Life Advanced Word List Unit 1

1 Lessons for life

the area was already starting to boom | the economy
Page 9
was booming | business is booming at the moment
easier said than done /ˈiːzɪə sɛd ðæn dʌn/ Phrase | a booming economy | solar power is a booming
if you say that something is easier said than done, industry
you mean that it is a difficult thing to do and you
might not be able to succeed if you try to do it individualistic /ˌɪndɪˌvɪdʒuəˈlɪstɪk/ Adjective
getting a job in the film industry is easier said than if someone is individualistic, they do things for their
done | trying to get a pay rise out of them was easier own benefit and do not bother about other people
said than done | I know it’s easier said than done, but in society
I’m determined to do it Dutch society is individualistic and modern | we’re a
much more individualistic society than we were 40
guiding principle /ˈgaɪdɪŋ ˈprɪnsəpl/ Noun years ago | individualistic cultures value the self
a guiding principle is a belief or rule that is above the group
important to you and that influences the way you Noun: individual | Adjective: individual
act or the decisions you make
the survey questioned 50 individuals | individual
“more haste, less speed” was her guiding principle freedom is very important to everyone here
for years | the guiding principle behind the
organisation was fairness to customers and staff | misinterpret /ˌmɪsɪnˈtɜː(r)prɪt/ Verb
one of the guiding principles has to be trust if you misinterpret something, you understand it
wrongly
make a point of /meɪk ə pɔɪnt ɒv/ Phrase
I think he deliberately misinterpreted my email |
if you make a point of doing something, you
deliberately do it, even if it is difficult or takes a lot the Prime Minister said her comments had been
misinterpreted | even though the article was very
of effort
clear, it was misinterpreted by some people | the
make a point of doing something statistics were misinterpreted by several journalists
she always made a point of talking to her Noun: misinterpretation
grandmother after church | you should make a point
what he said was a complete misinterpretation of my
of checking your bank statement every month | we
used to make a point of cooking a big family meal proposal | the letter was open to misinterpretation
every Sunday point the way /pɔɪnt ðə weɪ/ Phrase
if something points the way, it serves as a useful
rule of thumb /ruːl ɒv θʌm/ Noun
example of what someone should do or should avoid
a rule of thumb is a practical way of deciding
something, based on experience rather than any doing
theory, which is accurate enough but might not be the mistakes of the past should point the way for us
precise in the future | let our experience point the way for
a good rule of thumb is to add twice as much milk as you | ministers praised the proposal as pointing the
flour | my rule of thumb is that when the dough stops way forward
sticking to the bowl, it’s ready | her rule of strive /straɪv/ Verb
thumb was to wait three minutes before trying again if you strive to do something, you try very hard to do
it
Pages 10–11 strive to do something | strive for something
act on /ækt ɒn/ Phrasal verb all hospitals strive to offer the best medical care
if you act on something, you do something that it possible | great athletes are always striving to
suggests or recommends improve their performance | we must always strive
for peace | she is driven to strive for perfection
neither recommendation has yet been acted on | he’s

never acted on my advice yet, so I don’t suppose he’ll

start now | the police failed to act on the information Pages 12–13
they had received
aches and pains /eɪks ænd peɪnz/ Noun plural
boom /buːm/ Noun aches and pains are general feelings of pain that are
a boom is a period when a country’s economy is very not very severe
successful and when there is a lot of business activity as you get older, you get more aches and pains | I
the city is undergoing an economic boom | the had a few aches and pains after playing rugby for
building boom of the 1990s | a boom in house prices | the first time last week | he’s been complaining of
the 1970s were boom years for the capital aches and pains for weeks | after a good night’s sleep
Verb: boom | Adjective: booming my aches and pains disappeared

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 6
people come from far and wide to see Stonehenge
as and when /æz ænd wɛn/ Conjunction
| their popularity spread far and wide | she travelled
if you do something as and when something else
far and wide in her youth | they searched far and
happens, you do it whenever that happens or at the
wide for the best place to start their business
same time
we’ll have the next meeting as and when it’s first and foremost /fɜːst ænd ˈfɔːməʊst/ Adverb
necessary | we’ll give you more news as and when it you use first and foremost to emphasize the most
comes in | you pay for the phone calls as and when important element of what you are talking about
you make them the committee is first and foremost a decision-
making body | first and foremost, we need to recruit
bits and pieces /bɪts ænd ˈpiːsɪz/ Noun plural
more salespeople | Dan was first and foremost a
you use bits and pieces to refer to a number of small,
brilliant musician
not very significant or important things
I put a few bits and pieces into a suitcase and set off free spirit /friː ˈspɪrɪt/ Noun
| have you got all your bits and pieces? | he picks up a free spirit is someone who always does what they
bits and pieces of work whenever he can want to do and does not let other people tell them
what they should do
control freak /kənˈtrəʊl friːk/ Noun
she’s an artist, a free spirit, and a loyal sister | I’m a
a control freak is someone who hates things
free spirit and I’ll go wherever I feel like going | they
happening by chance and who always wants to be in
were both free spirits who loved the outdoor life
control of what is happening around them
her sister is such a control freak | don’t be such fun and games /fʌn ænd geɪmz/ Noun uncount
a control freak! I’ll be back by nine | I admit I’m if you refer to activity or behaviour as not all fun and
a control freak when it comes to my camping games, you mean that it can be quite serious a lot of
equipment | my first husband was a control freak the time even though it might look enjoyable
my job is not all fun and games, you know | bringing
dreamer /ˈdriːmə(r)/ Noun
up children is not all fun and games, I can tell you
a dreamer is someone who is not very practical or
| it’s not always fun and games as a professional
realistic, but who wants everything to be the way
footballer
they imagine it even though that is unlikely to
happen joker /ˈdʒəʊkə(r)/ Noun
my brother’s just a dreamer who’ll never get to act in a joker is someone who doesn’t take life very
Hollywood | I thought he was a dreamer who’d never seriously and who is always telling jokes and trying
come to anything, but now he’s a successful lawyer | to make people laugh
we need a few dreamers in the company to come up he’s changed a lot now, but at school, he was always
with new and wild ideas such a joker | my uncle’s something of a joker | she
Verb: dream | Noun: dream came from a family of practical jokers (people who
she won the lottery and now has more money than like to play funny tricks on other people for fun)
she could ever dream of | he was still dreaming of Verb: joke | Noun: joke
living in New York | working for the BBC was the job she’s always joking and laughing with the other
of my dreams students | a really funny joke
driven /ˈdrɪv(ə)n/ Adjective judgmental /ˌdʒʌdʒˈment(ə)l/ Adjective
someone who is driven is very determined to succeed someone who is judgmental is very quick to criticise
in what they are doing someone or something, often before they really
her father was a driven man who worked twenty know enough to be able to make a fair judgment
hours a day to build his business | a team of driven do you realise how judgmental you are being? | I’m
mountain climbers tired of listening to all these judgmental parents |
I don’t think he was being judgmental, he was just
family /ˈfæm(ə)li/Noun
saying what he’d seen | I’d rather you kept your
a family is a group of people, usually including
judgmental comments to yourself
parents and their children, who are related to each
other and who live together until the children are Noun: judgment | Verb: judge | Noun: judge
grown up and leave home pass judgment (on something) | make a judgment
my dad was a real family man (a man whose family he came to the restaurant to pass judgment on the
is very important to him and who spends a lot of food | he showed very poor judgment in his choice of
time and energy being with them and looking after partner | it’s too soon to make a judgment about the
them) | there are five of us in our family, my parents, school | I judged it wise to leave before it got dark
my two sisters, and me | she came from a big family | he’s a very poor judge of character (not good at
| they’re a lovely family | a family holiday (when recognising other people’s personal qualities)
everyone in the family goes on holiday together)
life and soul of the party /laɪf ænd səʊl ɒv ðə ˈpɑːti/
far and wide /fɑːr ænd waɪd/ Adverb Noun if you describe someone as being the life and
you use far and wide to emphasize that an area is soul of the party, you mean they are always ready to
very large or that distances are very great have a good time and will always encourage other
people

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 6

to have a good time during social gatherings buses come to and fro all day long bringing tourists
to the site | I spent all day going to and fro with
with her personality and energy, she’s the life and medical supplies | he ran to and fro between the two
soul of every party she goes to | apparently he kitchens
was the life and soul of the party when he was at

university | my dad was the life and soul of the party,

but my mum was a very private person to one place, and then back in the other direction

movement /ˈmuːvmənt/ Noun

a movement is a group of people who share the
same ideas and beliefs and who work together to try
and spread these beliefs
he belonged to a right-wing, anti-immigration
movement | several new political movements began
life during the war | the Scottish independence
movement

outgoing /ˈaʊtɡəʊɪŋ/ Adjective

someone who is outgoing is friendly and lively, and
likes meeting new people
they’re both quite chatty and outgoing | Sandra
remembers him as a very outgoing person | he’s
very funny and outgoing | she has a very outgoing
personality
peace and quiet /piːs ænd ˈkwaɪət/ Noun uncount
peace and quiet is a quiet atmosphere with no loud
activity, in contrast to a busy, noisy atmosphere
it’s hard to find peace and quiet in the city | I go
down to the river for a bit of peace and quiet | just
give me some peace and quiet will you! (don’t make
a lot of noise or try and talk to me) | we took the
children out for the afternoon to give Jo’s dad some
peace and quiet | all she wanted was some peace and
quiet after a long journey on a crowded train

safe and sound /seɪf ænd saʊnd/ Adjective

if you say that someone or something is safe and
sound, you mean that they are all right and not hurt,
especially after being in a dangerous situation
everyone got home safe and sound after the
thunderstorm | the comfort of knowing the family
was safe and sound | they promised to keep him safe
and sound until his parents came to collect him

settle down /ˈsɛtl daʊn/ Phrasal verb

if you settle down, you start to live somewhere
permanently and make it your home, for example
after you get married
after a few years travelling around Asia and America,
she came back and settled down in Scarborough
| he’s 44 and he still hasn’t settled down yet | he
remarried three years later and settled down with
his new family | it’s time to settle down and have
children

short and sweet /ʃɔːt ænd swiːt/ Adjective

if you say that something is short and sweet, you
mean that it is short in a very good way and does not
go on too long
keep your blog posts short and sweet | the meeting
was short and sweet and we were home in time for
dinner | luckily, the ceremony was short and sweet

to and fro /tuː ænd frəʊ/ Adverb

if you go to and fro, you go first in one direction or
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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 6

Pages 14–15
a fact of life /ə fækt ɒv laɪf/ Noun
a fact of life is a difficult situation that you
cannot avoid and that is part of everyday life
stress at work is a fact of life these days | having to
pay tax is a fact of life. No point complaining about
it

a wild goose chase /ə waɪld guːs ʧeɪs/ Phrase

if you say that something is a wild goose chase,
you mean that it involves a lot of effort and
activity but will never succeed
send someone on a wild goose chase
the discovery sent us on a wild goose chase to the
other side of the city | don’t bother, it’ll just be a
wild goose chase | we ended up on a wild goose
chase trying to find a restaurant that had closed
three years ago

all walks of life /ɔːl wɔːks ɒv laɪf/ Phrase

if you refer to people from all walks of life,
you mean that they come from lots of different
places and backgrounds
the concert attracted people from all walks of life
| people from all walks of life attended the
conference

assertion /əˈsɜː(r)ʃ(ə)n/ Noun

an assertion is a statement made firmly
and convincingly
I disagreed with his assertion about the value of
swimming lessons | he couldn’t provide any
evidence for his assertion | I stick by my original
assertion (I insist it is true) | no one dared to
challenge her latest assertion that global warming
was unstoppable
Verb: assert | Adjective: assertive
the company asserted that its working conditions
were perfectly safe | this idea has been
frequently asserted but never proven | you need
to be more assertive if you want people to believe
your ideas

bluff /blʌf/ Noun

a bluff is something untrue that you say
deliberately in order to deceive someone or make
them do what you want. If you call someone’s
bluff, you tell them you know they are trying to
deceive you so there is no point in their
continuing to try. In the game Call my Bluff, you
read out three definitions for a word, only one of
which is correct. The other players have to guess
which definition is the correct one
let’s play Call my Bluff | he said he would shut
down the factory, but we knew it was just a bluff
| you should call his bluff and see what he does
next
Verb: bluff
the detective was bluffing, but Walters didn’t
know that | it was too late to admit that I’d never
been to Berlin so I just had to bluff it out (carry
on with the pretence)

