EASIER ENGLISH BASIC DICTIONARY 16 pptx

shadow shadow / ʃdəυ/ noun a dark place be-hind an object where light is cut off by the object 쑗 In the evening, the trees cast long shadows across the lawn.. NOTE: shoots – shooting – s

shabby 282 sharpen

shabby

shabby /ʃbi/ adjective (of clothes)

used about clothes which are of poor

quality or look worn out 쑗 He wore a

shabby coat with two buttons missing.

shade

shade /ʃed/ noun 1 a variety of a

par-ticular colour 쑗 Her hat is a rather

pret-ty shade of green 2 a dark place which

is not in the sun 쑗 Let’s try and find

some shade – it’s too hot in the sun 쑗

The sun’s so hot that we’ll have to sit in

the shade.

shadow

shadow /ʃdəυ/ noun a dark place

be-hind an object where light is cut off by

the object 쑗 In the evening, the trees

cast long shadows across the lawn 쑗

She saw his shadow move down the hall.

쑗 They rested for a while, in the shadow

of a large tree.

shaft

shaft /

tool such as a spade 쑗 The shaft of the

spade was so old it snapped in two 2 a

thin beam of light 쑗 Tiny particles of

dust were dancing in a shaft of sunlight.

3. a deep hole connecting one place to

another 쑗 The shaft had become blocked

with rubbish.

shake

shake /ʃek/ verb to move something

from side to side or up and down 쑗

Shake the bottle before pouring 쑗 The

house shakes every time a train goes

past 쑗 His hand shook as he opened the

envelope (NOTE: shakes – shaking –

shook / ʃυk/ – shaken)

shall

shall /ʃəl, ʃl/ modal verb 1 used to

make the future tense 쑗 We shall be out

on Saturday evening 쑗 I shan’t say

an-ything – I shall keep my mouth shut! 쑗

Tomorrow we shan’t be home until after

10 o’clock 2. used to show a suggestion

쑗 Shall we open the windows? 쑗 Shall I

give them a ring? (NOTE: shall is mainly

used with I and we The negative is

shan’t /

should, should not usually

shoul-dn’t.)

shallow

shallow /ʃləυ/ adjective not far from

top to bottom 쑗 Children were playing

in the shallow end of the pool 쑗 The

riv-er is so shallow in summriv-er that you can

walk across it.

shame

shame /ʃem/ noun the feeling you have

when you know you have done

some-thing bad or wrong 쑗 She went bright

red with shame 쑗 To my shame, I did nothing to help.

shampoo

shampoo /ʃm soap for washing your hair or for

wash-ing thwash-ings such as carpets or cars 2 the

action of washing the hair 쑗 She went to the hairdresser’s for a shampoo.

shape

shape /ʃep/ noun the form of how

something looks 쑗 A design in the shape

of a letter S 쑗 The old table was a funny shape 쐽 verb to make into a certain

form 쑗 He shaped the pastry into the form of a little boat.

shaped

shaped /ʃept/ adjective with a certain shape

share

share /ʃeə/ noun a part of something that

is divided between two or more people

쑗 Did he get his share of the prize? 쑗

Take your share of the cake and leave

me the rest 쑗 She should have paid her share of the food bill 쑗 There’s a lot of work to do, so everyone must do their share 쐽 verb 1 also share out to di-vide up something among several

peo-ple 쑗 Let’s share the bill 쑗 In her will, her money was shared out among her

sons 2. to use something which

some-one else also uses 쑗 We share an office.

쑗 We shared a taxi to the airport.

shark

shark / which lives in the sea and can kill peo-ple

sharp

sharp / point which can easily cut or pass

through something 쑗 For injections, a needle has to have a very sharp point 쑗

The beach is covered with sharp stones.

쑗 This knife is useless – it isn’t sharp

enough 2 sudden and great 쑗 There was a sharp drop in interest rates 쑗 The road makes a sharp right-hand bend 쑗

He received a sharp blow on the back of his head 쑗 We had a sharp frost last

night 3 bitter 쑗 Lemons have a very

sharp taste 4 quick to notice things 쑗

He has a sharp sense of justice 쑗 She has a sharp eye for a bargain 쑗 He’s pretty sharp at spotting mistakes 쐽

ad-verb 1 exactly 쑗 The coach will leave

the hotel at 7.30 sharp 2 suddenly, at

an angle 쑗 The road turned sharp right.

sharpen

sharpen / thing sharp

shave 283 shift

shave

shave /ʃev/ noun the act of cutting off

the hair on your face with a razor 쑗 He

decided to have a shave before going

out to dinner 쐽verb 1 to cut off the

hair on your face with a razor 쑗 He cut

himself shaving 2 to cut the hair on

your head or, on a part of your body, so

that it is very short 쑗 I didn’t recognise

him with his head shaved.

she

she /

female person, a female animal and

sometimes to cars, ships and countries 쑗

She’s my sister 쑗 She and I are going on

holiday to France together 쑗 I’m angry

with her – she’s taken my motorbike 쑗

She’s a sweet little cat, but she’s no

good at catching mice 쑗 The customs

officers boarded the ship when she

docked (NOTE: When it is the object,

she becomes her: She hit the ball or

the ball hit her When it follows the verb

to be, she usually becomes her:

Who’s that? – It’s her, the girl we met

yesterday.)

shed

shed /ʃed/ noun a small wooden building

쑗 They kept the mower in a shed at the

bottom of the garden 쐽 verb to lose

something which you are carrying or

wearing 쑗 In autumn, the trees shed

their leaves as soon as the weather turns

cold 쑗 A lorry has shed its load of wood

at the roundabout 쑗 We shed our

clothes and dived into the cool water.

