7 highly useful vocab words for the ESL student

 

to be in custody – this is when the police believe someone has committed a crime and they take the person to the police station to question him/her. The person will either be arrested and charged with a crime or allowed to go free. i.e. The police currently have a person in custody who may have been the person who robbed my house. They are still investigating, however. Or: That guy who got into a fight in the local bar and hurt Joe is in custody right now. The police are trying to decide whether to charge him with a crime. Joe had to go to the hospital but it looks as if Joe might have started the fight.

solemn – something very formal and serious, usually a ceremony or event. i.e. For a few years after the 9/11 attacks in New York City, there was a very solemn and moving ceremony each year to remember the innocent people who died. Government leaders and family members would speak about this tragedy and prayers would be said and very emotional music would be played. Or: My father had been a soldier, so when he died the US Army performed a very solemn ceremony at his grave. Soldiers fired their guns and a person played a very sad song on a bugle (a type of horn instrument).

to curb something – to reduce something, do something less then one usually does it. i.e. If Bob wants to lose weight, he needs to curb the amount of beer he drinks. Or: I want to start saving more money, I need to curb my spending. (a curb is the area between a sidewalk and the street; it is connected to the sidewalk and higher than the street and a person parks his/her car next to it)

to be slated to begin on a date – to be scheduled to begin on a certain date. i.e. The rollout of our new product has been slated to begin on January 4^th. Or: Construction on our street has been slated to begin next week. We won’t be able to park our cars on our block next week. (a slate is a flat piece of rock that students used to write on over 100 years ago – it was easy to erase writing from a slate and so one slate could be used over and over again)

to be charged with a crime – this happens after a person is arrested, if the police are sure he committed a crime. A person will be formally charged or accused of the crime and have to go on trial. A trial is in a courtroom with a judge. If a person charged with a crime wants a jury, then 12 people will be chosen to listen to the case and decide whether he/she is guilty or innocent. i.e. The police arrested Joe because they believed he had stolen his roommate’s smartphone. The phone was discovered, however, in the apartment before Joe could be charged, so the police merely let him go. Or: Right now they are investigating Trump for various wrongdoings, but there might not be enough evidence to actually arrest and charge him with a crime.

to summon someone, a summons – to call someone is to summon someone, a summons is like a ticket the police give someone indicating he has to go to court because he has been accused of a minor crime. i.e. It was time for dinner and Bob’s wife summoned him from the garage into the kitchen to eat with the family. Or: In New York City, if someone is caught drinking alcohol publicly the police will not arrest him/her because that takes too much time. They will issue the person a summons, indicating that the person must appear in court, before a judge, to determine whether the person was guilty of that minor “crime”.

an aficionado – (uh FISH ee un AH dough) someone who really likes or is into something (this is a Spanish word, used in English). i.e. I like soccer (football) but Joe is a real soccer aficionado. He watches a few games every week and knows a lot about the different teams and players. Or: It is safe to say that I am an art aficionado. I love going to art museums and galleries and I read and write about art.

7 highly useful ESL (English) vocabulary words

 

to assassinate someone – an assassination is a political murder or a murder of someone in politics or government. i.e. Abraham Lincoln was the first US president to be assassinated. This happened in 1865 when an actor shot Lincoln at a Washington D.C. theater. Or: Four US presidents have been assassinated because it is so easy for people to get guns in the USA. Two other presidents were shot, but they were merely wounded and did not die.

a version of something – a different copy of something that came before it. i.e. I don’t know how many versions of the iPhone there have been so far. Each version has a slightly better camera and memory capacity, I suppose.  Or: The writer came up with three different versions of the ending of her book. She decided to finally choose the happiest version to make her readers feel good.

to dock your pay – this is when an employer takes money out of an employee’s paycheck, usually because the employee has been late or violated some other company policy. i.e. I live near one of the worst subway lines in the city and I sometimes can’t get on the train in a timely manner because service is so bad. But my company docks me a significant sum each time I am late. It’s so unfair. Or: Because Joe kept coming in to work ½ hour late each morning, his company has now threatened to dock him a big chunk of money for each time he is late in the future.

