Week 8

Word: Affable

Definition: Showing warmth or friendliness; easy to talk to

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: Instead of being such a jerk, you should try being more affable! 

Collocation:  


Word: Callous

Definition: Unfeeling or insensitive; cold

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: Despite her wealth, the old lady was a callous woman who never gave to anyone in need.

Collocation: 


Word: Captor

Definition: A person who imprisons someone else.

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: His captor, believing him to be a poor man, released him for a small ransom. 

Collocation: 


Word: Empathy

Definition: A deep emotional understanding of another's feeling or problems

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: When questioned about his acts, the killer showed no empathy for his victims or their grieving families. 

Collocation: "deep empathy","have empathy","empathy between someone and another person", "a lack of empathy"


Word: Disdain

Definition: A feeling of contempt for anything deemed unworthy; lack of respect with a feeling of dislike 

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: The woman looked at her male abuser with disdain as he walked into the courtroom. 

Collocation: "with disdain ","obvious disdain ", "a look of disdain ", "express disdain" 


Word: Abate

Definition: To become less in amount or intensity

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: I hope this medicine will abate the pain in my leg. 

Collocation: 


Word: Abhor

Definition: To fill with horror; to hate; to detest  ; to reject something very strongly

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: Work at a job that you love ,not one that you abhor.   

Collocation: 


Word: Cajole

Definition: To persuade by flattery or promises, sweet talk

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: Using dry tuna, I was able to cajole the kitten out of the corner. 

Collocation: 


Word: Elated

Definition: Extremely happy

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: Although I was elated about the trip, I was also nervous at the the thought of flying for the first time. 


Collocation: "seem  elated", "strangely  elated", " elated at", "sound  elated"


Word: Coherent

Definition: Logically connected, understandable, easy to understand

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: When the driver could neither walk in a straight line nor give a coherent answer to the policeman's questions, he got a free ride to the station. 

Collocation: 

Week 7

Word: Eradicate

Definition: Destroy completely so that it cannot return or recur; put an end to

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: Because of modern medicines, many diseases have been eradicated. 

Collocation: "successfully eradicate", "be impossible to eradicate", "eradicate from","an attempt to eradicate" 


Word: Mutate

Definition: Change in a gene or chromosome; change in form or nature

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: Viruses that are mutating can be hard to control.

Collocation: 


Word: Fragile

Definition: easily broken; not having a strong structure

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: Because the natural environment is fragile, pollution can cause permanent damage to sensitive plant and animal species.

Collocation: "seem fragile", "ecologically fragile", "remain fragile"


Word: Curb

Definition: To limit, restrain, or control

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: Vaccines are used to curb the spread of certain diseases.

Collocation: "greatly curb","attempt to curb","aimed at curbing"


Word: Parasite

Definition: An organisms living on another organism (host) in a way that harms the host

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: Dangerous diseases like malaria are parasites which harm the humans or animals they live in. 

Collocation: "dangerous parasite","carry parasite", "have parasite" 


Word: Impunity

Definition: Exemption from punishment or freedom from the injurious consequences of an action

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: It is necessary to stop impunity for violence against women in South Africa.  

Collocation: 


Word: Autonomy

Definition: Personal independence; the capacity to make moral decisions and act on them; freedom from external control or influence  

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: Women all around the world hope to achieve the right to autonomy.  

Collocation: "considerable autonomy","degree of autonomy","seek autonomy","autonomy from","demand for autonomy"


Word: Abolition

Definition: Act of officially ending a law, regulation or practice

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: Some women hope to see the abolition of laws that violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Collocation: 


Word: Tackle

Definition: Make determined efforts to deal with a problem or difficult task

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: The group United Nations Women proposes a goal that tackles or attempts to deal with unequal power relations between men and women. 


Collocation: "properly tackle ", "attempt to tackle", "a way of tackling"


Word: Stall

Definition: Stopped making progress

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: The progress towards Women's equality has been stalled because of the failure to address the basic causes of discrimination and violence against women. 

