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Front Liner (n.) – A person working closest to a difficult or dangerous situation.Contract tracing aims to tell these people that they should stay at home (self-isolate) for a period of time and not pass the disease on to other people. Contract Tracing (n.) – Finding people who have been near someone who has an infectious disease.C-19 (n.) – A shortened version of COVID 19.Let’s take a closer look at 5 of the most important ones that you may need to use or understand. Well, as you can probably imagine after this year, many of the new terms relate to COVID 19. That is a lot of words! Did you know that the best thing about the Oxford Dictionary is that each year it is updated to include new words? So, what are 2020’s latest additions to the dictionary? So, what is one of the better ways to learn or check new vocabulary than to head to the Oxford Dictionary!ĭid you know that the Oxford Dictionary has 273,000 headwords? 171,476 of those words are currently used regularly. But without words, there is no grammar! How can you even produce a grammatically correct sentence if you don’t have the words to form it? Yes, grammar is extremely important and without some grammar it is difficult to understand the language you may be reading, listening to or even trying to use yourself. No language can be communicated without words! ‘But what about grammar?’ we hear you ask. Well, you have definitely come to the right place! Social media has increased the speed at which new words become popular.Of course you do! If you are reading this, you are probably an English language student looking to improve your English. We might make up our own words or espouse others that suit what we are trying to say. This is exciting because it means that we all have the opportunity to influence its evolution. Love them or hate them, new words will always be an element of the English language. ‘She emerged from the tanning salon looking like an Ooompa Loompa.’ Sometimes used as a derogatory description. ‘Take a bite and I am positive you will be shouting out oh how scrumdiddlyumptious this wonderveg is!’Īn orange-faced, green-haired character from Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. YOLO!’Īn extension of the word ‘scrumptious’ used by the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) in Roald Dahl’s popular children’s tale.
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‘I’m going to sell my house and live in a tent. Two of these have been included to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the popular children’s author Roald Dahl:Īn abbreviation of ‘you only live once’ used as an excuse for making hasty decisions or engaging in reckless activities. ‘The behaviour of the England football fans bordered on yobbism.’Īnd finally a few lighthearted terms, which we hope will make you smile. ‘The filmer tripped on set and dropped his camera on the director’s foot.’īehaviour that is of an aggressive or antisocial nature. Someone who operates a film or video camera. ‘The bocconcini melted in my mouth and were the perfect addition to my antipasti plate.’ Also means ‘small mouthful’ in Italian, referring to diminutive but tasty morsels of food. Next, some conversational gems that you might like to pop into your office banter:īitesize balls of mozzarella cheese, usually packed in water or whey. ‘The introduction of an indoor roller coaster has boosted visits to Smithfield Shopping Centre by 40%.’ The practice of combining entertainment facilities and retail opportunities, in order to attract customers.
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‘Try our free budgeting tool, then access our financial advice service.’ ‘The headline, ‘Celebrity Misses Oscar Ceremony’ led to an uninspiring article about a minor celebrity who had not even been invited to the Academy Awards Ceremony.’Ī method of attracting customers with simple free services, in order to encourage them to take up offers of more advanced paid services. We have picked out a few choice examples for your information and enjoyment.įirst for you high-flyers who are looking for new business terms:Ī derogatory term used to describe media of dubious quality, which has been placed in order to gain the maximum possible volume of web traffic. The 2006 September additions provide a list that is both mystifying and entertaining.
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All of this keeps the dictionary wordsmiths very busy the OED for instance is updated in March, June, September and December every year. It wasn’t too long ago that our use of the word kryptonite was restricted to super-hero comics, but since June 2015 it has also had a place in the Oxford English Dictionary. This is counteracted by the development, usually through popular culture, of new words. Older words fall into obsolescence, for example malagrugrous which in Scotland once meant dismal, is no longer used.
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