cordial
part of speech
noun (cordial, cordials); adjective (cordial)
meaning for a pupil
1) (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland) A sweet concentrated fruit drink that you mix with water: lime cordial, elderflower cordial. tree →
2) (US, Canada) A sweet alcoholic drink (liqueur) for adults. tree →
3) (adjective, formal) Warm and friendly in a polite way: a cordial welcome. tree →
4) Long ago, a cordial was also a medicine or drink that was thought to strengthen and cheer the heart. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand homes, children drink cordial (also called squash) with water. In maths problems cordial is mixed in ratios, like 1 part cordial to 5 parts water. In formal letters "cordial" means friendly. Phrases: blackcurrant cordial, a cordial welcome, cordial relations.
examples
- Mix one part cordial with five parts water. tree →
- (Australia) Can I have some raspberry cordial? tree →
- Elderflower cordial is lovely on a hot day. tree →
- (formal) The visitors received a cordial welcome. tree →
- The two countries have cordial relations. tree →
- 50 ml of cordial with 250 ml of water makes 300 ml of drink. tree →
- “In love he is,” Cona’n grumbled. “A cordial for women, a disease for men, a state of wretchedness.” tree →
note
Meaning changes by country: in the US a cordial is usually an alcoholic drink, in the UK and Australia a children's fruit drink. Adverb: cordially (as in "You are cordially invited"). In maths, a ratio of 1:5 means 1 part cordial out of 6 parts in all.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «cordial» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.