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mayhem

a situation in which there is little or no order or control:

With 20 kids running around and only two adults to supervise, it was complete mayhem.

illegible

(of writing or print) impossible or difficult to read because it is unclear:

illegible handwriting

allotted

given or made available for a particular purpose:

Did you finish your essay in the allotted time?

The magazine story was edited to fit the allotted space.

lose momentum

to develop or make progress more slowly than before:

The housing market lost momentum in the last three months of the year.

The campaign for an elected mayor seems to have lost momentum.

If an object loses momentum, there is a reduction in the force that keeps it moving:

The horse lost momentum after it hit the last fence.

She moved into the outside lane so that she would not lose momentum.

from dawn till dusk

the flood of memories/chores/information

The flood of people doesn't end.

A flood of lawsuits followed.

keep putting something off

to decide or arrange to delay an event or activity until a later time or date:

The meeting has been put off for a week.

I can't put off going to the dentist any longer.

They say so, but they keep putting it off.

The longer you keep putting it off, the more I want an answer.

leap out of

Like an intense, sudden jump:

I leapt out of bed when I heard the alarm going off.

I was shocked to see a frog leap out when I opened the mailbox.

Once I understood the basics of the equation, the answer leapt out at me.

Just leap out in front of the truck?

over the course of time/over time/with time

as time passes or passed:

It's fascinating to watch how a baby changes and develops over time.

Over time, aerobic exercise can help decrease your heart rate and blood pressure.

Over the course of time, she learned how to do things her way.

His voice seems to have deepened with time.

in the not too distant future

Changes are expected in the not too distant future.

the foreseeable future

This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future.

That should keep them in business for the foreseeable future.

colours clash

I just say wear all of the patterns even if they clash

any combination of those three colors the things that clash

But don't overdo it, or the colors will start to clash violently.

subdued colours

/səbˈduːd/

If a colour or light is subdued, it is not very bright:

subdued lighting

If a noise is subdued, it is not loud:

subdued laughter/cheers

a touch of color

adding a small, subtle amount of color to something

If you like to add a touch of color to your eyeshadow, try a light shade of plum.

The key is to add a touch of color, flavor and texture without overpowering the main part of the dish.

a grey area

The law about re-using pictures from the internet seems to be a grey area. [an unclear area]

add color to

The trip to Brazil certainly added colour to our rather boring lives.

Add the tomato paste to add some colour to the sauce and stir for a further 2 minutes.

neatly

neatly adverb (TIDY)

in a tidy way:

His clothes are all neatly folded in their drawers.

neatly adverb (CLEVER)

in a clever and simple way:

The announcement was neatly timed to coincide with the release of their new album.

Many people in today’s society cannot be neatly classified into a defined ethnic group.

mishaps

bad luck, or an unlucky event or accident:

The parade was very well organized and passed without mishap.

A series of mishaps led to the nuclear power plant blowing up.

gruesome

extremely unpleasant and shocking, and usually dealing with death or injury:

The newspaper article included a gruesome description of the murder.

scrawl

to write something quickly, without trying to make your writing tidy or easy to read:

I scrawled a quick note to Judith and put it under her door.

Someone had scrawled graffiti across the wall.

for Pete's sake!

informal

an expression of frustration, exasperation or annoyance

For Pete's sake, hurry up!

prone

 be prone to something/do something

prone adjective (TENDING)

likely to show a particular characteristic, usually a negative one, or to be affected by something bad, such as damage or an illness :

I've always been prone to headaches.

lying face down:

The photograph showed a man lying prone on the pavement, a puddle of blood around his head.

have a tendency for

"Trusses have a tendency for early and rapid collapse," Chief Burns said.

But when a show doesn't include "The Prairie Is My Garden," Dunn's most famous image, Mr. Rychtarik said, "People have a tendency for complaining".

to throw caution to the wind

to do something without worrying about the risk or negative results:

I threw caution to the wind and bought the most expensive one.

lie in

to stay in bed later than usual in the morning:

It was a Sunday, so she could lie in till almost lunch time.

psych yourself up

to try to make yourself feel confident and ready to do something difficult:

I have to spend a little time on my own before I give a speech, psyching myself up.

