It is doubtful if/whether

It was doubtful whether the patient would survive the operation.

It is doubtful that

It is doubtful that the missing airmen will ever be found.

2. not sure that something is true or right

'Everything's going to be all right, you'll see.' Jenny looked doubtful .

doubtful if/whether

I'm still doubtful whether I should accept this job.

doubtful about (doing) something

At first we were doubtful about employing Charlie.

3. unlikely to be successful

Already the whole scheme was looking increasingly doubtful.

4. probably not good

ￚsynonym dubious Here the tap water is of doubtful quality.

ￚdoubtfully adverb

Protect verb

1. [intransitive and transitive]to keep someone or something safe from harm, damage, or illness

ￚsee also protection, protective

Are we doing enough to protect the environment?

protect somebody/something from something

The cover protects the machine from dust.

protect somebody/something against something

Physical exercise can protect you against heart disease.

protect against

Waxing your car will help protect against rust.

2. [transitive usually passive]if an insurance company protects your home, car, life, etc, it agrees to pay you money if things are stolen or damaged or you are hurt or killed

ￚsynonym cover

Unemployment insurance means that you are partially protected if you lose your job.

3. [transitive] to help the industry and trade of your own country by taxing or restricting foreign goods

Protection noun

1. [uncountable] when someone or something is protected

protection of the protection of the environment

protection against/from evidence that vitamin C gives protection against cancer

protection for This law provides protection for threatened animals and plants.

for protection

The police were issued with body amour for extra protection.

2. [uncountable and countable] something that protects

as (a) protection (against something)

Magee pulled up his collar as protection against the breeze.

3. [uncountable]the promise of payment from an insurance company if something bad happens

ￚsynonym coverage

4. [uncountable] contraception

Do you have any protection?

5. [uncountable] when criminals threaten to damage your property or hurt you unless you pay them money

protection money

Protective adjective

1. [only before noun] used or intended for protection

protective clothing

2. wanting to protect someone from harm or danger

protective towards

I can't help feeling protective towards my kids.

protective of

He's very protective of his younger brother.

3. intended to give an advantage to your own country's industry

protective tariffs

ￚprotectively adverb

ￚprotectiveness noun [uncountable]

Contribute verb

1. [intransitive and transitive] to give money, help, ideas etc to something that a lot of other people are also involved in

contribute to/towards

City employees cannot contribute to political campaigns.

contribute something to/towards something

The volunteers contribute their own time to the project.

2. [intransitive]to help to make something happen

Stress is a contributing factor in many illnesses.

contribute to

Alcohol contributes to 100,000 deaths a year in the US.

contribute substantially/significantly/greatly etc to something

Enya's success has contributed substantially to the current interest in Celtic music.

3. [intransitive and transitive] to write articles, stories, poems etc for a newspaper or magazine

ￚsee also contributor

contribute to

one of several authors contributing to the book

Contribution noun

1. [countable]something that you give or do in order to help something be successful

contribution to/towards

Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to Quantum Theory.

The school sees its job as preparing students to make a contribution to society. significant/substantial/valuable etc contribution

Wolko made outstanding contributions to children's medicine.

2. [countable] an amount of money that you give in order to help pay for something

a campaign contribution

contribution of

A contribution of £25 will buy 15 books.

contribution to/towards

Contributions to charities are tax deductible.

You can make annual contributions of up to $1000 in education savings accounts.

3. [countable] a regular payment that you make to your employer or to the government to pay for things that you will receive when you are no longer working, for example health care, a pension etc

income tax and national insurance contributions

contribution to

Have you been making regular contributions to a pension plan?

4. [countable] a piece of writing, a song, a speech etc that forms part of a larger work such as a newspaper, book, broadcast, recording etc

contribution from

a magazine with contributions from well-known travel writers

a Christmas album featuring contributions from Carly Simon, Amy Grant, and others

5. [uncountable] when you give money, time, help etc

All the money has been raised by voluntary contribution.

Contributor noun (countable)

1. someone who gives money, help, ideas etc to something that a lot of other people are also involved in

campaign contributors

contributor to

Dr Win was a major contributor to the research.

2. someone who writes a story, song, speech etc that forms part of a larger work such as a newspaper, book, broadcast, recording etc

contributor to

a regular contributor to Time magazine

3. formal someone or something that helps to cause something to happen

contributor to

Cars are still one of the principal contributors to air pollution.

Shiver verb [intransitive]

to shake slightly because you are cold or frightened

ￚsynonym tremble

Jake stood shivering in the cold air.

shiver with cold/fear/delight etc She shivered with fear and anger.

see usage note shake

Shiver noun [countable]

1. a slight shaking movement of your body caused by cold or fear

ￚsynonym tremble

A shiver ran through (=went through) me.

shiver of

She felt a shiver of apprehension.

2. give you the shivers

informal to make you feel afraid

ￚsee also send shivers (up and) down your spine

Shivery adjective [not before noun]

trembling or shaking because of cold, fear, or illness

He felt shivery and nauseous.

Strain noun

1. WORRY

[uncountable and countable]worry that is caused by having to deal with a problem or work too hard over a long period of time

ￚsee also stress

I couldn't look after him any more; the strain was too much for me.

Did you find the job a strain ?the stresses and strains of police life

strain for

The trial has been a terrible strain for both of us.

strain on

It's quite a strain on me when he's drinking heavily.

put/place a strain on somebody

The long working hours put a severe strain on employees.

under (a) strain

I know you've been under a lot of strain lately.

crack/collapse/buckle etc under the strain (=become unable to deal with a problem or work)

I could see that she was beginning to crack under the strain.

