📖 E — The English dictionary · page 9

electorate — Everyday, meaning 1: The electorate is all the people in a country or area who are allowed to vote in an election.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (Australia, New Zealand) An electorate is an area that elects one member of parliament, called a constituency in the UK.↗ Example: The electorate chose a new prime minister.↗ · Politicians make promises to win the electorate's votes.↗ · Children are not part of the electorate until they turn eighteen.↗ · In Scotland, sixteen-year-olds are part of the electorate in some elections.↗ · Our local member represents a big rural electorate in Queensland.↗ · Half the electorate did not vote.↗ · The electorate was split down the middle.↗

electric — Everyday, meaning 1: Electric means using or working by electricity, like an electric kettle or electric car.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Electric means made by electricity, like an electric shock or an electric current.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Electric can describe a very exciting feeling: «The atmosphere was electric».↗ Example: Our new car is electric.↗ · The electric kettle switches off by itself.↗ · Never touch a broken electric cable.↗ · He got an electric shock from the old toaster.↗ · We made an electric circuit with a battery and a bulb.↗ · Don't use electric things near water.↗ · The farm has an electric fence to keep cows in.↗ · The crowd was electric at the final.↗ · Our aunt had an electric wire from the theatre to her room.↗

electrical — Everyday, meaning 1: Using or to do with electricity.↗ e.g. "electrical appliances", "an electrical fault".↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Working with electricity.↗ e.g. "an electrical engineer".↗ Example: A kettle is an electrical appliance.↗ · We built an electrical circuit with a bulb and a battery.↗ · Never use electrical things near water.↗ · An electrical fault caused the fire.↗ · Metal is a good electrical conductor.↗ · An electrician fixes electrical problems.↗

electrician — Everyday, meaning 1: An electrician is a person whose job is to put in, check and repair electrical wires, sockets, lights and machines.↗ Example: The electrician fixed the broken light.↗ · We called an electrician when the socket started sparking.↗ · My aunt is an electrician.↗ · An electrician wires new houses.↗ · Only a trained electrician should work on the fuse box.↗ · The electrician switched off the power before she started.↗

electricity — Everyday, meaning 1: A kind of energy that flows through wires and powers lights, machines and devices.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: The supply of this energy to homes.↗ e.g. "The electricity went off."↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Also natural: lightning and static electricity.↗ Example: Lamps use electricity.↗ · Never touch plugs with wet hands — water carries electricity.↗ · Electricity flows through the wire.↗ · Lightning is a kind of electricity.↗ · Turn off lights to save electricity.↗ · Metals let electricity pass through.↗ · The storm cut off our electricity.↗ · Rub a balloon to make static electricity.↗ · It flies nineteen million times faster than the best race-horse; and yet electricity is quicker still.↗

electrocute — Everyday, meaning 1: To electrocute means to hurt or kill a person or animal with a strong electric shock.↗ Example: Never touch a plug with wet hands, or you could be electrocuted.↗ · Stay away from power lines so you don't get electrocuted.↗ · Don't use a hairdryer in the bath; you could be electrocuted.↗ · A worker was electrocuted when he touched a live wire.↗ · The sign on the substation warns: danger of being electrocuted.↗ · Never fly a kite near power lines.↗

electrocution — Everyday, meaning 1: Being killed or badly hurt by an electric shock.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (law, US history) A way of executing a criminal using the electric chair, used in some US states.↗ Example: Never fly a kite near power lines because of the risk of electrocution.↗ · Water and electricity together can cause electrocution.↗ · The sign on the pylon warned of danger of electrocution.↗ · The electrician turned off the power to avoid electrocution.↗ · Many birds die by electrocution on power lines.↗ · Never poke anything into a socket.↗

electrolyte — Everyday, meaning 1: (science) A liquid or paste that lets electricity pass through it because it has ions (charged particles) in it, as in a battery.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (health) Salts in your body and in sports drinks, like sodium and potassium, that help your muscles and nerves work.↗ Example: Salty water is an electrolyte, so it conducts electricity.↗ · Sports drinks contain electrolytes.↗ · The battery's electrolyte lets the current flow.↗ · When you have a tummy bug, the doctor may suggest an electrolyte drink.↗ · We used salt water as the electrolyte in our experiment.↗ · Pure water is a poor electrolyte.↗

