Easier English Dictionary for Students : Over 35,000 Terms Clearly Defined

1025 Pages·2003·9.54 MB·English

by  P H Collin

EASIER
ENGLISH
STUDENT
DICTIONARY
Dictionary Titles in the Series:
Basic English Dictionary 1 9016 5996 8
Easier English Dictionary: Handy Pocket Format 0 7475 6625 9
English Study Dictionary 1 9016 5963 1
English Thesaurus for Students 1 9016 5931 3
Specialist Dictionaries:
Dictionary of Banking and Finance 0 7475 6685 2
Dictionary of Computing 1 9016 5946 1
Dictionary of Economics 0 7475 6632 1
Dictionary of Hotels, Tourism and Catering Management 1 9016 5999 2
Dictionary of Human Resources and Personnel Management 0 7475 6623 2
Dictionary of Marketing 0 7475 6621 6
Dictionary of Military Terms 1 9038 5620 5
Dictionary of Nursing 0 7475 6634 8
Dictionary of Science & Technology 0 7475 6620 8
Check your Vocabulary Workbooks:
Business 0 7475 6626 7
English for Academic Purposes 0 7475 6691 7
English for First Certificate Examination 1 9016 5911 9
English for the IELTS Examination 1 9016 5960 7

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EASIER
ENGLISH
STUDENT
DICTIONARY

General editor
P.H. Collin
A BLOOMSBURY REFERENCE BOOK
Originally published by Peter Collin Publishing
Third edition published 2003
Second edition published 2000
First published in Great Britain 1999
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
38 Soho Square
London W1D 3HB
© Copyright P.H. Collin, F. Collin, S.M.H. Collin 1999, 2000
This edition © Bloomsbury Publishing 2003
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced in any form or by any means without the
permission of the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 7475 66240
eISBN-13: 978-1-4081-0200-8
Text processing and computer typesetting by Bloomsbury
Printed and bound in Italy by Legoprint
All papers used by Bloomsbury Publishing are natural, recyclable
products made from wood grown in sustainable, well-managed forests.

The manufacturing processes conform to the
environmental regulations of the country of origin.
GENERAL EDITOR
P. H. Collin
Editorial Contributors
Lesley Brown, Sandra Anderson, Stephen Curtis, Penelope Hands,
Dinah Jackson, Alice Grandison, Isabel Griffiths, Imogen Kerr,
Héloïse McGuinness
Text Production and Proofreading
Katy McAdam, Joel Adams, Daisy Jackson,
Sarah Lusznat, Sandra Anderson, Ruth Hillmore, Irene Lakhani,
Fiona McIntosh

