WordNet

2021-08-07 21:05:31 "Over the weekend we got some commercial satellite photographs that showed that the Chinese were building silos all across the western desert."

silo
/'saɪləʊ/

noun

[C] an underground place where nuclear weapons or dangerous substances are kept Open / Comment

2021-08-05 21:08:34 "Parental bereavement is widely acknowledged as the hardest of losses to bear."

bereavement
/bɪrˈiːvmənt/

noun

[U] the state of having lost a relative or close friend because they have died

acknowledge
/əkˈnɑːlɪdʒ/

verb

[T] to accept/admit that sth is true Open / Comment

2021-08-04 11:42:39 "The idea of moral attention goes back at least as far as ancient Greece, where the Stoics wrote about the practice of attention as the cornerstone of a good spiritual life."

cornerstone
/ˈkɔːrnərstəʊn/

noun

[C] the most important part of something that the rest depends on Open / Comment

2021-08-03 13:15:03 "Tens of thousands of Afghans have served as interpreters, fixers and local guides to US and allied soldiers since the start of Afghan War in 2001, when Western forces invaded to wrest control of the country from the Taliban."

interpreter
/ɪnˈtɜːrprətər/

noun

[C] a person whose job is to translate what somebody is saying into another language

fixer
/ˈfɪksər/

noun

[C] a person who arranges things and solves problems for other people, sometimes dishonestly

wrest
/rest/

verb

[T] to take something such as power or control from sb/sth with great effort

wrest sth from sb/sth Open / Comment

2021-08-02 10:30:00 "Despite being an ordinary and compliant citizen, she, like the rest of my family, avoided controversial political topics on the phone, afraid that the lines were tapped."

compliant
/kəmˈplaɪənt/

adjective

willing to obey or to agree to other people's wishes and demands

tap (past tense and past participle tapped, present participle tapping)
/tæp/

verb

[T] to listen secretly to sb's telephone by using a special piece of electronic equipment Open / Comment

2021-08-01 15:38:40 "The federal eviction moratorium in place since September is set to expire Saturday, after the Biden administration refused to extend it and Democrats in Congress couldn't muster the votes to intervene."

moratorium (plural moratoriums, moratoria)
/mɔːrəˈtɔːriəm/

noun

[C] an official stopping of an activity for a period of time

moratorium on sth

muster (up)
/ˈmʌstər/

verb

[T] to get enough courage, confidence, support etc. to do sth - summon (up) Open / Comment

2021-07-30 11:11:01 "Living within the clutches of consumer capitalism means we’re subject to the forces of production, price, and planned obsolescence."

clutches
/klʌtʃɪz/

noun

[plural] power or control

subject to sth
/ˈsʌbdʒekt/

adjective

likely to be affected by something, especially something bad

obsolescence
/ɑːbsəˈlesns/

noun

[U] the state of becoming old-fashioned and no longer useful

built-in/planned obsolescence Open / Comment

2021-07-28 22:45:01 "The Department of Justice also denied Brooks' claim Tuesday that he was acting within the scope of his employment and requested that he not be granted immunity."

scope
/skəʊp/

noun

[U] the range of things that a subject, an organization, an activity, etc. deals with

beyond/outside/within the scope of sth Open / Comment