# dict

Words: commentate
Meaning:
com.men.tate\n   commentate  commentates  commentating  commentated\n  To commentate means to give a radio or television commentary on an event.\nThey are in Sweden to commentate on the European Championships...\nHe commentates for the BBC.\n  VERB: V on n, V


Words: commentator
Meaning:
com.men.ta.tor\n   commentator  commentators\n1. A commentator is a broadcaster who gives a radio or television commentary on an event.\n...a sports commentator.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp\n\n2. A commentator is someone who often writes or broadcasts about a particular subject.\n...a political commentator...\nA. M. Babu is a commentator on African affairs.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp


Words: commerce
Meaning:
com.merce\n   commerce\n  Commerce is the activities and procedures involved in buying and selling things.\nThey have made their fortunes from industry and commerce.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n  see also chamber of commerce


Words: commercial
Meaning:
com.mer.cial\n   commercial  commercials\n1. Commercial means involving or relating to the buying and selling of goods.\nDocklands in its heyday was a major centre of industrial and commercial activity...\nAttacks were reported on police, vehicles and commercial premises.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. Commercial organizations and activities are concerned with making money or profits, rather than, for example, with scientific research or providing a public service.\nBritish Rail has indeed become more commercial over the past decade...\nConservationists in Chile are concerned over the effect of commercial exploitation of forests...\nWhether the project will be a commercial success is still uncertain.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  com.mer.cial.ly\nBritish Aerospace reckon that the plane will be commercially viable if 400 can be sold...\nInsulin is produced commercially from animals...\n  ADV: usu ADV adj, ADV with v, also ADV with cl\n\n3. A commercial product is made to be sold to the public.\nThey are the leading manufacturer in both defence and commercial products.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n=>  com.mer.cial.ly\nIt was the first commercially available machine to employ artificial intelligence.\n  ADV: usu ADV adj, also ADV with v\n\n4. A commercial vehicle is a vehicle used for carrying goods, or passengers who pay.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n5. Commercial television and radio are paid for by the broadcasting of advertisements, rather than by the government.\n...Classic FM, the first national commercial radio station.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  !=public service\n6. Commercial is used to describe something such as a film or a type of music that it is intended to be popular with the public, and is not very original or of high quality.\nThere’s a feeling among a lot of people that music has become too commercial.\n  ADJ\n\n7. A commercial is an advertisement that is broadcast on television or radio.\n  N-COUNT


Words: commercial bank
Meaning:
com.mer.cial bank\n   commercial bank  commercial banks\n  A commercial bank is a bank which makes short-term loans using money from current or checking accounts. (BUSINESS)\n  N-COUNT


Words: commercial break
Meaning:
com.mer.cial break\n   commercial break  commercial breaks\n  A commercial break is the interval during a commercial television programme, or between programmes, during which advertisements are shown.\n  N-COUNT


Words: commercialism
Meaning:
com.mer.cial.ism\n   commercialism\n  Commercialism is the practice of making a lot of money from things without caring about their quality.\nKoons has engrossed himself in a world of commercialism that most modern artists disdain.\n  N-UNCOUNT  disapproval


Words: commercialize
Meaning:
com.mer.cial.ize\n   commercialize  commercializes  commercializing  commercialized\nin BRIT, also use commercialise\n  If something is commercialized, it is used or changed in such a way that it makes money or profits, often in a way that people disapprove of.\nIt seems such a pity that a distinguished and honored name should be commercialized in such a manner...\nFederal agencies should commercialize research.\n  VERB: be V-ed, V n  disapproval\n\n=>  com.mer.cial.ized\nRock’n’roll has become so commercialized and safe since punk.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  com.mer.ciali.za.tion\n...the commercialization of Christmas.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N of n


Words: commie
Meaning:
com.mie\n   commie  commies\n  A commie is the same as a communist. (INFORMAL)\n  N-COUNT  disapproval


Words: commiserate
Meaning:
com.mis.er.ate\n   commiserate  commiserates  commiserating  commiserated\n  If you commiserate with someone, you show them pity or sympathy when something unpleasant has happened to them.\nWhen I lost, he commiserated with me.\n  VERB: V with n


Words: commissariat
Meaning:
com.mis.sari.at\n   commissariat  commissariats\n  A commissariat is a military department that is in charge of food supplies.\n  N-COUNT


Words: commissary
Meaning:
com.mis.sary\n   commissary  commissaries\n  A commissary is a shop that provides food and equipment in a place such as a military camp or a prison. (AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: commission
Meaning:
com.mis.sion\n   commission  commissions  commissioning  commissioned\n1. If you commission something or commission someone to do something, you formally arrange for someone to do a piece of work for you.\nThe Ministry of Agriculture commissioned a study into low-input farming...\nYou can commission them to paint something especially for you.\n...specially commissioned reports.\n  VERB: V n, V n to-inf, V-ed\n\n  Commission is also a noun.\nHe approached John Wexley with a commission to write the screenplay of the film.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. A commission is a piece of work that someone is asked to do and is paid for.\nJust a few days ago, I finished a commission.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. Commission is a sum of money paid to a salesperson for every sale that he or she makes. If a salesperson is paid on commission, the amount they receive depends on the amount they sell.\nThe salesmen work on commission only...\nHe also got a commission for bringing in new clients.\n  N-VAR: oft on N\n\n4. If a bank or other company charges commission, they charge a fee for providing a service, for example for exchanging money or issuing an insurance policy. (BUSINESS)\nSellers pay a fixed commission fee.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n5. A commission is a group of people who have been appointed to find out about something or to control something.\nThe authorities have been asked to set up a commission to investigate the murders.\n...the Press Complaints Commission.\n  N-COUNT-COLL\n\n6. If a member of the armed forces receives a commission, he or she becomes an officer.\nHe accepted a commission as a naval officer.\n  N-COUNT\n\n7. If something, for example a ship or a piece of equipment, is out of commission, it is broken and cannot be used until it is repaired.\nThe operator expects the ship to be out of commission until the end of September.\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v\n\n8.\n  see also High Commission


Words: commissioner
Meaning:
com.mis.sion.er\n   commissioner  commissioners   also Commissioner\n  A commissioner is an important official in a government department or other organization.\n...the European Commissioner for External Affairs.\n...police commissioner...\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp\n\n  see also High Commissioner


Words: commit
Meaning:
com.mit\n   commit  commits  committing  committed\n1. If someone commits a crime or a sin, they do something illegal or bad.\nI have never committed any crime...\nThis is a man who has committed murder.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n\n2. If someone commits suicide, they deliberately kill themselves.\nThere are unconfirmed reports he tried to commit suicide.\n  VERB: V n\n\n3. If you commit money or resources to something, you decide to use them for a particular purpose.\nThey called on Western nations to commit more money to the poorest nations...\nHe should not commit American troops without the full consent of Congress.\n  VERB: V n to/for n/-ing, V n\n\n4. If you commit yourself to something, you say that you will definitely do it. If you commit yourself to someone, you decide that you want to have a long-term relationship with them.\nI would advise people to think very carefully about committing themselves to working Sundays...\nI’d like a friendship that might lead to something deeper, but I wouldn’t want to commit myself too soon...\nYou don’t have to commit to anything over the phone.\n  VERB: V pron-refl to -ing, V pron-refl, V to n, also V n to n\n\n=>  com.mit.ted\nHe said the government remained committed to peace.\n...a committed socialist.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ to n/-ing\n\n5. If you do not want to commit yourself on something, you do not want to say what you really think about it or what you are going to do.\nIt isn’t their diplomatic style to commit themselves on such a delicate issue...\nShe didn’t want to commit herself one way or the other.\n  VERB: with brd-neg, V pron-refl on n, V pron-refl\n\n6. If someone is committed to a hospital, prison, or other institution, they are officially sent there for a period of time.\nArthur’s drinking caused him to be committed to a psychiatric hospital.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n, also be V-ed\n\n7. In the British legal system, if someone is committed for trial, they are sent by magistrates to stand trial in a crown court.\nHe is expected to be committed for trial at Liverpool Crown Court.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed for n\n\n8. If you commit something to paper or to writing, you record it by writing it down. If you commit something to memory, you learn it so that you will remember it.\nShe had not committed anything to paper about it...\nI’ll repeat that so you can commit it to memory.\n  VERB: V n to n, V n to n


Words: commitment
Meaning:
com.mit.ment\n   commitment  commitments\n1. Commitment is a strong belief in an idea or system.\n...commitment to the ideals of Bolshevism.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N to n\n\n2. A commitment is something which regularly takes up some of your time because of an agreement you have made or because of responsibilities that you have.\nWork commitments forced her to uproot herself and her son from Reykjavik.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If you make a commitment to do something, you promise that you will do it. (FORMAL)\nWe made a commitment to keep working together...\nThey made a commitment to peace.\n  N-COUNT: usu N to-inf, N to n\n\n4. Commitment is the process of officially sending someone to a prison or to hospital. (AM; in BRIT, use committal)\n  N-VAR


Words: committal
Meaning:
com.mit.tal\n   committal  committals\n  Committal is the process of officially sending someone to a prison or to hospital. (BRIT; in AM, use commitment)\n...his committal to prison.\n...committal proceedings.\n  N-VAR


Words: committee
Meaning:
com.mit.tee\n   committee  committees\n  A committee is a group of people who meet to make decisions or plans for a larger group or organization that they represent.\n...a committee of ministers.\n...an elected Management Committee who serve the Association on a voluntary basis.\n  N-COUNT-COLL: usu with supp


Words: commode
Meaning:
com.mode\n   commode  commodes\n1. A commode is a movable piece of furniture shaped like a chair, which has a large pot below or inside it. It is used as a toilet, especially by people who are too ill to be able to walk easily. (mainly BRIT)\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A commode is a toilet. (AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: commodious
Meaning:
com.mo.di.ous\n   commodious\n  A commodious room or house is large and has a lot of space. (WRITTEN)\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: commodity
Meaning:
com.mod.ity\n   commodity  commodities\n  A commodity is something that is sold for money. (BUSINESS)\nThe government increased prices on several basic commodities like bread and meat.\n  N-COUNT


Words: commodore
Meaning:
com.mo.dore\n   commodore  commodores\n  A commodore is an officer of senior rank in the navy, especially the British Royal Navy.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE


Words: common
Meaning:
com.mon\n   common  commoner  commonest  commons\n1. If something is common, it is found in large numbers or it happens often.\nHis name was Hansen, a common name in Norway...\nOil pollution is the commonest cause of death for seabirds...\nIt was common practice for prisoners to carve objects from animal bones to pass the time.\n  ADJ\n  !=uncommon, rare\n=>  com.mon.ly\nParsley is probably the most commonly used of all herbs.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n2. If something is common to two or more people or groups, it is done, possessed, or used by them all.\nMoldavians and Romanians share a common language...\nSuch behaviour is common to all young people.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ to n\n\n3. When there are more animals or plants of a particular species than there are of related species, then the first species is called common.\n...the common house fly.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n4. Common is used to indicate that someone or something is of the ordinary kind and not special in any way.\nCommon salt is made up of 40% sodium and 60% chloride.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n5. Common decency or common courtesy is the decency or courtesy which most people have. You usually talk about this when someone has not shown these characteristics in their behaviour to show your disapproval of them.\nHe didn’t have the common courtesy to ask permission.\n  ADJ: oft with brd-neg, ADJ n  disapproval\n\n6. You can use common to describe knowledge, an opinion, or a feeling that is shared by people in general.\nIt is common knowledge that swimming is one of the best forms of exercise.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n=>  com.mon.ly\nA little adolescent rebellion is commonly believed to be healthy.\n  ADV: ADV -ed\n\n7. If you describe someone or their behaviour as common, you mean that they show a lack of taste, education, and good manners.\nShe might be a little common at times, but she was certainly not boring.\n  ADJ  disapproval\n  !=refined\n8. A common is an area of grassy land, usually in or near a village or small town, where the public is allowed to go.\nWe are warning women not to go out on to the common alone.\n...Wimbledon Common.\n  N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES\n\n9. The Commons is the same as the House of Commons. The members of the House of Commons can also be referred to as the Commons.\nThe Prime Minister is to make a statement in the Commons this afternoon...\nThe Commons has spent over three months on the bill.\n  N-PROPER-COLL\n\n10.\n  see also lowest common denominator\n11. If two or more things have something in common, they have the same characteristic or feature.\nThe oboe and the clarinet have got certain features in common...\nIn common with most Italian lakes, access to the shores of Orta is restricted.\n  PHRASE: oft PHR with n\n\n12. If two or more people have something in common, they share the same interests or experiences.\nHe had very little in common with his sister.\n  PHRASE: usu have n PHR, oft PHR with n\n\n13.\ncommon ground: see ground\nthe common touch: see touch


Words: common cold
Meaning:
com.mon cold\n   common cold  common colds\n  The common cold is a mild illness. If you have it, your nose is blocked or runny and you have a sore throat or a cough.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, the N


Words: common currency
Meaning:
com.mon cur.ren.cy\n   common currency\n  If you say that an idea or belief has become common currency, you mean it is widely used and accepted.\nThe story that she was trapped in a loveless marriage became common currency.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: common denominator
Meaning:
com.mon de.nomi.na.tor\n   common denominator  common denominators\n1. In mathematics, a common denominator is a number which can be divided exactly by all the denominators in a group of fractions.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A common denominator is a characteristic or attitude that is shared by all members of a group of people.\nI think the only common denominator of success is hard work.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3.\n  see also lowest common denominator


Words: common land
Meaning:
com.mon land\n   common land  common lands\n  Common land is land which everyone is allowed to use.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl


Words: common law
Meaning:
com.mon law\n   common law   also common-law\n1. Common law is the system of law which is based on judges’ decisions and on custom rather than on written laws.\nCanadian libel law is based on English common law.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. A common law relationship is regarded as a marriage because it has lasted a long time, although no official marriage contract has been signed.\n...his common law wife.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: common market
Meaning:
com.mon mar.ket\n   common market  common markets\n1. A common market is an organization of countries who have agreed to trade freely with each other and make common decisions about industry and agriculture. (BUSINESS)\n...the Central American Common Market.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. The Common Market is the former name of the European Union. Some people still refer to the European Union as the Common Market.\n  N-PROPER: the N


Words: common noun
Meaning:
com.mon noun\n   common noun  common nouns\n  A common noun is a noun such as `tree’, `water’, or `beauty’ that is not the name of one particular person or thing. Compare proper noun.\n  N-COUNT


Words: common room
Meaning:
com.mon room\n   common room  common rooms   also common-room\n  A common room is a room in a university or school where people can sit, talk, and relax. (mainly BRIT)\n  N-COUNT


Words: common sense
Meaning:
com.mon sense\n   common sense   also commonsense\n  Your common sense is your natural ability to make good judgments and to behave in a practical and sensible way.\nUse your common sense...\n...a common-sense approach.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: common stock
Meaning:
com.mon stock\n\n  Common stock refers to the shares in a company that are owned by people who have a right to vote at the company’s meetings and to receive part of the company’s profits after the holders of preferred stock have been paid. (AM BUSINESS; in BRIT use ordinary shares)\nThe company priced its offering of 2.7 million shares of common stock at 20 cents a share.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n  see also preferred stock


Words: common-or-garden
Meaning:
common-or-garden   also common or garden\n  You can use common-or-garden to describe something you think is ordinary and not special in any way. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use garden-variety)\nIt’s not just a common-or-garden phone!\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: commonality
Meaning:
com.mon.al.ity\n   commonality  commonalities\n  Commonality is used to refer to a feature or purpose that is shared by two or more people or things. (FORMAL)\nWe don’t have the same commonality of interest...\nThere are an amazing number of commonalities between systems.\n  N-VAR: oft N of n


Words: commoner
Meaning:
com.mon.er\n   commoner  commoners\n  In countries which have a nobility, commoners are the people who are not members of the nobility.\nIt’s only the second time a potential heir to the throne has married a commoner.\n  N-COUNT


Words: commonplace
Meaning:
common.place\n   commonplace  commonplaces\n1. If something is commonplace, it happens often or is often found, and is therefore not surprising.\nForeign vacations have become commonplace...\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ\n\n2. A commonplace is a remark or opinion that is often expressed and is therefore not original or interesting.\nIt is a commonplace to say that Northern Ireland is a backwater in the modern Europe.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing


Words: commonwealth
Meaning:
common.wealth\n   commonwealth\n1. The Commonwealth is an organization consisting of the United Kingdom and most of the countries that were previously under its rule.\n  N-PROPER: the N\n\n2. Commonwealth is used in the official names of some countries, groups of countries, or parts of countries.\n...the Commonwealth of Australia.\n...the Commonwealth of Independent States, which replaced the Soviet Union.\n  N-IN-NAMES: the N of n


Words: commotion
Meaning:
com.mo.tion\n   commotion  commotions\n  A commotion is a lot of noise, confusion, and excitement.\nHe heard a commotion outside...\n  N-VAR


Words: communal
Meaning:
com.mu.nal\n   communal\n1. Communal means relating to particular groups in a country or society.\nCommunal violence broke out in different parts of the country.\n...inter-communal relations.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n2. You use communal to describe something that is shared by a group of people.\nThe inmates ate in a communal dining room.\n...communal ownership.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n=>  com.mu.nal.ly\nMeals are taken communally in the dining room.\n  ADV: usu ADV after v


Words: commune
Meaning:
com.mune\n   commune communes communing  communed\nThe noun is pronounced   The verb is pronounced\n1. A commune is a group of people who live together and share everything.\nMack lived in a commune.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. In France and some other countries, a commune is a town, village, or area which has its own council.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If you say that someone is communing with an animal or spirit, or with nature, you mean that they appear to be communicating with it. (LITERARY)\nShe would happily trot behind him as he set off to commune with nature.\n  VERB: V with n


Words: communicable
Meaning:
com.mu.ni.cable\n   communicable\n  A communicable disease is one that can be passed on to other people. (MEDICAL)\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = infectious, contagious


Words: communicant
Meaning:
com.mu.ni.cant\n   communicant  communicants\n  A communicant is a person in the Christian church who receives communion. (FORMAL)\n  N-COUNT


Words: communicate
Meaning:
com.mu.ni.cate\n   communicate  communicates  communicating  communicated\n1. If you communicate with someone, you share or exchange information with them, for example by speaking, writing, or using equipment. You can also say that two people communicate.\nMy natural mother has never communicated with me...\nOfficials of the CIA depend heavily on electronic mail to communicate with each other...\nThey communicated in sign language.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, pl-n V with pron-recip, pl-n V\n\n=>  com.mu.ni.ca.tion\nLithuania hasn’t had any direct communication with Moscow.\n...use of the radio telephone for communication between controllers and pilots...\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N with/between n\n\n2. If you communicate information, a feeling, or an idea to someone, you let them know about it.\nThey successfully communicate their knowledge to others...\nPeople must communicate their feelings.\n  VERB: V n to n, V n\n\n3. If one person communicates with another, they successfully make each other aware of their feelings and ideas. You can also say that two people communicate.\nHe was never good at communicating with the players...\nFamily therapy showed us how to communicate with each other.\n...considerate individuals who can communicate and work in a team.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, pl-n V with pron-recip, pl-n V\n\n=>  com.mu.ni.ca.tion\nThere was a tremendous lack of communication between us...\n...communication skills.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N with/between n\n\n=>  com.mu.ni.ca.tor      communicators\nShe’s a good communicator.\n  N-COUNT


Words: communication
Meaning:
com.mu.ni.ca.tion\n   communication  communications\n1. Communications are the systems and processes that are used to communicate or broadcast information, especially by means of electricity or radio waves.\n...a communications satellite.\n...communications equipment.\n  N-PLURAL: oft N n\n\n2. A communication is a message. (FORMAL)\nThe ambassador has brought with him a communication from the President.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3.\n  see also communicate


Words: communicative
Meaning:
com.mu.ni.ca.tive\n   communicative\n1. Someone who is communicative talks to people, for example about their feelings, and tells people things.\nShe has become a lot more tolerant and communicative.\n  ADJ\n  = open\n2. Communicative means relating to the ability to communicate.\nWe have a very communicative approach to teaching languages.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: communion
Meaning:
com.mun.ion\n   communion  communions\n1. Communion with nature or with a person is the feeling that you are sharing thoughts or feelings with them.\n...communion with nature.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also a N, oft N with n\n\n2. Communion is the Christian ceremony in which people eat bread and drink wine in memory of Christ’s death.\nMost villagers took communion only at Easter.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl


Words: communique
Meaning:
com.mu.ni.que\n   communique  communiques\n  A communique is an official statement or announcement. (FORMAL)\nThe communique said military targets had been hit.\n  N-COUNT


Words: communism
Meaning:
com.mun.ism\n   communism   also Communism\n  Communism is the political belief that all people are equal and that workers should control the means of producing things.\n...the ultimate triumph of communism in the world.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  !=capitalism


Words: communist
Meaning:
com.mun.ist\n   communist  communists\n1. A communist is someone who believes in communism.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. Communist means relating to communism.\n...the Communist Party.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: community
Meaning:
com.mu.nity\n   community  communities\n1. The community is all the people who live in a particular area or place.\nHe’s well liked by people in the community...\nThe growth of such vigilante gangs has worried community leaders, police and politicians.\n  N-SING-COLL: usu the N\n\n2. A particular community is a group of people who are similar in some way.\nThe police haven’t really done anything for the black community in particular.\n...the business community.\n  N-COUNT-COLL: usu supp N\n\n3. Community is friendship between different people or groups, and a sense of having something in common.\nTwo of our greatest strengths are diversity and community.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: community centre
Meaning:
com.mu.nity cen.tre\n   community centre  community centres\nin AM, use community center\n  A community centre is a place that is specially provided for the people, groups, and organizations in a particular area, where they can go in order to meet one another and do things.\n  N-COUNT


Words: community college
Meaning:
com.mu.nity col.lege\n   community college  community colleges\n  A community college is a local college where students from the surrounding area can take courses in practical or academic subjects. (AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: community policing
Meaning:
com.mu.nity po.lic.ing\n   community policing\n  Community policing is a system in which policemen work only in one particular area of the community, so that everyone knows them.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: community service
Meaning:
com.mu.nity ser.vice\n   community service\n  Community service is unpaid work that criminals sometimes do as a punishment instead of being sent to prison.\nHe was sentenced to 140 hours community service.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: commute
Meaning:
com.mute\n   commute  commutes  commuting  commuted\n1. If you commute, you travel a long distance every day between your home and your place of work.\nMike commutes to London every day...\nMcLaren began commuting between Paris and London...\nHe’s going to commute.\n  VERB: V to/from n, V between n and n, V\n\n=>  com.mut.er      commuters\nThe number of commuters to London has dropped by 100,000.\n...a commuter train.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A commute is the journey that you make when you commute. (mainly AM)\nThe average Los Angeles commute is over 60 miles a day.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If a death sentence or prison sentence is commuted to a less serious punishment, it is changed to that punishment.\nHis death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment...\nPrison sentences have been commuted.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n, be V-ed


Words: commuter belt
Meaning:
com.mut.er belt\n   commuter belt  commuter belts\n  A commuter belt is the area surrounding a large city, where many people who work in the city live.\n...people who live in the commuter belt around the capital.\n  N-COUNT


Words: compact
Meaning:
com.pact\n   compact compacts compacting  compacted\nThe adjective and verb are pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. Compact things are small or take up very little space. You use this word when you think this is a good quality.\n...my compact office in Washington.\n...the new, more compact Czech government.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n  approval\n\n=>  com.pact.ness\nThe very compactness of the cottage made it all the more snug and appealing.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. A compact person is small but strong.\nHe was compact, probably no taller than me...\n  ADJ\n\n3. A compact cassette, camera, or car is a small type of cassette, camera, or car.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n4. To compact something means to press it so that it becomes more solid. (FORMAL)\nThe Smith boy was compacting the trash...\nThe soil settles and is compacted by the winter rain.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n  = compress


Words: compact disc
Meaning:
com.pact disc\n   compact disc  compact discs\nin AM, also use compact disk\n  Compact discs are small shiny discs that contain music or computer information. The abbreviation CD is also used.\n  N-COUNT: also on N


Words: companion
Meaning:
com.pan.ion\n   companion  companions\n  A companion is someone who you spend time with or who you are travelling with.\nFred had been her constant companion for the last six years of her life...\nI asked my travelling companion what he thought of the situation in Algeria.\n  N-COUNT


Words: companionable
Meaning:
com.pan.ion.able\n   companionable\n  If you describe a person as companionable, you mean they are friendly and pleasant to be with. (WRITTEN)\n  ADJ  approval\n  = affable\n=>  com.pan.ion.ably\nThey walked companionably back to the house.\n  ADV: ADV with v


Words: companionship
Meaning:
com.pan.ion.ship\n   companionship\n  Companionship is having someone you know and like with you, rather than being on your own.\nI depended on his companionship and on his judgment...\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = company


Words: companionway
Meaning:
com.pan.ion.way\n   companionway  companionways\n  A companionway is a staircase or ladder that leads from one deck to another on a ship.\n  N-COUNT


Words: company
Meaning:
com.pa.ny\n   company  companies\n1. A company is a business organization that makes money by selling goods or services.\nSheila found some work as a secretary in an insurance company.\n...the Ford Motor Company.\n  N-COUNT-COLL; N-IN-NAMES\n  = firm\n2. A company is a group of opera singers, dancers, or actors who work together.\n...the Phoenix Dance Company.\n  N-COUNT-COLL; N-IN-NAMES\n\n3. A company is a group of soldiers that is usually part of a battalion or regiment, and that is divided into two or more platoons.\nThe division will consist of two tank companies and one infantry company...\n  N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES\n\n4. Company is having another person or other people with you, usually when this is pleasant or stops you feeling lonely.\n`I won’t stay long.’.`No, please. I need the company’...\nRoss had always enjoyed the company of women...\nI’m not in the mood for company.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n5.\n  see also joint-stock company, public company\n6. If you say that someone is in good company, you mean that they should not be ashamed of a mistake or opinion, because some important or respected people have made the same mistake or have the same opinion.\nMr Koo is in good company. The prime minister made a similar slip a couple of years back.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n7. If you have company, you have a visitor or friend with you.\nHe didn’t say he had had company.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n8. When you are in company, you are with a person or group of people.\nWhen they were in company she always seemed to dominate the conversation...\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v\n  !=alone\n9. If you feel, believe, or know something in company with someone else, you both feel, believe, or know it. (FORMAL)\nSaudi Arabia, in company with some other Gulf oil states, is concerned to avoid any repetition of the two oil price shocks of the 1970s.\n  PREP-PHRASE: PHR n\n\n10. If you keep someone company, you spend time with them and stop them feeling lonely or bored.\nWhy don’t you stay here and keep Emma company?\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n11. If you keep company with a person or with a particular kind of person, you spend a lot of time with them.\nHe keeps company with all sorts of lazy characters.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n12. If two or more people part company, they go in different directions after going in the same direction together. (WRITTEN)\nThe three of them parted company at the bus stop.\n  PHRASE: V inflects, pl-n PHR, PHR with n\n\n13. If you part company with someone, you end your association with them, often because of a disagreement. (FORMAL)\nThe tennis star has parted company with his Austrian trainer...\nWe have agreed to part company after differences of opinion.\n  PHRASE: V inflects, PHR with n, pl-n PHR


Words: company car
Meaning:
com.pa.ny car\n   company car  company cars\n  A company car is a car which an employer gives to an employee to use as their own, usually as a benefit of having a particular job, or because their job involves a lot of travelling. (BUSINESS)\n  N-COUNT


Words: company secretary
Meaning:
com.pa.ny sec.re.tary\n   company secretary  company secretaries\n  A company secretary is a person whose job within a company is to keep the legal affairs, accounts, and administration in order. (BRIT BUSINESS)\n  N-COUNT


Words: comparable
Meaning:
com.pa.rable\n   comparable\n1. Something that is comparable to something else is roughly similar, for example in amount or importance.\n...paying the same wages to men and women for work of comparable value...\nFarmers were meant to get an income comparable to that of townspeople...\nThe risk it poses is comparable with smoking just one cigarette every year.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ to/with n\n  = similar\n2. If two or more things are comparable, they are of the same kind or are in the same situation, and so they can reasonably be compared.\nIn other comparable countries real wages increased much more rapidly...\nBy contrast, the comparable figure for the Netherlands is 16 per cent...\n  ADJ\n  = equivalent


Words: comparative
Meaning:
com.para.tive\n   comparative  comparatives\n1. You use comparative to show that you are judging something against a previous or different situation. For example, comparative calm is a situation which is calmer than before or calmer than the situation in other places.\n...those who manage to reach the comparative safety of Fendel...\nThe task was accomplished with comparative ease.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = relative\n=>  com.para.tive.ly\n...a comparatively small nation.\n...children who find it comparatively easy to make and keep friends.\n  ADV: ADV adj/adv\n\n2. A comparative study is a study that involves the comparison of two or more things of the same kind.\n...a comparative study of the dietary practices of people from various regions of India.\n...a professor of English and comparative literature.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n3. In grammar, the comparative form of an adjective or adverb shows that something has more of a quality than something else has. For example, `bigger’ is the comparative form of `big’, and `more quickly’ is the comparative form of `quickly’. Compare superlative.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n  Comparative is also a noun.\nThe comparative of `pretty’ is `prettier’.\n  N-COUNT: oft the N


Words: compare
Meaning:
com.pare\n   compare  compares  comparing  compared\n1. When you compare things, you consider them and discover the differences or similarities between them.\nCompare the two illustrations in Fig 60...\nWas it fair to compare independent schools with state schools?...\nNote how smooth the skin of the upper arm is, then compare it to the skin on the elbow.\n  VERB: V pl-n, V n with n, V n to n\n\nto compare notes: see note\n2. If you compare one person or thing to another, you say that they are like the other person or thing.\nSome commentators compared his work to that of James Joyce...\nI can only compare the experience to falling in love.\n  VERB: V n to/with n/-ing, V n to/with n/-ing\n  = liken\n3. If one thing compares favourably with another, it is better than the other thing. If it compares unfavourably, it is worse than the other thing.\nOur road safety record compares favourably with that of other European countries...\nHow do the two techniques compare in terms of application?\n  V-RECIP: V adv with n, pl-n V adv\n\n4. If you say that something does not compare with something else, you mean that it is much worse.\nThe flowers here do not compare with those at home...\n  VERB: usu with neg, V with n\n\n5.\n  see also compared


Words: compared
Meaning:
com.pared\n   compared\n1. If you say, for example, that one thing is large or small compared with another or compared to another, you mean that it is larger or smaller than the other thing.\nThe room was light and lofty compared with our Tudor ones...\nColumbia was a young city compared to venerable Charleston.\n  PREP-PHRASE\n\n2. You talk about one situation or thing compared with another or compared to another when contrasting the two situations or things.\nIn 1800 Ireland’s population was nine million, compared to Britain’s 16 million.\n  PREP-PHRASE


Words: comparison
Meaning:
com.pari.son\n   comparison  comparisons\n1. When you make a comparison, you consider two or more things and discover the differences between them.\n...a comparison of the British and German economies...\nIts recommendations are based on detailed comparisons between the public and private sectors...\nThere are no previous statistics for comparison.\n  N-VAR: oft N of/between pl-n\n\n2. When you make a comparison, you say that one thing is like another in some way.\nIt is demonstrably an unfair comparison...\nThe comparison of her life to a sea voyage simplifies her experience.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If you say, for example, that something is large or small in comparison with, in comparison to, or by comparison with something else, you mean that it is larger or smaller than the other thing.\nThe amount of carbon dioxide released by human activities such as burning coal and oil is small in comparison...\nThose places are modern by comparison with Tresillian.\n  PHRASE: oft PHR with/to n\n\n4. If you say there is no comparison between one thing and another, you mean that you think the first thing is much better than the second, or very different from it.\nThere is no comparison between the knowledge and skill of such a player and the ordinary casual participant.\n  PHRASE: oft PHR between pl-n  emphasis


Words: compartment
Meaning:
com.part.ment\n   compartment  compartments\n1. A compartment is one of the separate spaces into which a railway carriage is divided.\nOn the way home we shared our first class compartment with a group of businessmen.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A compartment is one of the separate parts of an object that is used for keeping things in.\n...the secret compartment of my jewel box.\n  N-COUNT\n\n  see also glove compartment


Words: compartmentalize
Meaning:
com.part.men.tal.ize\n   compartmentalize  compartmentalizes  compartmentalizing  compartmentalized\nin BRIT, also use compartmentalise\n  To compartmentalize something means to divide it into separate sections.\nTraditionally men have compartmentalized their lives, never letting their personal lives encroach upon their professional lives.\n  VERB: V-ed, also V n into n\n\n=>  com.part.men.tal.ized\n...the compartmentalised world of Japanese finance.\n  ADJ


Words: compass
Meaning:
com.pass\n   compass  compasses\n1. A compass is an instrument that you use for finding directions. It has a dial and a magnetic needle that always points to the north.\nWe had to rely on a compass and a lot of luck to get here.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. Compasses are a hinged V-shaped instrument that you use for drawing circles.\n  N-PLURAL: also a pair of N


Words: compass point
Meaning:
com.pass point\n   compass point  compass points\n  A compass point is one of the 32 marks on the dial of a compass that show direction, for example north, south, east, and west.\n  N-COUNT


Words: compassion
Meaning:
com.pas.sion\n   compassion\n  Compassion is a feeling of pity, sympathy, and understanding for someone who is suffering.\nElderly people need time and compassion from their physicians.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: compassionate
Meaning:
com.pas.sion.ate\n   compassionate\n  If you describe someone or something as compassionate, you mean that they feel or show pity, sympathy, and understanding for people who are suffering.\nMy father was a deeply compassionate man...\nShe has a wise, compassionate face...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n  approval


Words: compassionate leave
Meaning:
com.pas.sion.ate leave\n   compassionate leave\n  Compassionate leave is time away from your work that your employer allows you for personal reasons, especially when a member of your family dies or is seriously ill. (BUSINESS)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: compatible
Meaning:
com.pat.ible\n   compatible\n1. If things, for example systems, ideas, and beliefs, are compatible, they work well together or can exist together successfully.\nFree enterprise, he argued, was compatible with Russian values and traditions...\nMarriage and the life I live just don’t seem compatible.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ with n\n  !=incompatible\n=>  com.pat.ibil.ity\nNational courts can freeze any law while its compatibility with European legislation is being tested.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N with/of/between n\n  !=incompatibility\n2. If you say that you are compatible with someone, you mean that you have a good relationship with them because you have similar opinions and interests.\nMildred and I are very compatible. She’s interested in the things that interest me...\n  ADJ: oft ADJ with n\n  !=incompatible\n=>  com.pat.ibil.ity\nAs a result of their compatibility, Haig and Fraser were able to bring about wide-ranging reforms.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  !=incompatibility\n3. If one make of computer or computer equipment is compatible with another make, especially IBM, they can be used together and can use the same software.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ with n


Words: compatriot
Meaning:
com.pat.ri.ot\n   compatriot  compatriots\n  Your compatriots are people from your own country.\nChris Robertson of Australia beat his compatriot Chris Dittmar in the final.\n  N-COUNT: usu poss N\n  = countryman


Words: compel
Meaning:
com.pel\n   compel  compels  compelling  compelled\n1. If a situation, a rule, or a person compels you to do something, they force you to do it.\n...the introduction of legislation to compel cyclists to wear a helmet...\nLocal housing authorities have been compelled by the housing crisis to make offers of sub-standard accommodation.\n  VERB: V n to-inf, V n to-inf\n\n2. If you feel compelled to do something, you feel that you must do it, because it is the right thing to do.\nI felt morally compelled to help.\n  PHRASE: V inflects, PHR to-inf


Words: compelling
Meaning:
com.pel.ling\n   compelling\n1. A compelling argument or reason is one that convinces you that something is true or that something should be done.\nFactual and forensic evidence makes a suicide verdict the most compelling answer to the mystery of his death...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. If you describe something such as a film or book, or someone’s appearance, as compelling, you mean you want to keep looking at it or reading it because you find it so interesting.\n...a frighteningly violent yet compelling film...\n  ADJ


Words: compendium
Meaning:
com.pen.dium\n   compendium  compendiums\n  A compendium is a short but detailed collection of information, usually in a book.\nThe Roman Catholic Church has issued a compendium of its teachings.\n  N-COUNT


Words: compensate
Meaning:
com.pen.sate\n   compensate  compensates  compensating  compensated\n1. To compensate someone for money or things that they have lost means to pay them money or give them something to replace that money or those things.\nTo ease financial difficulties, farmers could be compensated for their loss of subsidies.\n  VERB: V n for n, also V n\n\n2. If you compensate for a lack of something or for something you have done wrong, you do something to make the situation better.\nThe company agreed to keep up high levels of output in order to compensate for supplies lost...\nShe would then feel guilt for her anger and compensate by doing even more for the children.\n  VERB: V for n, V\n\n3. Something that compensates for something else balances it or reduces its effects.\nMPs say it is crucial that a system is found to compensate for inflation...\n  VERB: V for n\n\n4. If you try to compensate for something that is wrong or missing in your life, you try to do something that removes or reduces the harmful effects.\nNo supportive words could ever compensate for the pain of being separated from her children for 10 years.\n  VERB: V for n


Words: compensation
Meaning:
com.pen.sa.tion\n   compensation  compensations\n1. Compensation is money that someone who has experienced loss or suffering claims from the person or organization responsible, or from the state.\nHe received one year’s salary as compensation for loss of office...\nThe Court ordered Dr Williams to pay .300 compensation and .100 costs after admitting assault.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. If something is some compensation for something bad that has happened, it makes you feel better.\nHelen gained some compensation for her earlier defeat by winning the final open class...\nDespite a reduction in earnings there are compensations in moving to the north-east where the quality of life is excellent...\n  N-VAR: oft N for n/-ing


Words: compensatory
Meaning:
com.pen.sa.tory\n   compensatory\n1. Compensatory payments involve money paid as compensation. (FORMAL)\nThe jury awarded $11.2 million in compensatory damages.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. Compensatory measures are designed to help people who have special problems or disabilities. (FORMAL)\nMoney should be spent on compensatory programmes for deprived pre-school and infant-school children.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: compere
Meaning:
com.pere\n   compere  comperes  compering  compered\n1. A compere is the person who introduces the people taking part in a radio or television show or a live show. (BRIT; in AM, use emcee)\n  N-COUNT\n  = host\n2. The person who comperes a show introduces the people who take part in it. (BRIT; in AM, use emcee)\nSarita Sagharwal compered the programme...\nThey asked Paul to compere.\n  VERB: V n, V\n  = host


Words: compete
Meaning:
com.pete\n   compete  competes  competing  competed\n1. When one firm or country competes with another, it tries to get people to buy its own goods in preference to those of the other firm or country. You can also say that two firms or countries compete.\nThe banks have long competed with American Express’s charge cards and various store cards...\nThe stores will inevitably end up competing with each other in their push for increased market shares...\nBanks and building societies are competing fiercely for business...\nThe American economy, and its ability to compete abroad, was slowing down according to the report.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, pl-n V with pron-recip, pl-n V for n, V (non-recip), also pl-n V\n\n2. If you compete with someone for something, you try to get it for yourself and stop the other person getting it. You can also say that two people compete for something.\nKangaroos compete with sheep and cattle for sparse supplies of food and water...\nSchools should not compete with each other or attempt to poach pupils...\nMore than 2300 candidates from 93 political parties are competing for 486 seats.\n  V-RECIP: V with n for n, pl-n V with pron-recip, pl-n V for n\n\n3. If you compete in a contest or a game, you take part in it.\nHe will be competing in the London-Calais-London race...\nIt is essential for all players who wish to compete that they earn computer ranking points.\n  VERB: V prep, V\n\n4.\n  see also competing


Words: competence
Meaning:
com.pe.tence\n   competence\n  Competence is the ability to do something well or effectively.\nHis competence as an economist had been reinforced by his successful fight against inflation...\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: competency
Meaning:
com.pe.ten.cy\n   competency\n  Competency means the same as competence.\n...managerial competency.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: competent
Meaning:
com.pe.tent\n   competent\n1. Someone who is competent is efficient and effective.\nHe was a loyal, distinguished and very competent civil servant.\n...a competent performance.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  com.pe.tent.ly\nThe government performed competently in the face of multiple challenges.\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj\n\n2. If you are competent to do something, you have the skills, abilities, or experience necessary to do it well.\nMost adults do not feel competent to deal with a medical emergency involving a child.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ to-inf\n  = qualified


Words: competing
Meaning:
com.pet.ing\n   competing\n  Competing ideas, requirements, or interests cannot all be right or satisfied at the same time.\nThey talked about the competing theories of the origin of life.\n...the competing demands of work and family.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = conflicting\n  see also compete


Words: competition
Meaning:
com.pe.ti.tion\n   competition  competitions\n1. Competition is a situation in which two or more people or groups are trying to get something which not everyone can have.\nThere’s been some fierce competition for the title...\nIt was in these studios that young painters found the support and stimulating competition of peers.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp, oft adj N, N prep\n\n2. The competition is the person or people you are competing with.\nI have to change my approach, the competition is too good now.\n  N-SING: usu the N\n\n3. Competition is an activity involving two or more firms, in which each firm tries to get people to buy its own goods in preference to the other firms’ goods.\nThe deal would have reduced competition in the commuter-aircraft market...\nClothing stores also face heavy competition from factory outlets.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp, oft adj N, N prep\n\n4. The competition is the goods that a rival organization is selling.\nThe American aerospace industry has been challenged by some stiff competition.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n5. A competition is an event in which many people take part in order to find out who is best at a particular activity.\n...a surfing competition...\nHe will be banned from international competition for four years.\n  N-VAR


Words: competitive
Meaning:
com.peti.tive\n   competitive\n1. Competitive is used to describe situations or activities in which people or firms compete with each other.\nOnly by keeping down costs will America maintain its competitive advantage over other countries...\nJapan is a highly competitive market system...\nUniversities are very competitive for the best students.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  com.peti.tive.ly\nHe’s now back up on the slopes again, skiing competitively in events for the disabled.\n  ADV: ADV after v\n\n2. A competitive person is eager to be more successful than other people.\nHe has always been ambitious and fiercely competitive...\nI’m a very competitive person and I was determined not be beaten.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  com.peti.tive.ly\nThey worked hard together, competitively and under pressure.\n  ADV: ADV after v\n\n=>  com.peti.tive.ness\nI can’t stand the pace, I suppose, and the competitiveness, and the unfriendliness.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. Goods or services that are at a competitive price or rate are likely to be bought, because they are less expensive than other goods of the same kind.\nOnly those homes offered for sale at competitive prices will secure interest from serious purchasers.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  com.peti.tive.ly\n...a number of early Martin and Gibson guitars, which were competitively priced.\n  ADV: ADV -ed, ADV after v\n\n=>  com.peti.tive.ness\nIt is only on the world market that we can prove the competitiveness and quality of our goods.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: competitor
Meaning:
com.peti.tor\n   competitor  competitors\n1. A company’s competitors are companies who are trying to sell similar goods or services to the same people.\nThe bank isn’t performing as well as some of its competitors.\n  N-COUNT: oft poss N\n  = rival\n2. A competitor is a person who takes part in a competition or contest.\nHerbert Blocker of Germany, one of the oldest competitors, won the individual silver medal.\n  N-COUNT


