EASIER ENGLISH BASIC DICTIONARY 5 pps

contender contender /kən tendə/ noun a person who takes part in a competition, espe-cially someone who is likely to win 쑗 He’s a definite contender for the world title.. to say that you

consult 72 contestant

consult

consult /kənslt/ verb 1 to ask

some-one for advice 쑗 He consulted his bank

about transferring his account 2 to

look at something to get information 쑗

After consulting the map they decided to

go north.

consultant

consultant /kənsltənt/ noun 1 an

expert who gives advice 쑗 His tax

con-sultant advised him to sell the shares 2.

a senior hospital doctor who is an expert

in a particular medical condition or

ill-ness 쑗 We’ll make an appointment for

you to see a consultant.

consume

consume /kən

drink something 쑗 The guests consumed

over a hundred hamburgers 2 to use

something up 쑗 The world’s natural

re-sources are being consumed at an

alarming rate 쑗 The new car consumes

about half the amount of petrol of an

or-dinary car.

consumer

consumer /kən

or company that buys goods or services

쑗 Consumers are buying more from

su-permarkets and less from small shops 쑗

Gas consumers are protesting at the

in-crease in prices.

contact

contact /kɒntkt/ noun 1 an act of

touching 쑗 Avoid any contact between

the acid and the skin 쑗 Anyone who has

been in physical contact with the patient

must consult their doctor immediately.

2. the act of communicating with

some-one 쑗 We don’t have much contact with

our old friends in Australia 왍 to get in

contact with someone to write to

some-one or talk to them on the telephsome-one 쐽

verb to write to someone or talk to them

on the telephone 쑗 He tried to contact

his office by phone 쑗 Can you contact

the ticket office immediately?

contain

contain /kənten/ verb 1 to hold an

amount, or to have an amount inside 쑗

The bottle contains acid 쑗 The

enve-lope contained a cheque for £1,000 쑗 A

barrel contains 250 litres 쑗 I have lost

a briefcase containing important

docu-ments 2 to limit or prevent something

harmful or unpleasant 쑗 The army tried

to contain the advance of the enemy

forces 쑗 The party is attempting to

con-tain the revolt among its members.

container

container /kəntenə/ noun an object such as a box or bottle which holds

something else 쑗 We need a container for all this rubbish 쑗 The gas is shipped

in strong metal containers.

contemporary

contemporary /kəntemp(ə)rəri/ ad-jective of the present time 쑗 contempo-rary art 쐽noun a person who lives at

the same time as someone 쑗 Shake-speare and his contemporaries 쑗 He is one of my contemporaries from school.

contender

contender /kəntendə/ noun a person who takes part in a competition,

espe-cially someone who is likely to win 쑗

He’s a definite contender for the world title.

content

content 1 /kɒntent/ noun the amount of something which is contained in a

sub-stance 쑗 Dried fruit has a higher sugar content than fresh fruit 쐽plural noun

something 쑗 The contents of the bottle

spilled onto the carpet 2 the list of

chapters in a book, usually printed at the beginning

content

content 2 /kəntent/ adjective happy with what is happening in your life 왍

to sit in the sun and wait 왍 content

con-tent with the way the car runs, bring it back and we will look at it again 쐽 noun a feeling of satisfaction 왍 to your

You can play the piano to your heart’s content 쑗 Living by the sea, they can go sailing to their heart’s content.

contented

contented /kəntentd/ adjective satis-fied and happy

contest

contest 1 /kɒntest/ noun any event or situation in which people compete with

each other 쑗 an international sports contest 쑗 Only two people entered the leadership contest.

contest

contest 2 /kəntest/ verb 1 to compete

with other people to achieve a position

쑗 There are four candidates contesting

the championship 2 to say that you

dis-agree with what is written in a legal doc-ument

contestant

contestant /kəntestənt/ noun a

per-son who takes part in a competition 쑗

context 73 contribution

The two contestants shook hands before

the match.

context

context /kɒntekst/ noun the other

words which surround a particular word

in a piece of writing and which help to

show its meaning 쑗 Even if you don’t

know what a word means, you can

sometimes guess its meaning from the

context 왍 taken out of context

show-ing only part of what someone said or

wrote, so that the meaning is changed 쑗

My words have been taken out of context

– I said the book was ‘one of the best’

not ‘the best’ I’d read.

continent

continent /kɒntnənt/ noun one of the

seven large land areas in the world, e.g

Africa or Europe

Continent

Continent /kɒntnənt/ noun the main

land area of Europe, as compared with

the islands of the United Kingdom 쑗

They go to the Continent on holiday

each year, sometimes to France,

some-times to Switzerland 왍 on the

Conti-nent in the main part of Europe

continental

continental /kɒntnent(ə)l/ adjective

1 referring to a continent 2 referring to

or typical of Europe excluding the

Unit-ed Kingdom

continual

continual /kəntnjuəl/ adjective 1.

