Learn English Words Intermediate 125

first word is esoteric when something is

esoteric it’s alright so the word

esoteric refers to something that

requires specialized knowledge so in a

conversation somebody might use this

word to say sorry to be esoteric and

then they’ll continue talking about some

subject or some concept that requires a

certain level of knowledge in the given

field next word superfluous superfluous

just means extra really this what can a

person be superfluous so superfluous

yeah just just refers to stuff that’s

maybe not necessary or the X the extra

just stuff or extra extra things in a

given context so maybe you know oh I

have so much superfluous stuff in my

kitchen of course using superfluous in

such a casual way like that is very

unnatural but you could do it if you

really wanted to sound smart aqueous

aqueous means to like you might have

like kind of sailing Pirates of the

Caribbean something like he will not

acquiesce to your requests or she will

not acquiesce to your requests

it just means she won’t obey or listen

or do as told but that’s it’s the same

exact meaning to acquiesce to accept

something yet to go along with angst

angst refers to just kind of this like

that that unhappy feeling the sort of

angry or maybe melancholy or just

feeling like you know you’re

misunderstood so a teenager or I suppose

a teenager themselves might not use this

word but the parents of the teenager

might say oh my teenager is so filled

with angst hitch hitch hitch refers to

in my mind anyway just um junk honestly

it’s the little things that you know

might crowd your house like a snow globe

or special little ornaments or just you

know decorative knickknacks you might

say oh my aunts apartment is really

kitschy I mean she has maybe like a lot

of knickknacks or the style is just kind

of thinking outside the box this is a

phrase that means just thinking

differently or you know outside the

norms of regular thinking which would be

inside the box and then choosing to

think about something in a different way

might be considered outside the box so

it’s usually a compliment like great job

thinking outside the

Bock Stephens the next word is the

bottom line the bottom line just refers

to kind of the the end all of the

situation like in a sentence the bottom

line is we have to make more sales next

month meaning this is the one thing that

we really need to focus on the next word

is hit the ground running it just means

to start well if you think about a

runner of course a runner as soon as

maybe they touch the ground at a race

they are running and it’s sort of the

same thing here except in a business

sense so as soon as a project starts

they’re going they’re you know pushing

forward on the project you might say

next week we’re going to start the new

project let’s hit the ground running we

need to get a good start next word is

giving a hundred and ten percent

it just means giving your all or making

your best effort to do something so of

course 100 percent is the maximum in a

given situation but giving 110 percent

means that you know your boss presumably

wants you to give more than your best so

it just means work really hard as in hey

we have that meeting coming up next

month let’s give 110 percent to make

sure all of the materials are finished

by then it is what it is it is what it

is is just a phrase that often wraps up

a conversation sometimes it can be a

negative situation like you hear Oh

sales are down this month well it is

what it is meaning there’s nothing we

can do or that’s just the situation

right now it’s just uh yeah just a

feeler phrase really my stomach’s making

noise its curriculum vitae is that how

you say that curriculum vitae vut I fit

a curriculum vitae VI curriculum vitae

you might see this abbreviated as C V

when you’re looking for jobs most of the

people who are looking for applicants

will request your CV or your curriculum

vitae which is really just a record of

your life your history often your work

history you might see it written on a

job form something like all applicants

must submit their curriculum vitae to be

considered for the position but most of

the time I see it as CV in American

English though I should point out that

you might see resume

which is the same the same exact thing

that’s asking for your work history next

is ad hominem ad hominem means to attack

somebody like when you’re arguing or

having a discussion but you’re not

actually addressing what the other

person is saying you’re just attacking

that person so you might say he was

arguing ad hominem meaning in other

words he was not actually debating the

issue but he was just attacking the

other person in the argument they use ex

machina is the next word this is a fun

word especially if you like watching

movies deus ex machina literally means

god from the machinery so anytime you’re

watching a movie and suddenly out of

nowhere somebody comes in to save the

main character for for example that’s an

example of deus ex machina so if you’re

writing for example if you’re writing a

story it’s typically a good idea not to

use Dave’s ex machina your teacher might

say don’t use dayz ex machina in your

