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Middle name

a name that comes between your first name and your family name. E.g. Louis is also one of William's middle names.

Be somebody's middle name

(informal) used to say that somebody has a lot of a particular quality. E.g. ‘Patience’ is my middle name! Optimism is my middle name.

Maiden name

/ˈmeɪdn/ a woman's family name before marriage. E.g. Kate kept her maiden name when she got married (= did not change her surname to that of her husband).

Maiden

(literary) a young girl or woman who is not married. E.g. stories of knights and fair (beautiful) maidens.

Maiden

(adj) being the first of its kind. E.g. a maiden flight/voyage(= the first journey made by a plane/ship). The Titanic’s maiden voyage.

A married name

is a family name or surname adopted by a person upon marriage.

Name

a reputation that somebody/something has; the opinion that people have about somebody/something:

Make a name for yourself

become famous. E.g. He's made quite a name for himself. I worked hard for twenty years and made a name for myself in film. He's made a name for himself as a talented journalist.

Put yourself/somebody forward

to suggest yourself/somebody as a candidate for a job or position. Can I put you/your name forward for club secretary? He has put himself forward for a place on the national executive. I put my name forward for class president.

Household name

a name that has become very well known. E.g. She became a household name in the 1960s. He used to be a household name but young people don't know him.

Impossibly

E.g. an impossibly difficult problem (= impossible to solve). He was impossibly handsome (= it was difficult to believe that he could be so handsome).

Glamorous

/ˈɡlæmərəs/ especially attractive and exciting, and different from ordinary things or people

Somewhat

/ˈsʌmwɒt/ to some degree. Rather. E.g. I was somewhat surprised to see him. What happened to them remains somewhat of a mystery.

Frumpy

/ˈfrʌmpɪ/ (of a woman or her clothes) wearing clothes that are not attractive or fashionable. Dowdy /ˈdaʊdi/. E.g. a frumpy housewife. Her frumpy (old-fashioned), shapeless dresses. He had a rather frumpy wife.

Get lumped with

(informal) be given something (e.g. an object or a responsibility) that you don’t want. E.g. I don't want to get lumped with a big repair bill. I was just unlucky to get lumped with such a poor team.

Emeritus

/iˈmerɪtəs/ used with a title to show that a person, usually a university teacher, keeps the title as an honour, although he or she has stopped working. E.g. the Emeritus Professor of Biology.

Striking

/ˈstraɪkɪŋ/ interesting and unusual enough to attract attention. E.g. it is striking that no research into the problem is being carried out.

Turn out to be

to be discovered to be; to prove to be. E.g. The job turned out to be harder than we thought. The house they had offered us turned out to be a tiny apartment.

Particularly

/pəˈtɪkjələli / especially; more than usual or more than others.

When it comes to something/to doing something

when it is a question of something. E.g. When it comes to getting things done, he's useless.

Take

to understand or consider something in a particular way. E.g. What did you take his comments to mean?

Attribute

/ˈætrɪbjuːt/ a quality or feature of somebody/something. E.g. Patience is one of the most important attributes in a teacher. The most basic attribute of all animals is consciousness.

Take

to need or require something in order to happen or be done. E.g. It only takes one careless driver to cause an accident. It doesn't take much to make her angry.

Reach the top of the tree

to reach a position of power or a top position (e.g. professionally).

-wise

concerning. E.g. Things aren't too good businesswise.

Cut and dried

decided in a way that cannot be changed or argued about. E.g. The inquiry is by no means cut and dried. The championship is not as cut and dried as everyone thinks.

Conclusive

proving something, and allowing no doubt or confusion. E.g. conclusive evidence/proof/results. The evidence is by no means conclusive.

Recall

to remember something. E.g. She could not recall his name.

Submit

/səbˈmɪt/ to give a document, proposal, etc. to somebody in authority so that they can study or consider it. E.g. to submit an application/a claim/a complaint. Completed projects must be submitted by 10 March.

