Saturday, January 1, 2022

How to express negative effects

TO HINDER = to make the progress or development of something slow down or stop. [= to hamper]

  • Slow broadband hinders ICT school work
  • Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress
  • What do you think hinders creativity?
  • Political instability hinders Italy's recovery from recession [Ignazio Visco]
  • Lack of confidence, not skills, hinders women [The Times]
  • Stress Hormone Hinders Memory Recall [Cognitive Neuroscience Society]
  • Speaking in simple sentences to your children hinders language development.

TO GET IN THE WAY = to block, hinder or interfere with someone or something, making it harder for them to do what they want or need to do. [= to hinder]

  • 1) [phisical obstruction] Your bag is getting in the way, do you mind moving it?
  • 2) [interference with plans or goals] Fear got in the way of her making a decision.

TO CRIPPLE = (verb) to severely weaken, damage, or make something ineffective. [= to disable]

  • An exponent of one party accuses the opposing party’s policies of crippling the country. -> An exponent of one party claims that the opposing party’s policies are damaging the country.
  • script from the series friends
    Chandler: So, you and Rachel tonight, it's your first official date? You're nervous?
    Joey: Naa, no. This is the part I'm actually good at.
    Chandler: What must it be like not to be crippled by fear and self-loathing. -> What must it be like not to be paralyzed/overwhelmed by fear and self-loathing.

TO DISRUPT = to prevent something from continuing in its usual way by causing problems [= to break, to interrupt]

  • By disrupting melatonin, blue light ruins sleep schedules
  • Anti-War protester fined after disrupting Russian news program. A Russian TV editor protested Russia's invasion of Ukraine by interrupting a live news broadcast on Russian state television.
  • Traffic was disrupted by a road block.
  • Dear community member, some of you may have experienced disruptions with our services.

TO SPOIL /spɔɪl/ verb = to have a bad effect on something so that it is no longer attractive, enjoyable, useful [= ruin]

  • Italian youngsters are spoilt [Bayveen, English teacher]
  • I don't want to spoil your party, so I go [The Beatles]
  • “If you Want to Spoil the Day of a Grouch, Give Him a Smile”

AWRY /əˈraɪ/ (adverb, adjective) = away from the expected or proper direction; amiss; wrong:

go awry = if something goes awry, it does not happen in the way that was planned [= to go wrong]
  • Invalid internal config; something has gone awry!
  • If anything goes awry in sending the response back to the client, the servlet throws an HTTPException

TO ENDANGER /ɪnˈdeɪndʒə/ [transitive] = to put someone or something in danger of being hurt, damaged, or destroyed [= put in jeopardy]

  • Trump's briefings on coronavirus are actively endangering the public's health.

TO UNDERMINE = /ˌʌndəˈmaɪn/ [transitive] = to gradually make someone or something less strong or effective [= to weaken]

  • Brexit is undermining 20 years of peace in Northern Ireland, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar claims
  • The recapture of Izyum will not undermine Putin’s strategy and ambitions for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, experts say

HINDRANCE /ˈhɪndrəns/ (noun) = something or someone that makes it difficult for you to do something [= obstruction, difficulty]

  • There are many calculations where time zones are not required, and in some cases they can even be a hindrance.

TO FALTER = to become weaker and unable to continue in an effective way [= to hesitate in action]

  • Sleep allows your active neurons to rest and glial cells to clean up the toxins that the neurons produce. The majority of people need from 7 to 9 hours of sleep, otherwise the toxins remain there. So, insufficient sleep makes your attention falter, your memory is impaired, your ability to think through problems is challenged, your insulin is turned upside down.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

to scrub vs to scrape vs to rub

TO SCRUB /skrʌb/

1 [intransitive, transitive] to rub something hard, especially with a stiff brush, in order to clean it [= clean with force]

  • She was scrubbing the kitchen floor.
  • I scrubbed the dirt off using a brush.
  • You don’t have to worry about remembering to delete your upload after you’re done. Mozilla scrubs your file(s) from its servers the second your chosen recipient finishes downloading it.
  • 2 [transitive] (informal) to decide not to do something that you had planned [= cancel]

  • The Italian Rugby Federation on Friday scrubbed the 2019-2020 season due to the coronavirus.



  • TO SCRAPE /skreɪp/ (verb)

    1 [transitive] to remove an outer layer, adhering matter, etc, or to smooth by drawing or rubbing something over a surface.

