0514 Flashcards
coast
She was the master of coasting.
1 [usually + adverb/preposition] if a car or bicycle coasts, it moves without any effort from you or any power from the engine
coast down/around/along etc
Bev coasted downhill on her bicycle.
2 to not try very hard to do something well – used to show disapproval
Janey’s teacher says she’s just coasting at school.
3 to be successful at something without much effort
They scored three goals in the first half and from then on United were coasting.
coast to/through
The Ugandan relay team are coasting to victory.
4 to sail along the coast while staying close to land
1 [countable] the area where the land meets the sea → coastal
gradient
She knew exactly where the gradient shifted to put it into neutral.
a slope or a degree of slope, especially in a road or railway SYN grade American English
a steep gradient
gridlock
If we were stuck in gridlock, my mom would turn the car off and it was my job to get out and push it forward six inches at a time.
1 a situation in which streets in a city are so full of cars that they cannot move
2 a situation in which nothing can happen, usually because people disagree strongly SYN stalemate
The battle over spending led to gridlock.
remnant
Even after apartheid, most black people still lived in the township and the area formerly designated as homelands, where the only available government schools were the broke remnants of the Bantu system.
1 [usually plural] a small part of something that remains after the rest of it has been used, destroyed, or eaten
remnant of
The remnants of a meal stood on the table.
2 a small piece of cloth left from a larger piece and sold cheaply
microcosm
Bein a Model C school and not a government school, Sandringham drew kids from all over, making it a near-perfect microcosm of post-apartheid South Africa a whole - a perfect example of what South Africa has the potential to be.
a small group, society, or place that has the same qualities as a much larger one → macrocosm
microcosm of
New York’s mix of people is a microcosm of America.
in microcosm
All the problems of society can be seen here in microcosm.
spectrum
Sandringham was more like a spectrum.
1 a complete range of opinions, people, situations etc, going from one extreme to its opposite
spectrum of
the ethnic spectrum of America
across the spectrum
The bill drew support from across the political spectrum.
broad/wide/full etc spectrum
a broad spectrum of environmental groups
The two articles here represent opposite ends of the spectrum.
2 the set of bands of coloured light into which a beam of light separates when it is passed through a prism
3 a complete range of radio, sound etc waves
the electromagnetic spectrum
canteen
At Sandringham we’d buy our lunch at what we call the tuck shop, a little canteen, and then have free rein to go wherever we wanted on the school ground to eat - the quad the courtyard, the playground, whatever.
1 British English a place in a factory, school etc where meals are provided, usually quite cheaply
quad
1 a square open area with buildings all around it, especially in a school or college
free rein
give somebody (a) free rein
to give someone complete freedom to do a job in whatever way they choose
clique
kids would break off and cluster into their cliques and groups.
a small group of people who think they are special and do not want other people to join them – used to show disapproval
clique of
a ruling clique of officials
the cliques formed by high school students
