Unit 1
abandon
- v / n
- abandon oneself to emotion
- He abandoned himself to despair.
- v
- abandon the home
- You need to know what to abandon if you run out of time.
abase
v
- He was unwilling to abase himself by pleading guilty to a crime that he did not commit.
- The president is not willing to abase himself before the nation and admit that he made a mistake.
abash
vt
- fell abashed in public
- The entire metropolitan center possessed a high and mighty air calculated to overawe and abash the common applicant and to make the gulf between poverty and success seem both wide and deep.
abate
- v
- abate his rage/pain
- The storm showed no signs of abating.
- v
- abate a tax
- Steps are to be taken to abate pollution.
abbreviate
v
- abbreviate the word "something" as "sth".
- abbreviate process
abdicate
v
- abdicate the throne/crown (王权)
- When Paula Dobriansky told the gathering that the Bush Administration "will not abdicate our responsibility" to address global warming, the hall filled with boos.
aberrant
adj
- aberrant behavior
- An aberrant system call sequence would be a dead giveaway that the program has a bug or is being attacked.
abet
v
- abet someone's opinion
- In England and Wales, although suicide itself is no longer an offence, it is a crime, punishable by up to 14 years in jail, to “aid, abet, counsel or procure” someone else’s suicide.
abeyance
n
- hold the plan in abeyance
- The question is in abeyance until we know more about it.
abhor
vt
- abhor violence
- Yet most South-Africans, whites included, genuinely abhor crude racism.
Unit 2
abiding
adj
- an abiding love of Espanol law-abiding
- Russia’s abiding interest in Latin America is focused on arms sales.
abject
- adj
It is a country where poverty is “abject” and parents “compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wages at the local fast-food joint”. - adj
an abject apology
abjure
- v
They were compelled(被迫) to abjure their faith. - v
- abjure extravagance
- Those who view Mr Ahmadinejad’s presidency as illegitimate tend to abjure all his policies.
abnegate
v
- abnegate the idea of freedom
- What a real growth is need courage and faith to try new thing and abnegate old things.
abominate
v
abominate(abhor) slavery
aboveboard
adj
- The transaction was totally aboveboard, so there was no reason to question it.
- It guarantees a fair and aboveboard election by letting every voter express his or her will freely without subject to coercion, surveillance or threat by anyone.
abrade
v
- Their gossips abrade her into restlessness.
- This material has the feature of erode resist, bearig abrade and high strength.
abridge
v
- The modern transportation abridge distance.
- Book publisher may alter or abridge a work with the permission of the copyright owner.
abrogate
- v
- abrogate the law/treaty
- Consequently, Chinese nationalism put more effort on the political level and the request to abrogate unequal treaties replaced the discussion on merits and demerits of foreign debt on railway.
- v
abrogate their responsibilities
abscond
v
- abscond from the prison
- Prosecutors said there was a significant chance he might abscond if granted bail.
Unit 3
absolute
- adj
absolute ruler/dominator - adj
absolute silence - adj
absolute alcohol - adj
absolute proof
absolve
v
- absolve someone from blame
- I absolve you from all your sins.
abstain
v
- abstain from smoking
- China is still opposed but could abstain rather than exercise its veto.
abstemious
adj
- an abstemious diet
- The current over-60s, who suffered through war and the Cultural Revolution, tend to be the most abstemious of all, with little desire for consumer goods.
abstract
- vt
abstract an essay - vt
abstract my attention from work
abstruse
adj
- the abstruse calculations
- I've been working on this abstruse problem ever since last year.
absurd
adj
- an absurd argument
- It is absurd to predict that the sun will not rise tomorrow.
abundant
adj
Our country has a vast territory and abundant resources.
abuse
- v
He alleged that he was verbally abused by his colleagues. - v
abuse alcohol
acquainted
adj
- After we got acquainted, he agreed to serve as the campaign treasurer.
- She is better acquainted with his heart than I, or anyone besides; and she would never represent someone as worse than someone is.
Unit 4
abysmal
adj
- abysmal ignorance
- Although there is an abysmal lack of educational software, the number of computers in schools expands rapidly.
accede
v
- He acceded to demands for his resignation.
