MACMILLAN STUDENT’S DICTIONARY Second Edition General Editor Martin H. Manser Compilers and Editors Jane Deam Rosalind Fergusson Magey Hendry Gillian A. Rathbone Maurice Waite MACMILLAN© Copyright text Macmillan Education Ltd 1984, 1996 © Copyright illustrations Macmillan Education Ltd 1984, 1996 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitred save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First edition 1984 Reprinted 12 times Second edition 1996 Published by MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies and representatives in Accra, Banjul, Cairo, Dar es Salaam, Delhi, Freetown, Gaborone, Harare, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kampala, Lagos, Labore, Lusaka, Mexico City, Nairobi, Sao Paulo, Tokyo ISBN 0-333-65419-6 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 Printed in Hong Kong A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.Contents Introduction iff Why a dictionary is helpful iv How to use this dictionary v Beginnings and endings of words xv Grammatical words aii Irregular verbs xix Abbreviations used in this dictionary 2exi DICTIONARY 1 Appendix: Currency units 499 Continents and countries of the world 502 Abbreviations 506 ‘Weights and measures 511 SI units S11 Chemical elements and symbols 512 Punctuation 513 Introduction This dictionary is written for students with a basic knowledge of the English language but who have not yet reached an advanced level of ability. It has been prepared with two particular groups of users in mind: students for whom English is a Second Language, that is those who are taught school subjects such as geography, mathematics, physics, and literature in English; and students studying for examinations at intermediate level. The choice of entries and meanings given reflects the needs of both such groups: for exam- ple, greater attention has been paid to ‘study language’—words and phrases common to many subjects—than is usual in dictionaries of a similar size. In this second edition, the text has been completely revised and updated. About 2000 general, scientific, and technical words have been added, about 1000 new examples have been included, and 120 illustrations have been revised or added. Students sometimes use a learner’s dictionary that is too advanced for their real needs, It is hoped that this medium-sized dictionary will indeed be a useful reference book and will be found to develop the knowledge and abilities of the intermediate learner of English. Martin H. ManserWhy a dictionary is helpful This dictionary gives help in three areas of language skills: how to speak English, how to write it, and how to read it. Speaking English To be able to speak English well, you must pronounce the words accurate- ly. English spelling is unreliable as the same written letter may represent different sounds. For example, the letter a stands for different sounds in the words cat, came, mare, and ago. For this reason we use a phonetic spelling in this dictionary. This is 2 way of writing the pronunciation where one symbol always represents one sound. To check how to pro- nounce the word, look it up in the dictionary, and you will find its phonet- ic spelling. A list of the symbols used is given on page vii. Writing English If you want to write good English, you must be able to spell words correct- ly. A dictionary will help you to check the right spelling of a word. To find out how a word is spelt, look up the ways you think it might be spelt and you will find the one that is right. In writing it is often not enough to know how to spell a word; you also want to know how to use it. The grammati- cal information, notes on the kinds of situation in which a word is suit- able, and examples given, will guide you in this. Reading English ‘When you meet a word whose meaning you do not understand, think and try to work out what the word means from the rest of the sentence. Then, if you still can’t understand it, look it up in the dictionary. Remember that many of the dictionary entries have more than one definition, so it is important to look at all the meanings of the word to find the one that fits your particular sentence. The dictionary will be found helpful in these three ways. But to get the best use from your dictionary, you should read the next few pages to dis- cover how it works.How to use this dictionary 1 Headwords The information in the dictionary is arranged in entries and the first word in the entry is called the headword. This word is printed in thick type. The headwords are all listed in alphabetical order from A to Z. {Lob peopletactiog topeihte collective barge Hing. @-ne something, siach as a farm, that's run ‘collectively, sollectively ady oollautor college (‘ki et (a part of) “ty. 2 a place of education, esp.of a particu- Ine kind for rudents who hve left schoo iin art college: © collide (ka'laid) vi If you want to look up the word college, you look among the words