writing because it seems kind of cheap

right you know your main character gets

in a jam and then something amazing

happens and they’re saved what’s the fun

in that

the next word next phrase rather is

magnum opus magnum opus just refers to

usually a masterpiece or someone’s

life’s work a huge work so like maybe

Beethoven’s magnum opus would have been

his fifth Beethoven’s fifth what was

that a symphony yeah Beethoven’s fifth

symphony would sit in perhaps as magnum

opus hey there’s a sample sentence right

there so if you if you have a big

project that you’re working on maybe

maybe you’re an architect maybe you’re a

painter whatever it is whatever is the

biggest thing in your project portfolio

maybe you could refer to as your magnum

opus it’s your your great work whatever

is the biggest thing for you the next

word is alter ego alter ego is kind of a

fun word it means your other self so you

might have seen characters in movies

that have an alter ego in one situation

they behave like one character but in

another situation they behave like

someone else their alter ego maybe even

some of you have an alter ego and it

bothers your friends when you have you

know when you behave a certain way with

one group of people in a different way

with another group of people that’s your

your alter ego

it’s not always necessarily a negative

thing like superheroes have alter egos

so Clark Kent for example Clark Kent’s

alter ego is Superman

it’s his other self he is Clark Kent and

he’s Superman

but in different situations he’s one or

the other

zany zan why I don’t need to spell it

they’re gonna see it on the screen

zany just means something that’s amusing

or different or a little bit weird

perhaps so you might say my friend is so

zany she bought a New Kids on the Block

lunchbox last week thinking mind

the next word is zillion zillion is just

a word that we use in place of a very

large number so you probably know

million billion trillion for example but

when you just want to emphasize that

something is a huge number there’s a lot

of something you can say a zillion for

example there were a zillion ants in my

backyard last week the next word is zoom

the word zoom actually has two meanings

the first word is on a camera for

example you can zoom in to get closer to

the subject or you can zoom out to get

further away from the subject I think

are you going to zoom now zoom in zoom

out

mm okay zoom also is an onomatopoeia an

onomatopoeia means a word that sounds

something like what it’s supposed to be

representing this onomatopoeia means to

go very fast so you might say I’m

looking forward to getting in this new

car I hear it zooms the next word is

zest zest means to do something with

great enthusiasm like you might say I

have a zest for life meaning you’re

really interested in life and you have a

lot of energy for it zest also has a

second meaning which is used in cooking

a lot like you might take the zest from

a lemon meaning a little little tiny

particles of something and put it in

your food so those there those are some

things the next word is zoology zoology

refers to the study of animals you might

have it in your university if you’re a

university student there might be a

zoology department so you might run into

somebody one day who says oh yes my

majors in zoology what are you studying

lager lager is a word that I know very

well a lager refers to a kind of beer so

when you go to a beer festival like

Oktoberfest for example you might say

this year I’m planning to drink a lot of

lager are a lot of lager beer it’s type

of beer the next word is wanderlust this

is a nice word wanderlust just means

that you have a desire to travel

somewhere you want to go somewhere you

might say I’ve been seeing all the

photos that my friends have been posting

on the internet lately I’m it’s giving

me wanderlust meaning I really want to

go travel I really want to be out there

doing those things the next word is

Zeppelin Zeppelin this is a big airship

oh there’s isn’t there like an Indiana

jonesing pretest toss the guy out of a

Zeppelin it’s just it’s what do we call

it now a blimp

right a blimp we say blimp a lot now but

Zeppelin I think was the first word that

was used to describe these things

because I think they were made out of

metal so for example you might know the

band Led Zeppelin that could be related

to the first Zeppelin I don’t actually

know is it um so in a sentence you might

use this in to say something like Oh

someday

I’d really like to take a ride on a

Zeppelin that sounds like fun next word

is dachshund dachshund you probably know

what a dachshund is we commonly call

them wiener dogs in America because

they’re long sometimes they have long

hair too but they look like you know a

hot dog

so dachshunds I think are popular breeds

all around the world you might say my

friend got a new dachshund I can’t wait

to play with it

gesundheit is the next word gesundheit

is used often when people sneeze so

Americans like to say bless you after

somebody sneezes but you might also hear

gesundheit after someone sneezes it’s

usually just used as one word we don’t

really say it in a sentence very much

but when your friends sneezes or

