📖 A — The English dictionary · page 62

awesome — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal) Awesome means very good, great or cool, as in «That film was awesome!».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Awesome means so big, powerful or amazing that it fills you with wonder and a little fear, as in «the awesome power of the ocean».↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (slang) «Awesome!» can be said on its own to mean «great!» or «OK, good».↗ Example: That roller coaster was awesome!↗ · «I got the tickets.»↗ «Awesome!»↗ · Standing under the waterfall, we felt its awesome power.↗ · My teacher is awesome at explaining fractions.↗ · The view from the mountain top was awesome.↗ · You did an awesome job on your project.↗ · The awesome size of the blue whale left us speechless.↗

awful — Everyday, meaning 1: Awful means very bad or unpleasant: awful weather, an awful smell.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: If you feel awful, you feel ill or very unhappy or guilty.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) «An awful lot» means a very large amount.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: In old writing, awful meant «full of awe», very impressive and frightening.↗ Example: The weather was awful, so we stayed inside.↗ · This medicine tastes awful.↗ · I feel awful — I think I have a cold.↗ · I felt awful about breaking her pencil.↗ · There is an awful lot of homework this week.↗ · What an awful smell!↗ · The traffic was awful on the way to school.↗ · That's awful news; I'm sorry.↗ · Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for the LORD thy God is in the midst of thee, a God great and awful.↗ (Torah DEU.7.21, JPS 1917)↗ · For the LORD your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awful, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.↗ (Torah DEU.10.17, JPS 1917)↗ · If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and awful Name, the LORD thy God; (Torah DEU.28.58, JPS 1917)↗ · Let them praise Thy name as great and awful; Holy is He.↗ (Writings PSA.99.3, JPS 1917)↗ · For the LORD is most high, awful; a great King over all the earth.↗ (Writings PSA.47.3, JPS 1917)↗ · He hath sent redemption unto His people; He hath commanded His covenant for ever; Holy and awful is His name.↗ (Writings PSA.111.9, JPS 1917)↗

awfully — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal, a little old-fashioned) Very; extremely: «awfully kind», «awfully sorry».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Very badly: «He behaved awfully.».↗ Example: That's awfully kind of you.↗ · I'm awfully sorry I'm late.↗ · It's awfully cold today.↗ · «This is awfully jolly!» said Tom.↗ · She sang awfully, so everyone laughed.↗ · Thank you awfully for the present.↗

awhile — Everyday, meaning 1: Awhile means for a short time: wait awhile.↗ After a word like «after» or «for», we write «a while» as two words.↗ Example: After awhile he begins to totter.↗ · The priest reflected awhile; then he replied.↗ · After talking awhile, they lay down to sleep.↗

awkward — Everyday, meaning 1: Awkward means uncomfortable or embarrassing, when you don't know what to say or do.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Awkward means clumsy, moving in a way that is not smooth.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Awkward means hard to use, carry or deal with, because of its shape or situation.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: An awkward person is hard to get along with.↗ Example: There was an awkward silence after the joke.↗ · I felt awkward when I forgot her name.↗ · The box was an awkward shape to carry.↗ · The baby giraffe took awkward steps.↗ · It is awkward to write with your other hand.↗ · Meeting new people can feel awkward at first.↗ · Sorry, it's an awkward time; can you call back later?↗ · He gave an awkward little wave.↗ · That seemed to be everything, and an awkward pause followed.↗

awkwardly — Everyday, meaning 1: In a clumsy way that is not smooth or easy, as in «he fell awkwardly».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In an embarrassed or uncomfortable way, as when nobody knows what to say.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In a way that is hard to handle or badly placed, as in «an awkwardly shaped box».↗ Example: She landed awkwardly and twisted her ankle.↗ · He smiled awkwardly when everyone sang to him.↗ · The two new boys stood awkwardly by the door.↗ · The sofa was awkwardly shaped and would not fit through the door.↗ · I awkwardly tried to hold three bags and an umbrella.↗ · They laughed awkwardly after the joke fell flat.↗ · The bus stop is awkwardly placed on a busy corner.↗ · He fell so awkwardly that his head stuck in the mud, and there he stood with his legs straight up in the air.↗

