to express satisfaction with some-one or something; to talk about the good things someone or some-thing does or how good someone or something is.. ordering or prescribing some-thing, esp
Trang 1tor or a lawyer 4 iv to rehearse.
5 tv to work at a skill over and
over in order to become better at
it 6 tv to do something; to make
a habit of something 7 tv to work
in medicine or law
→ out of practice
practice what you preach to do
what you advise other people to
do
prairie ["prEr i] n a very large area
of land that is covered with
differ-ent kinds of grasses and other
plants
praise ["prez] 1 n saying that
someone or something is good; the
use of words to express
satisfac-tion or a favorable judgment
(Sin-gular or plural with the same
meaning, but not countable.) 2 tv
to express satisfaction with
some-one or something; to talk about
the good things someone or
some-thing does or how good someone
or something is 3 tv to worship
someone or God with words or
songs
→ damn someone or somethingwith
faint praise
→ sing someone’spraises
prank ["prANk] n a trick or joke
that is played on someone
prankster ["prANk st#] n someone
who plays a trick or joke on
some-one
pray ["pre] 1 iv to give thanks to
God; to say a prayer to God; to ask
God or some religious being or
figure for something 2 tv to pray
as in Q, asking that something
will happen the way one wants
(The object is a clause with that
U.)
pray for something to ask God for
something
prayer ["prEr] 1 n communication
with God or some other religious
being or figure 2 n the words
one uses when worshiping or pray-ing to God
→ in someone’sprayers
preach ["pritS] 1 iv to give a
ser-mon; to talk about something
reli-gious 2 tv to deliver a sermon; to
deliver a particular message through a sermon (The object can
be a clause with that U.)
→ practice what you preach
preacher ["pritS #] n someone
who preaches; the leader of a church; a minister (Less formal than minister.)
precious ["prES @s] 1 adj very
valuable; worth a lot of money
(Adv: preciously.) 2 adj very
much loved; very dear to someone; cherished (Figurative on Q Adv:
preciously.) 3 adj charming and
cute (Adv: preciously.)
precious few and precious little
very few; very little (Informal.)
precious little Go to precious few.
precise [prI "saIs] adj exact;
care-fully and accurately detailed (Adv:
precisely.)
precision [prI "sI Z@n] n accuracy;
the quality of being precise; doing something precisely (No plural.)
predict [prI "dIkt] tv to say that
something is going to happen before it happens; to prophesy that something will happen (The object can be a clause with that U.)
practice what you preach
446
Trang 2prediction [prI "dIk S@n] n a
state-ment made about something that
is going to happen in the future; a
prophecy
preface ["prEf Is] 1 n an
introduc-tion to a speech or to something
that is written 2 tv to begin a
speech or written piece with an
introduction
prefer [prI "f#] tv to like someone
or something better than one likes
someone or something else (The
object can be a clause with that
U.)
prefer to do something to want to
do something more than one
wants to do something else; to like
to do one thing more than doing
another thing
preferable ["prEf @ r@ b@l] adj.
more preferred; more desirable
(Adv: preferably.)
preference ["prEf @ r@ns] 1 n
spe-cial attention that is given to
cer-tain people or things; favor (No
plural.) 2 n someone or
thing that is preferred over
some-one or something else
prefix ["pri fIks] n a letter or a
group of letters at the beginning of
a word that usually changes the
meaning of the word
pregnant ["prEg n@nt] adj [of a
woman or female creature]
carry-ing developcarry-ing offsprcarry-ing within
prehistoric [pri hI "stor Ik] adj.
happening before history was first
recorded (Adv: prehistorically
[ Ik li].)
prejudice ["prEdZ @ dIs] 1 n
opin-ion formed about someone or
something before learning all the
facts (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 tv to cause someone
to have Q
prelude ["pre lud] n an
introduc-tion, especially a short piece of music that comes before a longer work of music
prelude to something an act or
event that comes before and sig-nals another act or event
premier [prI "mIr] 1 adj best; most
respected (Prenominal only.)
