Monthly Archives

May 2023

Intermediate+ Word of the Day: beacon

A beacon is a guiding signal, usually a light in a high up position, designed to attract attention or warn people. They were originally large fires used to signal people over long distances in the days before…

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Intermediate+ Word of the Day: flow

Flow is what water does, ‘to move in a stream.’ It also means ‘to rise and advance,’ like tides do, or ‘to circulate,’ like blood does through our veins. Figuratively, it means…

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Intermediate+ Word of the Day: gripe

To gripe means ‘to complain constantly about something’ and, in US English, also ‘to annoy or irritate.’ As a noun, a gripe is an annoyance or complaint. Gripes, usually in the plural, is…

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Intermediate+ Word of the Day: train

A train is, as you probably know, a group of railroad cars connected together. Figuratively, any line or procession of people or anything drawn along is also called a train. As a verb, to train is to teach and make someone…

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Intermediate+ Word of the Day: batter

As a verb, to batter means ‘to pound something repeatedly or continuously’ and also ‘to beat someone up’ or ‘to abuse physically on an ongoing basis.’ As a noun, batter is a thin mixture of…

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Intermediate+ Word of the Day: prick

To prick is ‘to pierce or make a puncture,’ with something sharp and tiny, like a needle, and also ‘to cause to feel a sharp pain, as from piercing.’ Figuratively, we use it to talk about mental pain as well. A prick is a small puncture made by a needle or something similar, the sharp pain felt when pricking, and also the act of pricking itself. Vulgarly, a prick is a penis and, informally, we call a nasty…

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Intermediate+ Word of the Day: tilt

To tilt means ‘to incline or lean something’ and, figuratively, to tend towards something in terms of your opinion or feelings. Tilt is also ‘to attack with a lance,’ like knights on horseback used to do in olden days. In cinematography, to tilt is ‘to move a camera up or down’ in order to film a moving character or object. As a noun, a tilt is the action of tilting or an inclined…

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