Words: compilation
Meaning:
com.pi.la.tion\n   compilation  compilations\n  A compilation is a book, CD, or programme that contains many different items that have been gathered together, usually ones which have already appeared in other places.\nHis latest album release is a compilation of his jazz works over the past decade.\n  N-COUNT\n  = collection\n  see also compile


Words: compile
Meaning:
com.pile\n   compile  compiles  compiling  compiled\n  When you compile something such as a report, book, or programme, you produce it by collecting and putting together many pieces of information.\nThe book took 10 years to compile...\nA report compiled by the Fed’s Philadelphia branch described the economy as weak.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed


Words: compiler
Meaning:
com.pil.er\n   compiler  compilers\n1. A compiler is someone who compiles books, reports, or lists of information.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n\n\n2. A compiler is a computer program which converts language that people can use into a code that the computer can understand. (COMPUTING)\n  N-COUNT


Words: complacency
Meaning:
com.pla.cen.cy\n   complacency\n  Complacency is being complacent about a situation.\n...a worrying level of complacency about the risks of infection from AIDS...\nShe warned that there was no room for complacency on inflation.\n  N-UNCOUNT  disapproval


Words: complacent
Meaning:
com.pla.cent\n   complacent\n  A complacent person is very pleased with themselves or feels that they do not need to do anything about a situation, even though the situation may be uncertain or dangerous.\nWe cannot afford to be complacent about our health.\n...the Chancellor’s complacent attitude towards the far-right’s activities.\n  ADJ  disapproval


Words: complain
Meaning:
com.plain\n   complain  complains  complaining  complained\n1. If you complain about a situation, you say that you are not satisfied with it.\nMiners have complained bitterly that the government did not fulfill their promises...\nThe American couple complained about the high cost of visiting Europe...\nThey are liable to face more mistreatment if they complain to the police...\nPeople should complain when they consider an advert offensive...\n`I do everything you ask of me,’ he complained.\n  VERB: V that, V about/of n, V to n, V, V with quote\n\n2. If you complain of pain or illness, you say that you are feeling pain or feeling ill.\nHe complained of a headache.\n  VERB: V of n


Words: complainant
Meaning:
com.plain.ant\n   complainant  complainants\n  A complainant is a person who starts a court case in a court of law. (LEGAL)\n  N-COUNT\n  !=respondent


Words: complainer
Meaning:
com.plain.er\n   complainer  complainers\n  A complainer is someone who complains a lot about their problems or about things they do not like.\nHe was a terrible complainer.always moaning about something.\n  N-COUNT  disapproval\n  = moaner


Words: complaint
Meaning:
com.plaint\n   complaint  complaints\n1. A complaint is a statement in which you express your dissatisfaction with a particular situation.\nThere’s been a record number of complaints about the standard of service on Britain’s railways...\nPeople have been reluctant to make formal complaints to the police...\n  N-VAR: oft N about n\n\n2. A complaint is a reason for complaining.\nMy main complaint is that we can’t go out on the racecourse anymore.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. You can refer to an illness as a complaint, especially if it is not very serious.\nEczema is a common skin complaint which often runs in families.\n  N-COUNT\n  = ailment


Words: complaisant
Meaning:
com.plai.sant\n   complaisant\n  If you are complaisant, you are willing to accept what other people are doing without complaining. (OLD-FASHIONED)\n  ADJ


Words: complement
Meaning:
com.ple.ment\n   complement complements complementing  complemented\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. If one thing complements another, it goes well with the other thing and makes its good qualities more noticeable.\nNutmeg, parsley and cider all complement the flavour of these beans well.\n  VERB: V n\n  = set off\n2. If people or things complement each other, they are different or do something different, which makes them a good combination.\nThere will be a written examination to complement the practical test...\nWe complement one another perfectly.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n\n3. Something that is a complement to something else complements it.\nThe green wallpaper is the perfect complement to the old pine of the dresser...\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N to n\n\n4. The complement of things or people that something has is the number of things or people that it normally has, which enable it to function properly. (FORMAL)\nEach ship had a complement of around a dozen officers and 250 men...\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N of n\n\n5. In grammar, the complement of a link verb is an adjective group or noun group which comes after the verb and describes or identifies the subject. For example, in the sentence `They felt very tired’, `very tired’ is the complement. In `They were students’, `students’ is the complement.\n  N-COUNT


Words: complementary
Meaning:
com.ple.men.tary\n   complementary\n1. Complementary things are different from each other but make a good combination. (FORMAL)\nTo improve the quality of life through work, two complementary strategies are necessary...\nHe has done experiments complementary to those of Eigen.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n, also v-link ADJ to n\n\n=>  com.ple.men.ta.rity\n...the complementarity between public and private authorities.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. Complementary medicine refers to ways of treating patients which are different from the ones used by most Western doctors, for example acupuncture and homoeopathy.\n...combining orthodox treatment with a wide range of complementary therapies.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = alternative  !=orthodox, conventional


Words: complementation
Meaning:
com.ple.men.ta.tion\n   complementation\n  In linguistics, a complementation pattern of a verb, noun, or adjective is the patterns that typically follow it. (TECHNICAL)\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu N n


Words: complete
Meaning:
com.plete\n   complete  completes  completing  completed\n1. You use complete to emphasize that something is as great in extent, degree, or amount as it possibly can be.\nThe rebels had taken complete control...\nIt shows a complete lack of understanding by management...\nThe resignation came as a complete surprise...\nHe was the complete opposite of Raymond.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n  emphasis\n  = total, absolute  !=partial\n=>  com.plete.ly\nDozens of flats had been completely destroyed...\n...something completely different.\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj/adv\n  = totally\n2. You can use complete to emphasize that you are referring to the whole of something and not just part of it.\nA complete tenement block was burnt to the ground...\nThe job sheets eventually filled a complete book.\n  ADJ: ADJ n  emphasis\n  = entire, whole\n3. If something is complete, it contains all the parts that it should contain.\nThe list may not be complete.\n...a complete dinner service...\n  ADJ\n\n=>  com.plete.ness\n...the accuracy and completeness of the information obtained.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n4. To complete a set or group means to provide the last item that is needed to make it a full set or group.\n...the stickers needed to complete the collection.\n  VERB: no cont, V n\n\n5. The complete works of a writer are all their books or poems published together in one book or as a set of books.\n...the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n6. If one thing comes complete with another, it has that thing as an extra or additional part.\nThe diary comes complete with a gold-coloured ballpoint pen.\n  PREP-PHRASE: PREP n\n\n7. If something is complete, it has been finished.\nThe work of restoring the farmhouse is complete...\nIt’ll be two years before the process is complete.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ\n  !=incomplete\n8. If you complete something, you finish doing, making, or producing it.\nPeter Mayle has just completed his first novel.\n...the rush to get the stadiums completed on time.\n  VERB: V n, get n V-ed\n\n=>  com.ple.tion      completions\nThe project is nearing completion...\nHouse completions for the year should be up from 1,841 to 2,200.\n  N-VAR\n\n9. If you complete something, you do all of it.\nShe completed her degree in two years...\nThis book took years to complete.\n  VERB: no cont, V n, V n\n  = finish\n10. If you complete a form or questionnaire, you write the answers or information asked for in it.\nSimply complete the coupon below...\nUse the enclosed envelope to return your completed survey.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed\n  = fill in


Words: complex
Meaning:
com.plex\n   complex  complexes\n1. Something that is complex has many different parts, and is therefore often difficult to understand.\n...in-depth coverage of today’s complex issues.\n...a complex system of voting.\n...her complex personality.\n...complex machines.\n  ADJ\n  = complicated  !=simple\n2. In grammar, a complex sentence contains one or more subordinate clauses as well as a main clause. Compare compound.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n3. A complex is a group of buildings designed for a particular purpose, or one large building divided into several smaller areas.\n...plans for constructing a new stadium and leisure complex.\n...a complex of offices and flats.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp\n\n4. If someone has a complex about something, they have a mental or emotional problem relating to it, often because of an unpleasant experience in the past.\nI have never had a complex about my height.\n...a deranged attacker, driven by a persecution complex.\n  N-COUNT\n\n  see also guilt complex, inferiority complex


Words: complexion
Meaning:
com.plex.ion\n   complexion  complexions\n1. When you refer to someone’s complexion, you are referring to the natural colour or condition of the skin on their face.\nShe had short brown hair and a pale complexion.\n  N-COUNT: oft adj N\n\n2. The complexion of something is its general nature or character. (FORMAL)\nBut surely this puts a different complexion on things.\n  N-COUNT: with supp


Words: complexities
Meaning:
com.plex.ities\n   complexities\n  The complexities of something are the many complicated factors involved in it.\nThe issue is surrounded by legal complexities.\n  N-PLURAL: usu with supp


Words: complexity
Meaning:
com.plex.ity\n   complexity\n  Complexity is the state of having many different parts connected or related to each other in a complicated way.\n...a diplomatic tangle of great complexity.\n...the increasing complexity of modern weapon systems.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp\n  !=simplicity


Words: compliance
Meaning:
com.pli.ance\n   compliance\n  Compliance with something, for example a law, treaty, or agreement means doing what you are required or expected to do. (FORMAL)\nThe company says it is in full compliance with US labor laws...\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N with n


Words: compliant
Meaning:
com.pli.ant\n   compliant\n  If you say that someone is compliant, you mean they willingly do what they are asked to do. (FORMAL)\n...a docile and compliant workforce.\n  ADJ\n  = pliant, pliable


Words: complicate
Meaning:
com.pli.cate\n   complicate  complicates  complicating  complicated\n  To complicate something means to make it more difficult to understand or deal with.\nThe day’s events, he said, would only complicate the task of the peacekeeping forces...\nTo complicate matters further, everybody’s vitamin requirements vary...\n  VERB: V n, V n


Words: complicated
Meaning:
com.pli.cat.ed\n   complicated\n  If you say that something is complicated, you mean it has so many parts or aspects that it is difficult to understand or deal with.\nThe situation in Lebanon is very complicated.\n...a very complicated voting system.\n  ADJ\n  = complex  !=uncomplicated, simple


Words: complication
Meaning:
com.pli.ca.tion\n   complication  complications\n1. A complication is a problem or difficulty that makes a situation harder to deal with.\nThe age difference was a complication to the relationship...\nAn added complication is the growing concern for the environment.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A complication is a medical problem that occurs as a result of another illness or disease.\nBlindness is a common complication of diabetes...\nHe died of complications from a heart attack.\n  N-COUNT


Words: complicit
Meaning:
com.plic.it\n   complicit\n  If someone is complicit in a crime or unfair activity, they are involved in it. (JOURNALISM)\nHe did not witness her execution, yet he and the others are complicit in her death...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ in n


Words: complicity
Meaning:
com.plic.ity\n   complicity\n  Complicity is involvement with other people in an illegal activity or plan. (FORMAL)\nRecently a number of policemen were sentenced to death for their complicity in the murder...\nHe is accused of complicity with the leader of the coup, former Colonel Gregorio Honasan.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N in n\n  = collusion


Words: compliment
Meaning:
com.pli.ment\n   compliment compliments complimenting  complimented\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. A compliment is a polite remark that you say to someone to show that you like their appearance, appreciate their qualities, or approve of what they have done.\nYou can do no harm by paying a woman compliments...\n`Well done, Cassandra,’ Crook said. She blushed, but accepted the compliment with good grace.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If you compliment someone, you pay them a compliment.\nThey complimented me on the way I looked each time they saw me...\n  VERB: V n on n\n\n3. You can refer to your compliments when you want to express thanks, good wishes, or respect to someone in a formal way.\nMy compliments to the chef...\n  N-PLURAL: usu poss N, oft N to n  politeness\n\n4. If you say that someone returns the compliment, you mean that they do the same thing to someone else as that person has done to them.\nThe actors have entertained us so splendidly during this weekend, I think it’s time we returned the compliment.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n5. If you say that you are giving someone something with your compliments, you are saying in a polite and fairly formal way that you are giving it to them, especially as a gift or a favour.\nPlease give this to your boss with my compliments...\n  PHRASE: PHR after v  politeness


Words: complimentary
Meaning:
com.pli.men.tary\n   complimentary\n1. If you are complimentary about something, you express admiration for it.\nThe staff have been very complimentary, and so have the customers...\nWe often get complimentary remarks regarding the cleanliness of our patio.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ\n  = flattering\n2. A complimentary seat, ticket, or book is given to you free.\nHe had complimentary tickets to take his wife to see the movie.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: comply
Meaning:
com.ply\n   comply  complies  complying  complied\n  If someone or something complies with an order or set of rules, they are in accordance with what is required or expected.\nThe commander said that the army would comply with the ceasefire...\nThere are calls for his resignation, but there is no sign yet that he will comply.\n  VERB: V with n, V


Words: component
Meaning:
com.po.nent\n   component  components\n1. The components of something are the parts that it is made of.\nEnriched uranium is a key component of a nuclear weapon...\nThe management plan has four main components...\nThey were automotive component suppliers to motor manufacturers.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. The component parts of something are the parts that make it up.\nGorbachev failed to keep the component parts of the Soviet Union together...\nPolish workers will now be making component parts for Boeing 757s.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: comport
Meaning:
com.port\n   comport  comports  comporting  comported\n  If you comport yourself in a particular way, you behave in that way. (FORMAL)\nHe comports himself with modesty...\n  VERB: V pron-refl prep/adv


Words: compose
Meaning:
com.pose\n   compose  composes  composing  composed\n1. The things that something is composed of are its parts or members. The separate things that compose something are the parts or members that form it.\nThe force would be composed of troops from NATO countries...\nProtein molecules compose all the complex working parts of living cells...\nThey agreed to form a council composed of leaders of the rival factions.\n  VERB: be V-ed of n, V n, V-ed\n  = make up\n2. When someone composes a piece of music, they write it.\nVivaldi composed a large number of very fine concertos...\nCale also uses electronic keyboards to compose.\n  VERB: V n, V\n\n3. If you compose something such as a letter, poem, or speech, you write it, often using a lot of concentration or skill. (FORMAL)\nHe started at once to compose a reply to Anna...\nThe document composed in Philadelphia transformed the confederation of sovereign states into a national government.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed\n\n4. If you compose yourself or if you compose your features, you succeed in becoming calm after you have been angry, excited, or upset.\nShe quickly composed herself as the car started off...\nThen he composed his features, took Godwin’s hand awkwardly and began to usher him from the office.\n  VERB: V pron-refl, V n


Words: composed
Meaning:
com.posed\n   composed\n  If someone is composed, they are calm and able to control their feelings.\nLaura was very calm and composed...\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ


Words: composer
Meaning:
com.pos.er\n   composer  composers\n  A composer is a person who writes music, especially classical music.\n  N-COUNT


Words: composite
Meaning:
com.po.site\n   composite  composites\n  A composite object or item is made up of several different things, parts, or substances.\nGalton devised a method of creating composite pictures in which the features of different faces were superimposed over one another.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n  Composite is also a noun.\nSpain is a composite of diverse traditions and people.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N of n


Words: composition
Meaning:
com.po.si.tion\n   composition  compositions\n1. When you talk about the composition of something, you are referring to the way in which its various parts are put together and arranged.\nTelevision has transformed the size and social composition of the audience at great sporting occasions...\nForests vary greatly in composition from one part of the country to another.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n\n  = make-up\n2. The compositions of a composer, painter, or other artist are the works of art that they have produced.\nMozart’s compositions are undoubtedly amongst the world’s greatest.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. A composition is a piece of written work that children write at school.\n  N-COUNT\n  = essay\n4. Composition is the technique or skill involved in creating a work of art.\nHe taught the piano, organ and composition...\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: compositional
Meaning:
com.po.si.tion.al\n   compositional\n  Compositional refers to the way composers and artists use their skills or techniques in their work. (TECHNICAL)\n...Mozart’s compositional style.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: compositor
Meaning:
com.posi.tor\n   compositor  compositors\n  A compositor is a person who arranges the text and pictures of a book, magazine, or newspaper before it is printed.\n  N-COUNT


Words: compost
Meaning:
com.post\n   compost  composts  composting  composted\n1. Compost is a mixture of decayed plants and vegetable waste which is added to the soil to help plants grow.\n...a small compost heap.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. Compost is specially treated soil that you buy and use to grow seeds and plants in pots.\n  N-MASS\n\n3. To compost things such as unwanted bits of plants means to make them into compost.\nCut down and compost spent cucumbers, tomatoes and other crops...\n  VERB: V n


Words: composure
Meaning:
com.po.sure\n   composure\n  Composure is the appearance or feeling of calm and the ability to control your feelings. (FORMAL)\nFor once Dimbleby lost his composure. It was all he could do to stop tears of mirth falling down his cheeks...\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: compound
Meaning:
com.pound\n   compound compounds compounding  compounded\nThe noun is pronounced   The verb is pronounced\n1. A compound is an enclosed area of land that is used for a particular purpose.\nPolice fired on them as they fled into the embassy compound.\n...a military compound.\n  N-COUNT\n  = enclosure\n2. In chemistry, a compound is a substance that consists of two or more elements.\nOrganic compounds contain carbon in their molecules.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If something is a compound of different things, it consists of those things. (FORMAL)\nHoney is basically a compound of water, two types of sugar, vitamins and enzymes.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, usu N of n\n  = mixture\n4. Compound is used to indicate that something consists of two or more parts or things.\n...a tall shrub with shiny compound leaves.\n...the compound microscope.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = composite  !=simple\n5. In grammar, a compound noun, adjective, or verb is one that is made up of two or more words, for example `fire engine’, `bottle-green’, and `force-feed’.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n6. In grammar, a compound sentence is one that is made up of two or more main clauses. Compare complex.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n7. To compound a problem, difficulty, or mistake means to make it worse by adding to it. (FORMAL)\nAdditional bloodshed and loss of life will only compound the tragedy...\nThe problem is compounded by the medical system here.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n  = add to


Words: compound fracture
Meaning:
com.pound frac.ture\n   compound fracture  compound fractures\n  A compound fracture is a fracture in which the broken bone sticks through the skin.\n  N-COUNT


Words: compound interest
Meaning:
com.pound in.ter.est\n   compound interest\n  Compound interest is interest that is calculated both on an original sum of money and on interest which has previously been added to the sum. Compare simple interest. (BUSINESS)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: compounded
Meaning:
com.pound.ed\n   compounded\n  If something is compounded of different things, it is a mixture of those things. (FORMAL)\n...an emotion oddly compounded of pleasure and bitterness.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ of n


Words: comprehend
Meaning:
com.pre.hend\n   comprehend  comprehends  comprehending  comprehended\n  If you cannot comprehend something, you cannot understand it. (FORMAL)\nI just cannot comprehend your attitude...\nWhenever she failed to comprehend she invariably laughed.\n  VERB: with brd-neg, V n, V\n  = understand


Words: comprehensible
Meaning:
com.pre.hen.sible\n   comprehensible\n  Something that is comprehensible can be understood. (FORMAL)\nHe spoke abruptly, in barely comprehensible Arabic.\n  ADJ\n  !=incomprehensible


Words: comprehension
Meaning:
com.pre.hen.sion\n   comprehension  comprehensions\n1. Comprehension is the ability to understand something. (FORMAL)\nThis was utterly beyond her comprehension.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = understanding\n2. Comprehension is full knowledge and understanding of the meaning of something. (FORMAL)\nThey turned to one another with the same expression of dawning comprehension, surprise, and relief.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. When pupils do comprehension, they do an exercise to find out how well they understand a piece of spoken or written language.\n  N-VAR


Words: comprehensive
Meaning:
com.pre.hen.sive\n   comprehensive  comprehensives\n1. Something that is comprehensive includes everything that is needed or relevant.\nThe Rough Guide to Nepal is a comprehensive guide to the region.\n  ADJ\n  = complete  !=partial\n2. In Britain, a comprehensive is a state school in which children of all abilities are taught together.\n...Birmingham’s inner-city comprehensives...\nShe taught French at Cheam Comprehensive in South London.\n  N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES\n\n  Comprehensive is also an adjective.\nHe left comprehensive school at the age of 16.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: comprehensively
Meaning:
com.pre.hen.sive.ly\n   comprehensively\n  Something that is done comprehensively is done thoroughly.\nEngland were comprehensively beaten by South Africa.\n  ADV: usu ADV with v


Words: compress
Meaning:
com.press\n   compress compresses compressing  compressed\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. When you compress something or when it compresses, it is pressed or squeezed so that it takes up less space.\nPoor posture, sitting or walking slouched over, compresses the body’s organs...\nAir will compress but the brake fluid won’t.\n  VERB: V n, V\n\n=>  com.pres.sion\nThe compression of the wood is easily achieved.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. If you compress something such as a piece of writing or a description, you make it shorter.\nAll those three books are compacted and compressed into one book.\n  VERB: V n\n  = condense\n3. If an event is compressed into a short space of time, it is given less time to happen than normal or previously.\nThe four debates will be compressed into an unprecedentedly short eight-day period...\nSome courses such as engineering had to be compressed.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed into n, be V-ed\n\n4. A compress is a pad of wet or dry cloth pressed on part of a patient’s body to reduce fever.\nSore throats may be relieved by cold compresses.\n  N-COUNT


Words: compressed
Meaning:
com.pressed\n   compressed\n  Compressed air or gas is squeezed into a small space or container and is therefore at a higher pressure than normal. It is used especially as a source of power for machines.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: compressor
Meaning:
com.pres.sor\n   compressor  compressors\n  A compressor is a machine or part of a machine that squeezes gas or air and makes it take up less space.\n  N-COUNT


Words: comprise
Meaning:
com.prise\n   comprise  comprises  comprising  comprised\n1. If you say that something comprises or is comprised of a number of things or people, you mean it has them as its parts or members. (FORMAL)\nThe special cabinet committee comprises Mr Brown, Mr Mandelson, and Mr Straw...\nThe task force is comprised of congressional leaders, cabinet heads and administration officials...\nA crowd comprised of the wives and children of scientists staged a demonstration.\n  VERB: V n, be V-ed of n, V-ed\n\n2. The things or people that comprise something are the parts or members that form it. (FORMAL)\nWomen comprise 44% of hospital medical staff.\n  VERB: V n\n  = form, make up


Words: compromise
Meaning:
com.pro.mise\n   compromise  compromises  compromising  compromised\n1. A compromise is a situation in which people accept something slightly different from what they really want, because of circumstances or because they are considering the wishes of other people.\nEncourage your child to reach a compromise between what he wants and what you want...\nThe government’s policy of compromise is not universally popular.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. If you compromise with someone, you reach an agreement with them in which you both give up something that you originally wanted. You can also say that two people or groups compromise.\nThe government has compromised with its critics over monetary policies...\n`Nine,’ said I. `Nine thirty,’ tried he. We compromised on 9.15...\nIsrael had originally wanted $1 billion in aid, but compromised on the $650 million.\n  V-RECIP: V with n over n, pl-n V on n, V on n (non-recip)\n\n3. If someone compromises themselves or compromises their beliefs, they do something which damages their reputation for honesty, loyalty, or high moral principles.\n...members of the government who have compromised themselves by co-operating with the emergency committee...\nHe would rather shoot himself than compromise his principles.\n  VERB: V pron-refl, V n  disapproval


Words: compromising
Meaning:
com.pro.mis.ing\n   compromising\n  If you describe information or a situation as compromising, you mean that it reveals an embarrassing or guilty secret about someone.\nHow had this compromising picture come into the possession of the press?\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: comptroller
Meaning:
comp.trol.ler\n   comptroller  comptrollers\n  A comptroller is someone who is in charge of the accounts of a business or a government department; used mainly in official titles. (BUSINESS)\n...Robert Clarke, US Comptroller of the Currency.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n


Words: compulsion
Meaning:
com.pul.sion\n   compulsion  compulsions\n1. A compulsion is a strong desire to do something, which you find difficult to control.\nHe felt a sudden compulsion to drop the bucket and run...\n  N-COUNT: oft N to-inf\n  = urge\n2. If someone uses compulsion in order to get you to do something, they force you to do it, for example by threatening to punish you if you do not do it.\nMany universities argued that students learned more when they were in classes out of choice rather than compulsion...\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = coercion


Words: compulsive
Meaning:
com.pul.sive\n   compulsive\n1. You use compulsive to describe people or their behaviour when they cannot stop doing something wrong, harmful, or unnecessary.\n...a compulsive liar...\nHe was a compulsive gambler and often heavily in debt.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n=>  com.pul.sive.ly\nJohn is compulsively neat and clean, he’s terrified of germs.\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj\n\n2. If a book or television programme is compulsive, it is so interesting that you do not want to stop reading or watching it.\nThe BBC series Hot Chefs is compulsive viewing...\n  ADJ\n\n=>  com.pul.sive.ly\n...a series of compulsively readable novels.\n  ADV: ADV adj


Words: compulsory
Meaning:
com.pul.so.ry\n   compulsory\n  If something is compulsory, you must do it or accept it, because it is the law or because someone in a position of authority says you must.\nIn East Germany learning Russian was compulsory...\nMany young men are trying to get away from compulsory military conscription.\n  ADJ\n  = mandatory\n=>  com.pul.so.ri.ly\nFive of the company’s senior managers have been made compulsorily redundant.\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj


Words: compunction
Meaning:
com.punc.tion\n   compunction\n  If you say that someone has no compunction about doing something, you mean that they do it without feeling ashamed or guilty.\nHe has no compunction about relating how he killed his father.\n  N-UNCOUNT  disapproval


Words: computation
Meaning:
com.pu.ta.tion\n   computation  computations\n  Computation is mathematical calculation.\nThe discrepancies resulted from different methods of computation...\nHe took a few notes and made computations.\n  N-VAR\n  = calculation


Words: computational
Meaning:
com.pu.ta.tion.al\n   computational\n  Computational means using computers.\n...the limits of the computational methods available 50 years ago.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: compute
Meaning:
com.pute\n   compute  computes  computing  computed\n  To compute a quantity or number means to calculate it.\nI tried to compute the cash value of the ponies and horse boxes.\n  VERB: V n\n  = calculate


Words: computer
Meaning:
com.put.er\n   computer  computers\n  A computer is an electronic machine that can store and deal with large amounts of information.\nThe data are then fed into a computer...\nThe car was designed by computer.\n  N-COUNT: also by/on N\n\n  see also personal computer


Words: computer game
Meaning:
com.put.er game\n   computer game  computer games\n  A computer game is a game that you play on a computer or on a small portable piece of electronic equipment.\n  N-COUNT


Words: computer-literate
Meaning:
computer-literate\n  If someone is computer-literate, they have enough skill and knowledge to be able to use a computer.\nWe look for applicants who are numerate, computer-literate and energetic self-starters.\n  ADJ\n  = computerate


Words: computerate
Meaning:
com.put.er.ate\n   computerate\n  If someone is computerate, they have enough skill and knowledge to be able to use a computer.\n  ADJ\n  = computer-literate


Words: computerize
Meaning:
com.put.er.ize\n   computerize  computerizes  computerizing  computerized\nin BRIT, also use computerise\n  To computerize a system, process, or type of work means to arrange for a lot of the work to be done by computer.\nI’m trying to make a spreadsheet up to computerize everything that’s done by hand at the moment...\nMany hospitals say they simply can’t afford to computerize.\n  VERB: V n, V\n\n=>  com.put.eri.za.tion\n...the benefits of computerization.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: computerized
Meaning:
com.put.er.ized\n   computerized\nin BRIT, also use computerised\n1. A computerized system, process, or business is one in which the work is done by computer.\nThe National Cancer Institute now has a computerized system that can quickly provide information.\n...the most highly computerized businesses.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. Computerized information is stored on a computer.\nComputerized data bases are proliferating fast...\nThe public registry in Panama City keeps computerized records of all companies.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: computing
Meaning:
com.pu.ting\n   computing\n1. Computing is the activity of using a computer and writing programs for it.\nCourses range from cookery to computing.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. Computing means relating to computers and their use.\nMany graduates are employed in the electronics and computing industries.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: comrade
Meaning:
com.rade\n   comrade  comrades\n  Your comrades are your friends, especially friends that you share a difficult or dangerous situation with. (LITERARY)\nUnlike so many of his comrades he survived the war.\n  N-COUNT: usu poss N


Words: comrade-in-arms
Meaning:
comrade-in-arms  comrades-in-arms   also comrade in arms\n  A comrade-in-arms is someone who has worked for the same cause or purpose as you and has shared the same difficulties and dangers.\n...Deng Xiaoping, Mao’s long-time comrade-in-arms.\n  N-COUNT: oft poss N


Words: comradely
Meaning:
com.rade.ly\n   comradely\n  If you do something in a comradely way, you are being pleasant and friendly to other people. (FORMAL)\nThey worked in comradely silence.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = friendly


Words: comradeship
Meaning:
com.rade.ship\n   comradeship\n  Comradeship is friendship between a number of people who are doing the same work or who share the same difficulties or dangers.\n...the comradeship of his fellow soldiers.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: Con
Meaning:
1. Con is the written abbreviation for constable, when it is part of a policeman’s title. (BRIT)\n...Det Con Terence Woodwiss.\n  N-TITLE\n\n2. Con is the written abbreviation for Conservative. (BRIT)\n...Philip Goodhart MP for Beckenham (Con).


Words: con
Meaning:
con  cons  conning  conned\n1. If someone cons you, they persuade you to do something or believe something by telling you things that are not true. (INFORMAL)\nHe claimed that the businessman had conned him of .10,000...\nWhite conned his way into a job as a warehouseman with Dutch airline, KLM...\nThe British motorist has been conned by the government.\n  VERB: V n of/out of/into n/-ing, V way into n, be V-ed, also V n\n  = cheat, trick\n2. A con is a trick in which someone deceives you by telling you something that is not true. (INFORMAL)\nSlimming snacks that offer miraculous weight loss are a con...\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. A con is the same as a convict. (INFORMAL)\n  N-COUNT\n\n4.\npros and cons: see pro\n  see also mod cons


Words: con artist
Meaning:
con art.ist\n   con artist  con artists\n  A con artist is someone who tricks other people into giving them their money or property.\n  N-COUNT\n  = con man


Words: con man
Meaning:
con man  con men   also conman\n  A con man is a man who persuades people to give him their money or property by lying to them.\nA few years ago she was the victim of a con man.\n  N-COUNT


Words: concatenation
Meaning:
con.cat.ena.tion\n   concatenation\n  A concatenation of things or events is their occurrence one after another, because they are linked. (FORMAL)\n...the Internet, the world’s biggest concatenation of computing power.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n


Words: concave
Meaning:
con.cave\n   concave\n  A surface that is concave curves inwards in the middle.\n...a concave stomach.\n  ADJ\n  !=convex


Words: conceal
Meaning:
con.ceal\n   conceal  conceals  concealing  concealed\n1. If you conceal something, you cover it or hide it carefully.\nFrances decided to conceal the machine behind a hinged panel...\nFive people were arrested for carrying concealed weapons.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed\n\n2. If you conceal a piece of information or a feeling, you do not let other people know about it.\nRobert could not conceal his relief...\nShe knew at once that he was concealing something from her.\n  VERB: V n, V n from n\n  !=reveal\n3. If something conceals something else, it covers it and prevents it from being seen.\n...a pair of carved Indian doors which conceal a built-in cupboard...\n  VERB: V n


Words: concealment
Meaning:
con.ceal.ment\n   concealment\n1. Concealment is the state of being hidden or the act of hiding something.\n...the concealment of weapons.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. The concealment of information or a feeling involves keeping it secret.\nHis concealment of his true motives was masterly...\nI think there was deliberate concealment of relevant documents.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N of n


Words: concede
Meaning:
con.cede\n   concede  concedes  conceding  conceded\n1. If you concede something, you admit, often unwillingly, that it is true or correct.\nBess finally conceded that Nancy was right...\n`Well,’ he conceded, `I do sometimes mumble a bit.’...\nMr. Chapman conceded the need for Nomura’s U.S. unit to improve its trading skills.\n  VERB: V that, V with quote, V n\n\n2. If you concede something to someone, you allow them to have it as a right or privilege.\nThe government conceded the right to establish independent trade unions...\nFacing total defeat in Vietnam, the French subsequently conceded full independence to Laos.\n  VERB: V n, V n to n\n  = cede\n3. If you concede something, you give it to the person who has been trying to get it from you.\nA strike by some ten thousand bank employees has ended after the government conceded some of their demands.\n  VERB: V n\n\n4. In sport, if you concede goals or points, you are unable to prevent your opponent from scoring them. (BRIT; in AM, use give up)\nThey conceded four goals to Leeds United...\nLuton conceded a free kick on the edge of the penalty area.\n  VERB: V n to n, V n\n\n5. If you concede a game, contest, or argument, you end it by admitting that you can no longer win.\nReiner, 56, has all but conceded the race to his rival...\nAlain Prost finished third and virtually conceded the world championship.\n  VERB: V n to n, V n\n\n6. If you concede defeat, you accept that you have lost a struggle.\nAirtours conceded defeat in its attempt to take control of holiday industry rival Owners Abroad...\nHe happily conceded the election.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n  = accept


Words: conceit
Meaning:
con.ceit\n   conceit  conceits\n  Conceit is very great pride in your abilities or achievements that other people feel is too great.\nPamela knew she was a good student, and that was not just a conceit.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also a N  disapproval\n  = arrogance


Words: conceited
Meaning:
con.ceit.ed\n   conceited\n  If you say that someone is conceited, you are showing your disapproval of the fact that they are far too proud of their abilities or achievements.\nI thought him conceited and arrogant...\n  ADJ  disapproval\n  = arrogant


Words: conceivable
Meaning:
con.ceiv.able\n   conceivable\n  If something is conceivable, you can imagine it or believe it.\nIt is just conceivable that a single survivor might be found...\n  ADJ: oft it v-link ADJ that\n  !=inconceivable


Words: conceive
Meaning:
con.ceive\n   conceive  conceives  conceiving  conceived\n1. If you cannot conceive of something, you cannot imagine it or believe it.\nI just can’t even conceive of that quantity of money...\nHe was immensely ambitious but unable to conceive of winning power for himself.\n  VERB: usu with brd-neg, V of n/-ing, V of n/-ing, also V that\n\n2. If you conceive something as a particular thing, you consider it to be that thing.\nThe ancients conceived the earth as afloat in water...\nWe conceive of the family as being in a constant state of change...\nElvis conceived of himself as a ballad singer.\n  VERB: V n as n/-ing, V of n as n/-ing, V of n as n/-ing\n\n3. If you conceive a plan or idea, you think of it and work out how it can be done.\nShe had conceived the idea of a series of novels...\nHe conceived of the first truly portable computer in 1968.\n  VERB: V n, V of n\n\n4. When a woman conceives, she becomes pregnant.\nWomen, he says, should give up alcohol before they plan to conceive...\nA mother who already has non-identical twins is more likely to conceive another set of twins.\n  VERB: V, V n


Words: concentrate
Meaning:
con.cen.trate\n   concentrate  concentrates  concentrating  concentrated\n1. If you concentrate on something, or concentrate your mind on it, you give all your attention to it.\nIt was up to him to concentrate on his studies and make something of himself...\nAt work you need to be able to concentrate...\nThis helps you to be aware of time and concentrates your mind on the immediate task.\n  VERB: V on n/-ing, V, V n on n\n\n2. If something is concentrated in an area, it is all there rather than being spread around.\nMost development has been concentrated in and around cities.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed in n, also be V-ed adv\n\n3. Concentrate is a liquid or substance from which water has been removed in order to make it stronger, or to make it easier to store.\n...orange juice made from concentrate.\n  N-MASS\n\n4. If you say that an unpleasant fact or situation concentrates someone’s mind, you mean that it makes them think clearly, because they are aware of the serious consequences if they do not.\nA term in prison will concentrate his mind wonderfully.\n  PHRASE: V and N inflect


Words: concentrated
Meaning:
con.cen.trat.ed\n   concentrated\n1. A concentrated liquid has been increased in strength by having water removed from it.\nSweeten dishes sparingly with honey, or concentrated apple or pear juice.\n  ADJ\n\n2. A concentrated activity is directed with great intensity in one place.\n...a more concentrated effort to reach out to troubled kids.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = concerted  !=half-hearted


Words: concentration
Meaning:
con.cen.tra.tion\n   concentration  concentrations\n1. Concentration on something involves giving all your attention to it.\nNeal kept interrupting, breaking my concentration...\nWe lacked concentration and it cost us the goal and the game.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. A concentration of something is a large amount of it or large numbers of it in a small area.\nThe area has one of the world’s greatest concentrations of wildlife...\nThere’s been too much concentration of power in the hands of central authorities.\n  N-VAR: usu N of n\n\n3. The concentration of a substance is the proportion of essential ingredients or substances in it.\npH is a measure of the concentration of free hydrogen atoms in a solution...\n  N-VAR: with supp, oft N of n, n N


Words: concentration camp
Meaning:
con.cen.tra.tion camp\n   concentration camp  concentration camps\n  A concentration camp is a prison in which large numbers of ordinary people are kept in very bad conditions, usually during a war.\n  N-COUNT


Words: concentric
Meaning:
con.cen.tric\n   concentric\n  Concentric circles or rings have the same centre.\nOn a blackboard, he drew five concentric circles.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: concept
Meaning:
con.cept\n   concept  concepts\n  A concept is an idea or abstract principle.\nShe added that the concept of arranged marriages is misunderstood in the west.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n\n  = notion


Words: conception
Meaning:
con.cep.tion\n   conception  conceptions\n1. A conception of something is an idea that you have of it in your mind.\nMy conception of a garden was based on gardens I had visited in England...\nI see him as someone with not the slightest conception of teamwork.\n  N-VAR: usu N of n\n  = notion\n2. Conception is the process in which the egg in a woman is fertilized and she becomes pregnant.\nSix weeks after conception your baby is the size of your little fingernail...\n  N-VAR


Words: conceptual
Meaning:
con.cep.tual\n   conceptual\n  Conceptual means related to ideas and concepts formed in the mind.\n...replacing old laws with new within the same conceptual framework.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n=>  con.cep.tu.al.ly\nThe monograph is conceptually confused, unclear in its structure and weak in its methodology.\n  ADV: usu ADV with v, ADV adj, also ADV with cl


Words: conceptualize
Meaning:
con.cep.tu.al.ize\n   conceptualize  conceptualizes  conceptualizing  conceptualized\nin BRIT, also use conceptualise\n  If you conceptualize something, you form an idea of it in your mind.\nHow we conceptualize things has a lot to do with what we feel...\nTiffany conceptualized herself as a mother, whose primary task was to feed her baby.\n  VERB: V n, V n as n


Words: concern
Meaning:
con.cern\n   concern  concerns  concerning  concerned\n1. Concern is worry about a situation.\nThe group has expressed concern about reports of political violence in Africa...\nThe move follows growing public concern over the spread of the disease...\nThere is no cause for concern.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N prep, N that\n\n2. If something concerns you, it worries you.\nThe growing number of people seeking refuge in Thailand is beginning to concern Western aid agencies...\nIt concerned her that Bess was developing a crush on Max.\n  VERB: no cont, V n, it V n that\n\n=>  con.cerned\nAcademics and employers are deeply concerned that students are not sufficiently prepared mathematically for university courses.\n...a phone call from a concerned neighbor.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ about/for n, ADJ that\n\n3. A concern is a fact or situation that worries you.\nHis concern was that people would know that he was responsible...\nUnemployment was the electorate’s main concern.\n  N-COUNT: usu with poss\n  = worry\n4. Someone’s concern with something is their feeling that it is important.\n...a story that illustrates how dangerous excessive concern with safety can be.\n  N-VAR: oft N with n\n\n5. Someone’s concerns are the things that they consider to be important.\nFeminism must address issues beyond the concerns of middle-class whites.\n  N-COUNT: usu with poss\n\n6. Concern for someone is a feeling that you want them to be happy, safe, and well. If you do something out of concern for someone, you do it because you want them to be happy, safe, and well.\nWithout her care and concern, he had no chance at all...\nHe had only gone along out of concern for his two grandsons.\n  N-VAR: oft poss N\n\n7. If you concern yourself with something, you give it attention because you think that it is important.\nI didn’t concern myself with politics...\n  VERB: V pron-refl with n\n\n=>  con.cerned\nThe agency is more concerned with making arty ads than understanding its clients’ businesses.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ with n\n\n8. If something such as a book or a piece of information concerns a particular subject, it is about that subject.\nThe bulk of the book concerns Sandy’s two middle-aged children...\nChapter 2 concerns itself with the methodological difficulties.\n  VERB: no cont, V n, V pron-refl with n\n\n=>  con.cerned\nRandolph’s work was exclusively concerned with the effects of pollution on health.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ with n\n\n9. If a situation, event, or activity concerns you, it affects or involves you.\nIt was just a little unfinished business from my past, and it doesn’t concern you at all.\n  VERB: no cont, V n\n\n=>  con.cerned\nIt’s a very stressful situation for everyone concerned...\nI believe he was concerned in all those matters you mention.\n  ADJ: n ADJ, v-link ADJ in/with n\n\n10. If a situation or problem is your concern, it is something that you have a duty or responsibility to be involved with.\nThe technical aspects were the concern of the Army...\nI would be glad to get rid of them myself. But that is not our concern.\n  N-SING: with poss\n  = affair, business\n11. You can refer to a company or business as a concern, usually when you are describing what type of company or business it is. (FORMAL BUSINESS)\nIf not a large concern, Queensbury Nursery was at least a successful one.\n  N-COUNT: oft supp N\n\n12. You can say `as far as I’m concerned’ to indicate that you are giving your own opinion.\nAs far as I’m concerned the officials incited the fight.\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl\n\n13. You can say as far as something is concerned to indicate the subject that you are talking about.\nAs far as starting a family is concerned, the trend is for women having their children later in life.\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl\n\n14. If a company is a going concern, it is actually doing business, rather than having stopped trading or not yet having started trading. (BUSINESS)\nThe receivers will always prefer to sell a business as a going concern.\n  PHRASE: N inflects, oft as PHR, v-link PHR\n\n(next)


Words: concern .1
Meaning:
15. If something is of concern to someone, they find it worrying and unsatisfactory.\nAny injury to a child is a cause of great concern to us...\nThe survey’s findings are a matter of great concern.\n  PHRASE: oft PHR to n\n\n16. If something is of concern to you, it is important to you.\nHow they are paid should be of little concern to the bank as long as they are paid.\n  PHRASE: oft PHR  to n


Words: concerned
Meaning:
con.cerned\n   concerned\n1.\nsee concern\n2. If you are concerned to do something, you want to do it because you think it is important.\nWe were very concerned to keep the staff informed about what we were doing.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ to-inf