happening many times in a period of

time 쑗 We have experienced a period of

continual change 2 happening

fre-quently in a way that is annoying 쑗 The

computer has given us continual

prob-lems ever since we bought it.

continue

continue /kən

ing something or happening 쑗 He

con-tinued working, even though everyone

else had gone home 쑗 The engine

con-tinued to send out clouds of black

smoke 쑗 The meeting started at 10 a.m.

and continued until 6 p.m 쑗 The show

continued with some children’s dances.

continuous

continuous /kəntnjυəs/ adjective

without stopping or without a break 쑗

She has been in continuous pain for

three days 쑗 A continuous white line on

the road means that you are not allowed

to overtake.

continuously

continuously /kəntnjυəsli/ adverb

without a break

contract

contract 1 /kɒntrkt/ noun a legal

agreement 쑗 I don’t agree with some of the conditions of the contract 왍 under

contract bound by the conditions of a

contract 쑗 The company is under con-tract to a French supermarket.

contract

contract 2 /kəntrkt/ verb 1 to

be-come smaller 쑗 Metal contracts when it

gets cold, and expands when it is hot 2.

to make an official agreement to do

some work 쑗 to contract to supply spare parts or to contract for the supply of spare parts

contradict

contradict /kɒntrədkt/ verb 1 to say

that what someone else says is not true

쑗 They didn’t dare contradict their

mother 2 to be different from what has

been said before 쑗 What you have just said contradicts what you said yester-day.

contrast

contrast 1 /

ence between two things 쑗 the contrast

in weather between the north and the south of the country 쑗 The two cities are

in sharp contrast 왍 in contrast to as

opposed to 쑗 He is quite short, in con-trast to his sister who is very tall 쑗 The north of the country is green and

wood-ed in contrast to the south which is dry and sandy.

contrast

contrast 2 /kən

ously different from 쑗 His formal letter contrasted with his friendly conversa-tion on the telephone.

contribute

contribute /kən

help something to happen 쑗 The gov-ernment’s policies have contributed to a

feeling of anxiety among teachers 2 to

give money to help to pay for some-thing, especially when other people are

also giving 쑗 We were asked to contrib-ute to a charity 쑗 Everyone was asked

to contribute to the receptionist’s leav-ing present.

contribution

contribution /kɒntr

thing that someone does to help

some-thing to happen 쑗 I want to thank you for your enormous contribution to the success of the project 쐽 noun some-thing, usually money, given to help to

pay for something 쑗 She makes monthly contributions to the Red Cross.

contributor 74 copper

contributor

contributor /kəntrbjυtə/ noun a

per-son or organisation that contributes to

something

control

control /kəntrəυl/ noun 1 the fact of

keeping someone or something in order

or being able to direct them 쑗 He lost

control of his business and resigned 쑗

The club is under the control of three

people 2 the ability to get people to do

what you want 쑗 The teacher has no

control over the class 쐽 verb 1 to keep

something in order, to direct or limit

something 쑗 The police couldn’t control

the crowds 쑗 There was nobody there

to control the traffic 쑗 We must try to

control the sales of foreign cars 쑗 The

government controls the price of meat.

2.왍 to control a business to have the

power to direct the way a business is run

쑗 The business is controlled by a

com-pany based in Luxembourg (NOTE:

controls – controlling – controlled)

controlled

controlled /kəntrəυld/ adjective kept

under control

convenient

convenient /kən

not causing any practical problems 쑗

Six o’clock in the morning is not a very

convenient time for a meeting 쑗 A bank

draft is a convenient way of sending

money abroad.

conveniently

conveniently /kən

in a convenient way

conventional

conventional /kənvenʃ(ə)n(ə)l/

ad-jective ordinary or usual 쑗 For your

in-terview it’s best to wear a conventional

suit.

conversation

conversation /kɒnvəseʃ(ə)n/ noun

an occasion on which two or more

peo-ple talk to each other about something 쑗

We had a long conversation with the

bank manager 쑗 Why did he suddenly

change the subject of the conversation?

convict

convict 1 /kɒnvkt/ noun a criminal

who has been sent to prison 쑗 The

po-lice are searching for two escaped

con-victs.

convict

convict 2 /kənvkt/ verb to prove in

court that someone is guilty 쑗 She was

convicted of theft.

convinced

convinced /kənvnst/ adjective very

certain 쑗 She’s convinced that she’s

right.

cook

cook /kυk/ noun a person who gets food

ready 쑗 He worked as a cook in a pub during the summer 쐽 verb to get food ready for eating, especially by heating it

쑗 It’s my turn to cook the dinner tonight.

