BUSINESS ENGLISH Dictionary for learners of English Abbreviations used in the dictionary abbr abbreviation adj. adjective adv. adverb C countablenoun +obj verbusedwithanobject(= transitive) noobj verbthatdoesnothaveanobject(= intransitive) + objornoobj verbusedwithorwithoutanobject pi. plural prep, preposition sb somebody sing, singular sth something U uncountablenoun withsing./pl.verb anounthatcanhaveasingularorpluralverb BrE BritishEnglish AmE AmericanEnglish Symbols used in the dictionary * showstheheadwordisanimportantword ~ replacestheheadwordofanentry • showsanewpartofspeechinanentry = isthesameas;equals O showscommonpatternsandwordcombinations derivative(s)sectionofanentry l!HU extragrammatical informationabouthowtousetheword UVU4 extrainformationabouttheword ITHTI idiom(s)sectionofanentry mEJ phrasalverb(s) sectionofanentry -» directsyou toanotherentry Isyni showsasynonym IQPPI showsanopposite Labels used in the dictionary figurative expressionsthatareusednotintheirtruesense,butinan imaginativeway,inordertogiveaspecialeffect formal Theseexpressionsarenormallyonlyusedinseriousandofficial languageandarenotfrequentlyusedineverydayconversation. informal expressionsthatareusedinrelaxedorunofficialsituationssuch asbetweenfriendsandcolleagues.Theyarenotappropriatefor formalsituations. lessfrequent Thisshowsthatthesynonymgivenforaparticularheadword isusedlessoftenthantheheadword. old-fashioned expressionsthatarenolongerusedverymuch slang languagethatisveryinformalandisoftenonlyusedbya particulargroupofpeoplewhohavethesameage,job,etc. Oxford Business English Dictionary for learners ofEnglish Edited by Dilys Parkinson Assistedby Joseph Noble oxroRD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford0x2 6dp OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity'sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam oxfordandoxford Englishareregisteredtrademarksof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries ©OxfordUniversityPress2005 DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2005 2008 2007 2006 6 5 4 3 Nounauthorizedphotocopying Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withouttheprior permissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermittedbylaw, orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographicsrightsorganization. Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesent totheELTRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer Thisdictionaryincludessomewordswhichhaveorareassertedtohave proprietarystatusastrademarksorotherwise.Theirinclusiondoesnot implythattheyhaveacquiredforlegalpurposesanon-proprietaryorgeneral significancenoranyotherjudgementconcerningtheirlegalstatus.Incaseswhere theeditorialstaffhavesomeevidencethatawordhasproprietarystatusthisis indicatedintheentryforthatwordbutnojudgementconcerningthelegal statusofsuchwordsismadeorimpliedthereby TheBritishNationalCorpusisacollaborativeprojectinvolving OxfordUniversityPress,Longman,Chambers,theUniversitiesof OxfordandLancasterandtheBritishLibrary ISBN-13: 978o194315845 (book) isbn-13: 978 oi9431617o (bookandcd-rompack) isbn-io: 0194315843 (book) isbn-10: oi94316173 (bookandcd-rompack) TypesetbyDataStandardsLtd. PrintedinChina ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CoverphotographybyCorbisandImageSource Kitemarksymbol(p305)reproducedbypermissionoftheBritishStandardsInstitution Illustrations:DavidEaton(pp215,371,390,420,533,576);JulianBaker(pS4-5) AdvisoryBoard:DrKeithBrown,ProfGuyCook,DrAlanCruse,RuthGairns,MoiraRuncie, ProfGabrieleStein,DrNormanWhitney,ProfHenryWiddowson Contents Insidefrontcover Abbreviations,symbolsandlabelsusedinthedictionary v Preface vi Howtousethisdictionary 1-614 The Dictionary 615 Pronunciationandphoneticsymbols Insidebackcover Subjectlabelsusedinthedictionary Between312-313 Study Pages S2 IdiomaticlanguageinBusinessEnglish S4 ComputersandtheInternet S6 Incoterms S8 Writingletters,emailsandmemos S11 Applyingforajob S14 Describinggraphs S16 Thedevelopmentofabusiness Preface ThiscompletelynewdictionaryofBusinessEnglishhasbeen speciallywrittentobeofpracticaluseforstudentsofbusiness andexperiencedbusinesspeoplewhoneedtoread,writeand speakEnglishintheirwork,andforthosewhogivethem languagetrainingandadvice. ItisintendedforlearnersofEnglishatintermediateto advancedlevel.Thedefinitionshavebeenwrittenusingthe Oxford3000™ sothattheyaresimpleandclear,butaccurate anddetailed. Toensurethatthematerialincludedinthedictionaryisas up-to-dateandauthenticaspossible,anew50millionword corpusofbusinessEnglishwasused.Thisisacollectionofwritten andspokenBritishandAmericanEnglishtakenfromvarious sourcessuchasthebusinesssectionsofnewspapers,business journalsandtextbooks,andinterviewswithbusinesspeople. Ithasenabledawiderangeofbusinessareastobecoveredinthe dictionaryinadditiontotermsthatareofmoregeneralusein communicatinginEnglishinabusinesscontext. AspeoplestudyingEnglishforbusinessneedtoknowhowto usewordscorrectlyaswellaswhattheymean,detailedgrammar informationhasbeenincludedandexamplesthatshowhowa termisusedintypicalcontexts.Inaddition,fortermsthatare commonlyusedthereisextensiveinformationaboutcollocation, forexampleverbsthatcanbeusedwithaparticularnoun. 1000wordsinthedictionaryaremarkedwithastarto showthattheyareparticularlyimportantinBusinessEnglish. Thesearewordsthatarefrequentonourbusinesscorpusandare essentialinmostareasofbusinessorcombinewithmanyothers tomakecompounds. Duringthewritingofthedictionarywehavebeenadvised byteachersofBusinessEnglishandbypeopleinvolvedinthe worldofbusiness.Ishouldliketothankthemembersofthe SaidBusinessSchoolinOxfordwhohelpedusinanadvisory capacityonvariousareasofbusiness,especiallyBurcuHacibedel (Banking,FinanceandEconomics)andDorisSchedlitzki (ManagementandHumanResources).Iamalsogratefulto theotherpeoplewhogaveustheirexpertadvice,including TonyEreira(StockExchangeandFinance),RichardSpraggett (Accounting)andRobertaWedge(FinanceandManagement). Iwouldalsoliketoacknowledgetheinvaluableworkofthe largeteamofpeoplewhohavebeeninvolvedinthedictionary atvariousstages,bothbeforeandafterthetextwascomplete. DilysParkinson August2005 VI How to use this dictionary Atypical entry rcs quarterly /'kwo:tali;AmE'kwoxtarli/ .2 theheadword pronunciation,with — partsofspeech •aaddjjeeccttiivve,ea[donvleyrbb,efnooreunnoun] Awmheerriectahnispirsodniufnfecrieanttion 1 relatingtoaperiodofthreemonths:quarterly Numbersshowthe earnings/income/profitsoThisisan80%reduction differentmeanings. onthepreviousquarterlydividend. 2 producedorhappeningeverythreemonths: Managersattendquarterlyplanningmeetings. meaning —•adverb showswherethe everythreemonths:Wemeetquarterlywithour informationoneach accountants. exampleofuse partofspeechbegins •noun 1 [C]amagazine,etc.publishedfourtimesayear: grammaticalinformation Themagazineisaquarterlyaimedatpeople workinginadvertising. subjectlabelindicating 2fin{aAncccioaulntriensgu)ltqsutahratterllairgeesc[poim]pianntiheesUSp,ubtlhiesh theareaofbusinessfor thismeaning" Howtofindaword Allwordsarelistedinalphabeticalorderwhethertheyarewrittenas onewordortwoorwithahyphen.Iftheheadwordistwoormore words,suchasaddedvalue,itislistedaccordingtothefirstwordinthe compound(i.e.added). *value/'vaelju:/noun,adjective,verb // Theheadword •noun isreplacedwith atilde(~). seealso addedvalue,agreed~,assessed~ Thisshowsyouphrases asset~,book~,break-up~,capital~,etc. , Tcinohnettshaeeidnciatcnhtiibsoenhaferoayudntwhdoartadt. g1oo[Ud,sC]fhorowwhimcuhchitcstahnibsewoerxtchhainngmeod:neyorother ^etthce.fsuhllolwisst.thisisnot theiralphabeticalplace. Manywordshavealternativeformsoralternativespellings.Themost commonformisusuallygivenasthemainentryandthelessfrequently usedtermredirectsyoutothemainentry. mission .statement{also.statement Thisshowsan of'purpose)noun[C] alternativetermwith thesamemeaning. .statementof purpose =mission Thealternativeheadword STATEMENT redirectsyoutothemain entry. AmericanEnglishformsaretreatedinthesameway: labourer {AmEspellinglaborer) /'leibara(r)/ laborer =labourer Manyheadwordsalsohaveanabbreviatedform: .read-'writeadjective {abbrRY/) Thisindicatesan abbreviation. Sometimestheabbreviationisusedmorefrequentlythanthe VII fullform,inwhichcasetheabbreviationisthemainheadword. GDP /,d3i:di:'pi:/abbr {Economics) grossdomesticproduct thetotal Thefullformisshown valueofallthegoodsandservicesproducedbya afterwardsinboldtype. Derivativesarewordswhosemeaningcanbeunderstoodfrom c anotherword(therootword).Theydonothavetheirownentry o inthedictionarybutaregivenatthesameentryastherootword, inaspeciallymarkedsection: "D illicit/I'lisit/adjective notallowedbythelaw:theillicittradeintobacco products[syn]illegal illicitly adverb Thetriangleshows wherethederivatives sectionstarts. Idiomsandphrasalverbsareplacedinspeciallymarkedsections withintheentry.Idiomsareattheentryfortheirfirstimportantword (=nouns,verbs,adjectivesoradverbs)thatisinthedictionaryorat theirfirstword.Theexamplesbelowcanbefoundattheentryfortick: IT»raiindicatesthebeginning FT»ni have.ticksinalltheright'boxes{informal) oftheidiomssection. ECEI3 ticksb/sth off{BrE) 333 showsthebeginning ofthephrasalverbssection. Understandingand usingtheword ^vendor{AmEspellingalsovender)/'venda(r)/ Tishaenstiamrpsorhtoawnsttwhoatrdt.his noun[C]{formal) informationtoshow thatthewordisused particularsituations bank'holidaynoun[c] {BrE) Stressmarksshowstress Geographylabels onphrases. indicatewhetherthe wordisusedinBritish orAmericanEnglish. bleed/bli:d/verb (bled,bled /bled/) verbpatterns £ 1ten[se+so)b(jaobrountoaobcj]omp{ausneyd)estpoeclioaslelyailnartgheecaomnotuinnutous viperrrrobensgu,unlwcairitafhtoitrohmnessirof extragrammaticalinformation Irregularpluralsof nounsarealsoshown. Strip/strip/verb,noun -[ •verb[+obj] (-pp-) fipoarrrrtepigrcueilspalreensstpaealnnlddinppgaasstttense r1esmtorvipesstthhffrroommsstbh//sstbh:|Tshteryipwesrbe/sftohunodfgsutihlttyoof