▸ Specimen Drawer

Language & Communication — Lesson 52

I speak Learning

Fast recall sprint

Ready to test yourself?

Browse the cards below, then start a play round — five minutes of quick drills that lock each word into memory.

Specimen

balderdash

ˈbɔldɚdæʃ

Trivial nonsense — he was talking balderdash again.

That story is complete balderdash.

Specimen

ballad

ˈbæləd

A narrative song with a recurrent refrain — the band wrote a ballad for their new album.

The singer performed a beautiful ballad about lost love.

Specimen

ballads

ˈbælədz

A narrative song with a recurrent refrain — the album features twelve folk ballads recorded live.

The singer performed several traditional ballads from the Scottish Highlands.

Specimen

ballots

ˈbæləts

A document listing the alternatives that is used in voting — voters marked their ballots in private.

The ballots were counted after the polls closed.

Specimen

ballyhoo

ˈbælihuː

Blatant or sensational promotion — all that ballyhoo turned out to be about nothing.

The marketing team created quite a ballyhoo over the new product launch.

Specimen

baloney

bəˈloʊni

Pretentious or silly talk or writing — that's a bunch of baloney!

That's a bunch of baloney!

Specimen

bamboozle

bæmˈbuːzəl

Bamboozle means to trick or deceive someone, often in a clever or confusing way — don't try to bamboozle your parents—they'll figure out the truth.

The salesman tried to bamboozle me into buying an expensive warranty.

Specimen

bamboozled

bæmˈbuːzəld

Deceived or tricked someone — she was bamboozled by the complicated instructions.

The salesman bamboozled me into buying a broken car.

Specimen

ban

bæn

A decree that prohibits something — the government banned the sale of that product.

The government banned the sale of that product.

Specimen

banality

bəˈnælɪti

A trite or obvious remark — reality TV shows often suffer from terrible banality.

The banality of his writing made the novel unbearable to read.

Specimen

bans

bænz

A decree that prohibits something — many countries have bans on single-use plastics.

The government imposed new bans on smoking in public places.

Specimen

banter

ˈbæntər

Light teasing repartee — she enjoyed the witty banter at the dinner party.

There was some friendly banter between the two teams during the match.

▸ Catalogue Progress 0 / 12 specimens catalogued

Mark each specimen as learned to complete this drawer.

Next drawer · Language & Communication — Lesson 53