to sneak into a place – to go into a place, usually without permission, in a very quiet way. i.e. In New York City the subway fares are kind of high, so many poor people will try to sneak into the system. If they get caught, they will be punished with a fine (they will have to pay money). Or: Trump does not like illegal immigration because he says people sneak into the country and use educational and medical services for free. According to Trump, this hurts the economy.

to be vulnerable – capable of being hurt. i.e. It is important to be kind to children as much as possible because they are developing and very sensitive. They are super vulnerable and can be really hurt deeply if we are not careful. Or: We need to be very nice to Joe over the next few days. He just broke up with his girlfriend and he is quite emotionally vulnerable now. He seems to get hurt emotionally very easily these days.

periodically – every once in a while, not a lot but not a little, and not according to a set schedule. i.e. I used to go to Hong Kong from Shenzhen periodically. I averaged maybe once every three weeks. Because of the protests, I have stopped going completely. Or: A good supervisor will have meetings with individual staff members periodically to provide useful and supportive feedback.

superficial – on the surface. i.e. There are many people who look cool in Brooklyn, but when you talk to them, they are kind of stupid. These are just superficial people who want to look interesting, but who are not interesting. Or: Superficially the deal between our companies looked good. But when I read the details of the agreement more carefully, I realized we needed to avoid this agreement.

5 ESL vocab words (6)

 

to vow to do something – to promise to do something; to seriously say you will do something i.e. The mayor (leader) of the city vowed to make sure that the subway system would run more efficiently, because so many people were complaining about it. Or: You are a good friend of mine, I vow that I will always try my best to help you.

relentless/relentlessly – never giving up. The United States pursued the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden relentlessly and, finally, after many years, they executed him. Or: Scientists have been relentlessly searching for a cure for cancer, and they have made great progress over the years in cancer treatment.

to boycott something – an organized effort to get people not to buy something from a business or a country for political or moral reasons. i.e. Caesar Chavez wanted to help poor Mexican workers in California who were picking grapes for large farms, but not being paid much money. He asked Americans to boycott grapes to force the farms to pay the workers higher wages. The boycott worked – when farers started losing money because people were not buying grapes, they raised the wages of the poor workers. Or: South Africa used to have a racist system in which black people could not live among white people. Countries around the world started to boycott South African diamonds. Because South Africa needed to make money from selling diamonds, they ended their system of racist ‘apartheid’ (keeping blacks separated from whites).

dignity – to have a sense of dignity is to have a sense of self-respect; to treat others with dignity means to realize they are human beings and that they should be treated with respect and consideration. i.e. This boss of ours is terrible, he does not treat people with dignity. He is insulting and cruel and often shouts at his staff. Or: Even the poorest person deserves to be treated with dignity because he/she is a human being and worthy of kindness, mercy and respect.

to smuggle something into somewhere – to take something into a country secretly and illegally. i.e. In Singapore, they will execute anyone who tries to smuggle illegal drugs into their country. Or: In US airports trained dogs are used to sniff around (smell) pieces of luggage to catch drugs and even food that some people might be trying to smuggle into the country.

5 ESL vocab words (5)

 

to be diligent – basically this means to be hard working and focused on details. i.e. Our last accountant, Bob, had a good education but he just wasn’t diligent enough. He always seemed to make mistakes that others had to correct. Or: No student is going to do well in school unless he/she is diligent about reading the materials assigned and doing thorough (complete) research.

to be or feel overwhelmed – to experience too much of something  i.e. I had so much work to do and then my boss gave me three extra projects to finish by the end of the week. I felt so overwhelmed by work that I wanted to scream. Or (used positively): When I visited China two summers ago people were so kind to me; I was overwhelmed by their kindness and cannot even express my gratitude to this day. Or: I decided to go to a nightclub in Manhattan by myself but there were so many attractive and cool people that I felt overwhelmed and I went home. I now realize few people go to nightclubs alone.

