averse [adjective]
against

• Most teachers are averse to students wearing hats or chewing gum in the classroom.
• Doctors these days are not averse to advising patients about poor lifestyle choices such as smoking or lack of exercise.
• While I am not in favor of teaching creationism in public schools, I am also not averse to having it presented and examined.
• The bulk of the urban districts, particularly in the Northern states, were totally averse to this development.

disturb [verb]
to interrupt, stop from working

• This will be a reading lesson. Please do not disturb it by trying to talk.
• The angry shouts from demonstrators at the back of the hall did not disturb the politician in his speech.
• Doubt and mistakes must not be allowed to disturb us because it is from them that we learn.
• They further alleged that the removal of the soil would disturb the quality of the district's drinking water.

sane [adjective]
reasonable; not mad

• The school cafeteria has made the sane decision not to offer hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries to the younger students .
• The government needs to decide on a sane response to the continuing violent demonstrations.
• When Penn State decided not to cancel classes, it seemed like a safe and sane decision.
• There were many sane but complex reasons why he gave up his well-paid job.

frustrate [verb]
to stop or prevent

• Badly- behaved students often frustrate the learning of other students in the class.
• Demonstrators tried to frustrate the opening of the new airport runway.
• She accepted the arduous task of vice president, according to the papers, saying that she could not frustrate the will of the people.
• They must not be allowed to frustrate the emergence of a competitive market economy.

precaution [noun]
something done to avoid danger, harm or problems

• The school has installed emergency buttons in each classroom as a precaution against intruders.
• Doctors are advising older patients to have an injection as a precaution against influenza this winter.
• Even though you may know your housemates well, you should always take the precaution to lock the door. Windows should also be secured.
• Every necessary precaution has been taken to provide up-to-date, accurate information in this website.

expel [verb]
to drive or push out

• If a student is caught with drugs in the building, the school will expel him or her.
• The police were unable to expel the demonstrators from the town square.
• The court concluded that schools could not expel disabled students whose disability causes their disruptive conduct.
• His lungs were filled in an instant with a great volume of driven air which he could not expel.

exaggerate [verb]
to "overstate" the truth; to say something is bigger or better than it really is

• Do not exaggerate! You're only 10 years old. You couldn't have read thousands of books!
• It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the internet.
• Advertising marketed directly to the consumer may minimize the risks and exaggerate the benefits of medications.
• We should not exaggerate the costs, minimize the benefits of what we have already achieved, or downplay the risk of failure to persevere.

assent [noun]
agreement

• You will need to get your parents' assent for your attendance at the sex education classes.
• Governments cannot govern without the broad assent of the people.
• Counselors will begin on-going sessions with a student only after having obtained signed assent of the student and signed consent of the parent.
• If children of seven years and older will be included in the study, an assent agreement is necessary.

magnify [verb]
to make or show larger

• The fact that he can only speak a little English is sure to magnify his already severe learning problems.
• The new version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer lets you magnify pictures by using the mouse ball and the Control key.
• Therefore, if a farm has efficiency problems, simply expanding the operation may just magnify the problems.
• Television and the other news media have helped to magnify the person and the institution of the presidency.

entitle [verb]
to give the right to do something

• Buying a lunch ticket in advance will entitle you to a free drink.
• A regular driving license does not entitle the license holder to drive a bus or a truck.
• This validation will identify him/her as a "special student" and will entitle him/her to the use of additional university facilities, such as the union building and the gym, and to free admissions for selected lectures.
• The Supreme Court held that the free exercise of religion did not entitle an Orthodox Jew to wear a yarmulke when he was on duty as an officer of law.

detriment [noun]
disadvantage

• We must hope that her heavy involvement in the school's sporting programme will not be to the detriment of her studies.
• Some people claim that the growth of the internet has been to the detriment of students' ability and willingness to read.
• The lack of available parking spaces is a significant detriment to faculty and students.
• This could substantially change the nature of the Internet we have come to know, to the detriment of both the consumers and the providers of information.

fallacy [noun]
mistake; false belief

• It is a fallacy to think that you can put off working until the week before the exam and still pass it.
• Medical scientists have shown it to be a fallacy that lying in bed is the best way to heal a bad back.
• It's a total fallacy that young girls are being pressured into near-starving themselves into being too thin.
• However, his proposal contains a fallacy that is important to recognize and understand.

forego [verb]
to do without; to give up

• The students had to forego the planned class picnic when the day started with heavy rain and wind.
• Due to the new law, smokers will now have to forego the pleasure of a cigarette with their drink in a restaurant or bar.
• Many talented local young people have had to forego graduate or professional education because of lack of access to such programs.
• Does anyone really believe that governments will forego tax incomes on trillions of dollars of e-commerce sales?

allege [verb]
to claim or state

• The teachers allege that the school administration is secretly planning to increase working hours.
• Some people allege that the reasons for invading Iraq were to gain control of its oil.
• Specifically, you allege that you were not provided with academic adjustments and auxiliary aids, and were not provided access to other services and programs at the College.
• Unilateralism may not be destroying American foreign policy as some allege. But it does have its price.

stipulate [verb]
to require

• The rules of the school stipulate that you must leave your mobile phone in your locker and not bring it to class.
• The new government proposals also stipulate that all unemployed young people attend a three-week training course once a year.
• It is noted that the university regulations stipulate that a course can be offered only if a minimum number of students is enrolled.
• Although his letter did not stipulate Atlanta as the location of the new school, the Educational Commission quickly decided the matter.

invisible [adjective]
cannot be seen

• The air in this room is invisible, but we know it's here otherwise we'd die.
• Nine tenths of an iceberg is under water and hence invisible to ships.
• Although most universities say they place a high value on teaching, faculty often feel that teaching is somehow invisible to the administration.
• Unlike the clouds on Earth, however, many of the forms of interstellar clouds are completely invisible to the human eye.

accuse [verb]
to blame

• If you accuse a student of plagiarism, you must have strong evidence.
• Some people accuse the USA of starting the war in Iraq in order to gain control of its oilfields.
• Students should not accuse others of cheating unless there is clear evidence.
• From then on, the government tried to accuse the communists of being enemies of the fatherland.

fluctuate [verb]
to vary; to rise and fall

• His opinions fluctuate; sometimes he thinks science is the most interesting subject and sometimes the most boring.
• The cost of gas (petrol) will continue to fluctuate as the price of oil goes up or down.
• This gives the teacher and the class the freedom to fluctuate between learning styles under the same assessment method.
• The temperatures did not fluctuate as much this month as they did last month.

deteriorate [verb]
to get worse

• Your grades will continue to deteriorate unless you start working harder.
• The government has invested little money in the health system. The quality of hospital care is sure to deteriorate more and more.
• Over the past 30 years, the environment in Africa has continued to deteriorate.
• The interpretation fits well with the fact that his mental health did not deteriorate.

recur [verb]
to happen again

• Please make sure your dangerous behaviour does not recur.
• Experts believe that the problem will recur until the government takes it more seriously.
• The programme will include several basic creative thinking techniques and this theme will recur in problem-solving mode in Part 2 of the programme.
• Many people used to believe that if cancer did not recur within five years, a person was safe.

utter [adjective]
complete, total

• The school wanted to raise money from its ex-students, but the attempt was an utter failure.
• I am surprised at the directors' utter inability to understand how the workers are feeling.
• This is especially true from an investing perspective when repeating the same strategy could be a road to utter disaster.
• It is now clear to me that they shared an utter inability to view themselves objectively and critically.

compulsory [adjective]
required, must be done

• In most countries of the world education is compulsory for all children.
• Israel and Korea are two countries that have compulsory military service for their male citizens.
• Working with the Teacher Assistant is not compulsory but recommended.
• Although the agreement was compulsory rather than voluntary, it led to substantial military reforms along French lines.

instinct [noun]
natural feeling or reaction

• My instinct tells me that there is more to her learning problems than the parents are willing to say.
• The university advises female students to follow their instinct whether it is safe to accept a ride home from a man they have just met.
• You need to trust your instinct as to whether he is the right man to marry.
• Again, he followed his instinct. And again, he was successful.
• Unlike other animals, humans have no instinct for survival; we often choose to do things that may be detrimental to our health.

subsidize [verb]
to support financially

• A rich parent has donated money to the school to subsidize the building of a new sports block.
• The government plans to subsidize farmers who grow crops that can be used to run cars.
• The University will subsidize the cost of the premiums for graduate students during the coming academic year.
• It was a time when priests were experiencing financial crisis and the Church was unable to subsidize many of their expenses.

offend [verb]
to go against; to upset

• If you offend against the school's computer use policy, you will not be permitted to use the computer labs.
• Some people believe that harsh prison penalties for young criminals offend natural justice.
• No matter how we talk and discuss normally, we now have to ensure that the way we talk must not offend any religious, ethnic, cultural, or political group.
• Perhaps it is unfortunate that humor, by its nature of being based in ridicule, will always offend someone.

enumerate [verb]
to list

• Don't forget to enumerate your research sources at the end of your writing.
• The number of mistakes that this government has made is too long to enumerate!
• This course list should enumerate the number of credits and the grade option (grade, pass/fail, audit) for each enrolled student.
• There is no need to enumerate in detail the contributions of science to that war effort.

stereotype [noun]
a fixed idea about someone or something (often that is only partly true)

• It is a stereotype that Japanese girls are quiet. You should hear them on the bus on a school trip!
• The stereotype of young men who walk around with large aggressive dogs is that they are from the working class and are criminals.
• The purpose of this study is to investigate the stereotype that men are better in mathematics than women.
• This alone makes the book a worthwhile read for students whose received knowledge about Africans is often little more than a stereotype of passive victims.

refute [verb]
to prove to be untrue; to deny

• The student said that his dog had eaten his homework. The teacher did not believe him but could not refute what he said.
• Nowadays nobody attempts to refute that smoking is bad for the health.
• McCready said she could not refute anything in the New York Daily News story about her.
• I find it quite hard to understand why anyone would attempt to refute or ignore these accomplishments.

culminate [verb]
to end

• This project will culminate in a major research essay of 2000 words.
• Sports events such as the World Cup or the Olympic Games often culminate in an enormous firework display.
• The group work done during these workshops will culminate in a series of papers, presented by project participants, at a one-day conference.
• The first effort to produce a revised policy started during the mid-1980s and failed to culminate in a new agreement.

drastic [adjective]
severe; great

• She is going to fail the course unless there is a drastic improvement in her efforts.
• The company directors made a drastic attempt to save the business by dismissing half the workforce.
• The State Department has seen a drastic increase in passport applications being filed since a recent change in policy.
• Before economists implement drastic measures to reduce population growth, further studies should be performed.

drawback [noun]
disadvantage, problem

• The only drawback of having computers in the classroom is that they are loud and make the room hot.
• A significant drawback of winning the bid for the next Olympic Games is that it will cost the country an enormous amount of money.
• This method is simple but has a significant drawback.
• They simply decided for various reasons that his age was not a drawback, that perhaps (at that time and for that position) it was an advantage.

superficial [adjective]
done quickly and without enough thought; not thorough; trivial

• He has only a superficial knowledge of English grammar - not enough to be an ESL teacher.
• Many people think that the government's proposals to reduce teenage crime are superficial and will not work.
• The student's answer may not address all parts of the question or may demonstrate an inaccurate or superficial analysis of the passage.
• The desire to be recognized, to be considered important is not superficial. It is a basic human drive.

confine [verb]
to limit

• Please confine your answer to a maximum of 100 words.
• Many parents confine their children to the bedroom when they behave badly.
• One factor was political: because we had decided to confine the project at first to the six northernmost counties in our region
• But he did not confine himself to theoretical matters alone. He now drew attention to the lack of American minority students on campus.

assimilate [verb]
to take in

• On your first day in a new school it is difficult to assimilate all the information that you are given.
• The government should do more to assimilate immigrants who do not speak English.
• You need to assimilate the material covered by the homework problems in order to pass the quizzes and final examination.
• Yet there were conflicts there too, and the immigrants did not assimilate easily and completely into Israeli culture.

disperse [verb]
to spread out; to move apart

• At lunchtime students disperse to all parts of the school building and play areas.
• The police had difficulty in trying to disperse the enormous crowd after the pop concert.
• Very often, in the early summer, the hills are covered during the night by clouds, which do not always disperse until the sun has risen.
• Students and non-students alike can be criminally charged if they don't comply with police orders to disperse from riot or crowd situations.

annotate [verb]
to make notes on a piece of writing

• Using a computer program makes it easier to annotate long pieces of writing.
• The author had failed to annotate his report, so it was impossible to check the truth of his claims.
• Many students who receive a grade lower than they want, do so because they fail to annotate their texts.
• You will need to annotate the images and present them as a narrative or the story of destruction in New Orleans after Katrina.

revive [verb]
to bring back (to life)

• The school is planning to revive its lunchtime sports program after hearing a request from the student council.
• Doctors were unable to revive the man who was pulled out of the icy river.
• It is impossible to revive any Yuan play in its original style because the music is lost and its social context has changed.
• Perhaps we will have to revive the issue of the 'Child Friendly City'.

reluctance [noun]
unwillingness; hesitation

• I understand her reluctance to speak English in class. She has only just arrived at the school.
• The government needs to overcome its reluctance to advising parents how to bring up their children.
• Caesar showed no reluctance to accept the office of "dictator for life" in February 44 B.C.
• The heroes of the stories in this book are people who speak only with reluctance about their tragic histories.

deprive [verb]
to take away (the opportunity)

• Your low grades will deprive you of the chance of taking part in sports trips.
• The aim of the proposal is to deprive people of the liberty to download songs and videos from the internet.
• The proposal will not deprive students of the appropriate protections to which they are entitled.
• It is not in employers' interest to get rid of cheap illegal immigrants - only to deprive them of any rights.

exponent [noun]
someone who holds and states an opinion

• The producer of these webpages has long been an exponent of the value of computers in language teaching.
• The new team coach is an exponent of the view: No pain, no gain!
• She has been an important exponent, nationally and internationally, of the view that artists have a critical role to play in democratic societies.
• Monroe is a well-known exponent of the mechanical theory of education, with its cult of standardization, intelligence tests, etc.

descend [verb]
to go down

• If you descend the stairs by the nurse's office, you will see the cafeteria in front of you.
• Scientists are working on a robot that can descend to the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean.
• When a block of wood is gently put into still water, it will descend by the force of gravity, until it has displaced a quantity of water, equal to its own.
• Although the mountain was not steep, the raging river could not descend with sufficient rapidity to prevent its overflowing its banks.

faint [adjective]
not strong

• You have a faint chance of passing your exams if you work really hard for the rest of the term.
• The spaceship has been sending back faint images of Jupiter as it flies past on its way to the edge of the solar system.
• A lasting peace in Iraq will remain but a faint hope.
• There would seem a faint chance that the United States, working with the United Nations, will lead a worldwide religious revival.

