| Term | Definition |
|---|
| adulation | : n. excessive admiration or praise; flattery |
| adulterate | : v. make poorer in quality by adding another substance |
| Advent | : n. the ~ of sth/sb the approach or arrival of |
| adventitious | : adj. not planned; accidental |
| adversary | : n. opponent in a contest; enemy |
| adverse | : adj. not favourable; contrary |
| adversity | : n. unfavourable conditions; trouble |
| advert | : n. = advertisement |
| advocacy | : n. ~ giving of support (to a cause, etc) |
| advocate | : v. speak publicly in favour of (sth); recommend; support |
| aegis | : n. shield, protection, support, defense |
| aerie | : large bird's nest (usually inhabitation at high altitude) |
| aesthetic | : adj. concerned with beauty and the appreciation of beauty |
| affable | : adj. polite and friendly |
| affected | : adj. not natural or genuine; pretended; artificial |
| affidavit | : n. written statement that can be used as evidence in court, made by sb who swears that it is true |
| affiliation | : n. affiliating or being affiliated |
| affinity | : n. ~ ~ (between A and B) structural resemblance or similarity of character; relationship |
| affirmation | : n. affirming |
| affix | : v. ~ sth (fml ) stick, fasten or attach sth |
| affliction | : n. pain; suffering; distress |
| affluence | : n. abundance of money, goods or property; wealth |
| affront | : n. ~ (to sb/sth) deliberately insulting or disrespectful remark, action, etc, esp in public |
| afterlife | : n. existence that is thought by some to follow death |
| agape | : adj. ~ (of the mouth) wide open, esp with wonder |
| agenda | : n. matters of business to be discussed at a meeting, etc |
| agglomeration | : n. action of agglomerating |
| aggrandize | : to make appear great or greater:praise highly |
| aggregate | : v. ~ sb (fml ) be formed or bring sb into an assembled group or amount |
| aghast | : adj. ~ filled with horror or amazement |
| agility | : nimbleness |
| agitate | : v. cause anxiety to (a person, his feelings, etc); disturb; excite |
| agnostic | : n. person who believes that nothing can be known about the existence of God or of anything except material things |
| agog | : adj. eager; excited |
| agrarian | : adj. of land |
| airy | : adj. having plenty of fresh air moving about; well-ventilated |
| alacrity | : n. prompt and eager readiness |
| alchemy | : n. medieval form of chemistry, the chief aim of which was to discover how to turn ordinary metals into gold , |
| alcove | : n. small space in a room, etc formed by part of the wall being set back; recess |
| alias | : n. name by which a person is called at other times or in other places; false name |
| alienate | : v. ~ sb cause sb to become unfriendly or indifferent; estrange sb |
| alimentary | : adj. of food and digestion |
| alimony | : n. allowance that a court may order a man to pay to his wife or former wife before or after a legal separation or divorce |
| allay | : v. make (sth) less; relieve |
| allege | : v. state (sth) as a fact but without proof; give as an argument or excuse |
| allegiance | : n. ~ (to sb/sth) support of or loyalty to a government, ruler, cause, etc |
| allegory | : n. story, painting or description in which the characters and events are meant as symbols of purity, truth, patience, etc , |
| alleviate | : v. make less severe; ease |
| alliteration | : n. occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of two or more words in succession, as in sing a song of sixpence or as thick as thieves , sing a song of sixpence as thick as thieves |
| allocate | : v. ~ sth allot or assign sth (to sb/sth) for a special purpose |
| alloy | : n. metal formed of a mixture of metals or of metal and another substance |
| allude | : v. ~ to sb/sth (fml ) mention sb/sth briefly or indirectly |
| allure | : v. tempt or attract (sb) by the expectation of gaining sth |
| allusion | : n. ~ indirect reference |
| alluvial | : adj. made of sand, earth, etc left by rivers or floods, esp in a delta |
| alms | : n. money, clothes, food, etc given to poor people |
| aloft | : adv. up in the air; overhead |
| aloof | : adj. ~ cool and remote in character; unconcerned |
| altercation | : n. (act of) quarrelling or arguing noisily |
| altruistic | : (adj.) unselfish |
| amalgam | : n. alloy of mercury with another metal |
| amalgamate | : v. ~ (with sb/sth) (cause people or things to) combine or unite |
| amass | : v. gather together or collect (sth), esp in large quantities |
| amazon | : n. tall strong athletic woman |
| ambidextrous | : adj. able to use the left hand or the right hand equally well |
| ambience | : n. environment; atmosphere of a place |
| ambiguous | : adj. having more than one possible meaning |
| ambivalence | : the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes |
| amble | : v. ride or walk at a slow, leisurely pace |
| ambrosia | : n. food of the gods |
| ambulatory | : walking |
| ambush | : n. waiting in a hidden position to make a surprise attack, hunt by stalking. |
| ameliorate | : v. (cause sth to) become better |
| amenable | : adj. ~ (of people) willing to be influenced or controlled (by sth) |
| amend | : v. correct an error in (sth); make minor improvements in; change slightly |
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