How things move, change and break
Open a theme, then select a word or phrase for its meaning and an example.
1. Movement and posture (20 entries)
- seesaw back and forth
- spring back into shape
- creep
- stagger
- brace oneself against a jolt
- come to an abrupt standstill
- lurch into motion
- falter mid-stride
- teeter on the brink
- veer off course
- pitch forward
- buckle under load
- bow outwards
- recoil on impact
- stumble
- squirm free of a tight grip
- gather momentum imperceptibly
- totter
- swivel
- standing
2. Force and resistance (20 entries)
- bear down on a problem
- box someone into a position
- back someone into a corner
- crack the whip
- crack down on a practice
- put one's foot down
- throw one's weight around
- dig one's heels in
- hold someone's feet to the fire
- give someone free rein
- give someone carte blanche
- bring someone into line
- dig in for the long haul
- hold someone at arm's length
- keep someone on a tight rein
- keep someone at bay
- toe the line
- keep out of someone's orbit
- turn the screw
- autonomous
3. Changing shape (20 entries)
- constrict
- contort
- encircle
- solidify
- dilate
- congeal
- dissolve
- ricochet
- swell
- elasticity
- recoil
- recede
- percolate
- wane
- supersede
- proportional
- whir
- attenuate
- slither
- pressurize
4. Breakage and deterioration (20 entries)
- impoverishment
- attrition
- disintegrate
- undiminishing
- wax and wane
- abate
- entrenched disadvantage
- proliferate
- burgeon
- crippling
- subsist
- intergenerational mobility
- blight
- detract
- come apart at the seams
- debt rollover
- recuperate
- sterility
- subsidise
- eke out
5. Patterns of movement (20 entries)
- spring
- locomotion
- dissipate
- oscillate
- undulate
- slew sideways
- coalesce
- quiver
- drift
- fluctuate
- kinetic
- gravitate
- seismic
- dispersal
- simultaneity
- shamble
- divination
- flit
- manoeuvre
- maelstrom