Engelska v38

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• tenuous lacking substance or significance. “We didn’t know then that all these places had only the most tenuous links with Hailsham”
• convert change the nature, purpose or function of something. “There was an old farmhouse, and around it, barns, outhouses, stables converted for us to live in.”
• vague lacking clarity or distinctness. “There were other buildings, usually the outlying ones, that were virtually falling down, which we couldn’t use for much, but for which we felt in some vague way responsible - mainly on account of Keffers.”
• confines a bounded scope. “Of course, in practice, we rarely stepped beyond the confines of the Cottages.”
• nonchalance the trait of remaining calm and pretending not to care. “It seemed they did that with what seemed to us scary nonchalance”
• daunt cause to lose courage. “She looked daunted that day”
• languid lacking spirit or liveliness. “If someone mentions the cottages today, I think of the languid way the afternoon would fold into evening and then into night.”
• incongruous lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness. “The thought of us, huddled together on the couch, isn’t so incongruous after all.”
• emphatically in a forceful manner; with emphasis. “She’d smile at us, roll her eyes, and mouth very emphatically, but only just audibly:…”
• spiel artful or slick talk used to persuade. “When her husband went off on a big spiel, the audience laughed.”
• speculate reflect deeply on a subject. “You can’t just go speculating about whether they became a couple or not!”
• stoop bend one’s back forward from the waist on down. “We were laying on the mattress, our heads slightly stooped because of the rafters.”
• tactful having a sense of what is considerate in dealing with others. “And Ruth had been at her best: encouraging, tactful and wise.”
• anecdote short account of an accident. “The veterans were never slow coming out with funny anecdotes about characters they’d met along the road.”
• taboo a ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion. “But it’s perhaps stretching it to claim students who left were an actual taboo.”
• blasé nonchalantly unconcerned. “The veterans shrugged it off quickly in a blasé way, so we did the same.’
• irony incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs. “They usually mocked him with a hint of irony.”
• aura distinctive but intangible quality around a person or thing. “The house’s gloomy windows gave it alone an alarming aura.”
• purge rid of impurities. “He’ll pick them up, next time he decides on a purge.”
• expression the communication of your beliefs or opinions. “They were watching me with a serious expression plastered all over their faces.”
• intrigue a crafty and involved plot to achieve your ends. “It had both intrigued and disturbed us.”
• provoke provide needed stimulus to evoke anger anger. “The theory did not provoke much dispute.”
• consensus agreement in the judgement reached by a group as a whole. “Beyond these basics, there wasn’t much consensus.”
• irrelevance the lack of relation of something to the matter at hand. “Our models were an irrelevance, a technical necessity for bringing us into the world, nothing more than that.”
• reincarnation a second or new birth. “He was reincarnated in a more beautiful body.”
• chortle a soft, partly suppressed, laugh. “If his girl said anything mildly amusing, he’d be chortling and shaking his head like he couldn’t believe how funny it was.”
• nestle move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position. “I closed my eyes and nestled against the arm of the sofa.”
• exasperated greatly annoyed, out of patience. “First there was silence, then she let out an exasperated sigh.”
• tentatively in a hesitant matter. “They were bringing it up, tentatively, as if to see our reactions.”
• gist the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work. “I’d heard enough to get the gist of it.”

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