쑗 How do you cook cabbage?

cooker

cooker /kυkə/ noun a large piece of kitchen equipment, used for cooking food

cookie

cookie /kυki/ noun 1 usually US a

small, flat hard sweet cake 쑗 She bought

a packet of cookies (NOTE: The British

English term is biscuit.) 2 a computer

file sent to your computer by a website when you visit it It stores information about you which can be used when you next visit the website

cool

cool / way, or colder than you would like or

than you expect 쑗 It was hot on deck but cool down below 쑗 Wines should be stored in a cool cellar 쑗 It gets cool in

the evenings in September 2 not

friend-ly or not enthusiastic 쑗 I got a cool re-ception when I arrived half an hour late.

쑗 Their proposal got a cool response 왍

to be cool towards someone to be

un-friendly to someone or unenthusiastic

about something 쑗 She was rather cool towards me last time we met 쑗 My col-leagues were cool towards the plan

un-fortunately 3 calm 쑗 The nurses

re-mained cool and professional 4

fash-ionable (informal ) 쑗 They thought it was

cool to wear white trainers 5 good

(informal )쑗 a cool party 쑗 a really cool idea (NOTE: cooler – coolest) 쐽verb

to make something cool; to become cool

쑗 She boiled the jam for several hours and then put it aside to cool 쐽 noun 1

a colder area which is pleasant 쑗 After the heat of the town centre, it is nice to

sit in the cool of the garden 2 the state

of being calm 쑗 As soon as the reporters started to ask her questions she lost her cool 앳 to be cool with something to

be satisfied with something (informal) 쑗

We can go tomorrow – I’m cool with that.

copper

copper /kɒpə/ noun a reddish metal which turns green when exposed to air

쑗 Copper is a good conductor of

elec-copy 75 costume

tricity 쑗 The end of the copper wire

should be attached to the terminal.

copy

copy /kɒp/ noun 1 something made to

look the same as something else 쑗 This

is an exact copy of the painting by

Pi-casso 2 a particular book or newspaper

쑗 Where’s my copy of today’s ‘Times’?

쑗 I lent my old copy of the play to my

brother and he never gave it back.

(NOTE: [all noun senses] The plural is

which looks like something else 쑗 He

stole a credit card and copied the

signa-ture 2 to do what someone else does

(NOTE: copies – copying – copied)

cord

Pull the cord to open the parachute 쑗

In an emergency, pull the cord to stop

the train.

core

core /

ject 왍 the core of an apple, an apple

core the hard part in the middle of an

apple, containing the seeds 쐽 the most

basic or essential part of something 쑗

Lack of resources is the core of the

prob-lem 쐽 adjective most important 쑗

These are the core points of the report.

왍 core values the things that a group of

people think are most important 쑗

Hon-esty and reliability are among our core

values.

cork

cork /

used for closing wine bottles 2 the very

light bark of a type of tree, used for

making corks and other things 쑗 She

placed little cork mats on the table to

stop the wine glasses marking it 쐽 verb

to put a cork into a bottle

corn

corn /

wheat or barley 쑗 a field of corn 2.

maize, a cereal crop which is grown in

many parts of the world 왍 corn on the

cob the part of maize that has the seeds,

boiled and served hot, with butter and

salt

corner

corner /

walls, streets or sides meet 쑗 The bank

is on the corner of London Road and

New Street 쑗 Put the plant in the corner

of the room nearest the window 쑗 The

number is in the top right-hand corner

of the page 쑗 The motorbike went

round the corner at top speed 앳 to turn

another by turning left or right 쑗 She

turned the corner into the main street 2.

to get better after being ill or in a

diffi-cult situation 쑗 Our business affairs seem to have turned the corner.

corporate

corporate /

ing to a company 쑗 Corporate responsi-bility rests with the whole management.

쑗 Corporate profits are down this year.

corporation

corporation / reʃ(ə)n/ noun a

large company 쑗 Working for a big cor-poration can be rather impersonal.

correct

correct /kərekt/ adjective 1 without

any mistakes 쑗 You have to give correct answers to all the questions if you want

to win first prize 쑗 If the information you gave us is correct, we can finish the

work by Thursday 2 right according to

rules or standards 쐽 verb to take away

mistakes in something 쑗 You must try to correct your driving mistakes, or you will never pass the test 쑗 The computer keeps switching itself off – can you cor-rect this fault?

correction

correction /kərekʃən/ noun 1 an

ac-tion that makes something correct 쑗 He made a few small corrections to the

let-ter 2 the process of correcting

some-thing 쑗 We drew up a timetable for the correction of minor faults.

correctly

correctly /kərektli/ adverb without making any mistakes

corridor

corridor /

passage 쑗 The ladies’ toilet is straight ahead at the end of the corridor.