begin- ning with C. But there are many such words, so you look at the next letter: co. Words beginning co- come after words beginning cl- and before those beginning cit-. But there are still many such words, so you look at the third and fourth letters, and so on, until you find the word college. Not every word that you want to look up will be a headword. Some will! be derived words—see section 7 below. ‘The words printed at the top of each page help you to find a word quickly. At the top of a left-hand page the first new headword on that page is print- ed; at the top of a right-hand page, the last headword on that page.Some headwords have small raised numbers by their sides. This means that they are spelt the same, but have different histories, and are best thought of as different words, Other information about the headword is given where needed: irregular plurals comparative and superlative forms of an adjective ed fixed sary ne 8 other English spellings : colour US color (' the light produced c American spellings | toe spelling Notes Irregular forms of verbs are included as headwords, for example there are entries for brought and written. A full list of irregular verbs is on page xix. 2 There are a number of differences in spelling between American and British English, and many of these are noted at the entries. The main differences are: viHow to use this dictionary American British ONE OR TWO CONSONANTS canceling cancelling focusing focussing or focusing traveler traveller OR > OUR color colour favor favour ER — RE center centre theater theatre soc defense defence “IZE — -ISE realize realise (The -ize spelling is also becoming more common in British English) 2 Pronunciations Each of the headwords has its pronunciation shown in the phonetic spelling of the International Phonetic Association. The form of speech shown is the kind of British English spoken by educated native speakers in England. The symbols used for the phonetic transcriptions are from Everyman's English Pronouncing Dictionary by Daniel Jones, revised by A.C. Gimson (14th edition, Dent). Here is a list of symbols used in this dictionary (a comparison is made with the symbols in the Macmillan New Basic Dictionary where slightly different symbols are used for some sounds): List of phonetic symbols Consonants p pad f fish h bot b big v vase m man t too 8 thin n no d 1 dog 8 then g long k keep s sit I leg gB go % Zero r red tf chin J ship j yes d3 jam 3. measure w winit see at bird NBD a: L 1 it NBD i a driver, Ching i e get el day NBD ei | cat au go NBD au a: father ar fly NBD ai : D hot NBD 5 au how NBD au i or saw on boy NBD ai u put NBD u 3 here NBD ia ur too eo there + NBDeo ! A up ua = poor = NBDua Stress Where a word has more than one syllable, one syllable is given more emphasis or stress than the other. The mark ' is placed before the syllable that has the main stress, for example camera ('kaemora). In other (especial- ly longer) words, other syllables may also be given more emphasis than the rest, but with a stress that is not as strong as that marked '. The mark , is used to show this, for example chronological (,krone'lndgikal). Notes i 1 ais included before an / or 7 sound in some words. An alternative pro- nunciation is to omit it, the / or » becoming a syllable, for example in bottle, button. 2 * is used to show an 7 sound at the end of a word. This is heard in British speech when there is a suffix or a word beginning with a vowel immediately following, for example in law-abiding (‘lo:*a,batdiy). Otherwise it is not pronounced. : 3. Two pronunciations are given where either is acceptable. 9 (eontra,vatst, kan tro lesan’ angen, usually 4 When words with raised numbers by their sides are pronounced the same, the pronunciation is shown only by the first word. i villHow to use this dictionary easel (cers) 80: OF fil i the” fuppen: In case of fie, shout 5 The same word may consist of two parts of speech. Different parts of ‘speech may have different Pronunciations. This is clearly shown. 3 Parts of speech Each of the headwords is given a part-of-speech marker, that is a word to show it is a noun, verb, adjective, etc. The following markers are used: adj adjective big adv adverb fast conj conjunction and determiner my {See note 1) interj interjection hat n noun February ne countable noun book (See note 2) new countable and uncountable noun charm (See note 4) apl plural noun cattle (See note 5) m uncountable noun milk (See note 3) prep preposition into pron pronoun it v verb shall vi intransitive verb come (See note 6) ut transitive verb kick (See note 7) uti transitive and intransitive verb check (See note 8)fiuw wy ape une ueuUneLy Notes 1 The marker determiner is used for words such as mry, that, this. A deter- miner limits the meaning of a noun and comes before any adjective describing that noun. nc A countable noun is one that can be used with a or an, can be courit- ed as separate units, and may be used in the plural with many. An example is book: a book, four books, many books. 