Page 125 - WEBSTER Essential vocabulary

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Essential Vocabulary
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fortunate (FAWR tyoo nit) adj. 1. lucky; having good luck; having good
fortune; 2. favorable; auspicious
• Roger was fortunate to have taken the plane just before the flight that
crashed.
• Sarah was very fortunate when she picked the winning lottery numbers.
[fortunately adv.]
foster (FAW stir) vt. 1. to carefully raise; rear; 2. to nourish; help grow or
develop; promote —adj. being treated as a certain member of the family, although
neither related nor adopted
• Mickey fostered the colt as if it were his own child.
• Dairy farmers foster a national campaign to promote milk drinking.
• Dorothy and Al are foster parents to three foster children.
[-ed, -ing]
fracture (FRAK chir) vt. 1. to break or split; to crack; 2. to disrupt; to break up
—n. 1. a break or cleft; 2. a broken-off part; fragment; 3. a broken bone
• The 2003 invasion of Iraq helped to fracture the Franco-American alliance.
• Alice’s shriek fractured the near-complete silence.
• Matt fractured his ulna playing ice hockey.
• The doctor set Mike’s fractured finger with a splint.
• Flint knives were made by hitting two pieces of flint together in hopes of
fracturing a chip off one to form the blade.
[-d, fracturing] [Syn. break]
freedom (FREE dim) n. 1. the state or quality of being free from the control of
other persons, or certain laws or regulations; 2. a right or privilege
• The nations of the Americas value their freedom from their former
European colonizers.
• Police cars on duty enjoy freedom from the parking regulations in the city.
• Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are just two of the rights
Americans are supposed to enjoy.
frequency (FREE kwin see) n. 1. the number of times something is repeated
within a certain specified time frame; number of oscillations per time period; 2. a
repeated or repeating occurrence
• When something vibrates between about 30 and 16,000 times per second,
its frequency is within the range of normal human hearing.
• Supersonic frequencies are above the range of human hearing, while sub-
sonic frequencies are below that range.
• The frequency of car horn honkings in Amanda’s neighborhood is about
five per hour.