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 6
whether she’s French or German is neither here nor
break the ice /breɪk ði aɪs/ Phrase
there, she’s just a brilliant singer | the fact that he
if you break the ice, you do something that helps
should have been at school is neither here nor there
people relax in a social situation where they had
| I don’t care if it was lunchtime or dinnertime, that’s
been feeling awkward or shy
really neither here nor there
when Alan came in with two dogs, it certainly broke
the ice | she broke the ice by offering to show them see better days /siː ˈbɛtə deɪz/ Phrase
round the garden | a joke helped to break the ice if you say that something has seen better days, you
mean that it is now old and not in very condition
come full circle /kʌm fʊl ˈsɜːkl/ Phrase
my bike has seen better days, but it still gets me to
if you say that events have come full circle, you
work every day | the house had seen better days
mean that despite a lot of activity a situation is still
when we bought it, but we’ve done a lot to it and it
basically the same and nothing has really changed
looks great now | we stayed in a hotel that had seen
history has repeated itself, going full circle | this better days
brings the event almost full circle | his career has
gone full circle, and he’s back working for the Post succinctly /səkˈsɪŋktli/ Adverb
Office if you express something succinctly, you express it
using only a few words
foregone conclusion /fɔːˈgɒn kənˈkluːʒən/ Noun
if something is a foregone conclusion, it is so as he succinctly put it: “never” | try and answer the
obviously true that there is no point discussing it to questions succinctly | the article succinctly explains
see if there is any alternative how to apply for an Irish passport | she summarized
the main points of the lecture succinctly and
the result of the match was a foregone conclusion by
entertainingly
half time | it was a foregone conclusion that he
would win the election | the outcome of the battle Adjective: succinct
was a foregone conclusion your opening paragraph should be succinct and
to the point | a succinct account of the company’s
have the time of your life /hæv ðə taɪm ɒv jɔː laɪf/ recent history
Phrase if you are having the time of your life, you are
enjoying something very much indeed the story of my life /ðə ˈstɔːri ɒv maɪ laɪf/ Noun singular
he’s having the time of his life in Oxford at the if you refer to an event as “the story of my life”, you
moment | she danced all night and had the time of mean that it was slightly unfortunate, and typical
her life | I’ve just turned 60 and I’m having the time of the bad luck that you get. But it’s not a serious
of my life comment and is usually meant to be humorous
I was late for work three times last week – story of
life-saver /ˈlaɪfˈseɪvə/ Noun my life
a life-saver is something that helps you out of a
difficult or dangerous situation the world is my oyster /ðə wɜːld ɪz maɪ ˈɔɪstə/ Phrase
if you say that the world is someone’s oyster, you
this website has been a life-saver | music has been a
mean that they have the opportunity or possibility to
life-saver for me over the years | thanks for the lift –
do anything that they want to
it was a real life-saver
once you’ve finished university, the world’s your
love is blind /lʌv ɪz blaɪnd/ Phrase oyster | relax! The world’s your oyster | the world was
if you say that love is blind, you mean that when her oyster
someone is in love they do not see any faults in the
person they love wear your heart on your sleeve /weə jɔː hɑːt ɒn jɔː sliːv/
Phrase
it is said that love is blind but friendship can see if you wear your heart on your sleeve, you do not
clearly | he trusted her the whole time – it must be hide your emotions, and everyone can see what you
true that love is blind are really feeling
manipulation /məˌnɪpjʊˈleɪʃ(ə)n/ Noun she’s a singer who wears her heart on her sleeve | I
manipulation is the action of controlling something daren’t wear my heart on my sleeve | it’s Valentine’s
or influencing someone to do what you want by Day, so wear your heart on your sleeve for once
being clever or deliberately dishonest
what’s the difference between persuasion and Pages 16–17
manipulation? | there was no evidence of fraud
bargain hunting /ˈbɑːgɪn ˈhʌntɪŋ/ Noun uncount
or manipulation | his mistaken belief led to the
bargain hunting is the activity of going round shops
manipulation of many other people
looking for things to buy that have a lower price
Verb: manipulate | Adjective: manipulative than normal
he was good at manipulating others without ever we went bargain hunting in Camden market | I did
being manipulated himself | a persuasive and some bargain hunting online and found a jacket for
manipulative politician just £12 | let me give you some tips on bargain hunting
neither here nor there /ˈnaɪðə hɪə nɔː ðeə/ Phrase Noun: bargain hunter
if you say that something is neither here nor there, bargain hunters will enjoy the regular market
you mean that it is not at all important or relevant

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 6

outside the Town Hall on Tuesday | several bargain Resolution was to get a new job by the end of
hunters were waiting outside for the shop to open February

on loan /ɒn ləʊn/ Phrase

buddy /ˈbʌdi/ Noun
if something such as a book, CD, DVD, etc. is on loan
a buddy is a friend. A buddy system is when
from a library, someone has borrowed it and you will
someone who is new to an organisation or
have to wait for it to be returned before you can
institution is paired with someone else who has been
there longer and who can help and offer advice borrow it yourself
two copies are out on loan, but we have a third
thanks to the buddy system I settled in very quickly
copy you can borrow | I couldn’t do my history essay
| you don’t have to take part in the buddy system if
yesterday because a book I needed for it was out on
you don’t want to | she volunteered to be a buddy in
loan
the buddy system

compulsory /kəmˈpʌlsəri/ Adjective Pages 18–19

if something is compulsory, you must do it because
of a law or rule disproportionate /ˌdɪsprəˈpɔː(r)ʃ(ə)nət/ Adjective
something that is disproportionate has too much of
English and maths are both compulsory subjects one element or feature and not enough of another
at my school | sport is compulsory until you’re in
the fifth year | I had to do two years of compulsory a disproportionate number of politicians went to
military service private school | a disproportionate number of victims
were over 70 | Native Americans continue suffer on
Opposite – Adjective: optional average disproportionate poverty
geography and history are optional subjects, but we Adverb: disproportionately
suggest you do both
the disease disproportionately affects children
counsellor /ˈkaʊns(ə)lə(r)/ Noun
a counsellor is someone whose job is to listen to elder /ˈeldə(r)/ Noun
people who have problems and to help them find a an elder is an older and very respected member of a
way to solve those problems community, especially one in a position of leadership
a marriage counsellor | a debt counsellor the village elders met to discuss the problem | one
of the elders disagreed with the others and had to
they went to a marriage counsellor, but it was leave the village | we knew we could always ask one
too late | a visit from the bereavement counsellor of the elders for advice
(someone who helps people after the death of a very
close relative) | a counsellor for people with anxiety fund /fʌnd/ Verb
Noun: counselling if someone funds something, they provide the
individual counselling sessions | I went to my tutor money that is needed to pay for it
for support and counselling | money has been we’re looking for someone to fund an expedition
provided for student counselling services to the South Pole | the government should fund
more research | the project was funded by a major
diverse /daɪˈvɜː(r)s/ Adjective oil company | the latest study was funded by Goethe
a diverse number of things includes many different University
sorts Noun: funding
the place she lives in is very racially diverse | the the funding ran out before we’d finished the
university offers courses covering a diverse range of research | private universities do not receive
subjects | Southern California is culturally diverse | government funding
London has a diverse population
Noun: diversity | Verb: diversify invaluable /ɪnˈvæljuəb(ə)l/ Adjective
its cultural diversity was what attracted me to Cardiff something that is invaluable is extremely useful
| the quality and diversity of the restaurants in the his advice was invaluable and helped me decide
city is amazing | the EU is attempting to diversify on the right university | our weekly meetings
its energy supply (make sure it gets its energy throughout the project were invaluable | an
from several different places) | it was important to invaluable contribution to the design of the factory |
diversify the business rather than rely on just one their support proved invaluable
successful product
self-esteem /sɛlf-ɪsˈtiːm/ Noun uncount
New Year’s Resolution /njuː jɪəz ˌrɛzəˈluːʃən/ Noun someone’s self-esteem is the opinion they have of
if you make a New Year’s Resolution, you make themselves
a firm and determined decision to do something low/negative self-esteem | high/positive self-esteem
differently to improve your life after 1st January after he lost his job he went through a period of
make a New Year’s Resolution | keep a New Year’s very low self-esteem | they should try and strengthen
Resolution their child’s self-esteem | success leads to higher self-
have you made any New Year’s Resolutions? | a esteem | our goal is to promote positive self-esteem
magazine article offering advice on how to keep
your New Year’s Resolutions | my New Year’s

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 6

trading post /ˈtreɪdɪŋ pəʊst/ Noun

Review Pages 20 in the past, a trading post was a shop or other place
brazier /ˈbreɪziə(r)/ Noun where people could exchange goods, especially one
a brazier is a metal basket on legs which people use that was a long way from large towns or cities
outdoors to burn wood or coal for heat or to be able Timbuktu was a key trading post | until 1842 the
to cook things settlement was an important fur trading post | Ibiza
workmen stood warming their hands over a brazier was a major trading post along the Mediterranean
| the fire in the brazier had gone out | put more coal routes | they were allowed to establish a trading post
on the brazier just outside Colombo

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 2

2 More than a job

Page 21 get back to /gɛt bæk tuː/ Phrasal verb
if you get back to someone, you write to them,
livelihood /ˈlaɪvlihʊd/ Noun phone them, send them an email, etc. in order to
your livelihood is the work you do to earn a living reply to a question or to give them extra information
their main source of livelihood is fishing | their entire about something you had been discussing with them
livelihood depends on their cattle | when they shut I asked him about it a week ago and he still hasn’t
the railway line, his livelihood was lost | people got back to me | I’ll get back to you next week after
earned their livelihoods mainly at farming I’ve had a chance to read the report | we make every
effort to get back to customers with 24 hours of
nomad /ˈnəʊmæd/ Noun receiving a complaint
nomads are groups of people who never stay
for long in one place but always move on to live get by /gɛt baɪ/ Phrasal verb
somewhere else very soon if you can get by, you have just enough of
they lived as nomads, travelling and camping in something, for example knowledge or money, so
different locations | the nomads earned their living that you can do what you need to do
by selling sheep | most nomads travel in groups of get by on/with something
families called bands or tribes | humans lived as I’m not fluent in Spanish, but I can get by | I got by
nomads, surviving by hunting and gathering on £500 a month when I was a student | you could
Adjective: nomadic probably get by with a laptop | she’s hoping to get
her family is from a nomadic background | nomadic by without a car
people who survived on hunting and fishing
get on with /gɛt ɒn wɪð/ Phrasal verb
pony /ˈpəʊni/ Noun if you get on with something, you start to do it in a
a pony is an animal like a small horse determined way
he was riding a white pony | there were several I’ve got to get on with my homework | why don’t
ponies in the next field | we went pony trekking they just get on with it? | don’t wait for anyone else,
(went on a journey riding on a pony) last week | I you should get on with the task as soon as possible
always wanted to have a pony when I was a child
get out of /gɛt aʊt ɒv/ Phrasal verb
vocation /vəʊˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ Noun if you get out of something you have agreed to do
a vocation is a job that someone does because they or are expected to do, you manage to avoid having
believe it is their purpose in life to do it to do it
my parents wanted me to be a doctor, but I felt I’ve got a meeting with my boss at four and I can’t
strongly that my vocation lay in teaching | she get out of it | I usually visit my mum on Sunday
believed her vocation was to serve the church | she morning, but if I can get out of it this week I’ll
encouraged me to pursue my vocation as a writer come to Northampton with you | John’s pretending
he’s hurt his arm so he can get out of painting the
bathroom
Pages 22-23
get over /gɛt ˈəʊvə/ Phrasal verb
dotted /ˈdɒtɪd/ Adjective
if you get over something such as a disappointment
if things are dotted somewhere, there are lots of
them spread over a wide area or an illness, you return to a normal state where you
can carry on with your life
dotted across somewhere | dotted around
she still hadn’t got over her husband’s death | it took
somewhere
a few days to get over my jet lag | he hasn’t got over
the company has offices dotted across the western the shock yet | I had flu, but I’ve got over the worst
USA | a religion with followers dotted throughout of it now
the world | if you look at the map, you can see the
lakes dotted around the two main cities get round to /gɛt raʊnd tuː/ Phrasal verb
if you get round to something, you finally start to
get away with /gɛt əˈweɪ wɪð/ Phrasal verb do it, especially if it is something you have been
if you get away with a crime or with doing avoiding doing
something wrong, you are not caught and punished
for it get round to doing something
we finally got round to decorating the bathroom
get away with doing something
two years after we moved in | I haven’t been able to
he can’t keep getting away with it | it’s too risky, get round to it yet, but I promise I’ll do it over the
you’ll never get away with it | his mum lets him get weekend | we lived there for six years and never got
away with murder (doesn’t punish his bad behaviour) round to mending the fence at the side
| he robbed a bank and got away with it

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 2
researchers measured brain activity and changes in the
graphic designer /ˈgræfɪk dɪˈzaɪnə/ Noun
diameter of the pupils | foxes have oval, vertical pupils
a graphic designer is someone whose job involves
putting together text and pictures in books, spear /spɪə(r)/ Noun
advertising posters, magazines, etc. a spear is a weapon that is a long stick with a sharp,
she’s a photographer, graphic designer and member pointed end that you can throw
of a band | he trained as a graphic designer | your archaeologists found a Roman spear at the site | a
website could do with having input from a good group of men armed with spears | a few of them had
graphic designer | when she started as a graphic rifles, but most carried just a spear | he used a spear
designer in the 1970s, there were no computers and to catch fish in the shallow water by the shore
no software like there are today
Noun: graphic design
Pages 24-25
good graphic design will attract more visits to your
website | she teaches graphic design at the local be second nature to you /biː ˈsɛkənd ˈneɪʧə tuː juː/
college Phrase if something is second nature to you, it seems
natural and is what you do or believe without having
intimate /ˈɪntɪmət/ Adjective to think about it
if you have an intimate knowledge of something, be second nature to someone
you have a very thorough understanding of it and of practise this over and over until it’s second nature to you
all its details | after a few more weeks, the whole procedure became
intimate knowledge of something second nature | politeness was second nature to her
the book displayed the author’s intimate knowledge
better to be safe than sorry /ˈbɛtə tuː biː seɪf ðæn
of Russian history | with his intimate knowledge of
ˈsɒri/ Phrase
every path and stream, he was the perfect guide
if you say better safe than sorry or it’s better to be
Adverb: intimately safe than sorry, you are recommending a course of
he was intimately familiar with Beethoven’s action that does not involve any risk and will not
symphonies | she returned to the neighbourhood she therefore lead to a bad outcome
once knew intimately better to be safe than sorry, so yes, always wear
a helmet | it’s better to be safe than sorry when it
mollusc /ˈmɒləsk/ Noun
comes to your health | better safe than sorry, so see
a mollusc is an animal that has a soft inside and
your doctor as soon as possible
usually has a hard shell on the outside, such as a snail
or clam contain /kənˈteɪn/ Verb
today, there are about 60,000 different species of if you contain a dangerous situation, you are able to
molluscs | molluscs don’t move around very much | stop it spreading and affecting a wider area
they managed to catch enough fish and molluscs to contain something to somewhere
feed themselves
firefighters managed to contain the fire at the
physiotherapist /ˌfɪziəʊˈθerəpɪst/ Noun factory | rioting was contained to the area around
a physiotherapist is someone who treats injured the football stadium | smoke damage was mostly
people by getting them to do special exercises in contained to the kitchen and dining room
order to help damaged parts of the body recover Noun: containment
she’s training to be a physiotherapist | I have a plans were made to ensure successful containment of
weekly session with a physiotherapist the epidemic
Noun: physiotherapy
cut corners /kʌt ˈkɔːnəz/ Phrase
she had to undergo extensive physiotherapy on her if you cut corners, you try and do a task more
injured knee | I’m still having physiotherapy on my quickly by leaving out something or by not being
shoulder | physiotherapy will strengthen the muscles as thorough as you should be, and so risk failing or
in your legs doing a bad job
protein /ˈprəʊtiːn/ Noun cutting corners now will create problems later on
protein is an important substance in some foods such | there was no way we could finish the project on
as eggs, meat, milk, etc., that you need to eat in time without cutting corners | his first thought was
order to have a healthy body to cut a few corners to save money | I want this done
properly – no cutting corners
it’s important to have enough protein in your diet
| you’ll get ill if you don’t eat enough protein | egg do things by the book /duː θɪŋz baɪ ðə bʊk/ Phrase
white is 87% water and 10% protein | the meat has if you do things by the book, you follow instructions
about 28 grams of protein per portion and rules very carefully and precisely
pupil /ˈpjuːp(ə)l/ Noun handling these chemicals can be very dangerous so
your pupils are the small dark-coloured centres of it’s important you do everything by the book | he
your eyes that grow larger or smaller depending on had done everything by the book but still hadn’t
how much light there is around you succeeded in fixing the problem | if I have to do it all
by the book it will take hours