to bail on someone or something – to abandon someone or something, to run away from someone or something. This term comes from “to bail out of an airplane” – in a war if an airplane is damaged a pilot will jump out (bail out) of the airplane and glide down with his parachute. ‘bail’ can be a confusing word because you can also ‘bail someone out of trouble’ or someone arrested by the police can pay ‘bail’ and stay out of jail before his/her trial. So ‘bail’ has a few meanings, but I want to focus on ‘to bail on someone or something’. i.e. When I got to the dance club I realized that everyone there was a teenager, so I bailed on the club and went elsewhere. Or: Joe had a blind date from an internet dating site (he was meeting the person for the first time without having seen her before). At the restaurant he realized that his date was a nasty and insulting person, so he made an excuse to leave and bailed on her.

a rant – this is when a person complains loudly about something, for a significant amount of time. i.e. At the press conference Trump launched into (began) a long rant about how much journalists hate him and how unfair everyone is to him. Or: Sometimes crazy people launch into crazy rants on the subway in New York City. They just start complaining loudly about anything and everything.

to be booted from some place – to be kicked out of some place, to be removed from some place. i.e. A crazy woman launched into a scary rant on an airplane recently and started saying that the airline was corrupt and they were all going to die. The plane landed early so she could be booted and arrested. Or: Two people wouldn’t stop talking at the concert hall recently and this upset many people who had paid a lot for their tickets. So the security guards booted these two people from the concert hall.

5 more English vocab words (4)

 

to jinx yourself – to do something that brings bad luck onto yourself. i.e. Two days ago I wrote on Facebook that my relationship with my girlfriend was super strong and we would love each other forever. The next day we had a huge argument and broke up. I totally jinxed myself by saying we would love each other forever. Or: I bought a new car last week and then I learned that I am not going to receive the bonus I expected. I jinxed myself by buying that car!

to execute someone – this is when the government kills a criminal who has committed a serious crime. i.e. The state of Texas recently executed a man who had killed an entire family after robbing them (stealing money from them). Or: In the USA a person can only be executed for murder or for betraying the USA to a foreign government (helping a foreign government to gain secrets about the USA).

a tragedy – this usually means someone or some people who were innocent died in an unnecessary way. i.e. It was a real tragedy that several Chinese immigrants died in a truck as they were being illegally transported into England. Or: September 11^th 2001 is a tragedy that no New Yorker will ever forget. 3,000 innocent people died in a terrorist attack.

to suffocate – to die because of a lack of air. i.e. The Chinese people who died in the truck in England may have suffocated due to the container they were in, or they may have frozen to death because it was a refrigeration container. Or: In the tragedy of the Kursk submarine, many sailors suffocated when the submarine dropped to the bottom of the ocean and it could not be brought back to the surface. (A submarine is a ship that travels underwater – about 10 years ago a Russian submarine called the Kursk had an explosion and dropped to the bottom of the ocean. Most sailors suffocated.)

a good cause (or: a cause) – this is an organized effort to improve something in the world. i.e. I like to donate money each year to a good cause. Last year I gave money to a program for orphans and the year before I donated to the cause of protecting the environment. Or: In the 1970s many women joined the cause of women’s rights. Or: In the 1980s in the USA gay rights became a major cause leading to equal rights for gay people in America’s cities. Or: I am going to donate money for research into how to end cancer. This is a good cause I want to support.

