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detriment, noun:
- 1. Loni's purple hair may be detriment when she goes for a job interview.
- 2. Smoking is a detriment to your health. It's estimated that each cigarette you smoke will shorten your life by one and a half minute.
a disadvantage
Beeintraechtigung, Schaden, Nachteil, unguenstiger Umstand.
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dexterous, adjective:
- 1. The juggler was so dexterous that he managed to keep five balls in motion at once.
- 2. Although he has arthritis in his hands, Phil is very dexterous. For example, he builds detailed model airplanes.
skilled
geschickt, gewandt,erfahren, ausgebildet.
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discretion, noun:
- 1. Ali wasn't using much discretion when he passed the police car at eighty miles an hour.
- 2. Small children haven't yet developed discretion. They ask embarrassing questions like "When will you be dead, Gpa?"
good sense
Umsicht, Taktgefuehl, Wahrnehmung, Einsicht, Besonnenheit.
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facetious, adjective:
- 1. Dr. Segura has a facetious sign on his office door: "I'd like to help you out. Which way did you come in?"
- 2. My boss always says, "You don't have to be lazy to work here, but it helps." I hope she's just being facetious.
funny
drollig, scherzhaft, witzig, komisch.
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gregarious, adjective:
- 1. Melissa is so gregarious that she ants to be ith other people even when she's studying.
- 2. My gregarious brother loves parties, but my shy sister preferes to be alone.
outgoing
gesellig, aufgeschlossen, kontaktfreudig.
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optimum, adjective:
- 1. The road was so icy that the optimum driving speed limit was only about ten miles an hour.
- 2. For the weary traveler, optimum hotel accommodations include quiet room, a comfortable bed, and efficient service.
ideal
optimal, vollkommenm, vorbildlich.
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ostentatious, adjective:
- 1. My show-off aunt has some ostentatious jewelry, such as a gold bracelet that's so heavy she can hardly lift her arm.
- 2. The lobby of that hotel is ostentatious, whit fancy furniture, thick rugs, and tall flower arrngements. The guest rooms upstairs, however, are extremely plain.
showy
auffaellig, pompoes, protzig, angeberisch.
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scrupulous, adjective:
- 1. The judge was scrupulous about never accepting a bribe or allowing a personal threat to influence his decisions.
- 2. The senator promised to run a scrupulous campaign, but her ads were filled with lies about her opponent's personal life.
ethical
moralisch, sittlich, standesgemaess, gewissenhaft, bedenklich.
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sensory, adjective:
- 1. Since our sensory experiences are interrelated, what we taste is greatly influenced by what we smell.
- 2. A person in a floating tank has almost no sensory stimulation. The tank is dark and soundproof, and the person floats in water at body temperture, unable to see or hear and scarcely able to feel anything.
of the senses.
Sinnes-, sensorisch.
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vicarious, adjective:
- 1. I don't like to take risks myself, but I love the vicarious thrill of watching death-defying advantured in a movie.
- 2. If you can't afford to travel, reading guidbooks can give you a vicarious experience of traveling in foreign countries.
indirect
stellvertrettend, indirekt, mittelbar.
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collaborate, verb:
- 1. When Sarah and I were asked to collaborate on an article for the school newspaper, we found it difficult to work together.
- 2. Several writers and editors have collaborated on preparing this vocabulary text, sharing their knowledge and skills.
to team up
zusammen tun, zusammen arbeiten, zusammen wirken.
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despondent, adjective:
- 1. Devon become despondent too easy. If he gets even one bad grade, he loses all hope of succeeding in school.
- 2. For months after his wife died, Mr. Craig was despondent. He even considered suicide.
depressed
mutlos, niedergeschlagen, bedrueckt, depremieret.
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instigate, verb:
- 1. The rock group's violent performance instigated a riot in the audience.
- 2. An English captain named Robert Jenkins instigated a war in 1738 by displaying his pickled ear, which he said had been cut off by a Spanish patrol. The horrified British declared war on Spain - the "War of Jenkins' Ear."
to cause
anzetteln, aufhetzen, anregen, anstiften, bewirken, ausloesen.
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resilient, adjective:
- 1. Children can be amazingly resilient. Having faced sad and frightening experiences, they often bounce back to their normal cheerful selves.
- 2. Plant life is resilient. For example, a few weeks after Mount St. Helens volcano reupted in Washington in 1980, flowers ere growing in the ashes.
quick to recover
belastbar, elastisch, wiederherstellbar,
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retrospect, noun:
- 1. After hobbling around on her broken foot for a week before seeing a doctor, Mae then needed surgery. In retrospect, it's clear she should have gotten help sooner.