condemn [verb]
to express strong disapproval

• European governments strongly condemn the kidnapping of a German aid worker in Afghanistan.
• I condemn the way that animals are used in medical experiments.
• Plagiarism is easy to condemn but often hard to define. This is partly because the legal rules differ sharply from the ethical ones.
• The Bible laid down some rules for the humane treatment of slaves but did not condemn the practice.

propensity [noun]
tendency; desire

• My ESL teacher has the propensity to talk about his own school days.
• Some doctors have the propensity to use language that their patients do not understand.
• She had shown no propensity to engage in abusive conduct.
• Humans have a strong propensity to make inferences and hold causal beliefs, even though it is not rational.

displace [verb]
to push out or take the place of something or someone

• The new swimming facility for the 2008 Olympics in Peking will displace many people from their current homes.
• The amount of water that you displace when you get into the bath is equal to the mass of your body.
• By performing better than humanly possible, the robots will displace humans from essential roles.
• This is principally because they displace the church and family as sources of emotional support.

diverge [verb]
to move apart; to be different from

• Parents and children often diverge in their opinions on the importance of keeping bedrooms clean and tidy.
• The government refused to diverge from its plan to ban smoking in public places.
• The tax system must not discourage economic activity and it must not diverge from the tax systems in other countries.
• For reasons that are not yet completely clear, practice and theory usually diverge at this point.

cautious [adjective]
careful

• We must be cautious in how we interpret the data. It would be easy to draw false conclusions.
• It is a fact that cautious drivers have fewer accidents than reckless ones.
• Congress seems to have taken a cautious approach to regulating a technology that is reinventing the very manner in which ideas are expressed.
• If a person tends to be cautious in relationships or at work, it is likely that her investment decisions will also be cautious.

distort [verb]
to change or affect something (negatively)

• If you talk through a cloth it will distort the sound of your voice.
• The conclusion did not distort the truth of the situation even though the student distorted some of the data that he collected.
• Omitting the transportation costs would distort the company's financial position.
• She claimed that the disproportionate number of non-native speakers in the survey did not distort the results.

albeit [conjuntion]
although, but

• She works well, albeit very slowly.
• The government has had some success in reducing unemployment, albeit not as much as it had promised.
• He was a visual thinker and an artist, albeit a rather unsuccessful one.
• Many of the research questions involved are similar to more mainstream systems research, albeit larger in scale.

coincidence [noun]
an uncommon happening of two things

• Three people in my class were born on the same day. That's quite a coincidence!
• Some people think it was no coincidence that there was a terror alarm two days before the election.
• It is no coincidence that the early proponents of so-called public education were socialists.
• Luckily, due to total coincidence, the men's and women's basketball teams started most of their games on the road.

procure [verb]
to get or obtain

• For this year's mathematics course, you will need to procure a good graphics calculator.
• The internet allows people to procure whatever they want without needing to go to the shops.
• In addition to paying for the required tuition and fees, you will need to procure a variety of materials to complete this class.
• The father stated he was from the neighbourhood of Bandon, where he had been unable to procure any employment.

perpetual [adjective]
continuing for ever; never disappearing

• Her grades are low because of her perpetual inability to turn work in on time.
• Many people believe that the 'war on terror' will be a perpetual war.
• In the future, learning must be seen as perpetual, continuing across an individual's life, and integrated with all other aspects of living.
• How do we approach the essential and perpetual problem of dealing with our own waste?

deficient [adjective]
poor, lacking in quantity or quality

• This work is deficient. I don't think you spent very much time on it.
• The city's public transportation system is becoming more and more deficient.
• The department may admit students of superior promise but deficient preparation, provided that such students correct their deficiencies.
• Oddly, however, the book is almost completely deficient in fictional representations of invalids.

resign [verb]
to give up (one's job)

• The teacher was asked to resign after it was discovered that he had lied about his absence from school.
• The prime minister has said that he has no plan to resign over the crisis in Iraq.
• President Tom Gerety announced today that he will resign on June 30, 2003, after nine years as the head of the college.
• Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten.

prosper [verb]
to do well; to become rich

• Children prosper in classes where their teachers care about each of them as individuals.
• The business will not prosper unless it can win new customers in foreign countries.
• We believe that individuals who respect and support a diverse global society will prosper as leaders in schools, universities, businesses, and human service.
• African-Americans have disproportionately failed to prosper in American society.

contemplate [verb]
to think about; to consider

• You need to contemplate the reasons for your lack of success.
• It is not pleasant to contemplate the results of a German victory in World War II.
• History is filled with examples of military leaders who have suffered at the mercy of climate conditions that they failed to contemplate adequately.
• It is a truism that death - not just our own - affects all of us, even if it is a topic most people do not want to contemplate for long.

conceal [verb]
to hide

• She was unable to conceal her sadness when she only came third in the music competition.
• Many students doing an important test try to conceal their answers with their hand or a book. They don't want their neighbour seeing what they have written.
• The White House has been engaged in an image war, trying to conceal the motives and strategies of the real war on Iraq.
• But his son, who had hoped to occupy the throne of Armenia, could not conceal his discontent.

universally [adverb]
all over the world; by everyone

• The teachers are not universally in favour of the school's plan to introduce flexible working times.
• Coca-Cola is a drink that is universally popular.
• He is universally considered a pioneer in this field, both in conducting research and in educating students to assume key positions in industry.
• No program has developed an approach that is universally successful in working with the types of problems that we try to solve.

postpone [verb]
to put back in time

• The referee decided postpone the game because of the predicted thunderstorm.
• The government will postpone its announcement until it has up-to-date information.
• There were complications with the pregnancy, so she had to postpone starting school for a semester.
• It is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. A decision to cancel or postpone the match will be made later in the day, if necessary.

compel [verb]
to force or make happen

• I cannot compel you to listen, but I will ask you to leave the room if you talk while I do.
• I don't really like science but my parents decided to compel me to take biology and chemistry in grade 10.
• Most programs have experienced the need to develop mechanisms to compel involvement of parents and/or guardians in the juvenile drug court process.
• But you are forgetting one thing, gentlemen of the law, you are driving a horse to water but you cannot compel him to drink.

anomaly [noun]
an unexpected happening or piece of data

• Women often earn less money that men doing the same job. This anomaly must be stopped.
• The business manager could not explain the anomaly in the company's finances, and was asked to resign.
• Mathews touches on an anomaly that has puzzled students of American regional religious history.
• Worse yet, 1992 was no anomaly but the culmination of bad trends, most of them directly related to the company's lack of focus.

provoke [verb]
to cause to happen

• The headmaster's decision is sure to provoke much discussion among teachers and students at the school.
• The government hopes that its new law will provoke more people to seriously look for work.
• They did not provoke an attack. They responded to an attack from terrorists.
• Doing so will probably provoke a strong negative response from the group's normal readership.

immense [adjective]
very large

• His written work is actually very good, but he has immense problems with the difficult English spelling system.
• There are immense parts of the planet that have not yet been explored. These are all on the ocean floor.
• People have been trying for decades or maybe even centuries in an attempt to bring this immense problem to an end.
• This interesting site offers the student of neuroscience access to an immense amount of information on the discipline.

obsolete [adjective]
not used or needed any more; out of date

• The typewriter is more or less obsolete now that we have computers and keyboards.
• Progress is so fast these days that some technological products become obsolete within a very short time.
• The time has come, however, to quit spending time and money supporting obsolete technologies and to concentrate on delivering better service.
• His father's ideas were obsolete and out of time. They were traditional views that were losing much of their appeal.

deduce [verb]
to come to a conclusion about someone or something

• You should be able to deduce the answer if you think carefully enough.
• The detective was able to deduce from the size of the footprints that the thief was probably a woman or child.
• The pictures presented aspects of the objects they could not deduce from the equations alone.
• Using computer modeling, he was able to deduce the relationship between the strength of a stellar wind and the age of a star.

credible [adjective]
believable

• It is not credible that he could have gained such a good grade without help from someone else.
• As yet there has been no credible example of the sighting of a spacecraft from another world.
• Beyond this, if you have a credible reason for absence or coming in late, such as a documented medical excuse, you should provide that information to the instructor.
• The first of the allegations came from a woman who, in the opinion of the Committee, was not a credible witness.

signify [verb]
to mean; to be a sign of

• Poor results in end of year tests often signify that the teacher has not taught the course very well.
• Government scientists have found some red areas on the surface of Jupiter, but they do not know yet what these signify.
• The satellite photographs seem to signify that North Korea is moving much of its army to the border with China.
• While most people know that chest pain can signify the presence of heart disease, it is less well known that shortness of breath can also be a serious cardiac symptom.
• Downloading and reading this letter does not signify acceptance to the First-Year course.

impress [verb]
to create a favourable reaction

• She has continued impress me with her hard work and positive attitude.
• The company's efforts to increase business over the past year failed to impress the shareholders.
• Calderone's insistence that sex education should begin as early as kindergarten did not impress religious conservative groups.
• Powerpoint presentations do not always impress, especially if the actual content is poor.

complicate [verb]
to make things more complex or difficult

• The fact that she doesn't speak English did much to complicate the situation.
• The German government should have realized that it would complicate matters by allowing the different German states to have their own regulations about smoking in public buildings.
• We conclude the year with a story that shows how severance from one's cultural past can complicate the search for a sense of self.
• Including future irrelevant costs generally will not lead to a poor choice; it will only complicate the analysis.

deviate [verb]
to be different

• How could his final test scores deviate so strongly from the predictions we made?
• It would not be wise to deviate from our planned course of action.
• We will deviate from this schedule throughout the semester, but the hand-out gives a good impression of our general focus.
• Rarely do any of the numbers in any of the four columns deviate by more than five.

motive [noun]
reason

• Some students see no motive for learning German - especially if they know they will only be in the country for a short time.
• The police have not been able to establish a motive for the brutal killing.
• It is extremely important that you establish a strong motive to return to your country after you complete your studies.
• Contrary to what you've been told by Courtney Love and the manipulated media reports, Kurt Cobain had no motive for suicide.

degenerate [verb]
to get worse

• Her work has continued to degenerate since the divorce of her parents.
• Muscles degenerate unless they are exercised; just like the brain!
• The value of books would certainly degenerate if they could simply be produced and reproduced in cyberspace at an extremely minimal cost.
• The political system must not be allowed to degenerate into unlimited majority rule, which could result in the erosion of individual liberty.

contradict [verb]
to say or show that what someone has said is wrong

• Please do not contradict me. I know what I said is correct.
• The latest employment figures contradict the government's recent claim that more people now have jobs than for many years.
• The findings directly contradict the assertion that some verbal areas of the brain are larger in women than in men.
• During various stages of a planning process, review and crosscheck the goals and objectives in the plan elements so that they do not contradict one another.

imaginary [adjective]
not real; from the imagination

• The equator is an imaginary line that divides the earth into a northern and southern hemisphere.
• Doctors say that some of the symptoms that their patients describe to them are imaginary.
• The imaginary problem results from the authors' basic misunderstanding of economics and politics.
• The existence of such alternative measures was not imaginary; the Commission had already suggested several possibilities.

deed [noun]
an action

• Helping the new student on her first day at the school was a good deed.
• It was not a deed of which he was particularly proud.
• This is the single most important deed a district judge can perform in the administration of his duties.
• It was not a deed that anybody in the world would consider wise.

prestige [noun]
fame and respect

• Students who get in the athletic teams enjoy a high prestige in the school community.
• Most scientists are more interested in the prestige of winning the Nobel Prize than the money they get for doing so.
• In achievement and prestige, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has long been recognized as one of America's great universities.
• Due to its association with the churches and schools, the Samoan language enjoyed high prestige in Tokelau for a long time.

symptom [noun]
sign (often of a disease or other problem)

• The most common symptom of a cold is a runny nose.
• The many demonstrators on the streets of the capital city were a clear symptom of the government's unpopularity.
• Being overweight is no longer simply a health problem - it is a symptom of a greater cultural shift that shows no sign of fading.
• While its lack of clarity was seen by some early critics as a clear symptom of error and confusion, it was seen by others as a hallmark of genius.

presume [verb]
to believe, assume

• He was absent yesterday for the third time this month. I presume he has been having problems with his back again.
• Most scientists presume that the life expectancy of people in developed countries will continue to rise.
• If these reports are not returned, we will presume that you have used all available sick leave for that particular reporting period.
• How many planet/planet collisions do you presume will come from the M31 incident - or do you think we will be smoothly assimilated?

overly [adverb]
too

• She is being overly concerned about the exams. She will certainly pass.
• It is not in the best interests of children if their parents are overly protective. of them.
• It's always better to be overly cautious and to protect yourself by asking for a written contract.
• While we were not overly surprised by the answers to our questions, it was interesting to see the amount of uniformity in answers.

fade [verb]
to disappear slowly

• Photographs fade if they are left out in bright sunlight.
• Hopes continue to fade that a peace treaty can be negotiated.
• With the passing of time the details of specific events fade as they taken from the forefront of our mind and placed into the mainstream of our memory.
• New challenges, opportunities, and demands are necessary to ensure that creativity and motivation do not fade away.

dedicate [verb]
to devote (time and attention)

• You need to dedicate a little more time to your studies and a little less time to your sports.
• The government should dedicate all its energy to reducing unemployment.
• We dedicate all our efforts and resources to the education and preparation of all students.
• Once Grace Albee arrived in New York City in 1933, she was able to dedicate herself to full-time printmaking and her art began to command serious national attention.

scarce [adjective]
rare, not abundant

• Water is very scarce in many parts of North Africa.
• Oil is becoming more and more scarce. It is vital that we find new ways of powering cars and industry
• Economics is the allocation of scarce resources among competing ends.
• Good jobs are scarce.

correlate [verb]
to have a close connection

• Your final writing must correlate to your research notes, otherwise you risk being accused of plagiarism.
• Research shows that earnings correlate strongly with IQ levels.
• The applicant's qualifications must correlate to the qualifications required to perform the duties of the position as indicated in the job description.
• It is well-known that knowledge of formal grammar rules does always not correlate with the ability to teach the language.

embody [verb]
to be a good example of ..