5 English vocab words (3)

 

a glitch – a technical problem. i.e. Ladies and gentlemen, please bear with us, there has been a technical glitch in our sound equipment, but we are confident we can fix it shortly. Or: The rollout of the new model of the cell phone was delayed because engineers discovered a glitch in the system and were not sure how to fix it.

to overhaul something – to fix something so that it works better. i.e. My car was pretty old and it was not running well, so I went to the mechanic and he was able to overhaul it so that it runs perfectly now. Or: Our accounting department has been working too slowly, so its supervisor decided to overhaul it by replacing some accountants and hiring new ones.

a temptation – something that makes you want to do something that you know you shouldn’t do. i.e. That cake was a real temptation for me to eat, but because I am on a diet I was able to resist the temptation and I am so proud of myself. Or: Quitting this stressful job was a real temptation, but because I need to make a living, I resisted the temptation and I still work here.

your carbon footprint – this means the amount of carbon dioxide you have used or are currently using. Carbon dioxide is a gas that results when electricity is generated or when you use a car. Global warming is due to the carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere. Your footprint is the mark you leave with your foot as you walk, so your ‘carbon footprint’ is the carbon dioxide you cause to be created in the world as you live. i.e. I try to turn off the lights when I don’t need them, and I use a fan instead of air conditioning. In this way I hope to reduce my carbon footprint. Or: Joe is so irresponsible. He takes 30-minute hot baths, runs his air conditioning all the time, never shuts off his lights – his carbon footprint is huge.

a moocher – this is someone who tries to get lots of free things from others. i.e. Someone I know from Guangzhou decided to visit me in Shenzhen. Little did I know he was a moocher who would never pay for any of the meals we ate at restaurants or any of the tickets for events we attended. I was bleeding money while this moocher was in town because I paid for everything. Or: Bob’s brother-in-law came to stay for a week. The moocher ate all the food in the refrigerator and never bought anything for Bob’s family. 

ESL vocabulary - 5 useful words (2)

 

to complicate something – to make something more difficult, usually making a problem worse. i.e. I asked Joe our IT guy to help me with a computer problem and he just complicated things. Now my computer does not even work. Or: I was having trouble with my girlfriend and I told her that I wanted to talk to her. But our conversation wasn’t very useful; things just became more complicated and now we hate each other.

to morph into something – to change into something. Bob used to be a real idiot in the office but suddenly he just seemed to morph into a decent human being. Now we have no problem with him. Or: Joe used to be one of the nicest people I knew, but constant stress made him morph into a total butthole.

a meltdown –  this is when a person has been under too much stress and cannot take it anymore and becomes overly emotional; he/she might scream or cry or become very upset. A meltdown literally happens in a nuclear reactor when something wrong happens and radioactive smoke is released into the environment. i.e. I knew Joe was under a lot of stress but I was shocked to see him go through such a meltdown. He started screaming at everyone and then just sat down and started crying very hard. Or: Suddenly Bob just started crying and blaming everyone for all of the problems in the office. He had never had this type of meltdown before and we were quite concerned. 

a mindset – this is when a person establishes an attitude and will not change it even if he/she is wrong and people prove that the person is wrong. i.e. The problem with Trump is that he has a very negative mindset concerning immigrants. Even though they are good for the economy, he will always believe that they are evil. Or: It is difficult to change one’s mindset if it is not challenged by experience. Bob never thought women could be great managers until he started working with Jill.

to get rusty – this is when you had a pretty good skill at something, but you did not use the skill for awhile and the skill has lessened. Rust is the red stuff that appears on metal after many years, when the metal gets old. i.e. I used to be able to read German pretty well, but I haven’t tried to read anything in months. I might be a little rusty at reading German these days. Or: I used to be a pretty good golfer, but I might be a little rusty now because I haven’t played in two years.

