📖 A — The English dictionary · page 10

acquit — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: To behave or perform in a certain way: to acquit yourself well.↗ In Jewish tradition, meaning 2: To judge someone not guilty in a court of law.↗ Example: If I sin, then Thou markest me, and Thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.↗ (Writings JOB.10.14, JPS 1917)↗ · We must see how you acquit yourselves at the review.↗ · The soldiers acquitted themselves well at the parade.↗ · The judge acquitted the man of the crime.↗

acquitted — Everyday, meaning 1: Performed or behaved in a certain way, as in acquitted themselves well.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Judged not guilty in a court of law.↗ Example: They acquitted themselves like brave sons.↗ · The judge acquitted him, so he went free.↗ · Ares was acquitted at the trial.↗

acre — Everyday, meaning 1: An acre is a unit for measuring the size of a piece of land.↗ A big farm field can be many acres.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Acres can mean a lot of land: «acres of forest».↗ Example: A farmer plants corn on 12 acres.↗ · Each acre gives 30 bushels of wheat.↗ · Tom plows 4 acres a day.↗ · The park covers 25 acres.↗ · A football field is a bit more than one acre.↗ · The ranch has hundreds of acres of grass.↗ · The fire burned 50 acres of forest.↗ · How many acres can he plow in 5 days?↗ · The rich man's broad acres and the cottager's small garden patch were equally blighted.↗ · For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.↗ (Prophets ISA.5.10, JPS 1917)↗ · And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armour-bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land.↗ (Prophets 1SA.14.14, JPS 1917)↗

acrimonious — Everyday, meaning 1: (formal) Full of angry, bitter feelings and harsh words, usually about an argument, meeting or split.↗ Example: The meeting became acrimonious, and people shouted.↗ · The band had an acrimonious split.↗ · After an acrimonious argument, the neighbours stopped talking.↗ · The debate was long and acrimonious.↗ · Their divorce was acrimonious.↗ · The game ended in an acrimonious row about the score.↗

acrobat — Everyday, meaning 1: An acrobat is a performer who does difficult and exciting movements like flips, balancing and jumps, especially in a circus.↗ Example: The acrobat did a backflip on the tightrope.↗ · Chinese acrobats can balance on each other's shoulders.↗ · Monkeys are acrobats of the forest.↗ · She wants to be an acrobat when she grows up.↗ · The acrobats flew from one trapeze to another.↗ · Our cat is a real acrobat on the fence.↗

acronym — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: A word made from the first letters of other words, like NASA.↗ Example: The letter Resh is not among them, even though it appears in the SY with the letters known commonly today by the acronym Begad-Kefat.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗

acropolis — Everyday, meaning 1: (a name) The Acropolis is a rocky hill in Athens, Greece, with ancient temples on top, including the Parthenon.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: An acropolis is the high, fortified part of any ancient Greek city.↗ Example: The Parthenon stands on the Acropolis in Athens.↗ · The Acropolis was built to honour the goddess Athena.↗ · Many Greek cities had an acropolis on a hill for defence.↗ · We saw the Acropolis lit up at night.↗ · The Acropolis is about 2,500 years old.↗ · Tourists climb the hill to visit the Acropolis.↗ · A celebrated temple was erected to this divinity on the Acropolis at Athens, which is still to be seen, and is in excellent preservation.↗

across — Everyday, meaning 1: Across means from one side to the other side: you walk across the street.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Across means on the other side: the shop across the road.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Across tells how wide something is: «2 meters across».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: In a crossword, «across» clues go from left to right.↗ Example: The pool is 25 meters across.↗ · He swims across the lake twice.↗ · There are 6 tiles across and 4 down.↗ · The bridge goes across a river 80 feet wide.↗ · Look both ways before you walk across the road.↗ · The bakery is across from the school.↗ · I came across an old photo.↗ · Write the word for 5 across.↗ · Birds fly across the sky.↗ · The circle is 10 cm across.↗ · Such diagrams are often arranged so that the letter א Alef is across from ל Lamed, spelling the name אֵל El, God.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold; and he drew chains of gold across the wall before the Sanctuary; and he overlaid it with gold.↗ (Prophets 1KI.6.21, JPS 1917)↗ · And, behold, there came a great wind from across the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.'↗ (Writings JOB.1.19, JPS 1917)↗

acrostic — Everyday, meaning 1: A poem or puzzle in which the first letters of each line, read downwards, spell a word, often the subject of the poem.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A word puzzle built in the same way.↗ Example: We wrote an acrostic poem using the letters of our names.↗ · In my acrostic for CAT, the first line starts with C.↗ · Read the first letters downwards to find the hidden word.↗ · Psalm 119 is an acrostic in Hebrew.↗ · Our class made acrostics for the word AUTUMN.↗ · An acrostic doesn't have to rhyme.↗

acrylic — Everyday, meaning 1: Acrylic is a kind of plastic, made by people, that can be clear like glass or made into threads for cloth.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Acrylic paint is a bright paint that dries quickly and becomes waterproof; «acrylics» are these paints.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Acrylic fibre is used to make jumpers, blankets and yarn that look like wool.↗ Example: We painted our clay pots with acrylic paint.↗ · Wash your brush quickly; acrylic paint dries fast.↗ · The fish tank is made of clear acrylic.↗ · My jumper is acrylic, not wool.↗ · Acrylics are bright and waterproof when dry.↗ · The sign was cut from a sheet of red acrylic.↗ · Acrylic is lighter than glass and does not shatter as easily.↗ · Wear old clothes, because acrylic paint will not wash out once dry.↗