cost

cost /kɒst/ noun a price which you have

to pay for something 쑗 What is the cost

of a return ticket to London? 쑗 Compu-ter costs are falling each year 쐽 verb to

have as a price 쑗 Potatoes cost 20p a

ki-lo 쑗 Petrol seems to cost more all the time (NOTE: costs – costing – cost –

what happens 쑗 At all costs, we have to

be in Trafalgar Square by 12 o’clock 앳

expensive 쑗 The repairs to his car cost him an arm and a leg.

costume

costume /

clothes worn by an actor or actress 쑗

cosy 76 country

The costumes for the film are

magnifi-cent.

cosy

cosy /kəυzi/ adjective comfortable and

warm 쑗 An open log fire always makes

a room feel cosy 쑗 She wrapped herself

up in a blanket and made herself cosy on

the sofa (NOTE: cosier – cosiest)

cottage

cottage /kɒtd"/ noun a little house in

the country 쑗 We have a weekend

cot-tage in the mountains 쑗 My mother

lives in the little cottage next to the post

office.

cotton

cotton /kɒtən/ noun 1 fibres made into

thread from the soft seed heads of a

tropical plant 2 cloth made of cotton 쑗

I bought some blue cotton to make a

skirt 쑗 He was wearing a pair of cotton

trousers.

cough

cough /kɒf/ noun the act of making a

noise by sending the air out of your

lungs suddenly, e.g when you are ill 쑗

Take some medicine if your cough is

bad 쑗 He gave a little cough to attract

the waitress’s attention 쐽 verb to make

a noise by sending air out of your lungs

suddenly, e.g because you are ill 쑗 The

smoke from the fire made everyone

cough 쑗 People with colds usually

cough and sneeze.

could

could /kəd, kυd/ modal verb 1 was or

would be able to 쑗 The old lady fell

down and couldn’t get up 쑗 You could

still catch the train if you ran 2 was

al-lowed to 쑗 The policeman said he could

go into the house 3 used in asking

someone to do something 쑗 Could you

pass me the salt, please? 쑗 Could you

shut the window? 4 might 쑗 The new

shopping centre could be finished by

Christmas 5 used in making a

sugges-tion 쑗 You could always try borrowing

money from the bank (NOTE: The

nega-tive is could not, or in speaking,

usu-ally couldn’t Note also that could is

the past of can; could is only used in

front of other verbs and is not followed

by the word to.)

council

council /kaυnsəl/ noun 1 an elected

committee 2 an official group chosen to

work on or advise about a specific

sub-ject 쑗 a council set up to promote the

arts in the eastern region

count

count /kaυnt/ verb 1 to say numbers in

order, e.g 1, 2, 3, 4 쑗 She’s only two and she can count up to ten 쑗 Count to five

and then start running 2 to find out a

total 쑗 Did you count how many books

there are in the library? 3. to include

when finding out a total 쑗 There were sixty people on the boat if you count the children 쑗 Did you count my trip to New York as part of my expenses? 왍 not

three of us, not counting the baby 쑗 We have three computers, not counting the

old ones that don’t work any more 4 to

be important 쑗 Your appearance counts for a lot in an interview 쐽 noun 1 the

action of counting or of adding 2 a large

amount of something, calculated

scien-tifically 쑗 Today there is a high pollen count 앳 to lose count to no longer

have any idea of a particular number 쑗 I tried to add up all the sales figures but lost count and had to start again 쑗 I’ve lost count of the number of times he’s left his umbrella on the train.

someone will do something counter

counter /kaυntə/ noun 1 a long flat

surface in a shop for showing goods for sale, or in a bank for passing over

mon-ey 쑗 She put her bag down on the coun-ter and took out her cheque book 쑗 The

cheese counter is over there 2 a small

round disc used in games 쑗 You’ve thrown a six – you can move your coun-ter six places 쑗 She placed a pile of counters on the board 쐽 verb to act or

reply in an opposing way 쑗 The adverts are designed to counter familiar opin-ions about of home and family 쐽 to re-ply in a way that opposes what has been

said 쑗 He accused her of laziness and she countered with a list of complaints about his own behaviour.

country

country /kntri/ noun 1 an area of land

which is has borders and governs itself

쑗 the countries of the EU 쑗 Some Afri-can countries voted against the plan.

(NOTE: The plural in this sense is

town 쑗 He lives in the country 쑗 We went walking in the country 쑗 Road travel is difficult in country areas.