Collocation: "effectively stall", "stall for time"

Week 6

Word: Salient

Definition: Prominent or conspicuous (obvious)

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: The salient reasons behind couples divorced is an affair.

Collocation: 


Word: Wary

Definition: Watchful; being on one's guard against danger

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: After the murder of a police officer, residents in the neighborhood were suddenly wary of each other.

Collocation: "seem wary", "wary of", "keep a wary eye on"


Word: Catastrophe

Definition: An event causing great and often sudden damage or suffering; a disaster 

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: The female teenagers need to realize losing their lipstick is not a catastrophe.

Collocation: "catastrophe occur", "lead to catastrophe", "major catastrophe"


Word: Atone

Definition: To make amends or reparation, as for an offense or a crime; to make up, as for errors or deficiencies

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: The manager of The Cheesecake Factory tried to atone for  the bad service by offering me a complimentary dessert.

Collocation: "atone for"


Word: Substantiate

Definition: To establish by proof or competent evidence

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: Even though the defendant could not substantiate his alibi for the night of the murder, he was still found innocent of all charges. 

Collocation: 


Word: Parody

Definition: Any humorous, satirical, or burlesque imitation, as of a person, event, etc

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: Do you think the singer will laugh when he hears my parody of his song? 

Collocation: "clever parody", "parody on", "in a parody", "a parody of justice"


Word: Heredity

Definition: The inheritance of traits to children from their parent 

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: High blood pressure is associated with heredity.  

Collocation: 


Word: Enormous

Definition: Extraordinarily large

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: Enormous pressure came to bear on Mary, forcing her to break her relationship with Phil when it became know that he had contracted aids. 

Collocation: 


Word: Initiative

Definition: Readiness to take action

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: Like it or not, we need to take the initiative and set the record straight. 


Collocation: "show initiative", "a lack of initiative", "initiative in"


Word: Transaction

Definition: Interactions between sellers and buyers

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: There are thousands of transactions which take place on the stock market every day. 

Collocation: "international transaction", "carry out transaction", "transaction take place", "transaction costs"

Week 5

Word: Candor

Definition: The state of being frank, open, and sincere in speech or expression; to tell it like it is

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: Because the realtor was an honest women, she replied with candor about the damage to the house.

Collocation: "with candor"


Word: Skeptics

Definition: People who doubt accepted beliefs

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: Climate skeptics are not sure that climate change is caused by humans.

Collocation: 


Word: Consensus

Definition: General or widespread agreement among all the members of a group

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: There is a consensus among climate scientists that climate change is caused in part by humans.

Collocation: "clear consensus", "reach consensus", "consensus exist"


Word: Per capita

Definition: By each person

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: Income per capita, varies greatly between countries.

Collocation: 


Word: Prestigious

Definition: High quality; highly respected

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: The prestigious doctor had a long waiting list pf patients.

Collocation: "highly prestigious", "extremely prestigious"


Word: Inflate

Definition: to increase or raise; to exaggerate the size or importance

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: Some people think that climate scientists inflate the data on climate change to support increased global warming.

Collocation: "inflate with", "partially inflate"


Word: Accelerate

Definition: To move increasingly quickly; to develop faster

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: We should do everything possible to reduce climate change so that it won't accelerate.

Collocation: "accelerate smoothly", "accelerate sharply"


Word: Scrutiny

Definition: Close, careful, or thorough examination or study

Part of Speech: Noun.

Sentence: If you want to fly on airplane, you should be prepared to deal with scrutiny from the airline personnel. 

Collocation: "intense scrutiny", "be subject to scrutiny", "under scrutiny"


Word: Recapitulate

Definition: To repeat

Part of Speech: Verb.

Sentence: At the start of each class, the professor will recapitulate yesterday's lecture. 

Collocation: 


Word: Pandemic

Definition: (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world

Part of Speech: Adjective.

Sentence: The Zika disease is pandemic in Africa.

Collocation: