Here is a useful list for the harder vocabulary found in English Vocabulary in Use, Upper-
Intermediate. I originally made this list to help myself practice for the vocabulary exam for
the class Language Skills in the 2d semester of the second year of my study. Because this
was originally meant only for me it’s obviously missing quite a few words that are present
in the book, however I’ve found that studying this list really helped me get a high grade. So
I hope it will help you too!
The units and vocabulary listed off in the first row called ‘Words’ come from the English
Vocabulary in Use, Advanced book (McCarthy & O’Dell, 2017).
The information that I put in the rows ‘Transcription’ and ‘Meaning / Example’ came from
the Cambridge dictionary website (Cambridge University Press, 1995).
I used the empty squares all the way on the right side of these tables to cross off the
words I already knew, you might find this useful too!
APA list:
Cambridge University Press. (1995). Cambridge Dictionary. Consulted on the 14 th of
October 2020, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
McCarthy, M., & O’Dell, F. (2017). English Vocabulary in Use Advanced (3d edition).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
, Unit 51 Healthcare
Words Meaning / Example
1. Primary care (huisarts)
2. physicians a medical doctor, especially one who has general skill and is not a surgeon.
3. locum A locum is a doctor who does the job of another doctor who is ill or on holiday.
4. acute condition one that is severe and sudden in onset.
5. chronic especially of a disease or something bad) continuing for a long time.
6. Secondary care Secondary care is provided by specialists in special clinics or hospitals.
7. referred to Patients are referred to a specialist by their doctor.
8. organ part of the body, e.g. stomach, liver.
9. ophthalmologists eye specialist
10. cardiologists heart specialist
11. psychiatrists mind specialist
12. dermatologists skin specialist
13. gynaecologists female reporduction system specialist
14. obstetricians pregnancy and childbirth specialist
15. paediatricians child specialist
16. anaesthetists (anaesthesia or stopping people from feeling pain during surgery).
or complementary medicine (approaches that differ from conventional western
17. alternative medicine approaches)
18. acupuncturists people who treat patients by using needles at special points around the skin.
19. chiropractors people who treat patients by pressing joints in places where two joints are connected.
homeopathic
20. doctors doctors who use tiny amounts of natural substances to treat an illness .
21. aromatherapists therapists who use aromatic oils and massage.
22. healthcare general expression for all of the services offered by hospitals, clinics, dentists, opticians, etc.
23. national insurance tax paid by most working adults which covers the costs of healthcare for everyone
National Health
24. Service British name for the state-funded service that covers hospitals, clinics, dentists, etc.
25. (often abbreviated to the NHS)
26. family doctor or GP doctor who looks after people’s general health (GP = general practitioner)
27. surgery small centre offering primary care, run by a single GP or a group of GPs (surgery can of course
28. also mean the branch of medicine that involves carrying out operations)
29. clinic centre which specialises in treating a particular condition or group of conditions
30. prescription charge charge for the medication the doctor prescribes, which you pay at a pharmacy.
31. go private choose private healthcare.
Unit 52 Illness: feeling under the weather
Words Meaning / Example
1. off-colour Some informal expressions that mean ‘not well, but not seriously ill’.
2. out of sorts
3. under the weather
4. feeling poorly
,5. fighting off I’m fighting off a cold at the moment. [trying to get rid of]
6. gone down with [has caught, usually a non-serious illness]
7. suffers from [used for more long-term problems]
Note that hurt is different from My arm hurts where I banged it against the car door. [gives pain
8. ache: caused by an injury]
My back aches after all that digging yesterday. [persistent low-level
9. pain]
10 The fixed expression (the usual) aches
. and pains is often used to refer in a non-serious way to minor problems:
11 Mum’s feeling fine, apart from the usual aches and pains (NOT pains
. and aches).
12 can refer to minor injuries: Jason had a few cuts and bruises when he
. The fixed expression cuts and bruises fell off his bike,
13
. nothing serious (NOT bruises and cuts).
14
. stinging [sudden, burning pain]
15
. throbbing [beating with pain]
16
. stiff neck [pain and difficulty in moving your neck round]
17
. twisted her ankle [injured by turning it suddenly]
18
. dizzy [a feeling that you are spinning round and can’t balance]
19
. feverish [with a high temperature/fever]
20
. shivery / hot and cold [shaking slightly, usually because of a fever]
21
. sleepless [without sleeping much]
22
. nauseous [feeling that you want to vomit]
23
. trembling shaking
24 My nose is all bunged up today with this horrible cold. [blocked;
. bunged up informal]
25
. got over [got better, recovered]
26
. recovering from [getting better: used for more serious illnesses]
27
. on the mend Dan felt terrible last week, but he’s on the mend now. [getting better]
28
. over the worst [past the most difficult period]
29
. be back on her feet [fully healthy again]
, Unit 53 Medical language
Words Meaning / Example
1. low-dose measured amount of medicine that is relatively small.
medical condition in which breathing becomes diff icult because air passages have
2. asthma narrowed.
3. past history record of medical conditions a person has experienced.
4. disorder illness of the body or mind.
gastrointestinal
5. disease illness of the stomach or digestive passages.
6. bowel tube that carries solid waste out of the body.
7. adverse reactions unwanted results
sudden change in blood supply to the brain causing loss of function of part of the
8. stroke body.
9. conditions illnesses or physical problems.
10
. exceed take more than
11
. duration length
12
. side effects unwanted eff ects in addition to the intended one .
13
. allergic reactions conditions affecting skin/breathing because of eating or coming into contact with certain substances.
14
. particles small pieces
15
. stools medical term for excrement (formal) or poo (informal, childish)
16
. symptom [medical meaning = problem indicating an illness]
17
. symptomatic showing symptoms of a particular disease.
18
. diagnosed [medical meaning = identify what illness a patient has]
19
. prognosis [medical meaning = how experts expect an illness to develop]
20
. ailing [ailing = unwell, sickly]
21
. rash [rash = a lot of small red spots on the skin]
22
. fever [fever = high temperature]
23
. fever pitch [a point of very high intensity]
24
. jaundiced [jaundiced = yellow-looking skin because of a liver problem]
25
. scar [scar = mark left on skin aft er an injury such as a cut]
26 infect [infect = pass on an illness]