ESL vocabulary - 5 useful words

 

to dread something – (pronounced: dred) to really hate the idea of doing something, to feel kind of sick when you think of doing something. i.e. My tooth is really hurting me, but I dread the idea of going to the dentist. Or: I know the number 4 line of the Shenzhen subway is going to be so crowded that I dread going there this morning.

to be on the ball – to be doing what you should be doing and doing it well. i.e. Hey, we are falling behind in our work so we need to get on the ball and start working harder. Or: I don’t like working with Joe, he’s just not on the ball and he wastes my time.

a bombshell – something shocking, like a bombshell news report. i.e. The report that Trump stupidly tried to get Ukraine to help him win the next election was bombshell news. i.e. When Bill told us he was leaving the company after 35 years, this was a bombshell that left all of us very shocked and sad. – a bombshell is the package that a bomb is enclosed in, so you would think the term ‘explosion’ would be better, but for some reason people use ‘bombshell’ instead.

a sixth sense – we have five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell…so a sixth sense means a feeling beyond our normal senses, sort of an intuition or awareness that doesn’t come from anything in the outside world.  i.e. Joe didn’t say or do anything, but my sixth sense told me that he was angry with me this morning. Or: When I woke up this morning my sixth sense told me this would be a great day, and my sixth sense was right.

alleged – this is a common word in US newspapers and it means that the police believe someone committed a crime but it hasn’t been proved. i.e. The alleged murderer has claimed that he is innocent, so we will have to wait until his trial to find out the truth. Or: It has been alleged that Trump broke the law, so now the government must investigate him thoroughly.

ESL vocab (9)

 

a cheapskate – someone who doesn’t like to spend money, someone who is not generous. i.e. Janet’s boyfriend was a real cheapskate who always took her to the least expensive restaurants. Or: Everyone said that Joe was a cheapskate, but, in reality, he was quite poor and could not afford to be generous.

a slowpoke – someone who moves or does something too slowly. i.e. I hate this Starbucks! The counter staff are al such slowpokes. It takes them 10 minutes just to pour me an Americano. Or: When is Joe going to have that report finished?! He is such a slowpoke, he takes forever on every project.

nose-bleed seats – these are very cheap seats at a performance, usually very far away and high up. Sometimes mountain climbers will experience nose-bleeds if they climb too high too quickly. i.e. I love hearing piano music played live, but all I can afford are the nose-bleed seats at the concert hall. i.e. Joe told me we were going to be sitting in the front row at the soccer match, but the cheapskate bought tickets in the nose-bleed seats! The players looked like ants.

ESL Vocab (8)

 

to get some consolation – this means that something didn’t turn out as you had hoped it would, but you were about to get some good from it anyway. i.e. I didn’t get promoted to the upper management this year, but receiving a good job performance assessment was some consolation. Or: My dream girl doesn’t love me but she wants to hang out every once in a while, so that’s some consolation.

to indulge in something – to really enjoy something that you normally wouldn’t enjoy. i.e. I have been on a diet for three months now and am feeling pretty good, so I am going to indulge in some KFC tonight, just as a treat for myself. Or: I love classical music and I have been saving up my money, so I am going to indulge in an orchestral performance at the concert hall this weekend.

to be loaded – to have a lot of money. i.e. Wow, I thought Dan was loaded when I noticed he was wearing some Bruno Magli shoes, but then I learned he bought them at a resale shop for $3. Or: Trump is fat and ugly and can’t control his emotions and must be difficult to live with, but three attractive women have married him, could it be because he is loaded?

ESL Vocab (7)

 

from the get-go – from the start. i.e. Bob did not like Joe from the get-go. Joe would come to the office and spend most of his time talking to other office staff while Joe tried to work. Bob began to irritate Joe from the get-go.  i.e. From the get-go Debra has been a very hard worker who has initiated a lot of good ideas.

a loud-mouth – someone who talks too much, often too loudly. i.e. There was no doubt about it, the new guy in the office was a loud-mouth who could not focus on his work and who was going to bother Bob every day. “How do I deal with such a loud-mouth?” Bob wondered every morning.

to be rational – the opposite meaning would be ‘emotional’. If you are rational you make decisions by thinking instead of feeling. You use ‘reason’ and not ‘emotion’. You think about possible consequences and whether what you will do will be right or wrong. i.e. Obama was much more rational in his decisions than Trump. Trump just does what he feels like without thinking. i.e. I need to be more rational when I make my choices. I can’t let my emotions guide me not bad decisions.