( : no plural in this sense)

countryside 77 crack

countryside

countryside /kntrisad/ noun land

which is not in a town 쑗 the beautiful

English countryside in spring 쑗 The

countryside is in danger of being

cov-ered in new houses (NOTE: no plural)

county

county /kaυnti/ noun a district that has

some powers of government over local

matters (NOTE: The plural is counties.)

couple

couple /kp(ə)l/ noun 1 two things

to-gether 2 two people toto-gether 쑗 They

are a charming couple 쑗 Several

cou-ples strolled past hand in hand 쐽 verb

1. to connect two different things 쑗

High tides coupled with strong winds

caused flooding along the coast 2. to

join two machines together 쑗 Couple

the trailer to the back of the truck 앳 a

cou-ple of children 2 a few 쑗 The film

last-ed a couple of hours.

coupon

coupon /

which is used in place of money or in

place of a ticket

courage

courage /krd"/ noun the ability to

deal with a dangerous or unpleasant

sit-uation 쑗 She showed great courage in

attacking the burglar 쑗 I didn’t have the

courage to disagree with him (NOTE: no

plural)

course

course /

쑗 I’m taking a maths course 쑗 She’s

going on a painting course 쑗 The hotel

offers weekend courses in a variety of

subjects 2 a series of medical

treat-ments 쑗 He’s taking a course of

antibi-otics 3 a separate part of a meal 쑗 a

five-course meal 쑗 The first course is

soup, and then you can have either fish

or roast lamb 4 the direction in which

someone or something, especially a

ve-hicle, is moving in, or will move in 앳 in

time 쑗 If you study for several years at

college, in due course you will get a

de-gree 쑗 Put a coin in the slot and in due

course the machine will produce a

tick-et 앳 in the course of during a period

of time 쑗 He’s got much richer in the

course of the last few years.

court

court /

who tries criminals, sometimes with a

jury 쑗 The court was packed for the

opening of the murder trial 쑗 Please

tell the court what you saw when you opened the door 왍 to take someone to

court to arrange for someone to come to

a court to end an argument 2 an area

where sports such as tennis or

basket-ball are played 쑗 The tennis courts are behind the hotel 왍 to be on court to be playing tennis 3 a group of people

liv-ing round a kliv-ing or queen court case

court case / tion or trial courtyard

courtyard / square area surrounded by buildings cousin

cousin /kz(ə)n/ noun the son or daughter of your uncle or aunt cover

cover /kvə/ noun 1 something that

you put over something else to protect it

or keep it clean 쑗 Keep a cover over your computer when you are not using

it 쑗 Put a cover over the meat to keep

the flies off 2 the front and back of a

book or magazine 쑗 She read the book

from cover to cover 3 a place where

you can hide or shelter 쑗 They ran for cover when it started to rain 왍 under

If it rains the meal will be served under cover 왍 to take cover to find a place to

shelter from something such as rain 쑗 It started to rain and they took cover un-der a tree 쑗 When the robbers started shooting, the policeman took cover be-hind a wall 쐽 verb 1 to put something

over something else to keep it clean 쑗

You should cover the furniture with sheets before you start painting the

ceil-ing 2 to hide something 쑗 He covered the hole in the ground with branches 쑗

She covered her face with her hands 3.

to travel a certain distance 쑗 They made good progress, covering twenty miles a day.

cow

cow /kaυ/ noun a large female farm

ani-mal, kept to give milk 쑗 a field of cows

쑗 The farmer was milking a cow.

coward

coward /kaυəd/ noun a person who is not brave

crack

crack /krk/ noun 1 a sharp sound 쑗 the crack of a whip 쑗 The crack of a twig

behind her made her turn round 2 a

long thin break in a surface 쑗 A crack appeared in the ceiling 쑗 Her ring fell down a crack in the floorboards 쑗 The

crafty 78 credit

field is so dry it is full of cracks 쐽 verb

1. to make a sharp sound 쑗 A twig

cracked as he stepped on it 2 to make

a long thin break in something 쑗 The

stone cracked the glass.

crafty

crafty /

the things you want, often in a way that

is not completely honest (NOTE: craftier

– craftiest)

cramped

cramped /krmpt/ adjective too small

or too close together 쑗 On some planes,

the seats are very cramped.

crane

crane /kren/ noun a tall metal piece of

equipment for lifting heavy things 쑗

The container slipped as the crane was

lifting it onto the ship.

crash

crash /krʃ/ noun 1 an accident where

vehicles are damaged 쑗 He was killed in

a train crash 쑗 None of the passengers

was hurt in the coach crash 쑗 His car

was badly damaged in the crash 2 a

loud noise when something falls over 쑗

The ladder fell down with a crash 쑗

There was a loud crash in the kitchen 쐽

verb 1 (of vehicles) to hit something

and be damaged 쑗 The bus crashed into

a wall 쑗 The plane crashed six

kilome-tres from the airport 2 to fall, making a

loud noise 쑗 The wall came crashing

down 쑗 The ladder crashed onto the

floor.