electromagnet — Everyday, meaning 1: An electromagnet is a magnet made by passing electricity through a coil of wire, often wrapped around an iron core; it works only while the electricity is on.↗ Example: We made an electromagnet with a nail, wire and a battery.↗ · The electromagnet picked up 12 paper clips.↗ · When we switched it off, the clips fell.↗ · A crane with a huge electromagnet lifts old cars.↗ · More turns of wire make the electromagnet stronger.↗ · An electric doorbell has a small electromagnet inside.↗

electron — Everyday, meaning 1: An electron is a tiny particle, much smaller than an atom, that has a negative electric charge and moves around the nucleus (centre) of an atom.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: When many electrons flow through a wire, that flow is an electric current.↗ Example: An electron has a negative charge.↗ · Electrons flow through the copper wire.↗ · An atom has protons and neutrons in the middle and electrons around them.↗ · When you rub a balloon, electrons move onto it.↗ · Electrons are far too small to see, even with a microscope.↗ · Electricity is a flow of electrons in a circuit.↗ · A proton has a positive charge, and an electron has a negative one.↗ · Electrons move easily in metals, so metals conduct electricity.↗

electronic — Everyday, meaning 1: Electronic describes machines and devices that work using tiny electric circuits and chips, like phones, computers and games.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Electronic also describes things done or stored on computers, like electronic mail or electronic money.↗ Example: Phones and tablets are electronic devices.↗ · Please switch off all electronic devices in the exam.↗ · The shop sells electronic toys.↗ · An electronic thermometer shows the number on a screen.↗ · Email is short for electronic mail.↗ · Keep electronic gadgets away from water.↗ · The teacher takes an electronic register on the computer.↗

electronically — Everyday, meaning 1: By using electronic devices such as computers, phones or the internet.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Using electricity and electronic parts, not by hand or by moving parts.↗ Example: Please hand your homework in electronically.↗ · Mum paid the bill electronically.↗ · The tickets were sent to us electronically.↗ · The doors are locked electronically at night.↗ · Votes were counted electronically.↗ · Library books can be borrowed electronically as e-books.↗

electronics — Everyday, meaning 1: Electronics are devices that use electricity and tiny parts like chips to work, such as phones, computers and games consoles.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Electronics is the science and technology of designing and making these devices and their circuits.↗ Example: Phones and tablets are electronics.↗ · Keep electronics away from water.↗ · My uncle studies electronics at college.↗ · We learned about electronics by building a circuit.↗ · Old electronics should be recycled, not thrown in the bin.↗ · The electronics shop sells headphones and cameras.↗

electrum — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: A shining mix of gold and silver, or an amber-like metal.↗ Example: Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of electrum.↗ (Prophets EZK.8.2, JPS 1917)↗

elegance — Everyday, meaning 1: Grace and good taste in the way something looks, moves or is made.↗ Example: "It was a little rough; it wanted elegance."↗ · She moved with great elegance across the floor.↗ · The vase had an elegance that the plain jug lacked.↗

elegant — Everyday, meaning 1: Graceful and stylish in how something looks or moves.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of clothes, places) Fine, tasteful and attractive.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (maths, science) Simple, clever and neat: «an elegant solution».↗ Example: The swan glided across the lake in an elegant way.↗ · She wore an elegant blue dress to the wedding.↗ · The ballet dancer's movements were elegant.↗ · That's an elegant way to solve the puzzle.↗ · The hotel had elegant chandeliers.↗ · His handwriting is neat and elegant.↗ · The daughters were tall, elegant, slender maidens.↗

elegantly — Everyday, meaning 1: In a graceful, stylish and tasteful way.↗ Example: She had never danced so elegantly before.↗ · The table was elegantly set for the feast.↗ · He bowed elegantly to the queen.↗

