consciousness

con‧scious‧ness W3 /ˈkɒnʃəsnəs, ˈkɒnʃəsnɪs $ ˈkɑːn-/ BrE AmE noun
[Word Family: noun: ↑subconscious, ↑unconscious, ↑consciousness, ↑unconsciousness; adverb: ↑subconsciously, ↑consciously ≠ ↑unconsciously; adjective: ↑conscious ≠ ↑unconscious, ↑subconscious]
1. [uncountable] the condition of being awake and able to understand what is happening around you:
David lost consciousness (=went into a deep sleep) at eight o'clock and died a few hours later.
She could faintly hear voices as she began to regain consciousness (=wake up).
2. [uncountable and countable] your mind and your thoughts:
The painful memories eventually faded from her consciousness.
Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness.
research into human consciousness
3. [countable] someone’s ideas, feelings, or opinions about politics, life etc:
The experience helped to change her political consciousness.
4. [uncountable] when you know that something exists or is true SYN awareness:
This will increase public consciousness of the pollution issue.
⇨ ↑stream of consciousness
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ lose consciousness (=go into a type of deep sleep that is not normal) As she fell, she hit her head and lost consciousness for several minutes.
▪ regain/recover consciousness (=wake up) I wanted to stay at the hospital until he regained consciousness.
▪ return to consciousness When I returned to consciousness, my head was throbbing with pain.
▪ bring somebody back to consciousness The doctors were unable to bring her back to consciousness.
▪ drift in and out of consciousness (=be awake and then not awake, and then awake again, etc) He had a high temperature and was drifting in and out of consciousness.

solid

I. sol‧id¹ S3 W3 /ˈsɒləd, ˈsɒlɪd $ ˈsɑː-/ BrE AmE adjective
[Word Family: noun: ↑solid, ↑solidarity, ↑solidity, solids, ↑solidification; verb: ↑solidify; adverb: ↑solidly; adjective: ↑solid]
[Date: 1300-1400; Language: Old French; Origin: solide, from Latin solidus]
1. FIRM/HARD hard or firm, with a fixed shape, and not a liquid or gas:
The lake was frozen solid.
It was good to be back on solid ground again.
Is the baby eating solid food (=bread, meat etc) yet?
The ship’s sonar can detect the presence of solid objects in the water.
2. ONLY ONE MATERIAL consisting completely of one type of material
solid gold/silver etc
a solid gold cup
solid wood/pine/oak etc
a chest made of solid oak
3. NOT HOLLOW having no holes or spaces inside OPP hollow:
a solid rubber ball
a shrine carved out of solid rock
4. WITHOUT SPACES continuous, without any spaces or breaks:
It’s not safe to pass when the lines in the middle of the road are solid.
5. STRONGLY MADE strong and well made OPP flimsy:
a solid piece of furniture
The frame is as solid as a rock (=extremely solid).
6. GOOD AND LONG-LASTING a solid achievement or solid work is of real, practical, and continuing value:
five years of solid achievement
The first two years provide a solid foundation in the basics of computing.
7. DEPENDABLE someone or something that is solid can be depended on or trusted SYN sound:
a solid reputation
The prosecution in this case has no solid evidence.
You can rely on Wylie for good solid advice.
a solid Labour stronghold (=where people always vote for this party)
8. CONTINUING WITHOUT INTERRUPTION informal used to emphasize that something continues for a long time without any pauses:
The lecture lasted two solid hours.
five hours/two weeks etc solid
On Saturday I went to bed and slept fourteen hours solid.
9. packed solid informal if shops, trains, buses etc are packed solid, they are full of people
10. on solid ground confident because you are dealing with a subject you are sure about, or because you are in a safe situation:
To make sure that he was on solid ground, he confirmed his findings with others.
11. GOOD British English informal good
12. DIFFICULT British English informal very difficult:
I couldn’t do any of the maths last night – it was solid.
13. SHAPE technical having length, width, and height SYN three-dimensional:
A sphere is a solid figure.
14. IN AGREEMENT be solid British English to be in complete agreement:
The workers are 100% solid on this issue.

self-conscious

ˌself-ˈconscious BrE AmE adjective
1. worried and embarrassed about what you look like or what other people think of you
self-conscious about
Jerry’s pretty self-conscious about his weight.
2. self-conscious art, writing etc shows that the artist etc is paying too much attention to how the public will react to their work
—self-consciously adverb:
The boys posed rather self-consciously for the photo.
—self-consciousness noun [uncountable]

self-centred

ˌself-ˈcentred BrE AmE British English, self-centered American English adjective
paying so much attention to yourself that you do not notice what is happening to other people SYN selfish
—self-centredness noun [uncountable]

trendy

I. trend‧y¹ /ˈtrendi/ BrE AmE adjective (comparative trendier, superlative trendiest)
influenced by the most fashionable styles and ideas:
a trendy Bay Area restaurant
—trendiness noun [uncountable]
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ fashionable popular at a particular time: fashionable clothes | It was fashionable to have red hair. | His theories were fashionable in the 1980s.
▪ trendy informal modern and fashionable – often used in a slightly disapproving or joking way: a trendy tie | a trendy restaurant | The area has become very trendy and a lot of artists live there.
▪ stylish adjective fashionable and well-designed in an attractive way: She was wearing a stylish two-piece suit. | The furniture looked very stylish and modern.
▪ cool adjective informal fashionable – used especially when you think someone or something looks good: Michael looked very cool in his dark jacket and sunglasses. | a cool shirt
▪ happening [only before noun] informal adjective a happening place is fashionable and lively: London has always been a happening place.
▪ be in fashion verb phrase to be fashionable at a particular time: The Sixties look is back in fashion.
▪ in adjective informal fashionable at a particular time. In is not used before a noun, except in the phrases below: Pale colours are in. | New York was the in place to be. | Yoga has become the in thing to do.