Words: concerning
Meaning:
con.cern.ing\n   concerning\n  You use concerning to indicate what a question or piece of information is about. (FORMAL)\n...various questions concerning pollution and the environment.\n  PREP: oft n PREP n\n  = about


Words: concert
Meaning:
con.cert\n   concert  concerts\n1. A concert is a performance of music.\n...a short concert of piano music...\nI’ve been to plenty of live rock concerts.\n...a new concert hall.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If a musician or group of musicians appears in concert, they are giving a live performance.\nI want people to remember Elvis in concert.\n  PHRASE: PHR after v


Words: concerted
Meaning:
con.cert.ed\n   concerted\n1. A concerted action is done by several people or groups working together.\nMartin Parry, author of the report, says it’s time for concerted action by world leaders.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n2. If you make a concerted effort to do something, you try very hard to do it.\nHe made a concerted effort to win me away from my steady, sweet but boring boyfriend.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = concentrated


Words: concertgoer
Meaning:
con.cert.go.er\n   concertgoer  concertgoers   also concert-goer\n  A concertgoer is someone who goes to concerts regularly.\n  N-COUNT


Words: concertina
Meaning:
con.cer.ti.na\n   concertina  concertinas\n  A concertina is a musical instrument consisting of two end pieces with stiff paper or cloth that folds up between them. You play the concertina by pressing the buttons on the end pieces while moving them together and apart.\n  N-VAR: oft the N


Words: concertmaster
Meaning:
concert.master\n   concertmaster  concertmasters\n  The concertmaster of an orchestra is the most senior violin player, who acts as a deputy to the conductor. (AM, AUSTRALIAN; in BRIT, use leader)\n  N-COUNT


Words: concerto
Meaning:
con.cer.to\n   concerto  concertos\n  A concerto is a piece of music written for one or more solo instruments and an orchestra.\n...Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto.\n...a wonderful concerto for two violins and string orchestra.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp


Words: concession
Meaning:
con.ces.sion\n   concession  concessions\n1. If you make a concession to someone, you agree to let them do or have something, especially in order to end an argument or conflict.\nThe King made major concessions to end the confrontation with his people.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to/from n\n\n2. A concession is a special right or privilege that is given to someone.\n...tax concessions for mothers who stay at home with their children.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. A concession is a special price which is lower than the usual price and which is often given to old people, students, and the unemployed. (BRIT; in AM, use reduction)\nOpen daily; admission .1.10 with concessions for children and OAPs.\n  N-COUNT\n\n4. A concession is an arrangement where someone is given the right to sell a product or to run a business, especially in a building belonging to another business. (mainly AM BUSINESS; in BRIT, usually use franchise)\n  N-COUNT


Words: concessionaire
Meaning:
con.ces.sion.aire\n   concessionaire  concessionaires\n  A concessionaire is a person or company that has the right to sell a product or to run a business, especially in a building belonging to another business. (AM BUSINESS; in BRIT, use franchisee)\n  N-COUNT


Words: concessionary
Meaning:
con.ces.sion.ary\n   concessionary\n  A concessionary price is a special price which is lower than the normal one and which is often given to old people, students, and the unemployed. (BRIT; in AM, use reduced)\nThere are concessionary rates for students.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: concessioner
Meaning:
con.ces.sion.er\n   concessioner  concessioners\n  A concessioner is the same as a concessionaire. (AM; in BRIT, use franchisee)\n  N-COUNT


Words: concessive clause
Meaning:
con.ces.sive clause\n   concessive clause  concessive clauses\n  A concessive clause is a subordinate clause which refers to a situation that contrasts with the one described in the main clause. For example, in the sentence `Although he was tired, he couldn’t get to sleep’, the first clause is a concessive clause. (TECHNICAL)\n  N-COUNT


Words: conch
Meaning:
conch  conches\n  A conch is a shellfish with a large shell rather like a snail’s. A conch or a conch shell is the shell of this creature.\n  N-COUNT


Words: concierge
Meaning:
con.ci.erge\n   concierge  concierges\n  A concierge is a person, especially in France, who looks after a block of flats and checks people entering and leaving the building.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conciliate
Meaning:
con.cili.ate\n   conciliate  conciliates  conciliating  conciliated\n  If you conciliate someone, you try to end a disagreement with them. (FORMAL)\nHis duty was to conciliate the people, not to provoke them...\nThe President has a strong political urge to conciliate...\nHe spoke in a low, nervous, conciliating voice.\n  VERB: V n, V, V-ing


Words: conciliation
Meaning:
con.cili.ation\n   conciliation\n  Conciliation is willingness to end a disagreement or the process of ending a disagreement.\nThe experience has left him sceptical about efforts at conciliation.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: conciliatory
Meaning:
con.cilia.tory\n   conciliatory\n  When you are conciliatory in your actions or behaviour, you show that you are willing to end a disagreement with someone.\nThe President’s speech was hailed as a conciliatory gesture toward business.\n  ADJ


Words: concise
Meaning:
con.cise\n   concise\n1. Something that is concise says everything that is necessary without using any unnecessary words.\nBurton’s text is concise and informative...\n  ADJ\n  = succinct\n=>  con.cise.ly\nHe’d delivered his report clearly and concisely.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n2. A concise edition of a book, especially a dictionary, is shorter than the original edition.\n...Sotheby’s Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: conclave
Meaning:
con.clave\n   conclave  conclaves\n  A conclave is a meeting at which the discussions are kept secret. The meeting which is held to elect a new Pope is called a conclave.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conclude
Meaning:
con.clude\n   conclude  concludes  concluding  concluded\n1. If you conclude that something is true, you decide that it is true using the facts you know as a basis.\nLarry had concluded that he had no choice but to accept Paul’s words as the truth...\nSo what can we conclude from this debate?...\n`The situation in the inner cities is bad and getting worse,’ she concluded.\n  VERB: V that, V n from n, V with quote\n\n2. When you conclude, you say the last thing that you are going to say. (FORMAL)\n`It’s a waste of time,’ he concluded...\nI would like to conclude by saying that I do enjoy your magazine.\n  VERB: V with quote, V\n  !=begin\n=>  con.clud.ing\nOn the radio I caught Mr Hague’s concluding remarks at the Blackpool conference.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n3. When something concludes, or when you conclude it, you end it. (FORMAL)\nThe evening concluded with dinner and speeches...\nThe Group of Seven major industrial countries concluded its annual summit meeting today.\n  VERB: V adv/prep, V n\n  = end  !=begin\n4. If one person or group concludes an agreement, such as a treaty or business deal, with another, they arrange it. You can also say that two people or groups conclude an agreement. (FORMAL)\nMexico and the Philippines have both concluded agreements with their commercial bank creditors...\nIf the clubs cannot conclude a deal, an independent tribunal will decide.\n  V-RECIP: V n with n, pl-n V n


Words: conclusion
Meaning:
con.clu.sion\n   conclusion  conclusions\n1. When you come to a conclusion, you decide that something is true after you have thought about it carefully and have considered all the relevant facts.\nOver the years I’ve come to the conclusion that she’s a very great musician...\nI have tried to give some idea of how I feel.other people will no doubt draw their own conclusions.\n  N-COUNT: oft N that\n\n2. The conclusion of something is its ending.\nAt the conclusion of the programme, I asked the children if they had any questions they wanted to ask me.\n  N-SING: also no det, usu with supp\n  = end\n3. The conclusion of a treaty or a business deal is the act of arranging it or agreeing it.\n...the expected conclusion of a free-trade agreement between Mexico and the United States.\n  N-SING: usu with supp\n\n4. You can refer to something that seems certain to happen as a foregone conclusion.\nIt was a foregone conclusion that I would end up in the same business as him...\n  PHRASE: oft it v-link PHR that\n  = certainty\n5. You say `in conclusion’ to indicate that what you are about to say is the last thing that you want to say.\nIn conclusion, walking is a cheap, safe, enjoyable and readily available form of exercise.\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl\n\n6. If you say that someone jumps to a conclusion, you are critical of them because they decide too quickly that something is true, when they do not know all the facts.\nI didn’t want her to jump to the conclusion that the divorce was in any way her fault...\n  PHRASE: V and N inflect, oft PHR that  disapproval


Words: conclusive
Meaning:
con.clu.sive\n   conclusive\n  Conclusive evidence shows that something is certainly true.\nHer attorneys claim there is no conclusive evidence that any murders took place...\nResearch on the matter is far from conclusive.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.clu.sive.ly\nA new study proved conclusively that smokers die younger than non-smokers.\n  ADV: ADV with v


Words: concoct
Meaning:
con.coct\n   concoct  concocts  concocting  concocted\n1. If you concoct an excuse or explanation, you invent one that is not true.\nMr Ferguson said the prisoner concocted the story to get a lighter sentence.\n  VERB: V n\n\n2. If you concoct something, especially something unusual, you make it by mixing several things together.\nEugene was concocting Rossini Cocktails from champagne and pureed raspberries.\n  VERB: V n


Words: concoction
Meaning:
con.coc.tion\n   concoction  concoctions\n  A concoction is something that has been made out of several things mixed together.\n...a concoction of honey, yogurt, oats, and apples.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n


Words: concomitant
Meaning:
con.comi.tant\n   concomitant  concomitants\n1. Concomitant is used to describe something that happens at the same time as another thing and is connected with it. (FORMAL)\nCultures that were better at trading saw a concomitant increase in their wealth...\nThis approach was concomitant with the move away from relying solely on official records.\n  ADJ: ADJ n, v-link ADJ with n\n\n2. A concomitant of something is another thing that happens at the same time and is connected with it. (FORMAL)\nThe right to deliberately alter quotations is not a concomitant of a free press.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n


Words: concord
Meaning:
con.cord\n   concord\n1. Concord is a state of peaceful agreement. (FORMAL)\nThey expressed the hope that he would pursue a neutral and balanced policy for the sake of national concord.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = harmony  !=discord\n2. In grammar, concord refers to the way that a word has a form appropriate to the number or gender of the noun or pronoun it relates to. For example, in `He hates it’, there is concord between the singular form of the verb and the singular pronoun `he’.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = agreement


Words: concordance
Meaning:
con.cord.ance\n   concordance  concordances\n1. If there is concordance between two things, they are similar to each other or consistent with each other. (FORMAL)\n...a partial concordance between theoretical expectations and empirical evidence.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. A concordance is a list of the words in a text or group of texts, with information about where in the text each word occurs and how often it occurs. The sentences each word occurs in are often given.\n  N-COUNT


Words: concourse
Meaning:
con.course\n   concourse  concourses\n  A concourse is a wide hall in a public building, for example a hotel, airport, or station.\n  N-COUNT


Words: concrete
Meaning:
con.crete\n   concrete  concretes  concreting  concreted\n1. Concrete is a substance used for building which is made by mixing together cement, sand, small stones, and water.\nThe posts have to be set in concrete...\nThey had lain on sleeping bags on the concrete floor.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N n\n\n2. When you concrete something such as a path, you cover it with concrete.\nHe merely cleared and concreted the floors.\n  VERB: V n\n\n3. You use concrete to indicate that something is definite and specific.\nHe had no concrete evidence...\nI must have something to tell him. Something concrete.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n=>  con.crete.ly\n...by way of making their point more concretely.\n  ADV: oft ADV with cl\n\n4. A concrete object is a real, physical object.\n...using concrete objects to teach addition and subtraction.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n5. A concrete noun is a noun that refers to a physical object rather than to a quality or idea.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  !=abstract\n6. If a plan or idea is set in concrete or embedded in concrete, it is fixed and cannot be changed.\nAs Mr Blunkett emphasised, nothing is yet set in concrete.\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR


Words: concrete jungle
Meaning:
con.crete jun.gle\n   concrete jungle  concrete jungles\n  If you refer to a city or area as a concrete jungle, you mean that it has a lot of modern buildings and you think it is ugly or unpleasant to live in.\n  N-COUNT  disapproval


Words: concubine
Meaning:
con.cu.bine\n   concubine  concubines\n  In former times, a concubine was a woman who lived with and had a sexual relationship with a man of higher social rank without being married to him.\n  N-COUNT


Words: concur
Meaning:
con.cur\n   concur  concurs  concurring  concurred\n  If one person concurs with another person, the two people agree. You can also say that two people concur. (FORMAL)\nLocal feeling does not necessarily concur with the press...\nDaniels and Franklin concurred in an investigator’s suggestion that the police be commended...\nButler and Stone concur that the war threw people’s lives into a moral relief...\nFour other judges concurred...\nAfter looking at the jug, Faulkner concurred that it was late Roman, third or fourth century...\n  V-RECIP: V with n, V in n, pl-n V that, pl-n V, NON-RECIP: V that\n  = agree


Words: concurrence
Meaning:
con.cur.rence\n   concurrence  concurrences\n1. Someone’s concurrence is their agreement to something. (FORMAL)\nAny change ought not to be made without the general concurrence of all concerned.\n  N-VAR: oft with poss\n  = agreement\n2. If there is a concurrence of two or more things, they happen at the same time.\nThe concurrence of their disappearances had to be more than coincidental.\n  N-VAR


Words: concurrent
Meaning:
con.cur.rent\n   concurrent\n  Concurrent events or situations happen at the same time.\nGalerie St. Etienne is holding three concurrent exhibitions...\nConcurrent with her acting career, Bron has managed to write two books of her own.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n, also v-link ADJ with n, v-link ADJ\n\n=>  con.cur.rent.ly\nHe was jailed for 33 months to run concurrently with a sentence he is already serving for burglary.\n  ADV: ADV with v


Words: concussed
Meaning:
con.cussed\n   concussed\n  If someone is concussed, they lose consciousness or feel sick or confused because they have been hit hard on the head.\nMy left arm is badly bruised and I was slightly concussed...\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ


Words: concussion
Meaning:
con.cus.sion\n   concussion  concussions\n  If you suffer concussion after a blow to your head, you lose consciousness or feel sick or confused.\nNicky was rushed to hospital with concussion...\nShe fell off a horse and suffered a concussion.\n  N-VAR


Words: condemn
Meaning:
con.demn\n   condemn  condemns  condemning  condemned\n1. If you condemn something, you say that it is very bad and unacceptable.\nPolitical leaders united yesterday to condemn the latest wave of violence...\nGraham was right to condemn his players for lack of ability, attitude and application.\n...a document that condemns sexism as a moral and social evil.\n  VERB: V n, V n for n, V n as n\n  = denounce  !=condone\n2. If someone is condemned to a punishment, they are given this punishment.\nHe was condemned to life imprisonment.\n...appeals by prisoners condemned to death.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n, V-ed\n  = sentence\n3. If circumstances condemn you to an unpleasant situation, they make it certain that you will suffer in that way.\nTheir lack of qualifications condemned them to a lifetime of boring, usually poorly-paid work...\n  VERB: V n to n/-ing\n  = doom\n4. If authorities condemn a building, they officially decide that it is not safe and must be pulled down or repaired.\nState officials said the court’s ruling clears the way for proceedings to condemn buildings in the area.\n  VERB: V n\n\n5.\n  see also condemned


Words: condemnation
Meaning:
con.dem.na.tion\n   condemnation  condemnations\n  Condemnation is the act of saying that something or someone is very bad and unacceptable.\nThere was widespread condemnation of Saturday’s killings...\nThe raids have drawn a strong condemnation from the United Nations Security Council.\n  N-VAR: with supp, usu N of n


Words: condemnatory
Meaning:
con.dem.na.tory\n   condemnatory\n  Condemnatory means expressing strong disapproval. (FORMAL)\nHe was justified in some of his condemnatory outbursts.\n  ADJ


Words: condemned
Meaning:
con.demned\n   condemned\n1. A condemned man or woman is going to be executed.\n...prison officers who had sat with the condemned man during his last days.\n  ADJ\n\n2. A condemned building is in such a bad condition that it is not safe to live in, and so its owners are officially ordered to pull it down or repair it.\nThey took over a condemned 1960s tower block last year for one night.\n  ADJ


Words: condemned cell
Meaning:
con.demned cell\n   condemned cell  condemned cells\n  A condemned cell is a prison cell for someone who is going to be executed. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT


Words: condensation
Meaning:
con.den.sa.tion\n   condensation\n  Condensation consists of small drops of water which form when warm water vapour or steam touches a cold surface such as a window.\nHe used his sleeve to wipe the condensation off the glass.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: condense
Meaning:
con.dense\n   condense  condenses  condensing  condensed\n1. If you condense something, especially a piece of writing or speech, you make it shorter, usually by including only the most important parts.\nWe have learnt how to condense serious messages into short, self-contained sentences...\n  VERB: V n into n, also V n\n\n2. When a gas or vapour condenses, or is condensed, it changes into a liquid.\nWater vapour condenses to form clouds...\nThe compressed gas is cooled and condenses into a liquid...\n  VERB: V, V into/out of n, also V n


Words: condensed
Meaning:
con.densed\n   condensed\n1. A condensed book, explanation, or piece of information has been made shorter, usually by including only the most important parts.\nThe Council was merely given a condensed version of what had already been disclosed in Washington.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. Condensed liquids have been made thicker by removing some of the water in them.\n...condensed mushroom soup.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = concentrated


Words: condensed milk
Meaning:
con.densed milk\n   condensed milk\n  Condensed milk is very thick sweetened milk that is sold in cans.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: condenser
Meaning:
con.den.ser\n   condenser  condensers\n1. A condenser is a device that cools gases into liquids.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A condenser is a device for accumulating electric charge.\n  N-COUNT\n  = capacitor


Words: condescend
Meaning:
con.de.scend\n   condescend  condescends  condescending  condescended\n1. If someone condescends to do something, they agree to do it, but in a way which shows that they think they are better than other people and should not have to do it.\nWhen he condescended to speak, he contradicted himself three or four times in the space of half an hour.\n  VERB: V to-inf  disapproval\n\n2. If you say that someone condescends to other people, you are showing your disapproval of the fact that they behave in a way which shows that they think they are superior to other people.\nDon’t condescend to me.\n  VERB: V to n, also V  disapproval


Words: condescending
Meaning:
con.de.scend.ing\n   condescending\n  If you say that someone is condescending, you are showing your disapproval of the fact that they talk or behave in a way which shows that they think they are superior to other people.\nI’m fed up with your money and your whole condescending attitude...\n  ADJ  disapproval


Words: condescension
Meaning:
con.de.scen.sion\n   condescension\n  Condescension is condescending behaviour.\nThere was a tinge of condescension in her greeting.\n  N-UNCOUNT  disapproval


Words: condiment
Meaning:
con.di.ment\n   condiment  condiments\n  A condiment is a substance such as salt, pepper, or mustard that you add to food when you eat it in order to improve the flavour.\n  N-COUNT


Words: condition
Meaning:
con.di.tion\n   condition  conditions  conditioning  conditioned\n1. If you talk about the condition of a person or thing, you are talking about the state that they are in, especially how good or bad their physical state is.\nHe remains in a critical condition in a California hospital...\nThe two-bedroom chalet is in good condition...\nYou can’t drive in that condition.\n  N-SING: also no det, with supp\n\n2. The conditions under which something is done or happens are all the factors or circumstances which directly affect it.\nThis change has been timed under laboratory conditions...\nThe mild winter has created the ideal conditions for an ant population explosion.\n  N-PLURAL: usu with supp\n\n3. The conditions in which people live or work are the factors which affect their comfort, safety, or health.\nPeople are living in appalling conditions...\nHe could not work in these conditions any longer...\n  N-PLURAL: usu with supp\n\n4. A condition is something which must happen or be done in order for something else to be possible, especially when this is written into a contract or law.\n...economic targets set as a condition for loan payments.\n...terms and conditions of employment...\nEgypt had agreed to a summit subject to certain conditions.\n  N-COUNT: with supp\n  = requirement\n5. If someone has a particular condition, they have an illness or other medical problem.\nDoctors suspect he may have a heart condition.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp\n  = complaint, disorder\n6. If someone is conditioned by their experiences or environment, they are influenced by them over a period of time so that they do certain things or think in a particular way.\nWe are all conditioned by early impressions and experiences...\nYou have been conditioned to believe that it is weak to be scared...\nI just feel women are conditioned into doing housework.\n...a conditioned response.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, be V-ed to-inf, be V-ed into -ing, V-ed\n\n=>  con.di.tion.ing\nBecause of social conditioning, men don’t expect themselves to be managed by women.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n7. To condition your hair or skin means to put something on it which will keep it in good condition.\n...a protein which is excellent for conditioning dry and damaged hair.\n  VERB: V n\n\n8. If you say that someone is in no condition to do something, you mean that they are too ill, upset, or drunk to do it.\nShe was clearly in no condition to see anyone.\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR, usu PHR to-inf\n  = unfit\n9. When you agree to do something on condition that something else happens, you mean that you will only do it if this other thing also happens.\nHe spoke to reporters on condition that he was not identified.\n  PHRASE\n\n10. If someone is out of condition, they are unhealthy and unfit, because they do not do enough exercise.\nHe was too out of condition to clamber over the top.\n  PHRASE: usu v-link PHR\n  = unfit\n11.\nin mint condition: see mint


Words: conditional
Meaning:
con.di.tion.al\n   conditional\n1. If a situation or agreement is conditional on something, it will only happen or continue if this thing happens.\nTheir support is conditional on his proposals meeting their approval.\n...a conditional offer.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ on n/-ing\n\n=>  con.di.tion.al.ly\nMr Smith has conditionally agreed to buy a shareholding in the club.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n2. In grammar, a conditional clause is a subordinate clause which refers to a situation which may exist or whose possible consequences you are considering. Most conditional clauses begin with `if’ or `unless’, for example `If that happens, we’ll be in big trouble’ and `You don’t have to come unless you want to’.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: conditional discharge
Meaning:
con.di.tion.al dis.charge\n   conditional discharge  conditional discharges\n  If someone who is convicted of an offence is given a conditional discharge by a court, they are not punished unless they later commit a further offence. (BRIT LEGAL)\n  N-COUNT: usu sing


Words: conditioner
Meaning:
con.di.tion.er\n   conditioner  conditioners\n1. A conditioner is a substance which you can put on your hair after you have washed it to make it softer.\n  N-MASS\n\n2. A conditioner is a thick liquid which you can use when you wash clothes in order to make them feel softer.\n  N-MASS: oft n N\n\n3.\n  see also air-conditioner


Words: condolence
Meaning:
con.do.lence\n   condolence  condolences\n1. A message of condolence is a message in which you express your sympathy for someone because one of their friends or relatives has died recently.\nNeil sent him a letter of condolence.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. When you offer or express your condolences to someone, you express your sympathy for them because one of their friends or relatives has died recently.\nHe expressed his condolences to the families of the people who died in the incident.\n  N-PLURAL


Words: condom
Meaning:
con.dom\n   condom  condoms\n  A condom is a covering made of thin rubber which a man can wear on his penis as a contraceptive or as protection against disease during sexual intercourse.\n  N-COUNT


Words: condominium
Meaning:
con.do.min.ium\n   condominium  condominiums\n1. A condominium is an apartment building in which each apartment is owned by the person who lives there. (AM)\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A condominium is one of the privately owned apartments in a condominium. (AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: condone
Meaning:
con.done\n   condone  condones  condoning  condoned\n  If someone condones behaviour that is morally wrong, they accept it and allow it to happen.\nI have never encouraged nor condoned violence...\n  VERB: oft with brd-neg, V n\n  !=condemn


Words: condor
Meaning:
con.dor\n   condor  condors\n  A condor is a large South American bird that eats the meat of dead animals.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conducive
Meaning:
con.du.cive\n   conducive\n  If one thing is conducive to another thing, it makes the other thing likely to happen.\nSometimes the home environment just isn’t conducive to reading.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, usu ADJ to n/-ing


Words: conduct
Meaning:
con.duct\n   conduct conducts conducting  conducted\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. When you conduct an activity or task, you organize it and carry it out.\nI decided to conduct an experiment...\nHe said they were conducting a campaign against democrats across the country...\n  VERB: V n, V n\n  = carry out\n2. The conduct of a task or activity is the way in which it is organized and carried out.\nAlso up for discussion will be the conduct of free and fair elections...\n  N-SING: with supp\n\n3. If you conduct yourself in a particular way, you behave in that way.\nThe way he conducts himself reflects on the party and will increase criticisms against him...\nMost people believe they conduct their private and public lives in accordance with Christian morality.\n  VERB: V pron-refl prep/adv, V n\n\n4. Someone’s conduct is the way they behave in particular situations.\nHe has trouble understanding that other people judge him by his conduct.\n  N-UNCOUNT: with supp\n  = behaviour\n5. When someone conducts an orchestra or choir, they stand in front of it and direct its performance.\nDennis had recently begun a successful career conducting opera in Europe...\nSolti will continue to conduct here and abroad...\n  VERB: V n, V\n\n6. If something conducts heat or electricity, it allows heat or electricity to pass through it or along it.\nWater conducts heat faster than air.\n  VERB: no cont, V n


Words: conducted tour
Meaning:
con.duct.ed tour\n   conducted tour  conducted tours\n  A conducted tour is a visit to a building, town, or area during which someone goes with you and explains everything to you.\n  N-COUNT\n  = guided tour


Words: conduction
Meaning:
con.duc.tion\n   conduction\n  Conduction is the process by which heat or electricity passes through or along something. (TECHNICAL)\nTemperature becomes uniform by heat conduction until finally a permanent state is reached.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp


Words: conductive
Meaning:
con.duc.tive\n   conductive\n  A conductive substance is able to conduct things such as heat and electricity. (TECHNICAL)\nSalt water is much more conductive than fresh water is.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.duc.tiv.ity\n...a device which monitors electrical conductivity.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: conductor
Meaning:
con.duc.tor\n   conductor  conductors\n1. A conductor is a person who stands in front of an orchestra or choir and directs its performance.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. On a bus, the conductor is the person whose job is to sell tickets to the passengers.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. On a train, a conductor is a person whose job is to travel on the train in order to help passengers and check tickets. (AM; in BRIT, use guard)\n  N-COUNT\n\n4. A conductor is a substance that heat or electricity can pass through or along.\n  N-COUNT\n\n  see also lightning conductor, semiconductor


Words: conduit
Meaning:
con.duit\n   conduit  conduits\n1. A conduit is a small tunnel, pipe, or channel through which water or electrical wires go.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A conduit is a person or country that links two or more other people or countries.\nPakistan became a conduit for drugs produced in Afghanistan.\n  N-COUNT: oft N for/to n


Words: cone
Meaning:
cone  cones\n1. A cone is a shape with a circular base and smooth curved sides ending in a point at the top.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A cone is the fruit of a tree such as a pine or fir.\n...a bowl of fir cones.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. A cone is a thin, cone-shaped biscuit that is used for holding ice cream. You can also refer to an ice cream that you eat in this way as a cone.\nShe stopped by the ice-cream shop and had a chocolate cone.\n  N-COUNT\n\n4.\n  see also pine cone, traffic cone


Words: confection
Meaning:
con.fec.tion\n   confection  confections\n  You can refer to a sweet food that someone has made as a confection. (WRITTEN)\n...a confection made with honey and nuts.\n  N-COUNT


Words: confectioner
Meaning:
con.fec.tion.er\n   confectioner  confectioners\n  A confectioner is a person whose job is making or selling sweets and chocolates.\n  N-COUNT


Words: confectioners’ sugar
Meaning:
con.fec.tion.ers’ sug.ar\n   confectioners’ sugar\n  Confectioners’ sugar is very fine white sugar that is used for making icing and candy. (AM; in BRIT, use icing sugar)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: confectionery
Meaning:
con.fec.tion.ery\n   confectionery\n  Confectionery is sweets and chocolates. (WRITTEN)\n...hand-made confectionery.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = sweets


Words: confederacy
Meaning:
con.fed.era.cy\n   confederacy  confederacies\n  A confederacy is a union of states or people who are trying to achieve the same thing.\nThey’ve entered this new confederacy because the central government’s been unable to control the collapsing economy.\n  N-COUNT


Words: confederate
Meaning:
con.fed.er.ate\n   confederate  confederates\n  Someone’s confederates are the people they are working with in a secret activity.\n  N-COUNT\n  = accomplice


Words: confederation
Meaning:
con.fed.era.tion\n   confederation  confederations\n  A confederation is an organization or group consisting of smaller groups or states, especially one that exists for business or political purposes.\n...the Confederation of Indian Industry.\n...plans to partition the republic into a confederation of mini-states.\n  N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES


Words: confer
Meaning:
con.fer\n   confer  confers  conferring  conferred\n1. When you confer with someone, you discuss something with them in order to make a decision. You can also say that two people confer.\nHe conferred with Hill and the others in his office...\nHis doctors conferred by telephone and agreed that he must get away from his family for a time.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, pl-n V\n\n2. To confer something such as power or an honour on someone means to give it to them. (FORMAL)\nThe constitution also confers large powers on Brazil’s 25 constituent states...\nNever imagine that rank confers genuine authority.\n  VERB: V n on n, V n


Words: conference
Meaning:
con.fer.ence\n   conference  conferences\n1. A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject or to bring together people who have a common interest.\nThe President summoned all the state governors to a conference on education.\n...the Conservative Party conference...\nLast weekend the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland held a conference, attended by 450 delegates.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A conference is a meeting at which formal discussions take place.\nThey sat down at the dinner table, as they always did, before the meal, for a conference...\nHer employer was in conference with two lawyers and did not want to be interrupted.\n  N-COUNT: also in N\n\n3.\n  see also press conference


Words: conference call
Meaning:
con.fer.ence call\n   conference call conference calls\n  A conference call is a phone call in which more than two people take part. (BUSINESS)\nThere are daily conference calls with Washington.\n  N-COUNT


Words: confess
Meaning:
con.fess\n   confess  confesses  confessing  confessed\n1. If someone confesses to doing something wrong, they admit that they did it.\nHe had confessed to seventeen murders...\nI had expected her to confess that she only wrote these books for the money...\nMost rape victims confess a feeling of helplessness...\nRay changed his mind, claiming that he had been forced into confessing...\n`I played a very bad match,’ he confessed.\n  VERB: V to n/-ing, V that, V n, V, V with quote\n  = admit  !=deny\n2. If someone confesses or confesses their sins, they tell God or a priest about their sins so that they can be forgiven.\nYou just go to the church and confess your sins...\nOnce we have confessed our failures and mistakes to God, we should stop feeling guilty.\n  VERB: V n, V n to n\n\n3. You use expressions like `I confess’, `I must confess’, or `I have to confess’ to apologize slightly for admitting something you are ashamed of or that you think might offend or annoy someone.\nI confess it’s got me baffled...\nI must confess I’m not a great enthusiast for long political programmes.\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl  politeness\n  = admit


Words: confessed
Meaning:
con.fessed\n   confessed\n  You use confessed to describe someone who openly admits that they have a particular fault or have done something wrong.\nShe is is a confessed monarchist.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = self-confessed


Words: confession
Meaning:
con.fes.sion\n   confession  confessions\n1. A confession is a signed statement by someone in which they admit that they have committed a particular crime.\nThey forced him to sign a confession.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. Confession is the act of admitting that you have done something that you are ashamed of or embarrassed about.\nThe diaries are a mixture of confession and observation...\nI have a confession to make.\n  N-VAR\n\n3. If you make a confession of your beliefs or feelings, you publicly tell people that this is what you believe or feel.\n...Tatyana’s confession of love.\n  N-VAR: usu N of n\n  = declaration\n4. In the Catholic church and in some other churches, if you go to confession, you privately tell a priest about your sins and ask for forgiveness.\nHe never went to Father Porter for confession again.\n  N-VAR


Words: confessional
Meaning:
con.fes.sion.al\n   confessional  confessionals\n1. A confessional is the small room in a church where Christians, especially Roman Catholics, go to confess their sins.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A confessional speech or writing contains confessions.\nThe convictions rest solely on disputed witness and confessional statements...\n  ADJ


Words: confessor
Meaning:
con.fes.sor\n   confessor  confessors\n1. A confessor is a priest who hears a person’s confession.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If you describe someone as your confessor, you mean that they are the person you can talk to about your secrets or problems.\nHe was their adviser, confidant and father confessor.\n  N-COUNT


Words: confetti
Meaning:
con.fet.ti\n   confetti\n  Confetti is small pieces of coloured paper that people throw over the bride and bridegroom at a wedding.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: confidant
Meaning:
con.fi.dant\n   confidant  confidants\n  Someone’s confidant is a man who they are able to discuss their private problems with.\n...a close confidant of the president.\n  N-COUNT: usu with poss


Words: confidante
Meaning:
con.fi.dante\n   confidante  confidantes\n  Someone’s confidante is a woman who they are able to discuss their private problems with.\nYou are her closest friend and confidante.\n  N-COUNT: usu with poss


Words: confide
Meaning:
con.fide\n   confide  confides  confiding  confided\n  If you confide in someone, you tell them a secret.\nI knew she had some fundamental problems in her marriage because she had confided in me a year earlier...\nHe confided to me that he felt like he was being punished...\nOn New Year’s Eve he confided that he had suffered rather troubling chest pains...\nI confided my worries to Michael.\n  VERB: V in n, V to n that, V that, V n to n, also V with quote


Words: confidence
Meaning:
con.fi.dence\n   confidence\n1. If you have confidence in someone, you feel that you can trust them.\nI have every confidence in you...\nThis has contributed to the lack of confidence in the police...\nHis record on ceasefires inspires no confidence.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu N in n\n  = faith\n2. If you have confidence, you feel sure about your abilities, qualities, or ideas.\nThe band is on excellent form and brimming with confidence...\nI always thought the worst of myself and had no confidence whatsoever.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. If you can say something with confidence, you feel certain it is correct.\nI can say with confidence that such rumors were totally groundless.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with N\n\n4. If you tell someone something in confidence, you tell them a secret.\nWe told you all these things in confidence...\nEven telling Lois seemed a betrayal of confidence.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu in N\n\n  If you take someone into your confidence, you tell them a secret.\nIf your daughter takes you into her confidence, don’t rush off to tell your husband.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n5.\n  see also vote of no confidence


Words: confidence game
Meaning:
con.fi.dence game\n   confidence game  confidence games\n  A confidence game is the same as a confidence trick. (mainly AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: confidence man
Meaning:
con.fi.dence man\n   confidence man  confidence men\n  A confidence man is a man who persuades people to give him their money or property by lying to them. (mainly AM)\n  N-COUNT\n  = con man


Words: confidence trick
Meaning:
con.fi.dence trick\n   confidence trick  confidence tricks\n  A confidence trick is a trick in which someone deceives you by telling you something that is not true, often to trick you out of money. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use confidence game)\n  N-COUNT


Words: confident
Meaning:
con.fi.dent\n   confident\n1. If you are confident about something, you are certain that it will happen in the way you want it to.\nI am confident that everything will come out right in time...\nMr Ryan is confident of success...\nManagement is confident about the way business is progressing.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ that, ADJ prep\n  !=sceptical\n=>  con.fi.dent.ly\nI can confidently promise that this year is going to be very different.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n2. If a person or their manner is confident, they feel sure about their own abilities, qualities, or ideas.\nIn time he became more confident and relaxed...\n  ADJ\n  = self-assured\n=>  con.fi.dent.ly\nShe walked confidently across the hall.\n  ADV: usu ADV with v\n\n3. If you are confident that something is true, you are sure that it is true. A confident statement is one that the speaker is sure is true.\nShe is confident that everybody is on her side...\n`Bet you I can’, comes the confident reply.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ that\n\n=>  con.fi.dent.ly\nI can confidently say that none of them were or are racist.\n  ADV: ADV with v


Words: confidential
Meaning:
con.fi.den.tial\n   confidential\n1. Information that is confidential is meant to be kept secret or private.\nShe accused them of leaking confidential information about her private life...\nWe’ll take good care and keep what you’ve told us strictly confidential, Mr. Lane.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.fi.den.tial.ly\nPeople can phone in the knowledge that any information they give will be treated confidentially.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n=>  con.fi.den.ti.al.ity\n...the confidentiality of the client-solicitor relationship.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. If you talk to someone in a confidential way, you talk to them quietly because what you are saying is secret or private.\n`Look,’ he said in a confidential tone, `I want you to know that me and Joey are cops.’...\nHis face suddenly turned solemn, his voice confidential.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n=>  con.fi.den.tial.ly\nNash hadn’t raised his voice, still spoke rather softly, confidentially.\n  ADV: ADV after v


Words: confidentially
Meaning:
con.fi.den.tial.ly\n   confidentially\n  Confidentially is used to say that what you are telling someone is a secret and should not be discussed with anyone else.\nConfidentially, I am not sure that it wasn’t above their heads.\n  ADV: ADV with cl\n\n  see also confidential


Words: configuration
Meaning:
con.figu.ra.tion\n   configuration  configurations\n1. A configuration is an arrangement of a group of things. (FORMAL)\n...Stonehenge, in south-western England, an ancient configuration of giant stones.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. The configuration of a computer system is way in which all its parts, such as the hardware and software, are connected together in order for the computer to work. (COMPUTING)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: configure
Meaning:
con.fig.ure\n   configure configures configuring configured\n  If you configure a piece of computer equipment, you set it up so that it is ready for use. (COMPUTING)\nHow easy was it to configure the software?\n  VERB: V n


Words: confine
Meaning:
con.fine\n   confine  confines confining  confined\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun confines is pronounced\n1. To confine something to a particular place or group means to prevent it from spreading beyond that place or group.\nHealth officials have successfully confined the epidemic to the Tabatinga area...\nThe US will soon be taking steps to confine the conflict.\n  VERB: V n to n, V n\n  = restrict\n2. If you confine yourself or your activities to something, you do only that thing and are involved with nothing else.\nHe did not confine himself to the one language...\nHis genius was not confined to the decoration of buildings.\n  VERB: V pron-refl to n, V-ed\n  = limit, restrict\n3. If someone is confined to a mental institution, prison, or other place, they are sent there and are not allowed to leave for a period of time.\nThe woman will be confined to a mental institution...\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n\n\n4. Something that is within the confines of an area or place is within the boundaries enclosing it. (FORMAL)\nThe movie is set entirely within the confines of the abandoned factory.\n  N-PLURAL: usu prep the N of n\n\n5. The confines of a situation, system, or activity are the limits or restrictions it involves.\n...away from the confines of the British class system...\nI can’t stand the confines of this marriage.\n  N-PLURAL: usu the N of n\n  = constraints


Words: confined
Meaning:
con.fined\n   confined\n1. If something is confined to a particular place, it exists only in that place. If it is confined to a particular group, only members of that group have it.\nThe problem is not confined to Germany...\nThese dangers are not confined to smokers.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ to n\n  = restricted\n2. A confined space or area is small and enclosed by walls.\nHis long legs bent up in the confined space.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n3. If someone is confined to a wheelchair, bed, or house, they have to stay there, because they are disabled or ill.\nHe had been confined to a wheelchair since childhood.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ to n


Words: confinement
Meaning:
con.fine.ment\n   confinement\n  Confinement is the state of being forced to stay in a prison or another place which you cannot leave.\nShe had been held in solitary confinement for four months...\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: confirm
Meaning:
con.firm\n   confirm  confirms  confirming  confirmed\n1. If something confirms what you believe, suspect, or fear, it shows that it is definitely true.\nX-rays have confirmed that he has not broken any bones...\nThese new statistics confirm our worst fears about the depth of the recession...\n  VERB: no cont, V that, V n\n\n=>  con.fir.ma.tion\nThey took her resignation from Bendix as confirmation of their suspicions.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. If you confirm something that has been stated or suggested, you say that it is true because you know about it.\nThe spokesman confirmed that the area was now in rebel hands...\nHe confirmed what had long been feared...\n  VERB: V that, V n\n\n=>  con.fir.ma.tion\nShe glanced over at James for confirmation.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. If you confirm an arrangement or appointment, you say that it is definite, usually in a letter or on the telephone.\nYou make the reservation, and I’ll confirm it in writing.\n  VERB: V n\n\n=>  con.fir.ma.tion\nTravel arrangements are subject to confirmation by State Tourist Organisations.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n4. If someone is confirmed, they are formally accepted as a member of a Christian church during a ceremony in which they say they believe what the church teaches.\nHe was confirmed as a member of the Church of England.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed\n\n=>  con.fir.ma.tion      confirmations\n...when I was being prepared for Confirmation...\nFlu prevented her from attending her daughter’s confirmation.\n  N-VAR\n\n5. If something confirms you in your decision, belief, or opinion, it makes you think that you are definitely right.\nIt has confirmed me in my decision not to become a nun.\n  VERB: no cont, V n in n\n\n6. If someone confirms their position, role, or power, they do something to make their power, position, or role stronger or more definite.\nWilliams has confirmed his position as the world’s number one snooker player.\n  VERB: V n\n\n7. If something confirms you as something, it shows that you definitely deserve a name, role, or position.\nHis new role could confirm him as one of our leading actors.\n  VERB: V n as n


Words: confirmed
Meaning:
con.firmed\n   confirmed\n  You use confirmed to describe someone who has a particular habit or belief that they are very unlikely to change.\nI’m a confirmed bachelor...\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: confiscate
Meaning:
con.fis.cate\n   confiscate  confiscates  confiscating  confiscated\n  If you confiscate something from someone, you take it away from them, usually as a punishment.\nThere is concern that police use the law to confiscate assets from people who have committed minor offences...\nThey confiscated weapons, ammunition and propaganda material.\n  VERB: V n from n, V n\n  = seize\n=>  con.fis.ca.tion      confiscations\nThe new laws allow the confiscation of assets purchased with proceeds of the drugs trade.\n  N-VAR: oft N of n\n  = seizure


Words: confit
Meaning:
con.fit\n   confit  confits\n  Confit is meat such as goose or duck which has been cooked and preserved in its own fat.\n...confit of duck.\n  N-MASS


Words: conflagration
Meaning:
con.fla.gra.tion\n   conflagration  conflagrations\n  A conflagration is a fire that burns over a large area and destroys property. (FORMAL)\n  N-COUNT\n  = blaze


Words: conflate
Meaning:
con.flate\n   conflate  conflates  conflating  conflated\n  If you conflate two or more descriptions or ideas, or if they conflate, you combine them in order to produce a single one. (FORMAL)\nHer letters conflate past and present...\nUnfortunately the public conflated fiction with reality and made her into a saint...\nThe two meanings conflated.\n  V-RECIP: V pl-n, V n with n, pl-n V


Words: conflict
Meaning:
con.flict\n   conflict conflicts conflicting  conflicted\nThe noun is pronounced   The verb is pronounced\n1. Conflict is serious disagreement and argument about something important. If two people or groups are in conflict, they have had a serious disagreement or argument and have not yet reached agreement.\nTry to keep any conflict between you and your ex-partner to a minimum...\nEmployees already are in conflict with management over job cuts...\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft in/into N\n\n2. Conflict is a state of mind in which you find it impossible to make a decision.\n...the anguish of his own inner conflict.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = turmoil\n3. Conflict is fighting between countries or groups of people. (JOURNALISM or WRITTEN)\n...talks aimed at ending four decades of conflict...\n  N-VAR\n\n4. A conflict is a serious difference between two or more beliefs, ideas, or interests. If two beliefs, ideas, or interests are in conflict, they are very different.\nThere is a conflict between what they are doing and what you want...\nDo you feel any conflict of loyalties?...\nThe two objectives are in conflict.\n  N-VAR: oft N between pl-n\n\n5. If ideas, beliefs, or accounts conflict, they are very different from each other and it seems impossible for them to exist together or to each be true.\nPersonal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict...\nHe held firm opinions which usually conflicted with my own...\n...three powers with conflicting interests.\n  V-RECIP: pl-n V, V with n, V-ing\n  = clash