- 2. When I took Mr. Klein's writing course, I thought she was too demanding. In retrospect, though, I realized that she taught me more than anyone else.
looking back
rueckblickend, rueckschauend, zurueckblickend.
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rudimentary, adjective:
- 1. A grammar book usually starts with rudimentary skills, such as identifying nouns and verbs.
- 2. I'm so used to adding and subtracthing on a calculator that I've probably forgotten how to do those rudimentary mathematical calculations on my own.
basic
einfach, elementar, grundlegend, verkuemmert, ansatzweise.
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scoff, verb:
- 1. Bystanders scoffed at the street musician playingg a tune on a row of tin cans, but he seemed unaare that people were making fun of him.
- 2. Tony scoffed at reports that a hurricane was coming until he saw the winds knocking down trees and overturning cars.
to ridicule
spotten ueber, verhoehnen, verspotten, laecherlich.
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squelch, verb:
- 1. My history teacher shot me a dirty look during class when i couldn't quite manage to squelch a burp.
- 2. Decades of communism in Easter Europe didn't squelch the desire for freedom. As soon as they could, the people in these countries began to form democracies.
to hold back
unterdruecken, ersticken, zurueckhalten.
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venerate, verb:
- 1. The Tlingit Indians venerate the wolf and the raven, and their totem poles illustrate stories in praise of these animals.
- 2. The guests at our dean's retirement banquet made it clear that they venerated her; when she entered the room, everyone rose.
to honor
anerkennen, ehren, verehren.
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zealot, noun:
- 1. Anna, a zealot about health, runs a hundred miles a week and never lets a grain of sugar touch her lips.
- 2. The Crusaders were Christian zealots during the Middle Ages who left their homes and families and went off to capture the Holy Land.
an extremist
Fanatiker, Geifer, Extremist.
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ambiguous, adjective:
- 1. The portrait known as the "Mona Lisa" is famous for the woman's ambiguous expression. Is she smiling or not?
- 2. Lee left an ambiguous message on my answering machine:"Meet me at twelve o'clock." I coundn't tell whether he meant noon or midnight.
unclear
unklar, zweideutig, missverstaendlich, mehrdeutig.
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dissident, noun:
- 1. Some dissidents in the Catholic church favor such changes as allowing women to be priests and allowing priests to marry.
- 2. In a dictatorship, dissidents are not toleranted. People ho speak out against the government may be imprisoned or even executed.
a rebel
Rebell, Andersdenker.
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embellish, verb:
- 1. Lauren embellished the door of her locker with postcards from her friends and photos of her cats.
- 2. The cover of the biology textbook was embellish with a pattern of colorful seashells.
to decorate
ausschmuecken, verziehren, beschoenigen.
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fritter, verb:
- 1. I thought my little sister would fritter her entire allowance on M&M's, but instead of wasting her monesy, she put it in her piggy bank.
- 2. Vince fritters away both his time and his money playing games after games in video arcades.
to waste
vergeuden, verschwenden, verbrauchen.
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inadvertent, adjective:
- 1. Alexander Flemming's discovery of penicillin was inadvertent. He forgot to cover a dish of bacteria, and some mold got into it. The next day, Flemming found that the mold had killed the bacteria.
- 2. The final draft of Nancy's paper was shorter than the previous version, but this was inadvertent. She had accidently deleted an entire page without realizing it.
not intended
versehentlich, unachtsam, nicht beabsichtigt.
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inane, adjective:
- 1. The conversation at the party was inane, consisting mainly of foolish comments about whose cloths were the most "awesome."
- 2. Television programming is often so inane that TV has been described as "bubble gum for the mind."
silly
albern, dumm, affig, nichtig, sinnlos.
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juxtapose, verb:
- 1. The photograph dramaticly juxtaposed white birch trees and a dark gray sky.
- 2. Dottie spread her new dress on her bed and then juxtaposed all her scarves and jackets to it to see which combination ould look best.
to put side by side
nebeneinander stellen.
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lethargy, noun:
- 1. Although Wendy seemed to recover from the flu, one symptom persisted lethargy. She felt exhausted for weeks.
- 2. With the hot weather, lethargy descended upon the class. The students had trouble staying awake, and even the instructor gazed dreamily out the window.
inactivity
teilnahmslosigkeit, energielosigkeit, lustlosigkeit, untaetigkeit.
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sporadic, adjective:
- 1. It rained continously until noon. After that, there were only sporadic showers.
- 2. Dave makes sporadic attempts to give up smoking, but this occasional efforts have been halfhearted.
irregular
unregelmaessig, vereinzellt, aperodish.
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subsidize, verb:
- 1. During college, many students are subsidized by their parents, while others rely on grants or loans.
- 2. Public television is subsidized by various grants and by individual and community donations.
to pay for
buessen, bezahlen, ausbaden.
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