2 n the prime minister of a
country
premiere [prI "mIr] 1 n the first
performance or presentation of a
play, film, symphony, etc 2 iv.
[for a play, film, symphony, etc.]
to be performed for the first time
premium ["prim i @m] 1 n a
regu-lar payment to an insurance com-pany for some kind of protection
2 n an additional cost in addition
to the regular cost 3 n a small
prize or reward that is given to someone to buy something or use
a service 4 adj of high quality; costing more; of greater value
→ at a premium
prenominal [pri "nam @ n@l] adj.
[of an adjective] occurring before the noun it modifies (Adv:
prenominally.)
prep an abbreviation of
preposition
prepaid [pri "ped] past tense and
past participle ofprepay
prepare [prI "pEr] 1 tv to make
something ready for someone or something; to make something ready for use 2 iv to make one-self ready to do something
prepare
447
Trang 3prepay [pri "pe] tv., irreg to pay
some amount before it is due; to
pay for something in advance; to
pay for something before one
receives it (Past tense and past
participle: prepaid.)
preposition [prEp @ "zI S@n] n a
word that is used to show the
rela-tionship of one word or phrase to
another word or phrase
(Abbrevi-ated prep here.)
preschool ["pri skul] n a school for
small children before they are old
enough to go to kindergarten
prescribe [prI "skraIb] 1 tv [for a
physician] to recommend or order
that a certain medication be sold
to and taken by a patient 2 tv
[for a doctor] to advise a patient
to do something to become or stay
healthy (The object can be a
clause with that U.) 3 tv to state
something as a law; to establish
something as a law (The object
can be a clause with that U.)
prescription [prI "skrIp S@n] 1 n.
ordering or prescribing
some-thing, especially medicine or
med-ical treatment 2 n an order to do
something or take medicine,
espe-cially a written order for medicine
given to a patient by a doctor 3 n
the actual medicine that is ordered
by W
→ refill a prescription
presence ["prEz @ns] 1 n the state
of being present; being in the same
place as someone or something
else (No plural.) 2 n the power
or influence one has in a group of
people or in an institution 3 n.
something that can be felt or
sensed but not seen, such as a spirit
→ grace someone or somethingwith one’spresence
→ have the presence of mind to do something
present 1 ["prEz @nt] adj being in
the same room or place as some-one or something else; not absent
2 ["prEz @nt] adj now; at this
time; happening now (Adv:
presently.) 3 ["prEz @nt] n now;
this time; this moment in time
(No plural.) 4 ["prEz @nt] n a gift;
something that is given to
some-one else 5 ["prEz @nt] n the state
of a verb that indicates that some-thing is happening now (Short for present tense.) 6 [prI "zEnt] tv to
give something to someone, espe-cially as part of a ceremony
7 [prI "zEnt] tv to make
some-thing available for the public to see; to bring something to some-one’s attention 8 [prI "zEnt] tv to introduce someone to someone else
present tense ["prEz @nt "tEns] n a
verb tense showing that something
is happening now, at the present time (No plural Can be short-ened to present.)
presentation [prEz @n "te S@n] 1 n.
the way that something is shown
to other people; the manner or style in which something is shown
to other people (No plural.) 2 n
a session of showing or explaining
something to other people 3 n.
the ceremony of giving something
to someone else
present-day ["prEz @nt "de] adj.
current; happening now; of or about the present time
prepay
448
Trang 4presently ["prEz @nt li] 1 adv now;
at this time 2 adv soon
(For-mal.)
preservation [prE z# "ve S@n] n.
the process of preserving
some-thing; keeping something safe or
in good condition (No plural.)
preserve [prI "z#v] 1 tv to keep
someone or something alive,
healthy, safe, or in good condition
2 tv to do something or add
something to something to keep it
from spoiling or decaying 3 n an
area of land where plants and
ani-mals are protected
→ life preserver
preserves n fruit cooked in sugar
and sealed in a jar (Treated as
plu-ral, but not countable.)
