VOCABLARY

PART 3

1) BRIM the brim of a cup is its top edge: coffee cups full to the brim; filled to the brim
2) BURGLE if someone burgles a place, they go into it and steal things from it. A burglary is
a crime in which a place is burgled. A burglar is someone who commits a burglary: the
house has been burgled three times; we’ve been burgled!; a series of burglaries in the
area; an attempted burglary; the burglars stole all of my jewellery.
3) CIRCULATION the circulation of information is the way in which it is passed between
people. The verb is circulate: the circulation of urban myths; circulation of the report;
the number of banknotes in circulation; circulate a document among colleagues
4) DECODE if you decode something, you understand its meaning when the meaning is
hidden: scholars attempt to decode the meaning of stories; trying to decode the
message; the meaning can be difficult to decode
5) DEED a deed is something that you do: do a good deed; brave deeds; perform heroic
deeds; an evil deed; the deed is done
6) DEEP-ROOTED a deep-rooted feeling or belief is very strong and difficult to change:
deep-rooted fears; deep-rooted prejudice; a deep-rooted hatred of politicians; their
beliefs are very deep-rooted
7) DEPTH if you discuss something in depth, you discuss it in a lot of detail. In-depth is also
an adjective: we discussed the issue in depth; analysed it in depth; he’s written in depth
about his experiences; an in-depth discussion; in-depth analysis.
8) DESPERATELY if you are desperately sad or unhappy, you are extremely sad or unhappy.
The adjective is desperate: I was desperately unhappy; desperately sad; desperately
worried; a desperately sad situation; I felt absolutely desperate
9) DIAGNOSE when doctors diagnose an illness, they say that someone has that illness. The
noun is diagnosis: the doctors diagnosed cancer; I was diagnosed with cancer; the
condition is difficult to diagnose
10) FREAK OUT if you freak out, you lose control because you are so angry or upset: I
freaked out in the supermarket; freaked out when she saw the police; I totally freaked
out
11) GRAB if you grab something, you take hold of it quickly or roughly: I grabbed my bag;
grabbed me by the arm; someone tried to grab my purse; grabbed hold of him
12) MERIT the merit of something are its good points: the literary merits of the stories;
discussed the merits of different voting systems; assess the merits of both ideas;
consider the relative merits of each approach; it’s of no merit
13) POCKET if you pocket something, you put it in your pocket or steal it: pocket the rest of
the money; saw him pocket my phone
14) POISON if you poison someone, you kill them with poison: the police think he was
poisoned
15) SHADOW a shadow is a dark place where there is no light. If someone is in the shadows,
they are in a difficult situation: the garden is in shadow most of the day; deep shadows;
the shadow cast by the house
16) SMALL TALK small talk is polite talk about things that are not very important: I don’t like
making small talk; I’m not very good at small talk; after a few minutes of small talk
17) THRILLED if you feel thrilled, you feel very happy and excited. Thrilling is also an
adjective: I was really thrilled; thrilled with my new car; a thrilling adventure
18) VOICE if you voice your ideas or feelings, you talk about them: a chance to voice your
worries; voice your fears; voice your opinion; voice your concerns
19) WIPE if you wipe a recording, you deliberately forget it: sorry, I wiped the tape; I wiped
the disk: wiped the incident from my memory

IDIOMS
1) ROLLING IN MONEY if you are rolling in money, you have much more money than
you need: people who are obviously rolling in money
2) THE SPITTING IMAGE if one person is the spitting image of another, they look
completely identical: he’s the spitting image of his dad
3) SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE if information spreads like wildfire, it spreads very quickly
between people. A wildfire is a large, uncontrolled fire in the countryside, which
spreads very quickly: the news spread the wildfire; the rumours spread like wildfire
4) BY AND LARGE if something is true by and large, it happens generally or usually: by
and large the town is well-preserved; the system works well, by and large
5) GIVE OR TAKE you say ‘give or take’ to show that an amount you are talking about is
not completely accurate: the population’s ten million, give or take; I’II be there at
ten, give or take five minutes
6) HERE AND THERE if something happens here and there, it happens in a few places
but not in very many: there are still pockets of deprivation here and there; I’ve lived
here and there; there are a few houses here and there
7) LONG AND HARD if you think about something long and hard, you think in a detailed
way for a long time: I thought long and hard about it before making a decision; need
to think about this long and hard
8) NOW AND THEN if something happens now and then, it happens sometimes, but not
very often: I still like to party now and then; we visit them now and then; I see him
now and then