crate

crate /kret/ noun 1 a large wooden box

쑗 The dinner set arrived safely,

careful-ly packed in a wooden crate 2 a

con-tainer for bottles 쑗 a beer crate 쑗 The

office orders a crate of milk every day.

crawl

crawl /

your hands and knees 쑗 The baby has

just started to crawl 2 to travel along

slowly 쑗 The traffic was crawling

along 쐽noun 1 a very slow speed 쑗

The traffic on the motorway was

re-duced to a crawl 2 a swimming style

where each arm goes over your head in

turn 쑗 He won the 100m crawl (NOTE:

no plural)

crayon

crayon /kreɒn/ noun a coloured wax

stick, used especially by children for

drawing

crazy

crazy /krezi/ adjective not sensible 쑗 It

was a crazy idea to go

mountain-climb-ing in sandals.

creak

creak / noise 쐽 noun a noise like that of wood

moving 쑗 She heard a creak on the stairs and sat up in bed (NOTE: Do not

confuse with creek.)

cream

cream /

part of milk, full of fat 쑗 I like

strawber-ries and cream 2 any soft smooth

sub-stance used, e.g for cleaning or for

pro-tecting the skin 쑗 face cream 쑗 shaving cream 쑗 shoe cream 쐽adjective of a

yellow-white colour 쑗 He was wearing

a cream shirt 쑗 Do you like our new cream carpet?

crease

crease /

cloth by ironing 쑗 Trousers should have

a crease in front 2 a mark made by

folding accidentally 쑗 She ironed his shirts to remove the creases 쐽verb to

make folds accidentally in something 쑗

After two hours in the car, my skirt was badly creased and had to be pressed.

create

create /kriet/ verb to make or invent

something 쑗 a government scheme which aims at creating new jobs for young people

creation

creation /krieʃ(ə)n/ noun 1 the act of

making or inventing something 쑗 Our aim is the creation of new jobs for young

unemployed people 2 something

which has been made, especially some-thing artistic or unusual

creature

creature / especially one that you don’t know a

name for 쑗 Lift any stone and you’ll find all sorts of little creatures underneath.

쑗 We try not to harm any living crea-ture 쑗 Some sea creatures live in holes

in the sand 2 an imaginary animal or

living being credit

credit /kredt/ noun 1 praise for

some-thing which is well deserved 쑗 The pro-fessor took all the credit for the inven-tion 쑗 To his credit, he owned up

imme-diately 2 the length of time given to

pay for something 쑗 We give purchasers

six months’ credit 3 the side of an

ac-count showing money that you have got

or which is owed to you 쑗 We paid in

£100 to the credit of Mr Smith 쐽 plural

noun credits the list of people who

helped to make a film or TV programme

쑗 Her name appears in the credits 쐽

credit card 79 crop

verb to pay money into an account 쑗 to

credit an account with £100 or to credit

£100 to an account

credit card

credit card /

tic card which allows you to borrow

money and to buy goods without paying

for them immediately

creep

creep /

etly 쑗 They crept softly down the stairs.

2. to move slowly 쑗 The traffic was

creeping along the motorway because

of the fog (NOTE: creeps – creeping –

crept)

crew

crew /

a vehicle such as boat or aircraft 쑗 The

lifeboat rescued the crew of the sinking

ship 쑗 The plane was carrying 125

pas-sengers and a crew of six.

cricket

cricket /krkt/ noun 1 a game played

between two teams of eleven players

us-ing bats and a hard ball 쑗 We haven’t

played much cricket this year – the

weather has been too bad 쑗 We are

go-ing to a cricket match this afternoon 2.

awake and able to know what is

happen-ing around you

cried

cried /krad/ past tense and past

partici-ple of cry

cries

cries /kraz/ 3rd person singular present

of cry

crime

crime /kram/ noun 1 illegal behaviour

쑗 We must try to reduce the levels of

crime in the inner cities 쑗 The

govern-ment is trying to deal with the problem

of crime on the streets or with the street

crime problem 2. a specific illegal act 쑗

More crimes are committed at night

than during the daytime.

criminal

criminal /krmn(ə)l/ adjective

refer-ring to illegal acts 쑗 the criminal justice

system 쑗 Stealing is a criminal offence.

