Ready for CAE p 154. Crocodile Farms. Vocabulary

Came under criticism: fue muy criticado, fue objeto de críticas. If you come under criticism, attack, pressure..., people criticise you, attack you, put pressure on you...

Ascertain: /ˌæsəˈteɪn/ to find out the true or correct information about something. Averiguar. E.g. I am going to ascertain what happened -> voy a averiguar lo que ha sucedido.

Poach: /pəʊtʃ/ to illegally hunt birds, animals or fish on somebody else's property or without permission. Cazar furtivamente. E.g. the elephants are poached for their tusks.

Undercut: To sell goods or services at a lower price than your competitors. Rebajar el precio. E.g. to undercut somebody's prices. We were able to undercut our European rivals by 5%.

Dowsize: to reduce the number of people who work in a company, business, etc. in order to reduce costs. Recortar. E.g. a corporation that downsized its personnel in response to a poor economy.

Downplay: to make people think that something is less important than it really is. Quitar importancia a, restar importancia a. E.g. the coach is downplaying the team's poor performance.


Undergo: to experience something, especially a change or something unpleasant. Experimentar, sufrir, someterse a. E.g. to undergo tests/trials/repairs. My mother underwent major surgery last year. Some children undergo a complete transformation when they become teenagers.

House somebody: to provide a place for somebody to live. Alojar E.g. the government is committed to housing the refugees.

Size (Verb) 1. To arrange, classify, or distribute according to size. Clasificar según el tamaño. 2. To make, cut, or shape to a required size. To change the size of something. E.g. the fonts can be sized according to what effect you want.

To express concern about sth → expresar preocupación por algo.

Lend itself to something: to be suitable for something. Prestarse a algo. E.g. her voice doesn't really lend itself well to blues singing.

To the edge of: the point at which something, especially something bad, may begin to happen. Al borde de. E.g. They had brought the country to the edge of disaster.

Fate: the things, especially bad things, that will happen or have happened to somebody/something. Destino. E.g. the fate of the three men is unknown. Each of the managers suffered the same fate.


Crocodilian: /ˌkrɒk ə ˈdɪl i‿ən/ de cocodrilo

Cayman: /ˈkeɪm ən/

Roughly: /ˈrʌfli/ approximately but not exactly. Aproximadamente. E.g. sales are up by roughly 10%. We live roughly halfway between here and the coast. They all left at roughly the same time. Roughly speaking, we receive about fifty letters a week on the subject.

Upwards of something: more than the amount or number mentioned. E.g. you should expect to pay upwards of £50 for a hotel room.

The wild: a natural environment that is not controlled by people. En libertad. E.g. the bird is too tame now to survive in the wild. The animals were released back into the wild when they had recovered.