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 2

err on the side of caution /ɜːr ɒn ðə saɪd ɒv ˈkɔːʃən/ learn to be independent | it’s time to stop wrapping
Phrase to err on the side of caution is to make sure them in cotton wool and let them go to the park on
you their own | Terry had never been wrapped in cotton
do something so carefully that if there are any wool and was able to hold his own in a fight with
mistakes, they are the result of being too careful and the bigger boys
therefore not too serious, rather than the result of
being careless and possibly very severe Pages 26-27
I always err on the side of caution when it comes to
accomplished /əˈkʌmplɪʃt/ Adjective
adding salt | we decided to err on the side of caution
if someone is accomplished at something they are
and called an ambulance just in case it was serious
very good at it
| the Bank of England chose to err on the side of
caution and raised interest rates by half a per cent be accomplished at something
he’s an accomplished pianist | the author is an
inaccessible /ˌɪnəkˈsesəb(ə)l/ Adjective accomplished photographer | with practice, you’ll
somewhere that is inaccessible is impossible or very become very accomplished at both drawing and
difficult to get to singing
the lake was in an inaccessible area north of a
huge forest | the village is inaccessible during the blow your mind /bləʊ jɔː maɪnd/ Phrase
winter months because of the snow | the cellar was if something blows your mind, it makes a very deep
inaccessible to anyone who did not have a key | they impression on you and you cannot stop thinking
organise holidays in otherwise inaccessible regions of about it and admiring it
Central Asia the first time I watched a Formula One motor race
Opposite – Adjective accessible it really blew my mind | you should watch the film
– I promise you it will blow your mind | seeing Lady
the airport is easily accessible from the surrounding
Gaga live blew my mind
towns and cities
bump /bʌmp/ Noun
regardless /rɪˈɡɑː(r)dləs/ Adverb
a bump is a raised, uneven part on a surface
something that happens or exists regardless of
something else happens or exists without being one of the tyres burst when I hit a bump in the road
influenced at all by the other thing | he braked too late and hit the bump at speed | the
car rattled loudly as it went over the bumps | a speed
regardless of something
bump (a deliberately raised strip across a road which
we welcome new members regardless of their age | is meant to make drivers slow down)
the basketball court is open to anyone regardless of
skill or ability fatigue /fəˈtiːɡ/ Noun uncount
fatigue is a feeling of great tiredness
relay /ˈriːleɪ/ Verb
hunger and fatigue became a problem on the fourth
to relay something such as information or a message
day of the trip | the doctor said fatigue was a direct
means to pass it from one person or organisation to
result of the illness | some medicines cause fatigue
another until it reaches the person or organisation it
as a side effect | he was suffering from fatigue after
is meant for
driving for seven hours without a break
news of the battle was relayed back to parliament
Adjective: fatigued
in London | the satellite receives signals from
the spacecraft and relays them to the mission she’s always very fatigued after a day spent at work
control centre | this information is relayed back to
find your feet /faɪnd jɔː fiːt/ Phrase
headquarters in Washington DC
if you find your feet, you start getting used to a new
shift /ʃɪft/ Noun situation and begin to feel comfortable and know
a shift is the period of time someone spends at work what you are doing there
during a day, for example in a factory he’s still finding his feet in his new job | I’m sure
I’m on night shift next week | he wanted to work a you’ll find your feet in no time at all | I’d just began
few more shifts to earn some extra money before to find my feet in Los Angeles when I was transferred
Christmas | my shift doesn’t finish till 6 to the New York office

wrap someone in cotton wool follow in someone’s footsteps

/ræp ˈsʌmwʌn ɪn ˈkɒtn wʊl/ Phrase /ˈfɒləʊ ɪn ˈsʌmwʌnz ˈfʊtstɛps/ Phrase
cotton wool is a soft white material that people if you follow in someone’s footsteps, you do the
use, for example, for putting lotion on their skin same sort of work or have the same sort of life
or to stop jewellery moving around in a box. If you experiences as someone before you, usually someone
talk about wrapping someone in cotton wool, you in your family
are talking about protecting someone much more I followed in my brother’s footsteps and joined the
than is reasonable or sensible, when you think they choir at my local church | her daughter is following in
should have to deal with the situation they are in by her footsteps and studying to be a doctor
themselves
if you keep wrapping her in cotton wool, she’ll never

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 2

get off on the wrong foot /gɛt ɒf ɒn ðə rɒŋ fʊt/ Phrase Pages 28-29
if you get off on the wrong foot, you have a bad
start to a relationship break into /breɪk ˈɪntuː/ Phrasal verb
we got off on the wrong foot and things got even if you break into a new job or business activity, you
worse when he started talking about politics | I don’t get a chance to become involved in it
want to get off on the wrong foot, but I have to ask the media is a very difficult sector to break into |
you to stop calling me Mikey | the interview got off we’re hoping to break into the home security market
on the wrong foot because I told them they were | he hoped to break into journalism by getting an
not my first choice university interview with David Beckham

get your foot in the door /gɛt jɔː fʊt ɪn ðə dɔː/ Phrase conscientious /ˌkɒnʃiˈenʃəs/ Adjective
if you get your foot in the door, you get into a someone who is conscientious always makes sure
situation where you are able to start a particular job they do their job very thoroughly and very well
or career from a low level but with an opportunity to if you’d been a bit more conscientious this mistake
work your way up wouldn’t have happened | she was a conscientious
I took a job as a secretary in a publishing firm just student | a clever and very conscientious young
to get my foot in the door | acting is a difficult woman
profession and some people spend years in Adverb: conscientiously
Hollywood without ever getting their foot in the
he prepared for the meeting conscientiously |
door
carefully and conscientiously, she checked every
have two left feet /hæv tuː lɛft fiːt/ Phrase room before leaving the house
if you have two left feet, you are very clumsy in the
enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːziˈæstɪk/ Adjective
way you move, especially when you try and dance or
someone who is enthusiastic shows their interest in
play sport
something in a very lively way
he’s got two left feet so he gave up football and
enthusiastic about (doing) something | wildly
took up chess | if you’ve got two left feet, there’s no
enthusiastic
point trying to dance
my son is an excited and enthusiastic student who
put your foot in it /pʊt jɔː fʊt ɪn ɪt/ Phrase loves going to school | the audience was wildly
if you put your foot in it, you say something without enthusiastic | she was an enthusiastic admirer of the
thinking about it and embarrass someone or upset president | he was very enthusiastic about going
them swimming | it was hard to feel enthusiastic about the
he really put his foot in it when he said he wanted election
Germany to beat England in the football | just think Adverb: enthusiastically | Noun: enthusiasm ||
before you say anything, that way you might avoid Opposite – Adjective: unenthusiastic
putting your foot in it | every time he opens his arouse/rouse enthusiasm | enthusiasm for something
mouth he puts his foot in it | unenthusiastic about (doing) something
rally /ˈræli/ Verb her classmates have enthusiastically welcomed
if you rally, you recover from feeling tired and find her back | the idea was enthusiastically accepted
new energy so that you can carry on doing what you by everyone at the meeting | his speech aroused
were doing a new enthusiasm among the citizens | a skilled
pianist, with a genuine enthusiasm for music | he
he rallied strongly in the second half of the race
was unenthusiastic about my idea | he was rather
and finished in second place | Murray rallied in the
unenthusiastic about trying to find a new job
fourth set and came out the winner by three sets
to one fast learner /fɑːst ˈlɜːnə/ Noun
a fast learner is someone who is clever and able to
shoot yourself in the foot /ʃuːt jɔːˈsɛlf ɪn ðə fʊt/ Phrase
learn and understand things very quickly
if you shoot yourself in the foot, you accidentally say
or do something that will cause problems for you she’s very bright and a fast learner | the job advert
said candidates needed to be fast learners | I felt lost
he’s always shooting himself in the foot by admitting
in a class of fast learners
he’s not good at his job | don’t shoot yourself in the
foot this time – tell them you like classical music feel free /fiːl friː/ Phrase
if you tell someone to feel free to do something,
summit /ˈsʌmɪt/ Noun
you are giving them your permission to do it and
the summit of a mountain is its highest point
encouraging them to do it
the summit of something
feel free to call me any time, day or night | please
we needed to reach the summit before dark | the feel free to take as many photos as you want | feel
summit of Everest is over 29,000 feet up | he’s free to leave a comment at the end of this blog post
the youngest person to have climbed the seven
summits (the highest mountain of each of the seven flexible /ˈfleksəb(ə)l/ Adjective
continents) someone who is flexible can easily change what they
are doing and start doing something different if
necessary

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 2

I’m very flexible, so if you want me to move to the because of a lack of motivation | the motive behind
other team that’s fine | as a manager you have the attack is unclear | a lot of people questioned his
to be focused but at the same time flexible | an motives
experienced and flexible member of staff reliable /rɪˈlaɪəb(ə)l/ Adjective
Adverb: flexibly | Noun: flexibility if someone is reliable, you can trust them and
she responded flexibly to the changing demands of depend on them
the job | the interviewers will want to see evidence she’s a very reliable babysitter | he’s very reliable
of your flexibility – if he says he’ll do something, then he’ll do it | a
friendly and reliable taxi driver | a reliable worker
focused /ˈfəʊkəst/ Adjective
Verb: rely | Adverb: reliably | Noun: reliability |
someone who is focused is able to concentrate very
Opposite – Adjective: unreliable
hard on one particular task and do it very thoroughly
rely on someone
a group of very focused and motivated musicians |
we are both highly competitive and focused I know he’s got the right skills, but can we rely on
him? | he was reliably informed that the president
Verb: focus | Noun: focus
was ill | he nearly lost his job because of his poor
focus on something reliability | Tony’s a lovely man, but so unreliable
you need to focus more on your school work | the
world’s focus has moved on to climate change | the resourceful /rɪˈzɔː(r)sf(ə)l/ Adjective
economy became the main focus of the president’s someone who is resourceful is able to use their
attention intelligence to solve different sorts of problem or
difficulty without much help from other people
get carried away /gɛt ˈkærid əˈweɪ/ Phrase an independent-minded and resourceful young man
if you get carried away, you do something in an | the lecturers here are very helpful and resourceful
enthusiastic and energetic way but without making | the equipment is very old and unreliable so you’ll
sure that it is the best thing to be doing at the time need to be resourceful to get the best out if it
he got a bit carried away and ended up painting Adverb: resourcefully | Noun: resource
the whole house bright yellow | let’s not get carried
it’s a well-written report that has been resourcefully
away just yet – we need to think a bit harder about
researched | I admired the resource she showed in
what to do next | she got carried away and was
finishing the project on time
tweeting thirty times a day
well-organised /wɛl-ˈɔːgənaɪzd/ Adjective
innovative /ˈɪnəveɪtɪv/ Adjective
someone who is well-organised manages to organise
something that is innovative involves the use of new
their work and do everything they need to do in an
ideas to create something that is original
efficient way
an innovative approach to traffic management | the
my school report said I was conscientious and well-
new packaging has an innovative design | it was a
organised | by the end of the third week we were an
highly innovative product when it was launched | his
effective and well-organised team | the campaigners
ideas did not seem very innovative
were well-organised and gathered a lot of support
Verb: innovate | Noun: innovation | Noun: innovator for their cause
all organisations need to constantly innovate and

learn | those who do not innovate will simply not

survive | the industry grew rapidly thanks to the Pages 30-31
latest innovations | technological innovations came
assignment /əˈsaɪnmənt/ Noun
rapidly as the 20th century advanced | Ron was an
an assignment is a piece of work you are given to do
innovator – an “ideas” man | we need to identify the
at school or as part of your job
next generation of innovators
I have to hand in my history assignment tomorrow
motivated /ˈməʊtɪˌveɪtɪd/ Adjective | this is a difficult assignment and I’ll have to work
if someone is motivated, they have the enthusiasm over the weekend to finish it | his assignment was
and determination needed to achieve something to contact 40 customers and ask them about their
highly motivated experience | I was always handing in my assignments
late
children are highly motivated learners of language
| what we need is a team of motivated individuals | cerebral /ˈserəbrəl/ Adjective
motivated employees feel that their work is special something that is cerebral involves someone
and important having to think very hard and use their brain and
Verb: motivate | Adjective: motivating | Noun: intelligence. If a person is cerebral, they are good at
motivation | Noun: motive thinking and using their brain and not so good at
motivate someone to do something physical activity like sport
their teacher really knows how to motivate them | translating Shakespeare into Finnish is a very
his success motivated the rest of the students to do cerebral activity | she was a cerebral individual and
better | greed was a motivating factor in his decision didn’t even want to play tennis on holiday | a rather
| he has no motivation to study | some students fail cerebral novel by a famous philosopher

