Glossary of 1,500 Common English Words
Browse the glossary using this index
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C |
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cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
a group of ministers that helps lead a government | ||
call | ||
|---|---|---|
to give a name to ("I call myself John."); to ask for or request ("They called for an end to the fighting.") | ||
calm | ||
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quiet; peaceful; opposite tense | ||
camera | ||
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a device for taking pictures | ||
camp | ||
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a place with temporary housing | ||
campaign | ||
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a competition by opposing political candidates seeking support from voters; a connected series of military actions during a war | ||
can | ||
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to be able to; to have the right to; n. a container used to hold liquid or food, usually made of metal | ||
cancel | ||
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to end; to stop | ||
cancer | ||
|---|---|---|
a disease in which dangerous cells grow quickly and destroy parts of the body | ||
candidate | ||
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a person who seeks or is nominated for an office or an honor | ||
capital | ||
|---|---|---|
the official center of a government; the city where a country's government is | ||
capitalism | ||
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an economic system in which the production of most goods and services is owned and operated for profit by private citizens or companies | ||
capture | ||
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to make a person or animal a prisoner; to seize or take by force; to get control of | ||
car | ||
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a vehicle with wheels used to carry people; an automobile; a part of a train | ||
care | ||
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to like; to protect; to feel worry or interest | ||
careful | ||
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acting safely; with much thought | ||
carry | ||
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to take something or someone from one place to another | ||
carry out | ||
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to do; to put into effect ("Please carry out the plan.") | ||
case (court) | ||
|---|---|---|
a legal action | ||
case (medical) | ||
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an incident of disease ("There was only one case of chicken pox at the school.") | ||
cat | ||
|---|---|---|
a small animal that often lives with humans | ||
catch | ||
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to seize after a chase; to stop and seize with the hands | ||
cause | ||
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to make happen; n. the thing or person that produces a result | ||
ceasefire | ||
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a halt in fighting, usually by agreement | ||
celebrate | ||
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to honor a person or event with special activities | ||
cell | ||
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a small mass of living material that is part of all plants and animals | ||
center | ||
|---|---|---|
the middle of something; the place in the middle; a place that is the main point of an activity | ||
century | ||
|---|---|---|
one hundred years | ||
ceremony | ||
|---|---|---|
an act or series of acts done in a special way established by tradition | ||
chairman | ||
|---|---|---|
a person leading a meeting or an organized group | ||
champion | ||
|---|---|---|
the best; the winner | ||
chance | ||
|---|---|---|
a possibility of winning or losing or that something will happen | ||
change | ||
|---|---|---|
to make different; to become different | ||
charge | ||
|---|---|---|
to accuse someone of something, usually a crime; n. a statement in which someone is accused of something | ||
chase | ||
|---|---|---|
to run or go after someone or something | ||
cheat | ||
|---|---|---|
to get by a trick; to steal from | ||
cheer | ||
|---|---|---|
to shout approval or praise | ||
chemicals | ||
|---|---|---|
elements found in nature or made by people; substances used in the science of chemistry | ||
chemistry | ||
|---|---|---|
the scientific study of substances, what they are made of, how they act under different conditions, and how they form other substances | ||
chief | ||
|---|---|---|
the head or leader of a group; ad. leading; most important | ||
child | ||
|---|---|---|
a baby; a boy or girl | ||
children | ||
|---|---|---|
more than one child | ||
choose | ||
|---|---|---|
to decide between two or more | ||
chromosome | ||
|---|---|---|
a line of genes; most human cells contain 46 chromosomes | ||
circle | ||
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a closed shape that has all its points equally distant from the center, like an "O" | ||
citizen | ||
|---|---|---|
a person who is a member of a country by birth or by law | ||
city | ||
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any important large town | ||
civil rights | ||
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the political, economic and social rights given equally to all people of a nation | ||
civilian | ||
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not military | ||
claim | ||
|---|---|---|
to say something as a fact | ||
clash | ||
|---|---|---|
a battle; v. to fight or oppose | ||
clean | ||
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to make pure; ad. free from dirt or harmful substances ("clean water") | ||
clear | ||
|---|---|---|
easy to see or see through; easily understood | ||
clergy | ||
|---|---|---|
a body of officials within a religious organization | ||
climate | ||
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the normal weather conditions of a place | ||
climb | ||
|---|---|---|
to go up or down something by using the feet and sometimes the hands | ||
clock | ||
|---|---|---|
a device that measures and shows time | ||
close | ||
|---|---|---|
to make something not open; ad. near to | ||
cloth | ||
|---|---|---|
a material made from plants, chemicals, animal hair and other substances | ||
clothes | ||
|---|---|---|
what people wear | ||
cloud | ||
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a mass of fog high in the sky | ||
coal | ||
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a solid black substance used as fuel | ||
coalition | ||
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forces, groups or nations joined together | ||
coast | ||
|---|---|---|
land on the edge of the ocean | ||
coffee | ||
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a drink made from the plant of the same name | ||
cold | ||
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not warm; having or feeling great coolness or a low temperature | ||
collect | ||
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to bring or gather together in one place; to demand and receive ("collect taxes") | ||