awkwardness — Everyday, meaning 1: The feeling of being uncomfortable or embarrassed, especially in a social situation.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Clumsiness; not moving easily or smoothly.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Being difficult to deal with.↗ Example: There was an awkwardness after the argument.↗ · He laughed to hide his awkwardness.↗ · The new girl felt the awkwardness of not knowing anyone.↗ · The baby giraffe's awkwardness made us smile.↗ · The awkwardness of the box made it hard to carry.↗ · After a minute, the awkwardness was gone and we chatted.↗

awl — Everyday, meaning 1: An awl is a small, sharp, pointed tool used to make holes in leather, wood or cloth, for example when sewing.↗ Example: He took an awl and heated it red-hot.↗ · Mother badger pierced the buckskin with her sharp awl.↗ · then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear and into the door, and he shall be thy bondman for ever.↗ (Torah DEU.15.17, JPS 1917)↗ · then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.↗ (Torah EXO.21.6, JPS 1917)↗

awn — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) A thin, stiff bristle growing from the seed head of some grasses and grains, like barley and wheat.↗ Example: Barley has long awns.↗ · The awns on the wheat looked like whiskers.↗ · A grass awn got stuck in the dog's paw.↗ · Some awns help seeds dig into the ground.↗ · Look at the awns with a magnifying glass.↗ · The field shimmered as wind moved the awns.↗ · Of fine linen with richly woven work from Egypt was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thine awning.↗ (Prophets EZK.27.7, JPS 1917)↗

awry — Everyday, meaning 1: Awry means crooked, not straight or not in its right place: a hat set awry.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: «Go awry» means go wrong and not turn out as planned.↗ Example: Any one but Cinderella would have dressed their heads awry, but she dressed them well.↗ · Our picnic went awry when it rained.↗

ax — Everyday, meaning 1: An ax is a tool with a heavy metal blade on a long handle, used for chopping wood.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) To ax something is to cancel it or cut it; to ax a worker is to fire them.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: In some old or dialect English, "ax" is another spelling of "ask".↗ Example: The lumberjack swung his ax at the tree.↗ · George Washington's story tells of a cherry tree and an ax.↗ · The TV show was axed after one season.↗ · Dad chopped firewood with an ax.↗ · The firefighter broke down the door with an ax.↗ · Hundreds of jobs were axed at the factory.↗ · § 11 Three vowels n"ax constitute a great secret, marvellous and hidden.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

axe — Everyday, meaning 1: An axe is a tool with a heavy metal blade on a long handle, used for chopping wood or cutting down trees.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) To axe something is to cut it or end it suddenly: the TV show was axed.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (informal) To axe workers means to sack them or make them lose their jobs.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: «Have an axe to grind» means to have a private reason, often a grudge, for doing or saying something.↗ Example: The woodcutter chopped the log with his axe.↗ · Vikings fought with axes and shields.↗ · Stone Age people made axes from flint.↗ · The swimming club was axed because there was no money.↗ · Our favourite show got the axe.↗ · Two hundred jobs were axed at the factory.↗ · He criticised the plan because he had an axe to grind.↗ · Should the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?↗ (Prophets ISA.10.15, JPS 1917)↗ · It seemed as when men wield upwards axes in a thicket of trees.↗ (Writings PSA.74.5, JPS 1917)↗ · And he shall set his battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.↗ (Prophets EZK.26.9, JPS 1917)↗

axial — Everyday, meaning 1: About an axis: the line around which something turns or which runs through its middle.↗ Example: Earth's axial tilt gives us seasons.↗ · The fan has axial blades.↗ · A butterfly shape shows axial symmetry.↗ · Axial rotation of Earth causes day and night.↗ · The planet's axial spin takes 24 hours.↗ · Draw the axial line of symmetry.↗