preside [prI "zaId] iv to be in
charge of a meeting or a business;
to be in control
preside over something to oversee
something, such as a meeting
president ["prEz @ d@nt] 1 n the
leader of the government of a
republic, including the leader of
the government of the United
States of America 2 n the leader
or head officer of an organization,
club, company, university, etc
3 n the office and position of
power occupied by Q or W
→ vice president
presidential [prEz @ "dEn S@l] adj.
of or about a president; associated
with a president (Adv:
presiden-tially.)
press ["prEs] 1 n a machine that
prints letters and pictures on
paper for newspapers, magazines,
books, etc (Short for printing
press.) 2 n the coverage of an
action or event by newspapers and
other media (No plural.) 3 tv to
push something against something else; to push something with force;
to weigh down heavily on some-thing 4 tv to move a hot iron over wrinkled clothing or fabric in
order to make it smooth 5 iv to
push against something else; to push with force; to weigh down heavily; to push forward
→ printing press
the press n newspapers and,
some-times, radio and television; the mass media (No plural Treated as singular.)
press against someone or
thing to push or bear upon some-one or something
press down on someone or
some-thing to push down on someone or something
press on something to push or
depress something, such as a but-ton, catch, snap, etc
press one’s luck Go to push one’s luck.
press someone to the wall Go to
push someoneto the wall.
press something against someone
or something to push or force something against someone or something
press something in(to something)
1 to force something into some-thing, such as a mold 2 to force
or drive something into the sur-face of something
press something on(to something)
to put pressure on something and press something on(to something)
449
Trang 5cause it to stick to the surface of
something
press something out (of
some-thing) to squeeze something out of
something by applying pressure
press (up)on someone or
some-thing to put pressure on someone
or something
pressure ["prES #] 1 n the effect
of a force or a weight that is
pushed against someone or
some-thing (No plural.) 2 n strong
influence; strong persuasion
(Fig-urative on Q.)
→ under (some) pressure
presume (up)on someone or
something to take unwelcome
advantage of someone or
some-thing
pretend [prI "tEnd] 1 iv to act [as
if something were so] 2 iv to act
as if one were doing something; to
try to look as if one were doing
something 3 tv to act as if
some-thing were so; to play by acting as
if something were so (The object
is a clause with that U.)
pretty ["prIt i] 1 adj attractive;
pleasing; beautiful (Adv: prettily.
Comp: prettier; sup: prettiest.)
2 adv rather; quite; very.
→ (as) pretty as a picture
→ cost a pretty penny
pretzel ["prEt s@l] n a salted, baked
stick of bread, often twisted in the
shape of a loose knot
prevail (up)on someone or
some-thing (to do somesome-thing) to appeal
to someone or a group to do
something
prevent someone from doing
something [prI "vEnt ] not to
allow someone to do something;
to keep someone from doing something
preventable [prI "vEnt @ b@l] adj.
able to be prevented (Adv: pre-ventably.)
prevention [prI "vEn S@n] n
pre-venting something (No plural.)
preview ["pri vju] 1 n an
oppor-tunity to see something before it is
available to the public 2 iv [for
something] to be shown as Q
3 tv to watch or listen to
some-thing as Q
previous ["pri vi @s] adj earlier;
happening before something else;
coming before (Adv: previously.)
prey ["pre] 1 n an animal that is
hunted, killed, or eaten by another animal (No plural Compare this with pray.) 2 n someone who is a
victim of someone else (No plu-ral Figurative on Q.)
→ bird of prey
prey on some creature to hunt and
kill certain animals for food
prey (up)on someone or something
to take advantage of someone or something
price ["praIs] 1 n the amount of
money that something costs; the amount of money that something will be sold for 2 tv to determine how much something will cost; to set the amount of money that something will cost
→ have a price on one’shead
→ quote a price
prick up one’s ears to listen more
closely
pride ["praId] 1 n the pleasure
that one feels when one does press something out (of something)
450
Trang 6something well; the feeling one has
when one does something good
(No plural.) 2 n someone or
something for which one has Q
(No plural.) 3 n a good opinion
of oneself; too high an opinion of
oneself (No plural.)
