IDIOMS

Haggle– Dispute over the cost of something; barter; bargain.

Sentence – If he did not haggle, he would sooner or later lose out, with a consequent loss for his client.

Golden handcuffs: collection of financial incentives, intended to encourage employees to remain with a company.

Sentence – He was bound by golden handcuffs to the Salomon Brothers mortgage trading department.

Amassed– Gather together or accumulate (large amount of material or things).

Sentence – The enormous national debt amassed in the last eight years makes all this apparent prosperity nothing but a house of cards.

Abysmal: extremely bad, dreadful.

Sentence – Surely, even by the abysmal standards of these people, we can survive without this organized slaughter?

Dwindling: generally diminishing in size, amount or strength. Eg. Dwindling resources.

Sentence – Their number now dwindling rapidly, the old soldiers have decided to disband their association this year.

Parlance– Particular way of speaking or using words; idiom; language.

Sentence – Models of mind In modern parlance, Hobhouse placed his emphasis on cognition and was discussing the evolution of cognitive capacity.

Inevitability: The quality of being certain to happen.

Sentence – There was always a power of inevitability generated by a self-confidence that made things fit together well.

Zeal: great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective; passion.

Sentence – She had a kind of missionary zeal about bringing culture to the masses.

Havoc– widespread destruction, devastation, disaster.

Sentence – This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.

Aftermath: the consequences or after- effects of a significant unpleasant event.

Sentence – Rage, in the aftermath of desire, was beating through her skull, but he was already moving away.

Naivety: lack of experience, wisdom or judgement; simplicity; innocence.

Sentence – He combined curious qualities of naivety with incisive wit and worldly sophistication.

Rallying point: someone or something that makes people join together to support a person or a cause.

Sentence – The flag was still with us, and one or two of our regimental officers made it a rallying point.

Egged on: Incite, urge ahead, provoke.

Sentence – She was taking a tough schedule, and Rudi felt that she needed to be egged on and watched over.

Clumsy: awkward in a movement or handling things; uncoordinated.

Sentence – He’s clumsy and untidy but then again he’s always willing to help.

Dismay: concern and distress caused by something unexpected; surprise; shock.

Sentence – Aid workers were said to have been filled with dismay by the appalling conditions that the refugees were living in.

Overwhelm: Bury or drown beneath a huge mass of something, especially water; submerge.

Sentence – Something seemed to pour through his face and overwhelm her, something molten, timeless, glorious.

Shrill: (of a voice or sound) highly- pitched and piercing.

Sentence – Shrill voices on both sides of the Atlantic are advocating protectionism.

The way of skepticism: doubt on someone.

Sentence – The information filtered through her skepticism until she admitted he spoke too logically to be anything but right.

Unsolicited: not asked for; given or done voluntarily; uninvited, unrequested.

Sentence – When unsolicited applications come into the office we stick them in a file and look at them when we are hiring.

Invasive: Tending to spread very quickly and undesirably or harmfully.

Sentence – Compared with invasive carcinoma, intraepithelial neoplastic lesions harbour a greater diversity of human papillomavirus types.

Falsify: Prove (a statement or theory) to be false.

Sentence – Hackers basically falsify credit card with the identity of purloin, use false proof to buy housing and medical treatment insurance to wait.