college | ||
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a small university | ||
colony | ||
|---|---|---|
land controlled by another country or government | ||
color | ||
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the different effects of light on the eye, making blue, red, brown, black, yellow and others | ||
combine | ||
|---|---|---|
to mix or bring together | ||
come | ||
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to move toward; to arrive | ||
command | ||
|---|---|---|
to order; to have power over something | ||
comment | ||
|---|---|---|
to say something about; to express an opinion about something | ||
committee | ||
|---|---|---|
a group of people given special work | ||
common | ||
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usual; same for all ("a common purpose") | ||
communicate | ||
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to tell; to give or exchange information | ||
community | ||
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a group of people living together in one place or area | ||
company | ||
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a business organized for trade, industrial or other purposes | ||
compare | ||
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to examine what is different or similar | ||
compete | ||
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to try to do as well as, or better than, another or others | ||
complete | ||
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having all parts; ended or finished | ||
complex | ||
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of or having many parts that are difficult to understand; not simple | ||
compound | ||
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a substance containing two or more elements | ||
compromise | ||
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the settlement of an argument where each side agrees to accept less than first demanded | ||
computer | ||
|---|---|---|
an electronic machine for storing and organizing information, and for communicating with others | ||
concern | ||
|---|---|---|
interest, worry ("express concern about"); v. to fear ("to be concerned") | ||
condemn | ||
|---|---|---|
to say a person or action is wrong or bad | ||
condition | ||
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something declared necessary to complete an agreement; a person's health | ||
conference | ||
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a meeting | ||
confirm | ||
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to approve; to say that something is true | ||
conflict | ||
|---|---|---|
a fight; a battle, especially a long one | ||
congratulate | ||
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to praise a person or to express pleasure for success or good luck | ||
connect | ||
|---|---|---|
to join one thing to another; to unite; to link | ||
conservative | ||
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one who usually supports tradition and opposes great change | ||
consider | ||
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to give thought to; to think about carefully | ||
constitution | ||
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the written general laws and ideas that form a nation's system of government | ||
contain | ||
|---|---|---|
to hold; to include | ||
container | ||
|---|---|---|
a box, bottle or can used to hold something | ||
continent | ||
|---|---|---|
any of the seven great land areas of the world | ||
continue | ||
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to go on doing or being | ||
control | ||
|---|---|---|
to direct; to have power over | ||
convention | ||
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a large meeting for a special purpose | ||
cook | ||
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to heat food before eating it | ||
cool | ||
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almost cold | ||
cooperate | ||
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to act or work together | ||
copy | ||
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to make something exactly like another; n. something made to look exactly like another | ||
corn | ||
|---|---|---|
a food grain | ||
correct | ||
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true; free from mistakes; v. to change to what is right | ||
cost | ||
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the price or value of something ("The cost of the book is five dollars."); v. to be valued at ("The book costs five dollars.") | ||
cotton | ||
|---|---|---|
a material made from a plant of the same name | ||
count | ||
|---|---|---|
to speak or add numbers | ||
country | ||
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a nation; the territory of a nation; land away from cities | ||
court | ||
|---|---|---|
where trials take place; where judges make decisions about law | ||
cover | ||
|---|---|---|
to put something over a person or thing; n. anything that is put over a person or thing | ||
cow | ||
|---|---|---|
a farm animal used for its milk | ||
crash | ||
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to fall violently; to hit with great force | ||
create | ||
|---|---|---|
to make; to give life or form to | ||
creature | ||
|---|---|---|
any living being; any animal or human | ||
credit | ||
|---|---|---|
an agreement that payments will be made at a later time | ||
crew | ||
|---|---|---|
a group of people working together | ||
crime | ||
|---|---|---|
an act that violates a law | ||
criminal | ||
|---|---|---|
a person who is responsible for a crime | ||
crisis | ||
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an extremely important time when something may become much better or worse; a dangerous situation | ||
criticize | ||
|---|---|---|
to say what is wrong with something or someone; to condemn; to judge | ||
crops | ||
|---|---|---|
plants that are grown and gathered for food, such as grains, fruits and vegetables | ||
cross | ||
|---|---|---|
to go from one side to another; to go across | ||
crowd | ||
|---|---|---|
a large number of people gathered in one place | ||
crush | ||
|---|---|---|
to damage or destroy by great weight; to defeat completely | ||
cry | ||
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to express or show sorrow or pain | ||
culture | ||
|---|---|---|
all the beliefs, traditions and arts of a group or population | ||
cure | ||
|---|---|---|
to improve health; to make well ("The doctor can cure the disease."); n. something that makes a sick person well ("Antibiotics are a cure for infection.") | ||
curfew | ||
|---|---|---|
an order to people to stay off the streets or to close their businesses | ||
current | ||
|---|---|---|
movement of air, water or electricity; ad. belonging to the present time ("She found the report in a current publication.") | ||
custom | ||
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a long-established belief or activity of a people | ||
customs | ||
|---|---|---|
taxes on imports | ||
cut | ||
|---|---|---|
to divide or injure with a sharp tool; to make less; to reduce | ||