Phrases & Expressions

To avoid a difficult or embarrassing topic instead of discussing it openly.

• In the meeting, the manager skated around the issue of job cuts, which only made staff more anxious.
• Doctors should not skate around bad news, because patients deserve clear and honest information.

Information that is incomplete and gives only the main points without much explanation.

• Only sketchy details of the accident have been released, so it is unclear how many people were injured.
• The report gives only sketchy details about how the new funding will actually be spent.

To say rude, unkind things about someone, often when they are not there.

• It's unprofessional to slag off your previous employer during a job interview.
• He's always slagging his flatmates off on social media, which I find really childish.

A sudden, large drop in the prices of goods or products.

• Coffee farmers lost most of their income after a slump in prices on the world market.
• A sudden slump in house prices left many homeowners owing more than their homes were worth.

To speak unclearly, running sounds together, for example because you are drunk or ill.

• Suddenly slurring your words can be a warning sign of a stroke and needs urgent medical attention.
• One sign that someone has had too much to drink is that they start to slur their words.

To laugh suddenly and loudly, making a noise through your nose.

• When the comedian imitated the head teacher, the whole audience snorted with laughter.
• My sister snorted with laughter when she saw my terrible attempt at a birthday cake.

Prices that are going up very quickly to a much higher level than before.

• Soaring prices for food and energy have pushed many low-income families into debt this winter.
• Many young people cannot afford a home of their own, as soaring prices have put even small flats out of reach.

The social situation, relationships and surroundings in which someone lives or something happens.

• The meaning of a gesture can change completely depending on its social context.
• To understand youth crime, researchers must look at the social context in which young offenders grow up.

Approximately; used before a number to show that it is not exact.

• The new hospital will create somewhere in the region of 500 jobs for local people.
• The festival attracted somewhere in the region of 20,000 visitors over three days.

To seem very unlikely to be true or to happen.

• It may sound far-fetched, but some scientists believe that people could be living on Mars within fifty years.
• The witness's account of the robbery sounded rather far-fetched, so detectives began to doubt his story.