C1

Business and economy

Vocabulary

Meaning Example

economise (v) spend less The company are trying to

economise by not taking on
more staff.

strike (v) to refuse to continue working Democratization has given

because of an argument with an workers the right to strike and
employer over pay or work join trade unions.
conditions

cooperative (n) a company that is owned and The magazine is run as a

managed by people who work in it cooperative.

start up (n) a small business that has just Start ups are very vulnerable in
started the business world and may
struggle to make instant profits.

resign (v) to give up a job and tell your boss He resigned from his job to
you are leaving take on a new position.

pension (n) an amount of money to be paid My father won’t be able to draw

regularly by a government or his pension until he is 65 years
private company to a person who old.
 is retired or unfit to work

retire (v) to stop working In Spain you can retire at 67

years old.

bankrupt (adj) unable to pay money back which He went bankrupt after only a
you owe and as a result, a court of year in business and lost
law taking control of your financial everything.
matters or property

a business a new business activity which For any new business venture,
venture (n) involves risk there needs to be a plan b.

sales figures (n) the amount of total sales a I need to explain the
company has done in a period of disappointing sales figures to
time my boss tomorrow.

tax rates (n) the percentage or value that has to Tax rates have declined so we
be paid in tax can keep more of the money we
earn.

launch (v) to introduce something new such Maybelline have launched their
as a product new makeup range online.

sector (n) one of the areas in which the The government has seen many
economic activity of a country is losses in the financial sector.
divided

budget (n) the amount of money you have The company has an annual
available to spend budget of $40 million.

profit (n) money that is earned in trade or The company made a good
business profit from selling textiles.

break even (v) when a company doesn’t make a After paying our travel costs, we
profit or a loss barely broke even.

overdraw (v) to take more money out of a bank Their account is overdrawn by
account than the account contains $1,000. They need to pay it back
soon or the bank will charge a
 lot of interest.

transaction (n) when money is exchanged to buy The company needs to monitor
or sell a product the transaction of smaller
business deals.

loan (n) an amount of money you have I took out a loan to pay for
borrowed university.

purchase (n) something that you buy How do you wish to pay for your
purchases?

sick leave (n) time away from work because of Leo is not in the office today. He
illness has taken sick leave due to a
sprained ankle.

(business) trend a general change in a way business Recently there has been a
(n) is developing general business trend on
prioritising e-commerce and
remote working.

pitch (v) a speech to persuade someone to The man in the shop gave me
buy or do something his sales pitch on the quality
and reliability of his products.

shareholder (n) a person who owns shares or part The company’s shareholders
of a company and can vote on how have voted to remove the
the business is controlled director.

deal (n) an agreement or arrangement They came to a mutual

agreement and made a
business deal worth millions of
dollars.

affluent (adj) having a lot of money and Monaco is an affluent place to

possessions live.

fire (v) to order someone to give up his or She was fired for turning up
her job late to work everyday.
redundancy (n) having lost your job because your An economic downturn has led
employer no longer needs you to more than 10,000
redundancies.

fund (n) an amount of money saved for a The school has set up a fund to
particular purpose pay for more marketing
projects.

Phrasal Verbs

Verbs Meaning Example

set up to start a new business She wants to thank the

committee for their support
while she set up her own
business.

close down stop operating Many companies closed down

due to the pandemic.

take on to give someone a job We should put out a job advert

because we need to take on
two new members of staff.

step down to resign or leave a position/job The chairman was forced to

step down due to ill health.

branch out to start to do something differently The designer has recently

from what you usually do, branched out into children’s
especially in the world of work clothing.

to break into to begin being successful in a You need an eye-catching logo

sthg particular type of work or activity to break into the market.

to pull out to leave a market or business deal Due to a lack of funds, they
 pulled out of the deal.

take over take control or responsibility for Our regional manager will take
something over the business while I am
away.

lay off to fire staff We sadly have plans in the

immediate future to lay off 10
workers.

Idiomatic Expressions

Idiomatic Meaning Example

Expressions

no-brainer a decision that is very easy and The decision to start up a

obvious business here was a
no-brainer.

the gift of the the ability to speak easily and She’s got the gift of the gab -
gab confidently in a way that makes she should work in sales.
people want to listen to you and
believe you

have an edge an advantage over other people or In terms of experience, that

over a business candidate had an edge over
the other people who applied
for the job.

to be a hit to be a success The launch was a hit. I didn’t

expect so many people to come.

to fly off the to sell quickly We don’t have any chocolate

shelves bars left. They’ve flown off the
shelves.
 Word formation

verb adjective negative general person Adverb

adjective noun noun

retire retired unretired retirement retiree

redundant redundancy redundantly

recruit recruitment recruiter

purchase purchasable unpurchasable purchase purchaser

loan loaned/ loan loaner

loanable

transact transactional transaction transactionally

profit profitable unprofitable profit profiter profitably

profitless profitability

economise economical uneconomical economy economist economically

impress impressive unimpressive impression impressively

aspire aspiring aspiration aspirer

internship intern

bankrupt bankrupt bankruptcy

afford affordable unaffordable affordability affordably