GRADE 11: Reading and Writing.

Academic word list

Abstract - Existing as an idea, feeling, or quality, not as a material object

- Truth and beauty are abstract concepts.

Used to refer to a type of painting, drawing, or sculpture that uses shapes, lines, and colour in a way that does

not try to represent the appearance of people or things

- abstract art
- an abstract painter

Accurate - Correct, exact, and without any mistakes

- an accurate machine
- an accurate description

Acknowledge - To accept, admit, or recognize something, or the truth or existence of something

- [ + -ing verb ] She acknowledged having been at fault.

- [ + that ] She acknowledged that she had been at fault.
- You must acknowledge the truth of her argument.

To accept the truth or recognize the existence of something

- The president acknowledged his mistake in not vetoing the tax bill.

Aggregate - something formed by adding together several amounts or things; To combine into

a single group or total

- They purchased an aggregate of 3,000 shares in the company.

- Snowflakes are loose aggregates of ice crystals.

Allocate - To give something to someone as their share of a total amount, to use in a particular way

- The government is allocating £10 million for health education.

- [ + two objects ] As project leader, you will have to allocate people jobs/allocate jobs to people.

Assign - To give a particular job or piece of work to someone

- The case has been assigned to our most senior officer.

To give to someone a job or responsibility, or to decide on a person for a particular job or responsibility

- We assigned Alberto the task of watching the children.

Attach - To fasten, join, or connect something

- I attached a photo to my application form.
- Use this cable to attach the printer to the computer.
 
To join a file such as a document, picture, or computer program, to an email

- I attach (= am sending, usually with a letter) a copy of our latest report.

Author - The writer of a book, article, play, etc.

- He is the author of two books on French history.

To write a book, article, etc.

- He has authored more than 30 books.

Bond - a close connection joining two or more people

- the bond(s) of friendship/love

- There has been a close bond between them ever since she saved him from drowning.

A written agreement or promise

- They have entered into a solemn bond.

Brief - lasting only a short time or containing few words

- His  speech was really brief.
- I had a brief look at her report before the meeting.

Capable - Able to do things effectively and skilfully, and to achieve results

- She's a very capable woman/worker/judge.

- We need to get an assistant who's capable and efficient.

Having the skill or ability or strength to do something

- She’s a very capable lawyer

Cite - To mention something as proof for a theory or as a reason why something has happened

- She cited three reasons why people get into debt. 

To speak or write words taken from a particular writer or written work

- She cites both T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf in her article.

Cooperate - to act or work together for a particular purpose, or to be helpful by doing what someone asks you

to do

- A two-year old is likely to refuse to cooperate when you tell her to get dressed.

Discriminate - to treat a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the

way in which you treat other people, because of their skin colour, gender etc.

- She felt she had been discriminated against because of her age.

- In order to increase the number of female representatives, the selection committee decided to
discriminate in favour of women for three years.

Display - To arrange something or a collection of things so that it can be seen by the public

- Family photographs were displayed on the wall.

To show a feeling

- My grandfather disapproved of displaying emotion in public.

Diverse - including many different types of people or things; different

- Students from countries as diverse as Colombia and Lithuania use Cambridge textbooks.

- New York is a very culturally/ethnically diverse city.

Domain -an area of interest or an area over which a person has control

- She treated the business as her private domain.
- These documents are in the public domain (= available to everybody).

An area of interest or an area over which a person has control

- public and private domains

Edit - to make changes to a text or film, deciding what will be removed and what will be kept in,

in order to prepare it for being printed or shown

- Janet edited books for a variety of publishers.

To be in charge of the reports in a newspaper or magazine, etc.

- He edits a national newspaper.

Enhance - to improve the quality, amount, or strength of something

- These scandals will not enhance the organization's reputation.

- The county took steps to enhance water quality.

Estate - a large area of land in the country that is owned by a family or an organization and is often used

for growing crops or raising animals

- It's a typical country estate with a large house for the owner, farm buildings, and estate workers' houses.

Everything that a person owns when they die; 

- She left her entire estate to her niece.

Exceed - To be greater than a number or amount, or to go past an allowed limit

- The final cost should not exceed $5,000.

- The success of our campaign has exceeded our wildest expectations.
- He was exceeding the speed limit by 15 miles an hour.

Expert - A person with a high level of knowledge or skill relating to a particular subject or activity

- a gardening/medical expert
- My mother is an expert at dress-making (= she does it very well).

Explicit - clear and exact
- I gave her very explicit directions how to get here.
- She was very explicit about (= said very clearly and exactly) what she thought was wrong with the plans.
- I wasn't aware that I would be paying - you certainly didn't make it explicit (= state it clearly)

Federal - Relating to the central government, and not to the government of a region, of some countries such as

the US

- the federal government
- a federal agency/employee
- A federal system of government consists of a group of regions that are controlled by a central government.

Fee - an amount of money paid for a particular piece of work or for a particular right or service

- university fees

- an entrance/registration fee

- We couldn't pay the lawyer's fee.

Flexible - able to change or be changed easily according to the situation

- My schedule is flexible - I could arrange to meet with you any day next week.

Able to bend or to be bent easily without breaking;

- Rubber is a flexible substance.
- Dancers and gymnasts need to be very flexible (= able to bend their bodies easily).

Furthermore - in addition; more importantly

- The house is beautiful. Furthermore, it's in a great location.

Gender – The physical and/or social condition of being male or female

- Discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age or disability is not allowed.

Ignorant - Not having enough knowledge, understanding, or information about something

- Many teenagers are surprisingly ignorant about current politics.
- We remained blissfully ignorant of the troubles that lay ahead.

Incentive - something that encourages a person to do something

- [ C ] Tax incentives are sometimes effective in encouraging people to save money.