• Our teachers embody the school's philosophy that only excellence is good enough.
• The failures of the national soccer and tennis teams embody all that is wrong with British sport.
• It is a particular privilege to welcome several San Francisco State University alumni who embody all that we commemorate today.
• All of his projects embody the idea of flexibility within different, changing environments.

precede [verb]
to go or be before someone or something

• The lessons that precede lunch today are cancelled for a special assembly.
• At weddings the speeches usually precede the food.
• There is evidence that increases in short sale transactions precede stock price declines.
• Thorough cleaning must always precede chemical disinfection of any equipment.

circulate [verb]
to move from one place or person to another (often in a circle)

• Rumours about teachers circulate quickly through schools.
• It is possible to circulate the world by boat in about three days.
• You are recommended to circulate quickly throughout the classroom to make sure that everyone understands the task, then return to help students who are having difficulty.
• In the 1850s, texts did not circulate widely enough to provoke a revolution.

deliberate [adjective]
intentional, not by accident

• He was expelled from school for a deliberate attempt to cheat in the end of year exams.
• She broke the classroom clock, but I don't believe it was deliberate.
• A student who fails to cite sources in a deliberate attempt to conceal the source of the work should be considered to be cheating.
• The government of Israel again stated that the attack was not deliberate and that it would be investigated.

append [verb]
to add to the end (of a piece of writing)

• You must append a bibliography to all reports that are based on information found in books or on the internet.
• The chairman forgot to append a list of election regulations as promised.
• You must append copies of the primary literature that you are citing to your paper, and you should highlight the pertinent sections.
• However, because The Dream intends to interest both lay and professional readers, it is unfortunate that she failed to append a glossary of significant terms.

vague [adjective]
not clear or strong

• I have a vague idea why she has been absent, but I'm not sure.
• The government's new proposals are too vague. They need to be precise about what they expect people to do.
• Most people have a vague notion of their financial goals even if they have never written them down.
• A concise and informative email subject line is very helpful, whereas one that is too vague or too long can get your email mistaken for something unimportant,

harsh [adjective]
hard, unfair

• Nobody got more than 60% in the test. I think the teacher's grading was too harsh.
• In some countries anyone caught taking drugs can expect a very harsh punishment.
• He reminds us that harsh teaching methods are part of coming of age in the world of the Japanese performing arts.
• An abundance of research documents the biased and harsh treatment that Black defendants have received at the hands of predominantly White jurors.

criticize [verb]
to express disapproval; to say what you don't like or think is good about something or someone

• Parents often criticize their children's choice of clothes or music..
• It is easy to criticize the government for its failures, but no-one has come up with any better ideas.
• Bernstein thinks the survey is very important to students and that schools should not criticize it.
• Compliment employees in public but always criticize them in private; this shows your respect for them and avoids embarrassment.

objection [noun]
(a statement of) disagreement or disapproval

• I have no objection to students wearing hats in the classroom, but many teachers do.
• There was little objection to the government's proposals to reduce child poverty.
• The most serious objection raised against the survey questions the use of self-report scales to assess prejudice.
• The main objection to such Research & Development programs is the fact that the market size and the prices of the new products are unknown.

impulse [noun]
reason or motivation to do something

• He seems to be lacking the impulse to improve his rather poor grades.
• The government needs to provide a better impulse for people to save more of their money.
• Picasso's impulse to draw found expression in a variety of forms.
• The revolutionary impulse must come from those basic human needs that are failed by capitalism.

trait [noun]
characteristic; aspect

• Stubbornness is a trait that is sometimes positive and sometimes negative.
• Musical ability is a trait that some people are born with, but no-one succeeds as a musician without an enormous amount of practice.
• In 1986, 23 percent of parents said obedience was the most important trait they expected from their children.
• Leadership is not a trait that many people have.

lessen [verb]
to reduce

• You will lessen your chances of success if you are absent from school so often.
• You can lessen your risk of getting a cold in the winter if you avoid others who already have one!
• The proposal is unlikely to lessen the tension between them.
• Ultimately, this research will lessen the negative health impact of the hurricanes, which in turn will lessen the economic burden on society.

commence [verb]
to start

• The meeting will commence at 8.30.
• The company's problems did not commence until the price of oil increased.
• Their acquaintance, therefore, it may be presumed, did not commence till towards the end of this year 1754.
• The journey to peace and prosperity in the region can only commence when the civic authority is brought back in.

hostile [adjective]
unfriendly; dangerous; strongly opposed to

• From the beginning he has shown a hostile attitude to being in Germany and learning the German language.
• Antarctica is a very hostile environment. Many explorers have lost their lives there.
• Why are most intellectuals and education theorists so hostile to allowing ordinary parents to choose which school their children will attend?
• This fact demonstrates that immigrants are not hostile to learning the language of their new country.

spontaneous [adjective]
happening without warning or planning

• The teacher made the spontaneous decision to take her class out to the playground and finish the lesson there.
• There was spontaneous applause from the audience when the speaker mentioned Mandela's name.
• This was a spontaneous attempt at addressing the issue, and not a very scholarly or intellectual attempt.
• I often give the impression to my students that the demonstrations are spontaneous, but of course they are all prepared in advance.

friction [noun]
problems or arguments between two people or groups

• At first there was a little friction between the Japanese and Korean students, but this soon passed.
• The shortening of the lunch break caused friction between the workers and the management.
• Our committee was asked to make recommendations to reduce the friction between teachers, parents and students, and improve the three-way partnership.
• Beethoven was not an ideal parent and enormous friction developed between the two, contributing to his son's attempted suicide in 1826.

seldom [adverb]
rare

• She very seldom comes late to class. I hope there is nothing wrong.
• The police seldom give details of whom they have arrested until they know that the person will be charged with a crime.
• These three young women have exhibited the kind of inner strength, commitment to friendship, patience and self-control that one seldom sees.
• When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom profit that loses.

speculate [verb]
to think and talk about (often future events)

• The new teacher has been away quite often this year. I speculate that she will not be given a permanent job at the school.
• The minister was unwilling to speculate on the changes in the price of oil in the next few months.
• It is not difficult to speculate on what could happen to these laws if the computer really does change our attitude to knowledge.
• Thus, while we do not wish to speculate on future developments, we need to consider the actual and potential effects of the decision.

beneath [preposition]
below

• Archaeologists found some Roman coins beneath the town wall.
• There is land beneath the ice in Antarctica, but water beneath it at the North Pole.
• Spending months at a time in orbit, the scientists will be able to observe changes on the earth beneath them from day to day.
• The men searched the entire camp, digging beneath the snow and even into the earth, but no paper was found, no diaries and no documents.

spare [adjective]
not needed

• Do you have a spare pencil? I forgot to bring mine.
• Every piece of spare ground in the town centre has already been built on.
• US companies have too often viewed the social sector as a dumping ground for their spare cash, obsolete equipment, and tired executives.
• On the ship, every spare room and corner was turned into dormitory space; cots were set up to accommodate the overflow.

ambiguous [adjective]
not clear; open to more than one interpretation

• The sentence "I saw a man with a telescope" is ambiguous. Was the telescope used to see the man or was the man carrying a telescope?
• The minister gave an ambiguous answer when asked if the government intended to raise taxes.
• This also helps you determine which variables it is essential to control to avoid an ambiguous answer.
• The data is ambiguous as some analysts measure this figure according to different moments of the year, geographic regions and other variables.

ruin [verb]
to spoil or damage

• You will ruin the carpet if you come inside with those dirty shoes.
• Many students ruin their chances of examination success because they only start to work hard a few weeks before.
• Mechanisms by which comfrey can ruin the liver are unclear, but the main injury appears to be destruction of small veins, leading to cirrhosis.
• Mild pain and inflammation can often ruin an otherwise rewarding day of skiing.

underlie [verb]
to be the reason for or cause of something

• I suspect that difficulties at home underlie her recent poor performance in school.
• Poor diet and drug abuse underlie many serious health problems.
• Recent research has investigated the traits that may underlie the development of drug addiction.
• The many hours of practice that usually underlie exceptional performance remain out of sight to the casual observer.

labour [noun]
work

• Well done. The result of all your labour is an fine grade in your ESL test.
• Some types of labour are dirty, dangerous or not well-paid. It is often poor immigrants to a country who take such jobs.
• It was the result of his labour that Brazil could afford scientific institutions.
• While the system has offered men the opportunity to become owners of small factories, this opportunity rests on the unpaid labour of female family members.

illuminate [verb]
to show clearly; to light up

• The school plans to illuminate the sports field so that games can be played after dark.
• The company report did not do much to illuminate the reasons for the fall in business in the previous year.
• Maharaj says that he did not particularly care for the Broadway production of Side Show because he felt it failed to illuminate the writers' true intentions.
• Niehuss does much to illuminate the enormous impact of consumer culture on West German women's lives.

exhaust [verb]
to use up

• Do not exhaust all your energy in the first 20 minutes. Remember that the game lasts for half an hour!
• The school is overspending and will soon exhaust all the money set aside for books and other materials.
• Students are encouraged to first exhaust all possibilities for Federal and state financial aid programs before seeking alternative loans.
• In about 5 billion years, the sun will exhaust its fuel supply, and will puff up into a bloated star called a red giant.

invent [verb]
to create (often a new object)

• I'm trying to invent a machine that will do my homework for me. - Good luck!
• He had no good reason for being late, so he decided to invent one.
• Indeed, we know that the Fleming, who was first to invent the telescope, was a simple maker of ordinary spectacles.
• Clinton certainly did not invent these word games, but in recent years they have risen to a high art form in Washington.

intervene [verb]
to step into a situation (in order to stop or change something)

• There was a loud argument in the cafeteria today. I had to intervene before it turned into a fight.
• After Iraq some people feel strongly that the USA should never again intervene in the affairs of other countries
• He told reporters that he did not want to intervene in the dispute over the prime minister.
• When a government engages in gross and systematic human-rights violations, the international community must intervene.

discern [verb]
to see; to perceive

• It is usually easy for teachers to discern if an ESL student has copied text from a webpage.
• Her parents failed to discern the bad influence of her new friends until it was too late.
• Upon completion of the course, students will be able to discern how grammar and usage errors can interfere with meaning.
• The links between commodity price declines and food prices are not easy to discern.

homogeneous [adjective]
having the same qualities or characteristics

• Some teachers believe that it is better to teach language to a class with students of homogeneous ability.
• Germany is no longer a homogeneous society. Between 15 - 20% of its population is non-German.
• The sorting of students into homogeneous ability and achievement groups is nearly as old as universal compulsory education in the United States.
• Most historians agree that Kievan Russia was not a homogeneous political, cultural, or ethnic entity.

statistic [noun]
mathematical number

• Only 45% passed the final examination. That is not a very impressive statistic.
• The experiment resulted in a statistic that did not seem correct.
• Some people use unethical methods to create a statistic that says what they want it to say.
• This is NOT a reliable statistic and you should simply ignore it.

affair [noun]
an event or series of events

• Several students are suspected of sending offensive emails to teachers. The school is investigating the affair.
• World leaders met in Bali to discuss global warming. Many people say that the whole affair was a waste of time and money.
• The writer Emile Zola exposed the affair to the general public in the literary newspaper L'Aurore (The Dawn) in a famous open letter to the President.
• Its president tried to play down the affair, saying that what is going on is probably illegal, but that an international agreement was allowing the practice.

barely [adverb]
not very much; hardly

• It's no surprise that she is so quiet in class. She can barely speak a word of English.
• The government has made barely any progress towards reducing environmental pollution.
• The B grade had come to signify work that was barely acceptable.
• San Francisco's justice reform program is barely alive, says a UC Berkeley report.

obstacle [noun]
barrier; problem

• The most important obstacle to her learning is that she never does her homework.
• A significant obstacle to setting up a new business is the enormous amount of documentation that has to be completed.
• The most important thing to keep in mind as you begin working on your assignments is that a philosophy paper is not an obstacle to be overcome but an opportunity to show what you have learned.
• The most serious obstacle to implementing the Convention in Venezuela was clearly the poverty facing a large proportion of the population.

ambitious [adjective]
having high goals (especially in a career; challenging

• In my opinion you are being too ambitious if you think you can learn a language in less than a year.
• The government has set the ambitious target of halving child poverty by the year 2020.
• The Director develops and oversees an ambitious program of professional development and leadership training for history and social science teachers.
• My overall impression is that this plan describes a very ambitious attempt to address an important issue in a scientifically credible manner.

defect [noun]
problem; mistake

• She has a defect in one eye that makes it difficult for her to read from the board.
• A major defect in the proposal is that there is not sufficient money to finance it.
• This is not a defect in the notion of economic development as much as it is a problem with the fiscal structure of Alaska.
• Hacking's book suffers from a serious defect, namely he does not understand the nature of hypnosis.

shrink [verb]
to get smaller

• Her chances of success in the examinations will continue to shrink unless she starts working harder very soon.
• If mobile phones shrink any further, the keys will be too small to use.
• It is predicted that Off-campus study programs will shrink due to the problematic financial situation.
• The Roman Jewish population did not shrink during Sixtus' reign; indeed, there was always movement of Jews in and out of the region.

predominantly [adverb]
mostly

• She has gained predominantly good grades since she has started attending school more regularly.
• Politics is still a predominantly male profession.
• The course is predominantly concerned with the social relations of power that developed along with the major revolutionary currents of the eighteenth century.
• Despite the overall satisfaction that the program was predominantly successful, there are several ways in which the program could have been improved.

liable [adjective]
likely to happen; at risk of happening

• You are more liable to get a better grade if you check your work carefully.
• The government has become unpopular recently and is liable to lose the coming election.
• A student whose total absences in a course, excused or unexcused, exceed ten per trimester is liable to fail the course.
• Patients are liable to forget information that is not written down.

dispose [verb]
to get rid of

• You can dispose of old batteries in the container outside the cafeteria.
• A serious problem of nuclear power is where and how to dispose of the radioactive waste.
• We have never in history needed to dispose of so much waste as we do today.
• Despite the fact that there was a stream on the land, he could not dispose of the property at any price.

suspend [verb]
to stop (often for a short time only)

• The school will suspend use of the library for all students unless the student who damaged the photocopier is found.
• The medical company decided to suspend production of its heart drug when it heard reports of the unexplained deaths of many people who had been taking it.
• With her departure we have decided to suspend teaching Spanish this fall as we await the committee report.
• Gladwin County decided to suspend the sale of dogs from its animal shelter in order to give citizens the chance to review the county's earlier decision.

ignorance [noun]
lack of knowledge

• I am often surprised by the ignorance of some high school students. One of them yesterday did not know the name of the president of the USA.
• You know that ignorance of a law will not prevent you from being arrested for breaking it.
• The writer clearly did not perform the experiment, but gave us what her very great ignorance expected would happen.
• This widespread ignorance was caused by the insufficient amount of media coverage on topic.

supplementary [adjective]
extra; additional

• There will be a supplementary class after school today for those who want extra practice for the test.
• Many people buy supplementary vitamin pills because they do not believe that they get enough vitamins from their regular food.
• Supplementary reading materials will be mailed to each participant at least two weeks before the broadcast.
• The supplementary information provides details on the spiking neuron model used in this work.

migrate [verb]
to go to another place

• Many birds migrate south in the winter to find warmer temperatures.
• People are more likely to migrate in times of war or economic poverty.
• Teachers did not migrate because of students behaving badly but rather because student behavior was not adequately managed.
• Workers will migrate to where wages are higher.

fortunate [adjective]
lucky

• The student who had forgotten his homework was fortunate that the teacher was absent that day.
• Not everyone is fortunate enough to have internet access at home.
• One fortunate result of rainy weather is that the dust is regularly washed off, reducing problems with the machinery.
• Our very privilege makes us aware of our need to do the utmost toward improving the situation of our not-so- fortunate neighbors.