- China has decided to accede to the Information Technology Agreement and started negotiations on relevant issues.
ad hoc
adj
- an ad hoc meeting to deal with the problem
- The report recommends the creation of an ad hoc working group on science and traditional knowledge.
accessible
- adj
The town is accessible by railway. - adj
This article is accessible to general audience.
accessory
adj / n
- bicycle accessories
- accessory features of phones such as call-waiting
accidental
adj
- accidental death
- Most important discoveries or creations are accidental: it is usually while seeking the answer to one question that we come across the answer to another.
acclimate
vt
- acclimate oneself to a nine-to-five office job
- Once in France, a country he greatly admired, John found it difficult to acclimate himself.
accolade
- n
Dressed in her signature blue-bordered sari and shod in sandals despite below-zero temperatures, the former Agnes Bojaxhiu received that ultimate worldly accolade, the Nobel Peace Prize. - v
Teacher accoladed me because of good score.
accommodate
- v
- accommodate to the life overseas
- The runway of this airport is undergoing expansion to accommodate large planes.
- vt (object is usually a state or country)
The idea that the US could harmoniously accommodate all was a fiction.
accentuate
v
- accentuate the importance of communication skill
- You know, you want to accentuate the positive, but you don't want to lie because they can find out.
Unit 5
accrete
v
- accrete the public interest
- The Roys live in the fiction of infinite economic growth: wealth that accretes indefinitely, a financial system that operates outside of the world’s blunt physical limitations.
accumulate
vi
- accumulate a fortune
- The new calendar solved a number of tricky issues that had accumulated over the years, and the majority of the Christian world adopted it.
acerbic
adj
- The letter was written in her usual acerbic style.
- Sweet, already a well-regarded reporter and infamous for her acerbic personality, has been covering Obama for years.
acme
n
- the acme of his career
- The acme of their basketball season was their hard-won victory over last year's state champs.
acquiesce
v
- Steve seemed to acquiesce in the decision.
- When her mother suggested that she stay, Alice acquiesced.
acrid
adj
- We do not like his acrid temper.
- There have been acrid relations between the two families ever since they fought over that strip of land.
acrimonious
adj
- the acrimonious debate between the two candidates
- In the American’s judgment the overall discussion was “constructive, and not acrimonious”.
acumen
n
- Li Jiachen is known as ‘Superman’ locally because of his investment acumen.
- When you have business acumen, you realize the importance of every job at every stage of your career.
acute
- adj
He is an acute observer. - adj
A bad tooth can cause acute pain.
adamant
adj
- The president is adamant that he will not resign.
- His family were adamantly(adv) opposed to the marriage.
Unit 6
adapt
v
adapt the change
addict
- v
be addicted to drug - n
alcohol addicts
adhere
v
- adhere to the rules
- We must adhere to the principle of making study serve the practical purpose.
adjourn
vi
- The meeting adjourned for a week.
- Could I suggest that we adjourn for today and meet tomorrow morning at ten o' clock?
adjunct
n
- Physical therapy is an important adjunct to drug treatments.
- The memory expansion cards are useful adjuncts to the computer.
ad-lib
adj / n / v
- Ms. Hathaway used her hosting duties to show off herrange, singing a Broadway-style number and even cracking an ad-lib joke after Kirk Douglas's appearance.
- She abandoned her script and began ad-libbing.
admonish
- v
- admonish the patient to eat more healthy foods
- A warning voice admonished him not to let this happen.
- v
She was admonished for chewing gum in class.
adore
vt
- adore his wife and kids
- I simply adore his music!
adulate
v
- adulate his boss
- Besides the faith of poetry itself, I am the one who do not have any doctrine, and I will not adulate anything through the composition of poetry.
adulterate
vt
- adulterate the products with cheap additives
- The food had been adulterated to increase its weight.
Unit 7
adumbrate
vt
- The strife in Bloody Kansas in the 1850s adumbrated the civil war that would follow.
- What does cancer have to adumbrate?
adventitious
adj
- adventitious viruses
- As a successful advertiser , he realized it and advised his boss to catch this adventitious and advantageous chance.
adversary
n
- His political adversaries would like to discredit him.
- Secretary of Defense Gates said last week China is not an inevitable strategic adversary of the United States.
advert
vi
- He adverted to the problem in the opening paragraph.
- I adverted to the speaker in the street.
advocate
vt / n
- He was a strong advocate of free market policies and a multi-party system.
- Mr. Williams is a conservative who advocates fewer government controls on business.
affable
adj
- Mr. Brooke is an extremely affable and approachable man.
- Years of practicing the art of deception ensure that, as Kadhum walks into the hotel room, he looks as affable as a high school history teacher.
affinity
- n
- Sam was born in the country and had a deep affinity with nature.
- She has an affinity to him because of their common musical interests.
- n
There is a close affinity between Italian and Spanish.
affluent
adj
- affluent Western countries
- Most people in the world are not affluent, and their food budgets are limited.
aggrandize
vt
- All my desired was to aggrandize my estate.