쐽 noun a person who commits a crime

crisis

crisis /krass/ noun a serious situation

where decisions have to be taken very

quickly 쑗 an international crisis 쑗 a

banking crisis

crisp

crisp /krsp/ adjective 1 (of food) hard,

able to be broken into pieces and

mak-ing a noise when you bite it 쑗 These

bis-cuits are not crisp any more, they have

gone soft 쑗 Pick an apple off the tree,

they’re really very crisp 2 cold and

sunny 쑗 It was a beautiful crisp morn-ing, with frost glinting on the grass 쑗

She could see her breath in the crisp mountain air.

criterion

criterion /kratəriən/ noun the

stand-ard by which things are judged 쑗 Does the candidate satisfy all our criteria?

critic

critic /krtk/ noun 1 a person who

ex-amines something and comments on it, especially a person who writes com-ments on new plays and films for a

newspaper 쑗 She’s the TV critic of The Times 쑗 The film was praised by all the

critics 2 a person who says that

some-thing is bad or wrong 쑗 The chairman tried to answer his critics at the meet-ing.

critical

critical /krtk(ə)l/ adjective 1

danger-ous and difficult 쑗 With the enemy at-tacking on all sides, our position was

becoming critical 2 extremely

impor-tant 쑗 He made a critical decision to

break off the negotiations 3 very

seri-ous 쑗 The pilot of the plane was in a critical condition last night 쑗 The hos-pital said that her condition was

criti-cal 4 criticising someone or something

쑗 The report was highly critical of the minister.

criticise

criticise /krtsaz/, criticize verb to

say that something or someone is bad or

wrong 쑗 She criticised their lack of in-terest and enthusiasm 쑗 The design of the new car has been criticised.

criticism

criticism /krtsz(ə)m/ noun an

unfa-vourable comment or comments 쑗

There was a lot of criticism of the gov-ernment’s plan.

crocodile

crocodile /krɒkədal/ noun a large rep-tile which lives in or near rivers and

lakes and eats other animals 쑗 Croco-diles lay on the banks of the river wait-ing for the animals to come to drink.

crooked

crooked /krυkd/ adjective bent, not

straight 쑗 That picture is crooked.

crop

crop /krɒp/ noun plants such as

vegeta-bles or cereals grown for food 쑗 The bad weather has set the crops back by three weeks 쑗 We had a wonderful crop

of potatoes or a wonderful potato crop this year.

sud-cross 80 crunch

denly (informal)

cross

cross /krɒs/ verb 1 to go across

some-thing to the other side 쑗 She just crossed

the road without looking to see if there

was any traffic coming 2 to put one

thing across another 쑗 He crossed his

arms and looked annoyed 쑗 She sat

down and crossed her legs 쑗 The road

crosses the railway line about 10 km

from here 쐽 noun a shape made where

one line has another going across it,

es-pecially one which forms the symbol of

the Christian Church 쑗 Write your name

where I have put a cross 쑗 There is a

cross on the top of the church tower 쐽

adjective angry 쑗 The teacher will be

cross with you for missing school 쑗

Don’t be cross – the children were only

trying to help.

draw a line through something which

has been written to show that it should

not be there

crossing

crossing /krɒsŋ/ noun 1 an occasion

of going across to the other side of an

area of water 쑗 How long is the crossing

from England to Germany? 2 a place

where you go across safely 쑗 Cars have

to take care at the railway crossing.

crossword

crossword /

where small squares have to be filled

with letters to spell words

crouch

crouch /kraυtʃ/ verb to bend down low

쑗 He crouched in the bottom of the boat.

쑗 She crouched down to talk to the

child.

crowd

crowd /kraυd/ noun a very large number

of people together 쑗 A crowd of

school-children went past 쑗 Someone in the

crowd outside the cinema shouted a

warning 쑗 Let’s get an early train home

to avoid the crowds after work 쐽 verb

to group together 쑗 All the rugby fans

crowded into the pub 쑗 The children

were crowding round their teacher.

crowded

crowded /kraυdd/ adjective full of a

large number of people 쑗 The town gets

very crowded during the holiday

sea-son 쑗 The stands were crowded before

the game started.

crown

crown /kraυn/ noun a round metal

deco-ration that a king or queen wears on his

or her head 쐽 verb 1 to make someone king or queen by placing a crown on his

or her head 쑗 The Queen was crowned

in Westminster Abbey 2 to be a very

good end to a set of things that happen

쑗 He crowned his career by winning a gold medal 왍 to crown it all used to

re-fer to the last of several bad things to

happen 쑗 To crown it all, he lost his car keys.

crucial

crucial /

important 쑗 It is crucial that the story

be kept out of the papers.

cruel

cruel /

or animal suffer 쑗 Don’t be so cruel! 쑗

You must not be cruel to your new

pup-py 쑗 It was cruel of him to mention her weight problem (NOTE: crueller –

cru-ellest)

cruelty

cruelty / cruel cruise

cruise /

of a long journey in a ship, stopping at

different places 쑗 When he retired they went on a cruise round the

Mediterrane-an 쐽 verb to go in a boat from place to

place 쑗 They spent May cruising in the Aegean Sea 쑗 The ship cruised from is-land to isis-land.

crumb

crumb /krm/ noun a small piece that has broken off some dry food such as bread, cake or biscuits

crumble

crumble /krmbəl/ verb to break up into small pieces, or to break something

up into small pieces 쑗 If you make it too dry it will just crumble when you eat it.