authentic [adjective]
real, genuine; not made-up or artificial

• Many language teachers believe that their learners should use only authentic materials, not ones especially made for ESL students.
• These documents have an official stamp, but I'm not convinced they are authentic.
• This past summer, after a vacation to Japan, I realized that what I had been eating in America was not authentic Japanese food.
• In order to make student learning relevant to real life experiences, learning environments must be authentic.

conversely [adverb]
opposite to what was just said; on the other hand

• He works very hard; his sister, conversely, never makes an effort.
• The government has succeeded in reducing unemployment among older people; conversely, young people are having ever more difficulty finding a job.
• The contributors examine the impact of rivers on humans and, conversely, the impact of humans on rivers.
• His concerts in the U.S. often include works by Scandinavian composers; conversely, he introduces American organ works to Scandinavian audiences.

conserve [verb]
to preserve; to not use

• In sports events it is a good idea at the start of the game to conserve energy that you are going to need later.
• The blue whale may be extinct by the end of the century unless we do all we can to conserve it.
• By signing the pledge, students make a personal commitment to conserve energy and help contribute to Yale's goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 10 percent.
• In many cases print journals are disappearing as librarians strive to conserve money and shelf space.

urgent [adjective]
very important, must be done immediately

• I MUST see the headmaster at once! It's urgent !
• The Prime Minister broke off her visit to China due to an urgent problem at home.
• If you don't receive search results within that time frame or if this an urgent request, please contact the reference desk.
• He told the members that he quickly called for a car and telephoned the White House to set up an urgent meeting in order to share what he had just learned.

inevitable [adjective]
cannot be changed or avoided; obvious

• He is the inevitable choice for the leading role in the play. He's by far the best actor in the school.
• It was inevitable that the business would fail. It was badly run, and the products it sold were overpriced and of poor quality.
• Thousands of farm families are being forced off the land, and we are being told that it is an inevitable consequence of technological progress.
• It is inevitable that any complex society will have some sort of taxation system.

prevail [verb]
to succeed; to overcome

• In a dispute between the school and the parents, it is usually the school that will prevail.
• Different ideas about what is fashionable - in clothes, music, etc. - prevail at different times and in different countries.
• We will not prevail unless some of you not only believe in the Constitution, but are willing to engage in public service.
• The different religious groups gradually came to realize that none of them could hope to prevail over all the others.

interrupt [verb]
to stop something from happening

• The demonstrators failed to interrupt the progress of the Olympic torch through the city streets.
• We cannot allow a few disaffected children to continually interrupt the education of the majority of the class.
• Toscano, professor of history, talks about the war but refuses to let it interrupt his curriculum.
• A snowstorm failed to interrupt soccer practice on the Inlet early last week.

override [verb]
to take precedence over; to disregard

• The wishes of parents must not always override the recommendations of the teachers about the course choices of the child.
• The referee of a football match can override the offside flag of his or her linesman.
• Whatever I write on the board in class as the next day's assignment will always override what is printed in the Class Schedule below.
• People might be surprised to know that a similar situation had occurred in the US and that doctors and hospitals were allowed to override the family's wishes.

halt [verb]
to stop

• The teacher decided to halt the activity when it became clear that the students didn't understand what to do.
• The government is taking advice from experts on how to halt the increase of illegal immigrants.
• Because southern Christian churches benefited financially from slave-based plantations they did nothing to halt the practice of slavery
• Why, Graeme Newman asks, has reform after reform failed to halt the spread of crime?

exert [verb]
to use

• Her work is satisfactory, but she never exerts enough energy to get top grades.
• Sometimes it is necessary to exert force in order to achieve peace in a troubled region.
• In an effective group, each person can exert sufficient influence on the decisions of the group to prevent the group from setting unattainable goals.
• Costrell also found it disturbing that the administration failed to exert its responsibility to ensure that the funds were appropriately spent.

dictate [verb]
to tell someone what to do

• Teachers can suggest that students get a minimum of 8 hours sleep per night, but they cannot dictate it.
• The government has no right to dictate how much people should or should not drink.
• I do not feel that the possible applications of a line of research should be allowed to dictate the directions of research in my laboratory.
• The government has no right to dictate what a woman should do with her body.

dismiss [verb]
to reject, to treat as unimportant

• The teacher did not completely dismiss the students' suggestion, but she first needed to discuss it with the principal.
• The US government plan to develop weapons that can be used from space. Many scientists, however, dismiss the proposals as unworkable.
• We cannot dismiss the traditions and experiences which in many cases date back thousands of years.
• Let's dismiss the idea that you can actually teach critical thinking skills to primary school children.

rigid [adjective]
strict, unbending

• We have a rigid policy of no drugs in our school. You will be expelled if you are caught with them in the building
• Many people have complained about the rigid security procedures that have been introduced to UK airports.
• Rigid plastics are made of several resin types, but in agriculture they are mainly high density polyethylene.
• For example, in many manufacturing processes several nominally rigid bodies undergo multiple, concurrent, dynamic frictional contacts.

prejudice [noun]
bias, discrimination, beliefs or feelings influenced by one's own background

• An international school is a place that cannot survive if there is prejudice that certain groups of students are better than others.
• The government has passed laws to give equal rights to minority groups, but it can do nothing to remove the prejudice that exists inside some people's heads.
• Racism and prejudice continue to be a major problem in our country.
• The self-hatred that this prejudice inflicted led the children to attempt to wash their skin white with scouring powder.

disrupt [verb]
to interrupt an event; to damage

• The student was reported to the headmaster for continually trying to disrupt the class.
• This unnecessary war will disrupt the government plans to reduce tax.
• Students, staff and faculty have a right to privacy and neither reporters nor the public should be allowed to disrupt classroom instruction.
• The protests failed to disrupt Castro's arrival.

probable [adjective]
likely

• The most probable reason for the bad test scores is that the teacher was new and inexperienced.
• The probable cause of the accident is that the driver fell asleep, but police are investigating the possibility of a terrorist attack.
• Fire Chief Anthony Yenzer said the probable cause of the fire was determined shortly afterwards through interviews with the two male students.
• it is not probable that any thing better will be discovered than what was known to our fathers.

unite [verb]
to bring or get together

• The students decided to unite in their attempt to fight bullying in the school.
• All political parties must unite in their proposals to stamp out racism.
• German Liberals had tried and failed to unite Germany during the Revolution of 1848.
• In the face of the success of industrialization, individuals must unite and form institutions that would be in line with this task.

regret [verb]
to feel sorry (for doing or saying something)

• Letter from the headmaster to parents: 'We regret that the school will be closed for the next two days because of problems with the heating system.
• Most countries that went to war in Iraq now regret their decision.
• It was a chance to try out something different and immerse myself completely in another culture and it was a choice I did not regret.
• She will always regret not going on to college right after high school, and learned the hard way that the educated get all the best that life has to offer.

subjective [adjective]
based on personal opinion or feeling

• How people react to music is subjective. What sounds good to one person may sound terrible to another.
• Science should be about objective facts, not subjective opinions.
• Our experiments with SRM 1010a led us to the conclusion that this was too subjective a method of evaluating results.
• This is a highly subjective view of the symbolic nature of physical reality.

warn [verb]
to notify (of possible danger)

• Most schools do a lot to warn their students of the dangers of smoking.
• It is not enough to warn children not to play with fireworks. It should be illegal for children to buy them.
• He was also faced with difficult questions about the university's handling of the emergency and whether it did enough to warn students.
• These drug companies were extremely negligent in that they failed to warn consumers of the potential dangers associated with the use of their products.

abnormal [adjective]
not normal, unusual

• Is there anything wrong with him? His behaviour has been very abnormal recently.
• We got some very abnormal results in our science experiment. I think the thermometer was not working correctly.
• Abnormal results do not diagnose birth defects, they just suggest that follow-up tests are necessary for further clarification.
• Drug abusers also show prefrontal cortex abnormalities; it is possible that abnormal behaviour may be linked to drug use.

fragment [noun]
part of something

• I found a fragment of her homework on the cafeteria. It looked like half the school had stepped on it!
• Archaeologists can often come to an understanding of people who lived long ago just by examining the fragment of a pot or bone.
• To test for a fragment sentence, see if it can stand alone and still mean something.
• Van Haarlem also said the team had found a large fragment of what may have been a ceramic baboon statue.

surround [verb]
to be, go or make all the way around

• The Roman walls of Oberursel still exist and surround almost all of the old town center.
• Politicians realize that they can't know everything, so they surround themselves with people who can advise them.
• The fat cells that surround coronary arteries may play a central and previously unrecognized role in the development of cardiovascular disease.
• Most importantly, she was able to surround herself with friends and acquaintances of similar interests.
• He questioned the security coordination that enabled the terrorists to accomplish all their preparatory work. The authorities had failed to surround the school for three days.

elaborate [adjective]
detailed; complex

• There's no need to give an elaborate answer, Two or three short sentences will be enough.
• The government has announced elaborate plans to reduce long-term unemployment.
• The former assumes a single step - that life originated on Earth - ahead of the more elaborate idea that life formed elsewhere and was subsequently transported to Earth.
• Perhaps the most elaborate example of an arthropod joint, indeed one of the most complex skeletal structures known, is the wing hinge of insects.

diminish [verb]
to get smaller or less important

• Her efforts have continued to diminish in the last few months. I think she may be having problems at home.
• The amount of time that policeman spend on the streets must not diminish.
• The cost of establishing links will diminish as improvements are made to the underlying communication infrastructure.
• Although Katrina affected the material environment of Louisiana, it did not diminish the great spirit of the people here.

persuade [verb]
to try and make someone do something or agree to something

• I tried to persuade the parents to allow their daughter to go on the school trip, but they said no.
• Doctors often fail in their attempt to persuade patients to stop smoking. The habit is too addictive.
• The US, which by this time was paying most of France's war expenses, was unable to persuade the French to fight on.
• Blair will need to persuade the Americans that Europeans will no longer permit Saddam to play games with the inspectors.

intrinsic [adjective]
belonging to; inherent in

• A willingness to question what you are told is intrinsic to the best students.
• Listening to the people is an intrinsic aspect of good government.
• Teachers identified aspects intrinsic to the task of teaching, such as their interactions with students and their capacity to influence student achievement.
• Nature was an intrinsic part of ancient Chinese, Japanese, and Indian literature.

comprehend [verb]
to understand

• It's difficult to comprehend why he made such a foolish decision.
• If you want to comprehend what is happening in Afghanistan, it is necessary to go there yourself.
• The human mind cannot comprehend the true nature of God, nor can the angels.
• As migration is a spatial choice process, it is important to comprehend how migrants perceive space and choose a destination in the space.

obey [verb]
to do as commanded or expected

• If you do not obey the rules of the classroom, you will be sent to the headmaster.
• The machine did not work properly because the person installing it did not obey the instructions.
• The last death occurred on Thursday morning when a deaf man apparently walking to work did not obey a police order to halt and was shot.
• As the earthquake waves travel, they obey all of the principles of other types of wave motion.

abundant [adjective]
existing in large quantities

• You have had abundant chances to improve your behaviour. Now it's too late.
• Some scientists believe that there is an abundant supply of oil waiting to be discovered at the bottom of deep oceans.
• Given the abundance of oxygen and silicon in the crust, it should not be surprising that the most abundant minerals in the earth's crust are the silicates.
• A student seeking a career in this field of study will have abundant opportunities to develop personal and professional skills.

genuine [adjective]
real and authentic

• I don't believe you made a genuine effort to improve. Your grades certainly have not got better.
• Is this a genuine picture by Picasso or is it a fake?
• You have received this e-mail in the genuine belief that its contents would be of interest to you.
• DeRosa's success is a genuine example of how the right environment and excellent faculty really can cause a scholarly transformation.

shortage [noun]
lack; an amount which is less than needed

• There is a shortage of toilets in the school. Every time I want to use one, it is occupied.
• Because of the shortage of wheat, due to persistent wet weather, the price of bread has risen in the last few weeks.
• Bulgaria is to face a severe shortage of teachers within the next three years, education experts declared.
• The unexpected shortage of flu vaccine during winter 2004/2005 caused widespread concern.

devise [verb]
to create or think up

• She is trying to devise a new way to open tin cans.
• We need to devise a test to measure the improvement in ESL students' English from one year to the next.
• The winner of the competition must devise a plan to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere without creating adverse effects.
• Newspaper headline: MIT scientists devise a new way to deliver gene therapy.

concise [adjective]
short, not detailed

• I asked for a concise summary of what happened. So why have you given me a 20-page report?
• It is an advantage for a politician to be able to give a clear but concise statement of what he or she believes in.
• Good writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences.
• There is not a concise answer to your question. The most complete explanation I have found is at the Howstuffworks site.

omit [verb]
to leave something out or not do something

• Please omit me from the trip list. I will not be able to go.
• In some English reported speech sentences you can omit the word that. For example, He said (that) he was sick.
• Do not omit the period after an abbreviation such as in. (for inch), which could be confused with the word in.
• You should omit your name from the copies of the items you submit.

convenient [adjective]
easy, not causing problems

• Electronic dictionaries are very convenient. They are much smaller than paper dictionaries with the same number of entries, and can even pronounce the words.
• It was difficult for the two sides in the dispute to find a convenient time to meet.
• If the departure times are not convenient for you, there is a list of recommended car and taxi services available as well.
• Burning of coal is a convenient way to obtain energy, but it creates a serious amount of pollution.

amend [verb]
to change (usually to improve something)

• If he doesn't start to amend his behaviour, he is in danger of being asked to leave the school.
• The company had to amend their profit predictions after the cost of oil doubled within 6 months.
• If we accept your request to amend the information, we will make reasonable efforts to inform others, including people you have authorized, of the amendment.
• It is unclear why the Massachusetts legislature has refused to amend the Zoning Act.

declare [verb]
to state

• All students must declare at the beginning of the school year that they understand and will follow the plagiarism policy.
• In tomorrow's TV broadcast the government will declare its intention to reduce taxes during its time in office.
• A student should declare a Literature minor by the first semester of his or her junior year.
• Under these treaties, US warships did not have to declare the nature of the weapons they carried.

oppose [verb]
to be against or fight against something

• I oppose the idea of having a school uniform. I think it would cause a lot of unnecessary problems.
• Many people oppose the ban on smoking in public places, but the majority are in favour of it.
• While we must oppose all terrorism, and we have many local enemies in various parts of the world.
• The Roman Catholic Church along with the main Protestant denominations in Europe did not oppose the slave trade.

trivial [adjective]
not important

• Excellent writing with just one or two trivial mistakes!
• A headache may seem like a trivial problem, but it could be the sign of something more serious.
• This is a very trivial example for demonstration purposes. However, the effect is similar for more complex cases.
• For many persons these are not trivial concerns but profound and deep beliefs.

indirectly [adverb]
in a indirect way; not straight or immediate

• All the ESL student's teachers can indirectly influence the speed at which he or she learns English.
• The government hopes that its new tax law will result indirectly in a reduction in teenage pregnancy.
• California's medical schools and major teaching hospitals are directly and indirectly responsible for more than 200000 full-time jobs.
• The report shows how the mass media indirectly affect adolescent smoking rates.