  • scrape a carrot
  • scrape a table to remove paint
  • A silicic cutter and a scraper, belonging to the Neolithic era, were found during an urban renovation project. The scraper was made of an elongated stone plate with a sharp blade at the end. Ancient people could use it to scrub animal skins from the inside so that they become thinner and softer.
  • 2 [transitive] to discard as useless, worthless, or ineffective: [= remove]

  • Brexit vote could be scrapped as Government plans to reopen talks with EU
  • Android source reveals scrapped Nexus 6 fingerprint sensor. Presumably fingerprint scanning hardware was originally included in a prototype version of the Nexus 6 and the hardware removed later in development

    3 [intransitive, transitive] to rub against a rough surface in a way that causes slight damage or injury [= graze]

  • he fell off the bike and he scraped his knees and elbows.
  • On 22 May 2020, a Pakistan International Airlines’ Airbus A320 crashed in Karachi. According to the report, the Airbus A320’s engines had scraped the runway thrice on the pilot’s first attempt to land.
  • 4 [transitive] to make into scraps or scrap; [= to break up]

  • to scrap old cars.
  • 5 to extract and copy data from a website using a computer program, as for data manipulation or analysis.

  • Facebook and Twitter revealed that some third-party apps quietly scraped personal information from people’s accounts without their consent.




    TO RUB /rʌb/ (verb)

    [intransitive, transitive] to move your hand, or something such as a cloth, backwards and forwards over a surface while pressing firmly [= stroke, massage]

    rub your nose/chin/eyes/forehead, etc
  • Bruschetta is toasted bread rubbed with garlic and topped with marinated tomatoes
  • To prevent the spread of COVID-19 clean your hands often. Use soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub.
  • Wednesday, July 17, 2019

    How to express the source or cause of something

    TO ARISE (FROM/OUT OF) = if something arises from or out of a situation, event etc, it is caused or started by that situation etc [= to result or proceed; spring or issue]

    • Mental health disorders typically arise from an interaction between biological/psychological and social/enviromental factors
    • Referential integrity constraints arise from relationships among the entities represented by the relation schema



    TO STEM FROM (phrasal verb) = to develop as a result of something else [= to come from]

    • A study provides the evidence that Syphilis stemmed from bacteria that originated in the New World.
    • To prevent errors stemming from common mistakes, first try to make your HTML code validate.
    • My problem about learning maven is that I have no experience with Ant, which seems to be from where many explanations stem.



    TO DERIVE /dɪˈraɪv/ =

    1 [intransitive, transitive] to develop or come from something else [= to come from]
    • CORBA, Microsoft DCOM and Java RMI are example of distributed object systems and derive from Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) system for Distributed Computing Environment.
    • These XML documents are derived from the W3C XML Schema Part 0: Primer, edited by David C. Fallside.

    2 [transitive] to get something, especially an advantage or a pleasant feeling, from something [= to get]
    • Of course, shoppers derive as much pleasure from the shopping activity as from the outcome of this activity.



    TO ORIGINATE =

    1 [intransitive + adverb/preposition] (formal) = to come from a particular place or start in a particular situation
    • Mark-up originates in the publishing industry. In traditional publishing, the manuscript is annotated with layout instructions for the typesetter.These handwritten annotations are called mark-up.

    2 [transitive] = to give origin or rise to [= to create; to introduce]
    • In the Chen ER data model mapping guidelines, common nouns tend to originate entity type names


    Sunday, November 11, 2018

    how to express a typical attribute or quality of a thing

    CHARACTERISTIC /ˌkærəktəˈrɪstɪk/ noun [countable] = a quality or feature of something or someone that is typical of them and easy to recognize

    characteristic of
    • One of the most fundamental characteristics of a programming language is the set of types it supports.
    • The way that variables work is another fundamental characteristic of any programming language.
    • We found the nine common characteristics of all the world's long-lived people.



    FEATURE /ˈfiːtʃə/ noun [countable] = a part of something that you notice because it seems important, interesting, or typical

    • Samsung to include wireless charging as standard feature in newest phone
    • Features common to all rooms: queen sized beds, balcony, Overhead fans, Heating, Small refrigerator, ecc
    • In the early days of the Web, browsers added features like the ability to open, move, and resize windows and to script the browser’s status line.



    FLAVOR /ˈfleɪvər/ noun = a quality or feature that makes something have a particular style or character.

    • There are many options and flavors to the SELECT statement in SQL, so we will introduce its features gradually.
    • A story with regional flavour.