(NOTE: sheds – shedding – shed)

sheep

sheep /

mal, which gives wool and meat 쑗 a

flock of sheep 쑗 The sheep are in the

field (NOTE: The plural is sheep.)

sheer

sheer /ʃə/ adjective 1 used for

empha-sizing something 쑗 It was sheer heaven

to get into a hot bath after skiing 쑗 She

was crying out of sheer frustration 쑗

It’s sheer madness to go out without a

coat in this weather 2 very steep 쑗 It

was a sheer drop to the beach below.

sheet

sheet /

cloth which is put on a bed, either to lie

on or to cover you 쑗 She changed the

sheets on the bed 2 a large flat piece of

something such as paper, metal, ice or

plastic 쑗 Can you give me another sheet

of paper?

shelf

shelf /ʃelf/ noun a flat piece of wood at-tached to a wall or in a cupboard on

which things can be put 쑗 He put up or built some shelves in the kitchen 쑗 The shelves were packed with books 쑗 Put that book back on the shelf 쑗 Can you reach me down the box from the top shelf? 쑗 The plates are on the top shelf

in the kitchen cupboard (NOTE: The

plural is shelves.)

shell

shell /ʃel/ noun 1 the hard outside part

which covers some animals such as

snails or tortoises 쑗 The children spent

hours collecting shells on the beach 2.

the hard outside part of an egg or a nut

쑗 I found a big piece of shell in my

ome-lette 3 a metal tube which is fired from

a gun and explodes when it hits

some-thing 쑗 A shell landed on the hospital.

shelter

shelter /ʃeltə/ noun 1 protection 쑗 We stood in the shelter of a tree waiting for the rain to stop 쑗 On the mountain there was no shelter from the pouring rain 왍 to take shelter to go somewhere

for protection 쑗 When the gunmen

start-ed to shoot we all took shelter behind a

wall 2 a structure or building which

protects you from bad weather or

dan-ger 쑗 People stood in the bus shelter out

of the rain as they waited for the bus to come 쐽 verb to go somewhere for

pro-tection 쑗 Sheep were sheltering from the snow beside the hedge.

shelves

shelves /ʃelvz/ plural of shelf

sheriff

sheriff /ʃerf/ noun US an official in charge of justice in a particular part of a

state 쑗 the sheriff of Orange County

shield

shield / one hand, carried by people such as

po-lice as a protection 쑗 The policemen cowered behind their plastic shields 쐽

verb to protect someone or something

from being reached or seen 쑗 He tried to shield her from the wind.

shift

shift /ʃft/ noun a change of something

such as position or direction 쑗 The com-pany is taking advantage of a shift in the market towards higher priced goods 쑗

There has been a shift of emphasis from opposition to partnership 쑗 I don’t un-derstand this shift in attitude 쐽 verb to

change position or direction 쑗 We’ve shifted the television from the kitchen

shin 284 shopping

into the dining room 쑗 My opinion has

shifted since I read the official report.

shin

shin /ʃn/ noun the front part of your leg

below the knee 쑗 He scraped his shin

climbing over the wall 쑗 They kicked

him in the shins.

shine

shine /ʃan/ verb 1 to be bright with

light 쑗 The sun is shining and they say

it’ll be hot today 쑗 She polished the

ta-ble until it shone 쑗 The wine glasses

shone in the light of the candles 쑗 Why

do cats’ eyes shine in the dark? 쑗 The

moon shone down on the waiting crowd.

2. to make light fall on something 쑗 He

shone his torch into the cellar (NOTE:

shines – shining – shone /ʃɒn/)

shiny

shiny /ʃani/ adjective which shines

(NOTE: shinier – shiniest)

ship

ship /ʃp/ noun a large boat for carrying

passengers and goods on the sea 쑗 She’s

a fine ship 쑗 How many ships does the

Royal Navy have? 쑗 The first time we

went to the United States, we went by

ship (NOTE: A ship is often referred to

as she or her.)

shirt

shirt /

which you wear on the top part of the

body 쑗 The teacher wore a blue suit and

a white shirt 쑗 When he came back

from the trip he had a suitcase full of

dirty shirts 쑗 It’s so hot that the

work-ers in the fields have taken their shirts

off.

shiver

shiver /ʃvə/ verb to shake with cold or

fear 쑗 She shivered in the cold night air.