somebody you know sneezes you can say

gesundheit

bass as in a type of fish or bass which

refers to someone’s voice it’s also a

type of instrument it kind of looks like

a guitar there’s also a string bass

that’s usually a really tall instrument

that you play standing up so in a

sentence when you’re fishing you might

say oh hey I hope I catch a bass today

if you’re a musical inclined person you

might say my favorite instrument is the

bass great those were pretty good next

is a wind as in the air blowing blowing

air and wind as in like to wrap

something around something else wind you

might say the wind is really strong

today I should have brought my kite to

the park okay

I don’t know everyone’s know why all

these oddly specific sentences uh wind

like maybe you have a ball of string at

your house and it’s gotten all tangled

up it’s really really messy and you find

it one day and you think to yourself oh

I really need to wind this ball of

string into a clean like tidy ball next

a tear a rip in something like you might

tear a piece of paper in half the same

spelling can also make a the word tear

which is a drop of water that comes out

of a person’s eye when they’re sad or

sometimes when they’re very happy use

them both and once

whenever I tear a piece of paper a tear

comes from my eye because I feel bad for

ruining trees or my my friend made me

tear up my favorite love letter and I

shed many tears as a result that one was

slightly better all right next is dove

dove can be a bird it’s a white bird it

often represents peace and it can also

be pronounced douve which is the past

tense of the verb to dive so you might

say the dove dove into

what is it Duff time into the dove dove

into oncoming traffic the dove dove into

the pond to take a bath next is close

meaning to be near and the other

pronunciation is close meaning to shut

or it can also mean to end so in a

sentence let’s see if we can use them

both in the same sentence please close

the door that is close to you because

the show is coming to a close

oh yeah hyperbole hyperbole it’s not

hyperbole though it does sound very

funny to say that hyperbole just means

to exaggerate something or to make to

blow something up make it a really

extreme my friend uses a lot of

hyperbole when she talks about her life

stories I really don’t think some of

those things happen to her hyperbole not

hyperbole next Antarctic not ah oh I see

Antarctic is the correct pronunciation

of this word

some people say and and tart Antarctic

really oh I guess when you’re saying

this word quickly you might leave out

that first sea in the Antarctic so don’t

say that don’t do that say Antarctic the

the very very cold region the Arctic is

the north cold region on the planet

Earth the south is the Antarctic they’re

sort of like almost a hiccup in the word

their Antarctic Oh

in a sentence I’m thinking about taking

a cruise to the Antarctic what do you

think I need a penguin suit etc not etc

oh yeah okay I’ve heerd I hear this ech

ech thing a lot etcetera has just used

at the end of a list to imply that you

mean other things so the list is not

exclusive to the things that you’ve

listed other things can also be included

in it so in a sample sentence types of

fruits are apples oranges peaches etc

there are others as well so don’t say

etc that’s not correct at

is good the next word is jewelry what

not money’s the next word is jewelry

jewelry I think I’m probably guilty of

this mispronunciation I can’t say that

word mispronunciation where the word

kind of gets a little bit smushed

together and we say jewelry instead

we’ve missed that that second e sound in

there it should be jewelry in a sample

sentence maybe you would say I’m

shopping for some jewelry for my mother

for her birthday jewelry we’re too lazy

prescription not prescription okay a

prescription is something that a doctor

gives you when you’re sick and you

require medicine the doctor will write

you a prescription some people might say

prescription Wow okay I didn’t even

notice and I was doing it while I was

telling you guys not to do it that’s

embarrassing prescription a doctor

writes you a prescription not a

prescription and when you go to the

doctor’s office the doctor might say

here is your prescription photosynthesis

photosynthesis is an eighth grade

American science school word is an

eighth grade science word this refers to

the process that plants use to convert

sunlight to oxygen the process of

photosynthesis is vitally important to

the survival of humans right the next

word is imperturbable imperturbable

means someone who can’t really get upset

or excited like it’s hard to change the

emotions of a person so you might say I

have a friend who is imperturbable no

matter what we do or what we say he

doesn’t get angry with us on where the

next is counterintuitive

counterintuitive is a good word which

means it’s the opposite of common sense

so we talked about the word intuitive in

a previous episode of weekly words

where intuitive means able to sense

something or able to do something

correctly without knowing having to know

much about it

counterintuitive however on the other

hand means not intuitive or it seems

like something that just doesn’t make

much sense it’s not a common sense thing

so maybe let’s see something that

doesn’t seem to make very much sense to

you maybe on your office building for

example you have to first push the door

and then pull it in order to open it you

might say uh the way the doors work in

this building is very counterintuitive

it doesn’t make much sense the next word

is presumptuously presumptuously means

failing to observe the limits of what is

permitted or appropriate oh this is a

tough one to use in a sentence so

anytime somebody does something that’s

just beyond the limits of what is

considered normal in your culture you

can say that they’re being presumptuous

or they’re acting presumptuously so if

for example a salesman comes to your

door for some reason but they enter the

house and sit down on your sofa you

might say the salesman presumptuously

entered my house and sat down on my sofa

I couldn’t believe it

what a sphygmomanometer sphygmomanometer

an instrument for measuring blood

pressure this is a new one for me - Spig

ma manometer is this word isn’t this

called really long words that are

actually used I have only been familiar

with this word in terms of the blood

pressure cuff when you go to the doctor

and they need to check your blood

pressure they’ll put this thing this

figma manometer on your arm usually and

then they’ll kind of pump it up and

check your blood pressure so it’s a very

technical word the doctor might say to a

nurse or to another doctor can you

please get me the sphygmomanometer we

need to check this patient’s blood

pressure philtrum is the first word

philtrum the groove located just below

the nose and above the middle of the

lips that has a word philtrum that’s

this I guess in a sentence maybe you

would say how can you use a sentence

let’s see I’m thinking of getting my

philtrum pierced what do you think about

that idea it’s gross I hurt my philtrum

in football practice yesterday is

philtrum next is larynx the larynx is

the the voice box where your voice comes

from there’s quite a definition here the

hollow muscular organ forming an air

passage to the lungs and holding the

vocal chords usually I think we just say

the voice box so

oh I think the larynx in particular is

really important for singers and people

who need to use their voice a lot and I

think that there even you know special

techniques that some people use to

protect their larynx as well in a

sentence maybe I have to be careful not

to damage my larynx because I need to be

performing regularly and my voice is

very important to my job for example all

right next is navel navel is commonly

referred to as your bellybutton it’s

that you know for some people it’s

indented for some people it kind of

protrudes a little bit but the navel is

just your bellybutton to use it in a

sentence let’s see oh I’m thinking

piercing my navel oh oh I have an

example now maybe if you’ve had to have

surgery on your on your stomach that’s

near your navel your navel the shape of

it might be impacted I’ve just happened

to my mom’s I thought of it when you

meet with your doctor the doctor might

say during the surgery some of the skin

near your navel might be affected by

what we’re going to do next is pinky

your pinky is the smallest finger on

either one of your hands you can use a

pinky finger alternatively your pinky

toe your small toe is also referred to

as your pinky in a sentence you might

say oh no I broke my pinky finger

I have a piano recital in three days

that actually happened to me when I was

little that’s not a lie that’s a real

story I broke my penis pinky finger that

was good day anyway next scapula scapula

is your shoulder blade on the back of

your body your scapula yeah what else

can I say about that your scapula your

shoulder blade you have to I think yes

maybe if you’re a physical therapist or

if you’re someone who needs to Train

athletes you might need to stretch their

scapula from time to time to make sure

that it’s healthy or in good shape make

sure to stretch your scapula before and

after every workout to make sure that

you don’t damage it anarchism and arc

ISM is a belief that there should be no

government the society should just rule

itself so some groups of people might

say

anarchism rain the next word is altruism

altruism is the idea that everyone

should just be selfless we should always

just act on behalf of other people right

altruism is the key to world peace

feminism feminism is just advocating for

women’s rights supporting women’s rights

equal rights for women and really just

equal rights for people in general I

support feminism something like that all

right next is pacifism pacifism is the

belief that violence is never justified

we should never use violence pacifism is

great pacifism leads to peaceful

cultures the next word is sensationalism

it’s all about making a story a new

story sensational so even if the facts

aren’t necessarily true facts we don’t

know all the information the news media

might kind of make things up

sensationalism only hurts the audience

because they don’t know what’s truly

going on paint the town red is kind of

