n. preservation or restoration from loss, damage, or neglect
E.g. According to new research rapid and large scale loss of natural habitats has already affected biodiversity in the area and urgent conservation efforts are now needed.
n. greenhouse; school of music or dramatic art
E.g. Even though he was not conservatory trained, his passion for music took him to the point where eventually he was considered one of the best guitar accompanist in Cuba.
v. retain; protect from loss or harm; preserve; use carefully or sparingly, avoiding waste
E.g. One way to conserve is to make cars more efficient.
v. give, transfer, or deliver in a formal manner, as if by signing over into the possession of another
E.g. Perhaps it would be better to consign it to a place where others may not so readily gain access to it.
v. be made up or composed; be comprised or contained in
E.g. A sudden renewed interest in action movies from the early nineties whose titles consist of three words, one of which is usually either “kill”, “law” or “justice”.
v. make solid; unite or press together into a compact mass; harden or make dense and firm
E.g. He bribes his leader to consolidate his position.
a. noticeable; prominent; easy to notice; obvious
E.g. Next morning, Miss Scatcherd wrote in conspicuous characters on a piece of pasteboard the word "Slattern."
n. component or part; citizen, voter
E.g. A machine will not function properly if any constituent of it is defective.
v. make up; form something
E.g. "I never did see the beat of that boy!" She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines that would constitute the garden.
v. restrain; keep within close bounds; confine
E.g. His idea is to constrain commercial banks' lending.
v. restrict; shrink; make smaller or narrower by binding or squeezing
E.g. Freezing temperatures also constrict peripheral blood vessels, further stressing the heart.
v. form by assembling or combining parts; build; create
E.g. After all, perhaps there were different ways to construct machines that would have different properties.
v. make impure or unclean by contact or mixture; pollute; defile
E.g. Compact fluorescent light bulbs contaminate the environment with 30000 pounds of mercury each year.
v. look at attentively and thoughtfully; observe deep in thought
E.g. He used to contemplate the problem from all sides.
v. strive in opposition; contest; dispute; struggle for
E.g. John has to contend with great difficulties in coming IELTS test.
n. competing as for profit or prize
E.g. The teams were in fierce contention for first place.
n. property of a continuous and connected period of time
E.g. I think you need to hire someone to maintain continuity on your blog if you intend it to have any longevity.
v. confront; oppose
E.g. Now act as you please: write and contradict my assertion--expose my falsehood as soon as you like.
n. assertion of contrary; denial of the truth of a statement or assertion; opposition, whether by argument or conduct
E.g. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat, but in the evolution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress toward a victory.
v. form by an exercise of ingenuity; devise; invent; design
E.g. Can you contrive to escape here early?
v. cause to come together formally
E.g. Six days' public notice must be given when announcing the meeting schedules, meaning the earliest the board can next convene is July 24.
v. approach; tend to meet; come together
E.g. African-American men from all over the United States will converge on Washington to take part in the historic Million Men march.
v. chat; talk informally; engage in a spoken exchange of thoughts
E.g. Eva is all ears while Lulu and Lola converse.
ad. in a converse manner; with change of order or relation; reciprocally.
E.g. Economies don't get in trouble overnight and conversely don't improve overnight.
v. relate; associate; bring into a mutual relation
E.g. I cannot correlate these two pieces of information.
v. be compatible, similar or consistent; exchange messages
E.g. My Russian pen pal and I correspond for several years.
n. similarity or analogy; communication by the exchange of letters
E.g. For a long time he had been in correspondence with the chief banks in Shanghai and Macao.
a. one who communicates information, especially, by letter or telegram to newspaper or periodical
E.g. The information below was compiled by our correspondent of Hong Kong.
a. accompanying
E.g. She pointed to a wide arch corresponding to the window, and hung like it with a Tyrian-dyed curtain, now looped up.
v. destroy metal or alloy gradually, especially by chemical action; be eaten or worn away
E.g. The girders supporting the bridge will corrode so gradually that no one suspects any danger in future 10 years.
a. sophisticated; of worldwide scope
E.g. Her years in the capitol had transformed her into a cosmopolitan young woman highly aware of international affairs.
n. padded or knitted covering placed especially over a teapot to keep the tea hot; cozy
E.g. A teapot under a cosy is stewing, not brewing, the tea.
v. act as force or influence that balances, checks or limits an opposite one
E.g. It is commonplace in America to counterbalance a Democratic president with Republicans in the Congress, and vice versa.
n. duplicate copy; analogue; one that closely resembles another
E.g. Robinson becomes the Bishop of New Hampshire only weeks after John, his counterpart, was forced to stand down for fear his election would divide the Church.
n. a bowl-shaped opening at the top of a volcano
E.g. At least one village about three kilometers from the crater has been covered in a dusting of volcanic ash.
n. a line or long thin mark made by folding or doubling
E.g. He cut across the crease from the left side.
n. standard of judging; any approved or established rule or test
E.g. Among the reasons for adding this as a criterion is the obvious point that Nobel wanted the Prize to have political effects.
v. bend down; stoop low; lie close to the ground with the legs bent, as an animal when waiting for prey, or in fear
E.g. They did not crouch under the oppression.
v. fall apart; fold or collapse; crush together or press into wrinkles
E.g. It's weird watching your leg to crumple in directions it's not natural to go in.
v. reach the highest or most decisive point; rise to summit
E.g. Wednesday's anniversary is to culminate in a recreation of the student march that started the Velvet Revolution.