| crabbed [ KRAB-id ] | | | [ adjective ] | | | MEANING : | | | 1. grouchy or irritable 2. obscure or difficult to understand or read | | | USAGE EXAMPLE 1 : | | | The crabbed old man had a complaint for just about anything and everything.
| | | USAGE EXAMPLE 2 : | | | Those few crabbed souls who resent the cost of maintaining the monarchy have little enough to resent, since the annual sum amounts to a mere 69p per person. The Telegraph, The Queen's flight, 6 July 2009. | | | | gargoyle [ GAHR-goil ] | | | [ noun ] | | | MEANING : | | | 1. a grotesquely carved figure 2. a grotesque ornamental figure or projection | | | USAGE EXAMPLE 1 : | | | Tourists were busy clicking photographs of the gargoyles at the Victoria Terminus.
| | | USAGE EXAMPLE 2 : | | | From high atop gothic cathedrals, gargoyles look down at the living and the dead moving through the medieval lanes of the city of lights, where jack-o-lanterns can be seen glowing amid the flickering street lamps. CNN, France goes batty over Halloween, Jenna Milly, | | | | enumerate [ i-noo-muh-reyt ] | | | [ transitive verb ] | | | MEANING : | | | 1. to mention one by one 2. to count or find out the number of 3. to call out separately in counting | | | USAGE EXAMPLE 1 : | | | After he enumerated all the main points of the lesson, he found that it was quiet easy to memorize.
| | | USAGE EXAMPLE 2 : | | | if the governor signs it, it theoreticallly would allow Oklahoma to ignore laws that are not "enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution," as stated in the Tenth Amendment. CNN, Stimulus raises state sovereignty issues, Lauren Kornreich, 6 March 2009. | | | | domicile [ DOM-uh'-sahyl ] | | | [ noun, intransitive verb, transitive verb ] | | | MEANING : | | | 1. (n.) home or residence 2. (n.) a person's legal place of residence 3. (tr. v.) to set up in residence 4. (tr. v.) to set up with a temporary place to reside 5. (intr. v.) to dwell or reside | | | USAGE EXAMPLE 1 : | | | His domicile was a beautiful estate in the south of France.
| | | USAGE EXAMPLE 2 : | | | There are rules about discriminating against companies because of their domicile. BBC, Investment 'scandal' risk warning, Paul Lewis, 3 March 2007. | | | | dilettante [ DIL-i-tahnt, dil-i-TAHNT, dil-i-TAHN-tey ] | | | [ noun, adjective ] | | | MEANING : | | | 1. (n.) a person who dabbles superficially in an activity 2. (n.) anyone who takes up an art only for amusement 3. (n.) a connoisseur or a lover of a fine art or science 4. (adj.) amateurish or pertaining to amateurs | | | USAGE EXAMPLE 1 : | | | His critics branded him a dilettante as he was unable to commit to a particular genre of writing.
| | | USAGE EXAMPLE 2 : | | | Henry's oldest son was something of a dilettante, with a puffed-up idea of his own abilities and importance. BBC, The Character and Legacy of Henry II, Dr Mike Ibeji, 5 November 2009. | | |
Spelled Pronunciation Key Stress marks: [ CAPS ] indicates the primary stressed syllable, as in newspaper [NOOZ-pey-per ] and information [ in-fer-MEY-shuh' n ] | CONSONANTS | | [b] | boy, baby, rob | | [d] | do, ladder, bed | | [f] | food, offer, safe | | [g] | get, bigger, dog | | [h] | happy, ahead | | [j] | jump, budget, age | | [k] | can, speaker, stick | | [l] | let, follow, still | | [m] | make, summer, time | | [n] | no, dinner, thin | | [ng] | singer, think, long | | [p] | put, apple, cup | | [r] | run, marry, far, store | | [s] | sit, city, passing, face | | [sh] | she, station, push | | [t] | top, better, cat | | [ch] | church, watching, nature, witch | | [th] | thirsty, nothing, math | | [th'] | this, mother, breathe | | [v] | very, seven, love | | [w] | wear, away | | [hw] | where, somewhat | | [y] | yes, onion | | [z] | zoo, easy, buzz | | [zh] | measure, television, beige | | | | VOWELS | | [a] | apple, can, hat | | [ey] | aid, hate, day | | [ah] | arm, father, aha | | [air] | air, careful, wear | | [aw] | all, or, talk, lost, saw | | [e] | ever, head, get | | [ee] | eat, see, need | | [eer] | ear, hero, beer | | [er] | teacher, afterward, murderer | | [i] | it, big, finishes | | [ahy] | I, ice, hide, deny | | [o] | odd, hot, woffle | | [oh] | owe, road, below | | [oo] | ooze, food, soup, sue | | [oo'] | good, book, put | | [oi] | oil, choice, toy | | [ou] | out, loud, how | | [uh] | up, mother, mud | | [uh'] | about, animal, problem, circus | | [ur] | early, bird, stirring | | | | FOREIGN SOUNDS | | [a*] | Fr. ami | | [kh*] | Scot. loch, Ger. ach or ich | | [œ] | Fr. feu, Ger. schön | | [r*] | Fr. au revoir, Yiddish rebbe | | [uh*] | Fr. oeuvre | | [y*] | Fr. tu, Ger. über | | | | | SAMPLE NASALIZED VOWELS | | [an*] | Fr. bien | | [ahn*] | Fr. croissant | | [awn*] | Fr. bon | | [œn*] | Fr. parfum | | [in*] | Port. Principe | | | |
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