Words: confluence
Meaning:
con.flu.ence\n   confluence\n  The confluence of two rivers is the place where they join and become one larger river.\nThe 160-metre falls mark the dramatic confluence of the rivers Nera and Velino.\n  N-SING: oft N of n


Words: conform
Meaning:
con.form\n   conform  conforms  conforming  conformed\n1. If something conforms to something such as a law or someone’s wishes, it is of the required type or quality.\nThe Night Rider lamp has been designed to conform to new British Standard safety requirements...\n  VERB: V to/with n\n\n2. If you conform, you behave in the way that you are expected or supposed to behave.\nMany children who can’t or don’t conform are often bullied...\nHe did not feel obliged to conform to the rules that applied to ordinary men...\n  VERB: V, V to/with n\n  !=rebel\n3. If someone or something conforms to a pattern or type, they are very similar to it.\nI am well aware that we all conform to one stereotype or another...\n  VERB: V to n


Words: conformist
Meaning:
con.form.ist\n   conformist  conformists\n  Someone who is conformist behaves or thinks like everyone else rather than doing things that are original.\nHe may have to become more conformist if he is to prosper again...\n  ADJ\n\n  A conformist is someone who is conformist.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conformity
Meaning:
con.form.ity\n   conformity\n1. If something happens in conformity with something such as a law or someone’s wishes, it happens as the law says it should, or as the person wants it to.\nThe prime minister is, in conformity with the constitution, chosen by the president.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft in N with n\n\n2. Conformity means behaving in the same way as most other people.\nExcessive conformity is usually caused by fear of disapproval...\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: confound
Meaning:
con.found\n   confound  confounds  confounding  confounded\n  If someone or something confounds you, they make you feel surprised or confused, often by showing you that your opinions or expectations of them were wrong.\nThe choice of Governor may confound us all.\n  VERB: V n


Words: confront
Meaning:
con.front\n   confront  confronts  confronting  confronted\n1. If you are confronted with a problem, task, or difficulty, you have to deal with it.\nShe was confronted with severe money problems...\nMinisters underestimated the magnitude of the task confronting them.\n  VERB: be V-ed with/by n, V n\n  = face\n2. If you confront a difficult situation or issue, you accept the fact that it exists and try to deal with it.\nWe are learning how to confront death...\nNATO countries have been forced to confront fundamental moral questions.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n  = face\n3. If you are confronted by something that you find threatening or difficult to deal with, it is there in front of you.\nI was confronted with an array of knobs, levers, and switches.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed with/by n\n  = face\n4. If you confront someone, you stand or sit in front of them, especially when you are going to fight, argue, or compete with them.\nShe pushed her way through the mob and confronted him face to face...\nThe candidates confronted each other during a televised debate.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n\n5. If you confront someone with something, you present facts or evidence to them in order to accuse them of something.\nShe had decided to confront Kathryn with what she had learnt...\nI could not bring myself to confront him about it...\nHis confronting me forced me to search for the answers.\n  VERB: V n with n, V n about n, V n


Words: confrontation
Meaning:
con.fron.ta.tion\n   confrontation  confrontations\n  A confrontation is a dispute, fight, or battle between two groups of people.\nThe commission remains so weak that it will continue to avoid confrontation with governments.\n  N-VAR: oft N with/between n


Words: confrontational
Meaning:
con.fron.ta.tion.al\n   confrontational\n  If you describe the way that someone behaves as confrontational, you are showing your disapproval of the fact that they are aggressive and likely to cause an argument or dispute.\nThe committee’s confrontational style of campaigning has made it unpopular...\n  ADJ  disapproval


Words: confuse
Meaning:
con.fuse\n   confuse  confuses  confusing  confused\n1. If you confuse two things, you get them mixed up, so that you think one of them is the other one.\nGreat care is taken to avoid confusing the two types of projects...\nI can’t see how anyone could confuse you with another!\n  VERB: V pl-n, V n with n\n\n=>  con.fu.sion\nUse different colours of felt pen on your sketch to avoid confusion.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. To confuse someone means to make it difficult for them to know exactly what is happening or what to do.\nGerman politics surprised and confused him.\n  VERB: V n\n\n3. To confuse a situation means to make it complicated or difficult to understand.\nTo further confuse the issue, there is an enormous variation in the amount of sleep people feel happy with.\n  VERB: V n


Words: confused
Meaning:
con.fused\n   confused\n1. If you are confused, you do not know exactly what is happening or what to do.\nA survey showed people were confused about what they should eat to stay healthy...\nThings were happening too quickly and Brian was confused.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ about/by n\n  = bewildered\n2. Something that is confused does not have any order or pattern and is difficult to understand.\nThe situation remains confused as both sides claim success.\n  ADJ


Words: confusing
Meaning:
con.fus.ing\n   confusing\n  Something that is confusing makes it difficult for people to know exactly what is happening or what to do.\nThe statement is highly confusing...\n  ADJ\n  !=clear


Words: confusion
Meaning:
con.fu.sion\n   confusion  confusions\n1. If there is confusion about something, it is not clear what the true situation is, especially because people believe different things.\nThere’s still confusion about the number of casualties...\nOmissions in my recent article must have caused confusion.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. Confusion is a situation in which everything is in disorder, especially because there are lots of things happening at the same time.\nThere was confusion when a man fired shots...\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3.\n  see also confuse


Words: conga
Meaning:
con.ga\n   conga  congas\n  If a group of people dance a conga, they dance in a long winding line, with each person holding on to the back of the person in front.\n  N-COUNT


Words: congeal
Meaning:
con.geal\n   congeal  congeals  congealing  congealed\n  When a liquid congeals, it becomes very thick and sticky and almost solid.\nThe blood had started to congeal.\n...spilled wine mingled with congealed soup.\n  VERB: V, V-ed


Words: congenial
Meaning:
con.gen.ial\n   congenial\n  A congenial person, place, or environment is pleasant. (FORMAL)\nHe is back in more congenial company.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = agreeable


Words: congenital
Meaning:
con.geni.tal\n   congenital\n1. A congenital disease or medical condition is one that a person has had from birth, but is not inherited. (MEDICAL)\nWhen John was 17, he died of congenital heart disease.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n=>  con.geni.tal.ly\n...congenitally deaf patients.\n  ADV: ADV adj/-ed\n\n2. A congenital characteristic or feature in a person is so strong that you cannot imagine it ever changing, although there may seem to be no reason for it.\nHe was a congenital liar and usually in debt.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = incorrigible\n=>  con.geni.tal.ly\nI admit to being congenitally lazy.\n  ADV


Words: conger
Meaning:
con.ger\n   conger  congers\n  A conger or a conger eel is a large fish that looks like a snake.\n  N-VAR


Words: congested
Meaning:
con.gest.ed\n   congested\n1. A congested road or area is extremely crowded and blocked with traffic or people.\nHe first promised two weeks ago to clear Britain’s congested roads...\nSome areas are congested with both cars and people.\n  ADJ\n\n2. If a part of the body is congested, it is blocked. (FORMAL)\nThe arteries in his neck had become fatally congested.\n  ADJ\n  = blocked


Words: congestion
Meaning:
con.ges.tion\n   congestion\n1. If there is congestion in a place, the place is extremely crowded and blocked with traffic or people.\nThe problems of traffic congestion will not disappear in a hurry...\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp, oft adj N\n\n2. Congestion in a part of the body is a medical condition in which the part becomes blocked. (FORMAL)\n...nasal congestion.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp, oft adj N


Words: congestion charge
Meaning:
con.ges.tion charge\n   congestion charge congestion charges\n  Congestion charges refer to money motorists must pay in order to drive in some city centres. Congestion charges are intended to reduce traffic within those areas.\n  N-COUNT\n\n=>  con.ges.tion charg.ing\n...the decision on whether to introduce congestion charging on urban roads.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: congestive
Meaning:
con.ges.tive\n   congestive\n  A congestive disease is a medical condition where a part of the body becomes blocked. (MEDICAL)\n...congestive heart failure.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: conglomerate
Meaning:
con.glom.er.ate\n   conglomerate  conglomerates\n  A conglomerate is a large business firm consisting of several different companies. (BUSINESS)\nFiat is Italy’s largest industrial conglomerate.\n  N-COUNT: oft adj N


Words: conglomeration
Meaning:
con.glom.era.tion\n   conglomeration  conglomerations\n  A conglomeration of things is a group of many different things, gathered together. (FORMAL)\n...a conglomeration of peoples speaking different languages.\n  N-COUNT: usu N of n


Words: congratulate
Meaning:
con.gratu.late\n   congratulate  congratulates  congratulating  congratulated\n1. If you congratulate someone, you say something to show you are pleased that something nice has happened to them.\nShe congratulated him on the birth of his son...\nI was absolutely astonished by the reaction to our engagement. Everyone started congratulating us.\n  VERB: V n on/for n/-ing, V n\n\n=>  con.gratu.la.tion\nWe have received many letters of congratulation.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. If you congratulate someone, you praise them for something good that they have done.\nI really must congratulate the organisers for a well run and enjoyable event...\nWe specifically wanted to congratulate certain players.\n  VERB: V n for/on n/-ing, V n\n\n3. If you congratulate yourself, you are pleased about something that you have done or that has happened to you.\nWaterstone has every reason to congratulate himself...\n  VERB: V pron-refl


Words: congratulations
Meaning:
con.gratu.la.tions\n   congratulations\n1. You say `Congratulations’ to someone in order to congratulate them on something nice that has happened to them or something good that they have done.\nCongratulations, you have a healthy baby boy...\nCongratulations to everybody who sent in their ideas.\n  CONVENTION  formulae\n\n2. If you offer someone your congratulations, you congratulate them on something nice that has happened to them or on something good that they have done.\nThe club also offers its congratulations to D. Brown on his appointment as president.\n  N-PLURAL


Words: congratulatory
Meaning:
con.gratu.la.tory\n   congratulatory\n  A congratulatory message expresses congratulations.\nHe sent Kim a congratulatory letter.\n  ADJ


Words: congregant
Meaning:
con.gre.gant\n   congregant  congregants\n  Congregants are members of a congregation. (mainly AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: congregate
Meaning:
con.gre.gate\n   congregate  congregates  congregating  congregated\n  When people congregate, they gather together and form a group.\nVisitors congregated on Sunday afternoons to view public exhibitions.\n  VERB: V


Words: congregation
Meaning:
con.gre.ga.tion\n   congregation  congregations\n  The people who are attending a church service or who regularly attend a church service are referred to as the congregation.\nMost members of the congregation begin arriving a few minutes before services.\n  N-COUNT-COLL


Words: Congress
Meaning:
Con.gress\n   Congress\n  Congress is the elected group of politicians that is responsible for making the law in the United States. It consists of two parts: the House of Representatives and the Senate.\nWe want to cooperate with both the administration and Congress.\n  N-PROPER-COLL


Words: congress
Meaning:
con.gress\n   congress  congresses\n  A congress is a large meeting that is held to discuss ideas and policies.\nA lot has changed after the party congress.\n  N-COUNT-COLL: usu with supp


Words: congressional
Meaning:
con.gres.sion.al\n   congressional   also Congressional\n  A congressional policy, action, or person relates to the United States Congress.\nThe president explained his plans to congressional leaders.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: Congressman
Meaning:
Congress.man\n   Congressman Congressmen  also congressman\n  A Congressman is a male member of the US Congress, especially of the House of Representatives.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE


Words: Congressperson
Meaning:
Congress.person\n   Congressperson Congresspeople  also congressperson\n  A Congressperson is a member of the US Congress, especially of the House of Representatives.\n  N-COUNT


Words: Congresswoman
Meaning:
Congress.woman\n   Congresswoman Congresswomen  also congresswoman\n  A Congresswoman is a female member of the US Congress, especially of the House of Representatives.\nThe meeting was organised by Congresswoman Maxine Waters.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE


Words: congruence
Meaning:
con.gru.ence\n   congruence\n  Congruence is when two things are similar or fit together well. (FORMAL)\n...a necessary congruence between political, cultural and economic forces.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also a N, usu N between pl-n


Words: congruent
Meaning:
con.gru.ent\n   congruent\n  If one thing is congruent with another thing, they are similar or fit together well. (FORMAL)\nThey want to work in an organisation whose values are congruent with their own.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with n


Words: conical
Meaning:
coni.cal\n   conical\n  A conical object is shaped like a cone.\nWe were soon aware of a great conical shape to the north-east.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: conifer
Meaning:
co.ni.fer\n   conifer  conifers\n  Conifers are a group of trees and shrubs, for example pine trees and fir trees, that grow in cooler areas of the world. They have fruit called cones, and very thin leaves called needles which they do not normally lose in winter.\n  N-COUNT


Words: coniferous
Meaning:
co.nif.er.ous\n   coniferous\n  A coniferous forest or wood is made up of conifers.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: conjectural
Meaning:
con.jec.tur.al\n   conjectural\n  A statement that is conjectural is based on information that is not certain or complete. (FORMAL)\nThere is something undeniably conjectural about such claims.\n  ADJ


Words: conjecture
Meaning:
con.jec.ture\n   conjecture  conjectures  conjecturing  conjectured\n1. A conjecture is a conclusion that is based on information that is not certain or complete. (FORMAL)\nThat was a conjecture, not a fact...\nThere are several conjectures...\nThe attitudes of others were matters of conjecture although there were plenty of rumours about how individuals had behaved.\n  N-VAR\n  = surmise\n2. When you conjecture, you form an opinion or reach a conclusion on the basis of information that is not certain or complete. (FORMAL)\nHe conjectured that some individuals may be able to detect major calamities...\nThis may be true or partly true; we are all conjecturing here.\n  VERB: V that, V\n  = surmise


Words: conjoin
Meaning:
con.join\n   conjoin  conjoins  conjoining  conjoined\n  If two or more things conjoin or if you conjoin them, they are united and joined together. (FORMAL)\nThe wisdom of the retired generals and backbench MPs conjoins...\nAmerica’s rise in rates was conjoined with higher rates elsewhere.\n...if we conjoin the two responses.\n  V-RECIP: pl-n V, be V-ed with n, V pl-n, also V n with n, V with n


Words: conjoined twin
Meaning:
con.joined twin\n   conjoined twin conjoined twins\n  Conjoined twins are twins who are born with their bodies joined.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conjugal
Meaning:
con.ju.gal\n   conjugal\n  Conjugal means relating to marriage and the relationship between a husband and wife, especially their sexual relationship. (FORMAL)\n...a man deprived of his conjugal rights.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: conjugate
Meaning:
con.ju.gate\n   conjugate  conjugates  conjugating  conjugated\n  When pupils or teachers conjugate a verb, they give its different forms in a particular order.\n...a child who can read at one and is conjugating Latin verbs at four.\n  VERB: V n


Words: conjunction
Meaning:
con.junc.tion\n   conjunction  conjunctions\n1. A conjunction of two or more things is the occurrence of them at the same time or place. (FORMAL)\n...the conjunction of two events.\n...a conjunction of religious and social factors.\n  N-COUNT: usu N of n\n\n2. In grammar, a conjunction is a word or group of words that joins together words, groups, or clauses. In English, there are co-ordinating conjunctions such as `and’ and `but’, and subordinating conjunctions such as `although’, `because’, and `when’.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If one thing is done or used in conjunction with another, the two things are done or used together. (FORMAL)\nThe army should have operated in conjunction with the fleet to raid the enemy’s coast...\n  PHRASE: usu PHR with n\n  = together


Words: conjunctivitis
Meaning:
con.junc.ti.vi.tis\n   conjunctivitis\n  Conjunctivitis is an eye infection which causes the thin skin that covers the eye to become red. (MEDICAL)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: conjure
Meaning:
con.jure\n   conjure  conjures  conjuring  conjured\n  If you conjure something out of nothing, you make it appear as if by magic.\nThirteen years ago she found herself having to conjure a career from thin air...\nThey managed to conjure a victory.\n  VERB: V n from/out of n, V n\n\n  Conjure up means the same as conjure.\nEvery day a different chef will be conjuring up delicious dishes in the restaurant...\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P


Words: conjure up
Meaning:
conjure up\n1. If you conjure up a memory, picture, or idea, you create it in your mind.\nWhen we think of adventurers, many of us conjure up images of larger-than-life characters trekking to the North Pole.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P\n\n2. If something such as a word or sound conjures up particular images or ideas, it makes you think of them.\nJimmy Buffett’s music conjures up a warm night in the tropics...\nWhat does the word `feminist’ conjure up for you?\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), V P n (not pron)\n  = evoke\n3.\nsee conjure


Words: conjurer
Meaning:
con.jur.er\n   conjurer  conjurers   also conjuror\n  A conjurer is a person who entertains people by doing magic tricks.\n  N-COUNT\n  = magician


Words: conjuring trick
Meaning:
con.jur.ing trick\n   conjuring trick  conjuring tricks\n  A conjuring trick is a trick in which something is made to appear or disappear as if by magic.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conk
Meaning:
conk  conks  conking  conked\n=>  conk out\n  If something such as a machine or a vehicle conks out, it stops working or breaks down. (INFORMAL)\nThe dynamo conked out so we’ve got no electricity.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P


Words: conker
Meaning:
conk.er\n   conker  conkers\n1. Conkers are round brown nuts which come from horse chestnut trees. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. Conkers is a children’s game in which you tie a conker to a piece of string and try to break your opponent’s conker by hitting it as hard as you can with your own. (BRIT)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: connect
Meaning:
con.nect\n   connect  connects  connecting  connected\n1. If something or someone connects one thing to another, or if one thing connects to another, the two things are joined together.\nYou can connect the machine to your hi-fi...\nThe traditional method is to enter the exchanges at night and connect the wires...\nTwo cables connect to each corner of the plate.\n...a television camera connected to the radio telescope.\n  V-RECIP: V n to n, V pl-n, V to n, V-ed, also pl-n V\n  = attach  !=disconnect\n2. If a piece of equipment or a place is connected to a source of power or water, it is joined to that source so that it has power or water.\nThese appliances should not be connected to power supplies...\nIschia was now connected to the mainland water supply.\n  VERB: be V-ed to n, V-ed, also V n to n\n\n  Connect up means the same as connect.\nThe shower is easy to install.it needs only to be connected up to the hot and cold water supply...\nThey turned the barricade into a potential death trap by connecting it up to the mains.\n  PHRASAL VERB: be V-ed P to n, V n P to n, also V P n (not pron) to n\n\n3. If a telephone operator connects you, he or she enables you to speak to another person by telephone.\nTo call the police, an ambulance or the fire brigade dial 999 and the operator will connect you...\nHe asked to be connected to the central switchboard.\n  VERB: V n, be V-ed to n, also V n to n\n  = put through\n4. If two things or places connect or if something connects them, they are joined and people or things can pass between them.\n...the long hallway that connects the rooms...\nThe fallopian tubes connect the ovaries with the uterus...\nHis workshop connected with a small building in the garden...\nThe two rooms have connecting doors.\n  V-RECIP: V pl-n, V n with n, V with n, V-ing, also pl-n V\n\n5. If one train or plane, for example, connects with another, it arrives at a time which allows passengers to change to the other one in order to continue their journey.\n...a train connecting with a ferry to Ireland...\nMy connecting plane didn’t depart for another six hours.\n  V-RECIP: V with/to n, V-ing, also pl-n V\n  = link up\n6. If you connect to a particular plane or train, or if another plane or train connects you to it, you change to that plane or train from another one in order to continue your journey.\n...business travellers wanting to connect to a long-haul flight...\nThat will connect you with time to spare for the seven o’clock Concorde.\n  VERB: V to n, V n, also V n to n\n\n7. If you connect a person or thing with something, you realize that there is a link or relationship between them.\nI hoped he would not connect me with that now-embarrassing review I’d written seven years earlier...\nI wouldn’t have connected the two things.\n  VERB: V n with/to n, V pl-n\n  = associate\n8. Something that connects a person or thing with something else shows or provides a link or relationship between them.\nA search of Brady’s house revealed nothing that could connect him with the robberies...\nWhat connects them?\n  VERB: V n with/to n, V pl-n\n  = link


Words: connected
Meaning:
con.nect.ed\n   connected\n  If one thing is connected with another, there is a link or relationship between them.\nHave you ever had any skin problems connected with exposure to the sun?...\nThe dispute is not directly connected to the negotiations...\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ with/to n\n\n  see also connect, well-connected


Words: connection
Meaning:
con.nec.tion\n   connection  connections\nin BRIT, also use connexion\n1. A connection is a relationship between two things, people, or groups.\nThere was no evidence of a connection between BSE and the brain diseases recently confirmed in cats...\nThe police say he had no connection with the security forces...\n  N-VAR: usu N prep\n  = association, link\n2. A connection is a joint where two wires or pipes are joined together.\nCheck all radiators for small leaks, especially round pipework connections.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If a place has good road, rail, or air connections, many places can be directly reached from there by car, train, or plane.\nFukuoka has excellent air and rail connections to the rest of the country.\n  N-COUNT: usu n N\n\n4. If you get a connection at a station or airport, you catch a train, bus, or plane, after getting off another train, bus, or plane, in order to continue your journey.\nMy flight was late and I missed the connection.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing\n\n5. Your connections are the people who you know or are related to, especially when they are in a position to help you.\nShe used her connections to full advantage.\n  N-PLURAL\n\n6. If you write or talk to someone in connection with something, you write or talk to them about that thing. (FORMAL)\n13 men have been questioned in connection with the murder.\n  PREP-PHRASE


Words: connective tissue
Meaning:
con.nec.tive tis.sue\n   connective tissue\n  Connective tissue is the substance in the bodies of animals and people which fills in the spaces between organs and connects muscles and bones. (TECHNICAL)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: connectivity
Meaning:
con.nec.tiv.ity\n\n  Connectivity is the ability of a computing device to connect to other computers or to the Internet. (COMPUTING)\n...a DVD video and CD player with Internet connectivity.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: connector
Meaning:
con.nect.or\n   connector  connectors\n  A connector is a device that joins two pieces of equipment, wire, or piping together.\n  N-COUNT


Words: connivance
Meaning:
con.niv.ance\n   connivance\n  Connivance is a willingness to allow or assist something to happen even though you know it is wrong.\nThe deficit had grown with the connivance of the banks...\nThe goods were exported with official connivance.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp, oft with the N of n  disapproval


Words: connive
Meaning:
con.nive\n   connive  connives  conniving  connived\n  If one person connives with another to do something, they secretly try to achieve something which will benefit both of them.\nHe accused ministers of conniving with foreign companies to tear up employment rights...\nSenior politicians connived to ensure that he was not released.\n...local authorities suspected of conniving with the Mafia.\n  V-RECIP: V with n to-inf, pl-n V to-inf, V with n  disapproval


Words: conniving
Meaning:
con.niv.ing\n   conniving\n  If you describe someone as conniving, you mean you dislike them because they make secret plans in order to get things for themselves or harm other people.\nEdith was seen as a conniving, greedy woman.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n  disapproval\n  = scheming


Words: connoisseur
Meaning:
con.nois.seur\n   connoisseur  connoisseurs\n  A connoisseur is someone who knows a lot about the arts, food, drink, or some other subject.\nSarah tells me you’re something of an art connoisseur.\n...connoisseurs of good food.\n  N-COUNT: oft n N, N of n


Words: connotation
Meaning:
con.no.ta.tion\n   connotation  connotations\n  The connotations of a particular word or name are the ideas or qualities which it makes you think of.\nIt’s just one of those words that’s got so many negative connotations...\n`Urchin’, with its connotation of mischievousness, may not be a particularly apt word.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n\n  = association


Words: connote
Meaning:
con.note\n   connote  connotes  connoting  connoted\n  If a word or name connotes something, it makes you think of a particular idea or quality. (FORMAL)\nThe term `organization’ often connotes a sense of neatness.\n  VERB: V n\n  = suggest, imply


Words: conquer
Meaning:
con.quer\n   conquer  conquers  conquering  conquered\n1. If one country or group of people conquers another, they take complete control of their land.\nDuring 1936, Mussolini conquered Abyssinia...\nEarly in the eleventh century the whole of England was again conquered by the Vikings.\n  VERB: V n, be V-ed\n\n2. If you conquer something such as a problem, you succeed in ending it or dealing with it successfully.\nHe has never conquered his addiction to smoking.\n...the first man in history to conquer Everest.\n  VERB: V n, V n


Words: conqueror
Meaning:
con.quer.or\n   conqueror  conquerors\n  The conquerors of a country or group of people are the people who have taken complete control of that country or group’s land.\nThe people of an oppressed country obey their conquerors because they want to go on living.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: conquest
Meaning:
con.quest\n   conquest  conquests\n1. Conquest is the act of conquering a country or group of people.\nHe had led the conquest of southern Poland in 1939...\nAfter the Norman Conquest the forest became a royal hunting preserve...\n  N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl, oft N of n\n\n2. Conquests are lands that have been conquered in war.\nHe had realized that Britain could not have peace unless she returned at least some of her former conquests.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl\n\n3. If someone makes a conquest, they succeed in attracting and usually sleeping with another person. You usually use conquest when you want to indicate that this relationship is not important to the person concerned.\nDespite his conquests, he remains lonely and isolated.\n  N-COUNT: usu poss N\n\n4. You can refer to the person that someone has succeeded in attracting as their conquest.\nPushkin was a womaniser whose conquests included everyone from prostitutes to princesses.\n  N-COUNT: oft poss N\n\n5. The conquest of something such as a problem is success in ending it or dealing with it.\nThe conquest of inflation has been the Government’s overriding economic priority for nearly 15 years.\n  N-SING: usu the N of n\n  = defeat


Words: conquistador
Meaning:
con.quis.ta.dor\n   conquistador  conquistadors  or conquistadores\n  The conquistadors were the sixteenth century Spanish conquerors of Central and South America.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conscience
Meaning:
con.science\n   conscience  consciences\n1. Your conscience is the part of your mind that tells you whether what you are doing is right or wrong. If you have a guilty conscience, you feel guilty about something because you know it was wrong. If you have a clear conscience, you do not feel guilty because you know you have done nothing wrong.\nI have battled with my conscience over whether I should actually send this letter...\nWhat if he got a guilty conscience and brought it back?...\nI could go away again with a clear conscience.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, with supp, oft poss N, adj N\n\n2. Conscience is doing what you believe is right even though it might be unpopular, difficult, or dangerous.\nHe refused for reasons of conscience to sign a new law legalising abortion.\n...the law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n  see also prisoner of conscience\n3. Conscience is a feeling of guilt because you know you have done something that is wrong.\nI’m so glad he had a pang of conscience...\nThey have shown a ruthless lack of conscience.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n4. If you say that you cannot do something in all conscience, in good conscience, or in conscience, you mean that you cannot do it because you think it is wrong.\nShe could not, in good conscience, back out on her deal with him.\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl, with brd-neg\n\n5. If you have something on your conscience, you feel guilty because you know you have done something wrong.\nNow the murderer has two deaths on his conscience.\n  PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR


Words: conscientious
Meaning:
con.sci.en.tious\n   conscientious\n  Someone who is conscientious is very careful to do their work properly.\nWe are generally very conscientious about our work...\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.sci.en.tious.ly\nHe studied conscientiously and enthusiastically.\n  ADV: usu ADV with v


Words: conscientious objector
Meaning:
con.sci.en.tious ob.ject.or\n   conscientious objector  conscientious objectors\n  A conscientious objector is a person who refuses to join the armed forces because they think that it is morally wrong to do so.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conscious
Meaning:
con.scious\n   conscious\n1. If you are conscious of something, you notice it or realize that it is happening.\nShe was very conscious of Max studying her...\nConscious that he was becoming light-headed again, he went over to the window.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ of n/-ing, v-link ADJ that\n  = aware\n2. If you are conscious of something, you think about it a lot, especially because you are unhappy about it or because you think it is important.\nI’m very conscious of my weight...\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ of n/-ing, v-link ADJ that\n  = aware\n3. A conscious decision or action is made or done deliberately with you giving your full attention to it.\nI don’t think we ever made a conscious decision to have a big family...\nMake a conscious effort to relax your muscles.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = deliberate\n=>  con.scious.ly\nSophie was not consciously seeking a replacement after her father died.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n4. Someone who is conscious is awake rather than asleep or unconscious.\nShe was fully conscious all the time and knew what was going on.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ\n  !=unconscious\n5. Conscious memories or thoughts are ones that you are aware of.\nHe had no conscious memory of his four-week stay in hospital...\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  !=unconscious\n=>  con.scious.ly\nMost people cannot consciously remember much before the ages of 5 to 7 years...\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj


Words: consciousness
Meaning:
con.scious.ness\n   consciousness  consciousnesses\n1. Your consciousness is your mind and your thoughts.\nThat idea has been creeping into our consciousness for some time.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, usu poss N\n  = awareness\n2. The consciousness of a group of people is their set of ideas, attitudes, and beliefs.\nThe Greens were the catalysts of a necessary change in the European consciousness.\n  N-UNCOUNT: with supp\n  = mentality\n3. You use consciousness to refer to an interest in and knowledge of a particular subject or idea.\nHer political consciousness sprang from her upbringing when her father’s illness left the family short of money.\n  N-UNCOUNT: supp N\n  = awareness\n4. Consciousness is the state of being awake rather than being asleep or unconscious. If someone loses consciousness, they become unconscious, and if they regain consciousness, they become conscious after being unconscious.\nShe banged her head and lost consciousness...\nHe drifted in and out of consciousness.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n5.\n  see also stream of consciousness


Words: consciousness raising
Meaning:
con.scious.ness rais.ing\n   consciousness raising\n  Consciousness raising is the process of developing awareness of an unfair situation, with the aim of making people want to help in changing it.\n...consciousness-raising groups.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N n


Words: conscript
Meaning:
con.script\n   conscript conscripts conscripting  conscripted\nThe noun is pronounced   The verb is pronounced\n1. A conscript is a person who has been made to join the armed forces of a country.\n  N-COUNT\n  !=volunteer\n2. If someone is conscripted, they are officially made to join the armed forces of a country.\nHe was conscripted into the German army...\nPeter was conscripted like every other young man.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed into n, be V-ed\n  = draft


Words: conscription
Meaning:
con.scrip.tion\n   conscription\n  Conscription is officially making people in a particular country join the armed forces.\nAll adult males will be liable for conscription.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: consecrate
Meaning:
con.se.crate\n   consecrate  consecrates  consecrating  consecrated\n  When a building, place, or object is consecrated, it is officially declared to be holy. When a person is consecrated, they are officially declared to be a bishop.\nThe church was consecrated in 1234...\nHe defied Pope John Paul II by consecrating four bishops without his approval.\n  VERB: be V-ed, V n


Words: consecutive
Meaning:
con.secu.tive\n   consecutive\n  Consecutive periods of time or events happen one after the other without interruption.\nThe Cup was won for the third consecutive year by the Toronto Maple Leafs...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = successive\n=>  con.secu.tive.ly\n...a CD player which plays six CDs consecutively.\n  ADV: ADV after v


Words: consensual
Meaning:
con.sen.sual\n   consensual\n1. A consensual approach, view, or decision is one that is based on general agreement among all the members of a group.\nConsultation is traditional in the consensual Belgian system of labour relations.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. If sexual activity is consensual, both partners willingly take part in it. (LEGAL)\nConsensual sexual contact between two males can be a criminal activity.\n  ADJ


Words: consensus
Meaning:
con.sen.sus\n   consensus\n  A consensus is general agreement among a group of people.\nThe consensus amongst the world’s scientists is that the world is likely to warm up over the next few decades...\nThe question of when the troops should leave would be decided by consensus.\n  N-SING: also no det


Words: consent
Meaning:
con.sent\n   consent  consents  consenting  consented\n1. If you give your consent to something, you give someone permission to do it. (FORMAL)\nAt approximately 11:30 p.m., Pollard finally gave his consent to the search...\nCan my child be medically examined without my consent?\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with poss\n\n2. If you consent to something, you agree to do it or to allow it to be done. (FORMAL)\nHe finally consented to go...\nHe asked Ginny if she would consent to a small celebration after the christening...\nI was a little surprised when she consented.\n  VERB: V to-inf, V to n/-ing, V\n  = agree\n3.\n  see also age of consent


Words: consenting
Meaning:
con.sent.ing\n   consenting\n  A consenting adult is a person who is considered to be old enough to make their own decisions about who they have sex with.\nWhat consenting adults do in private is their own business.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: consequence
Meaning:
con.se.quence\n   consequence  consequences\n1. The consequences of something are the results or effects of it.\nHer lawyer said she understood the consequences of her actions and was prepared to go to jail...\nAn economic crisis may have tremendous consequences for our global security.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n\n\n2. If one thing happens and then another thing happens in consequence or as a consequence, the second thing happens as a result of the first.\nHis death was totally unexpected and, in consequence, no plans had been made for his replacement...\n...people who are suffering and dying as a consequence of cigarette smoking...\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl/group\n\n3. Something or someone of consequence is important or valuable. If something or someone is of no consequence, or of little consequence, they are not important or valuable. (FORMAL)\nAs an overseer, he suddenly found himself a person of consequence...\nWhere he is from is of no consequence to me.\n  PHRASE: oft with brd-neg, n PHR, v-link PHR\n  = importance\n4. If you tell someone that they must take the consequences or face the consequences, you warn them that something unpleasant will happen to them if they do not stop behaving in a particular way.\nThese pilots must now face the consequences of their actions and be brought to trial...\nIf climate changes continue, we will suffer the consequences.\n  PHRASE: V inflects


Words: consequent
Meaning:
con.se.quent\n   consequent\n  Consequent means happening as a direct result of an event or situation. (FORMAL)\nThe warming of the Earth and the consequent climatic changes affect us all...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n, also n ADJ upon/on n


Words: consequential
Meaning:
con.se.quen.tial\n   consequential\n1. Consequential means the same as consequent. (FORMAL)\nThe actual estimate for extra staff and consequential costs such as accommodation was an annual .9.18m.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = consequent\n2. Something that is consequential is important or significant. (FORMAL)\nFrom a medical standpoint a week is usually not a consequential delay.\n  ADJ\n  = significant  !=inconsequential


Words: consequently
Meaning:
con.se.quent.ly\n   consequently\n  Consequently means as a result. (FORMAL)\nGrandfather Dingsdale had sustained a broken back while working in the mines. Consequently, he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair...\n  ADV: ADV with cl


Words: conservancy
Meaning:
con.serv.an.cy\n   conservancy\n  Conservancy is used in the names of organizations that work to preserve and protect the environment.\n...the Nature Conservancy Council.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu N n\n  = conservation


Words: conservation
Meaning:
con.ser.va.tion\n   conservation\n1. Conservation is saving and protecting the environment.\n...a four-nation regional meeting on elephant conservation.\n...tree-planting and other conservation projects.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp\n\n2. Conservation is saving and protecting historical objects or works of art such as paintings, sculptures, or buildings.\nThen he began his most famous work, the conservation and rebinding of the Book of Kells...\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. The conservation of a supply of something is the careful use of it so that it lasts for a long time.\n...projects aimed at promoting energy conservation.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp


Words: conservation area
Meaning:
con.ser.va.tion area\n   conservation area  conservation areas\n1. In Britain, a conservation area is an area where birds and animals are protected.\n...wildlife conservation areas.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. In Britain, a conservation area is an area where old buildings are protected and new building is controlled.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conservationist
Meaning:
con.ser.va.tion.ist\n   conservationist  conservationists\n  A conservationist is a someone who cares greatly about the conservation of the environment and who works to protect it.\n  N-COUNT\n  = environmentalist


Words: conservatism
Meaning:
con.serva.tism\n   conservatism\n\n  The spelling Conservatism is also used for meaning 1.\n\n1. Conservatism is a political philosophy which believes that if changes need to be made to society, they should be made gradually. You can also refer to the political beliefs of a conservative party in a particular country as Conservatism.\n...the philosophy of modern Conservatism.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. Conservatism is unwillingness to accept changes and new ideas.\nThe conservatism of the literary establishment in this country is astounding...\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: conservative
Meaning:
con.serva.tive\n   conservative  conservatives\n\n  The spelling Conservative is also used for meaning 1.\n\n1. A Conservative politician or voter is a member of or votes for the Conservative Party in Britain.\nMost Conservative MPs appear happy with the government’s reassurances.\n...disenchanted Conservative voters.\n  ADJ\n  = Tory\n  Conservative is also a noun.\nIn 1951 the Conservatives were returned to power.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. Someone who is conservative has right-wing views.\n...counties whose citizens invariably support the most conservative candidate in any election.\n  ADJ\n  = right-wing\n  Conservative is also a noun.\nThe new judge is 50-year-old David Suitor who’s regarded as a conservative.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. Someone who is conservative or has conservative ideas is unwilling to accept changes and new ideas.\nIt is essentially a narrow and conservative approach to child care.\n  ADJ\n\n4. If someone dresses in a conservative way, their clothes are conventional in style.\nThe girl was well dressed, as usual, though in a more conservative style.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.ser.va.tive.ly\nShe was always very conservatively dressed when we went out.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n5. A conservative estimate or guess is one in which you are cautious and estimate or guess a low amount which is probably less that the real amount.\nA conservative estimate of the bill, so far, is about .22,000...\nThis guess is probably on the conservative side.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n=>  con.ser.va.tive.ly\nThe bequest is conservatively estimated at .30 million.\n  ADV: ADV with v


Words: Conservative Party
Meaning:
Con.serva.tive Par.ty\n   Conservative Party\n  The Conservative Party is the main right of centre party in Britain.\n  N-PROPER: usu the N


Words: conservatoire
Meaning:
con.serva.toire\n   conservatoire  conservatoires\n  A conservatoire is an institution where musicians are trained.\n...the Paris Conservatoire.\n  N-COUNT: oft in names\n  = conservatory


Words: conservator
Meaning:
con.ser.va.tor\n   conservator  conservators\n  A conservator is someone whose job is to clean and repair historical objects or works of art.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conservatory
Meaning:
con.serva.tory\n   conservatory  conservatories\n1. A conservatory is a room with glass walls and a glass roof, which is attached to a house. People often grow plants in a conservatory.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A conservatory is an institution where musicians are trained.\n...the New England Conservatory of Music.\n  N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES


Words: conserve
Meaning:
con.serve\n   conserve conserves conserving  conserved\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. If you conserve a supply of something, you use it carefully so that it lasts for a long time.\nThe republic’s factories have closed for the weekend to conserve energy.\n  VERB: V n\n  = save\n2. To conserve something means to protect it from harm, loss, or change.\n...a big increase in US aid to help developing countries conserve their forests.\n  VERB: V n\n  = preserve\n3. Conserve is jam containing a large proportion of fruit, usually in whole pieces.\n  N-MASS


Words: consider
Meaning:
con.sid.er\n   consider  considers  considering  considered\n1. If you consider a person or thing to be something, you have the opinion that this is what they are.\nWe don’t consider our customers to be mere consumers; we consider them to be our friends...\nI had always considered myself a strong, competent woman...\nI consider activities such as jogging and weightlifting as unnatural...\nBarbara considers that pet shops which sell customers these birds are very unfair.\n  VERB: V n to-inf, V n n/adj, V n as adj, V that\n\n2. If you consider something, you think about it carefully.\nThe government is being asked to consider a plan to fix the date of the Easter break...\nConsider how much you can afford to pay for a course, and what is your upper limit.\n  VERB: V n, V wh\n\n3. If you are considering doing something, you intend to do it, but have not yet made a final decision whether to do it.\nI had seriously considered telling the story from the point of view of the wives...\nThey are considering the launch of their own political party.\n  VERB: V -ing, V n\n\n4.\n  see also considered, considering


Words: considerable
Meaning:
con.sid.er.able\n   considerable\n  Considerable means great in amount or degree. (FORMAL)\nTo be without Pearce would be a considerable blow...\nDoing it properly makes considerable demands on our time...\nVets’ fees can be considerable, even for routine visits.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = substantial\n=>  con.sid.er.ably\nChildren vary considerably in the rate at which they learn these lessons...\nTheir dinner parties had become considerably less formal.\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV compar\n  = significantly


Words: considerate
Meaning:
con.sid.er.ate\n   considerate\n  Someone who is considerate pays attention to the needs, wishes, or feelings of other people.\nI think he’s the most charming, most considerate man I’ve ever known...\nI’ve always understood one should try and be considerate of other people.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ of n  approval\n  !=inconsiderate


Words: consideration
Meaning:
con.sid.era.tion\n   consideration  considerations\n1. Consideration is careful thought about something.\nHe said there should be careful consideration of the future role of the BBC.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. If something is under consideration, it is being discussed.\nSeveral proposals are under consideration by the state assembly.\n  N-UNCOUNT: under N\n\n3. If you show consideration, you pay attention to the needs, wishes, or feelings of other people.\nShow consideration for other rail travellers...\nReally, her tone said, some people have absolutely no consideration.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N for n\n\n4. A consideration is something that should be thought about, especially when you are planning or deciding something.\nA major consideration when choosing a dog is the size of your house and garden.\n  N-COUNT: usu supp N\n  = factor\n5. If you take something into consideration, you think about it because it is relevant to what you are doing.\nSafe driving is good driving because it takes into consideration the lives of other people.\n  PHRASE: V inflects


Words: considered
Meaning:
con.sid.ered\n   considered\n  A considered opinion or act is the result of careful thought.\nWe would hope to be able to give a considered response to the unions’ proposals by the end of the year.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n  see also consider


Words: considering
Meaning:
con.sid.er.ing\n   considering\n1. You use considering to indicate that you are thinking about a particular fact when making a judgment or giving an opinion.\nThe former hostage is in remarkably good shape considering his ordeal.\n  PREP\n\n2. You use considering that to indicate that you are thinking about a particular fact when making a judgment or giving an opinion.\nConsidering that you are no longer involved with this man, your response is a little extreme.\n  CONJ\n\n3. When you are giving an opinion or making a judgment, you can use considering to suggest that you have thought about all the circumstances, and often that something has succeeded in spite of these circumstances. (SPOKEN)\nI think you’re pretty safe, considering.\n  ADV: cl ADV


Words: consign
Meaning:
con.sign\n   consign  consigns  consigning  consigned\n  To consign something or someone to a place where they will be forgotten about, or to an unpleasant situation or place, means to put them there. (FORMAL)\nFor decades, many of Malevich’s works were consigned to the basements of Soviet museums...\n  VERB: V n to n


Words: consignment
Meaning:
con.sign.ment\n   consignment  consignments\n  A consignment of goods is a load that is being delivered to a place or person.\nThe first consignment of food has already left Bologna.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n\n  = batch


