Spanish word of the week: precioso

24th Jun 2020

precioso ADJECTIVE beautiful, lovely Precioso has one meaning which is the same as precious in English. However, it’s much more often used in its other meaning of beautiful or lovely: Llevaba puesto un precioso vestido de noche negro. She had on a beautiful black evening dress. Read More

Spanish word of the week: ahora

17th Jun 2020

ahora ADVERB now Of course, you all know ahora in its basic meaning of now: ahora o nunca now or never¡Ahora me lo dices! Now you tell me! But it’s also used in some phrases which it’s worth getting familiar with. If you want to… Read More

‘Lights, camera, action!’

15th Jun 2020

It’s tempting to suppose that if you’re working from home (WFH) what to wear is a non-issue, but experience during lockdown has knocked that presumption on the head. The distinction between WFH before coronavirus (BC) and after (AC) is that a subcategory of clothing has been brought into focus, literally. Read More

Spanish word of the week: alegrarse

10th Jun 2020

alegrarse VERB to be pleased, to be glad It’s good to be able to express your pleasure at someone else’s good fortune or success, and alegrarse is just the word for such occasions. It’s related to alegre, happy, which you probably already know. Entonces, ¿te gusta… Read More

The roadmap to … exit

8th Jun 2020

COVID-19 and all it entails has spawned dozens of novel words. At the same time, existing ones have been called into service. Lockdown is one. Roadmap is another – for the UK government’s exit strategy from the current situation. Now, is roadmap one word or two? Collins currently has… Read More

Spanish word of the week: prisa

3rd Jun 2020

la prisa NOUN rush; hurry Prisa is often used with the verb tener: Tenemos prisa. We are in a hurry. No tengo mucha prisa. I’m in no great hurry. So it’s used in the same structure as phrases you probably already know, such as tener… Read More

‘Meme’ and ‘pros and cons’ head list of words looked up in May

1st Jun 2020

One month ago, we were able to report that the word quarantine was being looked up on the Collins Dictionary website more often than any other word, which suggested just how much people’s lives were being impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. A month on, however, things look… Read More

Spanish word of the week: afortunado

27th May 2020

afortunado ADJECTIVE fortunate, lucky Afortunado is a key word for lucky: He sido muy afortunado pudiendo hacer algo que me gusta y que creo que hago bien. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to do something that I like and that I think I do… Read More

Rewilding the cityscape

26th May 2020

Going back to nature is positive. According to Collins COBUILD dictionary, it means you want to “return to a simpler way of living”, sparked by a wish to revert to that never-never land, to that mythical Eden before the fateful apple was gnawed – or the horseless… Read More