4000 Essential English Words 6 Unit 6: Amazing Komodo Dragons
Word List
- ashore [əˈʃɔːr] adv.
If something goes ashore, it goes from water to the land.
→ After a long day of fishing, Glen pulled his boat ashore, so it wouldn’t float away.
- contradict [ˌkɒntrəˈdikt] v.
To contradict means to state the opposite of what someone else has.
→ Ken was always fighting with his little sister because she kept contradicting him.
- counterpart [ˈkauntərpɑːrt] v.
A counterpart is something that is very similar to something else in what it does.
→ Our manager will meet our rival company’s counterpart later today.
- devoid [diˈvɔid] adj.
When something or someone is devoid of a thing, they are missing it.
→ The movie was devoid of any violence, so it was a perfect movie for the family.
- diverge [diˈvəːrdʒ] v.
To diverge is to become different or to follow a different direction.
→ The road diverged into two paths that led to our houses.
- elude [iˈluːd] v.
To elude means to avoid being caught by something.
→ The rabbit eluded the wolf by hiding in a bush.
- embryo [ˈembriou] n.
An embryo is a human or animal that is still growing inside its mother.
→ Some doctors say that what a mother eats has a big effect on her embryo.
- fend [fend] v.
To fend off something means to push it away and avoid it.
→ Dave spent all night fending off bugs instead of sleeping.
- fictitious [fikˈtiʃəs] adj.
When something is fictitious, it is made up and not real.
→ The author said that the characters in her book were completely fictitious.
- gazette [gəˈzet] n.
A gazette is a newspaper.
→ Alice wants to write for a gazette when she’s older.
- homogeneous [ˌhouməˈdʒiːniəs] adj.
If something is homogeneous, it is made up of things which are all the same.
→ All of the houses on Victor’s block were boring and homogenous.
- obstruct [əbˈstrʌkt] v.
To obstruct something means to get in its way.
→ The car broke down on the road and obstructed traffic for hours.
- plunge [plʌndʒ] v.
To plunge means to move down into something very quickly.
→ The water in the pool was very cold, but the boy plunged in anyway.
- prolong [prouˈlɔ:ŋ] v.
To prolong means to make something last for a longer time.
→ Sandy walked slowly across the beach, trying to prolong her lunch break.
- publicize [ˈpʌbləsaiz] v.
To publicize is to make something get a lot of attention.
→ The company publicized the job positions in the newspaper.
- sparse [spɑːrs] adj.
If something is sparse, there is not very much of it in a big area.
→ Rob spent Saturday in his garden, clearing out the sparse weeds.
- surplus [ˈsəːrplʌs] n.
A surplus is an extra amount of something.
→ The store sold their surplus items on sale.
- theorize [ˈθi:əraiz] v.
To theorize means to develop ideas about something.
→ They enjoyed theorizing about how things worked.
- verify [ˈverəfai] v.
To verify means to find out if something is true.
→ Julian called the movie theater to verify that the movie started at nine.
