5. Misrepresentation in research is tantamount to academic fraud.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, emphatic, evaluative.

• Common in legal, ethical, and political discourse.

• Strengthens critique by equating one act with another serious one.

🔄 Synonyms: equivalent to, virtually the same as, comparable to.
📌 Tiếng Việt: tương đương với; chẳng khác gì.

✅ intellectual miser /ˌɪntəˈlɛktʃuəl ˈmaɪzə/ (noun phrase)

🌱 A person who avoids exerting mental effort, preferring shortcuts and minimal thinking.
🔗 In psychology and education, used to describe cognitive laziness or resistance to critical analysis.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Social psychology often critiques humans as intellectual misers, conserving effort.

2. Students acting as intellectual misers tend to rely on memorisation rather than deep reasoning.

3. The theory challenges the view of rational agents, suggesting people behave like intellectual misers.

4. Democracy weakens when citizens become intellectual misers, avoiding informed debate.

5. Teachers aim to combat the tendency to be intellectual misers by fostering curiosity.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Academic, slightly critical, psychological.

• Useful in essays on cognition, education, and society.

• Implies laziness, economy of thought, and heuristic bias.

🔄 Synonyms: cognitive shortcut-taker, mental minimalist, lazy thinker.
📌 Tiếng Việt: người lười suy nghĩ; kẻ keo kiệt trí tuệ.

✅ intellectual property /ˌɪntəˈlɛktʃuəl ˈprɒpəti/ (noun phrase)

🌱 Creations of the mind (inventions, literary works, designs, symbols) protected by law.
🔗 In academic, legal, and economic contexts, refers to intangible assets with ownership rights.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Copyright safeguards intellectual property in the arts.

2. Disputes over patents highlight the global importance of intellectual property.

3. Universities increasingly commercialise their intellectual property.

4. Digitalisation raises new challenges for protecting intellectual property.

5. Piracy undermines innovation by violating intellectual property rights.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, legal, economic.

• Frequent in debates on technology, culture, and globalisation.

• Carries a protective, rights-oriented undertone.

🔄 Synonyms: proprietary knowledge, intangible asset, protected creation.
📌 Tiếng Việt: tài sản trí tuệ.

✅ consumer watchdog /kənˈsjuːmə ˈwɒtʃdɒɡ/ (noun phrase)

🌱 An organisation or authority monitoring business practices to protect consumer rights.
🔗 In academic writing, used in economics, law, and media to discuss accountability, regulation, and consumer protection.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Consumer watchdogs play a key role in regulating advertising standards.

2. The consumer watchdog criticised misleading health claims in product labelling.

3. Governments rely on consumer watchdogs to enforce safety regulations.

4. Digital platforms are increasingly scrutinised by consumer watchdogs.

5. The report by a leading consumer watchdog revealed unfair trade practices.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Formal, regulatory, protective.

• Common in journalism, policy studies, and economics.

• Connotes vigilance and accountability.

🔄 Synonyms: regulatory authority, oversight body, consumer advocate.
📌 Tiếng Việt: tổ chức giám sát bảo vệ người tiêu dùng.

✅ dub /dʌb/ (verb)

🌱 To give someone or something a name, title, or description; in film/music, also to add or alter sound.
🔗 In academic or journalistic writing, it often frames labelling, naming, or rebranding processes.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The press quickly dubbed him the “architect of reform.”

2. The media dubbed the protest “a turning point” in national politics.

3. Historians later dubbed the era the “age of uncertainty.”

4. Critics dubbed the project a “white elephant” due to its inefficiency.

5. The film was dubbed into multiple languages for international audiences.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Neutral to informal in naming; technical in media contexts.

• Common in history, journalism, and cultural commentary.

🔄 Synonyms: label, nickname, entitle, designate.
📌 Tiếng Việt: đặt tên, gán cho; lồng tiếng.

✅ garnish /ˈɡɑːnɪʃ/ (verb, noun)

🌱 Verb: to decorate food with an additional item; Noun: the decoration itself. Figuratively: to embellish or add superficial detail.
🔗 In essays, used literally in culinary contexts or metaphorically to critique unnecessary ornamentation.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The dish was garnished with herbs to enhance presentation.

2. He attempted to garnish his argument with irrelevant anecdotes.

3. The article was garnished with dramatic statistics to attract attention.

4. Historical narratives are often garnished with myths.

5. A simple truth need not be garnished with rhetorical flourishes.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Neutral in culinary use; critical in metaphorical sense.