neglect [verb]
to not think about or care for

• Your reading is improving fast, but you should not neglect your writing. It is through writing that you show your teachers what you know or have understood.
• Parents who neglect their children were often neglected themselves.
• The university must not neglect issues which affect staff and students, in particular graduate students.
• I believe that people often neglect the hardships the parents experience if their child has a learning disability.
• Parents who are alcoholics often neglect their children both physically. and emotionally.

surplus [noun]
an amount that is more than needed or expected

• The school has bought new computers for all the teachers. We now have a surplus and the old ones will be given to our partner school in South Africa.
• Europe currently has a surplus of milk. Farmers will be encouraged to grow crops instead.
• In the teaching field there are positions available, but it must be admitted that currently there is a surplus of teachers.
• However, there appeared to be a surplus population of male birds during the breeding season, and hence no shortage of mates.

infinite [adjective]
without an end

• It is a common belief that the universe is infinite. But who knows? Maybe one day we will discover it has an edge or end.
• There is not an infinite supply of oil and natural gas.
• Infinite power is so vast and incomprehensible an idea that the mind of man must necessarily be bewildered in the contemplation of it.
• In a world of infinite problems but finite resources, competition for adequate attention and funding is substantial.

abandon [verb]
to leave or give up

• I've decided to abandon the idea of starting writing a book. I just don't have the time.
• Many people have to abandon their houses when war breaks out in their country.
• The settlers decided to abandon the settlement and sail back to Cuba.
• Lispeth took to Christianity readily, and did not abandon it when she reached womanhood.

implication [noun]
result or consequence

• We do not yet know the implication for the government of the rapid rise in house prices.
• The school's decision to raise the tuition fees will have a serious implication on the number of students who plan to attend.
• Numerous policy and programme implications were derived from the study findings.
• The optical characteristics of the new hardware will have a profound implication on high-speed networking across the globe.

programme [noun]
a course of lessons; a project

• We have a special programme at this school for students whose first language is not English and who need some extra support.
• For financial reasons the government had to cut the programme to help prisoners on their release from jail.
• Our programme provides professional development in the field of DNA sequencing and genomics for graduates.
• Each programme is designed to give students the opportunity to explore significant social, political and environmental issues using an innovative comparative model.

insist [verb]
to demand; to make a strong claim

• The school can recommend that parents communicate by email, but they cannot insist on it.
• The police insist that they are doing all they can to find the missing child.
• Some students will insist that advertising does not "mean" anything; they may feel that ads have little effect on the way people think and act.
• The case of Nicaragua demonstrates how the United States failed to insist on the implementation of democratic procedures.

inspect [verb]
to look at carefully

• You need to inspect your work a little more closely for silly spelling or punctuation errors.
• The doctor had to inspect the x-rays carefully to find any signs of abnormality.
• If you inspect the data further, you will see that there are many observations that are larger than 600.
• Please remember to inspect any rented vehicle before driving it and note any scratches or other damage to the vehicle on the rental form.

suppress [verb]
to hold back; to not allow to happen

• The school tried to suppress the fact that one of its teachers had a criminal record.
• The government failed to suppress street demonstrations against its decision to increase petrol tax.
• Do you ever feel like some Asian traditions suppress the need for communication or being able to freely display your emotions?
• The government predictably tried to suppress the report, and when it was released, attacked its author.

competent [adjective]
good at something (often a job)

• When you employ an electrician to do a job in your house, you hope they will be competent at their job.
• The new government has not yet proved itself competent of making the right decisions in its foreign policy.
• I experienced her as a very competent teacher who had empathy for her students.
• It is especially important to remember that parents as a group have not usually taken the riding lessons and are not competent to supervise their children.

subtle [adjective]
not clear or strong

• There is a subtle difference between the words 'uninterested ' and 'disinterested'.
• The government needs to use a more subtle approach to persuading people to eat less and keep fit.
• Traditional social skills strategies (such as board games about friendships and appropriate classroom behavior) tend to be too subtle for many children.
• She was making a subtle distinction between causing something and making something happen.

apparatus [noun]
equipment; things you need to do a job

• At the end of the lesson please put the apparatus back in the storeroom.
• In Iraq the whole apparatus of government was destroyed and had to be rebuilt.
• He both provided a message service and the apparatus needed to send and receive wireless messages.
• In the 20th century, if you wanted to kill lots of people, you needed a government apparatus to do it.

dense [adjective]
thick; full; detailed

• This book has much dense text that will make it difficult for ESL students.
• Before the ban on smoking in public places there was usually a dense cloud of smoke at the end of the evening in bars and restaurants.
• Obviously the result of many years of reading and reflection, this dense study contains detailed summaries of dozens of works, both major and minor.
• When the moisture condenses, heat is released into the air, making it warmer and less dense than its surroundings.

retire [verb]
to stop working

• Three teachers are going to retire at the end of the school year.
• In western countries most people retire at the age of 65.
• After 11 years at the helm of the Scientific Computing Division, Bill Buzbee recently announced his intention to retire at the end of this year.
• She said she initially had planned to retire earlier, but that she postponed her departure because of pressing issues at the hospital.

tolerate [verb]
to allow to happen; to bear

• I will not tolerate students laughing at the mistakes of other students.
• If you move to London you will have to learn to tolerate noise, crime and high prices.
• They were small-minded people and could not tolerate students who were superior them.
• We all have to tolerate differences of opinion in the political world and, in order to do that, we have to understand that there are real reasons for these differences.

remedy [noun]
cure (often for an illness)

• The nurse gave me a remedy for my headache.
• I don't believe that the government's plan to imprison more criminals is the best remedy for the problem of rising crime.
• AOL has said that this is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO remedy for it at this time.
• The best remedy is to change the nutrient solution every week instead of every two weeks.

fare [verb]
to do or succeed

• ESL students fare better in classrooms where the teacher is aware of their special needs.
• The government is unpopular and is expected to fare badly in the forthcoming election.
• She thinks that the homeless children probably will fare more poorly, educationally, than the children who come from homes.
• He is learning that treatments that worked fine in cities don't always fare well here, where patients may drive several hours to obtain medical care.

prohibit [verb]
to ban, disallow

• Strict laws in Germany prohibit the opening of shops on a Sunday.
• The government is going to introduce a law that will prohibit smoking in public places.
• Congress is resolved to prohibit online gambling in America.
• The cost will not prohibit anyone from participating in the program.

defeat [noun]
a loss (often in a battle or sports event)

• There is no shame in defeat if you have tried your best.
• The government blamed its defeat in the elections on failure to communicate its policies clearly enough.
• The Soviet workers have suffered a terrible defeat of a world-historical significance.
• Rubin did not suffer defeat but learned to use anger and pride to fight for what was right.

commodity [noun]
a product; something you can buy

• Respect is not a commodity. You have to earn it; you cannot buy it.
• Most economists believe that oil is the most important commodity in today's world.
• Water is a useful and necessary thing, but it is not a commodity until someone builds a fence around the water source.
• Vegetable crops are the most important commodity group for small farms in southern states and their importance is expected to increase.
• When parents decide to send their children to a fee -paying school, education becomes a commodity.

conscious [adjective]
aware, knowing

• Are you conscious of the fact that you may fail the course?
• People today have become more conscious of their individual responsibility to protect the environment.
• Emma was conscious of these various and strongly held opinions, through professional periodicals.
• The writer was not careful when taking notes because he does not understand what plagiarism is, or because he is not conscious of what he is doing.

isolate [verb]
to separate something or someone from others

• The teacher had to isolate the boy from the rest of the class. His bad behaviour was disrupting their learning.
• Her writing was poor in every respect; it was difficult to isolate her biggest problem.
• Each student's experience was so varied that I was unable to isolate common themes for discussion.
• Be sure to isolate and disinfect feeding equipment and other objects that may have come in contact with the sick animals.

inhibit [verb]
to prevent or stop

• Being forced to speak before they are ready can inhibit some adults' enjoyment and success in learning a language.
• It is important that the government's proposals do not inhibit the development of small businesses.
• Some people think that electronic toys and games inhibit children's creativity.
• The two procedures consistently showed that garlic did not inhibit the growth of oral bacteria.
• The mask must always inhibit the actor in expressing both joy and grief.

drain [verb]
to take away; to get rid of

• You will drain students of their ability to think for themselves if you never set them challenging questions.
• The proposed changes to the new law will drain it of all its power.
• Use positive words and phrases; don't drain the energy of the interview by focusing on the negative.
• Through appointments and legislation the President was able to drain the Constitution of much of its meaning, with no public reaction.

threaten [verb]
to warn or show signs of danger

• The problems of drug-taking at the school threaten to get out of control.
• Global warming and polar melting threaten to raise water levels and thus flood low-lying cities.
• The requirements threaten to decrease family and individual student control over the transition process.
• It is less widely recognized, moreover, that growth and globalization also threaten to accelerate environmental damage.

habit [noun]
something you do regularly

• My teacher has the habit of telling us the homework in the last minute of the lesson. It's not good.
• It is difficult to change an unhealthy eating habit that has developed from a very early age.
• When a student comes to a lesson having learned a poor habit, time and money are lost and progress is postponed.
• Military historians and other students of international security, gradually got into the habit of meeting together to discuss ideas.

absorb [verb]
to take in; to take up

• The teacher spoke so fast that it was difficult to absorb all the information he was giving.
• The high price of oil will absorb much of the company's profits this year.
• The World Bank said China has the capacity to absorb the impact of the recent international financial market fluctuations.
• He claimed that Arab countries could not absorb Palestinians.

confident [adjective]
sure that something will happen

• I am confident that you will do well in the examinations.
• The company directors are confident that business will improve in the new year.
• We are not confident that those who do less well on high-stakes tests in fact do worse in school or on the job.
• Dr. Pruitt said that he was very confident that all aspects of the law, as well as any other concerns, would be closely looked at prior to any deal being made.

profound [adjective]
deep; great; serious

• My science teacher has a profound knowledge of nuclear physics.
• The government's proposals will have a profound effect on the education of every child in the country.
• The optical characteristics of the new hardware will have a profound implication on high-speed networking across the globe.
• For some years in the UK personal computers have been used to provide sensory stimulation in schools for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

accelerate [verb]
to get or make faster

• If you push down on the right pedal in your car, you will accelerate.
• The rise in the price of oil is set to accelerate in future years due to increased demand in countries such as China and India.
• The xenon atoms need to accelerate to a speed of 30 km/s.
• This program will accelerate entry to the field and to advanced study of nutrition.

loose [adjective]
not firm or finished

• He has only loose control of basic verb grammar. He quite often chooses the wrong tense or forgets the -s ending.
• The government has some loose plans to reduce income tax in the next 5 years.
• Smith starts out with a loose idea of what she wants to achieve.
• So maybe people who see media studies as too general, too loose, too intellectually vague have a point.

passive [adjective]
not active; unresponsive

• She is so passive in German class. It's no wonder that she can hardly speak a word of the language.
• The government cannot afford to be passive about the numbers of young people who fail to find any kind of employment.
• Student surveys find teaching to be too uniformly didactic, and their learning too passive. Students report spending considerable class time just taking notes.
• Desdemona is passive for much of the play and when she dies at the end, she takes the blame for her death.

episode [noun]
period of time

• Our teacher showed us an episode of The Simpsons in ESL class yesterday.
• Many people look back on their years at university as the happiest episode in their lives.
• Begin your paper with a brief description of the storyline, or a brief episode from it, that suggests or illustrates your thesis.
• Above all, World War II was an episode of American history in which more American people bonded together in a common cause than ever before or ever since.

cease [verb]
to stop

• If your disruptive behaviour does not cease, you are in danger of being expelled.
• The fighting is expected to cease when the United Nations sends in its observers.
• All campus party noise must cease by 12:00 Midnight.
• In proof of this, we may note that slavery did not cease immediately on the reception of Christianity.

rotate [verb]
to turn or move (around)

• If you rotate the globe by 360°, you will return to your starting point.
• Farmers rotate their crops. This means that they do not grow the same thing on the same field for more than one year.
• Assign students to groups; establish rules for participation, and rotate jobs within each group.
• Volleyball players must rotate in order, and every player must do this (i.e. a team may NOT have a designated setter/hitter/etc. who does not rotate out).

appoint [verb]
to give a job to someone

• Due to a rapid increase in the number of students the school needs to appoint 4 new teachers.
• If you appoint someone who is not qualified for the job, you cannot be surprised if they have problems.
• Dr. Potts announced that he planned to appoint a broadly based committee of representatives to study the Indian issue.
• Sunnis believe that the Prophet Mohammed did not appoint a successor and therefore gave permission to Muslims to elect or choose their own leader after his death.

hardly [adverb]
not very much

• There are hardly any teachers at the school who cannot speak at least two languages.
• Many people think that there is hardly any chance of peace in the Middle East. The situation in that part of the world is just too complex.
• The percentage of online adults who say they hardly ever or never search for health information has dropped to 39 percent.
• The topic of child deaths in the nineteenth century is one which could hardly fail to interest any serious scholar of the period.

persist [verb]
to continue (often in the face of difficulty)

• He has generally improved his writing but his problems with spelling persist.
• The government has not been very successful in reducing teenage drinking, but it must persist in its efforts.
• This emphasis on improving student outcomes will persist in the immediate future as the dominant factor in determining the success or failure of education reform strategies.
• Why do people still persist in living near volcanoes?

legitimate [adjective]
correct; allowed

• If your parents want too take you out of school during term time, they must have a legitimate reason.
• Many people think that the invasion of Iraq was not legitimate.
• In order to make up a missed exam, you must produce written evidence within 48 hours of the exam which shows that you had a legitimate reason to do so.
• By running these ads, the newspaper is sending the message that it considers this a legitimate product to sell.

supervise [verb]
to control; to watch over people doing something

• We need one more teacher to supervise the cafeteria at lunch times.
• It is not the government's role to supervise what people are doing when they are online.
• Teachers must accompany students and supervise activities in the computer room.
• Drugs, alcohol, and companions who are substance abusers are parenting problems that are not easy to supervise in large households.

prompt [adjective]
quick; on or before time

• You will not get a prompt reply to your email. He is very busy at the moment.
• The government made the prompt decision to kill all cows in the area before the disease could spread.
• You should expect prompt grading of all assignments.
• The prompt response of the Hu Jintao government has won widespread praise, both inside and outside China.

straightforward [adjective]
easy

• It was a very straightforward test. Everyone got 100%.
• Knowing how to prevent young people from starting to smoke is far from straightforward.
• These calculations are straightforward to perform and are executed rapidly compared to Monte Carlo.
• The precise answer is not at all straightforward, unless the uncertainty itself is related in a particular way to the passage of time.
• Nothing is ever completely straightforward, even in the best of models.