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 2

cringe /krɪndʒ/ Verb shovel /ˈʃʌv(ə)l/ Noun

if you cringe, you feel awkward and embarrassed if you shovel something such as sand or snow, you
because you are seeing something that is of very bad move large amounts of it out of the way using a
quality spade or shovel
I cringed when she started singing the national we spent the afternoon shovelling snow off the
anthem | seeing him up on the stage made me cringe pavement | his job was to shovel coal into the boiler |
| I cringe every time I see myself on video | I can’t she helped me shovel the leaves off the path
read these letters without cringing Noun: shovel
thousands of workers using shovels were building a
methodical /məˈθɒdɪk(ə)l/Adjective canal
if you are methodical, you do things in a thorough
and well-organised way. You can also say that the shrink back /ʃrɪŋk bæk/ Phrasal verb
way you do things is methodical if you shrink back, you feel awkward and
everything will get done on time so long as you stay embarrassed by something
calm, don’t panic, and work in a methodical way | she shrank back in embarrassment when she saw her
he was very methodical in his habits | a methodical dad on the dance floor | she shrank back, thinking he
approach to problem solving | I suggest finding a wanted to kiss her
methodical process that works for you
Adverb: methodically | Noun: method
you need to work methodically and systematically |
this method is effective and should bring you good
results

realm /relm/ Noun

a realm is any area of activity, knowledge, or
thought
she was highly respected in the political realm |
a company that is trying to break into the social
networking realm | that is the same problem we face
in the academic realm | we’re finally making progress
in the educational realm

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 3

3 Design for life

shabby /ˈʃæbi/ Adjective
Page 33
something that is shabby looks old and in poor
built-up /bɪlt-ʌp/ Adjective condition, as if it has not been looked after for a
a built-up area is one where there are a lot of long time
buildings and streets and not very much open space he’s always wearing that shabby old overcoat to
a built-up area work | houses in the next street were even shabbier
there used to be fields there when I was growing up, | a shabby hotel behind the station | a shabby
but it’s all built-up now | you can’t build an airport neighbourhood on the other side of the river
so close to a built-up area | the city’s built-up area
storey /ˈstɔːri/ Suffix
extends as far as the motorway now | a densely built-
a storey is a level in a building. A three-storey
up area
building has a ground level and two more levels
deprived /dɪˈpraɪvd/ Adjective above it. A four-storey building has three levels
a place that is deprived is one where very poor above the ground floor
people live. You can also say that a person is she lives in a five-storey block of flats | plans for a
deprived if he or she is very poor 40-storey skyscraper
a deprived area | a deprived childhood/background
tree-lined /triː-laɪnd/ Adjective
one of the most deprived areas in the country | a a tree-lined road, street, alley, etc. has trees all the
deprived inner city school | deprived children | he way along either side of it
wrote a play about his deprived background (about
tree-lined avenue/street/path
growing up very poor) | she had a very deprived
childhood a sloping, tree-lined avenue leads to the cemetery
| cross the field, then follow the tree-lined path
Noun: deprivation
that goes off to the left | a busy city with tree-lined
the city has high levels of deprivation | a life full of streets
hardship and deprivation

high-rise /ˈhaɪraɪz/ Adjective Pages 34–35

a high-rise building is a very tall building in a built-
amenity /əˈmiːnəti/ Noun
up area
amenities are things like shops, libraries and
a modern high-rise apartment building | a high- restaurants that are useful to the people who live or
rise hotel | two high-rise buildings from the 1960s are staying nearby
are being demolished | they’re building a high-rise
the village has two shops and other amenities | there
development in the financial quarter of the city
are amenities within walking distance of the house |
Noun: high-rise an ideal holiday location close to essential amenities |
fire broke out in a residential high-rise in the south a camp site with only very basic amenities
of the city
boom town /buːm taʊn/ Noun
imposing /ɪmˈpəʊzɪŋ/ Adjective a boom town is a town where there is suddenly a lot
something that is imposing is very large and of economic activity and people there have money
impressive and it grows very quickly
the entrance is through some imposing gates | the when the railway arrived in 1850, Chattanooga
imposing appearance of Bodiam Castle seen from became a boom town | Aberdeen was a boom town
the opposite hill | despite their imposing physical once oil was discovered in the North Sea | Westport
presence, elephants are actually rather friendly was a boom town until a cholera epidemic in the
Verb: impose 1840s killed half the population
the Eiffel Tower imposes itself on the Paris skyline characterless /ˈkærɪktə(r)ləs/ Adjective
somewhere that is characterless is dull and has
run-down /rʌn-daʊn/ Adjective
nothing interesting happening it
a building that is run-down is not in good condition
because it is old and hasn’t been looked after well. we were surrounded by a characterless city centre
You can also say that an area of a town or city is run- which closed down by eight in the evening | there
down was a rather characterless bar on the first floor
of the hotel | wide characterless streets led to the
when we bought the house, it was old and run-down
stadium | it was the third characterless airport I’d
| the flat’s very run-down and needs a lot of work | a
been through in a week
run-down block of flats | a run-down area with lots
of social problems

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 3

cheat /tʃiːt/ Verb a photogenic village in the Pyrenees | people queued

to cheat means to do something that is not normally to take photos of the photogenic little cottage | I’m
allowed by the rules not photogenic and hate being photographed | the
scenery around here is very photogenic
it’s cheating to call Granada a town because it’s
really a city | it’s quite difficult to cheat at chess | not port town /pɔːt taʊn/ Noun
paying your taxes is cheating a port town is a town by the sea where cargo ships
and passenger ships operate from
ghost town /gəʊst taʊn/ Noun
a ghost town is a town where everyone has left the largest port town on the north coast | a port
because there is no more work, and all the buildings town with ferries going to and from Sicily and
are empty Sardinia | these port towns were vital to the growth
of trade in the sixteenth century
we passed through a ghost town on our way out
of the mountains | Worthing was like a ghost town quaint /kweɪnt/ Adjective
on Sunday afternoon | we were given a tour of the somewhere that is quaint has a lot of interesting and
ghost town old-fashioned buildings
historic town /hɪsˈtɒrɪk taʊn/ Noun the hotel was on a quaint little street by the harbour
a historic town is an old town that still has a lot of | it was such a quaint little town | we spent a week in
old buildings in it a quaint little cottage in Norfolk
welcome to the historic town of Arundel | a riverside regional capital /ˈriːʤənl ˈkæpɪtl/ Noun
walk with views over the historic town | Goslar is a a regional capital is an important town or city that
historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany is also the main town or city in a county, province,
state, etc.
holiday town /ˈhɒlədeɪ taʊn/ Noun
a holiday town is a town where a lot of people come Rennes is the regional capital of Brittany | the map
to spend their holidays shows major towns and regional capitals | half the
population of the whole province live in the regional
I grew up in a holiday town on the west coast | capital
the coast has a string of holiday towns along it | a
popular Scottish holiday town | a quiet holiday town scruffy /ˈskrʌfi/ Adjective
with beautiful beaches somewhere that is scruffy is not well looked after
and looks slightly dirty and untidy. If a person looks
industrial town /ɪnˈdʌstrɪəl taʊn/ Noun scruffy, their clothes are not smart or clean and they
an industrial town is a town where there are a lot of look very untidy
factories
the city centre is all right, but the suburbs are a bit
Runcorn is an industrial town and port in Cheshire scruffy | he always looks scruffy | she was wearing a
| a medium-sized industrial town | people left the pair of scruffy jeans | a scruffy-looking garden
countryside to find work in the growing northern
industrial towns self-contained /ˌself kənˈteɪnd/ Adjective
somewhere that is self-contained has everything it
lively /ˈlaɪvli/ Adjective needs to operate without having to bring in services
a place that is lively has a lot of social activity going from outside
on and people enjoying themselves
the campus is self-contained and if you don’t want
the area around the university is very lively | the to, you don’t have to leave it till the end of term
school has a lively atmosphere | the city has a lively | she lives in a self-contained flat on the second
arts centre floor | houses were built as part of a self-contained
magnet /ˈmæɡnɪt/ Noun neighbourhood
a magnet is a piece of metal that can pull other shanty town /ˈʃænti taʊn/ Noun
pieces of metal towards it. A place that is a magnet a shanty town is a poor area in or near a city where
for people or things is very popular and attracts a lot the buildings are badly made huts and where there
of visitors are no proper services like gas, water, or electricity
Granada is a magnet for tourists | the beach here is a he grew up in a shanty town outside Santiago |
magnet for surfers | Berlin was a magnet for students around many south American cities you’ll find shanty
| the ice cream van was a child magnet towns | they lived in horrible conditions in a shanty
market town /ˈmɑːkɪt taʊn/ Noun town
a market town is a town where they hold a market, sleepy /ˈsliːpi/ Adjective
usually at least once a week a sleepy town is one where there is not much social
Huddersfield has been a market town for about activity and nothing very interesting ever happens
1,000 years | a friendly and lively market town | we spent a week in a sleepy village outside
Bideford is a small market town in Devon Cirencester | it used to be a sleepy little town until
photogenic /ˌfəʊtəʊˈdʒenɪk/ Adjective they discovered gold in the hills behind it | for most
someone or something that is photogenic always of the year, it was a quiet, sleepy place
looks pretty or attractive in photographs

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 3

spa town /spɑː taʊn/ Noun conservatory /kənˈsɜː(r)vət(ə)ri/ Noun

a spa town is a town where there is natural water a conservatory is an extra room attached to the side
under the ground, and where people come to drink of a house, often with a lot of windows to make the
it because they think it is good for their health room light and warm
Buxton and Ashbourne are two spa towns in the as usual, we had breakfast in the conservatory | our
Peak District of Derbyshire | another spa town is conservatory developed a leak in the roof | they built
Matlock Bath, popular in the nineteenth century | he a conservatory almost as soon as they moved in to
was a doctor in the spa town of Harrogate their new house

sprawling /ˈsprɔːlɪŋ/ Adjective deadly /ˈdedli/ Adverb

a sprawling town or city is one that has spread out in you use deadly to emphasize the unpleasantness of a
all directions situation
a sprawling suburb with 325,000 inhabitants | the the situation is deadly serious, but help is on its way |
university is housed on a sprawling campus to the cancer is a deadly disease | the two men were deadly
south of the city | the sprawling town is the largest in enemies | a dangerous and deadly stretch of road
eastern Mali desperately /ˈdesp(ə)rət(ə)li/ Adverb
Verb: sprawl | Noun: sprawl you use desperately to emphasize the extreme
urban sprawl nature of an unpleasant quality or emotion
the city sprawled out from its original site by the she was desperately sad after her father died | he
river | thanks to urban sprawl, our village is now part was desperately unhappy in his last job, and left
of the built-up area of the city after three months | he came from a desperately
poor family | we were desperately short of food and
university town /ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsɪti taʊn/ Noun medicines
a university town is a town with one or more
universities, and which therefore has a lot of domestic appliance /dəmɛstɪk əplajəns/ Noun
students living in it a domestic appliance is a piece of electrical
equipment such as a vacuum cleaner or a washing
nowadays, Brest is an important university town
machine
with over 23,000 students | Heidelberg is the oldest
university town in Germany | the two university a shop selling a range of domestic appliances | turn
towns of Oxford and Cambridge are about 100 off domestic appliances to save electricity | most
kilometres apart domestic appliances these days have little computers
inside them
well-kept /wɛl-kɛpt/ Adjective
somewhere that is well-kept is properly looked after hopelessly /ˈhəʊpləsli/ Adverb
and looks neat and tidy you use hopelessly to emphasize how extreme or
bad something is
behind the well-kept garden stood a two-storey
wooden house | the playground is colourful and well- one umbrella was hopelessly inadequate for the
kept | a modest, well-kept house in Kemptown | three of us | by the time it got dark I was hopelessly
tourists come for the cathedral and to visit the well- lost and had to sleep under a hedge | he left the
kept park meeting feeling hopelessly depressed and confused

ideally /aɪˈdɪəli/ Adverb

Pages 36–37 you use ideally to emphasize that something exists
or is happening in the best possible way
bitterly /ˈbɪtə(r)li/ Adverb
you use bitterly to emphasize how bad and extreme he was ideally suited to a career in the army | each
an emotion or situation is session should ideally be 30 minutes long | the
cottage is ideally situated in the historic heart of the
it was a bitterly disappointing result for the
village
England football team | he returned home a bitterly
disappointed man | she bitterly resented the way Adjective: ideal
her brother was treated so much better than her the weather here is ideal for growing raspberries
| I bitterly regret telling him his work was not
acceptable insulator /ˈɪnsjʊˌleɪtə(r)/ Noun
an insulator is an object or material that is very good
closely /ˈkləʊsli/ Adverb at stopping heat passing from one side to another,
you use closely to emphasize how firmly two things and that can help keep a building or room warm by
are connected or similar to each other stopping the heat getting out
the two companies have been closely linked for five reindeer skin is a good insulator | fat is an excellent
years | the food at dinner closely resembled what we insulator against the cold | common building
had eaten for lunch | the wallpaper closely matches materials that are poor insulators include glass and
the colour of the curtains metal
Adjective: close Verb: insulate | Noun: insulation
she bore a close resemblance to her father the government are encouraging everyone to