aprnedposstirtuicotnusr,esadthvaetrbasre frequentlyusedwith thisword Steep/sti:p/adjective (steeper,steepest) 1 [usuallybeforenoun](aboutariseorfallinan comparativesand informationonthe amount)suddenandverybig:Thesteepdeclinein superlativesof useofadjectives adjectives Buildingyourvocabulary VIM Thedictionaryalsocontainsalotofinformationthatisdesigned tohelpyouincreaseyourvocabulary. *statistic/sta'tistik/noun 1 statistics [alsostats,informal)[pi.]acollection fixedformofthenoun ofinformationshowninnumbers:economic/ alternativeforms employment/unemploymentstatisticsoOfficial cre statisticsshowthatpeopleinthenorthofthe JO countryarethehighestearners. tj Oindicatesthatthe -Ocaucrcruernatt/e'/mgolnotohmlyy/yrneeliwa/bolfef/icsiuarlp'/rriescienngtssttaattiissttiiccss followingwordsare toanalyse/collect/prepare/produce/release commonphrases statistics statisticstellsblindicate!prove/showsth andpatterns. statistically/sta'tistikli/adverb:Thelevelofthe customercomplaintswasnotstatisticallysignificant. }-commonorfixed phrasesinboldtype inexamples DefinitionsusevocabularyfromtheOxford3000™unlessaspecificterm isneededthatisnotintheOxford3000™,whenitiswritten inSMALL CAPITALS. 'book equitynoun[u] (Accounting)thevalueofacompanyasshowninits awordinadefinition fitisnaLnIcAiBaIlLrIeTcIoErSds =(btohokesm)o,nwehiycihtoisweitss)assetsminus wWiotrhds(birnacbkoetlsd)tgyivpee tOhxaftorisdn3o0t0i0n™the t(=h.e..p)rgeicveedsitnhgewmoeradniorngphorfase. tphreecceodrirencgtdteescrrmipftoirotnh.e Crossreferencesdirectyoutootherrelatedwordsinthedictionary. Thereareanumberofnotesandillustrationsgivingextra informationaboutimportantwords. pallet/'paelat/noun[C] aflatwoodenframeusedforstoringandmoving goods;theframeanditscontents:Eachshelf containstwopalletsandeachpalletcontains 60bags.-»skid-Pictureattransport ->directsyoutoa Thisdirectsyouto relatedword. apictureillustrating thisword. British Englishand American English spelling Wordsthatendin-ize,-ization,etc.canalsobespelled-ise, -isation,etc.inBritishEnglish. aElntgelrinsahtsipveelBlriintgish { letigorramaladiikzaeeti,sotn-hfiloseregma/lal:iniTyghaeltaygipoze/vsevorefrnfbomoe[d+n.tobhja]slegalized WordsthatarespelleddifferentlyinBritishEnglishandAmerican Englishbutwhichareonlyactuallyusedinoneofthesevarieties ofEnglishhaveinformationtoshowthesedifferences. 'colour supplement (AmEspellingcolor~) }- theAmericanEnglish Thisindicatesthatthe {_ noun[C] (BrEonly) spelling wordorphraseisonly usedinBritishEnglish. J L abbreviated accounts Numbers @ symbol{onlyusedinwrittenEnglish)at letpeopleshopatmidnightandbuysharesonthe 1 thesymbolusedinemailaddresses: Internetatdawn, butitcoulddamageourhealth. [email protected], 2G /,tu:'d3i:/ = second-generation(2) especiallyonabill:15boxes@$12perbox:$180 360-degreefeedback /,eri:.sikstidi.gri: 10000-footview /,ten'GauzndTut'vju:/noun ''ffie:eddbbaaeck/k){anlosoun,3[6u0]-degreeappraisal,.full-circle [C] {informal) {HR)informationorcriticismaboutsb'sworkfrom |aSYbNr|oHaEdLIgeCnOePrTaElRvViIeEwWo,rOdVeEscRrViIpEtiWonofaproblem atlhleitrhematnyapegsero,fppeeoopplleetohneythweosrakmweitlhev,eli,nctlhueding 16PF™ /,siksti:n,pi:'ef/abbr peopletheymanage,customers,etc.;ajudgement {HR)16personalityfactorsatestused,especially ofthevalueoftheirworkbasedonthis