keep/lose track of somebody/somethingto pay attention to someone or something, so that you know where they are or what is happening to them, or to fail to do this It’s difficult to keep track of all the new discoveries in genetics. I just lost all track of time.

genius

ge‧ni‧us /ˈdʒiːniəs/ BrE AmE noun
[Date: 1300-1400; Language: Latin; Origin: 'spirit who guards a person or place', from gignere; ⇨ ↑genital]
1. [uncountable] a very high level of intelligence, mental skill, or ability, which only a few people have:
The film reveals Fellini’s genius.
work/writer/man etc of genius
Wynford was an architect of genius.
a stroke of genius (=a very clever idea)
At the time, his appointment seemed a stroke of genius.
a work of pure genius
2. [countable] someone who has an unusually high level of intelligence, mental skill, or ability:
Freud was a genius.
musical/comic/mathematical etc genius
a genius at (doing) something
My father was a genius at storytelling.
3. a genius for (doing) something special skill at doing something:
That woman has a genius for organization.
Warhol’s genius for publicity
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ skill [uncountable and countable] an ability to do something well, especially because you have learned and practised it: He plays the piano with great skill. | communication/language/computer etc skills | The course will help you improve your communication skills.
▪ talent [uncountable and countable] a natural ability to do something well which can be developed with practice: She was a young artist with a lot of talent. | She showed a talent for acting from an early age. | He is a man of many talents.
▪ genius [uncountable] very great ability, which only a few people have: The opera shows Mozart’s genius as a composer. | Picasso was a painter of genius.
▪ gift [countable] a natural ability to do something very well, which you were born with: You can see that he has a gift for the game. | Winterson has great gifts as a writer.
▪ flair [singular, uncountable] skill for doing something, especially something that needs imagination and creativity: The job does require some creative flair. | She has a flair for languages.
▪ expertise [uncountable] specialized knowledge of a technical subject, which you get from experience of doing that type of work: The technical expertise for building the dam is being provided by a US company.
▪ a/the knack /næk/ [singular] informal a special skill for doing a particular thing, especially a simple everyday thing: Breadmaking is easy once you get the knack. | He has a knack for making people feel relaxed.

labor

I. la‧bor AC /ˈleɪbə $ -ər/ BrE AmE
the American spelling of ↑labour
II. labour¹ S2 W1 AC BrE AmE British English, labor American English noun
[Word Family: noun: ↑labour, ↑labourer; verb: ↑labour]
1. WORK [uncountable] work, especially physical work:
The garage charges £30 an hour for labour.
Many women do hard manual labour (=work with their hands).
Workers withdrew their labour (=protested by stopping work) for twenty-four hours. ⇨ ↑hard labour
2. WORKERS [uncountable] all the people who work for a company or in a country:
a shortage of skilled labor
We need to reduce our labour costs.
3. BABY [singular, uncountable] the process of giving birth to a baby
in labour
Meg was in labour for ten hours.
Diane went into labour at 2 o'clock.
a long/short/difficult labour
The labour pains were unbearable.
labour ward/room (=a room in a hospital where women give birth)
4. a labour of love something that is hard work but that you do because you want to
5. sb’s labours formal a period of hard work:
After several hours' gardening, we sat down to admire the results of our labours.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 2)
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + labour
▪ skilled/unskilled labour Employers want to keep skilled labour because of the cost of training.
▪ cheap labour (=workers who have low wages) Women and children were used as cheap labour.
▪ casual labour (=workers who do jobs that are not permanent) The industry makes use of a large supply of casual labour.
▪ child labour The shoe company was accused of using child labour in its factory.
▪ slave labour Cotton was grown using slave labor.
■ labour + NOUN
▪ the labour force (=all the people who work in a country or for a company) We need an educated labour force.
▪ the labour supply (=all the people available to work) What was the effect of the war on the labour supply?
▪ the labour market (=the people looking for work and the jobs available) the percentage of women in the labour market
▪ a labour shortage Immigrants came into the country to fill the labour shortage.
▪ labour costs There was pressure to keep down labour costs.
III. labour² AC BrE AmE British English, labor American English verb [intransitive]
[Word Family: noun: ↑labour, ↑labourer; verb: ↑labour]
1. to work hard:
They laboured all day in the mills.
labour over
I’ve been labouring over this report all morning.
labour to do something
Ray had little talent but labored to acquire the skills of a writer.
2. labour under a delusion/misconception/misapprehension etc to believe something that is not true:
She had laboured under the misconception that Bella liked her.
3. labour the point to describe or explain something in too much detail or when people have already understood it
4. [always + adverb/preposition] to move slowly and with difficulty:
I could see the bus labouring up the steep, windy road.

gifted

gift‧ed /ˈɡɪftəd, ˈɡɪftɪd/ BrE AmE adjective
having a natural ability to do one or more things extremely well ⇨ talented
gifted musician/artist/teacher etc
She was an extremely gifted poet.
academically/musically/athletically etc gifted
his musically gifted son
gifted child (=one who is extremely intelligent)
gifted with
Gifted with a superb voice, she became the Opera’s leading soprano.

repetitive

re‧pet‧i‧tive /rɪˈpetətɪv, rɪˈpetɪtɪv/ BrE AmE adjective
[Word Family: adjective: ↑repeated, ↑repetitive, ↑repetitious, ↑repeatable ≠ ↑unrepeatable; noun: ↑repeat, ↑repetition; adverb: ↑repeatedly, ↑repetitively; verb: ↑repeat]
done many times in the same way, and boring
repetitive work/tasks/jobs
repetitive tasks like washing and ironing
The song was dreary and repetitive.