vo ‧ cab ‧ u ‧ la ‧ ry /vəˈkæbjələri, vəˈkæbjʊləri, vəʊ- $ -leri, voʊ-/ BrE AmE noun ( plural vocabularies )
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Language: French ; Origin: vocabulaire , from Medieval Latin vocabularium , from Latin vocabulum 'word, name' , from vocare ; ⇨ ↑ vocation ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] all the words that someone knows or uses:
Teachers were impressed by his vocabulary.
2 . [countable] all the words in a particular language:
English has the largest vocabulary of any language.
3 . [uncountable and countable] the words that are typically used when talking about a particular subject:
Most technical jobs use a specialized vocabulary.
vocabulary of
the vocabulary of politics
4 . [uncountable and countable] the range of possible features, effects, actions etc, especially in a type of music or art
vocabulary of
Charlie Parker expanded the vocabulary of jazz.
5 . (the word) failure/guilt/compromise etc is not in sb’s vocabulary used to say that someone never thinks of accepting failure etc
6 . [countable] old-fashioned a list of words with explanations of their meanings, especially in a book for learning a foreign language
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COLLOCATIONS (for Meanings 1 & 2)
■ adjectives
▪ large/wide/extensive
She has a very wide vocabulary.
▪ limited/small
He had just started learning English and his vocabulary was fairly limited.
▪ basic/essential vocabulary
The book teaches you the basic vocabulary that you need to know when you're on holiday.
▪ technical/specialized vocabulary
The instructions were full of technical vocabulary.
▪ somebody's active vocabulary (=the words they can use)
Children of this age have an active vocabulary of about 1,000 words.
▪ somebody's passive vocabulary (=the words they can understand but do not use)
Your passive vocabulary is much larger than your active vocabulary.
■ verbs
▪ have a vocabulary
By eighteen months of age, the girl had a vocabulary of around 300 words.
▪ expand/improve your vocabulary ( also enrich your vocabulary formal )
Reading helps to expand your vocabulary.
▪ learn vocabulary
What's the best way of learning new vocabulary?
■ vocabulary + NOUN
▪ a vocabulary test/exercise
The teacher gave us a vocabulary test.
▪ a vocabulary item formal (=a word, especially in a coursebook or a language class)
The difficult vocabulary items are explained at the bottom of the page.