    FACILITY (noun) plural facilities = a special feature that simplifies work or help an activity. [= a convenience]

    to have/lack facilities for doing something

    • In ECMAScript, each function call has its own execution context. Whenever code execution flows into a function, the function’s context is pushed onto a context stack. After the function has finished executing, the stack is popped, returning control to the previously executing context. This facility controls execution flow throughout an ECMAScript program.
    • SQL has facilities for defining views on the database, for specifying security and authorization, for defining integrity constraints, and for specifying transaction controls.



    TO CHARACTERIZE = to describe the qualities of someone or something in a particular [=portray]

    characterize somebody as (being) something
    • The construction of the purchase order schema may be characterized as elements containing subelements, and the deepest subelements contain character data.

    Saturday, August 25, 2018

    to scatter vs to sprinkle vs to spread to sprawl

    TO SCATTER = [intransitive, transitive] if someone scatters a lot of things, or if they scatter, they are thrown or dropped over a wide area in an irregular way [=to distribute]

    scatter (something) over/around/across etc something
    • Scatter the onions over the fish.
    • The flowers fell and scattered on the ground.
    • Mac devices' glossy LED panels scatter reflective light.
    • Files are accessed by file name, but actual data is stored in physical sectors scattered around a disk.



    TO SPRINKLE = [transitive] to scatter small drops of liquid or small pieces of something [=to scatter].

    sprinkle something with something
    • Sprinkle asparagus with Parmesan cheese, sea salt, and garlic powder.

    sprinkle something on/over something
    • Sprinkle sugar over a cake.
    • Sprinkle olive oil over salad to enhance its taste.

    • A sprinkler is a piece of equipment used for scattering water on grass or soil.



    TO SPREAD = [intransitive, transitive] if something spreads or is spread, it becomes larger or moves so that it affects more people or a larger area [=to stretch]

    Examples with intransitive use [= to extend to, to expand to]
    • Parkinson’s may begin in gut and spread to the brain via the vagus nerve.

    Examples with transitive use [= to propagate]
    • The terrorists hope to spread the poison gas through the entire subway station.



    TO SPRAWL /sprɔːl/ = [intransitive, transitive] to lie or sit with your arms or legs stretched out in a ungraceful way [=to spread]

    Monday, December 18, 2017

    How to express composition

    TO CONSIST OF /kənˈsɪst/ (phrasal verb) = to be formed from two or more things or people:

    • A CSS rule consists of a selector and a declaration block.
    • The state of Hawaii consists of eight main islands.
    • The state of an object consists of the values of its instance variables.
    • Pattern matching consists of finding a section of text that is described (matched) by a regular expression.



    TO MAKE UP SMT. = to combine together to form something [= constitute, compose]

    • 7 to 14 troops make up a squad, 3 to 4 squads make up a platoon.

    TO BE MADE UP OF = to be formed from

    • Java EE applications are made up of components.
    • A URL is made up of the domain name followed by the path to that page or image.
    • Images appearing on computer screens are made up of tiny squares called pixels, with a resolution of 72 pixels per inch. Images in print materials are made up of tiny circles called dots, usually printed at a resolution of 300 dots per inch.



    TO BE COMPOSED OF = to be formed from a number of substances, parts, or people [= consist of]

    • Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen.
    • In a RGB color space, a color is composed of three color components: red, green, and blue.



    TO COMPRISE /kəmˈpraɪz/ (formal) = to consist of; be composed of:

    • An XML Schema is an XML document containing a formal description of what comprises a valid XML document.
    • Pop star Beyoncé bought a stake in WTRMLN WTR: a drink which comprises just watermelon and lemon.
    • The house comprises two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room.
    • The book comprises a series of war poems.

    TO BE COMPRISED OF

    • The CyanogenMod community is comprised of unpaid volunteers and enthusiasts from around the world.
    • XML Schema list types are comprised of sequences of atomic types.

    Tuesday, September 5, 2017

    notch vs knot vs knob

    NOTCH /nɒtʃ/ (noun) [countable]

    1 a level on a scale that measures something, for example quality or achievement

  • The PWM flicker on dell XPS FHD screen is only present on the very lowest brightness setting, if you increase it up a single notch it goes away.
  • Our company is searching for top-notch developers



    KNOT /nɒt/ (noun) [countable] = a part where one or more pieces of string, rope, cloth etc have been tied or twisted together

  • Are you any good at tying knots? No, but I can untie them.



    KNOB /nɒb/ (noun) [countable] = a round handle or thing that you turn to open a door, turn on a television etc

  • I turned the knob and the door opened.
  • I adjusted the volume knob.