Call-back

when a company calls potential employees for an interview after looking at their CV or for a second interview.

Take a dim view of somebody/something

to disapprove of somebody/something; to not have a good opinion of somebody/something.Sp. ver con malos ojos. E.g. She took a dim view of my suggestion.

Lead

To be the best at something; to be in first place. E.g. lead (somebody/something) (in something) The department led the world in cancer research. We lead the way in space technology.

Bizarre

/bɪˈzɑː(r)/ very strange or unusual. Weird. E.g. a bizarre situation/incident/story. Bizarre behaviour.

in the... stakes

used to say how much of a particular quality a person has, as if they were in a competition in which some people are more successful than others.

Lumber somebody (with somebody/something) (informal)

to give somebody a responsibility, etc, that they do not want and that they cannot get rid of. E.g. When our parents went out, my sister got lumbered with me for the evening.

Outlandish

/aʊtˈlændɪʃ/ strange or extremely unusual. Bizarre. E.g. outlandish ideas. As the show progressed, it got ever more outlandish. An outlandish hairstyle.

Take on something (informal)

the particular opinion or idea that somebody has about something. E.g. What's his take on the plan? A new take on the Romeo and Juliet story (= a way of presenting it).

Eager

/ˈiːɡə(r)/ very interested and excited by something that is going to happen or about something that you want to do. Keen. E.g. Everyone in the class seemed eager to learn.

suit

/suːt/ /sjuːt/ to be convenient or useful for somebody. E.g. suit somebody/something Choose a computer to suit your particular needs.

analytical

using a logical method of thinking about something in order to understand it, especially by looking at all the parts separately. E.g. She has a clear analytical mind.

tendency to

E.g. I have a tendency to talk too much when I'm nervous. focus: /ˈfəʊkəs/ e. g The discussion focused on three main problems.

extrovert

/ˈekstrəvɜːt/ (noun) E.g. I'm an extrovert. He is very quiet, whereas she is an extrovert.

As a rule

what is true in most cases. E.g. I go to bed early as a rule. As a general rule vegetable oils are better for you than animal fats.

take a risk/ take risks

to do something even though you know that something bad could happen as a result. E.g. That's a risk I'm not prepared to take. You have no right to take risks with other people's lives.

figure out

/ˈfɪɡə(r)/ to think about somebody/something until you understand them/it. Work out. E.g. We couldn't figure her out. Figure out how, what, etc… I can't figure out how to do this.

inclined to do something

tending to do something; likely to do something. E.g. He's inclined to be lazy. They'll be more inclined to listen if you don't shout.

inclination to do something

a tendency to do something. E.g. There is an inclination to treat geography as a less important subject.

ear

an ability to recognize and copy sounds well. E.g. She has always had an ear for languages. You need a good ear to master the piano.

nine times out of ten

almost every time. E.g. I'm always emailing her, but nine times out of ten she doesn't reply.

prone

/prəʊn/ likely to suffer from something or to do something bad. E.g. prone to make/ making mistakes.

overcome

/ˌəʊvəˈkʌm/ to succeed in dealing with or controlling a problem that has been preventing you from achieving something.

tend to do something E.g. Women tend to live longer than men. When I'm tired, I tend to make mistakes. It tends to get very cold here in the winter.

to be likely to do something or to happen in a particular way because this is what often or usually happens.

set something

to fix something so that others copy it or try to achieve it. E.g. This could set a new fashion. They set high standards of customer service. I am unwilling to set a precedent.

nag

to keep complaining to somebody about their behaviour or keep asking them to do something. E.g. Stop nagging—I'll do it as soon as I can. She had been nagging him to paint the fence. They will keep nagging me to go and visit them.

go on (about somebody/something)

(informal) to talk about somebody/something for a long time, especially in a boring or complaining way. E.g. He went on and on about how poor he was. She does go on sometimes! He would keep going on about his brother. It drove me mad.

laid-back

calm and relaxed; seeming not to worry about anything. Easy-going.