element — Everyday, meaning 1: One part or feature of something bigger: «an element of surprise».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science) A pure substance made of only one kind of atom, such as oxygen, iron or gold; there are over a hundred, shown in the periodic table.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (old science) One of the four «elements» people once believed made up everything: earth, air, fire and water.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: «The elements» means the weather, especially bad weather: «exposed to the elements».↗ Everyday, meaning 5: The metal part in a kettle, heater or oven that gets hot.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: (maths) One member of a set.↗ Everyday, meaning 7: «In your element» means happy doing what you are good at.↗ Example: Oxygen is an element we need to breathe.↗ · Gold is an element, so it is made of only gold atoms.↗ · There was an element of luck in our win.↗ · She's in her element when she's painting.↗ · The hikers braved the elements on the mountain.↗ · The kettle element was covered in limescale.↗ · In the set {2, 4, 6}, 4 is an element.↗ · Teamwork is a key element of the game.↗ · Contentment with our lot is an element of happiness.↗ · "Every element has its source from a higher form, and all things have their common origin from the Word (Logos), the Holy Spirit.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · " Every element has its source from a higher form, and all things have their common origin from the Word (Logos), the Holy Spirit. . .↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · Heavens, The I Hebrew word Heshamaim HShMIM, has in it the element of Aesh, fire, and Mim, water ; and also Shem, name ; The Name is IHVH, attributed to the elements.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

elemental — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: Having to do with the basic parts of something, or the first simple building blocks.↗ Example: Certain translators have preferred to render otyot yesod as 'elemental letters' by analogy with the Greek term.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗ · In this interpretation, they are ten elemental entities or properties which bind or restrain primordial תֹּהוּ tohu, 'chaos, void, waste(land)' [Genesis 1:2], allowing structure and order to exist in creation.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation)↗

elementary — Everyday, meaning 1: Very simple and basic, the first thing to learn.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Basic in nature, not made of other parts.↗ Example: This is an elementary sum for beginners.↗ · Learn the elementary rules before you move on.↗ · Wind is an elementary force of nature.↗ · For an illustration may serve the twenty-two elementary substances by the primitive substance of Aleph (א).↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · For an illustration may serve the twenty-two elementary substances by the primitive substance of Aleph [25] (א).↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · Air, Vayu ; then Water, Apas, which condenses into solid elementary Earth, Prithivi ; and lastly from the Water He formed Fire.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

elements — Everyday, meaning 1: Parts or features that make up something: «the elements of a story».↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (science) Pure substances made of one kind of atom each, such as hydrogen and carbon.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: «The elements»: the weather, especially wind, rain and cold.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: The basic, simple first parts of a subject: «the elements of grammar».↗ Everyday, meaning 5: (formal) Groups of people within a larger group: «rowdy elements in the crowd».↗ Example: Hydrogen and oxygen are elements.↗ · The elements of a good story include a hook and an ending.↗ · The shed protected the bikes from the elements.↗ · We learned the basic elements of drawing.↗ · The climbers were exposed to the elements all night.↗ · (formal) Police watched certain elements in the crowd.↗ · There are many elements of difference; but the plainest is plain enough.↗ · 30) Namely, with the two other elements.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · 31 That is to say a different combination of the elements.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877)↗ · Note the order in which the primordial elements • were produced.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

elephant — Everyday, meaning 1: An elephant is a very large grey animal with a long trunk, big ears and usually tusks; it lives in Africa and Asia.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: «The elephant in the room» is a big problem everyone knows about but nobody talks about.↗ Example: The elephant sprayed water with its trunk.↗ · African elephants have bigger ears than Asian elephants.↗ · An elephant eats plants all day.↗ · Baby elephants stay close to their mothers.↗ · The elephant weighs as much as five cars.↗ · Nobody mentioned the broken window — it was the elephant in the room.↗ · There are 3 elephants and each eats 150 kg of food a day.↗

elevate — Everyday, meaning 1: To lift something up to a higher position.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To give someone a higher rank or importance.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To make something better or improve it, like a mood or a dish.↗ Example: Elevate your sprained ankle on a cushion.↗ · The nurse told him to elevate his arm to stop the bleeding.↗ · The house stands on an elevated spot above the river.↗ · Music can elevate your mood.↗ · She was elevated to captain of the team.↗ · The train runs on an elevated track above the street.↗ · It was a fiery look, that seemed at once to elevate and to crush him.↗