"C-words"

Understanding the difference

Level: C1-C2

by @nastya_efl
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In this file you will find simple poems to remember

difficult words. Although the poems might seem a bit
strange ( ), they can hopefully help you to stop
confusing some pieces of vocabulary that appear in
C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency.

The poems will be followed by the meanings of the

words and some examples from Cambridge
dictionary.
Conceive
The kitten’s thrown into the well,
No life for him to live
How they could do it (what the hell!)
You simply can’t conceive.

Other meanings:

Condense
You save the kitten, he is fine,
(The day was rather tense),
You feed him with the milk
(Its name comes from the word condense).

Another meaning:
 Conceal
If someone hurts you, don’t you cry,
One day the scars will heal -
For now the pain you feel you try
To hide or to conceal. Conceal, don't feel

Concede
You first deny, but then agree*,
It means that you concede.
And if you know that you were wrong
Sometimes it’s what you need.

*it's one of the meanings, but as far as I understand the denying part is not always
necessary (like "concede defeat" doesn't always mean that someone denied losing
first)
Confide
Let’s say you have the only friend
Who’s always by your side Secret
You trust him, or in other words
In him you do confide.

Confine
You set some limits for yourself,
Which means that you confine
Your poem to the only theme “I’ll confine myself no finer
than I am: these clothes are
(It’s either oak or pine) good enough to drink in”.

(Twelfth night)

Another meaning:
Confound
You cause surprise and you confuse –
It means that you confound.
And everyone is shocked as if
The world stopped turning ‘round.

Confute
Let's say you prove that something’s wrong –
Which means that you confute.
This word is formal, it is used
By someone is a suit.
 Condemn
They say that what you do is wrong,
They judge or they condemn,
But you just think they’re worse than you –
In other words contemn*
(this word is totally outdated; ““If this were played upon a stage
I just couldn’t find the rhyme!) now, I could condemn it as an
improbable fiction”

(Twelfth night)

Conduce
To lead to something, to promote
Is also to conduce, conduce to sth

(You will be healthy if you drink

A lot of apple juice).
 Condole
Expressing sympathy for grief
Is in the word condole,
But even sharing something bad
Can’t help a broken soul.

Condone
My little son, you're being rude,
You'd better watch your tone!
Behaviour like this, my dear,
I really can't condone.
 Wordlist
Conceive – понимать, постигать, испытать, (+зачать ребёнка)
I can’t conceive how they could try to drown a kitten.
Condense – сгущать, уплотнять, сокращать
I condensed ten pages of comments into/to two.
Conceal – скрывать, маскировать
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know.
Concede – уступать, признавать (поражение)
I had to concede defeat.
Confide – верить, доверять, вверять
You can confide in me, my dear.
Confine – ограничивать
I’ll confine my essay to one subject.
Confound – смущать, приводить в замешательство
The singer confounded her critics with a remarkable follow-up album.
Confute - опровергать
There is no need to confute the theory, which confutes itself.
Condemn – осуждать, порицать, приговаривать
The film was condemned for its sexism.
Conduce – способствовать чему-либо
Fruit and vegetables conduce to good health.
Condole – сочувствовать, сострадать, соболезновать
We condole with the families of the deceased.
Condone - потворствовать, попустительствовать
The college cannot condone any behaviour that involves illicit drugs

Contemn – презирать (книжное., устаревшее.)