Doing things
26 English words (level C2) with a simple English definition and an example sentence. In the app you can hear every word and practise with flashcards, a quiz, spelling and listening.
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| English | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| brandish | to wave a weapon in a threatening way | He brandished a knife. |
| caffeinate | to add caffeine to; also to drink coffee for energy (informal) | I need to caffeinate before work. |
| clinch | to finally win or settle something | They clinched the deal. |
| disperse | to spread or move in different directions | The crowd dispersed. |
| echolocate | to find objects by sending out sounds and hearing them return | Bats echolocate in the dark. |
| embed | to fix something firmly inside something else | The stone was embedded in the wall. |
| encumber | to make it hard to move or act | She was encumbered with heavy bags. |
| fabulate | to invent stories | Children love to fabulate. |
| glory in | to enjoy something very much, often proudly | She gloried in her success. |
| hitch | to attach something; also to get a free ride (hitchhike) | They hitched a ride to town. |
| hoist | to lift up, often with ropes | They hoisted the flag. |
| idle | (an engine) to run slowly without moving; also to do nothing | The car idled at the lights. |
| incise | to cut a design into a surface | Letters were incised into the stone. |
| intersperse | to put things here and there among other things | The talk was interspersed with jokes. |
| interweave | to weave or mix together | The novel's stories interweave beautifully. |
| mangle | to badly crush or damage | The car was mangled in the crash. |
| mesh | to fit together well | Our ideas mesh well. |
| overlay | to cover one thing with another | Artists overlay the wood with gold. |
| perch | to sit on the edge of something | She perched on the arm of the chair. |
| posit | to suggest an idea as a basis for argument | The theory posits that time is relative. |
| prise | to open or remove with force (British) | He prised the lid off the tin. |
| quirk | to twist into a slight smile | His mouth quirked into a smile. |
| side-step | to step to one side; also to avoid a question or problem | He side-stepped the question. |
| unravel | to separate threads; also to solve a mystery; also to fail | The detective unraveled the mystery. |
| vandalize | to damage property on purpose | The bus shelter was vandalized. |
| wrack | to cause great pain or damage (usually 'be wracked') | Pain wracked his body. |