Advanced vocabulary part I

to take wing

to fly away, e.g. when riches take wings

fiercely

in a powerful and destructive manner. e.g. The wind was blowing fiercely.

treacherous

guilty of or involving betrayal or deception; disloyal, deceitful, traitorous

wintry

characteristic of winter, especially in feeling or looking very cold and bleak, e.g. A wintry landscape

to desert

to leave, to abandon

pauper

poor man

to decipher

succeed in understanding, interpreting, or identifying (something).

incomprehensible

not able to be understood; not intelligible; e.g. A language which is incomprehensible to anyone outside the office.

immense

huge, vast

elated

thrilled, exhilarated, extremely happy, on cloud nine

bewildered

confused and indecisive

make up one's mind

to make a decision

to dismiss

treat as unworthy of serious consideration, e.g. It would be easy to dismiss him as all brawn and no brain.

to take a keen interest in

to be interested in

entirely

completely, utterly

coiceited

excessively proud of oneself; vain

self-conscious

feeling undue awareness of oneself, one's appearance, or one's actions; embarassed

bashful

shy, diffident

impartial

unbiased, unprejudiced, neutral

absent-minded

having or showing a forgetful or inattentive disposition

petite

(of a woman) attractively small and dainty

petite

(of a woman) attractively small and dainty

morsel

a small piece or amount of food; a mouthful

tied in a bun

spięte w kok

scruffy

shabby, worn

livid

furiously angry; dark bluish grey e.g. livid bruises

seething with anger

to be extremely furious but keeping it a secret

to be in two minds

to be unable to decide about something e.g. I was in two minds whether or not to come this morning.

to well up

to gush, to pour up and away from something e.g. Burning resentment welled up, and George knew he was going to lose his temper.

to wear thin

be gradually used up or become less convincing or acceptable e.g. My patience is wearing thin!

grouchy

irritable and bad-tempered; grumpy; complaining e.g. I get grouchy when I'm tired. A lack of sleep would make anyone grouchy

sulky

refusing to smile or be pleasant to people, usually because you are angry about something: She brought along a couple of sulky kids who didn't say a word the whole time.

wind-up

something that is not true that you tell someone in order to make a joke, e.g. You can't be serious - is this a wind-up?

to wind up

to find yourself in anunexpected and usuallyunpleasant situation, especially as a result of what you do, e.g. If he keeps doing stuff like that he's going to wind up in prison!, You don't want to wind up homeless, do you?

to wind sb up

to annoy or upset someone, e.g. It reallywinds me up when he goes on about teachers having an easy life.

expectant

eager; having or showing an excited feeling that something is about to happen, especially something good, e.g. Expectant crowds arrived early.

oblivious

not aware of or concerned about what is happening around one, e.g. She became absorbed, oblivious to the passage of time.

... of around 5 minutes

space (not duration!)

offspring

the young of an animal

to deteriorate

to become worse, e.g. She was taken into hospital last week when her condition suddenly deteriorated. / The political situation in the region has deteriorated rapidly.

prone to sth

having a tendency or inclination: being likely prone to forget names accident-prone

to obtain

to get, to acquire

daunting

seeming difficult to deal with in prospect; intimidating, e.g. a daunting task

against the odds

Despite being very likely to fail

half-hearted

without enthusiasm or energy, e.g. A half-hearted attempt

to scrape through

to succeed in something but with a lot ofdifficulty, e.g. He managed to scrape through his final exams

to shadow

to follow someone else while they are at work in order tolearn about that person's job, e.g. Your first week in the job will be spent shadowing one of our more experienced employees.

close-knit

backing, supporting; If a group of people are close-knit, they all help and support each other, e.g. a close-knit family/community

stride

an important positive development, e.g. I've made impressive strides in improving my language skills.

to take sth in your stride

to deal with a problem or difficulty calmly and not to allow it to influence what you are doing, e.g. When you become a politician, you soon learn to take criticism in your stride.

to vouch

confirm the identity or good character of (someone).

workload

The amount of work to be done

To hand in

To give sth to a person in authority, e.g. Please hand in your keys when you leave the hotel.

To crop up

emerge; pop up; happen suddenly or unexpectedly, e.g. A problem cropped up.

dreary

depressingly dull and bleak, e.g. the dreary round of working, eating and sleeping.

deceptive

giving an appearance or impression different from the true one; misleading

beforehand

before an action or event; earlier on

in/to excess

exceeding the proper amount or degree, e.g. She insisted that he did not drink to excess.

feasible

possible and practical to do easily or conveniently

to fidget

make small movements, especially of the hands and feet, through nervousness or impatience

pay off

meet with success; be effective; yield good results

to ramble

to walk for pleasure in the countryside

long-winded

continuing in tedious length; overlong

to slouch

to stand or sit in a lazy, drooping posture

solicitor

lawyer, barrister

vicinity

surrounding area