Words: consist
Meaning:
con.sist\n   consist  consists  consisting  consisted\n1. Something that consists of particular things or people is formed from them.\nBreakfast consisted of porridge served with butter.\n  VERB: V of n/-ing\n\n2. Something that consists in something else has that thing as its main or only part.\nHis work as a consultant consisted in advising foreign companies on the siting of new factories.\n  VERB: V in n/-ing


Words: consistency
Meaning:
con.sist.en.cy\n   consistency\n1. Consistency is the quality or condition of being consistent.\nHe scores goals with remarkable consistency...\nThere’s always a lack of consistency in matters of foreign policy.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. The consistency of a substance is how thick or smooth it is.\nDilute the paint with water until it is the consistency of milk...\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp


Words: consistent
Meaning:
con.sist.ent\n   consistent\n1. Someone who is consistent always behaves in the same way, has the same attitudes towards people or things, or achieves the same level of success in something.\nBecker has never been the most consistent of players anyway.\n...his consistent support of free trade.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.sist.ent.ly\nIt’s something I have consistently denied...\nJones and Armstrong maintain a consistently high standard.\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj/adv\n\n2. If one fact or idea is consistent with another, they do not contradict each other.\nThis result is consistent with the findings of Garnett & Tobin...\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with n\n\n3. An argument or set of ideas that is consistent is one in which no part contradicts or conflicts with any other part.\nThese are clear consistent policies which we are putting into place.\n  ADJ\n  = coherent


Words: consolation prize
Meaning:
con.so.la.tion prize\n   consolation prize  consolation prizes\n1. A consolation prize is a small prize which is given to a person who fails to win a competition.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A consolation prize is something that is arranged for or is given to a person to make them feel happier when they have failed to achieve something better.\nHer appointment was seen as a consolation prize after she lost the election.\n  N-COUNT


Words: console
Meaning:
con.sole\n   console consoles consoling  consoled\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. If you console someone who is unhappy about something, you try to make them feel more cheerful.\n`Never mind, Ned,’ he consoled me...\nOften they cry, and I have to play the role of a mother, consoling them...\nI can console myself with the fact that I’m not alone...\nHe consoled himself that Emmanuel looked like a nice boy, who could be a good playmate for his daughter.\n  VERB: V with quote, V n, V pron-refl with/for n, V pron-refl that\n  = comfort\n=>  con.so.la.tion      consolations\nThe only consolation for the Scottish theatre community is that they look likely to get another chance...\nHe knew then he was right, but it was no consolation.\n  N-VAR\n  = comfort\n2. A console is a panel with a number of switches or knobs that is used to operate a machine.\n  N-COUNT


Words: consolidate
Meaning:
con.soli.date\n   consolidate  consolidates  consolidating  consolidated\n1. If you consolidate something that you have, for example power or success, you strengthen it so that it becomes more effective or secure.\nBrydon’s team-mate Martin Williamson consolidated his lead in the National League when he won the latest round.\n  VERB: V n\n\n2. To consolidate a number of small groups or firms means to make them into one large organization.\nJudge Charles Schwartz is giving the state 60 days to disband and consolidate Louisiana’s four higher education boards...\n  VERB: V n


Words: consomme
Meaning:
con.som.me\n   consomme  consommes\n  Consomme is a thin, clear soup, usually made from meat juices.\n...chicken consomme.\n  N-MASS: oft n N


Words: consonant
Meaning:
con.so.nant\n   consonant  consonants\n  A consonant is a sound such as `p’, `f’, `n’, or `t’ which you pronounce by stopping the air flowing freely through your mouth. Compare vowel.\n  N-COUNT


Words: consort
Meaning:
con.sort\n   consort consorts consorting  consorted\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. If you say that someone consorts with a particular person or group, you mean that they spend a lot of time with them, and usually that you do not think this is a good thing. (FORMAL)\nHe regularly consorted with known drug-dealers.\n  VERB: V with n  disapproval\n  = associate\n2. The ruling monarch’s wife or husband is called their consort.\nAt tea-time, Victoria sang duets with her Consort, Prince Albert...\nShe was surely the most distinguished queen consort we have had.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE: oft n N


Words: consortium
Meaning:
con.sor.tium\n   consortium  consortia  or consortiums\n  A consortium is a group of people or firms who have agreed to co-operate with each other.\nThe consortium includes some of the biggest building contractors in Britain.\n  N-COUNT-COLL


Words: conspicuous
Meaning:
con.spicu.ous\n   conspicuous\n1. If someone or something is conspicuous, people can see or notice them very easily.\nThe most conspicuous way in which the old politics is changing is in the growing use of referendums...\nYou may feel tearful in situations where you feel conspicuous.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.spicu.ous.ly\nJohnston’s name was conspicuously absent from the list.\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj\n\n2. If you say that someone or something is conspicuous by their absence, you are drawing attention to the fact that they are not in a place or situation where you think they should be.\nHe played no part in the game and was conspicuous by his absence in the post-match celebrations.\n  PHRASE


Words: conspicuous consumption
Meaning:
con.spicu.ous con.sump.tion\n   conspicuous consumption\n  Conspicuous consumption means spending your money in such a way that other people can see how wealthy you are.\nIt was an age of conspicuous consumption.those who had money liked to display it.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: conspiracy
Meaning:
con.spira.cy\n   conspiracy  conspiracies\n1. Conspiracy is the secret planning by a group of people to do something illegal.\nSeven men, all from Bristol, admitted conspiracy to commit arson...\nHe believes there probably was a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy in 1963.\n  N-VAR: oft N to-inf\n\n2. A conspiracy is an agreement between a group of people which other people think is wrong or is likely to be harmful.\nThere was no evidence to link the brigade to any conspiracy against Mr Bush.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to-inf


Words: conspiracy theory
Meaning:
con.spira.cy theo.ry\n   conspiracy theory  conspiracy theories\n  A conspiracy theory is a belief that a group of people are secretly trying to harm someone or achieve something. You usually use this term to suggest that you think this is unlikely.\nDid you ever swallow the conspiracy theory about Kennedy?\n  N-COUNT


Words: conspirator
Meaning:
con.spira.tor\n   conspirator  conspirators\n  A conspirator is a person who joins a conspiracy.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conspiratorial
Meaning:
con.spira.to.rial\n   conspiratorial\n  If someone does something such as speak or smile in a conspiratorial way, they do it in a way that suggests they are sharing a secret with someone.\nHis voice had sunk to a conspiratorial whisper...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: conspire
Meaning:
con.spire\n   conspire  conspires  conspiring  conspired\n1. If two or more people or groups conspire to do something illegal or harmful, they make a secret agreement to do it.\nThey’d conspired to overthrow the government...\n...a defendant convicted of conspiring with his brother to commit robberies...\nI had a persecution complex and thought people were conspiring against me.\n  V-RECIP: pl-n V to-inf, V with n to-inf, pl-n V against n, also V with n\n  = plot\n2. If events conspire to produce a particular result, they seem to work together to cause this result.\nHistory and geography have conspired to bring Greece to a moment of decision...\nBut fateful forces beyond the band’s control were to conspire against them.\n  VERB: V to-inf, V against n\n  = combine


Words: constable
Meaning:
con.sta.ble\n   constable  constables\n1. In Britain and some other countries, a constable is a police officer of the lowest rank.\nHe was a constable at Sutton police station.\n...Constable Stuart Clark...\nThanks for your help, Constable.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE; N-VOC\n\n  see also Chief Constable\n2. In the United States, a constable is an official who helps keep the peace in a town. They are lower in rank than a sheriff.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE


Words: constabulary
Meaning:
con.stabu.lary\n   constabulary  constabularies\n1. In Britain and some other countries, a constabulary is the police force of a particular area.\n...the Chief Constable of the Nottinghamshire Constabulary.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. In the United States, a constabulary is the constables in a particular area, or the area that they are responsible for.\n  N-COUNT


Words: constancy
Meaning:
con.stan.cy\n   constancy\n1. Constancy is the quality of staying the same even though other things change.\nWe live in a world without constancy.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. Constancy is the quality of being faithful and loyal to a particular person or belief.\n...those who have proved their constancy in love.\n  N-UNCOUNT  approval\n  = fidelity


Words: constant
Meaning:
con.stant\n   constant  constants\n1. You use constant to describe something that happens all the time or is always there.\nInflation is a constant threat...\nHe has been her constant companion for the last four months.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = continual\n=>  con.stant.ly\nThe direction of the wind is constantly changing...\n  ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV adv/adj\n\n2. If an amount or level is constant, it stays the same over a particular period of time.\nThe average speed of the winds remained constant.\n  ADJ\n  = stable\n3. A constant is a thing or value that always stays the same.\nIn the world of fashion it sometimes seems that the only constant is ceaseless change...\n  N-COUNT\n  !=variable


Words: constellation
Meaning:
con.stel.la.tion\n   constellation  constellations\n  A constellation is a group of stars which form a pattern and have a name.\n...a planet orbiting a star in the constellation of Cepheus.\n  N-COUNT


Words: consternation
Meaning:
con.ster.na.tion\n   consternation\n  Consternation is a feeling of anxiety or fear. (FORMAL)\nHis decision caused consternation in the art photography community...\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = dismay


Words: constipated
Meaning:
con.sti.pat.ed\n   constipated\n  Someone who is constipated has difficulty in getting rid of solid waste from their body.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ


Words: constipation
Meaning:
con.sti.pa.tion\n   constipation\n  Constipation is a medical condition which causes people to have difficulty getting rid of solid waste from their body.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: constituency
Meaning:
con.stitu.en.cy\n   constituency  constituencies\n1. A constituency is an area for which someone is elected as the representative in a parliament or government.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A particular constituency is a section of society that may give political support to a particular party or politician.\nIn France, farmers are a powerful political constituency.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp


Words: constituent
Meaning:
con.stitu.ent\n   constituent  constituents\n1. A constituent is someone who lives in a particular constituency, especially someone who is able to vote in an election.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A constituent of a mixture, substance, or system is one of the things from which it is formed.\nCaffeine is the active constituent of drinks such as tea and coffee.\n  N-COUNT: usu N of n\n\n3. The constituent parts of something are the things from which it is formed. (FORMAL)\n...a plan to split the company into its constituent parts and sell them separately.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: constituent assembly
Meaning:
con.stitu.ent as.sem.bly\n   constituent assembly  constituent assemblies\n  A constituent assembly is a body of representatives that is elected to create or change their country’s constitution.\n  N-COUNT


Words: constitute
Meaning:
con.sti.tute\n   constitute  constitutes  constituting  constituted\n1. If something constitutes a particular thing, it can be regarded as being that thing.\nTesting patients without their consent would constitute a professional and legal offence...\n  V-LINK: no cont, V n\n\n2. If a number of things or people constitute something, they are the parts or members that form it.\nVolunteers constitute more than 95% of The Center’s work force.\n  V-LINK: no cont, V n\n  = comprise\n3. When something such as a committee or government is constituted, it is formally established and given authority to operate. (FORMAL)\nOn 6 July a People’s Revolutionary Government was constituted...\nThe accused will appear before a specially constituted military tribunal.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, V-ed\n  = set up


Words: constitution
Meaning:
con.sti.tu.tion\n   constitution  constitutions\n1. The constitution of a country or organization is the system of laws which formally states people’s rights and duties.\nThe club’s constitution prevented women from becoming full members.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. Your constitution is your health.\nHe must have an extremely strong constitution...\n  N-COUNT: usu sing


Words: constitutional
Meaning:
con.sti.tu.tion.al\n   constitutional\n  Constitutional means relating to the constitution of a particular country or organization.\nPolitical leaders are making no progress in their efforts to resolve the country’s constitutional crisis...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: constitutionality
Meaning:
con.sti.tu.tion.al.ity\n   constitutionality\n  In a particular political system, the constitutionality of a law or action is the fact that it is allowed by the constitution. (FORMAL)\nThey plan to challenge the constitutionality of the law.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu the N of n


Words: constrain
Meaning:
con.strain\n   constrain  constrains  constraining  constrained\n1. To constrain someone or something means to limit their development or force them to behave in a particular way. (FORMAL)\nWomen are too often constrained by family commitments and by low expectations...\n  VERB: be V-ed\n\n2. If you feel constrained to do something, you feel that you must do it, even though you would prefer not to.\nFor some reason he felt constrained to lower his voice.\n  PHRASE: V inflects, PHR to-inf


Words: constraint
Meaning:
con.straint\n   constraint  constraints\n1. A constraint is something that limits or controls what you can do.\nTheir decision to abandon the trip was made because of financial constraints...\n  N-COUNT: oft adj N, N on n\n\n2. Constraint is control over the way you behave which prevents you from doing what you want to do.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = restraint


Words: constrict
Meaning:
con.strict\n   constrict  constricts  constricting  constricted\n1. If a part of your body, especially your throat, is constricted or if it constricts, something causes it to become narrower.\nSevere migraine can be treated with a drug which constricts the blood vessels...\nMy throat constricted, so that I had to concentrate on breathing.\n  VERB: V n, V\n\n2. If something constricts you, it limits your actions so that you cannot do what you want to do.\nShe objects to the tests the Government’s advisers have devised because they constrict her teaching style...\n  VERB: V n\n  = limit


Words: constriction
Meaning:
con.stric.tion\n   constriction  constrictions\n  Constrictions are rules or factors which limit what you can do and prevent you from doing what you want to do.\nI hated the constrictions of school.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl\n  = restriction\n  see also constrict


Words: construct
Meaning:
con.struct\n   construct  constructs  constructing  constructed\n1. If you construct something such as a building, road, or machine, you build it or make it.\nThe French constructed a series of fortresses from Dunkirk on the Channel coast to Douai...\nThe boxes should be constructed from rough-sawn timber...\nThey thought he had escaped through a specially constructed tunnel.\n  VERB: V n, be V-ed from/of/out of n, V-ed\n  = build\n2. If you construct something such as an idea, a piece of writing, or a system, you create it by putting different parts together.\nHe eventually constructed a business empire which ran to Thailand and Singapore...\nThe novel is constructed from a series of on-the-spot reports.\n...using carefully constructed tests.\n  VERB: V n, be V-ed from/out of n, V-ed\n  = create


Words: construction
Meaning:
con.struc.tion\n   construction  constructions\n1. Construction is the building of things such as houses, factories, roads, and bridges.\nHe’d already started construction on a hunting lodge.\n...the only nuclear power station under construction in Britain.\n...the downturn in the construction industry...\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  !=demolition\n2. The construction of something such as a vehicle or machine is the making of it.\n...companies who have long experience in the construction of those types of equipment...\nWith the exception of teak, this is the finest wood for boat construction.\n  N-UNCOUNT: with supp\n\n3. The construction of something such as a system is the creation of it.\n...the construction of a just system of criminal justice.\n  N-UNCOUNT: with poss\n  = creation\n4. You can refer to an object that has been built or made as a construction.\nThe British pavilion is an impressive steel and glass construction the size of Westminster Abbey.\n  N-COUNT: usu supp N\n  = structure\n5. You use construction to refer to the structure of something and the way it has been built or made.\nThe Shakers believed that furniture should be plain, simple, useful, practical and of sound construction...\nThe chairs were light in construction yet extremely strong.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp\n\n6. A grammatical construction is a particular arrangement of words in a sentence, clause, or phrase.\nAvoid complex verbal constructions.\n  N-COUNT\n  = structure


Words: constructive
Meaning:
con.struc.tive\n   constructive\n  A constructive discussion, comment, or approach is useful and helpful rather than negative and unhelpful.\nShe welcomes constructive criticism...\nAfter their meeting, both men described the talks as frank, friendly and constructive...\n  ADJ\n  = positive  !=negative


Words: constructive dismissal
Meaning:
con.struc.tive dis.mis.sal\n\n  If an employee claims constructive dismissal, they begin a legal action against their employer in which they claim that they were forced to leave their job because of the behaviour of their employer. (BUSINESS)\nThe woman claims she was the victim of constructive dismissal after being demoted.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: constructor
Meaning:
con.struc.tor\n   constructor  constructors\n  A racing car constructor or aircraft constructor is a company that builds cars or aircraft.\n  N-COUNT


Words: construe
Meaning:
con.strue\n   construe  construes  construing  construed\n  If something is construed in a particular way, its nature or meaning is interpreted in that way. (FORMAL)\nWhat may seem helpful behaviour to you can be construed as interference by others...\nHe may construe the approach as a hostile act...\nWe are taught to construe these terms in a particular way.\n  VERB: be V-ed as n, V n as n, V n prep/adv


Words: consul
Meaning:
con.sul\n   consul  consuls\n  A consul is an official who is sent by his or her government to live in a foreign city in order to look after all the people there that belong to his or her own country.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE: oft supp N; N-TITLE


Words: consular
Meaning:
con.su.lar\n   consular\n  Consular means involving or relating to a consul or the work of a consul.\nIf you need to return to the UK quickly, British Consular officials may be able to arrange it.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: consulate
Meaning:
con.su.late\n   consulate  consulates\n  A consulate is the place where a consul works.\nThey managed to make contact with the British consulate in Lyons.\n  N-COUNT: oft supp N


Words: consult
Meaning:
con.sult\n   consult  consults  consulting  consulted\n1. If you consult an expert or someone senior to you or consult with them, you ask them for their opinion and advice about what you should do or their permission to do something.\nConsult your doctor about how much exercise you should attempt...\nHe needed to consult with an attorney...\nIf you are in any doubt, consult a financial adviser.\n  VERB: V n prep wh/wh-to-inf, V with n, V n\n\n2. If a person or group of people consults with other people or consults them, they talk and exchange ideas and opinions about what they might decide to do.\nAfter consulting with her daughter and manager she decided to take on the part, on her terms...\nThe two countries will have to consult their allies...\nThe umpires consulted quickly.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, V n, pl-n V\n\n3. If you consult a book or a map, you look in it or look at it in order to find some information.\nConsult the chart on page 44 for the correct cooking times...\n  VERB: V n


Words: consultancy
Meaning:
con.sul.tan.cy\n   consultancy  consultancies\n1. A consultancy is a company that gives expert advice on a particular subject.\nA survey of 57 hospitals by Newchurch, a consultancy, reveals striking improvements.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. Consultancy is expert advice on a particular subject which a person or group is paid to provide to a company or organization.\nThe project provides both consultancy and training.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N n


Words: consultant
Meaning:
con.sult.ant\n   consultant  consultants\n1. A consultant is an experienced doctor with a high position, who specializes in one area of medicine. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use specialist)\nShirley’s brother is now a consultant heart surgeon in Sweden.\n  N-COUNT: oft N n\n\n2. A consultant is a person who gives expert advice to a person or organization on a particular subject.\n...a team of management consultants sent in to reorganise the department.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to n, supp N


Words: consultation
Meaning:
con.sul.ta.tion\n   consultation  consultations\n1. A consultation is a meeting which is held to discuss something. Consultation is discussion about something.\nNext week he’ll be in Florida for consultations with President Mitterrand...\nThe plans were drawn up in consultation with the World Health Organisation...\n  N-VAR\n\n2. A consultation with a doctor or other expert is a meeting with them to discuss a particular problem and get their advice. Consultation is the process of getting advice from a doctor or other expert. (mainly BRIT)\nA personal diet plan is devised after a consultation with a nutritionist.\n  N-VAR\n\n3. A consultation is a meeting where several doctors discuss a patient and his or her condition and treatment. (AM)\n  N-COUNT\n\n4. Consultation of a book or other source of information is looking at it in order to find out certain facts.\nWith such excellent studies available for consultation, it should be easy to avoid the pitfalls.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: consultative
Meaning:
con.sul.ta.tive\n   consultative\n  A consultative committee or document gives advice or makes proposals about a particular problem or subject.\n...the consultative committee on local government finance.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = advisory


Words: consulting room
Meaning:
con.sult.ing room\n   consulting room  consulting rooms\n  A doctor’s or therapist’s consulting room is the room in which they see their patients. (BRIT; in AM, use doctor’s office)\n  N-COUNT


Words: consumable
Meaning:
con.sum.able\n   consumable  consumables\n  Consumable goods are items which are intended to be bought, used, and then replaced.\n...demand for consumable articles.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n  Consumable is also a noun.\nSuppliers add computer consumables, office equipment and furniture to their product range.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: consume
Meaning:
con.sume\n   consume  consumes  consuming  consumed\n1. If you consume something, you eat or drink it. (FORMAL)\nMany people experienced a drop in their cholesterol levels when they consumed oat bran.\n  VERB: V n\n\n2. To consume an amount of fuel, energy, or time means to use it up.\nSome of the most efficient refrigerators consume 70 percent less electricity than traditional models.\n  VERB: V n\n\n3. If a feeling or idea consumes you, it affects you very strongly indeed.\nThe memories consumed him.\n  VERB: V n\n\n4.\n  see also consumed, consuming


Words: consumed
Meaning:
con.sumed\n   consumed\n  If you are consumed with a feeling or idea, it affects you very strongly indeed. (LITERARY)\nThey are consumed with jealousy at her success.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ with/by n\n  = eaten up


Words: consumer
Meaning:
con.sum.er\n   consumer  consumers\n  A consumer is a person who buys things or uses services.\n...improving public services and consumer rights.\n  N-COUNT: oft N n


Words: consumer credit
Meaning:
con.sum.er cred.it\n   consumer credit\n  Consumer credit is money that is lent to people by organizations such as banks, building societies, and shops so that they can buy things.\nNew consumer credit fell to $3.7 billion in August.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: consumer durable
Meaning:
con.sum.er du.rable\n   consumer durable  consumer durables\n  Consumer durables are goods which are expected to last a long time, and are bought infrequently. (BRIT; in AM, use durable goods)\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: consumer goods
Meaning:
con.sum.er goods\n   consumer goods\n  Consumer goods are items bought by people for their own use, rather than by businesses. Compare capital goods. (BUSINESS)\n  N-PLURAL


Words: consumer society
Meaning:
con.sum.er so.ci.ety\n   consumer society  consumer societies\n  You can use consumer society to refer to a society where people think that spending money on goods and services is very important.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing


Words: consumerism
Meaning:
con.sum.er.ism\n   consumerism\n1. Consumerism is the belief that it is good to buy and use a lot of goods.\nThey have clearly embraced Western consumerism.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft supp N\n\n2. Consumerism is the protection of the rights and interests of consumers.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: consumerist
Meaning:
con.sum.er.ist\n   consumerist\n  Consumerist economies are ones which encourage people to consume a lot of goods. (BUSINESS)\n...our consumerist society.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n  disapproval


Words: consuming
Meaning:
con.sum.ing\n   consuming\n  A consuming passion or interest is more important to you than anything else.\nHe has developed a consuming passion for chess.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n  see also consume, time-consuming


Words: consummate
Meaning:
con.sum.mate\n   consummate consummates  consummating  consummated\nThe adjective is pronounced   The verb is pronounced\n1. You use consummate to describe someone who is extremely skilful. (FORMAL)\nHe acted the part with consummate skill...\nThose familiar with Sanders call him a consummate politician.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. If two people consummate a marriage or relationship, they make it complete by having sex. (FORMAL)\nThey consummated their passion only after many hesitations and delays.\n  VERB: V n


Words: consumption
Meaning:
con.sump.tion\n   consumption\n1. The consumption of fuel or natural resources is the amount of them that is used or the act of using them.\nThe laws have led to a reduction in fuel consumption in the US.\n...a tax on the consumption of non-renewable energy resources.\n  N-UNCOUNT: with supp\n\n2. The consumption of food or drink is the act of eating or drinking something, or the amount that is eaten or drunk. (FORMAL)\nMost of the wine was unfit for human consumption...\nThe average daily consumption of fruit and vegetables is around 200 grams...\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp\n\n3. Consumption is the act of buying and using things.\nRecycling the waste from our increased consumption is better than burning it.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n4.\n  see also conspicuous consumption


Words: consumptive
Meaning:
con.sump.tive\n   consumptive\n  A consumptive person suffers from tuberculosis. (OLD-FASHIONED)\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: cont.
Meaning:
Cont. is an abbreviation for `continued’, which is used at the bottom of a page to indicate that a letter or text continues on another page.


Words: contact
Meaning:
con.tact\n   contact  contacts  contacting  contacted\n1. Contact involves meeting or communicating with someone, especially regularly.\nOpposition leaders are denying any contact with the government in Kabul...\nHe forbade contacts between directors and executives outside his presence.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl, oft N with/between n\n\n2. If you are in contact with someone, you regularly meet them or communicate with them.\nHe was in direct contact with the kidnappers...\nWe do keep in contact.\n  PHRASE: usu v-link PHR, oft PHR with n\n\n3. If you contact someone, you telephone them, write to them, or go to see them in order to tell or ask them something.\nContact the Tourist Information Bureau for further details...\nWhen she first contacted me Frances was upset.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n\n4. If you come into contact with someone or something, you meet that person or thing in the course of your work or other activities.\nThe college has brought me into contact with western ideas.\n  N-UNCOUNT: into N with n\n\n5. If you make contact with someone, you find out where they are and talk or write to them.\nThen, after she had become famous, he tried to make contact with her.\n  PHRASE: V inflects, PHR with n, pl-n V\n\n6. If you lose contact with someone who you have been friendly with, you no longer see them, speak to them, or write to them.\nThough they all live nearby, I lost contact with them really quickly...\nMother and son lost contact when Nicholas was in his early twenties.\n  PHRASE: V inflects, PHR with n, pl-n V\n\n7. When people or things are in contact, they are touching each other.\nThey compared how these organisms behaved when left in contact with different materials...\nThe cry occurs when air is brought into contact with the baby’s larynx...\nThere was no physical contact, nor did I want any...\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft in/into N with n\n\n8. Radio contact is communication by means of radio.\n...a technical problem reported by the pilot moments before he lost contact with the control tower.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n9. A contact is someone you know in an organization or profession who helps you or gives you information.\nTheir contact in the United States Embassy was called Phil.\n  N-COUNT\n\n10.\nto make eye contact: see eye


Words: contact lens
Meaning:
con.tact lens\n   contact lens  contact lenses\n  Contact lenses are small plastic lenses that you put on the surface of your eyes to help you see better, instead of wearing glasses.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: contagion
Meaning:
con.ta.gion\n   contagion\n  Contagion is the spreading of a particular disease by someone touching another person who is already affected by the disease.\nThey have been reluctant to admit AIDS patients, in part because of unfounded fears of contagion...\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: contagious
Meaning:
con.ta.gious\n   contagious\n1. A disease that is contagious can be caught by touching people or things that are infected with it. Compare infectious.\n...a highly contagious disease of the lungs.\n  ADJ\n\n2. A feeling or attitude that is contagious spreads quickly among a group of people.\nAntonio has a contagious enthusiasm for the beautiful aspect of food.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ\n  = infectious


Words: contain
Meaning:
con.tain\n   contain  contains  containing  contained\n1. If something such as a box, bag, room, or place contains things, those things are inside it.\nThe bag contained a Christmas card...\nFactory shops contain a wide range of cheap furnishings...\nThe 77,000-acre estate contains five of the highest peaks in Scotland.\n  VERB: no cont, V n, V n, V n\n\n2. If a substance contains something, that thing is a part of it.\nMany cars run on petrol which contains lead.\n  VERB: no cont, V n\n\n3. If writing, speech, or film contains particular information, ideas, or images, it includes them.\nThis sheet contained a list of problems a patient might like to raise with the doctor...\nThe two discs also contain two of Britten’s lesser-known song-cycles.\n  VERB: no cont, V n, V n\n\n4. If a group or organization contains a certain number of people, those are the people that are in it.\nThe committee contains 11 Democrats and nine Republicans.\n  VERB: no cont, V n\n\n5. If you contain something, you control it and prevent it from spreading or increasing.\nMore than a hundred firemen are still trying to contain the fire at the plant...\n  VERB: V n\n\n6. If you cannot contain a feeling such as excitement or anger, or if you cannot contain yourself, you cannot prevent yourself from showing your feelings.\nBut he was bursting with curiosity, and one day he just couldn’t contain himself. `What are you going to do?’ he asked...\nEvans could barely contain his delight: `I’m so proud of her,’ he said.\n  VERB: V pron-refl, V n\n\n7.\n  see also self-contained


Words: container
Meaning:
con.tain.er\n   container  containers\n1. A container is something such as a box or bottle that is used to hold or store things in.\n...the plastic containers in which fish are stored and sold.\n  N-COUNT: usu supp N\n\n2. A container is a very large metal or wooden box used for transporting goods so that they can be loaded easily onto ships and lorries.\n  N-COUNT: usu N of n


Words: container ship
Meaning:
con.tain.er ship\n   container ship  container ships\n  A container ship is a ship that is designed for carrying goods that are packed in large metal or wooden boxes.\n  N-COUNT


Words: containment
Meaning:
con.tain.ment\n   containment\n1. Containment is the action or policy of keeping another country’s power or area of control within acceptable limits or boundaries.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. The containment of something dangerous or unpleasant is the act or process of keeping it under control within a particular area or place.\nFire crews are hoping they can achieve full containment of the fire before the winds pick up.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n\n  = control


Words: contaminant
Meaning:
con.tami.nant\n   contaminant  contaminants\n  A contaminant is something that contaminates a substance such as water or food. (FORMAL)\nContaminants found in poultry will also be found in their eggs...\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: contaminate
Meaning:
con.tami.nate\n   contaminate  contaminates  contaminating  contaminated\n  If something is contaminated by dirt, chemicals, or radiation, they make it dirty or harmful.\nHave any fish been contaminated in the Arctic Ocean?\n...vast tracts of empty land, much of it contaminated by years of army activity.\n  VERB: be V-ed, V-ed\n\n=>  con.tami.nat.ed\nNuclear weapons plants across the country are heavily contaminated with toxic wastes...\nMore than 100,000 people could fall ill after drinking contaminated water.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.tami.na.tion\nThe contamination of the sea around Capri may be just the beginning.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp


Words: contemplate
Meaning:
con.tem.plate\n   contemplate  contemplates  contemplating  contemplated\n1. If you contemplate an action, you think about whether to do it or not.\nFor a time he contemplated a career as an army medical doctor...\nShe contemplates leaving for the sake of the kids.\n  VERB: V n/-ing, V n/-ing\n  = consider\n2. If you contemplate an idea or subject, you think about it carefully for a long time.\nAs he lay in his hospital bed that night, he cried as he contemplated his future...\n  VERB: V n\n\n=>  con.tem.pla.tion\nIt is a place of quiet contemplation.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. If you contemplate something or someone, you look at them for a long time.\nHe contemplated his hands, still frowning.\n  VERB: V n\n\n=>  con.tem.pla.tion\nHe was lost in the contemplation of the landscape for a while.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N of n


Words: contemplative
Meaning:
con.tem.pla.tive\n   contemplative\n  Someone who is contemplative thinks deeply, or is thinking in a serious and calm way.\nMartin is a quiet, contemplative sort of chap...\n  ADJ


Words: contemporaneous
Meaning:
con.tem.po.ra.neous\n   contemporaneous\n  If two events or situations are contemporaneous, they happen or exist during the same period of time. (FORMAL)\n...the contemporaneous development of a separate and quite recognisable Scottish school of art.\n  ADJ


Words: contemporary
Meaning:
con.tem.po.rary\n   contemporary  contemporaries\n1. Contemporary things are modern and relate to the present time.\nShe writes a lot of contemporary music for people like Whitney Houston...\nOnly the names are ancient; the characters are modern and contemporary.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. Contemporary people or things were alive or happened at the same time as something else you are talking about.\n...drawing upon official records and the reports of contemporary witnesses.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n3. Someone’s contemporary is a person who is or was alive at the same time as them.\nLike most of my contemporaries, I grew up in a vastly different world.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl, poss N


Words: contempt
Meaning:
con.tempt\n   contempt\n1. If you have contempt for someone or something, you have no respect for them or think that they are unimportant.\nHe has contempt for those beyond his immediate family circle...\nI hope voters will treat his advice with the contempt it deserves.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N for n\n\n2. If you hold someone or something in contempt, you feel contempt for them.\nSmall wonder that many voters hold their politicians in contempt.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\nfamiliarity breeds contempt: see familiarity


Words: contempt of court
Meaning:
con.tempt of court\n   contempt of court\n  Contempt of court is the criminal offence of disobeying an instruction from a judge or a court of law. (LEGAL)\nHe faced imprisonment for contempt of court.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = contempt


Words: contemptible
Meaning:
con.tempt.ible\n   contemptible\n  If you feel that someone or something is contemptible, you feel strong dislike and disrespect for them. (FORMAL)\n...this contemptible act of violence.\n  ADJ\n  = despicable


Words: contemptuous
Meaning:
con.temp.tu.ous\n   contemptuous\n  If you are contemptuous of someone or something, you do not like or respect them at all.\nHe’s openly contemptuous of all the major political parties...\nShe gave a contemptuous little laugh.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ of n


Words: contend
Meaning:
con.tend\n   contend  contends  contending  contended\n1. If you have to contend with a problem or difficulty, you have to deal with it or overcome it.\nIt is time, once again, to contend with racism...\nAmerican businesses could soon have a new kind of lawsuit to contend with.\n  VERB: V with n, V with n\n\n2. If you contend that something is true, you state or argue that it is true. (FORMAL)\nThe government contends that he is fundamentalist...\n  VERB: V that\n\n3. If you contend with someone for something such as power, you compete with them to try to get it.\n...the two main groups contending for power.\n...with 10 UK construction yards contending with rivals from Norway, Holland, Italy and Spain.\n...a binding political settlement between the contending parties.\n  V-RECIP: pl-n V for n, V with n, V-ing


Words: contender
Meaning:
con.tend.er\n   contender  contenders\n  A contender is someone who takes part in a competition. (JOURNALISM)\nHer trainer said yesterday that she would be a strong contender for a place in Britain’s Olympic squad...\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N for/in n


Words: content
Meaning:
ADJECTIVE AND VERB USES\ncon.tent  ADJECTIVE AND VERB USES\n   content  contents  contenting  contented\n\nPlease look at category 4 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.\n1. If you are content with something, you are willing to accept it, rather than wanting something more or something better.\nI’m perfectly content with the way the campaign has gone...\nNot content with rescuing one theatre, Sally Green has taken on another.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ, ADJ to-inf, ADJ with n/-ing\n\n2. If you are content, you are fairly happy or satisfied.\nHe says his daughter is quite content.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ\n\n3. If you content yourself with something, you accept it and do not try to do or have other things.\nHe wisely contented himself with his family and his love of nature...\nMost manufacturers content themselves with updating existing models.\n  VERB: V pron-refl with n, V pron-refl with/by -ing\n\n4.\nto your heart’s content: see heart\n\nNOUN USES\ncon.tent  NOUN USES\n   content  contents\n1. The contents of a container such as a bottle, box, or room are the things that are inside it.\nEmpty the contents of the pan into the sieve...\nSandon Hall and its contents will be auctioned by Sotheby’s on October 6.\n  N-PLURAL: usu with supp, oft N of n\n\n2. If you refer to the content or contents of something such as a book, speech, or television programme, you are referring to the subject that it deals with, the story that it tells, or the ideas that it expresses.\nShe is reluctant to discuss the content of the play...\nThe letter’s contents were not disclosed.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also N in pl, usu N of n\n\n3. The contents of a book are its different chapters and sections, usually shown in a list at the beginning of the book.\nThere is no initial list of contents.\n  N-PLURAL\n\n4. The content of something such as an educational course or a programme of action is the elements that it consists of.\nPrevious students have had nothing but praise for the course content and staff...\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n\n\n5. You can use content to refer to the amount or proportion of something that a substance contains.\nSunflower margarine has the same fat content as butter...\n  N-SING: n N


Words: content provider
Meaning:
con.tent pro.vid.er\n   content provider content providers\n  A content provider is a company that supplies material such as text, music, or images for use on websites. (COMPUTING)\n...content providers such as MSN and Freeserve.\n  N-COUNT


Words: contented
Meaning:
con.tent.ed\n   contented\n  If you are contented, you are satisfied with your life or the situation you are in.\nWhenever he returns to this place he is happy and contented...\nShe was gazing at him with a soft, contented smile on her face.\n  ADJ


Words: contention
Meaning:
con.ten.tion\n   contention  contentions\n1. Someone’s contention is the idea or opinion that they are expressing in an argument or discussion.\nThis evidence supports their contention that the outbreak of violence was prearranged.\n  N-COUNT: usu poss N\n  = claim\n2. If something is a cause of contention, it is a cause of disagreement or argument.\nA particular source of contention is plans to privatise state-run companies.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu n of N\n\n  see also bone of contention\n3. If you are in contention in a contest, you have a chance of winning it.\nHe was in contention for a place in the European championship squad.\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR


Words: contentious
Meaning:
con.ten.tious\n   contentious\n  A contentious issue causes a lot of disagreement or arguments. (FORMAL)\nSanctions are expected to be among the most contentious issues.\n...a country where land prices are politically contentious.\n  ADJ\n  = controversial


Words: contentment
Meaning:
con.tent.ment\n   contentment\n  Contentment is a feeling of quiet happiness and satisfaction.\nI cannot describe the feeling of contentment that was with me at that time.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  !=discontent


Words: contest
Meaning:
con.test\n   contest contests contesting  contested\nThe noun is pronounced   The verb is pronounced\n1. A contest is a competition or game in which people try to win.\nFew contests in the recent history of British boxing have been as thrilling.\n...a writing contest.\n  N-COUNT\n\n  see also beauty contest\n2. A contest is a struggle to win power or control.\nThe state election due in November will be the last such ballot before next year’s presidential contest...\n...a clear contest between church and state.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If someone contests an election or competition, they take part in it and try to win it. (mainly BRIT)\nHe quickly won his party’s nomination to contest the elections.\n...a closely contested regional flower show.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed\n\n4. If you contest a statement or decision, you object to it formally because you think it is wrong or unreasonable.\nYour former employer has to reply within 14 days in order to contest the case...\nGender discrimination is a hotly contested issue.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed\n  = dispute


Words: contestant
Meaning:
con.test.ant\n   contestant  contestants\n  A contestant in a competition or quiz is a person who takes part in it.\n  N-COUNT\n  = competitor


Words: context
Meaning:
con.text\n   context  contexts\n1. The context of an idea or event is the general situation that relates to it, and which helps it to be understood.\nWe are doing this work in the context of reforms in the economic, social and cultural spheres.\n...the historical context in which Chaucer wrote...\n  N-VAR: usu with supp, oft adj N, N of n\n\n2. The context of a word, sentence, or text consists of the words, sentences, or text before and after it which help to make its meaning clear.\nWithout a context, I would have assumed it was written by a man.\n  N-VAR\n\n3. If something is seen in context or if it is put into context, it is considered together with all the factors that relate to it.\nTaxation is not popular in principle, merely acceptable in context...\nIt is important that we put Jesus into the context of history.\n  PHRASE\n\n4. If a statement or remark is quoted out of context, the circumstances in which it was said are not correctly reported, so that it seems to mean something different from the meaning that was intended.\nThomas says that he has been taken out of context on the issue...\n  PHRASE


Words: contextual
Meaning:
con.tex.tual\n   contextual\n  A contextual issue or account relates to the context of something. (FORMAL)\nThe writer builds up a clever contextual picture of upper class life.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: contiguous
Meaning:
con.tigu.ous\n   contiguous\n  Things that are contiguous are next to each other or touch each other. (FORMAL)\nIts vineyards are virtually contiguous with those of Ausone.\n...two years of travel throughout the 48 contiguous states.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ to/with n\n  = adjacent, adjoining


Words: continent
Meaning:
con.ti.nent\n   continent  continents\n1. A continent is a very large area of land, such as Africa or Asia, that consists of several countries.\nShe loved the African continent...\nDinosaurs evolved when most continents were joined in a single land mass.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. People sometimes use the Continent to refer to the continent of Europe except for Britain. (mainly BRIT)\nIts shops are among the most stylish on the Continent.\n  N-PROPER: the N


Words: continental
Meaning:
con.ti.nen.tal\n   continental  continentals\n1. Continental means situated on or belonging to the continent of Europe except for Britain. (mainly BRIT)\nHe sees no signs of improvement in the UK and continental economy.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n2. A continental is someone who comes from the continent of Europe. (BRIT INFORMAL)\n  N-COUNT: usu pl\n\n3. If you describe someone or something as continental, you think that they are typical of the continent of Europe. (BRIT INFORMAL)\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ\n\n4. Continental is used to refer to something that belongs to or relates to a continent.\nThe most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n5. The continental United States consists of all the states which are situated on the continent of North America, as opposed to Hawaii and territories such as the Virgin Islands. (mainly AM)\nShipping is included on orders sent within the continental U.S.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n6. Continental means existing or happening in the American colonies during the American Revolution. (AM)\n...George Washington, Commander of the Continental Army...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n7. Continentals were soldiers who fought in the Continental Army against the British in the American Revolution. (AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: continental breakfast
Meaning:
con.ti.nen.tal break.fast\n   continental breakfast  continental breakfasts\n  A continental breakfast is breakfast that consists of food such as bread, butter, jam, and a hot drink. There is no cooked food.\n  N-COUNT


Words: continental drift
Meaning:
con.ti.nen.tal drift\n   continental drift\n  Continental drift is the slow movement of the Earth’s continents towards and away from each other.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: continental shelf
Meaning:
con.ti.nen.tal shelf\n   continental shelf\n  The continental shelf is the area which forms the edge of a continent, ending in a steep slope to the depths of the ocean.\n...the deep water off the Continental Shelf.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: contingency
Meaning:
con.tin.gen.cy\n   contingency  contingencies\n1. A contingency is something that might happen in the future. (FORMAL)\nI need to examine all possible contingencies.\n  N-VAR\n  = possibility, eventuality\n2. A contingency plan or measure is one that is intended to be used if a possible situation actually occurs. (FORMAL)\nWe have contingency plans.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: contingent
Meaning:
con.tin.gent\n   contingent  contingents\n1. A contingent of police, soldiers, or military vehicles is a group of them. (FORMAL)\nThere were contingents from the navies of virtually all EU countries.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft N of n\n\n2. A contingent is a group of people representing a country or organization at a meeting or other event. (FORMAL)\nThe strong British contingent suffered mixed fortunes...\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft adj N\n\n3. If something is contingent on something else, the first thing depends on the second in order to happen or exist. (FORMAL)\nIn effect, growth is contingent on improved incomes for the mass of the low-income population.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ on/upon n/-ing\n  = dependent


Words: continual
Meaning:
con.tin.ual\n   continual\n1. A continual process or situation happens or exists without stopping.\nThe school has been in continual use since 1883...\nDespite continual pain, he refused all drugs.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = continuous\n=>  con.tinu.al.ly\nShe cried almost continually and threw temper tantrums...\n  ADV: usu ADV with v\n  = continuously\n2. Continual events happen again and again.\n...the government’s continual demands for cash to finance its chronic deficit...\nShe suffered continual police harassment.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n=>  con.tinu.al.ly\nMalcolm was continually changing his mind...\n  ADV: usu ADV with v


