Phrases & Expressions

To be similar to something in nature, character or feeling.

• For many students, moving abroad to study is akin to starting a completely new life.
• For my grandmother, using a smartphone for the first time was akin to learning a foreign language.

To be so much in love with someone that you cannot think clearly or see their faults.

• Her friends had doubts about him, but she was besotted with him and would not hear a word against him.
• In the novel, a shy young teacher becomes besotted with a wealthy widow who barely notices him.

To not be affected or influenced by something such as criticism or pressure.

• The minister was impervious to criticism and refused to change the policy despite widespread protests.
• Some investors are impervious to bad news and keep buying shares even when prices fall.

To agree completely with someone's opinion or with an idea, plan or principle.

• The committee's final recommendations are in accord with the views expressed by most parents in the survey.
• On the question of school uniforms, the teachers and parents were completely in accord with each other.

To have strong but usually short-lived romantic feelings for someone, often without knowing them well.

• At fifteen, I was infatuated with a singer whose posters covered every wall of my bedroom.
• When you are infatuated with someone, it is easy to overlook their faults.

To have the same effect as something bad, or to be as bad as it.

• Cutting the hospital's budget yet again would be tantamount to closing it altogether.
• Many voters felt that the minister's silence was tantamount to an admission of guilt.

(of an actor) to keep being given the same kind of character to play.

• After playing a villain in his first film, he was typecast as the bad guy for the rest of his career.
• Actors who become famous for comic roles often worry about being typecast as clowns and never being offered serious parts.

To get so used to something unpleasant that it no longer upsets or affects you.

• After ten years of living next to the airport, we have become inured to the noise of planes taking off at night.
• After years of working in emergency medicine, the nurse had become inured to the sight of serious injuries.

To give someone an honour, title or valuable gift, especially at an official ceremony.

• The university bestowed an honorary degree on the retired nurse for her fifty years of service.
• The title of 'Volunteer of the Year' is bestowed upon one local resident every December.

Of a vehicle, to move very fast in a way that the driver can no longer control.

• Police said the car had been travelling far above the speed limit before it careered out of control and hit a wall.
• When the brakes failed, the lorry careered out of control down the steep hill towards the town centre.