scrutinize
To scrutinize something means to examine or inspect it very carefully, looking at all the tiny details and/or checking for imperfections.
My classmate scrutinized my essay and found several spelling mistakes.
flourish
If something is flourishing, it is growing and developing very successfully.
There’s a flourishing artistic community in San Francisco.
marvel
If you marvel at something, it means you are amazed or surprised by it. We usually:
- marvel at + a noun
When we reached the top of the mountain, we marveled at the view. - marvel that + subject + verb
I marveled that he got the job without any experience.
insinuate
To insinuate means to express something in an indirect way – not stating it directly, but making a more subtle reference that suggests it without saying it specifically. For example, let’s say there’s a husband and wife, and the husband has a female friend at work who he talks about a lot. If the wife says something like “You two seem quite fond of each other,” she may be insinuating that there’s an inappropriate relationship between her husband and this other woman.
vouch for (someone/something)
To vouch for someone or something means to say you trust it, usually based on your own personal good experience with that person/thing:
I can vouch for the reliability of Toyota cars. I’ve had one for 10 years and it’s never broken down.
We hired an electrician who my friend vouched for.
nag (someone)
To nag means to remind or ask someone repeatedly, usually in an annoying way.
I always forget to take out the garbage, so my wife keeps nagging me about it.
dump
The verb dump means to throw things down or let them fall without being careful.
My roommate just dumps her clean clothes on the bed; she never puts them away.
To dump someone is a slang way to talk about when one person ends a romantic relationship without caring about the feelings of the other person.
Sarah’s boyfriend dumped her in order to go out with a model.
skyrocket
The verb skyrocket means to increase or go up a lot very quickly.
Sales of the product skyrocketed after a celebrity started using it.
flee
To flee means to run away, usually from danger. The past tense is fled.
The refugees are fleeing from the civil war in their home country.
reminisce
To reminisce means to actively think about / talk about good past experiences.
My grandparents like to reminisce about when they were young.