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insulate their homes | good insulation will make your you use vaguely to emphasize that something is not
house much more energy efficient very precise or definite
he looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t remember
mildly /ˈmaɪldli/ Adverb where I’d seen him before | she was vaguely aware
you use mildly to say that a quality is not very of a smell of smoke | the instructions were very
intense or extreme vaguely written | he vaguely remembered seeing the
a mildly interesting documentary about the Russian film many years earlier
Revolution | he seemed mildly surprised by my adjective: vague
question | his first two books were only mildly I had only a vague memory of our meeting
successful | a mildly entertaining play
wildly /ˈwaɪldli/ Adverb
painfully /ˈpeɪnf(ə)li/ Adverb you use wildly to emphasize how extreme or
you use painfully to emphasize how undesirably unreasonable something is
extreme something is
the weather forecast for today was wildly inaccurate |
she was painfully shy when she started school | the the early solar system was a wildly unstable place | they
fact that he couldn’t speak English soon became were wildly enthusiastic about moving to Australia
painfully apparent | it was painfully obvious that I

was going to fail the exam | the ending of the film

was painfully sad Pages 38–39
patently /ˈpeɪt(ə)ntli/ Adverb break new ground /breɪk njuː graʊnd/ Phrase
you use patently to emphasize that a particular if you break new ground, you start doing something
quality is very apparent that no one else has done before or start doing
it was patently obvious that he had only just got something in a way that has never been done before
up | his suggestion was patently ridiculous | her her work is highly original and succeeds in breaking
explanation of what had happened was patently new ground | Concorde broke new ground in
untrue | a patently incorrect analysis passenger air travel but lost its makers a lot of
money | the university broke new ground by opening
perfectly /ˈpɜː(r)fɪk(t)li/ Adverb a second campus in China
you use perfectly to emphasize a particular quality
Adjective: groundbreaking
his answer was perfectly reasonable | whatever
these colleges are committed to doing
they did, it was perfectly legal | I feel perfectly
groundbreaking research | there was nothing
fine, thanks | he didn’t want to stay for perfectly
groundbreaking in what he said, it was just plain
understandable reasons
common sense
sliding /ˈslaɪdɪŋ/ Adjective
charmed /tʃɑː(r)md/ Adjective
sliding doors, windows, walls, etc. do not swing but
if you are charmed, you are fascinated by something
slide sideways
nice that you have seen or heard
the sliding walls make the house very flexible | the
the visitors will be charmed when they step through
sliding doors open automatically as you approach
the door | Andy was charmed by the man, but his
them | the room at the back was fitted with sliding
wife was very suspicious of him | everyone was
windows
charmed by her granddaughter’s singing
stunning /ˈstʌnɪŋ/ Adjective Verb: charm
something that is stunning is extremely impressive he could charm anyone with his smile | the president
and beautiful charmed his visitors with stories about the palace
absolutely stunning | stunning scenery | a stunning
view cover a lot of ground /ˈkʌvər ə lɒt ɒv graʊnd/ Phrase
if you cover a lot of ground, you have a discussion or
the film is visually stunning | a stunning building
you produce a piece of writing that successfully deals
| the room looked stunning and was decorated
with a lot of important information
beautifully | a stunning view from the hotel window
| the cottage is set in stunning scenery | the stunning we covered a lot of ground in the first three lessons
countryside of Wensleydale of the course | the book is only 120 pages long but
it covers a lot of ground | in her 15-minute talk she
Adverb: stunningly
managed to cover a lot of ground
a stunningly beautiful landscape
establishment /ɪˈstæblɪʃmənt/ Noun uncount
timber /ˈtɪmbə(r)/ Noun uncount the establishment is the existing set of institutions
timber is wood, especially wood that is used as a and people who have control and influence in a
building material country, and who do not want to introduce any
a timber merchant (someone who sells timber) | a changes that will affect their position in society
timber-framed house | we use local timber whenever a member of the establishment | she felt she had to
we can | it’s important to use good quality timber challenge the establishment | the election of Trump
was seen as a protest against the establishment
vaguely /ˈveɪɡli/ Adverb

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 3

get off the ground /gɛt ɒf ðə graʊnd/ Phrase to put it bluntly, he’s stupid | Jeff told me bluntly
if a plan or a business activity gets off the ground, it that he wasn’t going to work for me any more | she
starts to work in the way that is intended bluntly refused to listen to what he was trying to say
| Don asked me bluntly “Did you steal my wallet?”
we thought the project would never get off the
ground, but after Jim joined the team we made Adjective: blunt | Noun: bluntness
good progress | most of his ideas never got off the he gave me honest, blunt advice | to be blunt, you
ground because he never had enough money to should look for a different job | the bluntness of her
fund them | strong social media support helped the question took me by surprise | he apologised for his
website get off the ground bluntness earlier

keep your feet on the ground /kiːp jɔː fiːt ɒn ðə graʊnd/ heritage /ˈherɪtɪdʒ/ Noun uncount
Phrase a country’s heritage is its cultural traditions that
if you keep your feet on the ground, you do not let a have developed over a long time, its important and
moment of success influence you too much and carry historical buildings, and its sense of its own history
on acting in a sensible and practical way a rich heritage | a national/cultural heritage |
it’s important to keep your feet on the ground and preserve/protect one’s heritage
carry on working hard | she even had an email from people should appreciate their own heritage |
the prime minister, but she was determined to keep it’s important to protect our national heritage |
her feet on the ground buildings that are part of our heritage | the country’s
rich cultural heritage | trying to preserve their
on the grounds that /ɒn ðə graʊndz ðæt/ Phrase Scottish heritage
the grounds for doing something are reasons for

doing it. If you do something on the grounds that

something else is true, then that something else is Pages 42–43
the reason for doing it
court house /kɔːt haʊs/ Noun
he begged for mercy on the grounds that he had
a court house is a building where trials take place to
never meant to hurt anyone | she refused to resign
decide if someone is guilty of a crime they have been
on the grounds that she was not responsible for
accused of
the problem | his application was rejected on the
grounds that he did not have enough experience the court house was built in 1889 | police took him
out through the back door of the court house to
sketch out /skɛʧ aʊt/ Phrasal verb avoid the waiting journalists | she stood on the steps
if you sketch something out, you make a rough of the court house and read a prepared statement
drawing of it or write a brief plan of action to see
what it might look like or what might need to be profound /prəˈfaʊnd/ Adjective
done something that is profound is very significant and
important
she would initially sketch out her ideas on a sheet of
plain paper | he sketched out a design for the new both directors had a profound influence on world
kitchen | I’ve only sketched it out so far, but I believe cinema | this experience had a profound effect on
this project could be completed within two years his career | the novel made a profound impression
on me | the implications for the government are
sought-after /ˈsɔːt ˌɑːftə(r)/ Adjective profound
if something or someone is sought-after, lots of Adverb: profoundly
people want to have them or use them
he was profoundly saddened by her departure |
one of the most sought-after architects in the world | Pushkin has profoundly influenced western writers
a highly sought-after first edition of Harry Potter and such as Henry James
the Philosopher’s Stone | he became much sought-
after as a lecturer on global warming put your finger on /pʊt jɔː ˈfɪŋgər ɒn/ Phrase
if you can’t put your finger on something, you can’t
stand your ground /stænd jɔː graʊnd/ Phrase quite explain or understand something
if you stand your ground, you continue to insist
I knew there was something wrong, but I couldn’t
that you are right when other people think you are
quite put my finger on what it was | I can’t put my
wrong or want you to change what you are doing
finger on why that music is so great | I think you
she stood her ground and proved them all wrong by put your finger on it when you said they must have
the end of the week | you should have stood your looked at the wrong set of data
ground – he was never going to carry out his threats
| Alec stood his ground and cancelled his order sole /səʊl/ Adjective
the sole person, thing, idea, etc. is the only one
present in a particular situation
Pages 40–41
his sole aim was to finish writing the book before the
bluntly /ˈblʌntli/ Adverb end of the year | your sole responsibility is to make
if you say something bluntly, you say exactly what sure you recover from the illness | the sole function
you think in a direct way and don’t care if you of the server is to act as a central storage device |
offend the people you are speaking to the company’s sole purpose is to make a profit for its

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shareholders outstretched /ˌaʊtˈstretʃt/ Adjective

if a person or animal has a part of their body
Adverb: solely outstretched, it is extended out as far as it can go
the shop is run solely by volunteers | he based his he sat there silently, staring at his outstretched feet
decision solely on what he had read online | she ran towards him, arms outstretched | it looks
uplifting /ʌpˈlɪftɪŋ/ Adjective like a large turtle with its flippers outstretched | the
something that is uplifting makes you feel happy eagle hovered over the edge of the cliff with large
and full of hope outstretched wings
it’s a really inspiring story, really uplifting | a joyful Phrasal verb: stretch out
and uplifting occasion | an uplifting experience | she stretched out a hand to introduce herself | he
energetic and uplifting music | it was uplifting to see stretched out his toes to see if the water was cold
the results of all her hard work
Adjective: uplifted
I felt totally uplifted by the end of the film

Review P age 44
flipper /ˈflɪpə(r)/ Noun
a flipper is the flat arm or leg of a sea animal such as
a whale or a penguin
whales move easily through water because of their
flippers | it had flippers instead of feet | the flippers
help it swim very fast

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4 Innovation
Page 45 when I was younger | house prices in the south are
completely unaffordable | his family was faced with
amplify /ˈæmplɪˌfaɪ/ Verb unaffordable medical bills
to amplify a sound means to make it louder and
easier to hear break /breɪk/ Verb
a hearing aid that amplifies speech | his voice was if you break something, you damage it badly so
amplified by the echo coming off the walls | the that it doesn’t work any more or so that it goes into
music was amplified to an unacceptable level lots of pieces. If it is easy to break an object, it is a
breakable object. If it is almost impossible to break
Noun: amplifier | Noun: amplification something, it is unbreakable
how much does a guitar amplifier cost? | directional I dropped a plate and broke it | who broke my cup?
microphones can vary the direction of maximum | please don’t break it | he broke the window with a
amplification football | how did you break your phone?
cut out /kʌt aʊt/ Phrasal verb Adjective: breakable || Opposite – Adjective:
if you cut out something unwanted, you do unbreakable
something that stops it from reaching you or make sure you pack breakable items very carefully |
affecting you plastic is convenient, lightweight, unbreakable and
these ear buds cut out external noise | we drew the relatively cheap | this stuff is virtually unbreakable
curtains to cut out the light | I’ve cut out alcohol for
January coated /ˈkəʊtɪd/ Adjective
something that is coated has a thin layer of
ear bud /ɪə bʌd/ Noun something all over the outside of it
an ear bud is a small object that you can put in your coated with something
ear, and that can carry a sound signal, for example many tablets today are coated | the walls were
from a mobile device or as part of a hearing aid coated with a fine plaster | stir until all the rice is
some ear buds will block out external sounds | a pair coated with oil | the statue was coated with very thin
of Bluetooth ear buds | my ear buds keep falling out gold leaf
| you get much better sound quality with these ear Verb: coat | Noun: coating
buds
a coating of something
virtually /ˈvɜː(r)tʃʊəli/ Adverb coat the bottom of the dish with sauce | don’t put
you use virtually to say that a particular quality or too much coating on | apply a thick coating of liquid
feeling is almost complete rubber with a brush
she was virtually blind | it was virtually impossible to
see across to the other side of the road | the town cosmetic /kɒzˈmetɪk/ Adjective
looked virtually unchanged since his childhood | the changes or actions that are cosmetic deal only with
operation was virtually painless the appearance of something and not with its actual
nature or substance
Adjective: virtual
a cosmetic change
escape from the prison was a virtual impossibility
the stadium was given a cosmetic upgrade last year |
the work was being done for purely cosmetic reasons
Pages 46–47 | changes to the outside were cosmetic | cosmetic
afford /əˈfɔː(r)d/ Verb surgery (to improve someone’s appearance)
if you can afford something, you have enough dispose of /dɪsˈpəʊz ɒv/ Phrasal verb
money to be able to pay for it. Something that you if you dispose of something, you succeed in throwing
can afford is affordable. Something you cannot it away because you no longer need it or use it.
afford is unaffordable Something that is intended to be used once then
once I start work, I’ll be able to afford a new coat | thrown away is disposable
she can’t afford a new car | I don’t know how they it costs $100 per tonne to dispose of rubbish | what’s
could afford to buy a house in Hampstead | I could the best way to dispose of old batteries? | the
never afford to live in London | she could only just company is disposing of all its old computer screens
afford to pay her rent
Noun: disposal | Adjective: disposable
Adjective: affordable || Opposite – Adjective:
unaffordable disposal of something
we offer affordable prices and quality workmanship once a year they organise the disposal of broken
| university education was much more affordable furniture | we drank coffee out of disposable cups |
you should stop using disposable shopping bags

