Words from the Course Material

1. Invaluable: priceless or having value too great to measure; Precious

 The new job will provide you with invaluable experience.

 His knowledge of the area made him invaluable.

2. Scan: a) examine or look over carefully; Scrutinize; to look through or over

quickly; to examine with a special device (as a scanner) especially to obtain
information

 He scanned the field with binoculars.

b) to look through or over quickly

 I scanned the headlines of the newspaper.

c) to examine with a special device (as a scanner) especially to obtain

information

 My bag was scanned at the airport.

3. Skim: to read over something quickly or to glance over something

 Take a quick glance at your class note

N.B. Similarities and differences between scan and skim

Skimming is reading rapidly in order to get a general overview of the material.

Scanning is reading rapidly in order to find specific facts. While skimming tells
you what general information is within a section, scanning helps you locate a
particular fact.

4. Assimilate: to cause (a person or group) to become part of a different

society, country; incorporate/take in/digest/absorb

 Schools were used to assimilate the children of immigrants.

 She was thoroughly/completely assimilated to/into her new country.
[=she had completely adapted to her new country]

5. Repertoire: a stock of plays, dances, or items that a company or a

performer knows or is prepared to perform; collection/stock/stockpile

6. Fundamental: a central or primary rule or principle on which something is

based; basics/essentials/rudiments/foundations/basic principles

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  The two courses cover the fundamentals of microbiology.

7. Career: an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life

and with opportunities for progress;
profession/occupation/vocation/employment

 He seemed destined for a career as an engineer like his father.

8. Integrate: Put together/incorporate/combine

 He seems to find it difficult to integrate socially.

 The committee can integrate the different plans.

9. Proficiency: skill/ability; having expertise or being very skilled or

knowledgeable in a certain subject.

10. Accuracy: correctness/exactness/precision

 The police questioned the accuracy of his statement.

11. Transient: Lasting only for a short time; impermanent/temporary/short-

lived.

 There is a transient population of thousands of visitors during the year.

12. Distraction: a thing that prevents someone from concentrating on

something else. Diversion: interruption, disturbance, interference, obstruction.

 He found the noise of the photographers a distraction

 She worked hard all morning, without distraction

13. Verbatim: in exactly the same words as were used originally; word for
word/letter for letter

 I don't think I will read the whole thing verbatim to you.

 He had an amazing memory and could recall verbatim quite complex
conversations.
14. Cue: a) a signal (as a word, gesture, or phrase) for somebody to do
something.
 I continued to read, looking for any contextual cues.
15. a) Discriminate: to unfairly treat a person or group differently from other
people or groups.
 It is against the law to discriminate on the basis of race.

15. b) Discriminate: to be able to tell the difference between things.

 He can discriminate among the birds by their calls.
16. Access: the right or ability to approach, enter, or use

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  Only a few have access to the secret information.
 A way or means of approaching access to the sea.
17. Diligent: hard working and done with painstaking effort
 A worker who always stays late to get projects done on deadline.
18. Variety: An assortment or the state of having many different things; a
number of different things
 An example of variety is when you have purple flowers, blue flowers,
green flowers and flowers of a whole bunch of other colors.

19. Assumption: a) a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen,

without proof; premise/belief

 They made certain assumptions about the market;

b) Assumption: the action of taking on power or responsibility.

 the assumption of an active role in regional settlements.

20. Escapism: a) the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant
realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.

b) Escapism: was his favorite pastime, preferring to immerse himself in video

games over homework.

21. Glance: a). to take a quick look at something.

 He glanced at his watch.

b). to move your eyes swiftly from one thing to another.

21. Procrastinate: the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or

delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention.

 She was smart, but her constant procrastination led her to be late with
almost every assignment.

22. Route: to create a path or to go on a path; avenue/course/direction

 The plane did not fly the usual commercial route.

 He took a tortuous route through back streets

23. Considerable: Significant, worth considering/large in amount

 She has made considerable progress in the study of arithmetic.

 I gave considerable time to the improvement of my speech.
 We received a considerable number of complaints.

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24. Perception: awareness, comprehension or an understanding of something

 He was a man of keen perception.

 My perception of the problem is quite different.
 We have to change the public's perception that money is being wasted.
 I was shocked to learn of the perception people have of me.

25. Describe: give a detailed account in words; to report details about

something either out loud or in writing.

 The witness wasn't able to describe the robber.

26. Cursory: Rapidly and often superficially performed or produced; Quick,

brief, passing, haphazard

 The mayor gave a cursory glance at the report.

 He only looked over his notes for two minutes before a test instead of
studying.

27. Extract: to draw out, remove or obtain something from another

 They used to extract iron ore from this site.

 The extract is taken from a long essay.

28. Disposal: the power or authority to make use of as one chooses; A

disposing of or getting rid of something; The power to use something or
someone

 He insisted on leaving the vehicle at my disposal in case I needed it.

 He placed himself at the disposal of the security authorities.