쑗 He was coughing and shivering, so

the doctor told him to stay in bed 쐽

noun the action of shaking because of

feeling cold or frightened

shock

shock /ʃɒk/ noun a sudden unpleasant

surprise 쑗 It gave me quite a shock when

you walked in 쑗 He’s in for a nasty

shock 왍 in a state of shock reacting

badly to a sudden unpleasant surprise 쑗

She was in a state of shock after hearing

of the accident 쐽 verb to give someone

a sudden unpleasant surprise 쑗 The

con-ditions in the hospital shocked the

in-spectors.

shocked

shocked /ʃɒkt/ adjective having an

un-pleasant surprise

shocking

shocking /ʃɒkŋ/ adjective very un-pleasant, which gives someone a sudden surprise

shoe

shoe /

which is worn on your foot 쑗 She’s bought a new pair of shoes 쑗 He put his shoes on and went out 쑗 Take your shoes off if your feet hurt (NOTE: The

plural is shoes.)

shone

shone /ʃɒn/ past tense and past participle

of shine

shook

shook /ʃυk/ past tense of shake

shoot

shoot / plant, growing from a seed or from a

branch 쑗 One or two green shoots are already showing where I sowed my let-tuces 쑗 After pruning, the roses will send out a lot of strong new shoots 쐽

verb 1 to fire a gun 쑗 Soldiers were

shooting into the woods 2 to hit or kill

a person or animal by firing a gun 쑗 One

of the robbers was shot by a policeman when he tried to run away 쑗 We went

out hunting and shot two rabbits 3 to

go very fast 쑗 When the bell rang she shot down the stairs 쑗 He started the engine and the car shot out of the

ga-rage 4 in some sports, to aim a ball at

the goal 쑗 He shot, and the ball bounced off the post (NOTE: shoots – shooting – shot /ʃɒt/)

shop

shop /ʃɒp/ noun a place where you can

buy things 쑗 Quite a few shops are open

on Sundays 쑗 I never go to that shop – it’s much too expensive 쑗 The sweet shop is opposite the fire station 쐽 verb

to look for and buy things in shops 쑗

She’s out shopping for his birthday present 쑗 Mum’s gone shopping in town 쑗 They went shopping in Oxford Street 쑗 Do you ever shop locally?

(NOTE: shops – shopping – shopped)

shopkeeper

shopkeeper / who owns a shop shopping

shopping /ʃɒpŋ/ noun 1 the activity

of buying things in a shop 쑗 We do all our shopping at the weekend 쑗 He’s

gone out to do the weekly shopping 2.

things which you have bought in a shop

쑗 Put all your shopping on the table 쑗

She was carrying two baskets of

shop-shore 285 show

ping (NOTE: no plural: some shopping,

a lot of shopping)

shore

shore /

sea or a lake 쑗 She stood on the shore

waving as the boat sailed away.

short

you got a short piece of wire? 2 (of

dis-tance) not far 쑗 She only lives a short

distance away 쑗 The taxi driver wanted

to take me through the high street, but I

told him there was a shorter route 쑗

The shortest way to the railway station

is to go through the park 3 (of time) not

lasting a long time 쑗 He phoned a short

time ago 쑗 We had a short holiday in

June 쑗 She managed to have a short

sleep on the plane 4 not tall 쑗 He is

only 1m 40 – much shorter than his

brother.

shortage

shortage /

you do not have something you need 쑗

a shortage of skilled staff 쑗 During the

war, there were food shortages.

shortly

shortly /

shot

shot /ʃɒt/ noun 1 the action of shooting

쑗 The police fired two shots at the car 쑗

Some shots were fired during the bank

robbery 2 a kick or hit to try to score a

goal 쑗 He kicked but his shot was

stopped by the goalkeeper 쐽 past tense

and past participle of shoot

should

should /ʃυd/ modal verb 1 used in

giv-ing advice or warngiv-ings for saygiv-ing what

is the best thing to do 쑗 You should go

to the doctor if your cough gets worse 쑗

I should have been more careful 쑗 She

shouldn’t eat so much if she’s trying to

lose weight 쑗 Should I ask for more

cof-fee? 쑗 Why should I clean up your

mess? (NOTE: Ought to can be used

in-stead of should.) 2 used to say what

you expect to happen 쑗 If you leave now

you should be there by 4 o’clock 쑗

Their train should have arrived by now.

쑗 There shouldn’t be any more

prob-lems now (NOTE: Ought to can be

used instead of should.) 3 used to

show a possibility 쑗 If the President

should die in office, the Vice-President

automatically takes over 쑗 I’ll be in the

next room should you need me 4 same

as would (dated) 쑗 We should like to

offer you our congratulations 쑗 If I had

enough money I should like to buy a new car.

shoulder

shoulder /ʃəυldə/ noun the part of the

body at the top of the arm 쑗 The police-man hurt me on the shoulder 쑗 Look over your shoulder, he’s just behind you.

shout

shout /ʃaυt/ noun a loud cry 쑗 She gave

a shout and dived into the water 쑗 Peo-ple came running when they heard the shouts of the children 쐽 verb to make a

loud cry or to speak very loudly 쑗 They stamped on the floor and shouted 쑗 I had to shout to the waitress to get served 쑗 They were shouting greetings

to one another across the street.

shove

shove /ʃv/ noun a sudden push 쑗 She gave the car a shove and it rolled down the hill 쐽 verb to push someone or

something roughly 쑗 He shoved the pa-pers into his pocket 쑗 Stop shoving – there’s no more room on the bus.

show

show /ʃəυ/ noun 1 an exhibition 쑗 The Hampton Court Flower Show opens to-morrow 쑗 She has entered her two cats

for the local cat show 2. a play or other

performance which is on at a theatre 쑗

‘Cats’ is a wonderful show 쑗 We’re go-ing to a show tonight 쑗 The show starts

at 7.30, so let’s have dinner early 쐽

verb 1 to let someone see something 쑗

He wanted to show me his holiday pho-tos 쑗 She proudly showed me her new car 쑗 You don’t have to show your pass-port when you’re travelling to Ireland.