hesitate [verb]
to pause before saying or doing something

• Many people hesitate before eating raw fish for the first time. They are not sure what it will taste like.
• I hesitate to put all of my lecture notes online because I do want students to attend the lectures.
• Bassett did not hesitate to take on responsibilities outside the classroom.
• The government must not hesitate in taking harsh actions against communism and all its supporters.

devote [verb]
to give (time) to

• The twins devote most of the weekend to their fishing hobby.
• The company has decided to devote its main attention to increasing business in the developing Chinese market.
• Students needed to devote considerable time to recognizing the three basic tenses (past, present, and future) and using the appropriate tense in their own writing.
• They have other business interests to which they devote their attention, and they may be expected to continue to do so.

inquire [verb]
to ask

• Where can I inquire about the teaching job I saw in the newspaper?
• The government has set up a committee to inquire why more young people have started smoking in the last few years.
• Students need to inquire with the department offering the master's degree to ensure the correct credential courses are taken.
• If you are interested in checking out any of the books in the display case, please inquire at Circulation.

accumulate [verb]
to grow; to gather together

• If you learn a few new words every day, your vocabulary will soon accumulate.
• The only goal of some people is to accumulate as much money as possible.
• Under the new programme, employees will continue to accumulate the same amount of paid time off as they did in the old programme.
• Because of their mobile lifestyle, they did not accumulate many objects.

assemble [verb]
to get, put or bring together

• Please assemble in the cafeteria after lunch.
• In most modern car factories robots assemble the larger parts.
• In order to claim a project, you must assemble a team of 3 to 6 people within a class and get verbal approval from your professor.
• Due to the severe shortage of highly trained nursing staff, Hopkins was unable to assemble a full team of qualified personnel.

infer [verb]
to come to a conclusion about something

• From the quality of the writing I can only infer that someone helped him. His work is usually nowhere near as good.
• Some scientists claim that we cannot infer global warming on the basis of a just few years of hot weather.
• It is often impossible to infer the pronunciation of a word from its spelling alone.
• Since we can't observe it directly, we need to infer it from the things we can observe.

dimension [noun]
importance; amount

• The issue is of a dimension that cannot be solved by the school alone.
• The government failed to recognize the dimension of the public's unhappiness with the new law.
• If we assume that the dimension of a hydrogen atom is about 0.2 nm, then the corresponding confinement energy is about 38 eV.
• The Euro has taken on a dimension far greater than its economic substance.

cooperate [verb]
to work (well) with another person

• In this next task you need to cooperate with the person sitting next to you.
• The council has put out containers for recycled glass and paper. Some people do not cooperate, however, and leave their rubbish on the street.
• Why do some children seem willing to cooperate while others do not?
• Many British citizens and their political and military leaders were suspicious of Napoleon's motives and would not cooperate, so the tunnel project was abandoned.

slight [adjective]
small

• He has a slight chance of getting in to Oxford University if he gets top scores in all his exams.
• The government reports a slight decrease in unemployment in the last month.
• I have been having a slight problem with the trapping of Control-Y in a subroutine.
• So if they go extinct on one tropical mountain there is only a slight chance that they will recolonize from a similar nearby mountain.

confront [verb]
to deal with someone or something (often a problem or unpleasant situation)

• Teachers do not always immediately confront bad behaviour in class. Sometimes it is better to have a quiet talk with the student at the end of the lesson.
• How to increase employment and reduce crime are the two most serious problems that confront the new government.
• Testing personnel will not confront any tester who is cheating, but will complete the Testing Incident Report and submit to the supervisor.
• Bailey decided to confront the problem head-on by scheduling an open public meeting.

odd [adjective]
strange, unusual

• It was odd that he did not do well in the vocabulary test. I know he had learned most of the words.
• The man had been reported to the police because of his odd behaviour over the last few days. He was now under observation.
• It was an odd thing he noticed when playing around with his new invention.
• Musicians are listed alphabetically, but for some odd reason Carter, Benny is listed after Carter, Ron.

besides [preposition]
in addition to; as well as

• I was surprised that besides me there were only about three or four people in favour of the proposal.
• And besides failing to reduce unemployment, the government has also increased the tax on food.
• These two-word verbs present one other problem, besides not appearing as separate entries in the dictionary.
• What do western Louisville and the Appalachian region have in common besides being two of the poorest areas in Kentucky?

assert [verb]
to claim, to say strongly

• The students assert that I promised to show a DVD on in class today, but I cannot remember doing so.
• Insurance salesmen often assert profits that they know are very unlikely.
• In closing, I want to assert that I know that our community is up to meeting these challenges and I know that the bold and inspiring decisions that will be made.
• We sat at dinner and talked about Twain, and Hawthorne, and Robert Frost, but I could not assert that every American would know these poets.

gradually [adverb]
slowly; steadily

• Your English is gradually improving, but you'll have to make greater effort if you want to get better more quickly.
• Food prices are gradually rising again after many months of no change.
• Instead of quick results, Cronbach (1963) believed that consistent experiences gradually improve performance over time.
• The difference between Japanese and Korean prices gradually decreased until virtually zero where it has remained over the past few years.

manifest [verb]
show

• Her problems began to manifest themselves after she was absent for more than a month.
• The government has failed to manifest a willingness to listen to people's concerns.
• Less educated minority parents are more likely to manifest a lack of involvement in their child's schooling.
• It would be easy to overlook important biological information that did not manifest itself in visible symptoms or test results.

allocate [verb]
to give to (to promise to give)

• The school plans to allocate €10,000 to buy new computers next year for the science lab.
• It is difficult for the government to allocate money fairly to all the organizations that need financial help.
• The website shows how schools allocate and use their resources.
• The points that you allocate should be proportional to the individual's contribution to your team for the quarter to date.

province [noun]
area (of interest

• The main province of the school is the teaching of science and mathematics.
• Not everyone knows that Texas was once a province of Mexico.
• He was a soldier, and doubtless felt that it was not his province to volunteer advice to the political department.
• This has been the province of scientists and engineers for many years and has only recently been considered a hot research topic with real business potential.

radical [adjective]
extreme, strong

• Some people have radical ideas about education. For example, that children should be allowed to choose whether or not to attend lessons.
• The company made a radical reduction in its workforce in order to improve its performance in the second part of the financial year.
• The first radical change in the business model came with Henry Ford's move toward standardization and applying the concepts of a production line to the car.
• Marat used his radical ideas to arouse the people, and set himself apart.

occupy [verb]
to up space or time

• The unpleasant incident in the computer lab is sure to occupy my thoughts in the next few days.
• The situation in Iraq continues to occupy the government's attention.
• The School of Medicine will occupy the buildings in two phases.
• There was not a big difference in the negative description of Saddam Hussein among the three newspapers, and these descriptions did not occupy much space.

bold [adjective]
brave

• The government took the bold decision to decrease tax.
• It was bold of him to criticize the boss in front of all the workers.
• It was a bold move, but frankly we didn't have a choice.
• A group of artists who were working and teaching in the Boston area had a bold idea: to create a new kind of school for professional education in the visual arts.

debt [noun]
something owed to another person (often money)

• Thank you for helping me. I shall forever be in your debt.
• The company was heavily in debt after investing a lot of money in new machinery.
• A student who is in debt to the University at the end of any academic term shall not be permitted to register in the University again
• We southerners, and especially we white southerners, owe a huge debt to valiant civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King.

forthcoming [adjective]
coming soon

• Today we will practise for the forthcoming test.
• Microsoft has promised that the forthcoming operating system will be more secure than ever before.
• To find out more about a forthcoming event, click on the event name from the pop-up menu on the left or click on a link below.
• Results will be published in the forthcoming issue of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

feasible [adjective]
possible

• Mobile phones have made it feasible to contact someone anytime and anywhere.
• His idea is simply not feasible - no one is going to pay that kind of money.
• We should seriously pursue the idea of the internet elections, which are a totally feasible option.
• The problem is that parents start to develop the expectation that we will provide unlimited services - and that's just not feasible.

consume [verb]
to use, or use up

• The new Smartboard in my classroom must consume a lot of energy. I've already had to change the bulb 3 times.
• If we do not start to consume less oil, there is likely to be none left by the end of the century.
• Occasional personal use of university computing resources for other purposes is permitted when it does not consume a significant amount of those resources.
• As long as the person did not consume large amounts of protein and carbohydrates, the effect on fat digestion was negated.

tough [adjective]
difficult, strong

• That was a tough question. Let me ask you any easier one.
• The government faces a tough decision: Does it anger the USA or does it anger its European allies?
• It was a tough decision, but ultimately I think it was the student life that had the greatest impact on my decision to come to Wheaton.
• Tough times for farming can also mean tough times for marriages.

enormous [adjective]
very big

• She is having enormous difficulties in mathematics. I think she needs a private tutor to help her understand some of the basics.
• Teenage alcohol abuse is an enormous problem in some UK cities.
• Psychologist Peter Wason discovered that we have enormous difficulty understanding certain sentences that contradict common sense.
• It has resulted in an enormous improvement in the accuracy of the measurements.

convince [verb]
to (try and) get someone to believe something

• It's no use trying to convince me that your father speaks 10 languages. I just don't believe you.
• She wanted to expand and to reorganize the departmental program but was not able to convince the school administration.
• Austen does not convince us that a woman with Jane's mind, integrity, emotional intensity could fall and remain in love with such a dubious character.
• Engineers were deeply concerned about the O-ring design on the booster rocket before the launch, but were unable to convince managers at NASA of the importance of that problem.

multiply [verb]
to increase greatly

• The number of students in the school will continue to multiply in the next few years as Frankfurt increases in popularity.
• The chances of young people becoming criminal multiply if they live in poor housing with drug-addicted parents.
• On-line learning applications will continue to multiply as educational institutions and. business corporations seek new ways to expand their services.
• China did not multiply nuclear weapons. Having produced several hundred warheads, China stopped building up its military potential.

classify [verb]
to put into a category or class

• A common task in the English classroom is to classify the parts of speech into nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.
• There are many small organisms that scientists find difficult to classify.
• Starting during the 18th century, attempts have been made to classify the world's languages into one comprehensive genetic system of families.
• Therefore, it is important to classify low birth weight infants according to their weight for their gestational age.

terminate [verb]
to finish or stop

• My father's contract in Germany will terminate at the end of the year.
• The chairman decided to terminate the meeting when people started shouting at each other.
• The University may terminate the Contract at any time by giving thirty (30) days written notice to the Contract.
• If you have the amnio test late in pregnancy and are carrying a baby with Downs Syndrome, it will be too late to terminate the pregnancy.

forecast [noun]
prediction

• The weather forecast for tomorrow says that we can expect showers and a little weak sunshine.
• The company's forecast is that they will increase exports by 20% next year.
• They felt this was an unreliable forecast due to poor data and that the harvest could in fact increase.
• The forecast was for travel volume to increase by 1 percent to 2 percent compared to last year.

sphere [noun]
area of interest

• The school wanted to attract students from families outside the usual sphere of business and finance.
• All governments need to keep some information within their private sphere.
• In this particular poem, Dalton, while asking what woman's sphere is, also advises man on woman's potential and her proper place in life.
• The main purpose of the greater study, of which this paper is a part, is to develop a model of discursive exclusion of groups of people in the public sphere.

differentiate [verb]
to make different; to see the difference

• It is not always easy for teachers to differentiate poor work that is due to laziness and poor work that is due to inability.
• People with eye problems often cannot differentiate the colors red and green.
• In my school district it is emphasized that teachers must differentiate instruction for students.
• I think Kerry's biggest error, as a politician, is that he failed to differentiate himself from Bush in any meaningful way.

prospect [noun]
chance, likelihood

• There is no prospect of him passing the course. He has been away too many times this year.
• Despite all the money spend on cancer research there is little prospect of a cure being found in the near future.
• There seemed to be no prospect of coping with the war debts that were overwhelming both nation and states.
• Never has the prospect of a stable, prosperous, and democratic hemisphere seemed so close within reach.

strict [adjective]
hard, not changeable

• The teacher gave us strict instructions not to leave our seats while she was out of the room.
• The university follows a strict policy of expelling any student caught plagiarizing.
• A feeling prevailed that there were no rules at all on a campus that, only a few years earlier, prided itself on the implementation of strict regulations.
• The book had arrived in stores by Sunday evening but store managers were under strict instructions not to even open the boxes and put it on the shelves.

privilege [noun]
a right (to do something)

• Only seniors have the privilege of using this room. You will have to wait until you are in grade 12.
• The management is considering removing the salesmen's privilege to use company cars at the weekend for private purposes.
• Access to the data network is both an essential tool for university life and work, and a valuable privilege.
• He has lost the privilege of being himself. Immigration laws have required him to pretend to be somebody else.

definitely [adverb]
certainly; without doubt

• I'm sorry, but I will definitely not be able to come to the meeting next week.
• You are definitely going to fail the course unless you start working harder.
• A student enrolled in these types of courses really didn't get to know the instructor well and definitely did not feel any sense of community.
• Attendance will not constitute a specific percentage of your final grade, but if you miss more than two classes you will definitely fail this course.

neutral [adjective]
neither for nor against; neither positive nor negative

• Most students are neutral about the suggestion to replace the blackboards with whiteboards.
• Some countries, such as Switzerland, remained neutral in the last world war.
• Consequently, the percentages will not sum to 100% because many students were neutral on the questions in the survey.
• The use of gender- neutral language may seem unnecessary to some writers, but the consistent use of masculine pronouns leaves the impression that women could not be among the group to which the writer is referring.

sole [adjective]
only

• She was the sole student to get full marks in the test.
• Some people have claimed that the sole reason for the invasion of Iraq was to gain control of the oil fields.
• Thus, there is no question but that the donor intends this gift to be for the sole use of Princeton University.
• However, no one criterion will be the sole reason for lack of admission to the program.

ban [verb]
to prohibit or forbid

• My parents have decided to ban me from eating in my room.
• The government is considering whether to ban smoking in all public places.
• Certain questions must be answered before it becomes politically feasible, or even necessary, to ban cellular phones.
• Schwarzenegger said he wanted to ban junk food from school vending machines.

manufacture [verb]
to produce (with machines)

• The new factory near the school will manufacture parts for mobile phones.
• China is able to manufacture goods cheaply because labour costs are low.
• The tree responds this way because the tree needs to manufacture food again before it starves.
• It is unclear whether this facility will be able to manufacture complete missiles or only some major component.

thorough [adjective]
complete and careful

• Older people should have a thorough check-up at the doctors at least once a year.
• This is an excellent report. The research is thorough and the writing clear.
• Although we did train the faculty in the revised teaching methods, in hindsight our training was not thorough enough to prepare them for the new course.
• Thorough testing based on the test strategies and test plans created during the design phase will assure that the clients receive the products they need.

steady [adjective]
gradual; without interruptions; firm

• You are making steady progress in learning English.
• The government announced that it was pleased with the steady fall in unemployment during its term in office
• As a business person who frequently deals with recent college graduates, I'd say that there has been a steady deterioration of writing (and speaking) skills.
• The temperature curve shows that the increase was not steady with time; a fact which could hardly be expected and is also not observed on other continents.

