Distant shores word list + road traffic accidents voc.

1. pursuit

N an activity that you spend time doing, usually when you are not working

2. prosperity

N the state of being successful and having a lot of money

3. self-absorbed

Adj only interested in yourself and your own activities

4. plight

N an unpleasant condition, especially a serious, sad, or difficult one

5. pristine

ADJ new or almost new, and in very good condition

6. seething

ADJ extremely angry but unable or unwilling to express it clearly; moving quickly around in small space, or full of people doing this

7. ease

V to make or become less severe, difficult, unpleasant, painful, etc

8. begrudge

V to feel unhappy because someone has something that you think they do not deserve:

9. trickle down into

to start at the top of a system/organization, etc. and spread to all of it

10. make a dent in the budget

greatly reduce the budget

11. take the plunge

do sth despite being nervous about it

12. voluntourism

N a type of holiday in which you work as a volunteer (= without being paid) to help people in the places you visit

13. commendable

ADJ deserving praise

14. exacerbate

V to make something that is already bad even worse

15. obnoxious

ADJ very unpleasant or rude

16. secluded

ADJ quiet, private, and not near people, roads, or buildings

17. spew

V to flow or let out in large amounts

18. tangible

ADJ real and not imaginary; able to be shown, touched, or experienced

19. discrepancy

N a difference between two things that should be the same

20. lax

ADJ without much care, attention, or control

21. implicit

ADJ suggested but not communicated directly

22. influx

N the fact of a large number of people or things arriving at the same time

23. injection

N the introduction of something new that is necessary or helpful to a situation or process

24. unbridled

ADJ not controlled or limited

25. irreversible

ADJ not possible to change; impossible to return to a previous condition

26. drain on sth

something that uses more money, time, energy, etc. than is reasonable, normal, or expected

27. picturesque

ADJ (esp. of a place) attractive in appearance

28. inquisitive

ADJ wanting to discover as much as you can about things, sometimes in a way that annoys people

29. stumble upon

to discover something by chance, or to meet someone by chance

30. sparsely

ADV with only a small number or amount of people or things

31. tranquility

N a peaceful, calm state, without noise, violence, worry, etc.

32. wrought by

(only as a past participle and in the past tense) caused (something to happen)

33. collided

V to crash into sth, especially another vehicle

34. skidded

V (especially of a vehicle) to slide across a surface in an uncontrolled way

35. hit head-on

V to crash into another moving vehicle so that the fronts of the two vehicles hit each other

36. jackknifed 

V (of a lorry) to lose control so that the two parts (the cab and the trailer) bend into a V-shape, often tipping over

37. shed

V (of a lorry) to lose or drop the items it was carrying onto the road

38. overshot

V to carry on moving past the end of a piece of road or where you intended to stop

39. swerved

V (of a vehicle) to change direction suddenly and often out of control, especially to avoid hitting sth

40. wrote off

V to damage a vehicle so badly that it isn’t worth repairing

41. shattered

V to suddenly break into very small pieces