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excuse /ɪkˈskjuːs/ Verb workers | the government is not willing to negotiate

if you excuse someone, you forgive them or do not with terrorists
punish them for something bad they have said or Adjective: negotiable || Opposite – Adjective: non-
done. If they do something so bad that you cannot negotiable
excuse them, they have done something inexcusable it’s normally £400 but the fee is negotiable | salary is
I can’t excuse his behaviour | I understand why he did negotiable based on experience and qualifications
it but I still can’t excuse his actions | the fee is non-negotiable and must be paid in
Adjective: excusable || Opposite – Adjective: advance | the deadline is June 30th, and that’s non-
inexcusable negotiable
none of what he did was excusable in my opinion push the boundaries /pʊʃ ðə ˈbaʊndəriz/ Phrase
| what you did was inexcusable and you must if you push the boundaries, you do something more
apologise to your grandmother | it’s inexcusable to intensely, better, faster, etc. than it has ever been
stay in bed until lunchtime done before
fabric /ˈfæbrɪk/ Noun scientists have pushed the boundaries of what is
fabric is cloth or material used for making clothes, possible and produced graphene, a material that is
sheets, covering for furniture, etc. just one atom thick | a research laboratory pushing
the boundaries of technology | if we don’t push the
a light cotton fabric | silk is my favourite fabric for boundaries we won’t survive in business
this sort of dress | a shop window displaying several
colourful fabrics | a roll of fabric refund /ˈriːfʌnd/ Verb
if someone refunds some money, they return
fold /fəʊld/ Verb some money to you that you gave them earlier,
if something folds, or if you fold it, it bends so for example because they sold you something that
that one part of it covers the other. If something is doesn’t work. If money that you give someone can
foldable, it is possible to fold it be refunded later, it is refundable
fold down | fold up | fold out the amount you paid will be fully refunded | we will
the chair will fold down flat | he folded up the refund all monies you have paid us | we will only
newspaper and put it back in his briefcase | the refund tickets if the performance has been cancelled
screen folds out so you get twice the size Noun: refund | Adjective: refundable
Adjective: foldable claim/request/demand a refund | receive/obtain a
a foldable leather hat | foldable solar panels | a refund
foldable Bluetooth keyboard he took the watch back and they gave him a refund
imagine /ɪˈmædʒɪn/ Verb | passengers can claim a refund if they are delayed
if you imagine something, you have a picture more than two hours | the deposit is refundable
or impression of it in your mind even though when you return the car in good condition | are the
you cannot see it or it is not actually happening. shipping fees refundable if I return the product?
Something you can imagine is imaginable rely /rɪˈlaɪ/ Verb
I never imagined it would be this hot in Brighton | if you can rely on someone or something, you can be
can you imagine what it would be like to be blind? sure that they will do what you expect them to do.
| I tried to imagine him as a young man | it’s hard to Someone or something you can rely on is reliable
imagine a better way to spend a weekend rely on someone or something
Noun: imagination | Adjective: imaginable || Opposite I know he’s got the right skills, but can we rely on
– Adjective: unimaginable him? | don’t worry, you can rely on me | the village
in my imagination, I thought he was taller | a vivid relied on farming to provide enough work for
imagination (an ability to think of very exciting everyone | he relies heavily on his parents to help pay
things) | the orchard had every kind of fruit tree the bills
imaginable | they have every imaginable herb and Adjective: reliable | Adverb: reliably | Noun: reliability
spice in their kitchen | a world without the Internet | Opposite – Adjective: unreliable
is just unimaginable | the storm caused unimaginable
damage she’s a very reliable babysitter | my car’s 20 years old
but still very reliable | a friendly and reliable taxi
negotiate /nɪˈɡəʊʃieɪt/ Verb driver | a reliable worker | he was reliably informed
to negotiate means to talk about something until that the president was ill | he nearly lost his job
you can agree with someone what you will both because of his poor reliability | Tony’s a lovely man,
do or accept. If you are prepared to change your but so unreliable
demand about something, it is negotiable. If there
is something that you will not change your mind remove /rɪˈmuːv/ Verb
about, it is non-negotiable if you remove something, you take it away from
where it is, or you take it away from the other things
negotiate (something) with someone that are with it. If something is designed to be
we negotiated a price with the taxi driver | we are removed or can be easily removed, it is removable
negotiating a big deal with a Chinese TV company remove something from something
| the company said it won’t negotiate with the

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both cars were finally removed from the scene of Pages 48–49
the crash | you should remove the curtains before
painting the window | first remove the cover and come /kʌm/ Verb
take out the lining | these fences can be easily if you come to do something, you eventually start
installed and removed doing it
Adjective: removable come to do something
a removable hard disk | the phone battery is easily we’ve come to depend on the Internet for all our
removable news | he slowly came to realise that the company
was failing | years later, I came to understand why he
repair /rɪˈpeə(r)/ Verb left home
if you repair something that is broken, you mend
it so that it works properly again. If it is possible to come about /kʌm əˈbaʊt/ Phrasal verb
repair something, it is repairable if something comes about, it happens
we managed to repair the damage | I need to repair how did this strange situation come about? | it
my bike | I had to get someone to repair the washing only came about because we both happened to be
machine | he took the car to the garage to be in Washington at the same time | by the time the
repaired change finally came about it was too late
Noun: repair | Adjective: repairable || Opposite – come across /kʌm əˈkrɒs/ Phrasal verb
Adjective: irreparable if you come across something, you find it, even
they were doing repairs on the railway line | the car though you weren’t looking for it
needs a few small repairs | I damaged the camera I came across some old photographs when I was
when I dropped it, but luckily it was repairable | if it’s looking for my tennis racket | she came across him
not repairable, you’ll just have to get a new one | the while doing research into her family history | I
damage to the car was irreparable came across your website just now; it’s very good |
have you ever come across any books by Robertson
reuse /riːˈjuːz/ Verb Davies?
if you reuse something, you use it again rather
than throw it away or use a new one. If you can use come off /kʌm ɒf/ Phrasal verb
something again, it is reusable if an activity or experiment comes off, it succeeds
the roof timber was old, but could be reused | the his attempt to build a new shed didn’t come off | if
new building reused many of the bricks from the old this comes off, no one will be more surprised than
one | we reused the wood to make benches me | we built a sort of mechanical bread making
Noun: reuse | Adjective: reusable machine but it didn’t come off
all equipment must be thoroughly cleaned before come up against /kʌm ʌp əˈgɛnst/ Phrasal verb
reuse | a lot of what we throw away is actually if you come up against something or someone, they
reusable | you should always take a reusable create problems for you in what you are trying to do
shopping bag with you or achieve
wash /wɒʃ/ Verb I had never come up against this sort of difficulty
if you wash something, you make it clean by using before | she came up against all sorts of problems
water and sometimes soap. Things that you can wash and always managed to find a way through | the
are washable biggest problem we came up against was lack of
I need to wash my hands | it’s your turn to wash money
the dishes after dinner | she washed her hair in the come up with /kʌm ʌp wɪð/ Phrasal verb
shower | let’s wash the car before it gets dark | he if you come up with an idea, you think of it
spent the afternoon washing clothes
he’s always coming up with really good suggestions
Noun: wash | Adjective: washable | that’s brilliant! I knew you’d come up with
give something a wash something | my wife came up with the idea when
can you give this shirt a wash? | the seats have a we were on holiday | well, if you can come up with a
removable and washable cover | a machine-washable better system we’ll try it
suit (it can be cleaned in a washing machine)
commonplace /ˈkɒmənˌpleɪs/ Adjective
widespread /ˈwaɪdˌspred/ Adjective something that is commonplace exists in large
something that is widespread exists in a lot of numbers and over a wide area
different places cars weren’t so commonplace before the war |
there is widespread conflict across the continent mobile phones are commonplace now, but they
| corruption was widespread in the capital | hardly existed 30 years ago | tattoos are increasingly
overcrowded cities suffered from widespread poverty commonplace in the UK
| physical punishment was widespread throughout
mail-order /ˈmeɪlˌɔːdə/ Noun uncount
the school system
mail-order is a method of buying something in which
you choose what you want to buy and send an order
to the company who are selling it, and they then

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 4

send it to you through the post a successful entrepreneur | Lisa is a serial

entrepreneur, having founded three businesses
a mail-order catalogue | buying shoes by mail order is
risky | I got it by mail-order and it took weeks before give it a go /gɪv ɪt ə gəʊ/ Phrase
they finally delivered it | have you tried mail-order or if you give it a go, you try to do something even if
Internet shopping? you are not sure how to do it or not sure whether
you will succeed
outing /ˈaʊtɪŋ/ Noun
I’ve never run a marathon before, but I’ll give it a
if you go on an outing, you go somewhere not very
go | the only way to find out if you can do it is to
far away for pleasure
give it a go | I saw someone doing it on YouTube and
a family outing | a works outing thought I’d give it a go myself
we’re off on an outing on Saturday | we had an
outing to the beach on Saturday | my dad said he’d give it some thought /gɪv ɪt sʌm θɔːt/ Phrase
take us on an outing tomorrow if the weather is if you give something some thought, you think
good | the South Downs are a great place to go for seriously about it for a good while before making a
a family outing | a works outing (when people who decision or coming to a conclusion
work together go for a day out somewhere that is we’ve give it some thought and decided to offer you
organised by their employer) the job | interesting idea! I’ll give it some thought
over the weekend | take your time, give it some
recognition /ˌrekəɡˈnɪʃ(ə)n/ Noun uncount thought, and ring me on Monday
if you get recognition for something, people see
and understand what you have done and show their give it some time /gɪv ɪt sʌm taɪm/ Phrase
approval if you tell someone to give it some time, you are
she hopes they will now get the recognition they encouraging them to wait before making a decision
deserve | the campaign has received international about something because you think things will
recognition | after years of effort, he finally got change or improve for them
recognition for his achievements | it’s a shame she it’s difficult in your first week at university, but it give
didn’t get that public recognition during her lifetime it some time and you’ll get used to it | if I were you,
Verb: recognise I’d give it some time before deciding to resign | give
it some time, wear them every day for a week, and
the award recognised her achievements over the last
you’ll see they’re the most comfortable shoes you’ve
ten years
ever worn
unworthy /ʌnˈwɜː(r)ði/ Adjective
give it your best /gɪv ɪt jɔː bɛst/ Phrase
if something is unworthy, it is not good enough or
if you give something your best, you try as hard as
valuable enough to deserve being considered or
you can to succeed in what you are trying to do
believed
I gave it my best, but only managed to come third |
his proposal is unworthy of your consideration | it’s
you’ve given it your best and you couldn’t have done
just unworthy of your attention | in my opinion,
more than that | she gave it her best and won the
the book was unworthy of all the praise it received
whole tournament
| some people thought Bob Dylan was unworthy of
the Nobel Prize give someone a break /gɪv ˈsʌmwʌn ə breɪk/ Phrase
Opposite – Adjective: worthy if you give someone a break, you do not criticise
Murray was a worthy winner of the tournament them or treat them harshly even if you think they
have made mistakes or done something badly
give me a break! I’ve been doing my best | give him a
Pages 50–51 break, he’s only just left school | just give me a break
burned out /bɜːnd aʊt/ Adjective will you! At least I tried
if someone is burned out, they have been working
so hard and for so long that they no longer have the give someone the go-ahead /gɪv ˈsʌmwʌn ðə ˈgəʊəhɛd/
energy to carry on at the same level of intensity Phrase
if someone in authority gives you the go-ahead, they
a lot of people in banking are burned out by the age
give you permission to start an activity that you want
of 30 | I felt both physically and emotionally burned
to do
out | she felt utterly burned-out and had to quit her
job they liked our proposal and gave us the go-ahead
| they were given the go-ahead to build a new
entrepreneurial /ˌɒntrəprəˈnɜː(r)iəl/ Adjective stadium | the project finally finished in 2015, eight
an entrepreneur is someone who sets up and runs a years after being given the go-ahead
business. You use entrepreneurial to describe their
activities and abilities high-end /haɪ-ɛnd/ Adjective
high-end goods or services are very good quality and
his entrepreneurial skills | my past entrepreneurial
therefore expensive
attempts failed | her entrepreneurial spirit carried
her through a high-end restaurant | we only sell high-end brands
in this store | you won’t get a high-end laptop for
Noun: entrepreneur

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 4

less than £1,000 these days | she bought a high-end deforestation in South America | the Pacific region is
sports car with the money she’d won experiencing rapid deforestation along with all the
problems that come with it
ill-fitting /ɪl-ˈfɪtɪŋ/ Adjective Verb: deforest | Adjective: deforested
if a piece of clothing is ill-fitting, it does not fit you over the centuries, human activity deforested most
properly of the south of England | fortunately, the deforested
their shoes were filthy and ill-fitting | Jack arrived land was suitable for farming
wearing a pair of ill-fitting jeans | an ill-fitting jacket
that didn’t quite do up at the front household /ˈhaʊsˌhəʊld/ Noun
a household is a house or flat and all the people
make-up /ˈmeɪkʌp/ Noun uncount living in it
someone’s make-up is all the different elements of over 3,000 households were without electricity
their personality considered together for two hours last night | the problem is worse
willingness to say sorry is just not in his make-up for households with children | a household name
| modesty has always been part of her make-up | (a person or brand who is very famous) | 70% of
nothing in his make-up suggested he would be a bad households in the city have one or more children
father under the age of 16
satisfaction rating /ˌsætɪsˈfækʃən ˈreɪtɪŋ/ Noun on the verge of /ɒn ðə vɜːʤ ɒv/ Phrase
the satisfaction rating of a company or its products is if you are on the verge of doing something, you are
the opinion of the customers, usually as expressed in about to do it but have not quite started yet
online reviews that people write on the verge of doing something
they were getting a high satisfaction rating for their I was on the verge of quitting my job when my
shoes | Japanese cars regularly top the customer boss gave me a pay rise | we were on the verge
satisfaction ratings | the hotel got a satisfaction of bankruptcy | rebel troops were on the verge of
rating of 85% last year | we need to improve our surrender | the Roman Empire was on the verge of
customer satisfaction rating by the end of the year collapsing
swell /swel/ Verb retailer /ˈriːˌteɪlə(r)/ Noun
if part of your body swells or if something swells it, a retailer is a shop where people can buy things
it becomes bigger
one of the biggest High Street retailers of electrical
swell up goods | an online retailer | December is traditionally
a disease that swells the feet and ankles | my feet the best month for most retailers | most retailers
always swell up during a plane journey | her hand reported increased sales last month
swelled horribly after the wasp sting | I could feel my Verb: retail | Noun: retail
foot starting to swell
the latest phone retails at £645 | retail sales increased
Adjective: swollen | Noun: swelling again last year
his face was very swollen | I went to the doctor with
a swelling on my back under a spell /ˈʌndər ə spɛl/ Phrase
if you are under someone’s spell, you allow them to
influence your decisions and do not make your own
Pages 52–53 independent decisions
implement /ˈɪmplɪˌment/ Verb I was under her spell for the first two months of
if you implement a plan or course of action, you university | they behaved as if they were under a
carry it out spell | his aunt had him under a spell
this policy will be implemented in the course of the
next 12 months | unfortunately, the plan was never Review Page 56
implemented | the government implemented an
ambitious programme of reforms | these guidelines diplomat /ˈdɪpləmæt/ Noun
have been successfully implemented by the majority a diplomat is someone who represents their country,
of the schools in the city and who usually works in an embassy in a foreign
country
Noun: implementation
she worked for 30 years as a diplomat before retiring
implementation of something
to Devon | an excellent diplomat who spoke several
actual implementation of the reforms took years languages | a school for the children of diplomats
longer than expected | a senior Western diplomat called the proposal
“unacceptable”
Pages 54–55 Adjective: diplomatic | Noun: diplomacy
deforestation /diːˌfɒrɪˈsteɪʃ(ə)n Noun uncount diplomatic relations were cut off (two countries
deforestation is the process of cutting down trees to refused to accept diplomats from each other) |
clear the land for other uses diplomatic negotiations continued for a further
three weeks | it was hoped that diplomacy would
deforestation can have a seriously bad effect
help prevent the situation getting worse
on wildlife | we need to slow down the rate of

