The Explorer Chapter 13

Smoke (p150-162)

Word Definition (Collins COBUILD) Synonymsswelteringly(p.150)

If you describe the weather as sweltering, you mean that it is extremely hot and makes you feel uncomfortable.

hot, burning, boiling, steaming, baking, stifling

gorged(p.150)

If you gorge on something or gorge yourself on it, you eat lots of it in a very greedy way.

devour, gobble, overeat, guzzle, wolf

provisions(p.151)

Provisions are supplies of food. supplies, foodstuffs, rations

billowing(p.152)

When smoke or cloud billows, it moves slowly upwards or across the sky.

flowing, streaming, coursing

paralysed(p.152)

If a person, place, or organisation is paralysed by something, they become unable to act or function properly.

immobilised, frozen, stunned, numbed, transfixed, halted, arrested

frantically(p.152)

If you are frantic, you are behaving in a wild and uncontrolled way because you are frightened or worried.

frenzied, wildly, madly

unrecognisable(p.152)

If someone or something is unrecognisable, they have become impossible to recognize or identify, for example because they have been greatly changed or damaged.

unidentifiable, disguised, changed, altered

whimpering(p.153)

If someone whimpers, they make quiet, unhappy or frightened sounds, as if they are about to start crying.

moan, whine, weep, whinge, blubber,

coaxing(p.154)

If you coax someone into doing something, you gently try to persuade them to do it.

persuade, flatter, entice, wheedle, cajole

rigid(p.154)

If someone goes rigid, their body becomes very straight and stiff, usually as a result of shock or fear.

hard, firm, taut, stiff

erupting(p.154)

When a volcano erupts, it throws out a lot of hot, melted rock called lava, as well as ash and steam. If violence or fighting erupts, it suddenly begins or gets worse in an unexpected, violent way.

explode, gush, flare up

plummeted(p.155)

If someone or something plummets, they fall very fast towards the ground, usually from a great height.

plunge, fall, drop, crash, nosedive

eddy(p.155)

An eddy is a movement in water or in the air which goes round and round instead of flowing in one continuous direction.

swirl, whirlpool, counter-current, undertow, vortex

plausible(p.155)

An explanation or statement that is plausible seems likely to be true or valid.

believable, credible, possible, likely, credible, tenable, conceivable, probable

hacking(p.156)

A hacking cough is a dry, painful cough with a harsh, unpleasant sound.

rasping, barking, wheezing

current A current is a steady and continuous flowing movement of course, undertow, tide

The Explorer Chapter 13

Smoke (p150-162)

(p.156) some of the water in a river, lake, or sea.capable(p.157)

If a person or thing is capable of doing something, they have the ability to do it.

able, competent

propelling(p.158)

To propel something in a particular direction means to cause it to move in that direction.

driving, forcing, pushing, thrusting, shooting

defeatist(p.160)

A defeatist is someone who thinks or talks in a way that suggests that they expect to be unsuccessful.

pessimistic, sceptic, cynic,

etching(p.160)

If a line or pattern is etched into a surface, it is cut into the surface by means of acid or a sharp tool. You can also say that a surface is etched with a line or pattern.

engrave, carve, inscribe, cut

dappled(p.161)

Dapple means to mark or become marked with spots or patches of a different colour.

mottled, dotted, spotted, speckled

coasted(p.161)

If a vehicle coasts somewhere, it continues to move there with the motor switched off, or without being pushed or pedalled.

cruise, sail, drift, glide, freewheel

flecked(p.162)

Flecks are small marks on a surface, or objects that look like small marks.

dappled, speckled marked, dotted, streaked, spotted