deserve [verb]
to have the right to something

• These poems deserve a good grade, but because you gave them in late I have to give you a 0.
• The workers did not deserve to lose their jobs. It was the managers who made the mistakes, not them.
• They will have to live without their family member for the rest of their life due to this terrible form of cancer and they will deserve to be compensated.
• Al Gore absolutely did not deserve the Nobel peace prize. On a personal level, he has not reduced his own carbon dioxide emissions.

instant [adjective]
immediate

• If you want an instant answer to almost any question you could ask, then Google will probably give it to you.
• People are right to be suspicious of any diet that promises instant success.
• Try to communicate that the process is more important than the answer so that the student learns that it is OK to not have an instant solution.
• I really need one hundred percent concentration while performing my duties; I cannot be instant messaging.

depart [verb]
to leave; to be different from

• The late bus will depart at 5:30 today, not at 5:15 as usual.
• It is important that the government does not depart significantly from what it promised during the elections.
• The court concluded that the order did not depart from the essential requirements of law.
• The tour bus will depart from Eisenstadt to travel over the border to Hungary to visit the summer palace built by Prince Nicolaus.

dominate [verb]
to be much better, to play the most important part

• John has many strong opinions. You have to be sure not to let him dominate groupwork in class.
• The basketball team was easily the strongest in the league. They were able to dominate all the other teams.
• Teachers should not dominate the discussion or act as the last word on a student's artwork.
• Asian companies are good at building small cars but will never dominate the mainstream US car market.

reinforce [verb]
to make something stronger

• The school is planning to reinforce the classroom doors to make them less easy to break down.
• The government can reinforce its message about the dangers of drinking if it increases the price of alcohol.
• This home-school reading program should reinforce the parent's role as teachers in their children's lives.
• They failed to publicly reinforce the message that climate change will having a direct negative impact on global security.

voluntary [adjective]
done freely; from personal choice

• The school is looking for students who would like to do voluntary work at the local old people's home.
• Many of the world-wide organizations such as Greenpeace and Oxfam depend very heavily on voluntary workers.
• Employees interested in participating in a voluntary tax sheltered annuity program should contact their personnel officer.
• There is a widespread belief that scaling up HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) programs in Africa will have large prevention benefits.

owe [verb]
to be in someone's debt (especially money)

• Remember that you owe me €20.
• The government does not owe its citizens an explanation for every decision it makes.
• If you are eligible for Financial Aid in excess of your tuition and fees then you do not owe Ivy Tech Community College money.
• You owe us all an apology for using this forum for your personal beliefs when it is a forum for scientific reasoning.

controversy [noun]
an issue on which their are strong and conflicting opinions

• The expulsion of a student for smoking in the toilets caused a big controversy in the school.
• A controversy in the USA at the moment is whether to allow illegal immigrants to stay or not.
• This page includes materials relating to the continuing controversy over the teaching of evolution and creationism in schools.
• The controversy resulted from the fact that the Jews agreed to the resolution but the local Arabs refused to acknowledge the Israeli State.

dramatically [adverb]
very strongly, significantly

• She will dramatically reduce her chances of success if she continues to drink so much.
• The government are concerned about the dramatically small number of people who voted in the last election.
• Colorado State University scientists have found a way to dramatically improve the quality of laser light at extremely short wavelengths.
• The numbers of overweight and obese children worldwide are expected to climb dramatically by 2010.

blame [verb]
to accuse

• I blame my teacher for not preparing us properly for the test.
• It's too easy to blame all of the country's problems on the government.
• The media and the public should not blame the music industry for the jobs that parents are not fulfilling.
• I blame the linguists, for not insisting that anyone who claims to be an educated person needs elementary competence in describing and analyzing the sound, form and meaning of human language.

rational [adjective]
base on reason, not on emotion or instinct

• Giving up the course was a rational thing to do. He had no chance of passing it.
• Everyone knows that smoking and drinking heavily is not a rational way to live but some are addicted and cannot stop.
• Nugent claimed that how technology is organized is generally not a rational decision but rather one based on individuals and history.
• This is the completely rational response of a country that has no hope of defeating the United States in battle but nevertheless wants to insure that it isn't attacked.

criterion [noun]
a way to judge the value or importance of something

• What is your main criterion for a happy life? - Good health!
• The essential criterion for successful teaching is the ability to interest the students.
• The most important criterion for selecting a research topic is that you are really interested in it!
• You are advised to undertake serious language study both before and during the course of the program but prior language study is not a criterion for selection.

align [verb]
to bring into line with; to make similar

• Frankfurt International School needs to align its curriculum with that of German state schools.
• The European Union attempts to align commercial and financial practices in its member countries.
• If UVA is to increase level of satisfaction among junior faculty, it must make an effort to align its policies and practices more closely with the needs and expectations of the faculty.
• He was unable to align the methods and texts advocated by these educators with the powerful ideas of the critical pedagogues shaping his opinions.

intense [adjective]
strong, extreme

• The sea froze over in the intense cold.
• If you make an intense effort, you still have a chance to pass your exams.
• Selecting the panelists is no easy task, and is subject to intense lobbying.
• These interviews are part of an intense effort to discover our internal best practices and high points.

dispute [noun]
argument; conflict

• A common cause of dispute between the teacher and a student, when the student comes late to class for no good reason.
• The police arrested two men last night after a dispute outside a bar.
• The two companies have settled their dispute over patent issues and dropped legal actions.
• Facts surrounding the diagnosis of the child's condition are in serious dispute.

territory [noun]
land; area (of interest)

• The last territory on earth to be explored was Antarctica.
• The government is heading into difficult territory with its plans to ban smoking in all public places.
• I was headed into new territory not in what I was teaching but in how I was to teach it.
• In this section of the course, we cover less familiar territory, namely the equations of relativistic acceleration.

inherent [adjective]
part of; a fundamental characteristic of

• A respect for other cultures is inherent in the philosophy of our international school.
• Questioning the values of parents is inherent in being a teenager.
• The drive to excel must be inherent in the culture of a university.
• Patience was not inherent in him, but he developed it under misfortune and opposition.

massive [adjective]
very large

• She has massive problems with her spelling. There was hardly a word she got right in the dictation.
• There was a massive demonstration on the streets of London to protest the government's plans to go to war in Iraq.
• Ours is the only generation that can prevent a massive loss of biological diversity.
• As a result of the massive amount of evidence for evolution accumulated over the last two centuries, we can safely conclude that evolution has occurred.

manipulate [verb]
to (use and) change

• She was able to manipulate the Smartboard screen controls so that the presentation was visible to everyone.
• Scientists are hoping that it may soon be possible to manipulate the weather.
• That means data that is consistent, easy to manipulate, and repeatable.
• In this assignment, you will need to manipulate an array of numbers, so that your computer code executes correctly.

motivate [verb]
to get someone interested enough to do something

• Some students are difficult to motivate. You can try anything in class but they just are not interested.
• The business tried to motivate its employees to work harder by offering an extra day's holiday to the best salesperson.
• It's not easy to motivate yourself when you're not going out and actually preparing for an opponent.
• Let's make it clear from the beginning that there is no one thing that you can do to motivate everyone, or even to motivate the same person every time.

negotiate [verb]
to discuss (usually in politics or business)

• It is not usual that students negotiate with their teachers whether they must do homework or not.
• Most governments refuse to negotiate with kidnappers.
• After the deadline, you will need to negotiate an extension with the TA regarding such cases, before taking it up with the professor.
• But, for their part, the Syrian leaders failed to negotiate for Israel to have rights to some of that water.

extraordinary [adjective]
very unusual

• It was an extraordinary idea to allow the students to write their own test.
• Gandhi, who brought independence to India, was an extraordinary man.
• The explanation for this extraordinary decision lies in the immediate circumstances surrounding the creation of the United Nations.
• It must have been about this time that Stalin took the most extraordinary decision of his career in order to assure his political survival.

undergo [verb]
to receive or experience

• The school is will continue to undergo problems in its attempt to attract new students unless it reduces its tuition fees.
• The business has decided to undergo a large reorganization in the attempt to increase profits.
• But the mice did not undergo thorough cognitive testing, which requires intact mobility to navigate various mazes.
• All new systems to the data center will need to undergo a security scan or audit prior to installation.

resist [verb]
to fight against

• He continues to resist all our efforts to help him.
• If the human body is weak or cold, it is less able to resist infection.
• His advice was to resist short-term temptation when investing in stocks.
• It's hard to resist the temptation to buy from an unknown company when they're advertising low prices for name brand products.

widespread [adjective]
common

• The illegal downloading of music via the internet is widespread among young people.
• There is a widespread belief among the public that the government lied about the reason for going to war.
• Among college students, concerns about body image and weight obsession remain widespread.
• The new technique could lead to widespread use of solar power.

conform [verb]
to do what is required

• If you wish to remain at this school, you will have to conform to its rules.
• Every new car that is produced must conform to standards that minimize pollution.
• The format for references must conform to the guidelines in the approved style manual.
• He came to the conclusion that Mexico's constitutions did not last because they simply did not conform to Mexico's customs and traditions.

transmit [verb]
to send or convey

• You have learned this lesson that water and other liquids transmit sound better than air.
• Contact between infected and uninfected people can transmit disease.
• Each of these mechanisms has been investigated with a variety of blood sucking insects and the results clearly show that mosquitoes cannot transmit AIDS.
• Weeks were needed to transmit a letter from one coast to the other. Today, in the developed world, we take it for granted that transportation is affordable.

violate [verb]
to spoil or break

• If you violate the rules about downloading internet files, you will not be allowed to use the computer lab.
• The company was fined a large sum of money for attempting to violate pollution regulations.
• When a district court heard the case, it found the policy did not violate students' free-speech rights.
• Students who seriously violate network security or otherwise misuse the computing facilities will have their accounts terminated.

verbal [adjective]
to do with words and language (especially the spoken language)

• Her verbal skills are very good; she has much more difficulty with calculation.
• The management has made a verbal promise but now it needs to be put in writing.
• Mathematics course: Students will read aloud verbal problems in class and state the meaning in their own words.
• Normally, disciplinary action begins with a verbal warning for the first offense.

satisfactory [adjective]
OK; enough

• Your work is satisfactory but I'm sure you could do better if you tried harder.
• The patient is making satisfactory progress after the 5-hour operation.
• The student will have an opportunity to be re-examined if the initial attempt was not satisfactory.
• To remain eligible for financial aid, recipients are required to show satisfactory progress toward a degree according to the guidelines listed below.
• The results are not at all satisfactory, and considerable discontent has arisen among the Indians on account of the issues that are being made.
• Previous systems do not provide a satisfactory solution to these problems.

namely [adverb]
specifically, that is to say ( .. used to list or explain)

• He has two problems; namely his inability to concentrate in class and his unwillingness to do homework.
• The government has failed in its primary task, namely to reduce unemployment.
• During this course you will review your knowledge of German, by focusing on the four language skills, namely speaking, listening, reading and writing.
• Most leadership training programs leave out the key question, namely how leaders actually affect their groups.

incentive [noun]
reason to do something

• There's no incentive to make an effort if the teacher never gives you back your work.
• The government plans to introduce an incentive for long-term unemployed people to start looking for work again.
• For most teachers the cash bonus was a nice acknowledgment of work well done, but not an incentive that influenced their behavior.
• Because there was the threat of losing funding if they failed to participate, there was a strong incentive to do so.

absolutely [adverb]
completely; 100%

• Are you absolutely sure that you gave me your homework?
• The employees are absolutely opposed to the management's plans to increase working hours.
• Imagine being surrounded by hundreds of people who are absolutely convinced you can do anything.
• How did you decide that some items were absolutely necessary?

protest [verb]
to express anger or unhappiness about something

• The students began to protest when their teacher told them they would have a test on the last day before Christmas.
• Hundreds of people gathered outside Parliament to protest about the government's decision to raise the tax on cigarettes.
• Over 100 students marched to the Hoover Institution to protest a possible U.S. war in Iraq.
• I do not protest about your right to an opinion, but I do protest about your inability to see the truth when it is explained to you.

compatible [adjective]
able to work with someone or something else

• The school made a mistake when buying new computers. They are not compatible with the printers we have.
• If you have an aquarium you must be careful to ensure that you stock it with fish that are compatible.
• Factory farming is just not compatible with animal welfare.
• In order to match you up with the most compatible roommate we can, please fill out the Housing Intake Questionaire.

extract [noun]
to remove; to take out and use

• The dentist needed to extract my back tooth. It had become badly infected.
• You should write this again to extract all the irrelevant details.
• It seems that the mind cannot extract the necessary information from what is supplied to it.
• We would probably become engaged in discussions from which we could not extract ourselves and therefore our freedom of action would be limited.

perceive [verb]
to see; to become aware of with one of the senses; to think

• If you look carefully, you will perceive that the ice is starting to melt.
• It is difficult to perceive how the government can hope to win the forthcoming election.
• Close to 30% of students did not perceive it to be cheating to lie to an instructor about having an illness or some other emergency in order to extend a work deadline.
• Many of the students were unable to perceive the relevance of the mathematics they had learned and so could not make use of it.

anonymous [adjective]
having no name or known author

• The school received an anonymous email with complaints against one of the teachers.
• In all democratic countries voting in government elections is anonymous.
• Many of the faculty and students we talked with wanted to remain anonymous and asked that they not be listed by name in our report.
• On December 4, 1955, the anonymous decision was made to boycott the bus system until they were treated with courtesy and black drivers could be hired.

settle [verb]
to solve a problem or dispute

• The headmaster called a meeting to try to settle the dispute between the two teachers.
• Only time will settle the debate about whether the earth really is warming up or not.
• The University of Washington has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit over faculty salaries.
• After several failed attempts to settle the dispute by the efforts of the local community, the case was transferred to the City Community Court.

attribute [noun]
characteristic; property

• The main attribute of a good teacher is knowledge of his or her subject.
• Honesty is not an attribute that most people associate with occupations such as politician or used-car salesman.
• While mastery of both written and spoken English is considered to be an essential attribute, students with documented hearing, speech and other disabilities will be reasonably accommodated in accordance with law.
• Ambition was not an attribute of the female characters in his earlier films.

occasion [noun]
time (opportunity)

• On the one occasion I got to school early, the building was closed because of a fire alarm.
• The manager used the occasion of the opening of the new factory block to make a speech about future developments.
• Sometimes anger is appropriate, but we must be careful not to be too angry, or angry with the wrong person, or angry on the wrong occasion.
• This week's anniversary of the US-led war against Iraq is an appropriate occasion to ask: Are Americans safer than we were a year ago?

enlarge [verb]
to make larger

• We are going to enlarge this photograph to poster size and put it on the classroom wall.
• The university has decided to enlarge its modern languages department to meet the growing interest.
• The village system made it almost impossible to enlarge the amount of land available for pasture.
• It was an extremely conservative institution, and did not enlarge its business to any extent.