3m An uncountable noun is one that takes a singular verb and is usually not used with @ or av, one or other numbers, and does not have a plur- al. It can be used in the singular with words like more, much, some. An example is milk: more milk, much milk, some milk. 4 ncu Some nouns are both countable and uncountable, such as charm, nu You can say: The house bas a certain charm and a country house with great charm. 5 2 pl Some nouns are re only used i in the plural, such as cattle 6 vi An intransitive verb is one that does not take a direct object, such as come in: Jobn came when I called him. 7 vt A transitive verb is one that takes a direct object, such as kick in Jolin kicked the ball. vti Some verbs are both transitive and intransitive, such as check, 00 You can say: ‘Have you checked your work? and ‘Do you have enough sugar?"—T'll just check.” | ‘The part-of-speech markers are placed at the beginning of a definition. Where the marker refers to more than one numbered definition, it comes before all the relevant ones.How to use this dictionary The word chance.is an uncountable noun in definition 1, and a countable noun in definitions 2, 3, and 4. Where the entry for a word has more than one part of speech, the symbol @ is used to separate the parts of the entry. 4 Definitions The definitions are explanations of the meaning of a word. They have been written in simplified language, and you should be able to understand them fully. If you sometimes find a word you do not understand in the defini- tion, look up that word itself in the dictionary; you should find it listed. Numbers are used to separate different meanings of a word. Because a lot of information has been put into the small space of the dic- tionary, some special styles of writing have been used. 1A definition may contain the phrase (of...). This gives information about the words that the headword goes wit These show that definition 4 describes colowrs clashing and 5 events clashing. 2 A definition may contain words in round brackets (_). These are used for two purposes: —to show words that need not be chosen for the definition: ic 1d ‘Seat with the!.p‘This means that definition 3 can be either ‘the position of the Person t in charge of a meeting’ or ‘the person in charge of a meeting’. —to show the direct object of a verb: This shows that news or a book are common objects of circulate in this sense. 5 Style Some of the words and definitions are marked to show that they are thoughe suitable only in particular situations or are used only by certain people. The main ones are: fml (shore for formal) used in formal writing, official meetings; not used in everyday conversation or in letters to friends i infral (short for informal) used between friends in everyday conversa- tion; not used in, for example, business letters slang used between close friends or members of a group that feel they belong together, such as young people; not accepted in general standard English Brit __ only used in British English and variants of English related to it US only used in the English spoken in the United States of America and variants of English related to it Other style markers, such as ot standard, derogatory; specialist subject markers, such as economics, history; and the marker old-fashioned (no longer in general use) are also used. The marker Trademark is included where a word is believed to bea proprietary name, but the presence or the absence of such a marker should not be taken as affecting the legal status of such a word. Labels are placed at the beginning of the definition referred to: 6 Examples and grammatical information Tt is important to know how to use a particular word. For this reason, the dictionary includes many examples and notes on grammatical information to help you use the word correctly. xlHow to use this dictionary come out 1 go to n social occasion: Can you come out for dinner? 2 become known: If you don’t tell us now, it will come out Tater. 3. appear; .be produced, My book cones out tomorrow. consist (kon'sist) vi 1 (followed by of). be made up of: The ted consis of sx eople | Water: cousists: of hydrogen and oxygen. .2- (followed by in) “have as the only or most “important thing: “ ee 7 Compound and derived words In a particular entry compound words and derived words connected with the headword may be given. These kinds of words are printed in thick type towards the end of an entry. Compound words are made up of two or more words joined together, such as cassette recorder. Cassatte (icb!set) rd 1a holder for recordinig~ ‘tape that fits into a tape‘recorder: 2 a holder for film that fits into 2 camera. cassette recorder a tape-recorder that records. on and plays casetes. STS Derived words are words formed from other words, by adding an ending (suffix) to the main part of the word, such as caller from call. all (katt) véi 1 say loudly; shout, 2 telephone: Please call ne at seven o' cocks 'B also call “by or in pay a short visit. .