dune – a hill of sand near a beach or in a desert
fare (old-fashioned) – to succeed or be treated in the stated way:
- How did you fare in your exams?
instalment UK (US installment) – one of several parts into which a story, plan, or amount of
money owed has been divided, so that each part happens or is paid at different times until the
end or total is reached:
- The novel has been serialized for radio in five instalments.
arid – C2 very dry and without enough rain for plants:
- The desert is so arid that nothing can grow there.
invade – B2 to enter a country by force with large numbers of soldiers in order to take
possession of it:
- Concentrations of troops near the border look set to invade within the next few days.
the ways of the world – the types of behaviour and ways of doing things that are acceptable:
- He's very young and still has a lot to learn about the ways of the world.
at/in one fell swoop – If you do something at/in one fell swoop, you do it all at the same time:
- I got all my Christmas shopping done in one fell swoop.
come to sth – B2 to reach a particular point or state:
- The war had just come to an end (= ended).
fruition (formal) – an occasion when a plan or an idea begins to happen, exist, or be successful:
- None of his grand plans for a TV series ever came to fruition.
farrago – (plural farragos or US farragoes) (formal) disapproving – a confused mixture:
- He told us a farrago of lies.
savagely – in a violent, cruel, or very severe way
coherence – C2 the situation when the parts of something fit together in a natural or
reasonable way:
- There was no coherence between the first and the second half of the movie.
vista – literary a view, especially a beautiful view from a high position:
- After a hard climb, we were rewarded by a picture-postcard vista of rolling hills under a
deep blue summer sky.
assumption – C1 something that you accept as true without question or proof:
- People tend to make assumptions about you when you have a disability.
throw money at sth – to spend a lot of money on trying to solve a problem:
- We won't solve this problem by throwing money at it.
crumble – C2 to break, or cause something to break, into small pieces:
- She nervously crumbled the bread between her fingers.
draw – to come to a conclusion or interpretation based on observations or experiences.
- After analyzing the data from the experiment, the scientists were able to draw the
conclusion that the new drug was effective in treating the disease.
absurd – B2 stupid and unreasonable, or silly in a humorous way:
- What an absurd thing to say!
warp – to make a person or their behaviour strange, in an unpleasant or harmful way:
- Prison warps people. Had it warped Kelley enough that he would kill a stranger?
gaping – describes a hole or other opening that is very large:
- The bomb had left gaping holes in the wall.
plot – B2 the story of a book, film, play, etc.:
- The film has a very simple plot.
cosmic – informal very great:
- The earthquake was a disaster of cosmic proportions/scale.
overthrow – to defeat or remove someone from power, using force:
- He said that Allende's government in Chile was overthrown by the army and the CIA in
1973.
shadowy – describes someone or something about which little is known:
- The English king, Arthur, is a somewhat shadowy figure who may not have even existed.
jihad – in Islam, a religious struggle (= fight) against evil in yourself or in society
drug – to give someone or something a chemical that causes them to lose feeling or to become
unconscious:
- The killer confessed that he often drugged his victims before he killed them. She was
heavily drugged to ease the pain.
teeter on the brink/edge of sth – If something is teetering on the brink/edge of a bad situation,
it is likely that the situation will happen soon:
- What we are seeing now is a country teetering on the brink of civil war.
viable – C2 able to work as intended or able to succeed:
- In order to make the company viable, it will unfortunately be necessary to reduce staffing
levels.
wriggle – to twist your body, or move part of your body, with small, quick movements:
- A large worm wriggled in the freshly dug earth.
supersized – (informal) very large:
- Unhealthy food is producing supersized kids.
evaporate – to disappear:
- Halfway through the film reality evaporates and we enter a world of pure fantasy.
grim – informal C2 very unpleasant or ugly:
- a grim-looking block of flats
scowl – to look at someone or something with a very annoyed expression:
- The boy scowled at her and reluctantly followed her back into school.
growl – to make a low, rough sound, usually in anger:
- The dog growled at her and snapped at her ankles.
the decencies UK old-fashioned – the acceptable or expected ways of doing something:
- I hate going to funerals, but you must observe the decencies (= it is something you
should do).
eccentricity – the state of being eccentric:
- His eccentricity now extends to never washing or changing his clothes
deaden – to make something less painful or less strong:
- Morphine is often used to deaden the pain of serious injuries.
a safe pair of hands – someone who you can trust to do an important job well, without making
mistakes