an old-fashioned phrase which just means

to go out and have a really good time

you might have seen in an old movie that

says come on we’re gonna go out and

paint the town red tonight let’s go good

to be in the red you don’t want to be in

the red to be in the red means that you

owe someone money you have debt our

company is in the red for the last

quarter we really need to improve our

sales strategy yeah I don’t know what

this was we really need to improve our

sales strategy hmm

this will help Red idiom is a red flag

red flag is a great phrase to know I

think sign that something is wrong you

might say who that person was acting

really really weird that was kind of a

red flag to me me if I say these things

five red flags for me in people

I’ll talk no action always bumming money

off their friends no ambition no skills

or no no desire to develop skills

another one is I don’t know when it’s

their turn to talk

I don’t like that watch English in three

minutes to learn more about developing

these skills these very important skills

onward the next is to catch someone

red-handed this is used when you catch

someone doing something

bad the teacher caught the student

red-handed

he was trying to steal the hamster from

the school’s heading zoo I don’t know

teacher caught the student red-handed

trying to steal the class pet caught him

red-handed right in the middle in the

act of trying to do something bad that’s

the key there the next one is red carpet

treatment red carpet treatment maybe

you’ve seen this at awards shows there’s

always a red carpet in front of where

the famous actors and actresses and

producers and film people enter red

carpet treatment means to be treated

very well to be treated like royalty

really you might say oh we got the red

carpet treatment at the event last week

it was great to be head over heels for

someone to be head over heels for

somebody means that you’re really

interested in them maybe you’ve just met

them and you can’t stop thinking about

them first love butterflies in your

stomach sort of thing that’s kind of an

idiom too I suppose he was head over

heels for the girl that he met at the

party the week before we’re building a

story here we’re building a story here

oh no our story what’s gonna happen next

I start to be on the rocks this phrase

means to be having problems in your

relationship it means that you’re

struggling or having trouble in a

sentence my friend told me about that

girl that he met at the party last

weekend and he said they went out for a

few dates wow this is all happening so

fast they won’t know for a few dates and

now they’re on the rocks okay next is to

be an item to be an item just means to

be in a relationship with somebody

you’re officially in a relationship with

someone and your friends might say

you’re an item now to continue our

little story even though my friend said

he was on the rocks with that girl he

met at the party a few weeks ago it

seems that they are now an item this

isn’t weird really weird the next one is

to pop the question to pop the question

means to ask someone to marry you

yeah remember that girl that my friend

met at the party like a couple years ago

yeah he finally popped the question to

his girlfriend mm-hm

means he asked her to marry him

excellent is to tie the knot to tie the

knot means to get married the two people

come together and tie a knot they won’t

be separated in other words so maybe

maybe this

the end of our story I don’t know so my

friend ended up tying the knot with the

girl that he met at the party a few

years ago acrophobia a fear of heights

if you don’t like going up into tall

buildings for example you can say I have

acrophobia I don’t like going into

skyscrapers you don’t like to see things

far below you oh yeah

the next word is arachnophobia

arachnophobia means a fear of spiders

you might have seen a movie called

arachnophobia that had a lot of spiders

in it as you might be able to guess in a

sentence you could say Oh will you

please kill that spider for me I don’t

want to go near it I have arachnophobia

okay next word is claustrophobia

claustrophobia is a fear of small spaces

so if for whatever reason you find

yourself like on a crammed train for

example you feel really uncomfortable

and you want to get off the train

that’s called claustrophobia in a

sentence you might say oh I don’t want

to take the rush-hour subway I have

claustrophobia and the commute makes me

really really nervous

next is agoraphobia agoraphobia means a

fear of going outside so someone who

prefers to stay inside to stay at home

more often than not might be agoraphobic

my cousin has a agoraphobia and he

refuses to leave the house no matter

what we say or what we do keep in mind

that some of these words are not

commonly used in conversations but

rather what they represent is fairly

common like fear of heights and so on

the fears might be very common but the

words themselves are not oh my video

phobia okay a video phobia is a fear of

snakes

I have a video phobia to an extent now I

did go hiking once I was hiking and I

was actually near a Buddhist temple at

the time it was in the middle of the

forest they were doing a ritual of some