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 4

speech pattern /spiːʧ ˈpætən/ Noun

someone’s speech pattern is the way their voice goes
up and down as they speak. Everyone has a unique
speech pattern that is different from everyone else’s
a computer program that can mimic human speech
patterns | his speech patterns remind me a lot of his
father

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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 5

5 The magic of travel

shape /ʃeɪp/ Verb
Page 57
if you shape something, you have a strong influence
affable /ˈæfəb(ə)l/ Adjective over its development and over its final form
someone who is affable is very friendly, relaxed, and he wrote a book about how humans have shaped
easy to talk to the landscape | the battle shaped the course of
the staff here are very affable and eager to help | events that led to the end of the war | these changes
Dan’s an affable sort of chap – I’m sure you’ll get profoundly shaped the lives of the villagers | the
on well with him | she’s intelligent, affable, and character of the neighbourhood is shaped by the
extremely clever | he had an affable nature history and geography of the city
Adverb: affably
wary /ˈweəri/ Adjective
he smiled affably and shook hands | Stella waited if you are wary, you are slightly cautious about
affably while he hunted for his wallet something or someone because you think they might
cosy /ˈkəʊzi/ Adjective cause problems or difficulties
if a place is cosy, it is warm, comfortable, and wary of something/someone
relaxing he seemed wary of taking any risks | she became
it’s lovely and cosy when everyone’s sitting round the increasingly wary of large dogs | there are lots of
table | a cosy little restaurant | it was warm and cosy reasons you should be wary | he seemed wary of
by the fire | make yourself cosy and I’ll bring you a holding my hand
cup of tea | if you want to create a cosy atmosphere Adverb: warily | Noun: wariness
in a small room, go for darker colours she looked at me warily for a moment, then smiled
Adverb: cosily | Noun: cosiness and said “hello” | warily, Tim reached out a hand | he
we sat cosily round the fire | she wrapped a warm treated them with respect and also wariness
scarf cosily round her neck | the thick curtains
provided additional cosiness and privacy Pages 58–59
grand /ɡrænd/ Adjective carefree /ˈkeə(r)ˌfriː/ Adjective
if something is grand, it is big and impressive someone who is carefree does not have any worries
the houses looked very grand | a grand public or responsibilities and behaves in a relaxed way
building | he’s got grand plans | two grand staircases since he retired he’s lived a carefree existence | she
go up to the top floor had a carefree attitude to life | we were young
Noun: grandeur and carefree then | we spent a carefree month in a
cottage by the lake
the 18th-century grandeur of the palace | the
hotel has many modern facilities whilst keeping its checklist /ˈtʃekˌlɪst/ Noun
Victorian grandeur a checklist is a list of things that you want or need to
do
officious /əˈfɪʃəs/ Adjective
someone who is officious applies rules in a very strict we only went there because it was on Sarah’s
way, especially minor or trivial ones that do not checklist | start writing your travel checklist today! |
really matter that’s another capital city I can cross off my checklist |
an officious museum curator | an officious steward I haven’t got a checklist – I’ll just see where I feel like
going every day
told us we had to use the other entrance | I don’t
know why you’re being so officious about this | a day by day /deɪ baɪ deɪ/ Phrase
very officious doctor came and told me I had to make if you do things day by day, you do not plan ahead
an appointment but deal with things as they arise every day
preconception /ˌpriːkənˈsepʃ(ə)n/ Noun he just took life day by day | it’s hard trying to get
your preconceptions are the ideas you have about through things day by day
something that often turn out to be wrong once you
disruption /dɪsˈrʌpʃ(ə)n/ Noun
have had a chance to learn more about it
if there is disruption, something happens that
preconception about something interrupts and spoils a situation
we all came to the theatre with different there’s been disruption on the railways due to heavy
preconceptions of what to expect | this book will snow | measures will be taken to reduce disruption
challenge your own preconceptions | I didn’t have during the building works | we suffered serious
any preconceptions so I couldn’t be disappointed disruption to our Internet connection all afternoon
| you should approach the task without any
Verb: disrupt | Adjective: disruptive
preconceptions

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phone and electrical services were disrupted by neck and neck /nɛk ænd nɛk/ Phrase
the storm | two weeks before we were due to if competitors are neck and neck, they are both at
start filming, a fire disrupted all our preparations the same stage in a race or competition and neither
| his arrival had a disruptive effect on the rest of of them is winning yet
the meeting | he’d been warned before about his they were neck and neck as they came to the last 100
disruptive behaviour metres | with one day of the race left, it’s still neck
and neck | the two main parties are neck and neck in
face to face /feɪs tuː feɪs/ Phrase the opinion polls
if you deal with something with someone face to
face, you are both in the same place at the same pretend /prɪˈtend/ Verb
time, rather than talking by email or on the phone if you pretend, you behave in a way that deliberately
suggests something about you that is not true
we arranged to meet face to face | I’d rather do this
face to face, not by email | we never actually met pretend to do something | pretend that
face to face | Richard arrived to discuss the situation they pretend to be someone different | it’s one of
face to face those TV programmes everyone pretends to hate |
we all pretended not to hear what he’d said | she
flank /flæŋk/ Verb had decided to pretend that nothing had happened |
if something flanks a place or area, it lies to one side I had to pretend I really liked the film
of it
Noun: pretence
the lagoon was flanked by majestic mountains | the
wide sandy bay is flanked by high cliffs | two large Jess made a pretence of drinking the water (she
towers flank the main entrance didn’t actually drink it) | his interest was not all
pretence
go from strength to strength /gəʊ frɒm strɛŋθ tuː strɛŋθ/
Phrase see eye to eye /siː aɪ tuː aɪ/ Phrase
if something goes from strength to strength, it if two people see eye to eye, they agree with each
constantly improves and gets better other about something
the company has gone from strength to strength see eye to eye on something
since opening the new factory | sales figures went he hasn’t always seen eye to eye with his neighbour
from strength to strength | despite the recession, the | we instantly saw eye to eye on several important
industry continued to go from strength to strength issues | I don’t think we’ll ever see eye to eye on this |
I’m glad we see eye to eye for once
go hand in hand /gəʊ hænd ɪn hænd/ Phrase
if two things go hand in hand, they each happen smouldering /ˈsməʊldərɪŋ/ Adjective
because of and with the help of the other something that is smouldering still has smoke
go hand in hand with something coming off it because it has been on fire or has
reached a very high temperature
her success went hand in hand with the hard work
she had put in over the winter | revolutionary art we explored a cave under the smouldering volcano
went hand in hand with revolutionary politics | poor | we left the smouldering fire to go out overnight |
diet often goes hand in hand with increased levels of the fire was caused by a smouldering candle
disease Verb: smoulder
it burned for two days and smouldered for another
go on and on /gəʊ ɒn ænd ɒn/ Phrase
six | the bonfire carried on smouldering at the
if someone goes on and on about something, they
bottom of the garden
talk about it without stopping in an annoying way

go on and on about something

he went on and on about the traffic on the M25 | Pages 60–61
she’s always going on and on about her trip to New anticipation /ænˌtɪsɪˈpeɪʃ(ə)n/ Noun uncount
York | I wish you wouldn’t go on and on about it so anticipation is the feeling of excitement you get
much when you think something pleasant or enjoyable is
going to happen
gorge /ɡɔː(r)dʒ/ Noun
a gorge is a very narrow valley with very steep sides we arrived in Spain with a feeling of great
anticipation | the weeks before Christmas were
the road through the gorge is incredibly beautiful |
full of anticipation | he opened the door with
the gorge ran for six miles before opening out | the
pleasurable anticipation | the air was full of
river runs through a heavily wooded gorge | they
excitement and anticipation
finally built a bridge across the gorge
Verb: anticipate
itinerary /aɪˈtɪnərəri/ Noun the crowd anticipated another close tennis match
an itinerary is a list of all the places that you will go
to and activities you will do on a journey break /breɪk/ Noun
a busy itinerary | have you seen the itinerary for a break is a short holiday when you go away
tomorrow? | you can see the itinerary on their web somewhere
page | I’m afraid the museum is not on the itinerary go on a break | have a break | a weekend/short break
| a city break
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 Life Advanced Word List Unit 5

we went on a weekend break to Paris | special offer magical /ˈmædʒɪk(ə)l/ Adjective

short breaks available if you book today | I can’t something that is magical is especially good and
afford a break, even in Manchester enjoyable in a way that is almost not real
the cottage was a truly magical place | a magical trip
exhilarating /ɪɡˈzɪləˌreɪtɪŋ/ Adjective down the river Danube | we spent a few magical
something that is exhilarating makes you feel happy days on the west coast of Scotland
and excited
make your way /meɪk jɔː weɪ/ Phrase
a long but exhilarating trip to the mountains |
if you make your way somewhere or make your way
it’s been an exhilarating weekend | that was an
to a particular place, you go there
exhilarating experience | doing my job can be so
exhilarating sometimes make your way to somewhere
Adjective: exhilarated the shop is closing in five minutes - will customers
by the end of the day I was tired but exhilarated please make their way to the exit | he made his way
home slowly in the dark | if you make your way to
expectation /ˌekspekˈteɪʃ(ə)n/ Noun the information desk, someone will be able to help
expectation is the feeling you have when you think you there
you know what is going to happen
manage /ˈmænɪdʒ/ Verb
the film exceeded all our expectations (was better if you manage to do something, you eventually do it,
than we thought it would be) | unfortunately, even though it might be quite difficult
the hotel did not meet our expectations | if you
manage to do something
keep your expectations reasonable, you won’t be
disappointed I haven’t managed to save much money yet this year
Verb: expect | did you manage to get the tickets for the match on
Saturday? | we managed to find a hotel for less than
I didn’t expect to get such a high mark | she was £100 a night | don’t worry, I can manage on my own
expecting a new bike for Christmas
overcharged /ˌəʊvə(r)ˈtʃɑː(r)dʒ/ Adjective
head for /hɛd fɔː/ Phrasal verb if you are overcharged, someone tells you the wrong
if you head for somewhere, you start to travel in that price for what you are buying and makes you pay
direction too much
I’m going to head for Manchester and try to get be careful and don’t get overcharged in the market |
there by 10 | are you heading for the station? | the I didn’t realise I’d been overcharged until I got home
storm is now heading for Mississippi | it’s time we and looked at the receipt | if you paid 20 euros you
headed for home were overcharged
holiday /ˈhɒlɪdeɪ/ Noun Verb: overcharge || Opposites – Adjective:
a holiday is a period of time when you do not have undercharged | Verb: undercharge
to work. If you go on holiday, you go and stay taxi drivers here regularly overcharge tourists |
somewhere away from where you live in order to due to a computer error, several customers were
have a nice time undercharged | people will be suspicious if they think
go on holiday you are undercharging them
we usually go to Spain on holiday | have you been on popular /ˈpɒpjʊlə(r)/ Adjective
holiday this year? | where are you going on holiday? | I if someone or something is popular, a lot of people
only get two weeks’ holiday a year | a public holiday (a like them
day when all the businesses in a country are closed for
a special celebration) | a summer holiday | we had a he’s very popular with his classmates | a popular
lovely holiday in Wales TV programme | her music is very popular all over
the world | Miss Jenkins is a very popular teacher |
journey /ˈdʒɜː(r)ni/ Noun football is the most popular sport in this country |
if you go on a journey, you travel from one place to the Harry Potter books are very popular
another, usually over a long distance Noun: popularity || Opposite – Adjective: unpopular
go on a journey | a long journey the government is losing popularity | the singer’s
how long does the journey take? | I hope you had popularity has grown | the popularity of Internet
a good journey | you must be tired after your long shopping | it was an unpopular decision | the new
journey | how was your journey? | our journey began president quickly became very unpopular
in London and ended in Sydney | have a safe journey!
ruin /ˈruːɪn/ Verb
location /ləʊˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/ Noun to ruin something means to spoil it completely
a location is the place where something is there was a big argument which ruined the rest
our hotel was in a convenient location near the city of the evening for me | the rain ruined my shoes
centre | the campsite was in a beautiful location | we | I know it will just ruin my life if I don’t get in to
don’t know the exact location of the ship | the talks university | I was so late for the interview it ruined
are taking place in a secret location my chances of getting the job

