1
Awesome — a) frightening; b) incredible
Bear (bore-borne) — a) to carry; b) to put up with; c) to support; d) to aim
Big deal — important event
Excessive — more than is normal
Extensive — very wide-spread
Fussy — unnecessarily careful about little things
Harrowing — very sad, causing mental pain
Invaluable — really precious
Itchy feet — desire to change jobs, travel
Jet-lagged — feeling tired because you moved from one time zone to another
Knack — talent
Overtake — to reach and go past
Get puffed — be out of breath
Split out — to fall out
Thorough — very careful, detailed
2
Adjust to — to settle down, to place yourself in a comfortable position
Assets — anything owned which can be sold to pay debts
Benefit — profit, advantage
Cash in on — to make a lot of money by profiting from smth
Considerable — quite large
Cooped up — shut up inside
Eerie — weird and frightening
Establish — a) to set up, create; b) show smth to be true
Exhausting — tiring out
Handle — to deal with
Hectic — very busy
Impact — effect
Pick-pocket — to steal things from people's pockets
Relentless — pitiless, ruthless
Remote — a) distant; b) slight (possibility)
3
Alerted — watchful
Apparent — which seems, obvious
Broke — having no money
Chatter — a)to talk quickly and not seriously; b)shake
Collapse — to fall down, ruin
Compelling — very exciting
Concern — a) worry; b) interest
Dare — a) to be brave enough to do smth; b) to challenge smb to do smth by suggesting it's cowardly not to do it
Inquest — legal inquiry into a death
Issue — a) to come out; b) to put on sale, publish; c) to give out, hand out
Owe — to be obliged
Plunge — a) to dive, b) to throw yourself into
Rigid — stiff, unbending, inflexible
Ruthless — pitiless, cruel
Solemn — a) spedal and religious; b) very serious
Suspense — impatient wait for smth to happen
4
Arbitrary — taken at random
Assert — to state firmly
Buy into (id) — to trust, believe
Conceal — to hide
Elaborate — very detailed, very complicated
Frumpy — wearing old-fashioned clothes
Insomniac — smb who is chronically unable to sleep
Interfere — a) to meddle; b) to get involved
Patently — obviously, clearly
Plausible — which sounds as if it is correct when it's often not
Recall — a) to summon back; b) to remember
Stuffy — a) full of bad air; b) prudish
Teetotal — who never drinks any alcohol
Untimely a) happening too soon; b) not suitable
5
Adequate — enough
Alienate — turn away, repel
Aspiration — ambition
Assume a) lo take responsibility; b) to suppose
Boost — a) to help, promote; b) increase
Catch up on — exchange news
Ensure — to make sure
Fancy — a) to imagine; b) to like, want to have
High-flier — very intelligent and very ambitious person
Make redundant — to fire people because they are not needed
On the mend — getting better
Presume — to presuppose
Query — a) doubt if smth is true; b) to ask questions
Regardless — paying no attention
Secure — safe
Take for granted — a) to agree; b) not to appreciate any more
6
Acclaimed — well-praised
Spot — to find
Currently — at the present time
Gradually — step by step
Objective — aim (object in view)
Offhand — at once, immediate
Preliminary — which goes before
Reluctantly — not willingly
Rule smth out — to leave out, not to consider
Whack — a) hard, noisy blow; b) (inf) attempt
7
Adore — to love strongly, admire
Alongside – beside
Beneficial – useful
Breeze — smth easy to do
Charge — to make smb pay for smth
Designated — chosen for a special purpose
Erode — to destroy or reduce smth gradually
Forfeit — to lose smth as a punishment
Intercept — to stop or catch smth/smb going from one place to another
Knackered — a) extremely tired; b) too old or broken to use
Overlook — a) not to notice; b) to ignore and forgive smb's mistake
Perks — additional income
Strapped (inf) — feeling shortage of money /time
Subtle — a) not easy to notice; b) clever at noticing and understanding
Titbit — special little piece
Wits — ability to think quickly and make right decisions (to be at one's wits' end)
8
Adorn — to cover with ornaments, decorate
Aptly – likely
Apt — fitting well
Bliss — great happiness
Boast — a) to talk about how good/clever etc. you are; b) possess and be proud
Caution — care, precaution
Commute — a) to reduce (a penalty); b) travel to work in town every day; c) pay money instead of doing a piece of work
Down and out — (id) tramp
Downpour — heavy rain
Fall behind with — to fail to finish work or payment at the right time
Flock — to move in a group
Mere/merely — simply, only
Nauseous – sickening
Pervade — spread everywhere
Profusely — excessively, too much
Resentful — annoyed and hurt
Sumptuous — very luxurious
Pursue — a) to chase; b) continue to do
Utter — complete/total
9
Blank out — to ignore, not to pay attention
Clumsy — not graceful; often breaking smth
Dense — a) very thick; b) stupid
Disdain — looking down; feeling superior
Encounter — to meet
Fussy — unnecessarily careful about little things
Imperious – arrogant
Incorporate — to bring into one main part
Laid back -unhurried/relaxed
Nosy — curious
Scald — to injure with hot liquid or steam
Scatty — silly, slightly mad
Stingy — very greedy
Uptight — nervous and annoyed
Whine — to complain
10
Ambush — surprise attack
Assumption — belief that smth is true (even if it hasn't been proved)
Assure — a) to make safe/certain; b) to state/affirm
Befall — to happen
Bound to — a) obliged; b) very likely
Ferocious — fierce, angry
Filthy — a) very dirty; b) very unpleasant; c) obscene
Foible — odd way of behaving or thinking
Hazardous — dangerous
Impassible — which you can't go through or across
Inauspicious — unlucky, not giving hope for the future
Inevitably — by all means
Pester — to bother smb
Precision — accuracy
Scarce — insufficient for the demand, hard to find
11
Cover for — a) to the work s o usually does; b) to prevent smb from getting into trouble by lying
Descend — to move from a higher level down
Droplets — tiny drops
Expand — to become larger in size, number or amount
Hard up — being in great need for money
Inexplicable — too unusual or strange to be explained or understood
Inflate — to make smth seem more important than it is
Momentous — very important
Neglected — not looked after properly
Obsessed — thinking about smb or smth more than is necessary or sensible
Painstakingly — very carefully or thoroughly
Swarm — a family of bees
Tedious — boring, tiring
Tolerate — to put up with
Wobbly – shaky
12
Corny — (inf) not new, different, interesting or surprising
Frantic — extremely hurried and using a lot of energy but not very organized
Horrendous — a) frightening and terrible; b) (inf) extremely unreasonable and unpleasant
Lease — a legal agreement allowing you to use smth for a rent
A new lease of life — serious life improvements
Lunacy — a situation or behaviour that is completely crazy
Obsessive — making you think all the time about smb or smth
Potter — (inf) to do pleasant things that are not important without hurrying
Tackle — to make a determined effort in order to deal with a serious problem
Torture — a) act of deliberately hurting smb to get information from them; b)severe physical or mental suffering
Unfulfilled — not achieved (wish, desire, hope)
Urge — to strongly suggest that smth should be done