kind you could hear like like in the

forest and then I as well as I was

walking up the hill suddenly there’s the

snake like I saw it at the same time

that it saw me and the snake was like oh

my god a human and I I screamed an

expletive like oh a snake and like echo

to the forest as I called my god to the

Buddhist monks just hear me in a

sentence I was on a hike and I saw a

snake and I screamed because I have a

video phobia and they

terrify me pretentious pretentious is a

word that means you’re trying to impress

other people or someone who tries to

impress other people by making

themselves seem more exciting or more

important or cooler than they really are

in a sentence you might say my coworker

is so pretentious he’s always

exaggerating his stories to make himself

sound important

don’t be pretentious the next word is

ubiquitous ubiquitous just means

something that you see everywhere

smartphones smartphones smartphones

Tsarist 11 smartphones it’s a phone

that’s really smart

you can tell when you need extra oxygen

in a sentence you might say smartphones

are ubiquitous everybody has one now and

I have one too

I’ll be ’t i’ll be it just means

although in a sentence she was making

progress albeit rather slowly an expert

is ambiguous ambiguous just means

something that’s the meaning is not

really very clear to you maybe if you’re

reading the newspaper for example and a

sentence is written kind of strangely

you might say hmm the meaning of this is

rather ambiguous alright love really

baby don’t hurry love is just that

intense feeling where you really really

like somebody else could be your family

member it could be a partner a romantic

partner whatever it could be a food you

really like as well just anytime you

have that really deep strong emotion you

can use the word love for example I love

pizza

it’s my favorite food jump the gun jump

the gun means you do something too

quickly or you don’t think enough about

something before you do it in a business

sitting maybe a subordinate makes a

decision before the boss has had a

chance to decide on something you might

say Stevens you’ve jumped the gun again

we can’t forgive you for this one you’re

fired

okay the next one is drop the ball drop

the ball means you don’t do something

that you were supposed to do somebody

was supposed to do something and they

didn’t do it they dropped the ball like

in basketball right if you have a ball

you’re supposed to pass the ball to your

teammate if you drop the ball you let

everybody down my coworker really

dropped the ball when he forgot to send

that email we were all disappointed

Stevens

okay next slam dunk a slam dunk is

something that you are sure is going to

happen maybe you have a good

relationship with a client for example

you can say yeah the deal next week will

be a slam dunk you

know that something good is going to

happen next covering all bases this

phrase means that you plan for as many

things as you possibly can you have some

kind of plan in mind for any number of

things that could go wrong or any number

of things that could happen in a

sentence a boss might say to their

subordinate so what’s your plan for the

event next week make sure you have all

bases covered I don’t want anything to

go wrong next is playing hardball

playing hardball is used when you’re

just really really aggressively

competing with somebody so in a sentence

maybe after a business meeting you might

say oh wow our competitors we’re really

playing hardball in there it was really

tough live tweet live tweet is for those

of you who have a Twitter account when

you are watching something or listening

to something as it happens a popular TV

show or an awards show and you write

your comments on Twitter as it happens

that’s called live tweeting something in

an example sentence I live tweeted the

Grammy Awards this year it was a lot of

fun that’s a lie the next phrase is

binge watch binge means to do something

to excess or to do something too much so

now that services like Hulu or Netflix

or other TV or movie viewing services

there might be different ones in your

country are available people like to

binge watch their favorite TV shows

meaning they can sit and watch all of

their favorite TV show in maybe a

weekend or a week or something like that

if they just sit for hours and hours I

binge watched all of house of cards this

season I loved it that’s a true story

next next the next word is neckbeard oh

my god I can’t believe we’re teaching

them this it’s not a very nice word I’m

gonna get in trouble next year it is a

rude word that’s used to refer to people

typically men who do not have very good

hygiene do not have very good personal

care habits and as a result their beard

which typically on men’s faces is maybe

in the chin or the jaw line goes onto

their neck in a sentence there are a lot

of neck beards on the internet make sure

you don’t have a neck beard I know next

is fandom fandom refers to a

group of fans of a videogame it could be

an athlete it could be a singer or

whatever when you talk about any group

of fans you can refer to them as the

fandom for example videogame fandom on

the Internet is everywhere it’s so