Preface
By 2050, it is estimated that fifty percent of the world’s population will have some
competence in English. Many of these people will regard themselves as improvers
rather than learners and will have only occasional need to quickly check the mean-
ing of a word in a dictionary.
This dictionary is a portable, easy-to-use quick reference tool for a large number of
words and phrases, rather than a substitute for the detailed guidance of a grammar
or course book. It includes commonly heard terms, with an indication of their rele-
vant frequency, and many more terms from the worlds of work and communication
and of modern society generally.
Each word is individually defined, and no words, not even adverbs, are listed
without a definition. Examples and collocations are given for words that are likely
to be used in practice, in order to provide patterns for the user’s own production of
English sentences. Less frequently encountered words, which only need to be re-
cognised and understood, are given definitions only.
Each word, including compound words and phrasal verbs, has its own easy-to-find
main entry in bold type. Each word has a pronunciation in the International
Phonetic Alphabet. Typical phrases and idioms associated with the main term are
shown in bold type and separately defined within the entry.
The meaning of the main senses of each word is given clearly and simply, using a
limited and easily understood vocabulary. Meanings are grouped together by their
part of speech.
Extra help is offered in Notes at the end of some entries. These include unusual
inflected forms and warnings about words which sound the same but have different
spellings and can be confused with each other. The major differences in US and
British spelling are also noted. Synonyms and antonyms (opposites) are given for
many words.
Parts of speech
abbr (abbreviation) interj (interjection) prefix
adj (adjective) modal verb prep (preposition)
adv (adverb) noun pron (pronoun)
article plural noun [always takes a suffix
conj (conjunction) plural verb] verb
Symbols
Thenumbers(cid:1) ,(cid:2) ,(cid:3) indicatewordswhicharecommonlyused,from(cid:1) =the
mostbasicandessential,(cid:2) =frequentandusefultoknow,to(cid:3) =startingto
developawidervocabulary.
(cid:1) before a new part of speech
(cid:2) before examples
(cid:3) before a phrase or collocation
(cid:1) before an idiom
(cid:1) an explanation of the word will be found at the place indicated
(cid:2) extra information will be found at the place indicated
Pronunciation
Thefollowingsymbolshavebeenusedtoshowthepronunciationofthemain
wordsinthedictionary.
Stresshasbeenindicatedbyamainstressmark((cid:1))andasecondarystress
mark((cid:2)).Notethattheseareonlyguides,asthestressofthewordchanges
accordingtoitspositioninthesentence.
Vowels Consonants
(cid:3) back b buck
ɑ(cid:10) harm d dead
ɒ stop ð other
a type d(cid:18) jump
aυ how f fare
aə hire (cid:22) gold
aυə hour h head
ɔ(cid:10) course j yellow
ɔ annoy k cab
e head l leave
eə fa ir m mix
e make n nil
eυ go ŋ sing
(cid:30)(cid:10) word p print
i(cid:10) keep r rest
i happy s save
ə about ʃ shop
 fit t take
ə near tʃ change
u annual θ theft
u(cid:10) pool v value
υ book w work
υə tour x loch
( shut (cid:18) measure
z zone
A
a/e/,Anounthefirstletterofthealphabet, abbreviate/ə(cid:10)bri(cid:9)viet/verb1.toshorten
followed by B (cid:1) Do you mean ‘pendant’ awordbyleavingoutsomeoftheletters2.to
speltwithan‘a’orwithan‘e’?(cid:2)fromAto shortenapieceofwritingbyleavingoutpart
Zcompletely,allthewaythrough ofit.Synonymcut
a /ə, e/, an /ən, (cid:6)n/ article1. one (cid:1) an abbreviated /ə(cid:10)bri(cid:9)vietd/ adjshortened
enormoushole(cid:1)ausefulguidebook(cid:1)She’s byhavingsomethingleftout
boughtanewcar.(cid:1)Iwantacupoftea.(cid:1) abbreviation /ə(cid:23)bri(cid:9)vi(cid:10)eʃ(ə)n/ noun a
We had to wait an hour for the bus. 2. for shortened form of a word. Compare
eachortoeach(cid:1)Applescost50pakilo.(cid:1) acronym
The car was travelling at 50 kilometres an ABC/(cid:23)ebi(cid:9)(cid:10)si(cid:9)/nounthealphabet(NOTE:
hour.(cid:1)Heearns£100aday.(NOTE:anis Thenamecomesfromthefirstlettersofthe
usedbeforewordsbeginningwitha,e,i,o, Romanalphabet.)(cid:2)it’saseasyasABCit’s
uandwithhifthehisnotpronounced:an veryeasy
appleor anhour. a is used before words abdicate /(cid:10)(cid:6)bdket/ verbto give up the
beginningwithallotherlettersandalsobe- positionaskingorqueenofacountry
foreuwhereuispronounced/ju(cid:9)/:auseful abdication /(cid:23)(cid:6)bd(cid:10)keʃ(ə)n/nounthe act
guidebook) ofgivingupthepositionofkingorqueenof
A&Eabbraccidentandemergency acountry
aback /ə(cid:10)b(cid:6)k/ adv (cid:2) taken aback sur- abdomen /(cid:10)(cid:6)bdəmən/ nounthe space in
prisedandshockedbysomethingunpleasant the front part of your body, containing the
(cid:1) She was somewhat taken aback when he stomachandotherorgans
toldhertherewasnotrainthatevening. abdominal/(cid:6)b(cid:10)dɒmn(ə)l/adjreferringto
abacus/(cid:10)(cid:6)bəkəs/nounanobjectusedfor theabdomen
counting, consisting of a frame with balls abduct /(cid:6)b(cid:10)d(cid:26)kt/ verb to take someone
whichcanbemovedonbars away,usuallybyforce.Synonymkidnap
(cid:1) abandon /ə(cid:10)b(cid:6)ndən/ verb1. to leave abduction /(cid:6)b(cid:10)d(cid:26)kʃən/ nounthe act of
someone or something without help (cid:1) The takingsomeoneaway,usuallybyforce.Syn-
crewabandonedthesinkingboat.Synonym onymkidnap
desert2.togiveuporstopdoingsomething aberrant/(cid:6)(cid:10)berənt/adjnotusualorasex-
(cid:1)Thecompanyhasdecidedtoabandonthe pected (formal). Synonym abnormal. Ant-
project.(cid:1)Weabandonedtheideaofsetting onymnormal.
upaLondonoffice. aberration/(cid:23)(cid:6)bə(cid:10)reʃ(ə)n/nounanaction
abandoned /ə(cid:10)b(cid:6)ndənd/ adj no longer orthingwhichisnotusualorexpected.Syn-
usedorlivedin onymabnormality
abandonment /ə(cid:10)b(cid:6)ndənmənt/ noun1. abet /ə(cid:10)bet/ verb to encourage or help
the act or process of giving someone or someone to do something wrong or illegal
ssoommeetohniengourps2o.mtheethaincgtowrpitrhoocuetsshoeflpl.eaSvyinng- (afobrhmoarl.r)e(cid:1)nacide(/NəObT(cid:10)hEɒ:raəbnest/tinnogun–aabfeeetltiendg)of
onymdesertion hatredorhorror(formal)
abashed /ə(cid:10)b(cid:6)ʃt/ adj ashamed or abhorrent/əb(cid:10)hɒrənt./adjhorribleordis-
embarrassed gusting(formal)
abate/ə(cid:10)bet/verbtobecomelessstrongor abide/ə(cid:10)bad/.verb(cid:2)toabidebytofollow
forceful(formal.).Synonymdecrease rules or customs (cid:1) You must abide by the
abattoir /(cid:10)(cid:6)bətwɑ(cid:9)/ nouna place where rulesofthegame.(cid:1)Wehavetoabidebythe
animals are killed for meat. Synonym decision of the referee. (cid:2) to abide by a
slaughterhouse promisetokeepapromise
abbey/(cid:10)(cid:6)bi/noun1.aplacewhereacom- abiding /ə(cid:10)badŋ/adjlasting a long time
munityofChristianmonksornunslive2.a (formal). Synonym enduring. Antonym
.
largechurch(cid:1)WestministerAbbey transient