→ take pride in something
priest ["prist] n someone who is
trained to perform religious
duties (In the United States,
espe-cially in the Roman Catholic,
Orthodox Catholic, and Episcopal
churches.)
prim ["prIm] adj very proper; very
formal; very exact; very precise;
easily shocked by rude or rough
behavior (Adv: primly Comp:
primmer; sup: primmest.)
primary ["praI mEr i] 1 adj the
most important; chief; main;
prin-cipal (Adv: primarily [praI "mEr @
li].) 2 n an election that is held to
determine who will represent a
political party in the election for a
political office
primary color ["praI mEr i "k^l #]
n one of the basic colors: red,
blue, and yellow (Other colors can
be made by mixing two or three of
these together.)
primary school ["praI mEr I "skul]
n a school having only the earliest
grades
prime ["praIm] 1 adj [of a state or
condition] best or excellent; of the
highest quality 2 adj most
important; chief; first in time,
order, or importance 3 tv to add
water or liquid to a pump to
replace the air that is inside so that
the pump is able to draw fluid
4 tv to make someone or
some-thing ready for somesome-thing 5 tv to
cover a surface with primer before painting it
→ in one’s or itsprime
→ in the prime of life
prime mover the force that sets
something going; someone or something that starts something off
primer ["praIm #] n a liquid that is
spread over wood before one cov-ers the wood with paint (Plural only for types and instances.)
primitive ["prIm @ tIv] 1 adj early
in the development of something; early in the history of humans
(Adv: primitively.) 2 adj very
simple; not complicated (Adv:
primitively.)
primp ["prImp] iv to dress and get
ready for a social event very care-fully
prince ["prIns] 1 n the son or
grandson of a king or a queen
2 n the husband of a woman who
inherits the throne and becomes queen
princely ["prIns li] 1 adj like a
prince; having great charm and
manners 2 adj elegant; refined;
noble (Figurative on Q.)
princess ["prIns Es] 1 n the
daughter or granddaughter of a
king or queen 2 n the wife of a
prince
principal ["prIns @ p@l] 1 n the
head of an elementary, middle, or high school (Compare this with principle.) 2 n an amount of
rowed money on which the
bor-rower must pay interest 3 n the
most important or major person
principal
451
Trang 7in a group 4 adj main; chief;
pri-mary; most important (Adv:
prin-cipally ["prIns @ pli].)
principle ["prIns @ p@l] 1 n
obedi-ence to W and E; honor (No
plu-ral Compare this with principal.)
2 n a general or fundamental law
or rule 3 n a rule of behavior or
conduct
print ["prInt] 1 tv to make letters
of the alphabet by hand so that
each letter is separate 2 tv to put
words or pictures on a blank piece
of paper, one page at a time, using
some kind of machine 3 tv to
publish a book, magazine, or
newspaper using a printing press
or a computer printer 4 tv to
publish something that is written
in a book, newspaper, magazine,
etc 5 tv to make a photograph
from film 6 tv to cause a
com-puter to print something as in W
7 iv to make letters of the
alpha-bet so that each letter is separate
8 iv to make books, magazines,
newspapers, etc., with a printing
press 9 iv [for a computer
printer] to operate as in W 10 n.
fabric that has a pattern on it
11 n a photograph that is made
from film; a photograph 12 n a
fingerprint.
→ in print
→ out of print
→ small print
print something out 1 to write
something out by drawing letters
2 to use a computer printer to
print something
print something up to set
some-thing in type and print it; to print
something by any process
printer ["prIn t#] 1 n a business or
person that prints books,
maga-zines, and other materials 2 n a
machine that causes computer information to be put onto paper
printing ["prIn tIN] 1 n letters or
words that are printed by hand; letters that are put on paper so that the letters are separate and distinct (No plural.) 2 n letters that are put on a page by a press or
a computer (No plural.) 3 n all
the copies of a book printed by machine at one time
printing press ["prIn tIN "prEs] n a
machine used to print text and pictures on paper (Can be short-ened to press.)
printout ["prInt aUt] n a copy of
information from a computer, printed on paper
prison ["prIz @n] 1 n a building
that criminals are kept in; a large
jail 2 n a place where someone is
not allowed to leave; a place where someone has no freedom (Figura-tive on Q.)
prisoner ["prIz n#] 1 n someone who is kept in a prison 2 n.
someone or a creature that is not free to go (Figurative on Q.)
pristine ["prIs tin] adj as fresh and
clean as when it was new; spotless
(Adv: pristinely.)
privacy ["praIv @ si] n a state of
being away from other people or away from the attention of the public (No plural.)