I really tried to psych myself up to do it.

Relish

to like or enjoy something:

I always relish a challenge.

[ + -ing verb ] I don't relish telling her that her son has been arrested.

strenuous

needing or using a lot of physical or mental effort or energy:

He rarely does anything more strenuous than changing the channels on the television.

strenuous exercise His doctor advised him not to do any strenuous exercise.

strenuous effort Strenuous efforts were made throughout the war to disguise the scale of civilian casualties.

deed

an intentional act, especially a very bad or very good one:

do an evil deed It seems to me that a lot of evil deeds are done in the name of religion.

do a good deed She's always helping people and doing good deeds.

recite

to say a piece of writing aloud from memory, or to publicly say a list of things:

She proudly recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

The opposition party recited a long list of the government's failings.

burn the candle at both ends

to work or do other things from early in the morning until late at night and so get very little rest

Endorphins block pain, letting us burn the candle at both ends without burning out altogether.

Executives I've observed tend to burn the candle at both ends, with 7 am breakfast meetings and dinners that run late, for days and days.

nagging

complaining or criticizing:

a nagging voice

impetus

something that encourages a particular activity or makes that activity more energetic or effective:

fresh impetus The recent publicity surrounding homelessness has given a fresh impetus to the cause.

gives me impetus to

"It gives me impetus to make sure we get it done for them with as little disability as possible," she said.

"Yes, and this gives me an impetus to get my posterior in shape," he said, laughing.

power through

to continue in a strong and determined way until the end of something, even when this is difficult:

resilient companies that have powered through the economic downturn

The challenge will be overwhelming at times, but we just have to power (on) through.

dilly-dally

old-fashioned informal

to waste time, especially by being slow, or by not being able to make a decision:

Don't dilly-dally - just get your bags and let's go!

give someone the credit

to say that someone deserves praise, approval, or honour for something they have done:

He gave the board credit for supporting him as he made major changes.

You have to give credit to the other team for never giving up.

If a member of my team comes up with a great idea, I'm happy to give them the credit.

take the bull by the horns

to do something difficult in a brave and determined way:

Why don't you take the bull by the horns and tell him to leave?

to make life any harder than it is

I'm not trying to make life any harder than it is, I just want things to be clear from the start.

There's no need to make things harder than they already are — let's keep it simple.

Why make your life more difficult than it needs to be?

troublesome

causing a lot of problems for someone:

Her hip has been troublesome for quite a while, and she'll probably need surgery on it.

The negotiations have proven more troublesome than any of us expected.

hideous

extremely ugly or bad:

They've just built some hideous new apartment blocks on the seafront.

She wears the most hideous colour combinations you could ever imagine.

the height of something

the time when a situation or event is strongest or most full of activity:

August is the height of the tourist season.

Because it was the height of the cold war, bases had to be ready to respond to a nuclear threat at a moment's notice.

an extreme example of something:

the height of fashion

His statement today is the height of hypocrisy.

the time when you are most successful in what you do:

at the height of She was at the height of her career when he first met her.

At that time, Bush was at the height of his political power.

pointless

Something that is pointless has no purpose, and it is a waste of time doing it:

pointless exercise This is a pointless exercise.

It seemed pointless to continue.

it is pointless informal It's pointless arguing with him.

blind panic

People were running around in a state of blind panic.

I went into a blind panic and feared the worst.

In a split second of blind panic, she can't remember where she is.

 a stroke of luck, genius, etc.

By a stroke of luck, someone else was walking along the trail and heard my shouts for help.

He had exactly the part that I needed so that was a stroke of luck.

turmoil

a chaotic and destructive or unpleasant situation 

—The country experienced years of turmoil before finally becoming stable again.

a problem shared is a problem halved

used to say that if you tell someone about a problem, it is easier to deal with

a change of scenery

The change of scenery and opportunity to get out of the house provided by day care were valued.

How, then, the change of scenery will affect the economic position of the people in the district is meantime uncertain.

the time of your life

an extremely enjoyable experience:

We had the time of our lives at the party.

the small hours

the early hours of the morning, between twelve o'clock at night and the time when the sun rises:

There's nothing worse than being wide awake in the wee small hours.

ungodly hours

a time that is either extremely early or extremely late:

I wake up each day at an ungodly hour.

