| Term | Definition |
|---|
| amenities | a useful or pleasant facility or service |
| amiable | adj. showing and inspiring friendliness; pleasant and good-tempered |
| amicable | adj. showing friendliness; without hostility |
| amiss | adj. , adv wrong(ly); inappropriate(ly) |
| amity | n. friendly relationship between people or countries |
| amnesia | n. partial or total loss of memory |
| amnesty | n. general pardon, esp for offences against the State |
| amok | adv. run amok rush about in a wild and angry frenzy |
| amoral | adj. not based on moral standards; not following any moral rules ; |
| amorous | adj. readily showing or feeling love; relating to love |
| amorphous | adj. having no definite shape or form; not organized |
| amphibian | n. animal able to live both on land and in water |
| amphitheater | oval building with tiers of seats |
| ample | adj. enough |
| amplify | v. increase (sth) in size or strength |
| amputate | v. cut off by surgical operation |
| amulet | n. piece of jewellery, etc worn as a charm1( |
| anachronism | n. mistake of placing sth in the wrong historical period |
| analgesia | n. loss of ability to feel pain while still conscious |
| analgesic | adj. n substance that relieves pain |
| analogous | adj. ~ partially similar or parallel; offering an analogy |
| analogy | n. ~ partial similarity between two things that are compared |
| anarchist | n. person who overthrows govt |
| anarchy | n. absence of government or control in society; lawlessness |
| anathema | n. detested person or thing; curse. |
| anathematize | declare to be evil or anathema, curse |
| ancestry | n. line of ancestors |
| anchor | n. heavy metal device attached to a rope, chain, etc and used to moor a ship or boat to the sea-bottom or a balloon to the ground |
| ancillary | adj. ~ helping in a subsidiary way |
| anecdote | n. short, interesting or amusing story about a real person or event , |
| anemia | condition in which blood lacks red corpuscles |
| anguish | n. severe physical or mental pain |
| angular | adj. having angles or sharp corners |
| animadversion | n. criticism |
| animated | adj. lively |
| animosity | n. ~ ~ (between A and B) (instance of) strong dislike or of hostility |
| animus | n. animosity shown in speech or action |
| annals | n. story of events year by year; historical records |
| anneal | v. make tough by cooling slowly after heating |
| annex | v. take possession of |
| annihilate | v. destroy completely |
| annotate | v. add notes to giving explanation or comment |
| annuity | n. fixed sum of money paid to sb yearly, usu for the remaining part of his lifetime |
| annul | v. declare (sth) no longer valid; abolish; cancel |
| anodyne | n, adj that can relieve pain |
| anoint | v. ~ sb apply oil or ointment to sb (esp as a religious ceremony) |
| anomalous | adj. different from what is normal; irregular |
| anomaly | n. anomalous thing; irregularity |
| anonymity | n. state of being anonymous |
| antagonism | n~ ~ (between A and B) (instance of) active opposition or hostility, esp between two people |
| antecede | be earlier in time; go back further |
| antecedents | ancestr |
| antediluvian | adj. of the time before Noah's Flood |
| anthology | n. collection of poems or pieces of prose on the same subject or by the same writer |
| anthropoid | adj. man-like in form |
| anthropomorphic | adj. treating gods, animals, etc as human in form and personality , |
| anticlimax | n. disappointing end to a series of events which had seemed likely to become more interesting, exciting or impressive |
| antidote | n. ~ substance that acts against the effects of a poison or disease |
| antipathy | settled aversion or dislike:DISTASTE |
| antiquated | adj. (of things) out of date, obsolete , |
| antiquity | n. ancient times, esp before the Middle Ages |
| antiseptic | n. substance that prevents a wound, etc from becoming septic, esp by destroying bacteria |
| antithesis | n. ~ (of/to sth/sb) direct opposite |
| antler | n. branched horn of a stag or of some other deer |
| anvil | n. iron block on which a smith shapes heated metal by hammering it |
| apathetic | adj. showing or feeling apathy |
| apathy | n. ~ lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern; indifference |
| ape | n. any of the four primates (gorilla, chimpanzee, orang-utan, gibbon) most closely related to man . |
| aperture | n. narrow opening |
| apex | n. top or highest point |
| aphasia | n. partial or total loss of ability to speak or understand spoken language, caused by damage to the brain |
| aphorism | n. short wise saying; maxim ; |
| apiarist | n. person who keeps bees |
| apiary | n. place with a number of hives where bees are kept |
| apiculture | the cultivation of bees on a commercial scale for the production of honey |
| aplomb | n. confidence and self-control; poise |
| apocalyptic | adj. prophesying great and dramatic events like those in the Apocalypse |
| apocryphal | adj. not likely to be genuine; untrue or invented |
| apogee | n. position in the orbit of the moon, a planet or a satellite when it is at its greatest distance from the earth , |
| apolitical | adj. not interested or involved in politics |
| apologist | n. person who defends a doctrine by logical argument |
| apoplexy | n. sudden inability to feel or move, caused by the blockage or rupture of an artery in the brain , |
| apostate | n. person who renounces his former beliefs, etc |
| apothecary | n. person who prepares and sells medicines and medical goods |
| anesthetic | substance that removes sensation with or without loss of consciousness; N. anesthesia |
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