2. to point something out to someone 쑗

Show me where the accident happened.

쑗 He asked me to show him the way to the railway station 쑗 The salesman showed her how to work the

photocopi-er 쑗 My watch shows the date as well as

the time 3 to be seen, or to be obvious

쑗 The repairs were badly done and it shows 쑗 Her rash has almost disap-peared and hardly shows at all (NOTE:

shows – showing – showed – shown /ʃəυn/) 앳 on show arranged

for everyone to see 쑗 Is there anything new on show in this year’s exhibition?

show off phrasal verb 1 to show how

much better than other people you think

you are 쑗 Don’t watch her dancing about like that – she’s just showing off.

2. to let a lot of people see something

shower 286 shut

which you are proud of 쑗 He drove past

with the radio on very loud, showing off

his new car.

show up phrasal verb 1 to do

some-thing which shows other people to be

worse than you 쑗 She dances so well

that she shows us all up 2 to be seen

clearly 쑗 When I ride my bike at night I

wear an orange jacket because it shows

up clearly in the dark 3 to come to or

arrive in a place (informal ) 쑗 We invited

all our friends to the picnic but it rained

and only five of them showed up.

shower

shower /ʃaυə/ noun 1 a slight fall of

rain or snow 쑗 In April there’s usually a

mixture of sunshine and showers 쑗

There were snow showers this morning,

but it is sunny again now 2. a piece of

equipment in a bathroom, usually fixed

high up on the wall, which sends out

water to wash your whole body 3 an

oc-casion when you wash your body with a

shower 쑗 She went up to her room and

had a shower 쑗 He has a cold shower

every morning 쑗 You can’t take a

show-er now, thshow-ere’s no hot watshow-er 쐽 verb to

wash yourself under a shower 쑗 He

showered and went down to greet his

guests.

shown

shown /ʃəυn/ past participle of show

shrank

shrank /ʃrŋk/ past tense of shrink

shred

shred /ʃred/ noun a long narrow piece

torn off something 쑗 She tore his

news-paper to shreds 쑗 The curtains were on

the floor in shreds 쐽verb 1 to tear or

cut paper into long thin pieces, which

can then be thrown away or used as

packing material 쑗 They sent a pile of

old invoices to be shredded 쑗 She told

the police that the manager had told her

to shred all the documents in the file 2.

to cut something into very thin pieces 쑗

Here’s a utensil for shredding

vegeta-bles 쑗 Add a cup of shredded carrot.

(NOTE: shreds – shredding –

shred-ded)

shrink

shrink /ʃrŋk/ verb 1 to make smaller 쑗

The water must have been too hot – it’s

shrunk my shirt 2 to get smaller 쑗 My

shirt has shrunk in the wash 쑗 The

mar-ket for typewriters has shrunk almost to

nothing (NOTE: shrinks – shrinking –

shrank / ʃrŋk/ – shrunk /ʃrŋk/)

shrivel

shrivel /ʃrv(ə)l/ verb to make the sur-face of something become dry and creased, or to become like this (NOTE:

shrivels – shrivelling – shrivelled)

shrunk

shrunk /ʃrŋk/ past participle of shrink

shuffle

shuffle /ʃf(ə)l/ verb 1 to walk

drag-ging your feet along the ground 쑗 He

shuffled into the room in his slippers 2.

to mix the playing cards before starting

a game 쑗 I think he must have done something to the cards when he was shuffling them.

shut

shut /ʃt/ adjective not open 쑗 Some shops are shut on Sundays, but most big stores are open 쑗 We tried to get into the museum but it was shut 쑗 She lay with her eyes shut 쑗 Come in – the door isn’t shut! 쐽 verb 1 to close something

which is open 쑗 Can you please shut the window – it’s getting cold in here 쑗

Here’s your present – shut your eyes

and guess what it is 2 to close for

busi-ness 쑗 In Germany, shops shut on Sat-urday afternoons 쑗 The restaurant shuts at midnight (NOTE: shuts – shut-ting – shut)

shut down phrasal verb 1 to close

completely 쑗 The factory shut down for

the holiday weekend 2 to switch off an

electrical system 쑗 They had to shut down the factory because pollution lev-els were too high.

shut in phrasal verb to lock someone inside a place

shut off phrasal verb 1 to switch

something off 쑗 Can you shut off the

water while I mend the tap? 2 to stop

access to 쑗 We can shut off the dining room with folding doors 쑗 The house is shut off from the road by a high wall.

shut out phrasal verb 1 to lock

some-one outside a place 쑗 I was shut out of the house because I’d left my keys in-side 쑗 If the dog keeps on barking

you’ll have to shut him out 2 to stop

light getting inside, or to stop people

seeing inside 쑗 Those thick curtains should shut out the light from the chil-dren’s room 쑗 A high wall shuts out the

view of the factory 3 to stop thinking

about something 쑗 Try to shut out the memory of the accident.