She returned home at an ungodly hour with some story about a festival afterparty.

worth your while

important, useful, or satisfying enough to be worth the effort you make:

It would be worth your while to see if you can still get tickets to the show.

It could certainly be worth your while to investigate that spare pocket change which might be worth YOUR weight in gold.

Therefore, it might be worth your while listening to what we have to say, even if it makes you uncomfortable.

have a great future ahead

what the future holds

If you wonder what the future holds, you wonder what will happen in the future.

We wondered what the future would hold for our baby son.

at someone's beck and call

always willing and able to do whatever someone asks:

Go and get it yourself! I'm not at your beck and call, you know.

She was confined to a wheelchair but had a private nurse at her beck and call.

On top of that/this/etc

in addition to something, especially something unpleasant:

We missed our flight, and on top of that we had to wait seven hours for the next one.

On top of everything else, I locked myself out of the house.

in control of something or able to deal with it successfully, especially something that is often changing or increasing:

As a manager I try to be on top of everything that is happening.

Getting on top of your finances takes effort, but it's worth it.

He was desperately trying to stay on top of the flood of data pouring in.

demented

unable to think or act clearly because you are extremely worried, angry, or excited by something:

demented with

She was nearly demented with worry when her son didn't come home.

You must think I'm demented.

I'm not gonna die blind, demented, and lying on my own shit.

wound up, stressed out

very worried, nervous, or angry:

She gets pretty wound up before a game.

flaw

a fault, mistake, or weakness, especially one that happens while something is being planned or made, or that causes something not to be perfect:

flaw in I returned the material because it had a flaw in it.

fatal flaw There's a fatal flaw in your reasoning.

This report is full of flaws.

a character flaw

character flaw

This caused some teams to red-flag him with the much-feared character flaw label.

Many cultures throughout history have viewed obesity as the result of a character flaw.

good-naturedly

in a pleasant and friendly way:

In a good naturedly way

So I tend to just laugh good naturedly at myself

You're good-naturedly ribbing me, aren't you?

soothing

adjective (LESS ANGRY)

making you feel calm:

I put on some nice soothing music.

Her words had a soothing effect.

I find painting has a soothing and calming property.

pastime

an activity that is done for enjoyment:

Do-it-yourself is the nation's most popular pastime.

figurative Suing people, especially doctors, is becoming a national pastime (= common activity) in America.

Hockey is Canada’s national pastime.

Synonyms

hobby

interest

pursuit

time goes by

As time goes by, that belief grows.

You get sucked into things, and time goes by, and you wonder who's that looking at you in the mirror.

As time goes by more will be revealed

get sucked into something

to become involved in a situation when you do not want to be involved:

I got sucked into the argument because I was a friend of the family.

I don't know how people can be sucked into things like that.

I was sucked into the world of that novel

alarm goes off

in this day and age

at the present time:

You can't afford to run businesses inefficiently in this day and age.

In this day and age, what the **** is this world coming to?

with every passing hour

With every passing hour, the danger grows greater.

With every passing hour, she grew more and more suspicious.

to work anti-social/unsocial/long hours

having a schedule outside the traditional 09:00 to 17:00

He's paid well but he works long hours.

I can't host the meeting every week because I work irregular hours.

She's a nurse so she often works unsocial hours.

a clock strikes

When the clock strikes four, we'll get them out your door.

If the clock strikes, you'll turn to salt.

a clock chimes

The campus clock chimes nine.

Upon waking up to the melodious chimes of my alarm clock

watch the clock

I want you to watch the clock and every fifteen seconds, bang the jar with the ruler.

Watch the clock here.

minutes tick by

minutes continued to tick by

So as the minutes and hours tick by, starting with zero

can you spare a minute?

Can you spare a minute?

Can you spare a minute to come and look at our sink?

have the nerve to

Wow, I can't believe that intern had the nerve to ask for a raise on her first day!

