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.