act — Everyday, meaning 1: To act means to do something, to take action: act quickly in an emergency.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To act means to behave in a certain way: stop acting silly.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To act means to play a part in a play, film or show.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: An act is a thing someone does: an act of kindness.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: An act is a part of a play, or a short show by a performer.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: An Act is a law made by a parliament or congress.↗ Example: If you see a fire, act quickly and tell an adult.↗ · She will act the part of the queen in the school play.↗ · Stop acting silly and listen.↗ · Helping the old man was an act of kindness.↗ · The play has three acts.↗ · He acted as if nothing had happened.↗ · The thief was caught in the act.↗ · We acted out the story in class.↗ · Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: If any man's wife go aside, and act unfaithfully against him, (Torah NUM.5.12, JPS 1917)↗ · and a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, she being defiled secretly, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken in the act; (Torah NUM.5.13, JPS 1917)↗ · 'O Lord GOD, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts?↗ (Torah DEU.3.24, JPS 1917)↗ · The LORD executeth righteousness, and acts of justice for all that are oppressed.↗ (Writings PSA.103.6, JPS 1917)↗ · Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His abundant greatness.↗ (Writings PSA.150.2, JPS 1917)↗ · One generation shall laud Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts.↗ (Writings PSA.145.4, JPS 1917)↗

actest — Early Modern English, meaning 1: «actest» means «you act», a form of «act»: To act means to do something, to take action: act quickly in an emergency.↗ Example: Thou actest like the great calm ocean, that beckons us, and fills us with expectation--and when we embark upon thee, we sink, disappear, and cease to be.↗ (Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen)

action — Everyday, meaning 1: An action is something that someone does, like running, jumping or cooking.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Action means doing things, not just talking: «We need action!».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Action is exciting events in a film or a game: «an action film».↗ Everyday, meaning 4: An action figure is a small toy person, often a hero.↗ Example: Every action in the story changes how many apples Sam has.↗ · Ben has 15 action figures.↗ · He buys 3 more action figures.↗ · Count the action that happens last.↗ · «Jump» and «run» are action words.↗ · We took action to clean up the playground.↗ · I watched the firefighters in action.↗ · Kind actions make friends.↗ · It is quite remarkable how one good action always breeds another.↗ · Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/SepherYetzirah (/Preface, /Introduction, /SepherYetzirah), fetched via index.php?action=render on 2026-10-17.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · The word sefirot by itself is the plural action noun of סָפַר safar 'to count', thus meaning literally 'countings'.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · Thought, speech and action are an inseparable unity in the divine being; God made or created, is metaphorically expressed by the word: writing.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · Multiply not exceeding proud talk; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.↗ (Prophets 1SA.2.3, JPS 1917)↗

activate — Everyday, meaning 1: To activate something is to make it start working, like a machine, alarm or account.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science) To activate a process or chemical is to make it start or become active.↗ Example: The smoke activated the fire alarm.↗ · Press the red button to activate the robot.↗ · You need to activate your new library card.↗ · Warm water activates the yeast in bread.↗ · The trap is activated when someone steps on it.↗ · Sunlight activates the solar lamp.↗ · The hero activated the shield just in time.↗

activated — Everyday, meaning 1: Switched on or made to start working: an activated alarm or card is now working.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science) Made ready to act or react, like activated charcoal, which is treated so it soaks up more stuff.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Started or called into action: a plan, a team or a body's defences can be activated.↗ Example: The fire alarm was activated by burnt toast.↗ · Mum activated her new bank card by phone.↗ · The motion-activated light came on when the fox walked past.↗ · Once the robot was activated, its eyes glowed blue.↗ · Activated charcoal is used in some water filters.↗ · The rescue team was activated after the storm.↗ · Our class tablets were activated with the school's code.↗ · The trap was activated when the explorer stepped on the stone.↗

activation — Everyday, meaning 1: Activation is making something start working or become active.↗ Example: The activation code is printed on the back of the card.↗ · Activation of the alarm takes ten seconds.↗ · The new phone needs activation before you can use it.↗ · Heat starts the activation of the yeast.↗ · The game key worked and activation was quick.↗ · Activation of the airbag happens in a split second.↗

activator — Everyday, meaning 1: An activator is something that starts something working or makes it more active.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In science, an activator is a substance that starts or speeds up a chemical change, like the hardener in some glues.↗ Example: Add the activator to the slime glue to make it thicken.↗ · The alarm's activator is a small sensor by the door.↗ · Some glue needs an activator to set hard.↗ · The coach was the team's activator, always getting them moving.↗ · Read the safety label before using the activator.↗ · Sunlight acts as an activator for some reactions.↗

active — Everyday, meaning 1: Active means moving around and doing things a lot: an active puppy.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Active means working or taking part in something: an active member of the club.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: An active volcano is one that can still erupt.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: In grammar, an active sentence is one where the subject does the action (The dog chased the ball).↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Active service means serving as a soldier, sailor or airman, often in a war.↗ Example: Puppies are very active.↗ · Stay active by playing outside every day.↗ · Owls are active at night.↗ · Mount Etna is an active volcano.↗ · She is an active member of the chess club.↗ · My grandad is still very active at 80.↗ · «The cat ate the fish» is an active sentence.↗ · Bats are active after sunset.↗ · The Three Mothers, Aleph, Mem and Shin, are a great Mystery, very admirable and most recondite, and sealed as with six rings; and from them proceed Air, Fire, and Water, which divide into active and passive forces.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

actively — Everyday, meaning 1: Actively means in a busy, lively way, by doing things rather than just watching or waiting.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Actively means really and on purpose, as in «actively looking for help».↗ Example: The children took part actively in the debate.↗ · Try to listen actively: look at the speaker and ask questions.↗ · The volcano is still actively erupting.↗ · Grandad stays actively busy in the garden every day.↗ · The police are actively searching for the lost dog.↗ · Being actively outdoors is good for your health.↗