Especially after he had the nerve to abandon me, just like my father did

work itself out

Of some complicated or undesirable situation, to achieve or result in a favorable or acceptable outcome in a natural way without much external effort or intervention.

This will all work itself out, you'll see. I'm certain it's a blessing in disguise.

I know that things are tense between John and Mary, but hopefully it works itself out.

make a contribution

Pop bands come and go over the course of time1 , but few bands have made such a lasting contribution as The Beatles.

I felt like I really made a contribution to this world.

make a contribution to science

go down in history

to be remembered as a very important person or event

The discovery of the structure of DNA will go down in history.

Enzo Ferrari will go down in history as the greatest car manufacturer of all time.

1989 will go down in history as the year in which Stalinist Communism ended.

preserved for posterity

I want my words preserved for posterity.

The way that Roman history was recorded and preserved for posterity is sometimes ridiculously wrong

golden era/ golden age

period of time when a particular art, business, etc. was very successful

90's was the golden era for my family business

Surely you don't think the twenties are a golden age?

hark back to

That song hearkens back to an earlier time in my life.

The diner is clearly trying to hearken back to the aesthetics of the early 1950s.

I cannot help but hearken back to the immortal words of General Douglas S. MacArthur, who, in the darkest days of the war....

Now, to hark back to your question about Senator Stein, I fully agree with...

bygone era

a time in the past:

The old photographs depict a bygone era when everyone wore a hat.

She's like someone from a bygone era with her manner and attitudes.

relic

an object, tradition, or system from the past that continues to exist:

During the dig, the archaeological team found some relics from the Stone Age.

The country's employment system is a relic of the 1960s when jobs were scarce.

relic of a bygone era

The car sat in an open field for much of a decade, seemingly destined to become a rusted-out relic of a bygone era.

"Snatch" seems almost anachronistic now, a relic of a bygone era when the Brits again ruled pop culture, when the music of Oasis was everywhere and "Trainspotting" was all the rage.

be (all) the rage

to be very popular at a particular time:

Long hair for men was all the rage in the 70s.

It's supposed to be the rage in Europe.

Marrying a Targaryen was all the rage back then.

restore to its former glory

Now, 10 years after the Ipswich lido was forced to close, he is leading the campaign to see it restored to its former glory.

Following a £400,000 project, it has been restored to its former glory.

dim memory

That seems a dim memory now.

Youth is a dim memory, pointless to recall.

I have a dim memory from somewhere that a duel is involved.

decades have elapsed

Now that a few decades have elapsed since then, do you see yourself having a similar influence on directors today?

Almost three decades have elapsed since Deller met Andy Warhol.

Nearly two decades have elapsed since the Grammys first started handing out awards for what they...

(first time) within/in living memory

If something has happened within living memory, it can be remembered by some people who are still alive:

There is possibly less chance of another world war while the last one is within living memory.

After that sweltering afternoon in May, we went through a period of epic heat, the hottest summer in living memory.

blacken someone's name/image/reputation

to make someone have a bad reputation:

The financial crash blackened the image of bankers.

Her legal team had done everything they could to blacken my name.

shed/throw some light on

I'm hoping Hilary can shed/throw some light on what happened at work yesterday. [explain]

cast a shadow

My sister's illness cast a shadow over our new Year family reunion. [made it less happy/cheerful]

be under the shadow of

Jim has always been under the shadow of his super-intelligent sister. [got less attention]

taste buds

tie the knot

to get married (informal)

higher-end jobs

motto

/ˈmɑː.t̬oʊ/

a short sentence or phrase that expresses a belief or purpose:

Her motto is "Work hard, play hard".

coat of arms

/ˌkoʊt əv ˈɑːmz/

a special shield or shield-shaped pattern that is the sign of a family, university, or city

wacky

unusual in a pleasing and exciting or silly way:

informal

The book contains some weird and wacky ideas for teaching kids about science.

wild and wacky

And these wacky theories that get published, they cast a shadow on all scientific research.

startlingly

/ˈstɑːr.t̬əlɪŋ.li/

in a way that is surprising and often slightly worrying:

High school dropout rates are startlingly high.

startlingly poor results

For Americans, the first moments in Melbourne, Australia can feel startlingly familiar