• Common in cultural, literary, and rhetorical analysis.

🔄 Synonyms: adorn, embellish, decorate, dress up.
📌 Tiếng Việt: trang trí (món ăn); tô điểm (nghĩa bóng).

✅ tillpoint /ˈtɪlpɔɪnt/ (noun)

🌱 The place in a shop where customers pay for goods; synonymous with “checkout.”
🔗 In business/consumer studies, it marks the transactional moment of purchase.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Queues at the tillpoint influence customer satisfaction.

2. Retailers redesigned the tillpoint to encourage impulse purchases.

3. Digital systems have replaced manual registers at the tillpoint.

4. Data gathered at the tillpoint provides insight into consumer behaviour.

5. Theft often occurs near the tillpoint due to crowding.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Neutral, commercial, business-oriented.

• Frequent in retail management and consumer studies.

🔄 Synonyms: checkout counter, cashier desk, register.
📌 Tiếng Việt: quầy thanh toán.

✅ fill up (a) trolley with (sth) /fɪl ʌp ˈtrɒli wɪð/ (verb phrase)

🌱 To load a shopping cart with goods; figuratively, to accumulate excessively.
🔗 In essays, can appear literally in consumer behaviour studies, or metaphorically in critiques of materialism.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Shoppers filled up trolleys with discounted goods during the sale.

2. Panic-buying led consumers to fill up trolleys with essentials.

3. Families often fill up trolleys with unnecessary items due to marketing pressure.

4. The metaphor of filling up a trolley with knowledge illustrates the burden of rote learning.

5. Many households fill up trolleys with processed food, raising health concerns.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Informal when literal; analytical when metaphorical.

• Relevant in sociology, economics, and cultural critique.

🔄 Synonyms: load up with, stock up on, pile into.
📌 Tiếng Việt: chất đầy xe đẩy (mua sắm).

✅ partner up with (sb) /ˈpɑːtnə ʌp wɪð/ (phrasal verb)

🌱 To form a partnership or collaborate with someone for a shared purpose.
🔗 In academic/business writing, it highlights cooperation and strategic alliances.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Universities often partner up with industries to advance research.

2. NGOs partner up with governments to tackle humanitarian crises.

3. The company partnered up with a local startup to expand services.

4. Schools partner up with community groups to support youth initiatives.

5. International organisations frequently partner up with private firms.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Semi-formal to formal depending on context.

• Used in business, academia, and international relations.

🔄 Synonyms: collaborate with, ally with, team up with.
📌 Tiếng Việt: hợp tác với.

✅ flagship store /ˈflæɡʃɪp stɔː/ (noun phrase)

🌱 The main, most prominent retail outlet of a brand, often larger and more luxurious than others.
🔗 In business/marketing writing, symbolises prestige, innovation, and brand identity.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. The company invested heavily in its New York flagship store.

2. A flagship store often serves as a testing ground for new designs.

3. Tourists frequently visit a brand’s flagship store as part of cultural consumption.

4. The flagship store reflects corporate values and aesthetic priorities.

5. Urban studies analyse the role of the flagship store in gentrification.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Business, promotional, urban-economic.

• Conveys prestige, visibility, and influence.

🔄 Synonyms: main store, central branch, showcase outlet.
📌 Tiếng Việt: cửa hàng chủ lực / cửa hàng biểu tượng

✅ rifle the rack /ˈraɪfəl ðə ræk/ (verb phrase, idiomatic)

🌱 To search quickly and casually through clothing racks in a store, usually while shopping. Figuratively: to rummage or search hastily.
🔗 In essays, literal use relates to consumer behaviour; metaphorical use critiques hurried, superficial searching.

🎓 Academic-style examples:

1. Customers often rifle the racks in search of discounted items.

2. Tourists rifled the racks in luxury outlets during seasonal sales.

3. The metaphor of rifling the racks captures society’s restless pursuit of novelty.

4. Sociologists note how fast fashion encourages people to rifle the racks without intent to buy.

5. Shoppers rifled the racks, reflecting impulsive consumption patterns.

🔍 Tone & Register Notes:

• Informal when literal; analytical when figurative.

• Effective in cultural and consumer studies essays.

🔄 Synonyms: rummage through, sift through, dig through.
📌 Tiếng Việt: lục lọi, tìm kiếm (quần áo trên kệ).