Tuesday, November 27, 2012

English Vocabulary - 11/26

1. dastardly (M) characterized by underhandedness or treachery, (C) evil and cruel
~ The dastardly clerk deferred the application on purpose until the contract lapsed, and the applicants was left dismayed.
(a dastard: a coward)
~ It was his dastardly plot to overthrow the president and made his son king in his place.
~ It was dastardly of him to trap street cats and torture them brutally.
~ a dastardly attack/deed

2. adroit (C) very skilful and quick in the way you think or move; dexterous
~ The adroit secret agent managed to smuggle the Americans out of Iran in the end of the movie Argo.
~ Thai fruit carving requires very adroit hands.

3. abscond: (M) to depart secretly and hide oneself (W) run away, usually includes taking something or somebody along  潛逃
~ The salesman is believed to have absconded with the containers which are worth more than one million dollars.
~ The murderer moved the savings away, killed the accountant and hid him in a secret place, so that other employees and the investigators would assume it was the accountant who had absconded with money.

4. absolve (C) to free someone from guilt, blame, or responsibility for something (esp. in religious/law) 赦免
~ Please absolve me of all my sins.
~ Ideally and theoretically, absolution is the only way to true peace, but in reality it is usually not the case.
~ Many Chinese people still cannot absolve Japanese of the guilt during WWII.
~ With the increasing tension between the two tribes, a mutual absolution has become less and less likely.

5. bungle (W) make a mess of, destroy or ruin; (M) to act or work clumsily and awkwardly, botch
~ How can you bungle a simple recipe like that? The recipe is so easy that a 5-year-old will not bungle it.
~ He bungled his job and got fired.
~ Keep Sansa unaware of our plan; otherwise she will bungle it!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Practice the English vocabulary in use daily for Improving English Language skills