Words: continuance
Meaning:
con.tinu.ance\n   continuance\n  The continuance of something is its continuation. (FORMAL)\n...thus ensuring the continuance of the human species.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu with poss\n  = continuation


Words: continuation
Meaning:
con.tinu.ation\n   continuation  continuations\n1. The continuation of something is the fact that it continues, rather than stopping.\nIt’s the coalition forces who are to blame for the continuation of the war...\n  N-VAR: usu with poss\n\n2. Something that is a continuation of something else is closely connected with it or forms part of it.\nIt would just be a continuation of previous visits he has made to Israel.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, N of n


Words: continue
Meaning:
con.tinue\n   continue  continues  continuing  continued\n1. If someone or something continues to do something, they keep doing it and do not stop.\nI hope they continue to fight for equal justice after I’m gone...\nInterest rates continue to fall...\nThey are determined to continue working when they reach retirement age...\nThere is no reason why you should not continue with any sport or activity you already enjoy.\n  VERB: V to-inf, V to-inf, V -ing, V with n\n\n2. If something continues or if you continue it, it does not stop happening.\nHe insisted that the conflict would continue until conditions were met for a ceasefire...\nOutside the building people continue their vigil, huddling around bonfires.\n...the continued existence of a species.\n  VERB: V, V n, V-ed\n\n3. If you continue with something, you start doing it again after a break or interruption.\nI went up to my room to continue with my packing...\nShe looked up for a moment, then continued drawing.\n  VERB: V with n, V -ing\n  = carry on\n4. If something continues or if you continue it, it starts again after a break or interruption.\nHe denies 18 charges. The trial continues today...\nOnce, he did dive for cover but he soon reappeared and continued his activities.\n  VERB: V, V n\n\n5. If you continue, you begin speaking again after a pause or interruption.\n`You have no right to intimidate this man,’ Alison continued...\nTony drank some coffee before he continued...\nPlease continue.\n  VERB: V with quote, V, V\n\n6. If you continue as something or continue in a particular state, you remain in a particular job or state.\nHe had hoped to continue as a full-time career officer...\nFor ten days I continued in this state.\n  VERB: V as n, V prep\n\n7. If you continue in a particular direction, you keep walking or travelling in that direction.\nHe continued rapidly up the path, not pausing until he neared the Chapter House.\n  VERB: V prep/adv


Words: continuing education
Meaning:
con.tinu.ing edu.ca.tion\n   continuing education\n  Continuing education is education for adults in a variety of subjects, most of which are practical, not academic.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: continuity
Meaning:
con.ti.nu.ity\n   continuity  continuities\n1. Continuity is the fact that something continues to happen or exist, with no great changes or interruptions.\nAn historical awareness also imparts a sense of continuity.\n...a tank designed to ensure continuity of fuel supply during aerobatics.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. In film making, continuity is the way that things filmed at different times are made to look as if they were filmed at the same time or in the right sequence. (TECHNICAL)\nWalt and I referred to a video cassette of the original footage to check continuity and lighting.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: continuity announcer
Meaning:
con.ti.nu.ity an.nounc.er\n   continuity announcer  continuity announcers\n  A continuity announcer is someone who introduces the next programme on a radio or television station.\n  N-COUNT


Words: continuous
Meaning:
con.tinu.ous\n   continuous\n1. A continuous process or event continues for a period of time without stopping.\nResidents report that they heard continuous gunfire.\n...all employees who had a record of five years’ continuous employment with the firm...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = unbroken\n=>  con.tinu.ous.ly\nThe civil war has raged almost continuously since 1976...\nIt is the oldest continuously inhabited city in America.\n  ADV: usu ADV with v\n\n2. A continuous line or surface has no gaps or holes in it.\n...a continuous line of boats.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n3. In English grammar, continuous verb groups are formed using the auxiliary `be’ and the present participle of a verb, as in `I’m feeling a bit tired’ and `She had been watching them for some time’. Continuous verb groups are used especially when you are focusing on a particular moment. Compare simple.\n  ADJ\n  = progressive


Words: continuous assessment
Meaning:
con.tinu.ous as.sess.ment\n   continuous assessment\n  If pupils or students undergo continuous assessment, they get qualifications partly or entirely based on the work they do during the year, rather than on exam results. (BRIT)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: continuum
Meaning:
con.tin.uum\n   continuum  continua  or continuums\n  A continuum is a set of things on a scale, which have a particular characteristic to different degrees. (FORMAL)\nThese various complaints are part of a continuum of ill-health...\n  N-COUNT: usu sing


Words: contort
Meaning:
con.tort\n   contort  contorts  contorting  contorted\n  If someone’s face or body contorts or is contorted, it moves into an unnatural and unattractive shape or position.\nHis face contorts as he screams out the lyrics...\nThe gentlest of her caresses would contort his already tense body...\nBrenner was breathing hard, his face contorted with pain.\n  VERB: V, V n, V-ed


Words: contortion
Meaning:
con.tor.tion\n   contortion  contortions\n  Contortions are movements of your body or face into unusual shapes or positions.\nI had to admire the contortions of the gymnasts.\n  N-COUNT


Words: contortionist
Meaning:
con.tor.tion.ist\n   contortionist  contortionists\n  A contortionist is someone who twists their body into strange and unnatural shapes and positions in order to entertain other people, for example in a circus.\n  N-COUNT


Words: contour
Meaning:
con.tour\n   contour  contours\n1. You can refer to the general shape or outline of an object as its contours. (LITERARY)\n...the texture and colour of the skin, the contours of the body...\n  N-COUNT: usu pl, usu with supp, oft N of n\n\n2. A contour on a map is a line joining points of equal height and indicating hills, valleys, and the steepness of slopes.\n...a contour map showing two hills and this large mountain in the middle.\n  N-COUNT


Words: contoured
Meaning:
con.toured\n   contoured\n  A contoured surface has curves and slopes on it, rather than being flat.\n...the lush fairways and contoured greens of the course...\nSophia settled into her comfortably contoured seat.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: contraband
Meaning:
contra.band\n   contraband\n  Contraband refers to goods that are taken into or out of a country illegally.\nMost of the city markets were flooded with contraband goods.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N n


Words: contraception
Meaning:
contra.cep.tion\n   contraception\n  Contraception refers to methods of preventing pregnancy.\nUse a reliable method of contraception.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = birth control


Words: contraceptive
Meaning:
contra.cep.tive\n   contraceptive  contraceptives\n1. A contraceptive method or device is a method or a device which a woman uses to prevent herself from becoming pregnant.\nIt was at that time she started taking the contraceptive pill.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n2. A contraceptive is a device or drug that prevents a woman from becoming pregnant.\n...oral contraceptives...\n  N-COUNT


Words: contract
Meaning:
con.tract\n   contract contracts contracting  contracted\nThe noun is pronounced   The verb is pronounced\n1. A contract is a legal agreement, usually between two companies or between an employer and employee, which involves doing work for a stated sum of money.\nThe company won a prestigious contract for work on Europe’s tallest building...\nHe was given a seven-year contract with an annual salary of $150,000.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If you contract with someone to do something, you legally agree to do it for them or for them to do it for you. (FORMAL)\nYou can contract with us to deliver your cargo...\nThe Boston Museum of Fine Arts has already contracted to lease part of its collection to a museum in Japan.\n  VERB: V with n to-inf, V to-inf\n\n3. When something contracts or when something contracts it, it becomes smaller or shorter.\nBlood is only expelled from the heart when it contracts...\nNew research shows that an excess of meat and salt can contract muscles.\n  VERB: V, V n\n\n=>  con.trac.tion      contractions\n...the contraction and expansion of blood vessels...\nFoods and fluids are mixed in the stomach by its muscular contractions.\n  N-VAR\n\n4. When something such as an economy or market contracts, it becomes smaller.\nThe manufacturing economy contracted in October for the sixth consecutive month.\n  VERB: V\n\n5. If you contract a serious illness, you become ill with it. (FORMAL)\nHe contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion...\nOvarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer contracted by women.\n  VERB: no cont, V n, V-ed\n\n6. If you contract a marriage, alliance, or other relationship with someone, you arrange to have that relationship with them. (FORMAL)\nShe contracted a formal marriage to a British ex-serviceman.\n  VERB: V n\n  = enter into\n7. If there is a contract on a person or on their life, someone has made an arrangement to have them killed. (INFORMAL)\nThe convictions resulted in the local crime bosses putting a contract on him...\n  N-COUNT: usu N on n\n\n8. If you are under contract to someone, you have signed a contract agreeing to work for them, and for no-one else, during a fixed period of time.\nThe director wanted Olivia de Havilland, then under contract to Warner Brothers.\n  PHRASE: oft PHR to n


Words: contract out
Meaning:
contract out\n1. If a company contracts out work, they employ other companies to do it. (BUSINESS)\nFirms can contract out work to one another...\nWhen Barclays Bank contracted out its cleaning, the new company was cheaper.\n...the trend of contracting services out rather than performing them in-house.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron) to n, V P n (not pron), V n P, also V n P to n, V P\n\n2. If a person or group contracts out of a system or scheme, they formally say that they do not want to take part in it. (BRIT)\nEmployees can contract out of their employer’s occupational pension scheme.\n...a free deal which automatically converts into a pay as-you-go service unless you contract out.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P of n, V P


Words: contraction
Meaning:
con.trac.tion\n   contraction  contractions\n1. When a woman who is about to give birth has contractions, she experiences a very strong, painful tightening of the muscles of her womb.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A contraction is a shortened form of a word or words.\n`It’s’ (with an apostrophe) should be used only as a contraction for `it is’.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3.\n  see also contract


Words: contractor
Meaning:
con.trac.tor\n   contractor   contractors\n  A contractor is a person or company that does work for other people or organizations. (BUSINESS)\n...a major US defense contractor.\n  N-COUNT: oft n N


Words: contractual
Meaning:
con.trac.tual\n   contractual\n  A contractual arrangement or relationship involves a legal agreement between people. (FORMAL)\nThe company has not fulfilled certain contractual obligations...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n=>  con.trac.tu.al.ly\nRank was contractually obliged to hand him a cheque for $30 million.\n  ADV: usu ADV after v, ADV -ed/adj


Words: contradict
Meaning:
contra.dict\n   contradict  contradicts  contradicting  contradicted\n1. If you contradict someone, you say that what they have just said is wrong, or suggest that it is wrong by saying something different.\nShe dared not contradict him...\nHis comments appeared to contradict remarks made earlier in the day by the chairman...\nHe often talks in circles, frequently contradicting himself and often ends up saying nothing.\n  VERB: V n, V n, V pron-refl\n\n2. If one statement or piece of evidence contradicts another, the first one makes the second one appear to be wrong.\nThe result seems to contradict a major U.S. study reported last November.\n  VERB: V n


Words: contradiction
Meaning:
contra.dic.tion\n   contradiction  contradictions\n  If you describe an aspect of a situation as a contradiction, you mean that it is completely different from other aspects, and so makes the situation confused or difficult to understand.\nThe performance seemed to me unpardonable, a contradiction of all that the Olympics is supposed to be...\nThe militants see no contradiction in using violence to bring about a religious state.\n  N-COUNT: oft N between pl-n, N of n


Words: contradictory
Meaning:
contra.dic.tory\n   contradictory\n  If two or more facts, ideas, or statements are contradictory, they state or imply that opposite things are true.\nCustoms officials have made a series of contradictory statements about the equipment...\n...advice that sometimes is contradictory and confusing.\n  ADJ


Words: contraflow
Meaning:
contra.flow\n   contraflow  contraflows\n  A contraflow is a situation in which vehicles travelling on a main road in one direction have to use lanes that are normally used by traffic travelling in the opposite direction, because the road is being repaired. (BRIT)\n...a contraflow between Junctions Eleven and Twelve of the M5.\n  N-COUNT


Words: contraindication
Meaning:
contra.in.di.ca.tion\n   contraindication  contraindications   also contra-indication\n  Contraindications are specific medical reasons for not using a particular treatment for a medical condition in the usual way. (MEDICAL)\nContraindications for this drug include liver or kidney impairment.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: contralto
Meaning:
con.tral.to\n   contralto  contraltos\n  A contralto is a woman with a low singing voice.\nThe score calls for a contralto...\nI had a very low contralto voice.\n  N-COUNT: oft N n


Words: contraption
Meaning:
con.trap.tion\n   contraption  contraptions\n  You can refer to a device or machine as a contraption, especially when it looks strange or you do not know what it is used for.\n...a strange contraption called the General Gordon Gas Bath.\n  N-COUNT\n  = gadget


Words: contrarian
Meaning:
con.trar.ian\n   contrarian  contrarians\n  A contrarian is a person who deliberately behaves in a way that is different from the people around them. (FORMAL)\nHe is by nature a contrarian.\n...the young contrarian intellectual.\n  N-COUNT: oft N n


Words: contrary
Meaning:
con.tra.ry\n   contrary\n1. Ideas, attitudes, or reactions that are contrary to each other are completely different from each other.\nThis view is contrary to the aims of critical social research for a number of reasons...\nSeveral of those present, including Weinberger, had contrary information.\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ to n\n\n2. If you say that something is true contrary to other people’s beliefs or opinions, you are emphasizing that it is true and that they are wrong.\nContrary to popular belief, moderate exercise actually decreases your appetite...\n  PREP-PHRASE  emphasis\n\n3. You use on the contrary when you have just said or implied that something is not true and are going to say that the opposite is true.\nIt is not an idea around which the Community can unite. On the contrary, I see it as one that will divide us.\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl\n\n4. You can use on the contrary when you are disagreeing strongly with something that has just been said or implied, or are making a strong negative reply.\n`People just don’t do things like that.’.`On the contrary, they do them all the time.’\n  PHRASE  emphasis\n\n5. You can use quite the contrary to emphasize a previous negative statement, or when you are making a strong negative reply.\nI’m not a feminist, quite the contrary...\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl  emphasis\n  = quite the opposite\n6. When a particular idea is being considered, evidence or statements to the contrary suggest that this idea is not true or that the opposite is true.\nThat does not automatically mean, however, that the money supply has been curbed, and there is considerable evidence to the contrary...\n  PHRASE: n PHR


Words: contrast
Meaning:
con.trast\n   contrast contrasts contrasting  contrasted\nThe noun is pronounced   The verb is pronounced\n1. A contrast is a great difference between two or more things which is clear when you compare them.\n...the contrast between town and country...\nThe two visitors provided a startling contrast in appearance...\nSilk was used with wool for contrast.\n  N-VAR: oft N between pl-n\n\n2. You say by contrast or in contrast, or in contrast to something, to show that you are mentioning a very different situation from the one you have just mentioned.\nThe private sector, by contrast, has plenty of money to spend...\nIn contrast, the lives of girls in well-to-do families were often very sheltered...\nIn contrast to similar services in France and Germany, Intercity rolling stock is very rarely idle.\n  PHRASE: PHR with cl\n\n3. If one thing is in contrast to another, it is very different from it.\nHis public statements have always been in marked contrast to those of his son...\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR, usu PHR to n\n\n4. If one thing is a contrast to another, it is very different from it.\nThe boy’s room is a complete contrast to the guest room.\n...a country of great contrasts.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to/with n\n\n5. If you contrast one thing with another, you point out or consider the differences between those things.\nShe contrasted the situation then with the present crisis...\nIn this section we contrast four possible broad approaches.\n  VERB: V n with n, V pl-n\n\n6. If one thing contrasts with another, it is very different from it.\nJohnson’s easy charm contrasted sharply with the prickliness of his boss...\nPaint the wall in a contrasting colour.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, V-ing, also pl-n V\n\n7. Contrast is the degree of difference between the darker and lighter parts of a photograph, television picture, or painting.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: contravene
Meaning:
contra.vene\n   contravene  contravenes  contravening  contravened\n  To contravene a law or rule means to do something that is forbidden by the law or rule. (FORMAL)\nThe Board has banned the film on the grounds that it contravenes criminal libel laws...\n  VERB: V n\n  = break\n=>  contra.ven.tion      contraventions\nThe government has lent millions of pounds to debt-ridden banks in contravention of local banking laws.\n  N-VAR: oft in N of n


Words: contretemps
Meaning:
con.tre.temps\n   contretemps  contretemps\n  A contretemps is a small disagreement that is rather embarrassing. (LITERARY)\nHe was briefly arrested in Rome after a contretemps with Italian police.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing\n  = dispute


Words: contribute
Meaning:
con.trib.ute\n   contribute  contributes  contributing  contributed\n1. If you contribute to something, you say or do things to help to make it successful.\nThe three sons also contribute to the family business...\nHe believes he has something to contribute to a discussion concerning the uprising.\n  VERB: V to n, V n to n, also V\n\n2. To contribute money or resources to something means to give money or resources to help pay for something or to help achieve a particular purpose.\nThe US is contributing $4 billion in loans, credits and grants...\nNATO officials agreed to contribute troops and equipment to such an operation if the UN Security Council asked for it.\n  VERB: V n, V n to/towards n, also V\n  = donate\n=>  con.tribu.tor      contributors\n...the largest net contributors to EU funds.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If something contributes to an event or situation, it is one of the causes of it.\nThe report says design faults in both the vessels contributed to the tragedy...\nStress, both human and mechanical, may also be a contributing factor.\n  VERB: V to n, V-ing\n\n4. If you contribute to a magazine, newspaper, or book, you write things that are published in it.\nI was asked to contribute to a newspaper article making predictions for the new year...\nFrank Deford is a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine.\n  VERB: V to n, V-ing\n\n=>  con.tribu.tor      contributors\nReporter Alan Nearn covers Central America and is a regular contributor to The New Yorker.\n  N-COUNT


Words: contribution
Meaning:
con.tri.bu.tion\n   contribution  contributions\n1. If you make a contribution to something, you do something to help make it successful or to produce it.\nHe was awarded a prize for his contribution to world peace.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to n\n\n2. A contribution is a sum of money that you give in order to help pay for something.\nThis list ranked companies that make charitable contributions of a half million dollars or more.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n\n  = donation\n3. A contribution to a magazine, newspaper, or book is something that you write to be published in it.\n  N-COUNT


Words: contributor
Meaning:
con.tribu.tor\n   contributor  contributors\n  You can use contributor to refer to one of the causes of an event or situation, especially if that event or situation is an unpleasant one.\nOld buses are major contributors to pollution in British cities...\n  N-COUNT: oft N to n\n\n  see also contribute


Words: contributory
Meaning:
con.tribu.tory\n   contributory\n  A contributory factor of a problem or accident is one of the things which caused it to exist or happen. (FORMAL)\nWe now know that repressing anger is a contributory factor in many physical illnesses.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: contrite
Meaning:
con.trite\n   contrite\n  If you are contrite, you are very sorry because you have done something wrong. (FORMAL)\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ\n  = apologetic


Words: contrivance
Meaning:
con.triv.ance\n   contrivance  contrivances\n1. If you describe something as a contrivance, you disapprove of it because it is unnecessary and artificial. (FORMAL)\nThey wear simple clothes and shun modern contrivances...\nMusic with a tendency towards contrivance and lack of substance.\n  N-VAR  disapproval\n\n2. A contrivance is an unfair or dishonest scheme or trick to gain an advantage for yourself.\n...some contrivance to raise prices.\n  N-COUNT\n  = ploy


Words: contrive
Meaning:
con.trive\n   contrive  contrives  contriving  contrived\n1. If you contrive an event or situation, you succeed in making it happen, often by tricking someone. (FORMAL)\nThe oil companies were accused of contriving a shortage of gasoline to justify price increases.\n  VERB: V n\n\n2. If you contrive to do something difficult, you succeed in doing it. (FORMAL)\nThe orchestra contrived to produce some of its best playing for years.\n  VERB: V to-inf


Words: contrived
Meaning:
con.trived\n   contrived\n1. If you say that something someone says or does is contrived, you think it is false and deliberate, rather than natural and not planned.\nThere was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said...\nIt mustn’t sound like a contrived compliment.\n  ADJ  disapproval\n  = artificial  !=spontaneous\n2. If you say that the plot of a play, film, or novel is contrived, you mean that it is unlikely and unconvincing.\nThe plot seems contrived.\n  ADJ  disapproval


Words: control
Meaning:
con.trol\n   control  controls  controlling  controlled\n1. Control of an organization, place, or system is the power to make all the important decisions about the way that it is run.\nThe restructuring involves Mr Ronson giving up control of the company...\nThe first aim of his government would be to establish control over the republic’s territory.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N of/over n\n\n  If you are in control of something, you have the power to make all the important decisions about the way it is run.\nNobody knows who is in control of the club...\nIn the West, people feel more in control of their own lives.\n  PHRASE: usu v-link PHR, usu PHR of n\n\n  If something is under your control, you have the power to make all the important decisions about the way that it is run.\nAll the newspapers were taken under government control.\n  PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR\n\n2. If you have control of something or someone, you are able to make them do what you want them to do.\nHe lost control of his car...\nSome teachers have more control over pupils than their parents have.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N of/over n\n\n3. If you show control, you prevent yourself behaving in an angry or emotional way.\nHe had a terrible temper, and sometimes he would completely lose control...\nHe was working hard to keep control of himself.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n4. The people who control an organization or place have the power to take all the important decisions about the way that it is run.\nHe now controls the largest retail development empire in southern California...\nMinebea ended up selling its controlling interest in both firms.\n  VERB: V n, V-ing\n\n=>  -controlled\nAGA Gas is Swedish-controlled.\n...the state-controlled media.\n  COMB in ADJ\n\n5. To control a piece of equipment, process, or system means to make it work in the way that you want it to work.\n...a computerised system to control the gates...\n...the controlled production of energy from sugar by a cell.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed\n\n=>  -controlled\n...computer-controlled traffic lights.\n  COMB in ADJ\n\n6. When a government controls prices, wages, or the activity of a particular group, it uses its power to restrict them.\nThe federal government tried to control rising health-care costs.\n  VERB: V n\n\n  Control is also a noun.\nControl of inflation remains the government’s absolute priority.\n  N-UNCOUNT: with supp\n\n7. If you control yourself, or if you control your feelings, voice, or expression, you make yourself behave calmly even though you are feeling angry, excited, or upset.\nJo was advised to learn to control herself...\nI just couldn’t control my temper.\n  VERB: V pron-refl, V n\n  = restrain\n=>  con.trolled\nHer manner was quiet and very controlled.\n  ADJ\n  = restrained\n8. To control something dangerous means to prevent it from becoming worse or from spreading.\nOne of the biggest tasks will be to control the spread of malaria.\n  VERB: V n\n\n9. A control is a device such as a switch or lever which you use in order to operate a machine or other piece of equipment.\nI practised operating the controls.\n...the control box.\n  N-COUNT\n\n  If someone is at the controls of a machine or other piece of equipment, they are operating it.\nHe died of a heart attack while at the controls of the plane.\n  PHRASE\n\n10. Controls are the methods that a government uses to restrict increases, for example in prices, wages, or weapons.\nCritics question whether price controls would do any good...\nThey have very strict gun control in Sweden.\n  N-VAR\n\n11. Control is used to refer to a place where your documents or luggage are officially checked when you enter a foreign country.\nHe went straight through Passport Control without incident.\n  N-VAR: n N\n\n12.\n  see also air traffic control, birth control, quality control, remote control, stock control\n13. If something is out of control, no-one has any power over it.\nThe fire is burning out of control...\n  PHRASE: usu v PHR, v-link PHR\n\n(next)


Words: control .1
Meaning:
14. If something harmful is under control, it is being dealt with successfully and is unlikely to cause any more harm.\nIf the current violence is to be brought under control, the government needs to act.\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v


Words: control freak
Meaning:
con.trol freak\n   control freak  control freaks\n  If you say that someone is a control freak, you mean that they want to be in control of every situation they find themselves in. (INFORMAL)\n  N-COUNT  disapproval


Words: control tower
Meaning:
con.trol tow.er\n   control tower  control towers\n  A control tower is a building at an airport from which instructions are given to aircraft when they are taking off or landing. You can also refer to the people who work in a control tower as the control tower.\nThe pilot told the control tower that he’d run into technical trouble.\n  N-COUNT


Words: controllable
Meaning:
con.trol.lable\n   controllable\n  If something is controllable you are able to control or influence it.\nThis makes the surfboards more controllable.\n...controllable aspects of life.\n  ADJ


Words: controller
Meaning:
con.trol.ler\n   controller  controllers\n1. A controller is a person who has responsibility for a particular organization or for a particular part of an organization. (mainly BRIT)\n...the job of controller of BBC 1.\n...The financial controller of W H Smith.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n\n\n  see also air traffic controller\n2. A controller is the same as a comptroller.\n  N-COUNT


Words: controversial
Meaning:
con.tro.ver.sial\n   controversial\n  If you describe something or someone as controversial, you mean that they are the subject of intense public argument, disagreement, or disapproval.\nImmigration is a controversial issue in many countries...\nThe changes are bound to be controversial.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.tro.ver.sial.ly\nMore controversially, he claims that these higher profits cover the cost of finding fresh talent...\n  ADV: usu ADV with cl, also ADV with v


Words: controversy
Meaning:
con.tro.ver.sy\n   controversy   controversies\n  Controversy is a lot of discussion and argument about something, often involving strong feelings of anger or disapproval.\nThe proposed cuts have caused considerable controversy.\n  N-VAR: oft N over/about n


Words: conundrum
Meaning:
co.nun.drum\n   conundrum  conundrums\n  A conundrum is a problem or puzzle which is difficult or impossible to solve. (FORMAL)\n...this theological conundrum of the existence of evil and suffering in a world created by a good God.\n  N-COUNT


Words: conurbation
Meaning:
con.ur.ba.tion\n   conurbation  conurbations\n  A conurbation consists of a large city together with the smaller towns around it. (mainly BRIT FORMAL)\n...London and all the other major conurbations.\n  N-COUNT


Words: convalesce
Meaning:
con.va.lesce\n   convalesce  convalesces  convalescing  convalesced\n  If you are convalescing, you are resting and getting your health back after an illness or operation. (FORMAL)\nAfter two weeks, I was allowed home, where I convalesced for three months.\n...those convalescing from illness or surgery.\n  VERB: V, V from n\n  = recuperate


Words: convalescence
Meaning:
con.va.les.cence\n   convalescence\n  Convalescence is the period or process of becoming healthy and well again after an illness or operation. (FORMAL)\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = recuperation


Words: convalescent
Meaning:
con.va.les.cent\n   convalescent\n  Convalescent means relating to convalescence. (FORMAL)\n...an officers’ convalescent home.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: convection
Meaning:
con.vec.tion\n   convection\n  Convection is the process by which heat travels through air, water, and other gases and liquids. (TECHNICAL)\n...clouds which lift warm, moist air by convection high into the atmosphere.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: convector heater
Meaning:
con.vec.tor heat.er\n   convector heater  convector heaters\n  A convector heater is a heater that heats a room by means of hot air.\n  N-COUNT


Words: convene
Meaning:
con.vene\n   convene  convenes  convening  convened\n  If someone convenes a meeting or conference, they arrange for it to take place. You can also say that people convene or that a meeting convenes. (FORMAL)\nLast August he convened a meeting of his closest advisers at Camp David...\nSenior officials convened in October 1991 in London.\n  VERB: V n, V


Words: convenience
Meaning:
con.veni.ence\n   convenience  conveniences\n1. If something is done for your convenience, it is done in a way that is useful or suitable for you.\nHe was happy to make a detour for her convenience.\n...the need to put the rights of citizens above the convenience of elected officials.\n  N-UNCOUNT: with poss\n\n  If something is arranged to happen at your convenience, it happens at a time which is most suitable for you.\nDelivery times are arranged at your convenience.\n  PHRASE: PHR with v\n\n2. If you describe something as a convenience, you mean that it is very useful.\nMail order is a convenience for buyers who are too busy to shop.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. Conveniences are pieces of equipment designed to make your life easier.\n...an apartment with all the modern conveniences.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl\n\n4. A public convenience is a building containing toilets which is provided in a public place for anyone to use. (BRIT FORMAL)\n...the cubicles of a public convenience.\n  N-COUNT: usu supp N\n\n5.\n  see also convenient


Words: convenience food
Meaning:
con.veni.ence food\n   convenience food\n  Convenience food is frozen, dried, or canned food that can be heated and prepared very quickly and easily.\nI rely too much on convenience food.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: convenience store
Meaning:
con.veni.ence store\n   convenience store  convenience stores\n  A convenience store is a shop which sells mainly food and which is usually open until late at night.\n  N-COUNT


Words: convenient
Meaning:
con.veni.ent\n   convenient\n1. If a way of doing something is convenient, it is easy, or very useful or suitable for a particular purpose.\n...a flexible and convenient way of paying for business expenses...\nThe family thought it was more convenient to eat in the kitchen.\n  ADJ: oft it v-link ADJ to-inf\n  !=inconvenient\n=>  con.veni.ence\nThey may use a credit card for convenience.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n=>  con.veni.ent.ly\nThe body spray slips conveniently into your sports bag for freshening up after a game.\n  ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV with cl\n\n2. If you describe a place as convenient, you are pleased because it is near to where you are, or because you can reach another place from there quickly and easily.\nThe town is well placed for easy access to London and convenient for Heathrow Airport...\nMartin drove along until he found a convenient parking place.\n  ADJ: oft ADJ for n  approval\n  = handy\n=>  con.veni.ent.ly\nIt was very conveniently situated just across the road from the City Reference Library...\n  ADV: usu ADV adj/-ed, also ADV after v, ADV with cl\n\n3. A convenient time to do something, for example to meet someone, is a time when you are free to do it or would like to do it.\nWould this evening be convenient for you?\n  ADJ\n  !=inconvenient\n4. If you describe someone’s attitudes or actions as convenient, you think they are only adopting those attitudes or performing those actions in order to avoid something difficult or unpleasant.\nWe cannot make this minority a convenient excuse to turn our backs...\nIt does seem a bit convenient, doesn’t it?\n  ADJ  disapproval\n\n=>  con.veni.ent.ly\nThey’ve conveniently forgotten the risk of heart disease...\nConveniently, he had developed amnesia about that part of his life.\n  ADV: usu ADV before v, also ADV with cl


Words: convenor
Meaning:
con.ven.or\n   convenor  convenors\nin AM and sometimes in BRIT, use convener\n1. A convenor is a trade union official who organizes the union representatives at a particular factory. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A convenor is someone who convenes a meeting.\n  N-COUNT


Words: convent
Meaning:
con.vent\n   convent  convents\n  A convent is a building in which a community of nuns live.\n  N-COUNT


Words: convent school
Meaning:
con.vent school\n   convent school  convent schools\n  A convent school is a school where many of the teachers are nuns.\n  N-COUNT


Words: convention
Meaning:
con.ven.tion\n   convention  conventions\n1. A convention is a way of behaving that is considered to be correct or polite by most people in a society.\nIt’s just a social convention that men don’t wear skirts...\nDespite her wish to defy convention, she had become pregnant and married at 21.\n  N-VAR\n  = custom\n2. In art, literature, or the theatre, a convention is a traditional method or style.\n...the stylistic conventions of Egyptian art.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. A convention is an official agreement between countries or groups of people.\n...the UN convention on climate change.\n...the Geneva convention.\n  N-COUNT: oft n N\n\n4. A convention is a large meeting of an organization or political group.\n...the annual convention of the Society of Professional Journalists.\n...the Republican convention.\n  N-COUNT\n  = conference


Words: conventional
Meaning:
con.ven.tion.al\n   conventional\n1. Someone who is conventional has behaviour or opinions that are ordinary and normal.\n...a respectable married woman with conventional opinions.\n  ADJ\n  !=unconventional\n=>  con.ven.tion.al.ly\nPeople still wore their hair short and dressed conventionally.\n  ADV: usu ADV with v\n\n2. A conventional method or product is one that is usually used or that has been in use for a long time.\n...the risks and drawbacks of conventional family planning methods...\nThese discs hold more than 400 times as much information as a conventional computer floppy disk.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = traditional\n=>  con.ven.tion.al.ly\nOrganically grown produce does not differ greatly in appearance from conventionally grown crops.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n3. Conventional weapons and wars do not involve nuclear explosives.\nWe must reduce the danger of war by controlling nuclear, chemical and conventional arms.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n4.\nconventional wisdom: see wisdom


Words: conventioneer
Meaning:
con.ven.tion.eer\n   conventioneer  conventioneers\n  Conventioneers are people who are attending a convention. (AM)\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: converge
Meaning:
con.verge\n   converge  converges  converging  converged\n1. If people or vehicles converge on a place, they move towards it from different directions.\nCompetitors from more than a hundred countries have converged on Sheffield for the Games...\n  VERB: V on n\n\n2. If roads or lines converge, they meet or join at a particular place. (FORMAL)\nAs they flow south, the five rivers converge.\n  VERB: pl-n V\n  !=diverge\n3. If different ideas or societies converge, they stop being different and become similar to each other.\nSpeeches delivered by Mr Dewar and Mr Wallace indicated their views were converging...\nThe views of the richest householders converged with those of the poorest and created a new consensus.\n  V-RECIP: pl-n V, V with n\n  !=diverge


Words: convergence
Meaning:
con.ver.gence\n   convergence  convergences\n  The convergence of different ideas, groups, or societies is the process by which they stop being different and become more similar. (FORMAL)\n...the need to move towards greater economic convergence...\n  N-VAR\n  !=divergence


Words: conversant
Meaning:
con.ver.sant\n   conversant\n  If you are conversant with something, you are familiar with it and able to deal with it. (FORMAL)\nThose in business are not, on the whole, conversant with basic scientific principles.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with n


Words: conversation
Meaning:
con.ver.sa.tion\n   conversation  conversations\n1. If you have a conversation with someone, you talk with them, usually in an informal situation.\nHe’s a talkative guy, and I struck up a conversation with him...\nI waited for her to finish a telephone conversation.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If you say that people are in conversation, you mean that they are talking together.\nWhen I arrived I found her in conversation with Mrs Williams.\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR\n\n3. If you make conversation, you talk to someone in order to be polite and not because you really want to.\nHe had been trying to make conversation.\n  PHRASE: V inflects


Words: conversational
Meaning:
con.ver.sa.tion.al\n   conversational\n  Conversational means relating to, or similar to, casual and informal talk.\nHis father wanted him to learn conversational German.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: conversationalist
Meaning:
con.ver.sa.tion.al.ist\n   conversationalist  conversationalists\n  A good conversationalist is someone who talks about interesting things when they have conversations.\nJoan is a brilliant conversationalist...\n  N-COUNT: usu adj N


Words: converse
Meaning:
con.verse\n   converse converses conversing  conversed\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. If you converse with someone, you talk to them. You can also say that two people converse. (FORMAL)\nLuke sat directly behind the pilot and conversed with him...\nThey were conversing in German, their only common language.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, pl-n V\n\n2. The converse of a statement is its opposite or reverse. (FORMAL)\nWhat you do for a living is critical to where you settle and how you live - and the converse is also true.\n  N-SING: the N\n  = opposite


Words: conversely
Meaning:
con.verse.ly\n   conversely\n  You say conversely to indicate that the situation you are about to describe is the opposite or reverse of the one you have just described. (FORMAL)\nIn real life, nobody was all bad, nor, conversely, all good.\n  ADV: ADV with cl


Words: conversion
Meaning:
con.ver.sion\n   conversion  conversions\n1. Conversion is the act or process of changing something into a different state or form.\n...the conversion of disused rail lines into cycle routes...\nA loft conversion can add considerably to the value of a house.\n  N-VAR: usu with supp\n\n2. If someone changes their religion or beliefs, you can refer to their conversion to their new religion or beliefs.\n...his conversion to Christianity...\nIt’s hard to trust the President’s conversion.\n  N-VAR: usu with supp, oft with poss


Words: convert
Meaning:
con.vert\n   convert converts converting  converted\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. If one thing is converted or converts into another, it is changed into a different form.\nThe signal will be converted into digital code.\n...naturally occurring substances which the body can convert into vitamins.\n...a table that converts into an ironing board.\n  VERB: be V-ed into/to n, V n into/to n, V into/to n\n\n2. If someone converts a room or building, they alter it in order to use it for a different purpose.\nBy converting the loft, they were able to have two extra bedrooms.\n...the entrepreneur who wants to convert County Hall into an hotel...\nHe is living in a converted barn.\n  VERB: V n, V n into n, V-ed\n\n3. If you convert a vehicle or piece of equipment, you change it so that it can use a different fuel.\nSave money by converting your car to unleaded...\nThe programme to convert every gas burner in Britain took 10 years.\n  VERB: V n to/into n, V n\n\n4. If you convert a quantity from one system of measurement to another, you calculate what the quantity is in the second system.\nConverting metric measurements to U.S. equivalents is easy.\n  VERB: V n prep, also V n\n\n5. If someone converts you, they persuade you to change your religious or political beliefs. You can also say that someone converts to a different religion.\nIf you try to convert him, you could find he just walks away...\nHe was a major influence in converting Godwin to political radicalism...\nHe converted to Catholicism in 1917.\n  VERB: V n, V n to n, V to n\n\n6. A convert is someone who has changed their religious or political beliefs.\nShe, too, was a convert to Roman Catholicism.\n...a Muslim convert now known as Yusuf Islam.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to n\n\n7. If someone converts you to something, they make you very enthusiastic about it.\nHe quickly converted me to the joys of cross-country skiing.\n  VERB: V n to n, also V n\n\n8. If you describe someone as a convert to something, you mean that they have recently become very enthusiastic about it.\n...recent converts to vegetarianism.\n  N-COUNT: usu N to n\n\n9.\nto preach to the converted: see preach


Words: converter
Meaning:
con.vert.er\n   converter  converters\n  A converter is a device that changes something into a different form.\n  N-COUNT\n\n  see also catalytic converter


Words: convertible
Meaning:
con.vert.ible\n   convertible  convertibles\n1. A convertible is a car with a soft roof that can be folded down or removed.\nHer own car is a convertible Golf.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. In finance, convertible investments or money can be easily exchanged for other forms of investments or money. (BUSINESS)\n...the introduction of a convertible currency.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  con.vert.ibil.ity\n...the convertibility of the rouble.\n...rapid export growth based on currency convertibility.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: convex
Meaning:
con.vex\n   convex\n  Convex is used to describe something that curves outwards in the middle.\n...the large convex mirror above the fireplace.\n  ADJ\n  !=concave


Words: convey
Meaning:
con.vey\n   convey  conveys  conveying  conveyed\n1. To convey information or feelings means to cause them to be known or understood by someone.\nIn every one of her pictures she conveys a sense of immediacy...\nHe also conveyed his views and the views of the bureaucracy.\n  VERB: V n, V n\n  = communicate\n2. To convey someone or something to a place means to carry or transport them there. (FORMAL)\nThe railway company extended a branch line to Brightlingsea to convey fish direct to Billingsgate.\n  VERB: V n\n  = transport


Words: conveyance
Meaning:
con.vey.ance\n   conveyance  conveyances\n1. A conveyance is a vehicle. (LITERARY)\nMahoney had never seen such a conveyance before.\n  N-COUNT\n  = vehicle\n2. The conveyance of something is the process of carrying or transporting it from one place to another. (FORMAL)\n...the conveyance of bicycles on Regional Railways trains.\n  N-UNCOUNT: with supp\n  = transport


Words: conveyancing
Meaning:
con.vey.anc.ing\n   conveyancing\n  Conveyancing is the process of transferring the legal ownership of property. (mainly BRIT LEGAL)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: conveyor belt
Meaning:
con.vey.or belt\n   conveyor belt  conveyor belts\n1. A conveyor belt or a conveyor is a continuously moving strip of rubber or metal which is used in factories for moving objects along so that they can be dealt with as quickly as possible.\nThe damp bricks went along a conveyor belt into another shed to dry.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If you describe a situation as a conveyor belt, you dislike it because it produces things or people which are all the same or always deals with things or people in the same way.\n  N-COUNT  disapproval


Words: convict
Meaning:
con.vict\n   convict convicts convicting  convicted\nThe verb is pronounced   The noun is pronounced\n1. If someone is convicted of a crime, they are found guilty of that crime in a law court.\nIn 1977 he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment...\nThere was insufficient evidence to convict him.\n...a convicted drug dealer.\n  VERB: be V-ed of n/-ing, V n, V-ed\n\n2. A convict is someone who is in prison. (JOURNALISM)\n  N-COUNT\n  = prisoner


Words: conviction
Meaning:
con.vic.tion\n   conviction  convictions\n1. A conviction is a strong belief or opinion.\nIt is our firm conviction that a step forward has been taken...\nTheir religious convictions prevented them from taking up arms.\n  N-COUNT: usu N that\n  = belief\n2. If you have conviction, you have great confidence in your beliefs or opinions.\n`We shall, sir,’ said Thorne, with conviction.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. If something carries conviction, it is likely to be true or likely to be believed.\nNor did his denial carry conviction.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n4. If someone has a conviction, they have been found guilty of a crime in a court of law.\nHe will appeal against his conviction...\n  N-COUNT


Words: convince
Meaning:
con.vince\n   convince  convinces  convincing  convinced\n1. If someone or something convinces you of something, they make you believe that it is true or that it exists.\nAlthough I soon convinced him of my innocence, I think he still has serious doubts about my sanity...\nThe waste disposal industry is finding it difficult to convince the public that its operations are safe.\n  VERB: V n of n, V n that\n\n2. If someone or something convinces you to do something, they persuade you to do it. (mainly AM)\nThat weekend in Plattsburgh, he convinced her to go ahead and marry Bud.\n  VERB: V n to-inf\n  = persuade


Words: convinced
Meaning:
con.vinced\n   convinced\n  If you are convinced that something is true, you feel sure that it is true.\nHe was convinced that I was part of the problem...\nHe became convinced of the need for cheap editions of good quality writing...\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, usu ADJ that, ADJ of n


Words: convincing
Meaning:
con.vinc.ing\n   convincing\n  If you describe someone or something as convincing, you mean that they make you believe that a particular thing is true, correct, or genuine.\nScientists say there is no convincing evidence that power lines have anything to do with cancer...\nHe sounded very convincing.\n  ADJ\n  !=unconvincing\n=>  con.vinc.ing.ly\nHe argued forcefully and convincingly that they were likely to bankrupt the budget...\n  ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV adj\n  !=unconvincingly


Words: convivial
Meaning:
con.viv.ial\n   convivial\n  Convivial people or occasions are pleasant, friendly, and relaxed. (FORMAL)\n...looking forward to a convivial evening...\nThe atmosphere was quite convivial.\n  ADJ  approval


Words: convocation
Meaning:
con.vo.ca.tion\n   convocation  convocations\n  A convocation is a meeting or ceremony attended by a large number of people. (FORMAL)\n...a convocation of the American Youth Congress.\n  N-COUNT


Words: convoluted
Meaning:
con.vo.lut.ed\n   convoluted\n  If you describe a sentence, idea, or system as convoluted, you mean that it is complicated and difficult to understand. (FORMAL)\nDespite its length and convoluted plot, `Asta’s Book’ is a rich and rewarding read...\n  ADJ  disapproval\n  = complicated  !=straightforward