@ ne 1.8 shout. 2 “a short visit 3 telephone or 1m box’ tel phone box. ealler ne 1 a person 3 perton who telephones. Sometimes derived words are included but not defined, for example com- fortably and coniforting. comfort ('karfar) 1 rin a feeling of being at dy. ‘or mind. 2 ne: sori¢one or” that brings comfort.’ @ vt make (someone), less sad or fess wortied. com- fortable adj 1 bringing comfort:'a comfort able: bed..-2 enjoying comfort: Are -you comfortable cormortably adv comforting adj : : 3¥ The meaning of such words can be worked out easily by taking the mean- ing of the main part of the word and joining it to the meaning of the end- ing. The pronunciation of such words is given where it may be difficult to work out. For a list of such endings see page xvi. : Idioms and phrasal verbs are also treated as compounds. 8 Cross-references Some of the words have cross-references to other places in the dictionary. This means that you should turn to the word after the ‘See’ to find the meaning you want—here, track, definition 5.Beginnings and endings of words Many English words are made up by using parts of words, such as -er in speaker, where the ending -er means a person who does something, Here is a list of the more common word parts. Beginnings of words a 1 without; not: asymmetrical in; on; at: ashore aero- aircraft: aeronautics ambi- both; two: ambidextrous ante- _ before: antenatal anthrapo- human: anthropology anti- against: anti-aircraft arch- chief: archenemy astro- stats: astronomy audio- hearing or sound: audiovisual auto- self: autobiography be- (used to make verbs): becalm bi two; twice: bicycle bib book: bibliography bio- life: biography, biology by> Jess important: by-election centi- ‘one hundredth: centimetre chron- time: chronalogical co-, col-, together; with: collect, com-, combine con-, cor- contra- against; opposite: contradict counter- 1 opposite: covuteract 2 corresponding; matching: counterpart de- 1 take away something: dethrone 2 go back: decode di- two: diphthong, dioxide dia- through; across: diameter dis- 1 not: disagree, dissimilar 2 opposite: disconnect electro- electricity: electrolysis em-,en- 1 (used ta make verbs): enthrone, enrich, enable 2 in; into: enlist equi- equal: equidistant ex. 1 former: ex-president 2 out of: expel extra- outside: extraterrestrial fore- 1 front: foreword 2. before: foretell geo- earth: geology blood: haemorrhage one hundred: hectare hemi- half: hemisphere hepta- seven: beptagon hexa- six: hexagon homo- same: homogeneous hydro- hyper- hypo ri in, iL, imi ir. infra inter- proto- pseudo- psycho- water: bydroelectricity much more than normal: hypermarket under: hypodermic im, not: ignoble, iogical, impossible in; into: income, irrigate below: infra-red 1 between: intermediary 2 from one to another: interchange inside: intravenous ‘one thousand: kilometre bad: malfunction 1 million: megawatt 2 megaphone small: microscope middle: rrid-day one thousandth: millimetre small: minibus bad; badly: mislead one: monotony many: multicoloured new: neoclassical mind or nerves: neurosis not: non-stop against: obstruct eight: octagon, octopus all: omnipotent correct: arthodox 1 greater than: outlast 2 outside: outbuilding five: pentagon around: perimeter 1 light: photosynthesis 2 photography: photocopy nature: physiology many: polygon after: postscript, post-war before: prelude 1 in favour of: pro-African 2 substitute: pronoun first; original: prototype not real pretended: pseudonym minds behaviour: psychologyquad- four: quadrangle quin- fiver quintet re- again: reappear retro- ack: retrograde self oneself: self-confident semi- half: semi-circle sept- seven: septet sex: six: sextet socio- social; society: sociology sub- Lunder: subsoil 2 less than: sub normal super- 1 over: superimpose 2. greater: supersonic sym., syn- together with: sympathy, synthesis Since the way a word is said may change from one word to another, a phonetic spelling is not shown here. To find out how to pronounce the word, look it up in the main part of the dictionary. Endings of words -able {abal), objectionable 3 ible” that belongs to: fashionable (tbol} -age (id3) an action, condition, or charge: breakage, postage cal (al) ‘Lan action: removal 2 relating to: postal, central, dental -an (on), 1 (a person) coming from a ian (ran) country: Canadian 2 a person who is an expert at something: mathematician cance, a quality, state, or action: sence assistance, ascendancy (ans), -aney, ~eney (onst) ant, -ent (2 person or thing) that does (ant) somethings pleasant, stiedent, dependent -ar (a*} like; belonging to: solar, molecular ary (ert) 1 connected with: monetary 2 a person doing something: missionary 3.a place for: aviary -ate 1 (at) having a quality: fortunate 2 (ert) a chemical compound: carbonate 3 (ett) cause to have or become: Ayphenate atic (tuk) (used to make adjectives): problematic sation an action, state, or condition: (exfan} pronunciation, moderation cide (satd) killing: insecticide ty (st) a state or quality: secrecy xvi practical skill and science: technology i distant: telephone, television God: theology hear: thermometer across: transcontinental three: triangle beyond: uliraviolet 1 not: unhappy 2 opposite: undo, untie 1 below: undergrowth 2. coo little: underdeveloped uni- one: unity vice- assistant: vice-president -dom (dam)1 a state or condition: freedam 2 an area ruled: kingdom 3.0 {group of persons: officialdom ed (rd, ¢)1 (used to make the past tense | ‘and past participles of verbs): | extended, gained 2 showing or ! having a quality or state: | surprised, long-sighted i -e2 (i) La person to whom something! is done or given: addressee 2.0 | person ina particular stare oF condition: refugee : eer (19*) a person who does something or is concemed with something: mountaineer sen (an) 1 (cause to) become: harden 2 | made of: wooden sence, See -anca -ency vent See -ant L -er(a*) 1 (also -r) (used to make the comparative of adjectives): faster, nicer, tidier 2 (also -or) a person or thing that does | something: cooker, sailor, transmitter 3 a person working! in a jobs woriter, painter 4a person who lives in a place: Londoner §-a person or thing: : that has or is something teenager : sery (at), 1a place where an activity or “Fy (ct) business is done: bakery 2a group of things: cutlery 3a; Conaition: bravery 4 the practice of cookeryBeginnings and endings of words “es See-s a place of origin or language: Chinese, journalese -e55 (1s) (used to make the feminine of ): lioness, comntess est (ist) (used to make the superlative of adjectives): fastest, tidiest cette (et) 1 small: cigarette 2 {used to make feminine nounsh usherette fold having a number of parts or (fould) multiplied by a number: fivefold -ful (ful) 1 having a quality: painfiel 2 the amount that a. .. can hold: spoonful fy (far), make or become: simplify, -ify (ifn) liquefy -gon (gon) an angle: polygon shood) a state or condition; time of thud) being something: manbood, childhood iW {a person) belonging to a religion or people: iragi, Bangladeshi See -an See -able related to: poetic, fanatical -ive (1s) (used to make abstract nouns}: cowardice ies (tks) a science, subject, or group of activities: physics, politics, acrobatics a chemical compound: cyanide See-y See -fy sine (ain) made of; like; connected with: crystalline sing (1m) 1 (used to make the present participle of verbs): eating 2 an action, process, or result; thing: meeting, wedding, welding sion {fon} an action, process, or state: creation, tension ious (os) having a quality: suspicious ise, -ize make: equalise (az) -ish (if) 1 (belonging to) a country or language: Swedish 2 about: seventyish 3 like, having the bad qualities of: childish, foolish 4 t0 some extent: brownish, tallish ism (xzam) 1a system of beliefs, ere: socialism 2 a quality, practice or action: heroism, criticism 1 (a person) following a system of beliefs, etc.: communist 2 a person who does something: motorist sist (ist) cite (ait) {used in the name of a chemical citis (atti) a disease: tonsiffitis -ity (111), a quality, state, or condition: -ty (tt) stupidity, flexibility -ive (1v) that will cause something; having a quality: productive, digestive “ize See -ise cess (lis) not having: harmless -let (lit) something small: droplet like (latk) like: bair-like cling (lig) someone or something stall: duckling slogy —- ascience ar subject: biology, (lad31) geology y(t) 1 (used to make adverbs): nicely 2 having qualities of: brotherly 3 happening at regular times: ‘yearly -man a person wha lives in a place or {man} does something: salesman -ment a state, condition, quality, (mont) result or process: enjoyment, management, arrangensent smost the furthest: eastmost {maust) “hess {nis) a state, quality, or condition; example of this: kindness, brittleness oid (aid) like: humanoid -or See -er “ory (act) 1a place for: observatory 2 having a quality: contributory -ous (as) having a quality: pois -phile (fail) (a person} much: francopbile -phobia fear: claustrophobia (foubra) sproof resisting something: {pruif) waterproof 7 See -er wy See -ery *5,-@8 4 (used to make plurals): (5,2, 12) books, pencils, horses 2 {used to make the third person singular of present tense of verbs): eats, rides “8 (s,2, @) of, ..:Jobn’s, house's, children’s, houses" -ship (fap) 1a state: friendship 2 a skill: craftsmanship some causing: troublesame (sam) -th(®) 1 (used to make adjectives from numbers): fifth 2 a state: widel -tlon (Jan) an action, process, or state or result; thing: completion, imagination +y See -ityGrammaucai woras -ward ina direction: homewards -woman a. woman who lives in a place | (wud), (wumn) ar does something: saleswonsant -wards -¥(t)-Thaving a quality: dusty, sandy, (wudz) sunny 2 (also -ie} (used as