→ aninvasion of privacy
private ["praIv It] 1 adj not
shared among everyone; meant only for a small number of people; principle
452
Trang 8not public (Adv: privately.) 2 adj.
individual; concerning only one
person (Adv: privately.) 3 adj.
secluded; isolated; quiet; away
from other people (Adv:
privately.) 4 adj not owned,
con-trolled, or managed by the
govern-ment (Adv: privately.)
privilege ["prIv (@) lIdZ] n special
rights; special and honored status
(Plural only for types and
instances.)
privy to something ["priv i ]
uniquely knowledgeable about
something
prize ["praIz] 1 n an award that is
given to a winner; an award that is
given to someone who does well in
a competition 2 tv to consider
something to be worth very much;
to place a great value on
some-thing
pro ["pro] n a professional; having
great skill or training (Plural ends
in -s.)
probable ["prab @ b@l] adj having a
great chance of happening; likely
to happen; likely to be true (Adv:
probably.)
probably ["prab @ bli] adv very
likely; likely to happen or likely to
be true
probation [pro "be S@n] 1 n a
situ-ation where an offender remains
out of jail and just under
observa-tion as long as no further crimes
are committed (No plural form.)
2 n a trial period (Figurative on
Q No plural form.)
→ on probation
probe ["prob] 1 n a complete
examination or detailed search for
facts 2 n a thin rod with a
rounded end that is used to exam-ine the inside of a hole, wound, or cavity 3 n a rocket or satellite that is sent into space to relay information about space or other planets to scientists on earth 4 tv
to examine a hole, wound, or cav-ity, using W or a similar object
5 iv to examine; to search problem ["prab l@m] 1 n a
ques-tion that must be answered; a
dif-ficulty 2 n a question put
forward for solving, as in a school
exercise or test 3 adj difficult to
deal with; difficult to work with; causing difficulty
procedure [pr@ "si dZ#] n the way
that something is done; the way that a process is done; a method
proceed [pr@ "sid] iv to begin to do
something
proceeds ["pro sidz] n money that
is collected or received from someone or something (Treated
as plural, but not countable.)
process ["pra sEs] 1 n a series of
actions; a set of procedures used
to do, make, achieve, prepare, or develop something 2 tv to do a series of actions to something; to prepare, achieve, or develop some-thing
proclaim [pr@ "klem] tv to declare
something officially; to make something public knowledge (The object can be a clause with that U.)
procure [pro "kjUr] tv to get
some-thing by work or effort
produce 1 ["pro dus] n food or
food products that are farmed or
produce
453
Trang 9grown; fruits and vegetables (No
plural.) 2 [pr@ "dus] tv to grow
something; to create something
3 [pr@ "dus] tv to cause
some-thing to be; to create a result
4 [pr@ "dus] tv to make
some-thing from parts or materials
5 [pr@ "dus] tv to coordinate and
organize the details involved in
making or presenting a movie,
play, or other performance
6 [pr@ "dus] iv to do what is
expected or required, especially in
terms of business goals
producer [pr@ "dus #] 1 n
some-one or something that produces
something 2 n someone who
coordinates and organizes the
details involved in making or
pre-senting a movie, television show,
play, or other performance
product ["pra d@kt] 1 n
some-thing that is produced; somesome-thing
that is made, created, or grown
2 n someone or something that is
the result of certain conditions; a
result 3 n the number that is
determined by multiplying two or
more numbers together
production [pr@ "d^k S@n] 1 n.