Words: convolution
Meaning:
con.vo.lu.tion\n   convolution  convolutions\n1. Convolutions are curves on an object or design that has a lot of curves. (LITERARY)\n  N-COUNT: usu pl\n\n2. You can use convolutions to refer to a situation that is very complicated. (LITERARY)\n...the thorny convolutions of love.\n  N-VAR: oft N of n


Words: convoy
Meaning:
con.voy\n   convoy  convoys\n  A convoy is a group of vehicles or ships travelling together.\n...a U.N. convoy carrying food and medical supplies...\nThey travel in convoy with armed guards.\n  N-COUNT: also in N


Words: convulse
Meaning:
con.vulse\n   convulse  convulses  convulsing  convulsed\n  If someone convulses or if they are convulsed by or with something, their body moves suddenly in an uncontrolled way.\nOlivia’s face convulsed in a series of twitches...\nHe let out a cry that convulsed his bulky frame and jerked his arm...\nThe opposing team were so convulsed with laughter that they almost forgot to hit the ball.\n  VERB: V, V n, be V-ed with n


Words: convulsion
Meaning:
con.vul.sion\n   convulsion  convulsions\n1. If someone has convulsions, they suffer uncontrollable movements of their muscles.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If there are convulsions in a country, system, or organization, there are major unexpected changes in it.\n...the political convulsions that led to de Gaulle’s return to power in May 1958.\n  N-COUNT


Words: convulsive
Meaning:
con.vul.sive\n   convulsive\n  A convulsive movement or action is sudden and cannot be controlled. (FORMAL)\nShe thought she could never stop until convulsive sobs racked her even more.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: coo
Meaning:
coo  coos  cooing  cooed\n1. When a dove or pigeon coos, it makes the soft sounds that doves and pigeons typically make.\nPigeons fluttered in and out, cooing gently.\n  VERB: V\n\n2. When someone coos, they speak in a very soft, quiet voice which is intended to sound attractive.\nShe paused to coo at the baby...\n`Isn’t this marvelous?’ she cooed.\n  VERB: V at/over n, V with quote


Words: cook
Meaning:
cook  cooks  cooking  cooked\n1. When you cook a meal, you prepare food for eating by heating it.\nI have to go and cook the dinner...\nChefs at the St James Court restaurant have cooked for the Queen...\nWe’ll cook them a nice Italian meal.\n  VERB: V n, V, V n n\n\n=>  cook.ing\nHer hobbies include music, dancing, sport and cooking.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. When you cook food, or when food cooks, it is heated until it is ready to be eaten.\n...some basic instructions on how to cook a turkey...\nLet the vegetables cook gently for about 10 minutes...\nDrain the pasta as soon as it is cooked.\n  VERB: V n, V, V-ed\n\n3. A cook is a person whose job is to prepare and cook food, especially in someone’s home or in an institution.\nThey had a butler, a cook, and a maid.\n  N-COUNT\n  = chef\n4. If you say that someone is a good cook, you mean they are good at preparing and cooking food.\n  N-COUNT: adj N\n\n5. If you say that someone has cooked the books, you mean that they have changed figures or a written record in order to deceive people. (INFORMAL)\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n6.\n  see also cooking


Words: cook up
Meaning:
cook up\n1. If someone cooks up a dishonest scheme, they plan it. (INFORMAL)\nHe must have cooked up his scheme on the spur of the moment.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P\n\n2. If someone cooks up an explanation or a story, they make it up. (INFORMAL)\nShe’ll cook up a convincing explanation.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P


Words: cookbook
Meaning:
cook.book\n   cookbook  cookbooks   also cook-book\n  A cookbook is a book that contains recipes for preparing food.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cooker
Meaning:
cook.er\n   cooker  cookers\n  A cooker is a large metal device for cooking food using gas or electricity. A cooker usually consists of a grill, an oven, and some gas or electric rings. (BRIT; in AM, usually use stove)\n...a gas cooker.\n  N-COUNT\n\n  see also pressure cooker


Words: cookery book
Meaning:
cook.ery book\n   cookery book  cookery books\n  A cookery book is the same as a cookbook. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cookie
Meaning:
cookie  cookies\n1. A cookie is a sweet biscuit. (mainly AM)\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If you say that someone is a tough cookie, you mean that they have a strong and determined character. (INFORMAL)\n  PHRASE: N inflects\n\n3. A cookie is a piece of computer software which enables a website you have visited to recognize you if you visit it again. (COMPUTING)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cooking
Meaning:
cook.ing\n   cooking\n1. Cooking is food which has been cooked.\nThe menu is based on classic French cooking.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu supp N\n\n2. Cooking ingredients or equipment are used in cookery.\nFinely slice the cooking apples.\n...cooking pots.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n3.\n  see also cook


Words: cooktop
Meaning:
cook.top\n   cooktop  cooktops\n  A cooktop is a surface on top of a cooker or set into a work surface, which can be heated in order to cook things on it. (mainly AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cookware
Meaning:
cook.ware\n   cookware\n  Cookware is the range of pans and pots which are used in cooking.\n...several lines of popular cookware and utensils.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cool
Meaning:
cool  cooler  coolest  cools  cooling  cooled\n1. Something that is cool has a temperature which is low but not very low.\nI felt a current of cool air...\nThe vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators.\n  ADJ\n  !=warm\n2. If it is cool, or if a place is cool, the temperature of the air is low but not very low.\nThank goodness it’s cool in here...\nStore grains and cereals in a cool, dry place.\n...a cool November evening.\n  ADJ: oft it v-link ADJ\n  !=warm\n  Cool is also a noun.\nShe walked into the cool of the hallway.\n  N-SING: the N, oft N of n\n\n3. Clothing that is cool is made of thin material so that you do not become too hot in hot weather.\nIn warm weather, you should wear clothing that is cool and comfortable.\n  ADJ\n  !=warm\n4. Cool colours are light colours which give an impression of coolness.\nChoose a cool colour such as cream...\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  !=warm\n5. When something cools or when you cool it, it becomes lower in temperature.\nDrain the meat and allow it to cool...\nHuge fans will have to cool the concrete floor to keep it below 150 degrees.\n...a cooling breeze.\n  VERB: V, V n, V-ing\n\n  To cool down means the same as to cool.\nAvoid putting your car away until the engine has cooled down...\nThe other main way the body cools itself down is by panting.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P, V n P\n\n6. When a feeling or emotion cools, or when you cool it, it becomes less powerful.\nWithin a few minutes tempers had cooled...\nHis weird behaviour had cooled her passion.\n  VERB: V, V n\n\n7. If you say that a person or their behaviour is cool, you mean that they are calm and unemotional, especially in a difficult situation.\nHe was marvelously cool again, smiling as if nothing had happened...\n  ADJ  approval\n  = calm\n=>  cool.ly\nEveryone must think this situation through calmly and coolly.\n...coolly `objective’ professionals.\n  ADV\n\n8. If you say that a person or their behaviour is cool, you mean that they are unfriendly or not enthusiastic.\nI didn’t like him at all. I thought he was cool, aloof, and arrogant...\nThe idea met with a cool response...\n  ADJ\n\n=>  cool.ly\n`It’s your choice, Nina,’ David said coolly.\n  ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV adj\n\n9. If you say that a person or their behaviour is cool, you mean that they are fashionable and attractive. (INFORMAL)\nHe was trying to be really cool and trendy.\n  ADJ  approval\n\n10. If you say that someone is cool about something, you mean that they accept it and are not angry or upset about it. (mainly AM INFORMAL)\nBev was really cool about it all.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ about n  approval\n\n11. If you say that something is cool, you think it is very good. (INFORMAL)\nKathleen gave me a really cool dress.\n  ADJ\n  = neat\n12. You can use cool to emphasize that an amount or figure is very large, especially when it has been obtained easily. (INFORMAL)\nColumbia recently re-signed the band for a cool $30 million.\n  ADJ: ADJ n  emphasis\n\n13. If you keep your cool in a difficult situation, you manage to remain calm. If you lose your cool, you get angry or upset. (INFORMAL)\nShe kept her cool and managed to get herself out of the ordeal...\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n14. If you play it cool, you deliberately behave in a calm, unemotional way because you do not want people to know you are enthusiastic or angry about something. (INFORMAL)\nIt’s ridiculous to play it cool if someone you’re mad about is mad about you too.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n15.\nas cool as a cucumber: see cucumber


Words: cool down
Meaning:
cool down\n1.\nsee cool 5\n2. If someone cools down or if you cool them down, they become less angry than they were.\nHe has had time to cool down and look at what happened more objectively...\nFirst McNeil had to cool down the volatile Australian 20-year old.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P, V P n (not pron)\n  = calm down


Words: cool off
Meaning:
cool off\n  If someone or something cools off, or if you cool them off, they become cooler after having been hot.\nMaybe he’s trying to cool off out there in the rain...\nShe made a fanning motion, pretending to cool herself off...\nCool off the carrots quickly.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P, V n P, V P n (not pron)


Words: cool-headed
Meaning:
cool-headed\n  If you describe someone as cool-headed, you mean that they stay calm in difficult situations.\nShe has a reputation for being calm and cool-headed.\n...a cool-headed, responsible statesman.\n  ADJ  approval\n  = calm


Words: coolant
Meaning:
cool.ant\n   coolant  coolants\n  Coolant is a liquid used to keep a machine or engine cool while it is operating.\n  N-MASS


Words: cooler
Meaning:
cool.er\n   cooler  coolers\n  A cooler is a container for keeping things cool, especially drinks.\n  N-COUNT\n  = cool box\n  see also cool


Words: cooling tower
Meaning:
cool.ing tow.er\n   cooling tower  cooling towers\n  A cooling tower is a very large, round, high building which is used to cool water from factories or power stations.\n...landscapes dominated by cooling towers and factory chimneys.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cooling-off period
Meaning:
cooling-off period  cooling-off periods\n  A cooling-off period is an agreed period of time during which two sides with opposing views try to resolve a dispute before taking any serious action.\nThere should be a seven-day cooling-off period between a strike ballot and industrial action.\n  N-COUNT


Words: coon
Meaning:
coon  coons\n1. A coon is a raccoon. (AM INFORMAL)\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. Coon is an extremely offensive word for a black person. (INFORMAL, VERY OFFENSIVE)\n  N-COUNT


Words: coop
Meaning:
coop  coops\n  A coop is a cage where you keep small animals or birds such as chickens and rabbits.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cooped up
Meaning:
cooped up\n  If you say that someone is cooped up, you mean that they live or are kept in a place which is too small, or which does not allow them much freedom.\nHe is cooped up in a cramped cell with 10 other inmates...\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ


Words: coot
Meaning:
coot  coots\n  A coot is a water bird with black feathers and a white patch on its forehead.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cop
Meaning:
cop  cops\n  A cop is a policeman or policewoman. (INFORMAL)\nFrank didn’t like having the cops know where to find him.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cop-out
Meaning:
cop-out  cop-outs\n  If you refer to something as a cop-out, you think that it is a way for someone to avoid doing something that they should do. (INFORMAL)\nTo decline to vote is a cop-out...\nThe film’s ending is an unsatisfactory cop-out.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing  disapproval


Words: cope
Meaning:
cope  copes  coping  coped\n1. If you cope with a problem or task, you deal with it successfully.\nIt was amazing how my mother coped with bringing up three children on less than three pounds a week...\nThe problems were an annoyance, but we managed to cope.\n  VERB: V with n/-ing, V\n  = manage\n2. If you have to cope with an unpleasant situation, you have to accept it or bear it.\nShe has had to cope with losing all her previous status and money.\n  VERB: V with n/-ing\n  = contend\n3. If a machine or a system can cope with something, it is large enough or complex enough to deal with it satisfactorily.\nNew blades have been designed to cope with the effects of dead insects...\nThe speed of economic change has been so great that the tax-collecting system has been unable to cope.\n  VERB: V with n, V


Words: copier
Meaning:
copi.er\n   copier  copiers\n1. A copier is a machine which makes exact copies of writing or pictures on paper, usually by a photographic process.\n  N-COUNT\n  = photocopier\n2. A copier is someone who copies what someone else has done.\n...their reputation as a copier of other countries’ designs, patents, and inventions.\n  N-COUNT


Words: copious
Meaning:
co.pi.ous\n   copious\n  A copious amount of something is a large amount of it.\nI went out for a meal last night and drank copious amounts of red wine...\nHe attended his lectures and took copious notes.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = abundant\n=>  co.pi.ous.ly\nThe victims were bleeding copiously.\n  ADV: ADV after v, ADV -ed


Words: copper
Meaning:
cop.per\n   copper  coppers\n1. Copper is reddish brown metal that is used to make things such as coins and electrical wires.\nChile is the world’s largest producer of copper.\n...a copper mine.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. Copper is sometimes used to describe things that are reddish-brown in colour. (LITERARY)\nHis hair has reverted back to its original copper hue.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n3. A copper is a policeman or a policewoman. (BRIT INFORMAL)\n...your friendly neighbourhood copper.\n  N-COUNT


Words: copper-bottomed
Meaning:
copper-bottomed\n  If you describe something as copper-bottomed, you believe that it is certain to be successful. (BRIT)\nTheir copper-bottomed scheme went badly wrong.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: coppery
Meaning:
cop.pery\n   coppery\n  A coppery colour is reddish-brown like copper.\n...pale coppery leaves.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: coppice
Meaning:
cop.pice\n   coppice  coppices  coppicing  coppiced\n1. A coppice is a small group of trees growing very close to each other. (BRIT; in AM, use copse)\n...coppices of willow.\n  N-COUNT\n  = copse\n2. To coppice trees or bushes means to cut off parts of them, in order to make them look more attractive or to make it easier to obtain wood from them. (mainly BRIT TECHNICAL)\nIt is best to coppice the trees in the winter before the sap rises.\n...extensive oak woods with coppiced hazel and sweet chestnut.\n...areas where coppicing of hawthorn and hazel occurs.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed, V-ing


Words: cops-and-robbers
Meaning:
cops-and-robbers\n  A cops-and-robbers film, television programme, or book is one whose story involves the police trying to catch criminals.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: copse
Meaning:
copse  copses\n  A copse is a small group of trees growing very close to each other.\n...a little copse of fir trees.\n  N-COUNT


Words: Coptic
Meaning:
Cop.tic\n   Coptic\n  Coptic means belonging or relating to a part of the Christian Church which was started in Egypt.\nThe Coptic Church is among the oldest churches of Christianity.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: copulate
Meaning:
copu.late\n   copulate  copulates  copulating  copulated\n  If one animal or person copulates with another, they have sex. You can also say that two animals or people copulate. (TECHNICAL)\nDuring the time she is paired to a male, the female allows no other males to copulate with her...\nWhales take twenty-four hours to copulate.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, pl-n V\n\n=>  copu.la.tion      copulations\n...acts of copulation.\n  N-VAR


Words: copy
Meaning:
copy  copies  copying  copied\n1. If you make a copy of something, you produce something that looks like the original thing.\nThe reporter apparently obtained a copy of Steve’s resignation letter...\n  N-COUNT: usu N of n\n  = duplicate\n2. If you copy something, you produce something that looks like the original thing.\nShe never participated in obtaining or copying any classified documents for anyone.\n...top designers, whose work has been widely copied...\nHe copied the chart from a book.\n  VERB: V n, V n, V n from n\n\n3. If you copy a piece of writing, you write it again exactly.\nHe would allow John slyly to copy his answers to impossibly difficult algebra questions...\nHe copied the data into a notebook...\nWe’re copying from textbooks because we don’t have enough to go round.\n  VERB: V n, V n into n, V from n\n\n  Copy out means the same as copy.\nHe wrote the title on the blackboard, then copied out the text sentence by sentence...\n`Did he leave a phone number?’.`Oh, yes.’ She copied it out for him.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), V n P\n\n4. If you copy a person or what they do, you try to do what they do or try to be like them, usually because you admire them or what they have done.\nChildren can be seen to copy the behaviour of others whom they admire or identify with...\n...the coquettish gestures she had copied from actresses in soap operas.\n  VERB: V n, V n from n\n  = imitate\n=>  copy.ing\nChildren learn by copying.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n5. A copy of a book, newspaper, or CD is one of many that are exactly the same.\nI bought a copy of `USA Today’ from a street-corner machine...\nYou can obtain a copy for $2 from New York Central Art Supply.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n\n\n6. In journalism, copy is written material that is ready to be printed or read in a broadcast. (TECHNICAL)\n...his ability to write the most lyrical copy in the history of sports television.\n...advertising copy.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n7. In journalism, copy is news or information that can be used in an article in a newspaper. (TECHNICAL)\n...journalists looking for good copy.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n8.\n  see also back copy, carbon copy, hard copy


Words: copybook
Meaning:
copy.book\n   copybook\n1. A copybook action is done perfectly, according to established rules. (mainly BRIT)\nYuri gave a copybook display.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. If you blot your copybook, you spoil your good reputation by doing something wrong. (mainly BRIT)\nAlec blotted his copybook.got sent home for bad behaviour.\n  PHRASE: V inflects


Words: copycat
Meaning:
copy.cat\n   copycat  copycats   also copy-cat\n1. A copycat crime is committed by someone who is copying someone else.\n...a series of copycat attacks by hooligan gangs.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n2. If you call someone a copycat, you are accusing them of copying your behaviour, dress, or ideas. (INFORMAL)\nThe Beatles have copycats all over the world.\n  N-COUNT  disapproval


Words: copyist
Meaning:
copy.ist\n   copyist  copyists\n  A copyist copies other people’s music or paintings or, in the past, made written copies of documents.\nShe copies the true artist’s signature as part of a painting, as do most copyists.\n  N-COUNT


Words: copyright
Meaning:
copy.right\n   copyright  copyrights\n  If someone has copyright on a piece of writing or music, it is illegal to reproduce or perform it without their permission.\nTo order a book one first had to get permission from the monastery that held the copyright...\nShe threatened legal action against the Sun for breach of copyright.\n  N-VAR


Words: copyrighted
Meaning:
copy.right.ed\n   copyrighted\n  Copyrighted material is protected by a copyright.\nThey used copyrighted music without permission.\n  ADJ


Words: copywriter
Meaning:
copy.writer\n   copywriter  copywriters\n  A copywriter is a person whose job is to write the words for advertisements.\n  N-COUNT


Words: coquette
Meaning:
co.quette\n   coquette  coquettes\n  A coquette is a woman who behaves in a coquettish way.\n  N-COUNT\n  = flirt


Words: coquettish
Meaning:
co.quet.tish\n   coquettish\n  If you describe a woman as coquettish, you mean she acts in a playful way that is intended to make men find her attractive.\n...a coquettish glance.\n  ADJ\n  = flirtatious


Words: cor
Meaning:
cor\n  You can say cor when you are surprised or impressed. (BRIT INFORMAL)\nCor, look, Annie.\n  EXCLAM  feelings


Words: coracle
Meaning:
cora.cle\n   coracle  coracles\n  In former times, a coracle was a simple round rowing boat made of woven sticks covered with animal skins.\n  N-COUNT


Words: coral
Meaning:
cor.al\n   coral  corals\n1. Coral is a hard substance formed from the bones of very small sea animals. It is often used to make jewellery.\nThe women have elaborate necklaces of turquoise and pink coral.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. Corals are very small sea animals.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. Something that is coral is dark orangey-pink in colour.\n...coral lipstick.\n...the coral-colored flower buds.\n  COLOUR


Words: coral reef
Meaning:
cor.al reef\n   coral reef  coral reefs\n  A coral reef is a long narrow mass of coral and other substances, the top of which is usually just above or just below the surface of the sea.\nAn unspoilt coral reef encloses the bay.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cord
Meaning:
cord  cords\n1. Cord is strong, thick string.\nThe door had been tied shut with a length of nylon cord.\n...gilded cords and tassels.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. Cord is wire covered in rubber or plastic which connects electrical equipment to an electricity supply.\n...electrical cord...\nWe used so many lights that we needed four extension cords.\n  N-VAR\n  = cable, flex\n3. Cords are trousers made of corduroy.\nHe had bare feet, a T-shirt and cords on.\n  N-PLURAL: also a pair of N\n\n4. Cord means made of corduroy.\n...a pair of cord trousers.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n5.\n  see also spinal cord, umbilical cord, vocal cords


Words: cordial
Meaning:
cor.dial\n   cordial  cordials\n1. Cordial means friendly. (FORMAL)\nHe had never known him to be so chatty and cordial...\n  ADJ\n  !=hostile\n=>  cor.di.al.ly\nThey all greeted me very cordially and were eager to talk about the new project.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n2. Cordial is a sweet non-alcoholic drink made from fruit juice. (BRIT)\n  N-MASS


Words: cordless
Meaning:
cord.less\n   cordless\n  A cordless telephone or piece of electric equipment is operated by a battery fitted inside it and is not connected to the electricity mains.\nThe waitress approached Picone with a cordless phone.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: cordon
Meaning:
cor.don\n   cordon  cordons  cordoning  cordoned\n  A cordon is a line or ring of police, soldiers, or vehicles preventing people from entering or leaving an area.\nPolice formed a cordon between the two crowds.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cordon bleu
Meaning:
cor.don bleu\n   cordon bleu\n  Cordon bleu is used to describe cookery or cooks of the highest standard.\nI took a cordon bleu cookery course.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: cordon off
Meaning:
cordon off\n  If police or soldiers cordon off an area, they prevent people from entering or leaving it, usually by forming a line or ring.\nPolice cordoned off part of the city centre...\nThe police cordoned everything off.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), V n P\n  = close off


Words: corduroy
Meaning:
cor.du.roy\n   corduroy  corduroys\n1. Corduroy is thick cotton cloth with parallel raised lines on the outside.\n...a corduroy jacket.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. Corduroys are trousers made out of corduroy.\n  N-PLURAL


Words: core
Meaning:
core  cores  coring  cored\n1. The core of a fruit is the central part of it. It contains seeds or pips.\nPeel the pears and remove the cores.\n  N-COUNT: oft n N\n\n2. If you core a fruit, you remove its core.\n...machines for peeling and coring apples.\n  VERB: V n\n\n3. The core of an object, building, or city is the central part of it.\n...the earth’s core...\nThe core of the city is a series of ancient squares.\n  N-COUNT: usu with poss\n  = centre\n4. The core of something such as a problem or an issue is the part of it that has to be understood or accepted before the whole thing can be understood or dealt with.\n...the ability to get straight to the core of a problem...\n  N-SING: the N, usu N of n\n  = heart\n5. A core team or a core group is a group of people who do the main part of a job or piece of work. Other people may also help, but only for limited periods of time.\nWe already have our core team in place...\nA core of about six staff would continue with the project.\n  N-SING: N n, N of n\n\n6. In a school or college, core subjects are a group of subjects that have to be studied.\nThe core subjects are English, mathematics and science...\n...a core of nine academic subjects.\n  N-SING: usu N n\n\n7. The core businesses or the core activities of a company or organization are their most important ones.\nThe group plans to concentrate on six core businesses...\nHowever, the main core of the company performed outstandingly.\n  N-SING: usu N n\n\n8.\n  see also hard core, hard-core, soft-core\n9. You can use to the core to describe someone who is a very strong supporter of someone or something and will never change their views. For example, you can say that someone is Republican to the core.\nThe villagers are royalist to the core.\n  PHRASE: adj PHR\n  = through and through\n10. If someone is shaken to the core or shocked to the core, they are extremely shaken or shocked.\nLeonard was shaken to the core; he’d never seen or read anything like it.\n  PHRASE: usu -ed PHR


Words: corgi
Meaning:
cor.gi\n   corgi  corgis\n  A corgi is a type of small dog with short legs and a pointed nose.\n  N-COUNT


Words: coriander
Meaning:
co.ri.an.der\n   coriander\n  Coriander is a plant with seeds that are used as a spice and leaves that are used as a herb.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cork
Meaning:
cork  corks\n1. Cork is a soft, light substance which forms the bark of a type of Mediterranean tree.\n...cork floors.\n...cork-soled clogs.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. A cork is a piece of cork or plastic that is pushed into the opening of a bottle to close it.\n  N-COUNT


Words: corker
Meaning:
cork.er\n   corker  corkers\n  If you say that someone or something is a corker, you mean that they are very good. (BRIT INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONED)\n  N-COUNT


Words: corkscrew
Meaning:
cork.screw\n   corkscrew  corkscrews\n  A corkscrew is a device for pulling corks out of bottles.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cormorant
Meaning:
cor.mo.rant\n   cormorant  cormorants\n  A cormorant is a type of dark-coloured bird with a long neck. Cormorants usually live near the sea and eat fish.\n  N-COUNT


Words: corn
Meaning:
corn  corns\n1. Corn is used to refer to crops such as wheat and barley. It can also be used to refer to the seeds from these plants. (BRIT; in AM, use grain)\n...fields of corn...\nHe filled the barn to the roof with corn.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. Corn is the same as maize.\n...rows of corn in an Iowa field.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. Corns are small, painful areas of hard skin which can form on your foot, especially near your toes.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl\n\n4.\n  see also popcorn, sweetcorn


Words: corn cob
Meaning:
corn cob  corn cobs   also corncob\n  Corn cobs are the long rounded parts of the maize or corn plant on which small yellow seeds grow, and which is eaten as a vegetable.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: corn exchange
Meaning:
corn ex.change\n   corn exchange  corn exchanges   also Corn Exchange\n  A corn exchange is a large building where, in former times, grain was bought and sold. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT


Words: corn on the cob
Meaning:
corn on the cob  corn on the cobs   also corn-on-the-cob\n  Corn on the cob is the long rounded part of the maize or corn plant on which small yellow seeds grow, and which is eaten as a vegetable.\n  N-VAR


Words: cornbread
Meaning:
corn.bread\n   cornbread   also corn bread\n  Cornbread is bread made from ground maize or corn. It is popular in the United States.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cornea
Meaning:
cor.nea\n   cornea  corneas\n  The cornea is the transparent skin covering the outside of your eye.\n  N-COUNT


Words: corner
Meaning:
cor.ner\n   corner  corners  cornering  cornered\n1. A corner is a point or an area where two or more edges, sides, or surfaces of something join.\nHe saw the corner of a magazine sticking out from under the blanket...\nWrite `By Airmail’ in the top left hand corner.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp\n\n2. The corner of a room, box, or similar space is the area inside it where its edges or walls meet.\n...a card table in the corner of the living room...\nThe ball hurtled into the far corner of the net...\nFinally I spotted it, in a dark corner over by the piano.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. The corner of your mouth or eye is the side of it.\nOut of the corner of her eye she saw that a car had stopped.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N of n\n\n4. The corner of a street is the place where one of its sides ends as it joins another street.\nWe can’t have police officers on every corner...\nHe waited until the man had turned a corner.\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp\n\n5. A corner is a bend in a road.\n...a sharp corner...\n  N-COUNT\n  = bend\n6. In football, hockey, and some other sports, a corner is a free shot or kick taken from the corner of the pitch.\n  N-COUNT\n\n7. If you corner a person or animal, you force them into a place they cannot escape from.\nA police motor-cycle chased his car twelve miles, and cornered him near Rome...\nHe was still sitting huddled like a cornered animal.\n  VERB: V n, V-ed\n\n8. If you corner someone, you force them to speak to you when they have been trying to avoid you.\nGolan managed to corner the young producer-director for an interview.\n  VERB: V n\n\n9. If a company or place corners an area of trade, they gain control over it so that no one else can have any success in that area. (BUSINESS)\nThis restaurant has cornered the Madrid market for specialist paellas...\n  VERB: V n\n  = monopolize\n10. If a car, or the person driving it, corners in a particular way, the car goes round bends in roads in this way.\nPeter drove jerkily, cornering too fast and fumbling the gears.\n  VERB: V adv/prep\n\n11. If you say that something is around the corner, you mean that it will happen very soon. In British English, you can also say that something is round the corner.\nThe Chancellor of the Exchequer says that economic recovery is just around the corner.\n  PHRASE: usu v-link PHR\n  = imminent\n12. If you say that something is around the corner, you mean that it is very near. In British English, you can also say that something is round the corner.\nMy new place is just around the corner.\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v\n\n13. If you cut corners, you do something quickly by doing it in a less thorough way than you should.\nTake your time, don’t cut corners and follow instructions to the letter.\n  PHRASE: V inflects  disapproval\n\n14. You can use expressions such as the four corners of the world to refer to places that are a long way from each other. (WRITTEN)\nThey’ve combed the four corners of the world for the best accessories...\n  PHRASE: PHR n\n\n15. If you are in a corner or in a tight corner, you are in a situation which is difficult to deal with and get out of.\nThe government is in a corner on interest rates...\nHe appears to have backed himself into a tight corner.\n  PHRASE: N inflects, v-link PHR, PHR after v\n  = in a tight spot


Words: corner shop
Meaning:
cor.ner shop\n   corner shop  corner shops   also corner-shop\n  A corner shop is a small shop, usually on the corner of a street, that sells mainly food and household goods. (BRIT; in AM, use corner store)\n  N-COUNT


Words: corner store
Meaning:
cor.ner store\n   corner store  corner stores\n  A corner store is the same as a corner shop. (AM)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cornerstone
Meaning:
corner.stone\n   cornerstone  cornerstones   also corner-stone\n  The cornerstone of something is the basic part of it on which its existence, success, or truth depends. (FORMAL)\nResearch is the cornerstone of the profession.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n\n  = keystone


Words: cornet
Meaning:
cor.net\n   cornet  cornets\n1. A cornet is a musical instrument that looks like a small trumpet.\n  N-VAR: oft the N\n\n2. An ice cream cornet is a soft thin biscuit shaped like a cone with ice cream in it. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT\n  = cone


Words: cornfield
Meaning:
corn.field\n   cornfield  cornfields   also corn field\n  A cornfield is a field in which corn is being grown.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cornflake
Meaning:
corn.flake\n   cornflake  cornflakes\n  Cornflakes are small flat pieces of maize that are eaten with milk as a breakfast cereal. They are popular in Britain and the United States.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: cornflour
Meaning:
corn.flour\n   cornflour   also corn flour\n  Cornflour is a fine white powder made from maize and is used to make sauces thicker. (BRIT; in AM, use cornstarch)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cornflower
Meaning:
corn.flower\n   cornflower  cornflowers\n  Cornflowers are small plants with flowers that are usually blue.\nHer eyes were a bright, cornflower blue.\n  N-VAR


Words: cornice
Meaning:
cor.nice\n   cornice  cornices\n  A cornice is a strip of plaster, wood, or stone which goes along the top of a wall or building.\n  N-COUNT


Words: Cornish
Meaning:
Cor.nish\n   Cornish\n1. Cornish means belonging or relating to the English county of Cornwall.\n...the rugged Cornish coast.\n...Cornish fishermen.\n  ADJ\n\n2. The Cornish are the people of Cornwall.\n  N-PLURAL: the N


Words: Cornish pasty
Meaning:
Cor.nish pasty\n   Cornish pasty  Cornish pasties   also cornish pasty\n  A Cornish pasty is a small pie with meat and vegetables inside. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cornmeal
Meaning:
corn.meal\n   cornmeal   also corn meal\n  Cornmeal is a powder made from maize. It is used in cooking.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cornstarch
Meaning:
corn.starch\n   cornstarch   also corn starch\n  Cornstarch is the same as cornflour. (AM)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cornucopia
Meaning:
cor.nu.co.pia\n   cornucopia\n  A cornucopia of things is a large number of different things. (LITERARY)\n...a table festooned with a cornucopia of fruit.\n  N-SING\n  = abundance


Words: corny
Meaning:
corny  cornier  corniest\n  If you describe something as corny, you mean that it is obvious or sentimental and not at all original.\nI know it sounds corny, but I’m really not motivated by money.\n  ADJ  disapproval


Words: corollary
Meaning:
cor.ol.lary\n   corollary  corollaries\n  A corollary of something is an idea, argument, or fact that results directly from it. (FORMAL)\nThe number of prisoners increased as a corollary of the government’s determination to combat violent crime.\n  N-COUNT: oft with poss\n  = consequence


Words: coronary
Meaning:
coro.nary\n   coronary  coronaries\n1. Coronary means belonging or relating to the heart. (MEDICAL)\nIf all the coronary arteries are free of significant obstructions, all parts of the heart will receive equal amounts of oxygen.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n2. If someone has a coronary, they collapse because the flow of blood to their heart is blocked by a large lump of blood called a clot.\n  N-COUNT\n  = heart attack


Words: coronary thrombosis
Meaning:
coro.nary throm.bo.sis\n   coronary thrombosis  coronary thromboses\n  A coronary thrombosis is the same as a coronary. (MEDICAL)\n  N-VAR


Words: coronation
Meaning:
coro.na.tion\n   coronation  coronations\n  A coronation is the ceremony at which a king or queen is crowned.\n...the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.\n  N-COUNT


Words: coroner
Meaning:
coro.ner\n   coroner  coroners\n  A coroner is an official who is responsible for investigating the deaths of people who have died in a sudden, violent, or unusual way.\nThe coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.\n  N-COUNT


Words: corporal
Meaning:
cor.po.ral\n   corporal  corporals\n  A corporal is a non-commissioned officer in the army or United States Marines.\nThe corporal shouted an order at the men.\n...Corporal Devereux.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE


Words: corporal punishment
Meaning:
cor.po.ral pun.ish.ment\n   corporal punishment\n  Corporal punishment is the punishment of people by hitting them.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: corporate
Meaning:
cor.po.rate\n   corporate\n  Corporate means relating to business corporations or to a particular business corporation. (BUSINESS)\n...the UK corporate sector.\n...a corporate lawyer...\nThis established a strong corporate image.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: corporate hospitality
Meaning:
cor.po.rate hos.pi.tal.ity\n\n  Corporate hospitality is the entertainment that a company offers to its most valued clients, for example by inviting them to sporting events and providing them with food and drink. (BUSINESS)\n...corporate hospitality at football grounds.\n...executives in a corporate hospitality tent.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: corporate raider
Meaning:
cor.po.rate raid.er\n   corporate raider  corporate raiders\n  A corporate raider is a person or organization that tries to take control of a company by buying a large number of its shares. (BUSINESS)\n  N-COUNT


Words: corporation
Meaning:
cor.po.ra.tion\n   corporation  corporations\n1. A corporation is a large business or company. (BUSINESS)\n...multi-national corporations.\n...the Seiko Corporation.\n  N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES\n\n2. In some large British cities, the corporation is the local authority that is responsible for providing public services.\n...the corporation’s task of regenerating 900 acres of the inner city.\n  N-COUNT\n  = local authority


Words: corporation tax
Meaning:
cor.po.ra.tion tax\n   corporation tax\n  Corporation tax is a tax that companies have to pay on the profits they make. (BUSINESS)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: corporatism
Meaning:
cor.po.rat.ism\n   corporatism\n  Corporatism is the organization and control of a country by groups who share a common interest or profession.\n`The age of corporatism must be put firmly behind us,’ he proclaimed.\n  N-UNCOUNT  disapproval


Words: corporatist
Meaning:
cor.po.rat.ist\n   corporatist  corporatists\n1. You use corporatist to describe organizations, ideas, or systems which follow the principles of corporatism.\n... a corporatist political system...\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n  disapproval\n\n2. A corporatist is someone who believes in the principles of corporatism.\nThe defeat of the corporatists is easy to understand.\n  N-COUNT  disapproval


Words: corporeal
Meaning:
cor.po.real\n   corporeal\n  Corporeal means involving or relating to the physical world rather than the spiritual world. (FORMAL)\n...man’s corporeal existence.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = physical


Words: corps
Meaning:
corps  corps\n1. A corps is a part of the army which has special duties.\n...the Army Medical Corps.\n...the Russian Officer Corps.\n  N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES\n\n2. The Corps is the United States Marine Corps. (AM)\n...seventy-five men, all combat veterans, all members of The Corps’ most exclusive unit.\n  N-COUNT: the N\n\n3. A corps is a small group of people who do a special job.\n...the diplomatic corps.\n...the foreign press corps.\n  N-COUNT: supp N


Words: corps de ballet
Meaning:
corps de bal.let\n   corps de ballet\n  In ballet, the corps de ballet is the group of dancers who dance together, in contrast to the main dancers, who dance by themselves.\n  N-SING


Words: corpse
Meaning:
corpse  corpses\n  A corpse is a dead body, especially the body of a human being.\n  N-COUNT\n  = body


Words: corpulent
Meaning:
cor.pu.lent\n   corpulent\n  If you describe someone as corpulent, you mean they are fat. (LITERARY)\n...a rather corpulent farmer.\n  ADJ


Words: corpus
Meaning:
cor.pus\n   corpus  corpora  or corpuses\n  A corpus is a large collection of written or spoken texts that is used for language research. (TECHNICAL)\n  N-COUNT: usu with supp


Words: corpuscle
Meaning:
cor.pus.cle\n   corpuscle  corpuscles\n  Corpuscles are red or white blood cells.\nDeficiency of red corpuscles is caused by a lack of iron.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl


Words: corral
Meaning:
cor.ral\n   corral  corrals\n  In North America, a corral is a space surrounded by a fence where cattle or horses are kept.\n  N-COUNT


Words: correct
Meaning:
cor.rect\n   correct  corrects  correcting  corrected\n1. If something is correct, it is in accordance with the facts and has no mistakes. (FORMAL)\nThe correct answers can be found at the bottom of page 8...\nThe following information was correct at time of going to press...\n  ADJ\n  = right  !=incorrect\n=>  cor.rect.ly\nDid I pronounce your name correctly?...\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n=>  cor.rect.ness\nAsk the investor to check the correctness of what he has written.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = accuracy\n2. If someone is correct, what they have said or thought is true. (FORMAL)\nYou are absolutely correct. The leaves are from a bay tree...\nIf Casey is correct, the total cost of the cleanup would come to $110 billion.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ\n  = right  !=wrong\n3. The correct thing or method is the thing or method that is required or is most suitable in a particular situation.\nThe use of the correct materials was crucial...\n...the correct way to produce a crop of tomato plants.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  = right\n=>  cor.rect.ly\nIf correctly executed, this shot will give them a better chance of getting the ball close to the hole.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n  = properly\n4. If you say that someone is correct in doing something, you approve of their action.\nYou are perfectly correct in trying to steer your mother towards increased independence...\nI think the president was correct to reject the offer.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ in -ing\n  = right\n=>  cor.rect.ly\nWhen an accident happens, quite correctly questions are asked.\n  ADV: ADV with cl\n\n5. If you correct a problem, mistake, or fault, you do something which puts it right.\nHe has criticised the government for inefficiency and delays in correcting past mistakes.\n  VERB: V n\n  = rectify\n=>  cor.rec.tion      corrections\n...legislation to require the correction of factual errors...\nWe will then make the necessary corrections.\n  N-VAR\n\n6. If you correct someone, you say something which you think is more accurate or appropriate than what they have just said.\n`Actually, that isn’t what happened,’ George corrects me...\nI must correct him on a minor point.\n  VERB: V n with quote, V n\n\n7. When someone corrects a piece of writing, they look at it and mark the mistakes in it.\nIt took an extraordinary effort to focus on preparing his classes or correcting his students’ work.\n  VERB: V n\n\n8. If a person or their behaviour is correct, their behaviour is in accordance with social or other rules.\nI think English men are very polite and very correct...\n  ADJ\n  = proper\n=>  cor.rect.ly\nThe High Court of Parliament began very correctly with a prayer for the Queen.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n=>  cor.rect.ness\n...his stiff-legged gait and formal correctness.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: correction
Meaning:
cor.rec.tion\n   correction  corrections\n1. Corrections are marks or comments made on a piece of work, especially school work, which indicate where there are mistakes and what are the right answers.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl\n\n2. Correction is the punishment of criminals. (mainly AM)\n...jails and other parts of the correction system.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N n\n\n3.\n  see also correct


Words: correctional
Meaning:
cor.rec.tion.al\n   correctional\n  Correctional means related to prisons. (mainly AM)\nHe is currently being held in a metropolitan correctional center.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: corrective
Meaning:
cor.rec.tive\n   corrective  correctives\n1. Corrective measures or techniques are intended to put right something that is wrong.\nScientific institutions have been reluctant to take corrective action...\nHe has received extensive corrective surgery to his skull.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n  = remedial\n2. If something is a corrective to a particular view or account, it gives a more accurate or fairer picture than there would have been without it. (FORMAL)\n...a useful corrective to the mistaken view that all psychologists are behaviourists.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to n


Words: correlate
Meaning:
cor.re.late\n   correlate  correlates  correlating  correlated\n1. If one thing correlates with another, there is a close similarity or connection between them, often because one thing causes the other. You can also say that two things correlate. (FORMAL)\nObesity correlates with increased risk for hypertension and stroke...\nThe political opinions of spouses correlate more closely than their heights...\nThe loss of respect for British science is correlated to reduced funding...\nAt the highest executive levels earnings and performance aren’t always correlated.\n  V-RECIP: V with/to n, pl-n V, be V-ed with/to n, be V-ed\n\n2. If you correlate things, you work out the way in which they are connected or the way they influence each other. (FORMAL)\nAttempts to correlate specific language functions with particular parts of the brain have not advanced very far...\nLieutenant Ryan closed his eyes, first mentally viewing the different crime scenes, then correlating the data.\n  VERB: V n with n, V n


Words: correlation
Meaning:
cor.re.la.tion\n   correlation  correlations\n  A correlation between things is a connection or link between them. (FORMAL)\n...the correlation between smoking and disease.\n  N-COUNT: oft N between pl-n


Words: correlative
Meaning:
cor.rela.tive\n   correlative  correlatives\n  If one thing is a correlative of another, the first thing is caused by the second thing, or occurs together with it. (FORMAL)\nMan has rights only in so far as they are a correlative of duty.\n  N-COUNT: oft N of n


Words: correspond
Meaning:
cor.re.spond\n   correspond  corresponds  corresponding  corresponded\n1. If one thing corresponds to another, there is a close similarity or connection between them. You can also say that two things correspond.\nRacegoers will be given a number which will correspond to a horse running in a race...\nThe two maps of London correspond closely...\nHer expression is concerned but her body-language does not correspond.\n  V-RECIP: V to/with n, pl-n V, V (non-recip)\n\n=>  cor.re.spond.ing\nMarch and April sales this year were up 8 per cent on the corresponding period in 1992.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n2. If you correspond with someone, you write letters to them. You can also say that two people correspond.\nShe still corresponds with American friends she met in Majorca nine years ago...\nWe corresponded regularly.\n  V-RECIP: V with n, pl-n V


Words: correspondence
Meaning:
cor.re.spond.ence\n   correspondence  correspondences\n1. Correspondence is the act of writing letters to someone.\nThe judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into...\nHis interest in writing came from a long correspondence with a close college friend.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also a N, oft N with n\n\n2. Someone’s correspondence is the letters that they receive or send.\nHe always replied to his correspondence...\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. If there is a correspondence between two things, there is a close similarity or connection between them.\nIn African languages there is a close correspondence between sounds and letters.\n  N-COUNT: oft N between pl-n