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set off /sɛt ɒf/ Phrasal verb one that covers the top half of your body apart from
if you set off, you start a journey your arms, that you wear when you go swimming
set off for somewhere | set off on something don’t forget to pack your swimming costume | a
green and white swimming costume | I got changed
Wilson set off up the mountain without a guide | we into my swimming costume, then walked down to
set off for home at 5 | it’s time to set off | she set off the beach
to walk the two miles back to her flat | they set off
on a three-day holiday trip to Edinburgh | do you swimsuit /ˈswɪmˌsuːt/ Noun
want something to eat before we set off? a swimsuit is a piece of clothing you wear when you
go swimming
sled /sled/ Noun
a sled is an object people use to travel over snow. I forgot to bring my swimsuit | she lay on the beach
It has pieces of metal or wood instead of wheels so in her swimsuit | a two-piece swimsuit
that it can slide and is usually pulled by animals such thrilling /ˈθrɪlɪŋ/ Adjective
as dogs something that is thrilling is extremely exciting
the sled was pulled by a team of six huskies (dogs) | the movie is a thrilling adventure set the in 23rd
a horse-drawn sled | the sled was loaded with tents century | the book describes their thrilling journey
and other equipment for the expedition across three continents | in a thrilling match, Italy
spoil /spɔɪl/ Verb beat Germany 3-1 | meeting David Beckham was
thrilling
to spoil something means to do something that stops
it being good, pleasant, or enjoyable Adjective: thrilled | Verb: thrill
I don’t want to spoil their fun, but I think they she was thrilled to be offered the job | the match
should have to stop before midnight | Jen’s parents thrilled a crowd over 40,000 spectators
were there the whole time which completely spoiled
trip /trɪp/ Noun
the party | my new shoes got spoiled in the rain
a trip is a journey you make somewhere
spot /spɒt/ Noun how was your trip to Korea? | did you have a good
a spot is a particular place where someone or trip? | we’re planning a trip to see the Taj Mahal in
something is, or where something happens India | a three-week trip across the US | the round
a beauty spot | a tourist spot trip took 12 hours (a journey that returns to where
this is the very spot where Lenin got off the train | you started from) | a day trip to Stratford (a trip for
we chose a nice spot for the picnic | this is a good just one day) | a school trip (an organised visit to
spot to catch fish | we visited all the popular tourist somewhere interesting)
spots | a beauty spot (a place which is very attractive, well-liked /wɛl-laɪkt/ Adjective
usually in the country side) | we parked in a shady if someone is well-liked, they are liked by a lot of
spot under a tree people
start out /stɑːt aʊt/ Phrasal verb a well-liked TV personality | he was well-liked in the
if you start out on a journey, you begin it town where he lived | she was well-liked by everyone
it was still dark when we started out in the morning who met her
| they started out early in the hope of getting there wonderful /ˈwʌndə(r)f(ə)l/ Adjective
for lunch | what time did you start out? something that is wonderful is very good and you
stew /stjuː/ Noun enjoy it very much
stew is a dish consisting of meat and vegetables we had a wonderful holiday | the film was just
cooked slowly in a liquid sauce wonderful | the food was wonderful | that’s
a beef stew | cook the stew for at least three hours | wonderful news! | what a wonderful surprise | we
we’re having stew tonight | the stew’s not ready yet listened to some wonderful music

succeed /səkˈsiːd/ Verb Pages 62–63

if you succeed, you complete what you were trying
to achieve a matter of time /ə ˈmætər ɒv taɪm/ Phrase
if you say that it is only a matter of time before
succeed in doing something
something happens, you mean that it is almost
she doesn’t stop until she succeeds at something | we certain that it will happen
are determined to succeed | I succeeded in getting
it’s only a matter of time before someone works out
a job in advertising | if at first you don’t succeed, try
how to do it | if he hasn’t succeeded yet, it’s just a
again | she was determined to succeed where others
matter of time until he does | another economic crisis
had failed
is only a matter of time
Noun: success | Adjective: successful
there are several reasons for the team’s success | the as a matter of course /æz ə ˈmætər ɒv kɔːs/ Phrase
party was a great success | a successful film director if you do something as a matter of course, you do it
without having to make a decision to do it because
swimming costume /ˈswɪmɪŋ ˈkɒstjuːm/ Noun it is your habit or it is the most sensible or natural
a swimming costume is a piece of clothing, especially thing for you to do

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I buy apples rather than pears as a matter of course | is a disaster waiting to happen | he’s going to have to
I always have the windows open at night as a matter resign after this, no matter which way you look at it |
of course | we will have to inform your parents about it’s terrible, no matter which way you look at it
this as a matter of course painstaking /ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋ/ Adjective
as a matter of principle /æz ə ˈmætər ɒv ˈprɪnsəpl/ if you do something in a painstaking way, you do it
very thoroughly and carefully
Phrase if you do something as a matter of principle,
you do it because you firmly believe it is the right in the early years, it was slow and painstaking
thing to do and are not prepared to change your work | the whole painstaking process of replacing
mind about it the window took all afternoon | she described her
experiences in painstaking detail | after a painstaking
I never fly on a matter of principle | we always buy
investigation, police announced that they had made
local vegetables as on a matter of principle | he made
an arrest
it a matter of principle to take the blame for any
mistakes made by members of his team Adverb: painstakingly
the process was painstakingly slow | each piece is
for that matter /fɔː ðæt ˈmætə/ Phrase painstakingly painted by hand
you use for that matter to emphasize that what you
have just said is just as important or equally true as uncanny /ʌnˈkæni/ Adjective
what you said before it something that is uncanny is rather strange or
the books are ideal for children, and adults too for mysterious and is difficult to explain
that matter | this was uncomfortable for the horse, he had an uncanny ability to know what I was about
and the rider for that matter | I don’t eat beef, or to say | she bore an uncanny resemblance to her aunt
any other red meat for that matter | I had an uncanny feeling that someone else was
in the room | she had an uncanny way of making us
marvel /ˈmɑː(r)v(ə)l/ Verb feel very welcome
if you marvel at something, you look at it with a lot
of admiration because it impresses you a lot Adverb: uncannily
marvel at something it sounds uncannily like an early Beatles song | even
though they were 100 metres away, their voices were
I marvelled at the grand buildings in Petra | visitors uncannily clear
marvel at the gardens and the spectacular view

over the lake | I still marvel at the sight of St Basil’s

Cathedral on Red Square Pages 64-65
Adjective: marvellous
take precautions /teɪk prɪˈkɔːʃənz/ Phrase
the view from the hotel window was absolutely if you take precautions, you do something that will
marvellous prevent something bad from happening to you or
that will make the bad effect of something weaker
mind over matter /maɪnd ˈəʊvə ˈmætə/ Phrase
if you say something is a question of mind over wear a scarf just as a precaution | take precautions
matter, you mean that it is possible to control things against germs | as a sensible precaution against
like pain or discomfort by using your mind burglary, fit a burglar alarm | the cinema had
to be closed until they had taken adequate fire
it might be a case of mind over matter, but it really
precautions
hurts! | come on Sam – mind over matter! You can do
it | the power of mind over matter got him through Adjective: precautionary
the last five miles of the marathon precautionary measure
turn off the gas as a precautionary measure
no laughing matter /nəʊ ˈlɑːfɪŋ ˈmætə/ Phrase
if you describe a situation as no laughing matter, you bandage /ˈbændɪdʒ/ Noun
mean it is very serious and important even though a bandage is a long piece of cloth that you wrap
some people might think at first that it is funny around a part of your body that is injured
getting lost in the mountains was no laughing we put a bandage on his knee | I wrapped the
matter | giving someone the wrong dose of medicine bandage round his arm | he had a bandage on his
is no laughing matter | the threat of global warming hand | once the bandage is removed, you’ll be able
is no laughing matter | it’s no laughing matter to have a shower | the nurse came every day to
getting stuck in a lift change the bandages
no matter which way you look at something Verb: bandage
/nəʊ ˈmætə wɪʧ weɪ juː lʊk æt ˈsʌmθɪŋ/ Phrase we bandaged his leg | he pointed to his bandaged
when you are making a statement, you can emphasize arm | she bandaged Ray’s foot with her scarf
that it is an accurate description of a situation by
saying no matter which way you look at it blurb /blɜː(r)b/ Noun
the blurb on the cover of a book is a short
no matter which way you look at it, climate change
description of the book that is intended to make it
sound interesting so that you will buy it

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according to the blurb, she wrote this in just three perhaps her suggestion is not so far-fetched as I first
weeks | the blurb on the back cover was very honest | thought
writing a blurb is harder than you’d think glance /ɡlɑːns/ Verb
if you glance at someone or something, you look at
compelling /kəmˈpelɪŋ/ Adjective
them briefly and then look away again
something that is compelling is so interesting that
you want to know more about it. A story that is I glanced at my watch | she glanced nervously at the
compelling is one that you are very keen to finish so door | Jed glanced round to make sure no one else
that you can find out what happens in the end was there | she glanced down at her notes before
continuing her speech
another compelling story from Denmark’s favourite
author | action, adventure and romance make for a Noun: glance
compelling read | a book with a compelling narrative I had a quick glance at the letter | his glance fell
upon the broken cup | he went out without a
convincing /kənˈvɪnsɪŋ/ Adjective backward glance (he did not look back as he left)
something that is convincing succeeds in making you
believe something that you did not believe at first heavy-going /ˈhɛvi-ˈgəʊɪŋ/ Adjective
it was a very convincing article | she made a a book, film, article, etc. that is heavy-going is very
convincing case for staying in the EU | his explanation difficult to read or watch because it is not very
was not at all convincing | there is convincing exciting and you have to think very hard about it
evidence that climate change is happening now I find Arnold Bennett’s books very heavy-going | a
Verb: convince | Adjective: convinced heavy-going biography of Abraham Lincoln | I gave
up after twenty pages as it was so heavy-going
convince someone of something
he managed to convince them of his honesty | the monk /mʌŋk/ Noun
article wouldn’t convince all its readers, but it was a monk is a man who is a member of a religious
well written | I’m convinced he’ll be back at work community living in a monastery and remaining
next week separate from the rest of the world
destiny /ˈdestəni/ Noun the monastery is home to a community of 45 monks
someone’s destiny is all the things that will happen | the monks sold honey to shops in the nearby town
| some monks have to take a vow of silence (they are
to them in the future, especially when they believe
not allowed to speak to anyone)
that they cannot influence these events but that they
will happen whatever they do prose /prəʊz/ Noun uncount
your destiny is to become a great leader | sadly, you prose is writing that is not poetry
cannot choose your own destiny | we met quite by most of Bunin’s later work is prose, though he wrote
chance, but it must have been destiny | my father a lot of poetry before the Revolution | Amis has a
thought he had no control over his own destiny remarkable prose style | an elegant prose writer
Adjective: destined
sheer /ʃɪə(r)/ Adjective
we could see when he was still very young that he
you use sheer to emphasise the great size, weight, or
was destined to be a great singer
quantity of something
dismay /dɪsˈmeɪ/ Noun uncount sheer complexity/scale/size/volume/number
dismay is sadness and disappointment about by sheer luck, we found a parking space straight
something bad or unpleasant that has happened away | I was overwhelmed by the sheer complexity
to someone’s dismay | with/in dismay | voice your of the problem | the sheer volume of information
dismay available has grown enormously | the sheer quantity
the minister voiced her dismay | the look on her face of floodwater was horrifying | the sheer number of
expressed dismay | his death caused dismay among visitors is posing a threat to the area
his friends | Ruth shook her head in dismay | to
stretched out /strɛʧt aʊt/ Adjective
everyone’s dismay, the singer failed to arrive
if someone is stretched out, they are lying flat with
Verb: dismay | Adjective: dismaying | Adverb: their arms and legs straight
dismayed
he was lying stretched out on his back | the beach
his decision to leave dismayed his family | what is it was covered in sunbathers stretched out in the
that dismays you about the situation? | they were morning sun
dismayed by what they saw | it was a dismaying
Phrasal verb: stretch out
experience | I found it all very dismaying | Peggy was
too dismayed to speak he stretched out across the bed

far-fetched /ˌfɑː(r) ˈfetʃt/ Adjective strong-willed /ˌstrɒŋ ˈwɪld/ Adjective

something that is far-fetched is so unlikely to be true someone who is strong-willed is very determined and
that you do not believe it does not let problems, difficulties, or criticism stop
them from doing what they are trying to do
the plot was much too far-fetched | it was a pretty
far-fetched idea but they decided to try anyway | he grew into a powerful and strong-willed young man
| she was strong-willed and very independent-minded

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| both our children are incredibly strong-willed Pages 66-67

Opposite – Adjective: weak-willed grab /ɡræb/ Verb
he’s always been weak-willed and easy to influence if you grab something such as food or a drink, you
take it from somewhere very quickly, especially
thought-provoking /ˈθɔːt prəˌvəʊkɪŋ/ Adjective
because you are in a hurry
something that is thought-provoking makes you
think about it a lot I usually grab a quick coffee on my way to work |
there’s no time for lunch; I’ll grab a sandwich at the
we watched a really thought-provoking station | can you grab me a coffee while I make a
documentary last night | a thought-provoking article
phone call? | she grabbed a can of Coke on her way
in today’s newspaper | her poems are beautiful and
into the lecture | let’s stop here and grab a bite to
very thought-provoking eat (have some food)
trailer /ˈtreɪlə(r)/ Noun
pilgrim /ˈpɪlɡrɪm/ Noun
the trailer for a film is a few short sections of the
a pilgrim is someone who goes to a holy place
film that are shown to advertise it and to give you an
because they believe it is their religious duty, often
idea of what the film is like walking there over a long distance
you can see the trailer for her latest film on YouTube
more than 350 pilgrims arrived here last week | the
| I saw the trailer, and I’ve just got to see the film | we
route has been followed by pilgrims for over 1000
had to sit through ten minutes of trailers before the years | most of the people in the hostel were pilgrims
main film came on on their way to Santiago
uneventful /ˌʌnɪˈventf(ə)l/ Adjective Noun: pilgrimage
an uneventful period of time is not very exciting an annual pilgrimage to Canterbury
because nothing interesting happens
the trip home was uneventful | the rest of the truth be told /truːθ biː təʊld/ Phrase
morning was mostly uneventful | after an uneventful you say truth be told to emphasise that you are
visit to the museum we decided to go swimming in saying what you really think or what is really true
the afternoon truth be told, I never liked the James Bond films | I
Adverb: uneventfully don’t think Chelsea can win the cup, truth be told |
truth be told, I didn’t really want the job anyway
the years passed uneventfully until one day, when he
was 12, his father reappeared
Review Page 68
uninspiring /ˌʌnɪnˈspaɪərɪŋ/ Adjective
something that is uninspiring does not make you upmarket /ʌpˈmɑː(r)kɪt/ Adjective
feel interested or want to find out more about it but upmarket goods or services are very expensive and
makes you feel bored are made for people who are prepared to spend a
lot of money on them
it was a dull, uninspiring task | an uninspiring
film | his teaching methods were old-fashioned an upmarket restaurant in Pimlico | an upmarket
and uninspiring | a disappointing and thoroughly sports car brand | there are several upmarket hotels
uninspiring exhibition by the harbour | they tried to move their cars more
upmarket to appeal to the American market
Adjective: uninspired
the story was uninspired, but the acting was good | a
rather uninspired election campaign

virtue /ˈvɜː(r)tʃuː/ Noun

someone’s virtues are their good qualities
each character is very human in their virtues and
their faults | she has many virtues, but patience is not
one of them | he possesses the virtues of courage and
loyalty
Adjective: virtuous
his parents were virtuous and hard-working people

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