producing something; making
something (No plural.) 2 n the
amount of or rate of Q (No
plu-ral.) 3 n a movie, television show,
play, or other performance
profess [pr@ "fEs] tv to declare
something; to claim something
(The object can be a clause with
that U.)
profession [pr@ "fE S@n] 1 n a job
or career, especially one that
requires education or training
2 n all or most of the people who
work in a certain Q
professional [pr@ "fES @ n@l] 1 the
adj form ofprofession Q (Adv:
professionally.) 2 adj showing the
skill and standards of E (Adv:
professionally.) 3 n someone who
works in a profession (Shortened
to proinformally.)
professor [pr@ "fEs #] n someone
who holds a faculty position in a university or college (Also a term
of address.)
profile ["pro faIl] 1 n a side view
of someone or something,
espe-cially of someone’s face 2 n a
short description of someone or something
profit ["praf It] 1 n the amount of
money made by a person or busi-ness after all expenses are paid
2 tv to benefit someone or
some-thing
profit from something to benefit
from something
program ["pro grAm] 1 n a
broad-cast show, such as on radio or
tele-vision 2 n a booklet provided to
members of an audience, giving information about the perfor-mance 3 n a schedule of the
parts of a performance 4 n a set
of coded instructions given to a computer
programmer ["pro grAm #] n.
someone who writes a computer program
progress 1 ["pra grEs] n the
movement made toward a result or
goal (No plural.) 2 ["pra grEs] n.
the improvement that someone or something makes when moving producer
454
Trang 10toward a goal (No plural.)
3 [pr@ "grEs] iv to move forward;
to advance 4 [pr@ "grEs] iv to
develop; to become better
prohibit [pro "hIb It] tv to forbid
something
prohibition [pro @ "bI S@n] 1 n.
forbidding or not allowing
some-thing (Plural only for types and
instances.) 2 n the period of time
in U.S history when it was illegal
to make, sell, or transport alcohol
(Capitalized No plural.)
project 1 ["pra dZEkt] n an
assign-ment or task that must be planned,
researched, and executed 2 [pr@
"dZEkt] tv to cast a light onto
something 3 [pr@ "dZEkt] tv to
make one’s voice or words louder
and carry farther 4 [pr@ "dZEkt]
tv to forecast something; to
esti-mate something 5 [pr@ "dZEkt] iv.
to be louder when speaking
6 [pr@ "dZEkt] iv to stick out; to
extend from a surface
projection [pr@ "dZEk S@n] 1 n.
something that sticks out or
proj-ects 2 n a prediction; an estimate
of a future state
projector [pr@ "dZEk t#] n a
machine that casts an image on a
screen, wall, etc (The image may
have been recorded on film or
dig-itally on tape.)
prolong [pro "lON] tv to cause
something to last longer than it
normally would; to lengthen the
time it takes to do something
prominent ["pram @ n@nt] 1 adj.
famous; well known; respected
(Adv: prominently.) 2 adj
notice-able; easy to see (Adv: promi-nently.)
promise ["pram Is] 1 n a sign that
someone will be successful or do
good work (No plural.) 2 n a pledge to do something 3 tv to
pledge to do something; to vow that one will do something (The object is a clause with that U.)
4 tv to cause someone to expect
something
→ give somethinga lick and a promise
promise someone the moon Go
to promise the moon (to someone).
promise the moon (to someone) and promise someone the moon to make extravagant
prom-ises to someone
promise to do something to make a
promise that one will do some-thing
promote [pr@ "mot] 1 tv to work
for the acceptance of someone or something through advertising and other public contacts 2 tv to raise someone to a new and higher level in employment or schooling
promotion [pr@ "mo S@n] 1 n the
movement of someone to a higher level of employment or schooling (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 n advertising and other activity intended to sell something (No plural.)
prompt ["prampt] 1 adj doing
something, such as arriving, at the right time; on time (Adv:
promptly.) 2 tv to encourage or
cause someone to do something
3 tv to give someone a quiet
reminder of what is to be said next (Especially in stage
perfor-prompt
455