shutter 287 sign shut up phrasal verb 1 to close

some-thing inside a place 쑗 I hate being shut

up indoors on a sunny day 2 an

impo-lite way of telling someone to stop

talk-ing or to stop maktalk-ing a noise 쑗 Tell

those children to shut up – I’m trying to

work 쑗 Shut up! – we’re tired of

listen-ing to your complaints 쑗 Once he starts

talking it’s impossible to shut him up.

shutter

shutter /ʃtə/ noun 1 a folding wooden

or metal cover for a window 쑗 Close the

shutters if the sunlight is too bright 2.

the part of a camera which opens and

closes very quickly to allow the light to

go on to the film 쑗 He released the

shut-ter and took the picture.

shy

shy /ʃa/ adjective nervous and afraid to

speak or do something 쑗 He’s so shy he

sat in the back row and didn’t speak to

anyone.

sick

sick /sk/ adjective 1 not in good health

쑗 He’s been sick for months 쑗 We have

five staff off sick 2 왍 to be sick to bring

up food from the stomach into the

mouth 쑗 The last time I ate oysters I was

sick all night 왍 to feel sick to feel ill

be-cause you want to bring up food from

the stomach 쑗 When I got up this

morn-ing I felt sick and went back to bed 쑗

The greasy food made her feel sick 3 왍

to make someone sick to make

some-one very annoyed 쑗 All my friends earn

more than I do – it makes me sick! 4

in-volving subjects or behaviour that many

people are upset or offended by 쑗 a sick

joke 쐽 noun the contents of the stomach

when they come out through the mouth

(informal)

side

side /sad/ noun 1 one of the four parts

which with the top and bottom make a

solid object such as a box 쑗 Stand the

box upright – don’t turn it onto its side.

2. one of the two parts which with the

front and back make a building 쑗 The

garage is attached to the side of the

house 3 one of the surfaces of a flat

ob-ject 쑗 Please write on both sides of the

paper 4 one of two or more parts or

edges of something 쑗 Our office is on

the opposite side of the street to the

bank 쑗 London’s Heathrow Airport is

on the west side of the city 쑗 The

hitch-hikers were standing by the side of the

road 쑗 She sat to one side of the

fire-place 5. one of two parts separated by

something 쑗 She jumped over the fence

to get to the other side 쑗 In the UK, cars drive on the left-hand side of the

road 6. a sports team 쑗 The local side

was beaten 2 – 0 7 the part of the body

between the top of the legs and the

shoulder 쑗 I can’t sleep when I’m lying

on my right side 쑗 The policemen stood

by the prisoner’s side 쑗 They all stood side by side 쐽 adjective which is at the

side 쑗 There is a side entrance to the shop 쑗 Can you take that bucket round

to the side door?

sidewalk

sidewalk /

ment 쑗 A girl was walking slowly along the sidewalk 쑗 We sat at a sidewalk café.

sideways

sideways /sadwez/ adverb to the side

or from the side 쑗 Crabs walk sideways.

쑗 Take a step sideways and you will be able to see the castle 쑗 If you look at the post sideways you’ll see how bent it is.

sigh

sigh /sa/ noun a long deep breath, show-ing feelshow-ings such as sadness or showshow-ing

that you feel tired 쑗 She gave a deep sigh and put the phone down 쑗 You could hear the sighs of relief from the audience when the hero was saved 쐽

verb to breathe with a sigh 쑗 He sighed and wrote out another cheque.

sight

sight /sat/ noun 1 the sense that is the

ability to see 쑗 My grandfather’s sight

isn’t very good any more 2 the fact of

being able to see something 쑗 He can’t stand the sight of blood 쑗 We caught sight of an eagle up in the mountains 쑗

She kept waving until the car disap-peared from sight 쑗 The fog cleared and the mountains came into sight 쑗

They waved until the boat was out of

sight 3 something, especially

some-thing famous, which is interesting to see

쑗 They went off on foot to see the sights

of the town 쑗 The guidebook lists the main tourist sights in Beijing (NOTE: Do

not confuse with site.)

sign

sign /san/ noun 1 a movement of the

hand which means something 쑗 He

made a sign to us to sit down 2

some-thing such as a drawing or a notice

which advertises something 쑗 The shop

signal 288 simply

has a big sign outside it saying ‘for

sale’ 쑗 A ‘no smoking’ sign hung on the

wall 3 something which shows that

something is happening or has

hap-pened 쑗 There is no sign of the rain

stopping 쑗 The economy is showing

signs of improvement 쑗 The police can

find no sign of how the burglars got into

the office 쑗 He should have arrived by

now, but there’s no sign of him 4 a

printed character 쑗 the pound sign (£) 쑗

the dollar sign ($) 쐽 verb to write your

name in a special way on a document to

show that you have written it or that you

have approved it 쑗 Sign on the dotted

line, please 쑗 The letter is signed by the

managing director 쑗 A cheque is not

valid if it has not been signed.

signal

signal /s'n(ə)l/ noun 1 a sign or

movement which tells someone to do

something 쑗 I’ll give you a signal to

start singing 2 a piece of equipment

used to tell someone to do something 쑗

The signal was at red so the train had to

stop 쐽 verb to make signs to tell

some-one to do something 쑗 The driver

sig-nalled to show that he was turning right.