Three useful words for the ESL student (6)

 

to be in a pickle – to be in a difficult situation. A pickle is a small, flavored cucumber. You often find pickles on hamburgers. You make pickles by putting baby cucumbers into a jar with water and dill (a flavoring herb). I am not sure why “to be in a pickle” means to be in a bad or difficult situation. i.e. How am I feeling? Well, I’m a little stressed out because I’m in a bit of a pickle at work. I had an argument with a director. Or: I am a little worried about Bob, he seems to be in a pickle because his wife caught him sending text messages to his secretary that were not work related.

an eyewitness – this is a person who actually sees something that happened. i.e. Yes, I was in New York City for 9/11/2001, but I was not an eyewitness to the attacks. I saw the smoke from the buildings afterwards, but I did not see the attacks. Or: A person was attacked on the subway today and I saw it. So the police want me as an eyewitness in the attacker’s trial. (a trial happens after a person is arrested by the police – it determines whether a person is guilty or innocent of something)

to be a pain in the butt – if a person annoys or irritates you, you can say he is a pain in your butt. ‘Butt’ is the nice or polite term for the part of your body that you sit on. i.e. Joe, in my office, has finished his work and has nothing to do. He is now a pain in my butt because he won’t stop talking to me while I try to do my work. Or:  Those kids sitting next to me at the Shenzhen Concert Hall were such a pain in the butt. They wouldn’t stop chatting with each other. (so you can say someone is a pain in your butt or a pain in the butt)

Three useful words for the ESL student (5)

 

a red flag – when you say something is or was a red flag, you are saying it points to a problem or indicates a problem. The term is often used after something happens. i.e. Jane should have known that Bob would cheat on her. The fact that he was always smiling when he received text messages was a red flag that he was chatting with many women. Or: I should have known that Joe would not be a good friend. The fact that he liked to gossip about people he knows was a red flag that I missed.

to pig out – to eat way too much at one time, just for the fun of it. I have been under so much stress that last night I went out with some friends and we just pigged out on pizza and pasta. I think I ate three pizzas. Or: I was on a diet for several days, but I was so hungry that I couldn’t help myself. Last night I pigged out at the KFC. I must have eaten 12 chicken wings and 4 orders of French fries.

to hog something – if you hog something you take too much of something or use something too much so that other people can’t use it. A hog is a pig. So if you are at a party and somebody is hogging the wine, they are drinking too much of the wine so that there might not be enough for everyone. i.e. I am really upset with Joe in our office because he hogs the printer and I can never get anything printed when I want to. Or: At our company dinner, Bob hogged the chicken wings. I got zero chicken wings because he was hogging them.

Three useful words for the ESL student (4)

 

next to nothing – hardly anything. If something is ‘next to nothing’ it is not very much. This phrase is often used in regard to prices or earnings. i.e. I went to the discount warehouse in New Jersey and I got a designer bag for next to nothing. (the person did not pay very much for the bag) or: Oh my God money goes so fast! I just got paid last week and I looked at my bank account – I had next to nothing in there.

to be competent – to be able to do something effectively. If a person cannot handle a job effectively, he/she is called incompetent. i.e. The new accountant for our company is highly competent. He is quite skilled and doing a great job helping us to save money. The last accountant was totally incompetent – he didn’t seem to even know the basics of accounting. Or: Just because a person speaks English, it doesn’t mean that he/she is competent to be an English teacher. A competent English teacher has to know a great deal about grammar and teaching methods.

an entrée – in the USA an entrée is the main course of a meal. So you might have an appetizer and then the entrée and then dessert. In Europe, the entrée is the appetizer because entrée comes from the French word for ‘enter’ or ‘begin’. i.e. For the entrée I’d like a ribeye steak, cooked well-done.