Words: correspondence course
Meaning:
cor.re.spond.ence course\n   correspondence course  correspondence courses\n  A correspondence course is a course in which you study at home, receiving your work by post and sending it back by post.\nI took a correspondence course in computing.\n  N-COUNT


Words: correspondent
Meaning:
cor.re.spond.ent\n   correspondent  correspondents\n  A correspondent is a newspaper or television journalist, especially one who specializes in a particular type of news.\n...our Diplomatic Correspondent Mark Brayne.\n  N-COUNT\n  = reporter


Words: correspondingly
Meaning:
cor.re.spond.ing.ly\n   correspondingly\n  You use correspondingly when describing a situation which is closely connected with one you have just mentioned or is similar to it.\nAs his political stature has shrunk, he has grown correspondingly more dependent on the army.\n  ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj/adv


Words: corridor
Meaning:
cor.ri.dor\n   corridor  corridors\n1. A corridor is a long passage in a building or train, with doors and rooms on one or both sides.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A corridor is a strip of land that connects one country to another or gives it a route to the sea through another country.\nEast Prussia and the rest of Germany were separated, in 1919, by the Polish corridor.\n  N-COUNT


Words: corroborate
Meaning:
cor.robo.rate\n   corroborate  corroborates  corroborating  corroborated\n  To corroborate something that has been said or reported means to provide evidence or information that supports it. (FORMAL)\nI had access to a wide range of documents which corroborated the story...\n  VERB: V n\n  = confirm\n=>  cor.robo.ra.tion\nHe could not get a single witness to establish independent corroboration of his version of the accident.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n  = confirmation


Words: corroborative
Meaning:
cor.robo.ra.tive\n   corroborative\n  Corroborative evidence or information supports an idea, account, or argument. (FORMAL)\n...a written statement supported by other corroborative evidence.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: corrode
Meaning:
cor.rode\n   corrode  corrodes  corroding  corroded\n1. If metal or stone corrodes, or is corroded, it is gradually destroyed by a chemical or by rust.\nHe has devised a process for making gold wires which neither corrode nor oxidise...\nEngineers found the structure had been corroded by moisture...\nAcid rain destroys trees and corrodes buildings.\n  VERB: V, be V-ed, V n\n\n=>  cor.rod.ed\nThe investigators found that the underground pipes were badly corroded.\n  ADJ\n\n2. To corrode something means to gradually make it worse or weaker. (LITERARY)\nSuffering was easier to bear than the bitterness he felt corroding his spirit...\n  VERB: V n


Words: corrosion
Meaning:
cor.ro.sion\n   corrosion\n  Corrosion is the damage that is caused when something is corroded.\nZinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: corrosive
Meaning:
cor.ro.sive\n   corrosive\n1. A corrosive substance is able to destroy solid materials by a chemical reaction.\nSodium and sulphur are highly corrosive.\n  ADJ\n\n2. If you say that something has a corrosive effect, you mean that it gradually causes serious harm. (FORMAL)\n...the corrosive effects of inflation.\n  ADJ\n  = damaging


Words: corrugated
Meaning:
cor.ru.gat.ed\n   corrugated\n  Corrugated metal or cardboard has been folded into a series of small parallel folds to make it stronger.\n...a hut with a corrugated iron roof.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: corrupt
Meaning:
cor.rupt\n   corrupt  corrupts  corrupting  corrupted\n1. Someone who is corrupt behaves in a way that is morally wrong, especially by doing dishonest or illegal things in return for money or power.\n...to save the nation from corrupt politicians of both parties...\nHe had accused three opposition members of corrupt practices.\n  ADJ\n  !=scrupulous\n=>  cor.rupt.ly\n...several government officials charged with acting corruptly.\n  ADV: ADV with v\n\n2. If someone is corrupted by something, it causes them to become dishonest and unjust and unable to be trusted.\nIt is sad to see a man so corrupted by the desire for money and power.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed\n\n3. To corrupt someone means to cause them to stop caring about moral standards.\n...warning that television will corrupt us all...\nCruelty depraves and corrupts.\n  VERB: V n, V\n\n4. If something is corrupted, it becomes damaged or spoiled in some way.\nSome of the finer type-faces are corrupted by cheap, popular computer printers...\n...corrupted data.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, V-ed


Words: corruption
Meaning:
cor.rup.tion\n   corruption\n  Corruption is dishonesty and illegal behaviour by people in positions of authority or power.\nDistribution of food throughout the country is being hampered by inefficiency and corruption.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: corsage
Meaning:
cor.sage\n   corsage  corsages\n  A corsage is a very small bunch of flowers that is fastened to a woman’s dress below the shoulder.\n  N-COUNT


Words: corset
Meaning:
cor.set\n   corset  corsets\n  A corset is a stiff piece of underwear worn by some women, especially in the past. It fits tightly around their hips and waist and makes them thinner around the waist when they wear it.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cortege
Meaning:
cor.tege\n   cortege  corteges   also cortege\n  A cortege is a procession of people who are walking or riding in cars to a funeral.\n  N-COUNT-COLL


Words: cortex
Meaning:
cor.tex\n   cortex  cortices\n  The cortex of the brain or of another organ is its outer layer. (MEDICAL)\n...the cerebral cortex.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, oft the N


Words: cortisone
Meaning:
cor.ti.sone\n   cortisone\n  Cortisone is a hormone used in the treatment of arthritis, allergies, and some skin diseases.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: coruscating
Meaning:
co.rus.cat.ing\n   coruscating\n  A coruscating speech or performance is lively, intelligent, and impressive. (LITERARY)\n...coruscating humour.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n  approval\n  = dazzling, brilliant


Words: corvette
Meaning:
cor.vette\n   corvette  corvettes\n  A corvette is a small fast warship that is used to protect other ships from attack.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cosh
Meaning:
cosh  coshes  coshing  coshed\n1. A cosh is a heavy piece of rubber or metal which is used as a weapon. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. To cosh someone means to hit them hard on the head with a cosh or a similar weapon. (BRIT)\n...robbers who punched Tom and coshed Helen.\n  VERB: V n


Words: cosmetic
Meaning:
cos.met.ic\n   cosmetic  cosmetics\n1. Cosmetics are substances such as lipstick or powder, which people put on their face to make themselves look more attractive.\n  N-COUNT: usu pl\n\n2. If you describe measures or changes as cosmetic, you mean they improve the appearance of a situation or thing but do not change its basic nature, and you are usually implying that they are inadequate.\nIt is a cosmetic measure which will do nothing to help the situation long term...\n  ADJ  disapproval\n  = superficial


Words: cosmetic surgery
Meaning:
cos.met.ic sur.gery\n   cosmetic surgery\n  Cosmetic surgery is surgery done to make a person look more attractive.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cosmic
Meaning:
cos.mic\n   cosmic\n1. Cosmic means occurring in, or coming from, the part of space that lies outside Earth and its atmosphere.\n...cosmic radiation.\n...cosmic debris.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n\n\n2. Cosmic means belonging or relating to the universe.\n...the cosmic laws governing our world.\n  ADJ: usu ADJ n


Words: cosmic rays
Meaning:
cos.mic rays\n   cosmic rays\n  Cosmic rays are rays that reach earth from outer space and consist of atomic nuclei.\n  N-PLURAL


Words: cosmology
Meaning:
cos.mol.ogy\n   cosmology  cosmologies\n1. A cosmology is a theory about the origin and nature of the universe.\n...the ideas implicit in Big Bang cosmology.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. Cosmology is the study of the origin and nature of the universe.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n=>  cos.molo.gist      cosmologists\n...astronomers and cosmologists.\n  N-COUNT\n\n=>  cos.mo.logi.cal\n...cosmological sciences.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: cosmonaut
Meaning:
cos.mo.naut\n   cosmonaut  cosmonauts\n  A cosmonaut is an astronaut from the former Soviet Union.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cosmopolitan
Meaning:
cos.mo.poli.tan\n   cosmopolitan\n1. A cosmopolitan place or society is full of people from many different countries and cultures.\nLondon has always been a cosmopolitan city.\n  ADJ  approval\n  !=parochial\n2. Someone who is cosmopolitan has had a lot of contact with people and things from many different countries and as a result is very open to different ideas and ways of doing things.\nThe family are rich, and extremely sophisticated and cosmopolitan.\n  ADJ  approval\n  !=parochial


Words: cosmos
Meaning:
cos.mos\n   cosmos\n  The cosmos is the universe. (LITERARY)\n...the natural laws of the cosmos.\n  N-SING: the N


Words: cosset
Meaning:
cos.set\n   cosset  cossets  cosseting  or cossetting cosseted  or cossetted\n  If someone is cosseted, everything possible is done for them and they are protected from anything unpleasant.\nOur kind of travel is definitely not suitable for people who expect to be cosseted.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed\n  = pamper


Words: cost
Meaning:
cost  costs  costing\n\n  The form cost is used in the present tense, and is also the past tense and participle, except for meaning 4, where the form costed is used.\n\n1. The cost of something is the amount of money that is needed in order to buy, do, or make it.\nThe cost of a loaf of bread has increased five-fold...\nIn 1989 the price of coffee fell so low that in many countries it did not even cover the cost of production...\nBadges are also available at a cost of .2.50.\n  N-COUNT: usu sing, oft N of n\n\n2. If something costs a particular amount of money, you can buy, do, or make it for that amount.\nThis course is limited to 12 people and costs .50...\nIt’s going to cost me over $100,000 to buy new trucks.\n  VERB: V amount, V n amount\n\n3. Your costs are the total amount of money that you must spend on running your home or business.\nCosts have been cut by 30 to 50 per cent...\n  N-PLURAL\n\n4. When something that you plan to do or make is costed, the amount of money you need is calculated in advance.\nEverything that goes into making a programme, staff, rent, lighting, is now costed.\n...seventy apartments, shops, offices, a restaurant and hotel, costed at around 10 million pounds.\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, V-ed\n\n  Cost out means the same as cost.\n...training days for charity staff on how to draw up contracts and cost out proposals...\nIt is always worth having a loft conversion costed out.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), have n V-ed P, also V n P\n\n5. If someone is ordered by a court of law to pay costs, they have to pay a sum of money towards the expenses of a court case they are involved in.\nHe was jailed for 18 months and ordered to pay .550 costs.\n  N-PLURAL\n\n6. If something is sold at cost, it is sold for the same price as it cost the seller to buy it.\n...a store that provided cigarettes and candy bars at cost.\n  N-UNCOUNT: prep N\n  = cost price\n7. The cost of something is the loss, damage, or injury that is involved in trying to achieve it.\nIn March Mr Salinas shut down the city’s oil refinery at a cost of $500 million and 5,000 jobs.\n...being so afraid of something that you feel you have to avoid it whatever the cost to your lifestyle.\n  N-SING: oft N of n\n\n8. If an event or mistake costs you something, you lose that thing as the result of it.\n...a six-year-old boy whose life was saved by an operation that cost him his sight...\nThe increase will hurt small business and cost many thousands of jobs.\n  VERB: V n n, V n\n\n9. If you say that something must be avoided at all costs, you are emphasizing that it must not be allowed to happen under any circumstances.\nThey told Jacques Delors a disastrous world trade war must be avoided at all costs.\n  PHRASE: PHR after v  emphasis\n\n10. If you say that something must be done at any cost, you are emphasizing that it must be done, even if this requires a lot of effort or money.\nThis book is of such importance that it must be published at any cost...\n  PHRASE: PHR after v  emphasis\n\n11. If you say that something costs money, you mean that it has to be paid for, and perhaps cannot be afforded.\nWell-designed clothes cost money.\n  PHRASE: V inflects\n\n12. If you know something to your cost, you know it because of an unpleasant experience that you have had.\nKathryn knows to her cost the effect of having served a jail sentence...\n  PHRASE: PHR after v\n\n13.\nto cost someone dear: see dear


Words: cost accounting
Meaning:
cost ac.count.ing\n   cost accounting\n  Cost accounting is the recording and analysis of all the various costs of running a business. (BUSINESS)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cost of living
Meaning:
cost of liv.ing\n   cost of living\n  The cost of living is the average amount of money that people in a particular place need in order to be able to afford basic food, housing, and clothing.\nCompanies are moving jobs to towns with a lower cost of living.\n  N-SING


Words: cost price
Meaning:
cost price  cost prices\n  If something is sold at cost price, it is sold for the same price as it cost the seller to buy it. (BRIT)\n...a factory shop where you can buy very fashionable shoes at cost price...\n  N-VAR: oft at N\n  = cost


Words: cost-effective
Meaning:
cost-effective\n  Something that is cost-effective saves or makes a lot of money in comparison with the costs involved.\nThe bank must be run in a cost-effective way.\n  ADJ\n\n=>  cost-effectively\nThe management tries to produce the magazine as cost-effectively as possible.\n  ADV: ADV after v\n\n=>  cost-effectiveness\nA Home Office report has raised doubts about the cost-effectiveness of the proposals.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cost-plus
Meaning:
cost-plus\n  A cost-plus basis for a contract about work to be done is one in which the buyer agrees to pay the seller or contractor all the cost plus a profit.\nAll vessels were to be built on a cost-plus basis.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: costing
Meaning:
cost.ing\n   costing  costings\n  A costing is an estimate of all the costs involved in a project or a business venture. (mainly BRIT BUSINESS; in AM, use costs)\nWe’ll put together a proposal, including detailed costings, free of charge.\n  N-VAR\n  = estimate


Words: costly
Meaning:
cost.ly\n   costly  costlier  costliest\n1. If you say that something is costly, you mean that it costs a lot of money, often more than you would want to pay.\nHaving professionally made curtains can be costly, so why not make your own?\n  ADJ\n  = expensive  !=inexpensive\n2. If you describe someone’s action or mistake as costly, you mean that it results in a serious disadvantage for them, for example the loss of a large amount of money or the loss of their reputation.\nPsychometric tests can save organizations from grim and costly mistakes...\n  ADJ


Words: costume
Meaning:
cos.tume\n   costume  costumes\n1. An actor’s or performer’s costume is the set of clothes they wear while they are performing.\nEven from a distance the effect of his fox costume was stunning...\nThe performers, in costume and make-up, were walking up and down backstage...\nIn all, she has eight costume changes.\n  N-VAR\n\n2. The clothes worn by people at a particular time in history, or in a particular country, are referred to as a particular type of costume.\n...men and women in eighteenth-century costume...\n  N-UNCOUNT: supp N\n  = dress\n3. A costume play or drama is one which is set in the past and in which the actors wear the type of clothes that were worn in that period.\n...a lavish costume drama set in Ireland and the US in the 1890s.\n  ADJ: ADJ n


Words: costume jewellery
Meaning:
cos.tume jew.el.lery\n   costume jewellery\nin AM, use costume jewelry\n  Costume jewellery is jewellery made from cheap materials.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: costumier
Meaning:
cos.tumi.er\n   costumier  costumiers\n  A costumier is a person or company that makes or supplies costumes. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use costumer)\n...a theatrical costumier.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cosy
Meaning:
cosy  cosier  cosiest\nin AM, use cozy\n1. A house or room that is cosy is comfortable and warm.\nDownstairs there’s a breakfast room and guests can relax in the cosy bar.\n  ADJ\n  = homely\n=>  co.si.ly\nWe took time to relax in the cosily decorated drawing room.\n  ADV\n\n2. If you are cosy, you are comfortable and warm.\nThey like to make sure their guests are comfortable and cosy.\n  ADJ: v-link ADJ\n\n=>  co.si.ly\nHe was settled cosily in the corner with an arm round Lynda.\n  ADV: ADV after v\n\n3. You use cosy to describe activities that are pleasant and friendly, and involve people who know each other well.\n...a cosy chat between friends...\n  ADJ\n  = intimate\n=>  co.si.ly\n...chatting cosily with friends over coffee.\n  ADV: ADV with v


Words: cot
Meaning:
cot  cots\n1. A cot is a bed for a baby, with bars or panels round it so that the baby cannot fall out. (BRIT; in AM, use crib)\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. A cot is a narrow bed, usually made of canvas fitted over a frame which can be folded up. (AM; in BRIT, use camp bed)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cot death
Meaning:
cot death  cot deaths\n  Cot death is the sudden death of a baby while it is asleep, although the baby had not previously been ill. (BRIT; in AM, use crib death)\n  N-VAR


Words: coterie
Meaning:
co.terie\n   coterie  coteries\n  A coterie of a particular kind is a small group of people who are close friends or have a common interest, and who do not want other people to join them. (FORMAL)\nThe songs he recorded were written by a small coterie of dedicated writers.\n  N-COUNT-COLL: usu with supp\n  = circle, set


Words: cottage
Meaning:
cot.tage\n   cottage  cottages\n  A cottage is a small house, usually in the country.\nThey used to have a cottage in N.W. Scotland...\nMy sister Yvonne also came to live at Ockenden Cottage with me.\n  N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES


Words: cottage cheese
Meaning:
cot.tage cheese\n   cottage cheese\n  Cottage cheese is a soft, white, lumpy cheese made from sour milk.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cottage industry
Meaning:
cot.tage in.dus.try\n   cottage industry  cottage industries\n  A cottage industry is a small business that is run from someone’s home, especially one that involves a craft such as knitting or pottery. (BUSINESS)\nBookbinding is largely a cottage industry.\n  N-COUNT


Words: cottage loaf
Meaning:
cot.tage loaf\n   cottage loaf  cottage loaves\n  A cottage loaf is a loaf of bread which has a smaller round part on top of a larger round part. (BRIT)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cottage pie
Meaning:
cot.tage pie\n   cottage pie  cottage pies\n  Cottage pie is a dish which consists of minced meat in gravy with mashed potato on top. (BRIT)\n  N-VAR\n  = shepherd’s pie


Words: cottaging
Meaning:
cot.tag.ing\n   cottaging\n  Cottaging is homosexual activity between men in public toilets. (BRIT INFORMAL)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cotton
Meaning:
cot.ton\n   cotton  cottons  cottoning  cottoned\n1. Cotton is a type of cloth made from soft fibres from a particular plant.\n...a cotton shirt.\n  N-MASS: oft N n\n\n2. Cotton is a plant which is grown in warm countries and which produces soft fibres used in making cotton cloth.\n...a large cotton plantation in Tennessee.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n3. Cotton is thread that is used for sewing, especially thread that is made from cotton. (mainly BRIT; in AM, use thread)\nThere’s a needle and cotton there.\n  N-MASS\n\n4. Cotton or absorbent cotton is a soft mass of cotton, used especially for applying liquids or creams to your skin. (AM; in BRIT, use cotton wool)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cotton bud
Meaning:
cot.ton bud\n   cotton bud  cotton buds\n  A cotton bud is a small stick with a ball of cotton wool at each end, which people use, for example, for applying make-up. (BRIT; in AM, use Q-tip)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cotton candy
Meaning:
cot.ton can.dy\n   cotton candy\n  Cotton candy is a large pink or white mass of sugar threads that is eaten from a stick. It is sold at fairs or other outdoor events. (AM; in BRIT, use candyfloss)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cotton on
Meaning:
cotton on\n  If you cotton on to something, you understand it or realize it, especially without people telling you about it. (BRIT INFORMAL)\nShe had already cottoned on to the fact that the nanny was not all she appeared...\nIt wasn’t until he started laughing that they cottoned on!\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P to n, V P\n  = catch on


Words: cotton to
Meaning:
cotton to\n  If you cotton to someone or something, you start to like them. (AM INFORMAL)\nHis style of humor was very human, and that’s why people cotton to him...\nIt seemed to me that I was being shut out of the dialogue and that’s something I just don’t cotton to.\n  PHRASAL VERB: no passive, V P n, V P n


Words: cotton wool
Meaning:
cot.ton wool\n   cotton wool\n  Cotton wool is a soft mass of cotton, used especially for applying liquids or creams to your skin. (BRIT; in AM, use cotton)\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: cottonwood
Meaning:
cotton.wood\n   cottonwood  cottonwoods\n  A cottonwood or a cottonwood tree is a kind of tree that grows in North America and has seeds that are covered with hairs that look like cotton.\n  N-COUNT


Words: couch
Meaning:
couch  couches  couching  couched\n1. A couch is a long, comfortable seat for two or three people.\n  N-COUNT\n  = sofa, settee\n2. A couch is a narrow bed which patients lie on while they are being examined or treated by a doctor.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If a statement is couched in a particular style of language, it is expressed in that style of language. (WRITTEN)\nThe new centre-right government’s radical objectives are often couched in moderate terms...\n  VERB: usu passive, be V-ed in/as n\n  = phrase


Words: couch potato
Meaning:
couch po.ta.to\n   couch potato  couch potatoes\n  A couch potato is someone who spends most of their time watching television and does not exercise or have any interesting hobbies. (INFORMAL)\n...couch potatoes flicking through endless satellite TV channels.\n  N-COUNT  disapproval


Words: couchette
Meaning:
cou.chette\n   couchette  couchettes\n  A couchette is a bed on a train or a boat which is either folded against the wall or used as an ordinary seat during the day. (mainly BRIT)\n  N-COUNT


Words: cougar
Meaning:
cou.gar\n   cougar  cougars\n  A cougar is a wild member of the cat family. Cougars have brownish-grey fur and live in mountain regions of North and South America. (mainly AM; in BRIT, use puma)\n  N-COUNT\n  = mountain lion, puma


Words: cough
Meaning:
cough  coughs  coughing  coughed\n1. When you cough, you force air out of your throat with a sudden, harsh noise. You often cough when you are ill, or when you are nervous or want to attract someone’s attention.\nGraham began to cough violently...\nHe coughed. `Excuse me, Mrs Allsworthy, could I have a word?’\n  VERB: V, V\n\n  Cough is also a noun.\nThey were interrupted by an apologetic cough.\n  N-COUNT\n\n=>  cough.ing\nHe was then overcome by a terrible fit of coughing.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. A cough is an illness in which you cough often and your chest or throat hurts.\n...if you have a persistent cough for over a month.\n  N-COUNT\n\n3. If you cough blood or mucus, it comes up out of your throat or mouth when you cough.\nI started coughing blood so they transferred me to a hospital.\n  VERB: V n\n\n  Cough up means the same as cough.\nOn the chilly seas, Keats became feverish, continually coughing up blood.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P


Words: cough medicine
Meaning:
cough medi.cine\n   cough medicine  cough medicines\n  Cough medicine is liquid medicine that you take when you have a cough.\n  N-MASS


Words: cough mixture
Meaning:
cough mix.ture\n   cough mixture  cough mixtures\n  Cough mixture is the same as cough medicine. (BRIT)\n  N-MASS


Words: cough up
Meaning:
cough up\n  If you cough up an amount of money, you pay or spend that amount, usually when you would prefer not to. (INFORMAL)\nI’ll have to cough up $10,000 a year for tuition...\nWill this be enough to persuade Congress to cough up?\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n for n, V P, also V P n, V P for n\n  = fork out\n  see also cough 3


Words: could
Meaning:
could  WEAK   STRONG\n\n  Could is a modal verb. It is used with the base form of a verb. Could is sometimes considered to be the past form of can, but in this dictionary the two words are dealt with separately.\n\n1. You use could to indicate that someone had the ability to do something. You use could not or couldn’t to say that someone was unable to do something.\nFor my return journey, I felt I could afford the extra and travel first class...\nI could see that something was terribly wrong...\nWhen I left school at 16, I couldn’t read or write...\nThere was no way she could have coped with a baby around.\n  MODAL\n\n2. You use could to indicate that something sometimes happened.\nThough he had a temper and could be nasty, it never lasted...\nHe could be very pleasant when he wanted to.\n  MODAL\n\n3. You use could have to indicate that something was a possibility in the past, although it did not actually happen.\nHe could have made a fortune as a lawyer...\nHe did not regret saying what he did but felt that he could have expressed it differently.\n  MODAL\n\n4. You use could to indicate that something is possibly true, or that it may possibly happen.\nDoctors told him the disease could have been caused by years of working in smokey clubs...\nAn improvement in living standards could be years away...\n  MODAL\n  = might\n5. You use could not or couldn’t to indicate that it is not possible that something is true.\nAnne couldn’t be expected to understand the situation...\nHe couldn’t have been more than fourteen years old.\n  MODAL\n\n6. You use could to talk about a possibility, ability, or opportunity that depends on other conditions.\nTheir hope was that a new and better East Germany could be born...\nI knew that if I spoke to Myra, I could get her to call my father.\n  MODAL\n\n7. You use could when you are saying that one thing or situation resembles another.\nThe charming characters she draws look like they could have walked out of the 1920s.\n  MODAL\n\n8. You use could, or couldn’t in questions, when you are making offers and suggestions.\nI could call the local doctor...\nYou could look for a career abroad where environmental jobs are better paid and more secure...\nIt would be a good idea if you could do this exercise twice or three times on separate days.\n  MODAL\n\n9. You use could in questions when you are making a polite request or asking for permission to do something. Speakers sometimes use couldn’t instead of `could’ to show that they realize that their request may be refused.\nCould I stay tonight?...\nCould I speak to you in private a moment, John?...\nHe asked if he could have a cup of coffee...\nCouldn’t I watch you do it?\n  MODAL  politeness\n\n10. People sometimes use structures with if I could or could I as polite ways of interrupting someone or of introducing what they are going to say next. (FORMAL, SPOKEN)\nWell, if I could just interject...\nCould I ask you if there have been any further problems?...\nFirst of all, could I begin with an apology for a mistake I made last week?\n  MODAL  politeness\n  = may\n11. You use could to say emphatically that someone ought to do the thing mentioned, especially when you are annoyed because they have not done it. You use why couldn’t in questions to express your surprise or annoyance that someone has not done something.\nWe’ve come to see you, so you could at least stand and greet us properly...\nIdiot! You could have told me!...\nHe could have written...\nWhy couldn’t she have said something?...\n  MODAL  emphasis\n\n12. You use could when you are expressing strong feelings about something by saying that you feel as if you want to do the thing mentioned, although you do not do it.\n`Welcome back’ was all they said. I could have kissed them!...\nShe could have screamed with tension.\n  MODAL  emphasis\n\n13. You use could after `if’ when talking about something that you do not have the ability or opportunity to do, but which you are imagining in order to consider what the likely consequences might be.\n(next)


Words: could .1
Meaning:
If I could afford it I’d have four television sets...\nIf only I could get some sleep, I would be able to cope.\n  MODAL\n\n14. You use could not or couldn’t with comparatives to emphasize that someone or something has as much as is possible of a particular quality. For example, if you say `I couldn’t be happier’, you mean that you are extremely happy.\nThe rest of the players are a great bunch of lads and I couldn’t be happier...\nThe news couldn’t have come at a better time.\n  MODAL  emphasis\n\n15. In speech, you use how could in questions to emphasize that you feel strongly about something bad that has happened.\nHow could you allow him to do something like that?...\nHow could she do this to me?...\n  MODAL  emphasis\n\n16.\ncould do with: see do


Words: council
Meaning:
coun.cil\n   council  councils\n1. A council is a group of people who are elected to govern a local area such as a city or, in Britain, a county.\n...Cheshire County Council...\nThe city council has voted almost unanimously in favour.\n...David Ward, one of just two Liberal Democrats on the council.\n  N-COUNT-COLL; N-IN-NAMES\n  = local authority\n2. Council houses or flats are owned by the local council, and people pay rent to live in them. (BRIT)\nThere is a shortage of council housing...\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n\n3. Council is used in the names of some organizations.\n...the National Council for Civil Liberties.\n...community health councils.\n  N-COUNT-COLL: usu in names\n\n4. In some organizations, the council is the group of people that controls or governs it.\nThe permanent council of the Organization of American States meets today here in Washington.\n  N-COUNT-COLL: usu sing, usu with supp\n\n5. A council is a specially organized, formal meeting that is attended by a particular group of people.\nPresident Najibullah said he would call a grand council of all Afghans...\n  N-COUNT\n  = conference


Words: council house
Meaning:
coun.cil house\n   council house  council houses\n  In Britain, a council house is a house that is owned by a local council and that people can rent at a low cost.\n  N-COUNT


Words: council of war
Meaning:
coun.cil of war\n   council of war  councils of war\n  A council of war is a meeting that is held in order to decide how a particular threat or emergency should be dealt with. (FORMAL)\n  N-COUNT


Words: council tax
Meaning:
coun.cil tax\n   council tax\n  In Britain, council tax is a tax that you pay to your local authority in order to pay for local services such as schools, libraries, and rubbish collection. The amount of council tax that you pay depends on the value of the house or flat where you live.\n  N-UNCOUNT: also the N


Words: councillor
Meaning:
coun.cil.lor\n   councillor  councillors\nin AM, use councilor\n  A councillor is a member of a local council.\n...Councillor Michael Poulter.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE


Words: councilman
Meaning:
council.man\n   councilman  councilmen\n  A councilman is a man who is a member of a local council. (AM; in BRIT, use councillor)\n...a city councilman.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE


Words: councilwoman
Meaning:
coun.cil.woman\n   councilwoman  councilwomen\n  A councilwoman is a woman who is a member of a local council. (AM; in BRIT, use councillor)\n...Councilwoman Johnson.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE


Words: counsel
Meaning:
coun.sel\n   counsel  counsels  counselling  counselled\nin AM, use counseling, counseled\n1. Counsel is advice. (FORMAL)\nHe had always been able to count on her wise counsel...\nHis parishioners sought his counsel and loved him.\n  N-UNCOUNT\n\n2. If you counsel someone to take a course of action, or if you counsel a course of action, you advise that course of action. (FORMAL)\nMy advisers counselled me to do nothing...\nThe prime minister was right to counsel caution about military intervention.\n  VERB: V n to-inf, V n\n\n3. If you counsel people, you give them advice about their problems.\n...a psychologist who counsels people with eating disorders...\nCrawford counsels her on all aspects of her career.\n  VERB: V n, V n on n\n\n4. Someone’s counsel is the lawyer who gives them advice on a legal case and speaks on their behalf in court.\nSingleton’s counsel said after the trial that he would appeal...\n  N-COUNT: oft supp N


Words: counselling
Meaning:
coun.sel.ling\n   counselling\nin AM, use counseling\n  Counselling is advice which a therapist or other expert gives to someone about a particular problem.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: counsellor
Meaning:
coun.sel.lor\n   counsellor  counsellors\nin AM, use counselor\n  A counsellor is a person whose job is to give advice to people who need it, especially advice on their personal problems.\n  N-COUNT


Words: Count
Meaning:
Count  Counts\n  A Count is a European nobleman with the same rank as an English earl.\nHer father was a Polish Count.\n  N-COUNT; N-TITLE; N-VOC


Words: count
Meaning:
count  counts  counting  counted\n1. When you count, you say all the numbers one after another up to a particular number.\nHe was counting slowly under his breath...\nBrian counted to twenty and lifted his binoculars.\n  VERB: V, V to num\n\n2. If you count all the things in a group, you add them up in order to find how many there are.\nI counted the money. It was more than five hundred pounds...\nI counted 34 wild goats grazing...\nWith more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the Liberals should win nearly a third of the seats.\n  VERB: V n, V num, V-ed, also V\n\n  Count up means the same as count.\nCouldn’t we just count up our ballots and bring them to the courthouse?\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P\n\n=>  count.ing\nThe counting of votes is proceeding smoothly.\n  N-UNCOUNT: usu the N of n\n\n3. A count is the action of counting a particular set of things, or the number that you get when you have counted them.\nThe final count in last month’s referendum showed 56.7 per cent in favour...\n  N-COUNT: usu supp N\n\n4. You use count when referring to the level or amount of something that someone or something has.\nA glass or two of wine will not significantly add to the calorie count...\n  N-COUNT: n N\n\n  see also blood count, pollen count\n5. You use count in expressions such as a count of three or a count of ten when you are measuring a length of time by counting slowly up to a certain number.\nHold your breath for a count of five, then slowly breathe out...\n  N-SING: N of num\n\n6. If something or someone counts for something or counts, they are important or valuable.\nSurely it doesn’t matter where charities get their money from: what counts is what they do with it...\nWhen I first came to college I realised that brainpower didn’t count for much...\n  VERB: V, V for amount\n  = matter\n7. If something counts or is counted as a particular thing, it is regarded as being that thing, especially in particular circumstances or under particular rules.\nNo one agrees on what counts as a desert...\nTwo of the trucks were stopped because they had tents in them, and under the commanders’ definition of humanitarian aid, that didn’t count...\nThey can count it as a success.\n  VERB: V as n/-ing/adj, V, V n as n\n\n8. If you count something when you are making a calculation, you include it in that calculation.\nIt’s under 7 percent only because statistics don’t count the people who aren’t qualified to be in the work force...\nThe years before their arrival in prison are not counted as part of their sentence.\n  VERB: V n, be V-ed as n, also V n as n\n  = include\n9. You can use count to refer to one or more points that you are considering. For example, if someone is wrong on two counts, they are wrong in two ways.\n`You drink Scotch,’ she said. `All Republicans drink Scotch.’.`Wrong on both counts. I’m a Democrat, and I drink bourbon.’\n  N-COUNT: on supp N\n\n10. In law, a count is one of a number of charges brought against someone in court.\nHe was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder.\n  N-COUNT: usu N of n\n\n11. If you keep count of a number of things, you note or keep a record of how many have occurred. If you lose count of a number of things, you cannot remember how many have occurred.\nThe authorities say they are not able to keep count of the bodies still being found as helicopters search the area...\nShe’d lost count of the interviews she’d been called for.\n  PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR of n\n\n12. If someone is out for the count, they are unconscious or very deeply asleep. (INFORMAL)\n  PHRASE: v-link PHR\n\n13. If you say that someone should stand up and be counted, you mean that they should say publicly what they think, and not hide it or be ashamed of it.\nThose involved and benefiting from the scandal must be prepared to stand up and be counted.\n  PHRASE\n\n14.\nto count your blessings: see blessing


Words: count against
Meaning:
count against\n  If something counts against you, it may cause you to be rejected or punished, or cause people to have a lower opinion of you.\nHe is highly regarded, but his youth might count against him.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n


Words: count in
Meaning:
count in\n  If you tell someone to count you in, you mean that you want to be included in an activity.\nShe shrugged. `You can count me in, I guess.’\n  PHRASAL VERB: usu imper, V n P\n  !=count out


Words: count noun
Meaning:
count noun  count nouns\n  A count noun is a noun such as `bird’, `chair’, or `year’ which has a singular and a plural form and is always used after a determiner in the singular.\n  N-COUNT\n  = countable noun


Words: count on
Meaning:
count on   or count upon\n1. If you count on something or count upon it, you expect it to happen and include it in your plans.\nThe government thought it could count on the support of the trades unions...\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n/-ing\n\n2. If you count on someone or count upon them, you rely on them to support you or help you.\nDon’t count on Lillian...\nI can always count on you to cheer me up...\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n, V P n to-inf


Words: count out
Meaning:
count out\n1. If you count out a sum of money, you count the notes or coins as you put them in a pile one by one.\nMr. Rohmbauer counted out the money and put it in an envelope.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n (not pron), also V n P\n\n2. If you tell someone to count you out, you mean that you do not want to be included in an activity.\nIf this is the standard to which I have to drop to gain membership, then count me out!\n  PHRASAL VERB: usu imper, V n P\n  !=count in


Words: count towards
Meaning:
count towards\n  If something counts towards or counts toward an achievement or right, it is included as one of the things that give you the right to it. (in AM, usually use count toward)\nIn many courses, work from the second year onwards can count towards the final degree.\n  PHRASAL VERB: V P n


Words: countable noun
Meaning:
count.able noun\n   countable noun  countable nouns\n  A countable noun is the same as a count noun.\n  N-COUNT


Words: countdown
Meaning:
count.down\n   countdown  countdowns\n1. A countdown is the counting aloud of numbers in reverse order before something happens, especially before a spacecraft is launched.\nThe countdown has begun for the launch later today of the American space shuttle...\n  N-SING: also no det\n\n2. The countdown to an event is the period of time leading up to the event.\n...the countdown to the next election.\n  N-COUNT


Words: countenance
Meaning:
coun.te.nance\n   countenance  countenances  countenancing  countenanced\n1. If someone will not countenance something, they do not agree with it and will not allow it to happen. (FORMAL)\nJake would not countenance Janis’s marrying while still a student.\n  VERB: usu with brd-neg, V n\n\n2. Someone’s countenance is their face. (LITERARY)\n  N-COUNT


Words: counter
Meaning:
coun.ter\n   counter  counters  countering  countered\n1. In a place such as a shop or cafe, a counter is a long narrow table or flat surface at which customers are served.\n...those fellows we see working behind the counter at our local video rental store.\n...the cosmetics counter...\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. If you do something to counter a particular action or process, you do something which has an opposite effect to it or makes it less effective.\nThe leadership discussed a plan of economic measures to counter the effects of such a blockade...\nSears then countered by filing an antitrust lawsuit.\n  VERB: V n, V by -ing\n\n3. Something that is a counter to something else has an opposite effect to it or makes it less effective.\n...NATO’s traditional role as a counter to the military might of the Warsaw pact.\n  N-SING: a N to n\n\n4. If you counter something that someone has said, you say something which shows that you disagree with them or which proves that they are wrong.\nBoth of them had to counter fierce criticism...\nThe union countered with letters rebutting the company’s claims...\nThe Prime Minister countered by stating that he had grave misgivings about the advice he had been given...\n`But Peter, it’s not that simple,’ Goldstone countered in a firm voice.\n  VERB: V n, V with n, V by -ing, V with quote, also V that\n\n5. A counter is a mechanical or electronic device which keeps a count of something and displays the total.\n...an answerphone with an LED display call counter.\n  N-COUNT: usu supp N\n\n6. A counter is a small, flat, round object used in board games.\n  N-COUNT\n\n7.\n  see also bargaining counter, bean counter, Geiger counter, rev counter\n8. If a medicine can be bought over the counter, you do not need a prescription to buy it.\nAre you taking any other medicines whether on prescription or bought over the counter?\n...basic over-the-counter remedies.\n  PHRASE\n\n9. Over-the-counter shares are bought and sold directly rather than on a stock exchange. (BUSINESS)\n  PHRASE: usu PHR n\n\n10. If one thing runs counter to another, or if one thing is counter to another, the first thing is the opposite of the second thing or conflicts with it. (FORMAL)\nMuch of the plan runs counter to European agriculture and environmental policy...\n  PHRASE: V inflects, PHR to n\n\n11. If someone buys or sells goods under the counter, they buy or sell them secretly and illegally.\nThe smugglers allegedly sold the gold under the counter, cheating the VAT man out of .5 million.\n  PHRASE: PHR after v


Words: counter-
Meaning:
counter-\n  Counter- is used to form words which refer to actions or activities that are intended to prevent other actions or activities or that respond to them.\nThe army now appears to have launched a counter-offensive.\n...the chief of counter-terrorist operations.\n...a counter-demonstration by anti-war protesters...\n  PREFIX


Words: counter-argument
Meaning:
counter-argument  counter-arguments\nin AM, usually use counterargument\n  A counter-argument is an argument that makes an opposing point to another argument.\n...an attempt to develop a counter-argument to the labor theory.\n  N-COUNT


Words: counter-attack
Meaning:
counter-attack  counter-attacks  counter-attacking  counter-attacked   also counterattack\n  If you counter-attack, you attack someone who has attacked you.\nThe security forces counter-attacked the following day and quelled the unrest...\n  VERB: V\n  = retaliate\n  Counter-attack is also a noun.\nThe army began its counter-attack this morning.\n  N-COUNT


Words: counter-culture
Meaning:
counter-culture  counter-cultures   also counterculture\n  Counter-culture is a set of values, ideas, and ways of behaving that are completely different from those of the rest of society.\n...a history of British counter-culture.\n  N-VAR


Words: counter-espionage
Meaning:
counter-espionage\nin AM, use counterespionage\n  Counter-espionage is the same as counter-intelligence.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: counter-intelligence
Meaning:
counter-intelligence   also counter intelligence, counterintelligence\n  Counter-intelligence consists of actions that a country takes in order to find out whether another country is spying on it and to prevent it from doing so.\n...the FBI’s department of counter-intelligence.\n...a counter-intelligence officer.\n  N-UNCOUNT: oft N n


Words: counter-measure
Meaning:
counter-measure  counter-measures   also countermeasure\n  A counter-measure is an action that you take in order to weaken the effect of another action or a situation, or to make it harmless.\nBecause the threat never developed, we didn’t need to take any real countermeasures.\n  N-COUNT


Words: counter-productive
Meaning:
counter-productive   also counterproductive\n  Something that is counter-productive achieves the opposite result from the one that you want to achieve.\nIn practice, however, such an attitude is counter-productive...\n  ADJ: usu v-link ADJ


Words: counter-revolution
Meaning:
counter-revolution  counter-revolutions\nin AM, also use counterrevolution\n1. A counter-revolution is a revolution that is intended to reverse the effects of a previous revolution.\nThe consequences of the counter-revolution have been extremely bloody.\n  N-COUNT\n\n2. You can refer to activities that are intended to reverse the effects of a previous revolution as counter-revolution.\nSuch actions would be regarded as counter-revolution.\n  N-UNCOUNT


Words: counter-revolutionary
Meaning:
counter-revolutionary  counter-revolutionaries\nin AM, also use counterrevolutionary\n1. Counter-revolutionary activities are activities intended to reverse the effects of a previous revolution.\n...counter-revolutionary propaganda.\n  ADJ\n\n2. A counter-revolutionary is a person who is trying to reverse the effects of a previous revolution.\n  N-COUNT


Words: counteract
Meaning:
counter.act\n   counteract  counteracts  counteracting  counteracted\n  To counteract something means to reduce its effect by doing something that produces an opposite effect.\nMy husband has to take several pills to counteract high blood pressure...\n  VERB: V n


Words: counterbalance
Meaning:
counter.bal.ance\n   counterbalance  counterbalances  counterbalancing  counterbalanced   also counter-balance\n1. To counterbalance something means to balance or correct it with something that has an equal but opposite effect.\nAdd honey to counterbalance the acidity...\n  VERB: V n\n  = offset\n2. Something that is a counterbalance to something else counterbalances that thing.\n...organisations set up as a counterbalance to groups allied to the ANC.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to n


Words: counterblast
Meaning:
counter.blast\n   counterblast  counterblasts   also counter-blast\n  A counterblast is a strong angry reply to something that has been said, written, or done. (JOURNALISM)\nBritish experts delivered a strong counter-blast to the Professor’s claims.\n  N-COUNT: oft N to n


Words: counterclockwise
Meaning:
counter.clockwise\n   counterclockwise   also counter-clockwise\n  If something is moving counterclockwise, it is moving in the opposite direction to the direction in which the hands of a clock move. (AM)\nRotate the head clockwise and counterclockwise.\n  ADV: ADV after v\n  !=clockwise\n  Counterclockwise is also an adjective. (in BRIT, use anticlockwise)\nThe dance moves in a counter-clockwise direction.\n  ADJ: ADJ n\n  !=clockwise