쑗 She signalled to me that we were

run-ning out of time (NOTE: signals –

sig-nalling – signalled The US spelling

is signaling – signaled.)

signature

signature /s'ntʃə/ noun a name

writ-ten in a special way by someone to show

that a document has been officially

ac-cepted 쑗 He found a pile of cheques on

his desk waiting for his signature 쑗 Her

signature doesn’t look like her name at

all 쑗 The shopkeeper looked very

closely at her signature and compared it

with the one on the credit card.

significant

significant /s'nfkənt/ adjective

im-portant or noticeable 쑗 It is highly

sig-nificant that everyone else was asked to

the meeting, but not the finance director.

쑗 There has been a significant

improve-ment in his condition.

silence

silence /saləns/ noun a situation which

is quiet, without any noise 쑗 I love the

silence of the countryside at night 쑗

The crowd of tourists waited in silence.

쑗 The mayor held up his hand and asked

for silence 쑗 There was a sudden

si-lence as she came in 쑗 There will be a minute’s silence at 11 o’clock.

silent

silent /salənt/ adjective not talking or

making any noise 쑗 He kept silent for the whole meeting 쑗 This new washing machine is almost silent 쑗 They showed some old silent films.

silk

silk /slk/ noun cloth made from fibres

produced by insects 쑗 She was wearing

a beautiful silk scarf 쑗 I bought some blue silk to make a dress.

silly

silly /sli/ adjective stupid in an

annoy-ing way 쑗 Don’t be silly – you can’t go

to the party dressed like that! 쑗 She asked a lot of silly questions 쑗 Of all the silly newspaper articles that must be the silliest (NOTE: sillier – silliest)

silver

silver /slvə/ noun a precious white

met-al often used for making jewellery 쑗

Gold is worth more than silver 쑗 How much is an ounce of silver worth? 쐽 ad-jective of a shiny white colour, like

sil-ver 쑗 The car has been resprayed with silver paint 쑗 She wore silver sandals

to match her handbag.

similar

similar /smlə/ adjective very much like someone or something but not

ex-actly the same 쑗 The two cars are very similar in appearance 쑗 Our situation

is rather similar to yours.

similarity

similarity /smlrti/ noun being similar (NOTE: The plural is similari-ties.)

similarly

similarly /smləli/ adverb in a similar

way 쑗 All these infections must be

treat-ed similarly 쑗 He always writes a nice thank you letter, and similarly so does his sister.

simple

simple /smpəl/ adjective 1 easy to do

or understand 쑗 The machine is very

simple to use 2 not unusual, special or

complicated 쑗 They had a simple meal

of bread and soup 쑗 It’s a very simple pattern of lines and squares.

simply

simply /smpli/ adverb 1 in a simple

way 쑗 He described very simply how the accident had happened 쑗 She

al-ways dresses very simply 2 only 쑗 He did it simply to annoy everyone 쑗 She gave a new look to the room simply by

painting one wall red 3 used for

em-phasis 쑗 Your garden is simply

beauti-since 289 site

ful 쑗 It’s simply terrible – what shall we

do?

since

since /sns/ preposition during the

peri-od after 쑗 She’s been here since

Mon-day 쑗 We’ve been working non-stop

since four o’clock – can’t we have a

rest? 쐽 conjunction 1 during the period

after 쑗 He has had trouble borrowing

money ever since he was rude to the

bank manager 쑗 Since we got to the

ho-tel, it has rained every day 2 because 쑗

Since he’s ill, you can’t ask him to help

you 쑗 Since it’s such a fine day, let’s go

for a walk 쐽 adverb during the period

until now 쑗 She phoned on Sunday and

we haven’t heard from her since 쑗 He

left England in 1990 and has lived

abroad ever since.

sincere

sincere /snsə/ adjective very honest

and real, not false or pretended

sincerely

sincerely /snsəli/ adverb honestly or

really

sing

sing /sŋ/ verb to make music with your

voice 쑗 She was singing as she worked.

쑗 Please sing another song 쑗 He

al-ways sings in the bath 쑗 She sang a

fun-ny song about elephants 쑗 The birds

were singing in the garden (NOTE:

sings – singing – sang / sŋ/ – sung

/sŋ/)

singer

singer /sŋə/ noun a person who sings

single

single /sŋ'(ə)l/ adjective 1 one alone

쑗 He handed her a single sheet of paper.

쑗 There wasn’t a single person I knew at

the party 쑗 The single most important

fact about him is that he has no money.