쑗 He picked up a lump of dry earth and crumbled it between his fingers.

crunch

crunch /krntʃ/ verb 1 to bite

some-thing hard, making a loud noise 쑗 She was crunching an apple when the phone

rang 2 to crush something dry 쑗 The snow crunched under his boots 쐽 noun

1. the sound of something dry being

crushed 2 a situation when something

must happen or be decided (informal ) 쑗

The crunch will come when the firm has

no cash to pay the wages 왍 if or when

it comes to the crunch if or when a

point of decision is reached 쑗 When it came to the crunch, the other side backed down.

crust 81 curl

crust

crust /krst/ noun 1 a hard outer layer

that covers something softer 2 the hard

outside layer of bread 쑗 You can cut the

crusts off the sandwiches 3 the layer of

pastry on top of a pie 4 the outer layer

of the Earth

cry

cry /kra/ verb 1 to have tears coming out

of your eyes 쑗 The baby cried when her

mother took away her toys 쑗 Cutting up

onions makes me cry 쑗 Many people

were crying when they left the cinema.

2. to call out 쑗 ‘Hello there,’ she cried.

(NOTE: cries – crying – cried) 쐽 noun

1. a loud shout 쑗 a cry of pain 쑗 No one

heard her cries for help 2 a sound

made by a bird or other animal (NOTE:

The plural is cries.)

crystal

crystal /krstəl/ noun a solid chemical

substance with a regular shape 쑗 The

salt formed crystals at the bottom of the

jar.

cube

cube /

shape like a box, where all six sides are

squares of the same size 쑗 The design

for the library consists of a series of

cubes 2 something shaped like a cube

쑗 He put two cubes of sugar in his tea.

쑗 The ice cubes chinked in the glasses.

number is multiplied by itself twice 쑗

27 is the cube of 3.

cucumber

cucumber /

dark green vegetable used mainly in

sal-ads

cuddle

cuddle /kd(ə)l/ verb to put your arms

round someone and hold them close to

you 쑗 The little girl was cuddling her

teddy bear 쑗 There was a last chance to

cuddle in the taxi that took them to the

airport 쐽noun an act of putting your

arms round someone and holding them

close to you 쑗 She picked up her

daugh-ter and gave her a cuddle.

culprit

culprit /klprt/ noun a person or thing

that is responsible for a crime, or for

something which has gone wrong

cultural

cultural /kltʃ(ə)rəl/ adjective relating

to culture 쑗 His cultural interests are

very wide-ranging – from Mexican art

to 12th-century Greek paintings 쑗

There will be cultural activities

availa-ble such as a visit to the museum.

culture

culture /kltʃə/ noun 1 activities

in-volving things such as music, art and

lit-erature 쑗 He is taking a course in

Rus-sian culture 2 a country’s way of

think-ing or behavthink-ing 쑗 Is a TV in every home really what we want from Western cul-ture?

cunning

cunning /knŋ/ adjective clever at achieving something, especially by

tricking people 쑗 a cunning plan 쑗 It was cunning of her to ask him to help, as

it flattered him 쐽noun cleverness in

acting to achieve something 쑗 He showed cunning in his attempts to hide his mistake.

cup

cup /kp/ noun 1 a small bowl with a

handle, used for drinking from 쑗 She put out a cup and saucer for everyone.

2. the liquid in a cup 쑗 He drank two cups of coffee 쑗 Can I have a cup of

tea? 3 a large silver or gold container

given as a prize for winning a

competi-tion 쑗 He has won three cups for golf.

cupboard

cupboard /kbəd/ noun a piece of

fur-niture with shelves and doors 쑗 Put the jam in the kitchen cupboard 쑗 She painted the cupboard doors white.

cure

cure /kjυə/ noun something which

makes a disease better 쑗 Doctors are still trying to find a cure for colds 쐽 verb to make a patient or a disease better

쑗 I don’t know what’s in the medicine, but it cured my cough very fast.

curious

curious /kjυəriəs/ adjective 1 wanting

to know things 쑗 I’m curious to know

what happened at the meeting 2

unusu-al or strange 쑗 We found a curious ob-ject that turned out to be an old kitchen tool 쑗 It’s curious that no one knew where he lived.

curl

curl /

thing twist 쑗 My hair curls naturally 쑗

Some plants have stems that curl round other plants 쐽 noun 1 a piece of hair

which grows in a twist 쑗 The little girl

looked lovely with her golden curls 2 a

curved shape of a particular substance 쑗

a curl of smoke

into a round shape 쑗 She curled up in the chair and went to sleep.