axis — Everyday, meaning 1: An axis is an imaginary straight line that something spins around, like the Earth's axis.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: In maths, an axis is one of the main lines on a graph, the x-axis going across and the y-axis going up.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: An axis of symmetry is a line that cuts a shape into two matching halves.↗ Example: The Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours.↗ · The Earth's axis is tilted, which gives us seasons.↗ · Label the x-axis «days» and the y-axis «temperature».↗ · The point (3, 5) is 3 along the x-axis and 5 up.↗ · A square has four axes of symmetry.↗ · Draw the axis of symmetry on the butterfly.↗ · The bar chart's vertical axis goes up in fives.↗ · A spinning top turns around its axis.↗ · Dr. Cassel is of the opinion that our author meant here, probably the invisible, celestial or universal axis that carries the whole Universe.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · [paragraph continues] God stands in close connection with the Universe, and just so is Tali connected with the world, that is, an invisible, celestial or universal axis carries the whole fabric.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · Just as the sphere remains the same during the rotation on its axis in its setting and in its rising; yet it appears to us as if it had undergone a great change on account of its different position.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗

axle — Everyday, meaning 1: An axle is a rod or bar that goes through the centre of a wheel, or joins two wheels, so the wheels can turn.↗ Example: The wheels of the toy car turn on a thin metal axle.↗ · A wheel and axle is a simple machine.↗ · We used a straw and a skewer to make an axle.↗ · The cart broke because its wooden axle snapped.↗ · A car has a front axle and a rear axle.↗ · Oil the axle so the wheels turn smoothly.↗ · And every base had four brazen wheels, and axles of brass; and the four feet thereof had undersetters; beneath the laver were the undersetters molten, with wreaths at the side of each.↗ (Prophets 1KI.7.30, JPS 1917)↗

axletree — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: an old word for an axle, the bar on which a wheel turns.↗ Example: And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel; their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten.↗ (Prophets 1KI.7.33, JPS 1917)↗ · And the four wheels were underneath the borders; and the axletrees of the wheels were in the base; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.↗ (Prophets 1KI.7.32, JPS 1917)↗

axolotl — Everyday, meaning 1: An axolotl is a Mexican salamander, an amphibian that keeps its baby features all its life: feathery pink gills on its head and a tail fin, and lives always in water.↗ It looks as if it is smiling.↗ Example: An axolotl can grow back a lost leg.↗ · Axolotls breathe with the feathery gills on their heads.↗ · Wild axolotls live only near Mexico City.↗ · Our class pet is a pink axolotl called Bubbles.↗ · The axolotl looks like it is always smiling.↗ · Axolotls are amphibians, not fish.↗ · Scientists study axolotls to understand how bodies heal.↗

aztec — Everyday, meaning 1: The Aztecs were a people who built a great empire in what is now central Mexico, with their capital Tenochtitlan built on a lake, until the Spanish conquest.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Aztec describes things from their culture.↗ e.g. Aztec gods, Aztec pyramids, the Aztec calendar.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Aztec is also used for patterns inspired by their art, though this name is sometimes thought to be inaccurate.↗ Example: The Aztecs built their capital on an island in a lake.↗ · Aztec farmers grew maize on floating gardens.↗ · The Aztecs drank chocolate with chilli in it.↗ · Spanish soldiers led by Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire.↗ · Our class made masks of Aztec gods.↗ · The Aztec calendar stone is carved with a face in the middle.↗ · Words like «chocolate» and «tomato» come from the Aztec language, Nahuatl.↗ · Diseases brought by Europeans killed many Aztec people.↗

azure — Everyday, meaning 1: Azure means a bright, clear blue, like a cloudless sky.↗ Example: She had azure hair and a face white as wax.↗ · The sky was azure and cloudless.↗