bdbiyyffeaemsrpkelinnotgyaeqsrupsee,sctttisoofonifsntdwhhoeiiurcthcahbaaorreuatcdteaesrpiegrnseodn'tsocjhuadrgaect1e6r 430G1/(,9kr)i:/',df3ai::(/r)=aut'hwiArnd-('gkeein);erAamtEiooun/(1n)oun [( PSYCHOMETRICTEST (p/wra/401(k)sor401(k),s) 2t+w2o=p5lus/'ttuw:opUesqu'taul:skkfwiavelza'pfhairva/spehurasseedtoexpress iprnaeittdihreienUmtSeo,nataniwnianwyvheioscfthsmaeavnpitenfrgucmneondtncaehgyoesfoeofnryybooyuuryrowuargeis tt(hmoeegreigtdehe)ea,rtmohroartwehwehcnaenntbwteowaoccoohmripgeaavnneiidzeatsthijaoonnisniftwtoohgreeykthaerre esmimompnilleoayyreoarum,totuoonfwtth.hieTcafhuxneidms:polanol4yy0e1cr(hskas)rogpmeledatnwi/hmcoeensntrayidobduutatiaokne workingseparately-»synergy 24ttow/em7netay/-n.ftow'aeulnrlttihhofeua:rt'sismeea'vd)a:any;T,AhsemeEwveefbna:srd/taoyarsdevaiesrwobepeenk2(4u/s7e.d thwn{Mehoaiur4nckeh[tPpitisno.g]g){eatplhrseoordspufecoltrl,emdptfrhoiecuerm,aPprsr)koe/m,tfooi:tn'igpoi:nmz;isxAa,mnaEdn,dpfloa:rc/e, EscEhEedBul2e4/a7ndisaanlsoounu:seOduarsbaunsiandejsesctnieveed:sa242/47/.7 bwehiscohldsshuocucledssbfeulclayrefullyplannedifaproductisto 24-hour /.twentifa:r'aua(r)/adjective[onlybefore the 5Ss {alsospelledFiveSs)/,faiv'esiz/noun [pi.] noun] amethodofmakingandkeepinganofficeor 1 usedtodescribesththatisopenoravailableall workplacecleanandwellorganized.The5Ssare: dayandnight:a24-hourstoreo24-hourtelephone sort(=organizeanddecidewhattokeeporthrow banking 2 usedtodescribesththatrelatestoonedayor aawsayys)t,ems)y,sstcemrautbi(z=ec(l=eaanrrtahnogreoutghhilnyg)s,asctcaonrddairndgitzoe happensonlyononeday:a24-hourstrike (=maketheseactivitiesregularandnormal)and 24-hourclock /.twentifa:raua'kink;AmEauar sustain(= continuetodoit). t'khlea:sky/sntoeumnof[suisngi.n]gtwenty-fournumberstotalk th'e208.p0ri/n2ci0pler)unloeun/.e[rstiing'.t]wentirail/{alsothe,80/ aboutthehoursoftheday,ratherthandividingthe atheorythat80%ofresultscomefrom20%of dayintotwounitsoftwelvehours effortorcauses:Accordingtothe80/20rule,80%of 24-hoursociety /.twentiixrauasa'saiati;AmE yourrevenuecomesfromjust20%ofyour auar/noun [u;sing.] customers. [synJPareto'slaw—PictureatPareto thefactthatpeoplecannowwork,play,shop,etc. analysis allnightaswellasallday:The24-hoursocietymay Aa A1 /,ei'WAn/adjective 2 {Insurance)togiveupthelegalownershipofsth, 1 {Finance)usedtodescribeacompanythatis suchasashiporcargothathasbeendamaged,to consideredtobeabletopayitsdebtsandtobesafe aninsurancecompanyinexchangeforan tolendmoneyto:ThecompanyisratedAl by insurancepayment,especiallywhenthecostof Moody'sandA+byStandardandPoor's.-»triple-a repairingitismorethanitstotalvalue 2 usedtodescribesthsuchasaship,oraperson, 3 {Law)tostoptryingtomakeaclaiminacourt: thatisinthebestpossiblecondition Theclaimwasabandonedwiththepermissionofthe AAAAAra/t.itnnpgl'e/i,/ei='eit/r=ipalvee-Arageaudiencerating -c>ouiardtb.iaonmdaotnshmiepnt/a'baendanmant/noun [u] *abandon /a'baendan/verb[+obj] abate /a'beit/verb[+objornoobj] 1 tostopdoingsth,especiallybeforeitisfinished; tobecomelessstrong;tomakesthlessstrong:The tostophavingorusingsth:Thegrouphasbeen three-yearrecessionshowednosignsofabating. forcedtoabandonitsplantoraisecapacityby8%.o a'batementnoun [u] cTuhsetcomoemrps.anywasabandonedbymanyofits ab breviatedaccounts noun [pi] {BrE) {Accounting)atypeoffinancialrecordthatcontains