2. for one person only 쑗 Have you got a

single room for two nights, please? 쑗

We prefer two single beds to a double

bed 3. not married 쑗 She’s twenty-nine

and still single 쑗 Are there any single

men on the course?

singular

singular /sŋ'jυlə/ adjective showing

that there is only one thing or person 쑗

‘She’ is a singular pronoun.

sink

sink /sŋk/ noun a fixed container for

wa-ter in which you wash things such as

dishes in a kitchen 쑗 The sink was piled

high with dirty dishes 쑗 He was

wash-ing his hands at the kitchen sink 쐽 verb

1. to go down to the bottom of

some-thing such as water or mud 쑗 The ferry

sank in 30m of water 쑗 The paper boat floated for a few minutes, then sank 쑗

You should tie a piece of lead to your

fishing line to make it sink 2 to fall

sud-denly 쑗 She was so upset that she just sank into an armchair and closed her eyes 쑗 My heart sank when I heard the news (NOTE: sinks – sinking – sank

/sŋk/ – sunk /sŋk/)

sip

sip /sp/ noun the act of drinking a small

amount 쑗 She took a sip of water, and went on with her speech 쐽 verb to drink something taking only a small amount

at a time 쑗 The girl was sipping her drink quietly (NOTE: sips – sipping – sipped)

sir

sir /

to a man, e.g a man who is a customer

in a shop 쑗 Would you like a drink with your lunch, sir? 쑗 Please come this way,

sir 2 왍 Dear Sir a polite way of

begin-ning a letter to a man you do not know

3. the title given to a baronet or knight siren

siren /sarən/ noun a piece of equip-ment which makes a loud warning sig-nal

sister

sister /sstə/ noun 1 a girl or woman

who has the same father and mother as

someone else 쑗 His three sisters all look alike 쑗 My younger sister Louise works

in a bank 쑗 Do you have any sisters? 2.

a senior female nurse in charge of a

ward 쑗 The sister told me my son was getting better (NOTE: The male

equiva-lent is charge nurse.)

sit

sit /st/ verb 1 to be resting with your

bottom on something 쑗 Mother was

sit-ting in bed easit-ting her breakfast 2 (of a

bird) to rest on something 쑗 The robin always comes and sits on the fence when I’m digging (NOTE: sits – sitting – sat

/st/)

sit down phrasal verb to sit on a seat

sit up phrasal verb 1 to sit with your

back straight 쑗 Sit up straight! 2 to

move from a lying to a sitting position 쑗

He’s too weak to sit up 쑗 He sat up in

bed to eat his breakfast 3 to delay

go-ing to bed or to go to bed later than usual

쑗 We sat up playing cards until 2 a.m.

site

site /sat/ noun 1 a place where

some-thing is or will be 쑗 This is the site for

the new factory 2 a place where

some-sitting room 290 skill

thing happened, or where something

once existed 쑗 This was the site of the

Battle of Hastings in 1066 쑗 They’re

trying to locate the site of the old Roman

fort.

sitting room

sitting room /

fortable room in a house for sitting in

situation

situation /stʃueʃ(ə)n/ noun 1 the

position which someone or something is

in because of things which have

hap-pened 쑗 What’s your opinion of the

company’s present situation? 쑗 I

won-der how she got herself into this

situa-tion? 2 a place where something is 쑗

The hotel is in a very pleasant situation

by the sea.

six

six /sks/ noun the number 6 쑗 He’s six

(years old) 쑗 We’re having some people

round for drinks at six (o’clock) 쑗

There are only six chocolates left in the

box – who’s eaten the rest?

sixteen

sixteen /sks

쑗 He’ll be sixteen next month 쑗 The

train leaves at seventeen sixteen

(17.16).

sixteenth

sixteenth /sks

16 in a series 쑗 She came sixteenth in

the race 쑗 Her sixteenth birthday is on

Tuesday 쐽 noun the thing that is

number 16 in a series 쑗 Today is July the

sixteenth or the sixteenth of July (July

16th).

sixth

sixth /sksθ/ adjective number 6 in a

se-ries 쑗 His office is on the sixth floor 쑗

What is the sixth letter of the alphabet?

쑗 Tomorrow is her sixth birthday 쐽

noun 1 the thing that is number 6 in a

series 쑗 Today is September the sixth or

the sixth of September (September 6th).

2. one part of six equal parts 쑗 Ten

min-utes is a sixth of an hour.

sixtieth

sixtieth /skstəθ/ adjective number

sixty in a series 쑗 his sixtieth birthday 쐽

noun the thing that is number sixty in a

series

sixty

sixty /sksti/ noun the number 60 쑗

She’s sixty (years old) 쑗 Over sixty

players took part in the competition.

size

size /saz/ noun the measurements of

something, or how big something is 쑗

Their garage is about the same size as

our house 쑗 The school has an Olympic

size swimming pool 쑗 He takes size ten

in shoes 쑗 What size collars do you take? 쑗 The size of the staff has doubled

in the last two years.

sizzle

sizzle /sz(ə)l/ verb to make a sound like food cooking in oil or fat

skate

skate /sket/ noun a boot with a blade at-tached to the bottom which you wear for

sliding over ice 쑗 a pair of skates 쐽 verb

to move wearing skates 쑗 She skated across the frozen lake (NOTE: skates – skating – skated)

skateboard

skateboard / with two pairs of wheels underneath, which you stand on to move about skeleton

skeleton /skelt(ə)n/ noun all the

bones which make up a body 쑗 They found the skeleton of a rabbit in the gar-den shed 쑗 He demonstrated joints us-ing the skeleton in the biology lab.

