Unit 1 Wordlist American Language Hub Level 5 

Part of
Word/Phrase speech IPA (UK) IPA (US) Definition Sample sentence
Clothes and fashion
baggy adjective ˈbæɡi baggy clothes are very loose on I normally wear
your body baggy clothes to
feel comfortable.
casual adjective ˈkæʒuəl casual clothes are comfortable It’s not a formal occasion,
and suitable for wearing in so you can just wear
informal situations something casual.
costume noun ˈkɒstjuːm ˈkɑsˌtum special clothes people wear to At the party there was
pretend to be a famous person, a prize for the best
an animal, a character from a celebrity costume.
story, etc.
dress code noun dres kəʊd dres koʊd a set of rules about what you The dress code at work
should wear in a particular is business casual.
place or at a particular event
fit in with the phrase fɪt ɪn wɪð ðə to be correct, suitable or Some people like to be
crowd kraʊd sensible in relation to people noticed rather than just
in general or a particular group fit in with the crowd.
of people
outfit noun ˈaʊtfɪt a set of clothes that are I need a new outfit for
worn together my birthday party.
scruffy adjective ˈskrʌfi messy or dirty Don’t wear that scruffy
old T-shirt again!
stand out from phrase stænd aʊt frɒm stænd aʊt frʌm to be very different and easy His clothing style makes
the crowd ðə kraʊd ðə kraʊd to notice him stand out from
the crowd.
trend follower noun trendˈfɒləʊə(r) trendˈfɑloʊər someone who behaves in a If you do what
way that is in fashion everybody else does
then you’re just a
trend follower.
trendsetter noun ˈtrendˌsetə(r) ˈtrendˌsetər someone or something that She’s always been a
starts a new fashion trendsetter among her
friends.
uniform noun ˈjuːnɪfɔː(r)m ˈjunɪˌfɔrm a set of clothes that you wear He has to wear his
to show that you are part of a school uniform
particular organization or school every day.
Metaphors
catch someone’s phrase kæʧ ˈsʌmwʌnz aɪ if something catches your eye, There was one painting
eye you suddenly notice it that caught my eye.
in the long run phrase ɪn ðə lɒŋ rʌn ɪn ðə lɔŋ rʌn not immediately but at some Cutting jobs could be
time in the future more expensive in the
long run if we have to
hire freelancers.
off-the-rack phrase ɒf ðə ræk ɔf ðə ræk clothing available to buy She bought an off-the-
without being ordered or rack wedding dress.
designed for a particular
customer
off-the-shelf phrase ɒf ðə ʃelf ɔf ðə ʃelf available to buy without being The company could
ordered or designed for a have a software
particular customer, typically accounting package
referring to non-clothing items tailor-made or buy one
off-the-shelf.
on a tight phrase ɒn ə taɪt ˈbʌʤɪt ɑn ə taɪt ˈbʌʤɪt to do something with a small They run the magazine
budget amount of money on a tight budget.
peanuts noun ˈpiːˌnʌts ˈpinəts a very small amount of money He bought his house for
peanuts and it’s worth a
lot more now.

American Language Hub Level 5 Teacher’s Resource Center.

Published by Macmillan Education, a division of Springer Nature Limited. © Springer Nature Limited, 2020. This page may be photocopied and used within the class. 1
Unit 1 Wordlist American Language Hub Level 5 

Part of
Word/Phrase speech IPA (UK) IPA (US) Definition Sample sentence
seamless adjective ˈsiːmləs ˈsimləs changing or continuing very When the new boss
smoothly and without stopping came in, it was a
seamless transition.
snap something phrasal verb snæp ʌp to buy something as soon as it By 10 o’clock most of the
up becomes available best bargains had been
snapped up.
tailor-made adjective ˈteɪlə meɪd ˈteɪlər meɪd designed for a particular person We specialize in
or group of people tailor-made vacations
planned around your
interests and schedule.
throw money phrase θrəʊ ˈmʌni daʊn θroʊ ˈmʌni daʊn to waste money by spending it Buying that old car was
down the drain ðə dreɪn ðə dreɪn on something useless like throwing money
down the drain.
wound up adjective ˌwaʊnd ˈʌp nervous and worried I was too wound up
to relax.
Prefixes and suffixes
amateurish adjective ˈæmətərɪʃ done or made without He did an amateurish
much skill job of putting up
the shelves.
disaster-prone adjective dɪˈzɑːstə prəʊn dɪˈzæstər proʊn likely to be affected by a My disaster-prone
disaster or misfortune manager broke his
phone and his computer
in the same week.
hyper-influential adjective ˈhaɪpər ˈhaɪpər extremely able to influence the She’s a hyper-influential
ˌɪnflʊˈenʃəl ˌɪnfluˈenʧəl way people think or behave blogger.
largish adjective ˈlɑːrdʒ ˈlɑːrdʒɪʃ fairly big The room’s kind of
largish, so there’ll be
enough space.
re-edit verb riːˈedɪt ˌriˈedət to edit something again The text was re-edited
after several errors
were spotted.
super-lucky adjective ˈsuːpə ˈlʌki ˈsupər ˈlʌki extremely fortunate I was super-lucky to
have the opportunity to
meet my hero.
tech-savvy adjective tek ˈsævi able to understand and use I need to ask someone
technology well more tech-savvy than
me to help me fix my
computer.
unmute verb ˌʌnˈmjuːt ˌʌnˈmjut to turn the sound back on He didn’t unmute
an electronic device the mic, so nothing
was recorded.
user-friendly adjective ˈjuːzə ˈfrendli ˈjuːzər ˈfrendli a user-friendly system or piece It’s the most
of equipment is easy to use user-friendly
or understand smartphone so far.

American Language Hub Level 5 Teacher’s Resource Center.

Published by Macmillan Education, a division of Springer Nature Limited. © Springer Nature Limited, 2020. This page may be photocopied and used within the class. 2