- [ U ] These kids have no incentive to learn.

Something, especially money, that encourages a person or organization to do something

- financial/fiscal/monetary incentive.
- Cash grants were part of the financial incentives given to developers of new solar power technology.

Incidence - an event, or the rate at which something happens

- There have been quite a few incidences of bullying in the school this year.

 The rate at which something happens
- There’s been an increased incidence of cancer in the area.

Incorporate - To include something as part of something larger

- Suggestions from the survey have been incorporated into/in the final design.

- This aircraft incorporates several new safety features.

Index - An alphabetical list, such as one printed at the back of a book showing which page a subject, name, etc.

is on

- Try looking up "heart disease" in the index to find it quicker.

Inhibit - to prevent someone from doing something by making them feel nervous or embarrassed 

- Some workers were inhibited (from speaking) by the presence of their managers.

To take an action that makes something less likely to happen, or that discourages someone from doing

something;

- The merger of the two corporations was not allowed because it would inhibit open competition.

- Some states have a rule that inhibits lawyers from talking about their cases outside the courtroom.

Initiate - a new plan or process to achieve something or solve a problem

- The peace initiative was welcomed by both sides.

The ability to use your judgment to make decisions and do things without needing to be told what to do

- Although she was quite young, she showed a lot of initiative and was promoted to manager after a year.

Input - Something such as energy, money, or information that is put into a system, organization, or machine so

that it can operate

- I didn't have much input into the project (= the help I gave was small).

Instruct - To order or tell someone to do something, especially in a formal way

- The police have been instructed to patrol the building and surrounding area.

- Tourists are instructed not to travel to the region unless absolutely necessary.

Intelligent - showing intelligence, or able to learn and understand things easily

- a highly intelligent young man
- an intelligent remark

Interval - A period between two events or times

- We see each other at regular intervals - usually about once a month.

A short period between the parts of a performance or a sports event

- There will be two 20-minute intervals during the opera.

Lecture - a formal talk on a serious subject given to a group of people, especially students

- We went to a lecture on Italian art.
- Who's giving the lecture this afternoon?

Migrate - If people migrate, they travel in large numbers to a new place to live temporarily

- Mexican farm workers migrate into the US each year to find work at harvest time.

To move from one place to another

- Trade has migrated from local shops to the larger chain stores.

Minimum - the smallest amount or number allowed or possible

- keep something to a minimum

-  Wage increases are being kept to a minimum because of the recession.

With the minimum of something

-  They installed the new computer system with the minimum of fuss, so there was no disruption at all

to our work.
- Staff earn a minimum of $15 an hour.

Ministry - in Britain and some other countries, a department of the government led by a minister

- the Ministry of Defence/Agriculture

A government department led by a minister

- All the ministries were represented at the meeting – justice, foreign affairs, economic affairs, and

the interior.

Motive - a reason for doing something; the cause of something; Reason

- Why would she have killed him? She has no motive.

- Does he have a motive for lying about where he was?

Neutral - Not saying or doing anything that would encourage or help any of the groups involved in

an argument or war

- If there's an argument between my daughter and her mother, it's important that I remain neutral.

A neutral person or thing;

- Sweden and Switzerland were neutrals during the war.

Nevertheless – However; Despite what has just been said or referred to

- I knew a lot about the subject already, but her talk was interesting nevertheless.

Overseas - in, from, or to other countries

- We need to open up overseas markets.
- There are a lot of overseas students studying at our college.
- My brother is a student overseas.

Precede - to be or go before something or someone

- It would be helpful if you were to precede the report with an introduction.

Presume - To believe something to be true because it is very likely, although you are not certain

- [ + (that) ] I presume (that) they're not coming, since they haven't replied to the invitation.

- [ + speech ] You are Dr. Smith, I presume?

Rational - Based on clear thought and reason

- There must be some rational explanation for what happened.

- a rational act/course of action
- a rational argument/decision
- He was too upset to be rational

Recover - to become completely well again after an illness or injury

- It took her a long time to recover from/after her heart operation.

- He never really recovered from the shock of his wife dying.

Reveal - to make known or show something that is surprising or that was previously secret

- He was jailed for revealing secrets to the Russians.

- [ + that ] Her biography revealed that she was not as rich as everyone thought.

Scope - the range of a subject covered by a book, programme, discussion, class, etc.

- I'm afraid that problem is beyond/outside the scope of my lecture.
- Oil painting does not come within the scope of a course of this kind.

Subsidy - money given as part of the cost of something, to help or encourage it to happen

- The company received a substantial government subsidy.
- The government is planning to abolish subsidies to farmers.

Tape - A long, narrow strip of material that is sometimes sticky on one side

- I need some tape and scissors to wrap the present.

- UK sticky tape

Thin plastic in a long, narrow strip with a magnetic covering that allows sounds or sounds and pictures to

be recorded and played again, especially one on which sound is recorded

- magnetic tape
- I've got that film on tape (= recorded) if you want to borrow it.

Trace - to find someone or something that was lost

- The police are trying to trace the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned outside a hospital.
- Attempts to trace the whereabouts of a man seen leaving the scene of the crime have
so far been unsuccessful.
- Their missing daughter was finally traced to (= found in) Manchester.

Transform - to change completely the appearance or character of something or someone, especially so that that

thing or person is improved:

- The reorganization will transform the entertainment industry.

- the power of art to transform experience

Transport - the movement of people or goods from one place to another

- the transport of live animals

- The company will arrange transport from the airport.

Underlie - to be a hidden cause of or strong influence on something

- Psychological problems very often underlie apparently physical disorders.

Utilise - to use something in an effective way; to Use

- The vitamins come in a form that is easily utilized by the body.