skeptical

skeptical /skeptk(ə)l/ adjective US

spelling of sceptical

sketch

sketch /sketʃ/ noun a rough quick

draw-ing 쑗 He made a sketch of the church 쐽

verb to make a rough quick drawing of

something 쑗 She was sketching the old church 쑗 He sketched out his plan on the back of an envelope.

sketchbook

sketchbook /sketʃbυk/ noun a book

of drawing paper for sketching ski

ski / jects which are attached to your boots

for sliding over snow 쑗 We always hire skis when we get to the ski resort 쑗

Someone stole my new pair of skis 쐽

verb to travel on skis 쑗 The mountain rescue team had to ski to the site of the avalanche 쑗 We skied down to the bot-tom of the slope without falling 쑗 She broke her arm skiing (NOTE: skis – ski-ing – skied)

skiing

skiing /

on skis skilful

skilful /sklf(ə)l/ adjective showing a lot

of skill skilfully

skilfully /sklfυli/ adverb in a skilful

way 쑗 It was difficult but he did it very skilfully.

skill

skill /skl/ noun the ability to do some-thing well as a result of training or

expe-rience 쑗 Portrait painting needs a lot of

skilled 291 slaughter

skill 쑗 This job will help you develop

management skills.

skilled

skilled /skld/ adjective 1 able to do

something well, using a particular skill

쑗 She’s a skilled therapist 쑗 We need

skilled programmers 2 needing a

par-ticular skill 쑗 nursing and other skilled

professions

skillful

skillful /sklf(ə)l/ adjective US spelling

of skilful

skim

skim /skm/ verb 1 to remove things

floating on a liquid 쑗 Skim the soup to

remove the fat on the surface 2 to move

quickly over the surface of something 쑗

Flies skimmed across the surface of the

lake (NOTE: skims – skimming –

skimmed)

skin

skin /skn/ noun 1 the outer surface of

the body 쑗 The baby’s skin is very

smooth 2 the outer surface of a fruit or

vegetable 쑗 This orange has a very thick

skin 쑗 You can cook these new potatoes

with their skins on.

skinny

skinny /skni/ adjective too thin to be

attractive 쑗 A tall skinny guy walked in.

쑗 She has very skinny legs (NOTE:

skin-nier – skinniest)

skip

skip /skp/ verb 1 to run along partly

hopping and partly jumping 쑗 The

chil-dren skipped happily down the lane 2.

to jump over a rope which you turn over

your head 쑗 The boys played football

and the girls were skipping 3 to miss

part of something (informal) 쑗 She

skipped the middle chapters and went

on to read the end of the story 쑗 I’m not

hungry, I’ll skip the pudding (NOTE:

skips – skipping – skipped)

skirt

skirt /

worn by women over the lower part of

the body from the waist down 쑗 She

started wearing jeans to work, but was

told to wear a skirt.

skull

skull /skl/ noun the bones which are

joined together to form the head

sky

sky /ska/ noun a space above the earth

which is blue during the day and where

the moon and stars appear at night 쑗

What makes the sky blue? 쑗 It’s going to

be a beautiful day – there’s not a cloud

in the sky 쑗 The wind carried the glider

high up into the sky.

skyscraper

skyscraper /skaskrepə/ noun a very tall building

slab

slab /slb/ noun a flat square or rectan-gular block of stone or concrete slack

slack /slk/ adjective 1 not pulled tight

or not fitting tightly 쑗 The wind had dropped and the sails were slack 쑗 The ropes are slack – pull on them to make

them tight 2 not busy 쑗 Business is slack at the end of the week 쑗 January

is always a slack period for us.

slam

slam /slm/ verb 1 to bang a door shut

쑗 When he saw me, he slammed the

door in my face 2 to shut with a bang 쑗

The door slammed and I was locked out.

3. to move, or to hit something, with

great force 쑗 The car slammed into a tree 쑗 He slammed his fist on the desk.

(NOTE: slams – slamming – slammed)

slang

slang /slŋ/ noun popular words or phrases used by certain groups of peo-ple, but which are not used in formal

sit-uations 쑗 Don’t use slang in your essay.

쑗 Slang expressions are sometimes dif-ficult to understand.

slant

is on a slant, which makes cutting the lawn difficult 쐽verb to slope 쑗 The path slants down the side of the hill 쑗

The picture seems to be slanting to the right.

slap

slap /slp/ noun a blow given with your

hand flat 쑗 She gave him a slap in the face 쐽 verb 1 to hit someone or

some-thing with your hand flat 쑗 She slapped

his face 2 to hit someone or something

gently with your open hand as a sign of

friendship 쑗 They all slapped him on the back to congratulate him (NOTE: slaps – slapping – slapped)

slash

slash /slʃ/ verb to make a long cut in something with a knife, often violently

쑗 He slashed the painting with a kitchen knife.

slate

slate /slet/ noun a thin piece of this

stone used to cover a roof 쑗 The slates were already piled up on the roof ready for fixing.

slaughter

slaughter /

many people 쑗 the terrible slaughter of

innocent people in the riots 2 the killing

train leaves at seventeen sixteen

(17 .16) .

sixteenth

sixteenth /sks

16 in a series 쑗 She came... the thing that is

number 16 in a series 쑗 Today is July the

sixteenth or the sixteenth of July (July

16th).

sixth