constraint [noun]
to hold back; to prevent

• There is no constraint upon her behaviour at home. She is allowed to do whatever she wants.
• Lack of financial aid is a significant constraint on the chances of success in Afghanistan.
• Shortage of research space remains a significant constraint for future development.
• More than 70 percent of the surveyed firms said that the lack of housing was not a constraint on their ability to expand.

intention [noun]
plan, aim

• I have no intention of being a teacher when I leave school. I want to earn more money!
• The company's intention was to increase sales by 20%. Due to the high cost of oil in the past year, it was not successful.
• From the outset of the gulf crisis, President George Bush stated that it was not his intention to harm the Iraqi people.
• It is my firm intention to remain with my department for at least two years.

expose [verb]
to uncover, reveal

• Journalists were able to expose the government's secret plan to raise taxes.
• You expose yourself to unnecessary danger if you drive a car without wearing a seat belt.
• He uses Blanche White to expose the problems of color and class difference between blacks and whites.
• He said that any art teacher who did not expose students to ten thousand years of art was "criminal."

plenty [noun]
many, lots of

• One enjoyable way to improve in English is to do plenty of reading.
• There are plenty of things that the new government needs to change when it comes into power.
• There will be plenty of time for questions after each speaker finishes their presentation.
• Autumn is a time of plenty for home gardeners.

react [verb]
to respond

• The teacher look like she was going to react angrily when I came late, but fortunately for me, she didn't!
• Some, but not many, drivers do not react to increases in the price of petrol by using their car less frequently.
• The women did not react emotionally to the comedy, but the men did, Filipowicz concludes.
• They knew the phrase was inappropriate, but they were not sure how to react.

adhere [verb]
to keep to; to follow

• If you do not adhere to the rules of the school, you will be asked to leave.
• Because of the increase in the price of oil the company was unable to adhere to its plans to employ new workers.
• Media center users must adhere to the same standards of behavior expected of other library visitors.
• He did not adhere to one set of religious beliefs and pioneered a new artistic style known today as symbolism.

trigger [verb]
to (cause to) start

• Bright flashing lights trigger headaches in some people.
• The government hopes that its proposals will trigger a reduction in teenage pregnancy.
• Major life events often trigger changes in financial planning strategies.
• Too much stress can trigger problems with mental and physical health, particularly over a prolonged period of time.

arbitrary [adjective]
not planned or thought-out; not considering the wishes of others

• The pass / fail grade is not arbitrary. It was set at 45% after much thought and discussion.
• The boss took the arbitrary decision to close the factory for a week.
• The Tower of Hanoi is an ancient puzzle involving three pegs, and an arbitrary number of circular discs, each of a different size, and with holes in their centers.
• For my next step I would propose to the students certain distinctions that might at first glance seem to be completely arbitrary or valueless.

royal [adjective]
of kings and queens

• The royal family is expected to drive past the school tomorrow morning. The children will be standing by the road waving flags.
• If you read about the Royal Navy you should know that this probably refers to the navy of England.
• A Parisian mob broke into the palace killing many of the guards, while searching for the royal family.
• Among other duties, Wren and his team of designers and builders were responsible for the upkeep or alteration of all royal buildings.

absent [adjective]
being not there; missing

• If you are absent much more often, you are in danger of failing the class.
• What is absent in your essay is any reference to the source of your ideas
• Groups should advise the instructor if a member is unexpectedly absent and try to save materials for that person.
• Curiously absent from the report is any mention of the type of action that the State would have taken against the diverse sources of TCE.

fault [noun]
responsibility for a mistake or other problem

• It is not really her fault that she comes late to school so often. She lives a long way away, and often gets stuck in a traffic jam.
• It isn't the government's fault if people ignore advice to live healthily.
• The accident was clearly not the fault of the employee or his supervisor.
• So if your flower seeds fail to germinate, you, rather than the seed, are probably at fault.

evident [adjective]
clear

• It is evident that she has a talent for languages. She has learned English very quickly this year.
• It was not evident to many people why the government had decided to ban smoking in all restaurants but to allow it in its own buildings.
• How we shall resolve our growing space needs is not yet completely evident.
• By the late 1960's it was evident that another relocation of the laboratory was going to be necessary.

obligation [noun]
a requirement to do something

• All children below the age of 16 have the obligation to attend school.
• The government said that it had no obligation to give the reasons for its decision.
• The university has no obligation to refund the fee after the second week of the semester.
• Do we have an obligation to help the poor?

formulate [verb]
to express

• I often find it difficult to formulate my advice so that the ESL beginners in the class can understand me.
• You need to try and formulate your thoughts a little more clearly. This does not make much sense to me.
• This semester-long project begins with an overview in which students think about how to ask scientific questions and formulate hypotheses.
• Next you need to formulate a search statement so you can conduct a database search.

refuse [verb]
to not do something that someone wants you to do

• I refuse to sit next to John any more. He never lets me work.
• The bank did not refuse to make payment but insisted first on the signature of the husband.
• I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.
• The faculty member cannot refuse a reasonable request for extension of the project due date.
• Why did the Bush Administration refuse to modify its goals in order to achieve a consensus?

behave [verb]
to act or do things in a certain way

• Standing on the table is certainly no way to behave in the cafeteria!
• One of the most important jobs of a parent is to teach the child how to behave in different situations.
• What might cause my computer to behave oddly and even insult me, and how can I fix it?
• His research helped establish that identical DNA sequences may behave differently depending on context and condition.

attain [verb]
to get, achieve

• If you work harder, you will attain a better grade next term.
• To attain the highest positions in American politics it is necessary to come from a rich family.
• What skills did you attain in the process of completing your course?
• Unfortunately, some states will not be able to attain the new ozone standard, partly because of pollution not originating in their state.

accordingly [adverb]
appropriate to; in compliance with

• Those are the rules of the school and I expect you to behave accordingly.
• If you change your address or place of study, please amend your log-in details accordingly.
• This page has moved. Please update your bookmark accordingly!
• The procession enters the arena promptly at 9:30 a.m., so plan your time accordingly.

margin [noun]
amount; distance

• The margin between success and failure is often very small.
• The government won the election by a huge margin.
• The faculty is, by a wide margin, the most productive, widely cited, and influential law faculty in the country.
• President Bush will leave the next president with absolutely no margin of error in dealing with some of the most critical challenges this country has faced.

undertake [verb]
to (plan to) do

• Teachers undertake to improve student scores in standardized tests by doing 5 minutes practice at the start of every lesson.
• In my opinion the government should undertake more to prevent young people drinking and driving.
• Students are leaving this week for the Dominican Republic to undertake extensive nurse practitioner training.
• One of the most common laments we hear from instructor is that they can't get their students to undertake substantial revisions.

mixture [noun]
combination

• The test will be a mixture of reading comprehension passages and short writing texts.
• In order to get people to change unhealthy habits, the government needs to use a mixture of the carrot and the stick.
• The results represented an unusual mixture of old and modern practices.
• The objective is to find the right mixture of materials that will result in the creation of clear electrical signals.

revise [verb]
to change (in order to improve)

• The third stage of the writing process is when you revise your work. This means that you make any necessary changes to its structure or content.
• The government has decided to revise it proposals to increase income tax after massive demonstrations on the streets of the capital city.
• The committee expects that as NOAA moves forward it will have to revise the plan on a regular basis to incorporate new understanding.
• It is often necessary to revise a mathematical model several times in the course of an urban operations research study.

interfere [verb]
to prevent; to harm

• He has a heavy accent but this does not interfere with understanding what he means.
• Stopping work to look after a new-born child must not be allowed to interfere with a woman's career chances.
• Storage of personal information not related to university business must be limited and must not interfere in any way with the storage and maintenance of university data.
• Errors in grammar and vocabulary may, but do not always, interfere with comprehensibility.

evolve [verb]
to develop (into something better)

• It is interesting to think about how teaching will evolve under the influence of digital technologies.
• The new manager needs time to evolve her own style of leadership.
• Howard has many chances to evolve into a better father and husband, but he fails to do so.
• While Dr. Robergs and I had a brief discussion early on about a print copy of the journal, for may different reasons the idea did not evolve.

occasionally [adverb]
sometimes

• Occasionally I come to school by car, but most often I take the bus.
• Doctors occasionally make mistakes which can have serious or even fatal consequences for their patients.
• 50% of the students indicated they Rarely, Very Rarely, or Never ask questions during class with 45% indicating they only occasionally asked questions.
• The work involves some lifting and bending, and occasionally requires travel away from the normal duty station.

praise [verb]
to express approval about something someone has done

• Some students feel embarrassed when teachers praise them for good work in class.
• It is fair to praise the government for their successful efforts to reduce unemployment among older people.
• Remember to praise your child when he behaves appropriately.
• We should never praise or blame any person on account of outward actions that are common to all; but only on account of their principles.

induce [verb]
to make happen; to force

• It seems that nothing will induce her to get to class on time.
• Sitting too long in front of a computer may induce headaches or back problems.
• Conversely, rising wage rates often induce workers to try to work fewer hours as they become rich enough to afford more leisure.
• He rightly concludes that the end of the Cold War failed to induce significant changes in the Horn of Africa or to improve the mutual security of states.

compile [verb]
to put together (often in a list

• The school plans to compile a list of the local doctors who can speak English.
• The committee was asked to compile a report listing the reasons in favour of invading Iraq.
• Students will undertake comprehensive analysis of several works and will compile a database of quality literature.
• If you decide to apply, you will need to compile a full application including: cover sheet, goals and plan letter, and project statement.

comprise [verb]
to be made up of; to include

• Your composition must comprise an introduction, a conclusion and three body paragraphs.
• Immigrants comprise more than 20% of the total population.
• The project itself may grow out of course work, but it must comprise achievement that is over and above regular course activities.
• The document was intended to comprise everything from minerals, through the kingdom of plants, to the highest animals.

exploit [verb]
to use (sometimes in a negative way)

• Some people exploit poor immigrants - employing them as house cleaners for very low pay.
• Governments are considering how to exploit the vast mineral resources buried under the ice in Antarctica.
• Library and information science students must be taught how to exploit the resources that will allow them to anticipate the future and avoid becoming irrelevant as information professionals.
• To exploit these opportunities, information systems will need to sense and act as well as compute.

exclude [verb]
to leave out; opposite of include

• The new law will exclude unmarried mothers.
• We should not exclude the possibility that house prices will begin to fall.
• The researchers did not exclude people with known chronic disease from their study.
• He said the debate now should exclude events of the past and the focus should be on what the UN, the US and Iraq could do to achieve the results.

smooth [adjective]
easy, unproblematic

• He has made smooth progress all year and should have no trouble passing his exams.
• For some older people the transition to new technologies has not been very smooth.
• Miller's path to UCSC was far from smooth, but her focus and determination kept her moving toward her goal.
• The Political Bureau will work to ensure the smooth progress of the reform of the administrative system.

deny [verb]
to refuse ( responsibility for doing or saying something); to say that something is not correct

• They still deny copying the work from the internet, but I ran a Google search and found it immediately.
• The government was unable to deny that it was considering invading North Korea.
• He certainly could not deny the existence of major problems.
• The Committee will deny the request for disability payment if the disability is not adequately documented.

adjacent [adjective]
next to

• The computer lab is adjacent to the library.
• You will find reference books on this shelf and the adjacent ones.
• Bradley Hall provides backyard access to the lakeshore path, and tennis courts are adjacent to the building for your recreational enjoyment.
• To accurately determine mass balance, stakes were placed in the adjacent clean ice areas of the glacier.

artificial [adjective]
not real or natural

• People who suffer from hay fever cannot have real flowers in their house. They have artificial ones instead.
• The study of how computers are similar to human brains is called artificial intelligence or AI.
• In the heat of election campaigning, it is in no-one's interest to impose an artificial crisis upon the economy.
• This is an artificial example to illustrate how the method works. In real data, the sequences are much longer, and there's no mistaking a match.
• Samuel Huang, a professor of chemistry and materials science, has created an artificial tendon out of biodegradable materials.

prime [adjective]
most important

• The prime advantage of a strong academic vocabulary is that it helps you to read school textbooks more efficiently.
• The prime achievement of the government in its 5 years in office was to reduce child poverty.
• Illegal immigration is not the prime reason so many poor young blacks are on the streets and why some turn to gangs, guns and drug dealing.
• The Morningside Heights area in New York is a prime example of what Jacobs feels should not be done for city rebuilding.

hierarchy [noun]
organizational structure (e.g. showing who works for whom)

• Many teachers are happier at a lower position in the school hierarchy. They do not want the stress that comes with the top jobs.
• Some organizations have tried to exist without a clear hierarchy, but in most cases people want to know who their boss is.
• He was inspired by the dreams and disappointments of those individual schoolteachers who dared to challenge the hierarchy and follow their own visions toward a better future.
• There is a sharp contrast between Japan's fairly rigid hierarchy of national and private universities with the United States, which has a wider variety of institutions.

discrete [adjective]
separate

• Your answer should include three discrete causes of the disaster.
• Not all scientists agree that thought disorder and language disorder are discrete problems.
• Discussion and analysis in this area has covered a number of discrete issues, including the effect of shifting trade patterns on employment levels.
• Hopkins argues that the district court committed three discrete errors in determining his sentence.

regulate [verb]
to control

• We need to regulate entry to the cafeteria so that not all students are trying to buy a meal at the same time.
• Some people say that drugs like cannabis should be made legal to allow the government to regulate its sale.
• For the first time in history, the federal government will regulate college and university admissions.
• We need to regulate access to new lands made possible by road expansion.

convey [verb]
to pass on to another person (often by speaking)

• Can you please convey this letter to your parents?
• The director planned to convey the information to the workforce at the next general assembly.
• In general, when you paraphrase, you use about the same number of words to convey the idea that the writer uses in the text.
• However, the video does not convey much real information; it was also not very emotionally compelling.

moderate [adjective]
not very much; not very strong; not extreme

• I can survive on a moderate income. I don't need lots of money.
• The government has only had moderate success in reducing the number of unemployed people.
• Yet Bush also has adopted other, more moderate policy positions on guns and gun control.
• Overpraising a person's moderate achievements can be just as discriminatory as undervaluing them.

whereas [conjuntion]
.. in contrast

• English has simple grammar but complex spelling rules, whereas in German the opposite is true.
• In some countries smoking in public places is banned, whereas in other countries it seems that everyone smokes everywhere.
• It circles the theater so that you can aim projectors at any spot on the dome, whereas before we were limited to placing them toward the back of the room.
• Whereas the origin of galactic magnetic fields has long posed a challenge for astrophysicists to explain, they nevertheless feel that they can say where they were not formed.

nevertheless [adverb]
however (although / despite that)

• She has worked very hard. Nevertheless I don't think she has a chance of passing the course.
• Most people were against the plan to boycott the Olympics. Nevertheless, the government decided to do so.
• Though Sima and Codreanu both attempted to prevent the murder, it nevertheless took place, and produced harsh consequences.
• The treatment has, nevertheless, been very successful in alleviating the problems of vitamin A deficiency.