- The king seek to aggrandize himself at the expense of his people.
aggravate
vt
- Pollution can aggravate asthma(哮喘).
- A more serious argument is that excessive austerity(紧缩) may aggravate the recession(经济衰退).
Unit 8
aggregate
n / v
- Froth(泡沫) is an aggregate of tiny bubbles.
- The Web site aggregates content from many other sites.
aggressive
- adj
a dangerous aggressive dog - adj
I knew it was time for a more aggressive treatment plan.
aggrieve
vt
- I hope I didn't aggrieve her feeling.
- Protesters are aggrieved by corruption and inequality.
agitate
- v
- political groups agitating for social change
- The women who worked in these factories had begun to agitate for better conditions.
- vt
- Carl and Martin may inherit their grandmother's possessions when she dies. The thought agitates her.
- We thought that the bad news would upset Tom, but it didn't seem to agitate him.
agog
adj
- The children were all agog to hear the story.
- All London was agog to see the two "parents"of radium.
agonize
v
- I spent days agonizing over whether to take the job or not.
- They agonize during the decision making process and then worry even after they’ve made a decision.
airtight
adj
- an airtight argument
- The defendant had an airtight alibi.
- Store the food in an airtight container.
alacrity
n
- They accepted the offer with alacrity.
- Although the man was very old, he still moved with alacrity.
alibi
n
- The suspects all had alibis for the day of the robbery.
- He manages to persuade both his wife and girlfriend to provide him with an alibi.
alienate
v
- Very talented children may feel alienated from the others in their class.
- His second wife, Alice, was determined to alienate him from his two boys.
- His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.
Unit 9
align
vt
- Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.
- A tripod(三脚架) will be useful to align and steady the camera.
allay
vt
- He did what he could to allay his wife's myriad fears.
- Beasley wants directors of nursing to act as role models to allay concerns among frontline nurses.
allegiance
n
- Most of the ousted man's generals and ministers have sworn allegiance to the new president.
- I pledge allegiance to my country.
alleviate
v
- to alleviate suffering
- Nowadays, a great deal can be done to alleviate back pain.
- A number of measures were taken to alleviate the problem.
allude
vi
- I didn't allude to anybody or anything.
- He made no inquiries whatever of her, and did not distantly allude to the reason of his presence in Germany.
allure
vt
- I had been fool enough to allow myself to be so quickly allured by her charms.
- Allured by the promise of big bucks(一大笔钱), he decided to have a go at a job on the trading floor of the stock market.
ally
n / v
- I have been their confidant, their friend, their ally.
- He will have no choice but to ally himself with the new movement.
aloft
adv
- The balloon stayed aloft for days.
- The drone can stay aloft for 30 hours, plenty of time to collect data as hurricanes evolve.
aloof
adj
- He seemed aloof and detached.
- The aloof composer neither worried nor cared about public opinion.
- People sometimes say I'm aloof, quiet, and calm – and hard to get to know.
altruism
n
- Fortunately, volunteers are not motivated by self-interest, but by altruism.
- Pure altruism, we think, requires a person to sacrifice for another without consideration of personal gain.
Unit 10
amalgamate
v
- A number of colleges have amalgamated to form the new university.
- This information will be amalgamated with information obtained earlier.
ambiguous
adj
This agreement is very ambiguous and open to various interpretations.
amble
vi / n
- We ambled down to the beach.
- These traditions continue at the company where workers amble about the offices in jeans and casual shirts.
ambrosial
adj
- The food came; it was ambrosial.
- The ambrosial aroma of the roast whetted our appetites.
ameliorate
vt
- Steps have been taken to ameliorate the situation.
- In every human being there is a wish to ameliorate his own condition.
amenable
adj
- They had three very amenable children.
- citizens amenable to the law
- Whatever you decide to do, I'm amenable—just let me know.
amenity
- n
- Appellation is interesting and trivial in China which is a so-called 'kingdom of amenity'.
- the discussion conducted in perfect amenity
- n
- People who retire to the country often miss the amenity of a town.
- Reduce noises of fans and raise the driving amenity.
amiable
adj
- She had been surprised at how amiable and polite he had been.
- The foremen(工头) is an amiable person and showed great hospitality towards myself and other workers.
amicable
adj
- an amicable relationship
- "I hope that we can find an amicable solution to this issue through the consultation process," she said in a statement.
amity
n
- He wished to live in amity with his neighbour.
- Peace, amity, cooperation and development are not only the common aspirations of the people of the three countries, but also required for the stability and prosperity in the region.