IELTS Book 7 Test 3 Section 1

7 T3 S1

Aphids noun Synonym: Insect

A very small insect that is harmful to plants.

· There are several types of aphid, including, for example, greenfly.

Exhaustive adjective Synonym: Tiresome

Including everything possible; very thorough or complete

· Exhaustive research/tests

· This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

Herding noun Synonym: Horde, flock

A group of animals of the same type that live and feed together

· A herd of cows/deer/elephants

· A beef/dairy herd

(usually disapproving) a large group of people of the same type

· She pushed her way through a herd of lunchtime drinkers.

· The common herd (= ordinary people)

· Why follow the herd (= do and think the same as everyone else)?

Interconnected verb Synonym: Enmeshed

To connect similar things; to be connected to or with similar things

Interconnect A with B

· Bad housing is interconnected with debt and poverty.

Interconnect A and B

· Bad housing, debt and poverty are interconnected.

· Electronic networks which interconnect thousands of computers around the world

Interconnect (with something)

· Separate bedrooms that interconnect

· The dining room interconnects with the kitchen.

Prehistoric adjective Synonym: Archaic

Connected with the time in history before information was written down

· In prehistoric times

· Prehistoric man/remains/animals/burial sites

Propagated verb Synonym: Breed, Multiply

[transitive] propagate something (formal) to spread an idea, a belief or a piece of information among many people

· Television advertising propagates a false image of the ideal family.

[transitive, intransitive] propagate (something) (specialist) to produce new plants from a parent plant

· The plant can be propagated from seed.

· Plants won't propagate in these conditions.

Scrutiny noun Synonym: Analysis

Careful and thorough examination

· Her argument doesn't really stand up to scrutiny.

· Foreign policy has come under close scrutiny recently.

· The documents should be available for public scrutiny.

· The situation is bound to come under the scrutiny of the public health authorities.

Slaves noun Synonym: Serf, Servant

A person who is owned by another person and is forced to work for them

· She treated her daughter like a slave.

· Slave owners

A person who is so strongly influenced by something that they cannot live without it, or cannot make their own decisions

Slave of something

· We are slaves of the motor car.

Slave to something

· Sue's a slave to fashion.

(specialist) a device that is directly controlled by another one

· Robots are like slaves, they do as per the human programming.

Sophisticated adjective Synonym: Refined

Having a lot of experience of the world and knowing about fashion, culture and other things that people think are socially important

· The sophisticated pleasures of city life

· Mark is a smart and sophisticated young man.

(of a machine, system, etc.) clever and complicated in the way that it works or is presented

· Highly sophisticated computer systems

· Medical techniques are becoming more sophisticated all the time.

(of a person) able to understand difficult or complicated ideas

· A sophisticated audience

Strains noun Synonym: Stress

Worry/anxiety

[uncountable, countable] pressure on somebody/something because they have too much to do or manage, or something very difficult to deal with; the problems, worry or anxiety that this produces

· Their marriage is under great strain at the moment.

· These repayments are putting a strain on our finances.

· Relax, and let us take the strain (= do things for you).

· The transport service cannot cope with the strain of so many additional passengers.

· You will learn to cope with the stresses and strains of public life.

· I found it a strain having to concentrate for so long.

· There are strains in the relationship between the two countries.

Swapping verb Synonym: Switch

[intransitive, transitive] to give something to somebody and receive something in exchange

swap (something) (with somebody)

· I've finished this magazine.

· Can I swap with you?

Swap something for something

· I swapped my red scarf for her blue one.

· Swap something

· Can we swap places?

· I can't see the screen.

· We spent the evening in the pub Swapping stories (= telling each other stories) about our travels.

Swap somebody something for something

· I swapped him my CD for his posters.

[intransitive] swap (over) to start doing somebody else’s job, etc. while they do yours

· I'll drive there and then we'll swap over on the way back.

[transitive] (especially British English) to replace one person or thing with another

Swap somebody/something (for somebody/something)

· I think I'll swap this sweater for one in another colour.

Swap somebody/something (over)

· I'm going to swap you over.

· Mike will go first and Jon will go second.

Weed noun Synonym: Shrub, Cannabis

[countable] a wild plant growing where it is not wanted, especially among crops or garden plants

· The yard was overgrown with weeds.

· Routine maintenance of the garden consists of keeping weeds under control.

· There were weeds pushing up through the gravel.

[uncountable] any wild plant without flowers that grows in water and forms a green floating mass

The weed [singular] (humorous) tobacco or cigarettes

· I wish I could give up the weed (= stop smoking).

[uncountable] (informal) the drug cannabis

· I am sick and tired usingweed (using drug)

[countable] (British English, informal, disapproving) a person with a weak character or body

· Don’t be such a weed!