straight
crooked (2) Said “kroo-kid” ADJECTIVE
A crooked person is dishonest.
corrupt
The corrupt police officer accepted bribes.
criminal
“You have committed a criminal offence,” intoned the judge.
dishonest
Something made me suspect that the salesman was dishonest.
shady INFORMAL
“He looks a shady customer,” said Carlos, nodding towards a surly man across the street.
ANTONYMS: law-abiding or honest
cross ADJECTIVE
Someone who is cross is rather angry.
angry
My friend Anna was rather angry when I lost her favourite CD.
annoyed
Dad was annoyed that I hadn’t washed up as I’d promised.
cantankerous
The cantankerous old farmer used to shout at anyone who walked past his farm.
crotchety
Gran sometimes gets crotchety when her arthritis is painful.
grumpy
My brother is always grumpy when it comes to having a bath.
irritable
Mum was rather irritable because she had a bad headache.
snappy
“There’s no need to get snappy,” Lynn retorted. “Here’s your wretched comb.”
crowd (1) NOUN
A crowd is a large group of people gathered together.
mass
The whole square was a seething mass of red, white and blue flags.
mob
Enraged, the mob surged through the streets like a human tide.
multitude
The prophet spoke to the multitude, foretelling the great events to come.
swarm
A swarm of demonstrators headed for the parliament building.
crowd (2) NOUN
A crowd is a large number of people watching an event.
audience
The concert audience clapped when the conductor took the stage.
gate
Fifty thousand were there – the biggest gate that United had had all season.
spectators
In the past, the spectators cheered as people were publicly executed.
cruel ADJECTIVE
Cruel people deliberately cause pain or distress to other people or to animals.
callous
The callous emperor made his slaves work their fingers to the bone.
hard-hearted
Hard-hearted Scrooge begrudged giving Cratchit a day off at Christmas.
heartless
The heartless landlord threw the poor widow into the street.
merciless
The merciless sniper picked off his victims one by one with precision.
ruthless
Anyone who disagreed with the ruthless dictator disappeared.
vicious
The vicious crocodile clamped its jaws on the unfortunate swimmer.
crumble VERB
When something crumbles, or you crumble it, it breaks into small pieces.
collapse
Weak foundations caused the apartment block to collapse.
decay
The beam had decayed, bringing the floor above it crashing down.
decompose
Plants, animals and humans begin to decompose when they die.
disintegrate
The agent disintegrated as Morpheus fired his phaser weapon.
cry (1) VERB
When you cry, tears come from your eyes because you are unhappy or hurt.
bawl
The moment the baby’s bottle was put in its mouth it stopped bawling.
blubber
After being refused an ice cream, the toddler blubbered for the next half hour.
shed tears
Dad’s advice is not to shed tears over something that is in the past.
snivel
“Stop snivelling and you might get a lolly,” the girl’s mother snapped.
sob
Milly sobbed her heart out to think that her dog was dead.
weep
After her sisters had left for the ball, Cinderella wept silently as she swept.
cry (2) VERB
If you cry something, you shout it or say it loudly.
bawl
Everyone came running when the camp cook bawled “Dinner’s ready!”
bellow
“Time to go to school,” Dad bellowed up the stairs to us.
boom
“Attention!” boomed the sergeant major to the new recruits.
call
When I saw my friend on the other side of the street I called out her name.
shout
Ben shouted for help when he saw the child fall into the pond.
yell
“Watch out!” yelled Yanni as he saw the cricket ball flying in Aidan’s direction.
cry (3) NOUN
A cry is a shout or other sound made with your voice.
bellow
A loud bellow came from the bull at the end of the field.
howl
The wolf let out a howl as he prowled through the moonlit night.
shout
The crowd gave a shout of joy as another goal hit the back of the net.
shriek
My silly brother gave a shriek when he saw the spider in the bath.
yell
With a yell, Aidan jumped out of the way of the speeding cricket ball.
cupboard NOUN
A