2. DIFFICULTY

[uncountable and countable]a difficulty or problem that is caused when a person, relationship, organization, or system has too much to do or too many problems to deal with

strain on

The dry summer has further increased the strain on water resources.

put/place (a) strain on something

The flu epidemic has put a huge strain on the health service.

strain in

The attack has led to strains in the relationship between the two countries.

under (a) strain

His marriage was under strain.

break/crack/collapse etc under the strain

The party split under the strain.

3 FORCE

[uncountable]a situation in which something is being pulled or pushed, or is holding weight, and so might break or become damaged

strain on

The strain on the cables supporting the bridge is enormous.

put/place (a) strain on something

Some of these exercises put too much strain on the back muscles.

These four posts take the strain of the whole structure.

break/snap/collapse etc under the strain The rope snapped under the strain.

4. INJURY

[uncountable and countable] an injury to a muscle or part of your body that is caused by using it too much

Long hours working at a computer can cause eye strain. The goalkeeper is still out of action with a knee strain.

5. PLANT/ANIMAL

[countable] a type of animal, plant, or disease

strain of

different strains of wheat a new strain of the flu virus

6. QUALITY

[singular] a particular quality which people have, especially one that is passed from parents to children

strain of

There's a strain of madness in his family.

7. WAY OF SAYING SOMETHING

[singular] formal an amount of a feeling that you can see in the way someone speaks, writes, paints etc

a strain of bitterness in Young's later work

8. strains of something

literary the sound of music being played

We sipped wine to the strains of Beethoven.

Strain verb

1. INJURE

[transitive] to injure a muscle or part of your body by using it too much or making it work too hard

I've strained a muscle in my leg You'll strain your eyes trying to read in this light.

2. EFFORT

[intransitive and transitive]to try very hard to do something using all your strength or ability

strain (something) to do something

She was straining to keep her head above the water.

strain for

Bill choked and gasped, straining for air.

strain your ears/eyes (=try very hard to hear or see)

I strained my ears, listening for any sound in the silence of the cave.

3. LIQUID

[transitive] to separate solid things from a liquid by pouring the mixture through something with very small holes in it

ￚsee also sieve She strained the pasta.

4. DIFFICULTY

[transitive] to cause difficulties for something by making too much work or too many problems which it cannot deal with easily

The increased costs will certainly strain our finances.

The incident has strained relations between the two countries.

5. PULL/PUSH

[intransitive] to pull hard at something or push hard against something

strain against

Buddy's huge gut strained against the buttons on his shirt.

strain at

a dog straining at its lead

6. strain every nerve

to try as hard as possible to do something

He was straining every nerve to impress the judges.

7. be straining at the leash

to be eager to be allowed to do something

There are 30,000 troops in the area, all straining at the leash.

8. not strain yourself

to not work too hard or do too much physical activity

Don't strain yourself.

Strained adjective

1. a strained situation or behaviour is not relaxed, natural, or friendly

ￚsynonym tense

I couldn't stand the strained atmosphere at dinner any more.

the increasingly strained relations between the French and German governments

2. showing the effects of worry or too much work

Nina's voice sounded strained. Alex's pale, strained face

Abandon verb [transitive]

1. to leave someone, especially someone you are responsible for

How could she abandon her own child?

2. to go away from a place, vehicle etc permanently, especially because the situation makes it impossible for you to stay

ￚsynonym leave

We had to abandon the car and walk the rest of the way.

Fearing further attacks, most of the population had abandoned the city.

3. to stop doing something because there are too many problems and it is impossible to continue

The game had to be abandoned due to bad weather.

4. to stop having a particular idea, belief, or attitude

They were accused of abandoning their socialist principles. Rescuers had abandoned all hope of finding any more survivors.

5. abandon yourself to something

literary to feel an emotion so strongly that you let it control you completely

She abandoned herself to grief.

6. abandon ship

to leave a ship because it is sinking

ￚabandonment noun [uncountable]

abandon noun (uncountable)

if someone does something with abandon, they behave in a careless or uncontrolled way, without thinking or caring about what they are doing

with reckless/wild abandon

They drank and smoked with reckless abandon.

Abandoned adjective

1. an abandoned building, car, boat etc has been left by the people who owned or used it

The car was found abandoned in Bristol. the demolition of abandoned buildings

2. [only before noun] an abandoned person or animal has been left completely alone by the person that was looking after them

3. literary behaving in a wild and uncontrolled way

Pain noun

1. [uncountable and countable] the feeling you have when part of your body hurts

pain in

The pain in her jaw had come back.

I had a nasty pain in my leg. Greg was in a lot of pain .

ￚsee also growing pains

2. [uncountable and countable]the feeling of unhappiness you have when you are sad, upset, etc

the pain and grief of bereavement

cause (somebody) pain/inflict pain on somebody

She hated to say the words, for fear of causing pain.

3. be a pain (in the neck)

spoken also be a pain in the ass/backside/butt not polite

to be very annoying

There were times when Joe could be a real pain in the neck.

It's a pain, having to go upstairs to make the coffee every time.

4. take/go to (great) pains to do something

also take pains with/over something

to make a special effort to do something

He's taken great pains to improve his image.

5. be at pains to do something

to be especially careful to make sure people understand what you are saying or what you plan to do

Roy was at pains to point out that English was the only exam he'd ever failed.

6. for your pains

as a reward for something you worked to achieve - used especially when this is disappointing

I fetched the file, and all I got for my pains was a dirty look from Simon.

7. on/under pain of death

at the risk of being killed as punishment, if you do not obey

Communist activity was prohibited on pain of death.

pain verb [transitive]