Chasm (noun)
a deep fissure in the earth’s surface:
- a chasm a mile long
- he was engulfed in a chasm of despair
a profound difference between people, viewpoints, feelings, etc.
- the chasm between rich and poor
Echo chamber (noun)
a situation in which people only hear opinions of one type, or opinions that are similar to their own:
- We don’t always agree on everything; we’re not mutual echo chambers for each other’s policies.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Echo chamber’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/echo-chamber Source Cited: 18th January 2024
“Social media platforms also make a note of everything we like and share and use this data to feed more of the same thing back to us. They use computer programs called algorithms, but to get round this you could follow a few accounts that you don’t always agree with – that way the algorithms will learn to suggest different posts with a variety of viewpoints.”
BBC Bitesize. ‘What are echo chambers?’. Online Source:
Online Source:https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbwkbqt Source Cited: 18th January 2024
Transfiguration (noun)
the act or process of transfiguring someone or something (= changing their appearance very much, especially in a spiritual way):
- Genres, like records, do not rest in one site, but refract into multiple and successive transfigurations of musical meaning.
- As a linguistic process, transfiguration can be generative of new meanings, but the figures that are its products can be canonized as inherited truths.
- This social transfiguration, accompanied by an industrial decline, is believed to have caused an acute sense of deprivation amongst the city’s subordinate social groups.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Transfiguration’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/transfiguration Source Cited: 27th October 2023
Malformed (adjective)
(used especially of part of the body) wrongly formed:
- There are genetic defects which can cause malformed teeth.
- The shells of the snails appeared to be malformed.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Malformed’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/malformed Source Cited: 27th October 2023
Malfunction (verb)
to fail to work or operate correctly
- The degradation identification represents the system’s malfunctioning states from the property deviations of system flows identified through a monitoring process.
- The norms and vocabularies elaborated confer a new visibility on the workings of the family and new ways of identifying its malfunctions.
- High information, monitoring and transaction costs, lack of collateral following unenforceable property rights, and moral hazard problems all contribute to absent or malfunctioning credit markets in these economies.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Malfunction’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/malfunction Source Cited: 23rd October 2023
Reformation (noun)
the act of making an improvement, especially by changing a person’s behaviour or the structure of something:
- He’s undergone something of a reformation – he’s a changed man.
- They are committed to the radical reformation of their society.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Reformation’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/reformation Source Cited: 23rd October 2023
Permutations (noun)
any of the various ways in which a set of things can be ordered:
- There are 120 permutations of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5: for example, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5 or 5, 1, 4, 2, 3.
- He made 16 separate applications for tickets using various permutations of his children’s names
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Permutations’. Online Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/permutation?q=permutations
Source Cited: 28th October 2023
Compression (noun)
the act of making something smaller or shorter so that it will fit into a particular space or time:
- Tectonic forces caused compression in the earth’s crust.
- Advances in compression technology mean that you can now send even quite large files by email.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Compression’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/compression Source Cited: 21st October 2023
Convergence (noun)
the fact that two or more things, ideas, etc. become similar or come together:
- The convergence of pop-cultural trends and technological progress gave us camera phones and the “selfie.”
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Convergence’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/convergence Source Cited: 18th October 2023
Sublimation (noun)
the act of expressing strong emotions or using energy by doing an activity or creating something, or the activity or work itself:
- Was their writing a sublimation of deep, basic desires?
- He believed aggression could be kept in check via sublimation, namely through play.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Sublimation’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sublimation Source Cited: 12th October 2023
Impenetrability (noun)
the quality of being impossible to understand:
- The impenetrability of much research is a cause for some concern.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Impenetrability’. Online Source:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/impenetrability Source Cited: 12th October 2023
Counterpart (noun)
- a person or thing that has the same purpose as another one in a different place or organization.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Counterpart’. Online Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/counterpart Source Cited: 5th September 2023
Graft (verb)
to work hard:
- It was very sad that after spending all those years grafting (away), he died so soon after he retired.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘GRAFTING’. Online Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/grafting Source Cited: 5th August 2023
Graft (noun)
the acquisition of money, gain, or advantage by dishonest, unfair, or illegal means, especially through the abuse of one’s position or influence in politics, business, etc.
a particular instance, method, or means of thus acquiring gain or advantage.
Dictionary.com. ‘Graft’. Online Source:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/graft Source Cited: 5th August 2023
Moratorium (formal)
a stopping of an activity for an agreed amount of time:
- a five-year worldwide moratorium on nuclear weapons testing
Moratorium (finance)
an agreed period of time during which a country does not have to pay its debt to other countries:
- An immediate debt moratorium would free resources for poor countries to spend on health and education programmes.
Cambridge Dictionary. ‘Moratorium’. Online Source: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/moratorium Source Cited: 5th August 2023
Window Dressing (finance)
Window dressing is the term for a strategy used by retailers – dressing up a window display – to draw in customers. The financial industry adopted it to refer to the practice of altering financial data to appear more attractive to investors.
Investopedia.com. ‘What is Window Dressing in Finance?’ Online Source: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/windowdressing.asp Source Cited: 5th August 2023
Underweight (finance)
Underweight refers to one of two situations in regard to trading and finance. An underweight portfolio does not hold a sufficient amount of a particular security when compared to the weight of that security held in the underlying benchmark portfolio. Underweight can also refer to an analyst’s opinion regarding the future performance of a security in scenarios where it is expected to underperform.
Investopedia.com. ‘Underweight: What it Means, How it Works’. Online Source: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/underweight.asp Source Cited: 5th August 2023