Intermediate — Set 58

Set 58 of Intermediate covers 5 words: cause, vomit, overcome, prevent, heal. Each entry below includes its definition, an example sentence, and synonyms — practice them with the interactive cards above.

1. cause · verb/kɔz/

   to make something happen

   The difficult working conditions in the factory caused serious health problems.

   Synonyms: lead to, give rise to, make

   Origin: Middle English: from Old French, from Latin causa (noun), causare (verb)

2. vomit · verb/ˈvɑmət/

   to bring food or liquid up from the stomach through the mouth

   Drinking a lot at the party caused her to vomit for the whole night.

   Synonyms: throw up, be sick

   Origin: late Middle English: from Old French vomite (noun) or Latin vomitus, from vomere ‘to vomit’

3. overcome · verb/ˌoʊvərˈkəm/

   to be successful in dealing with problems

   After the accident, he was confined to a wheelchair but tried hard to overcome his disability for years.

   Synonyms: cope with, deal with, get over

   Origin: Old English ofercuman(see over-, come)

4. prevent · verb/priˈvɛnt/

   to stop something

   It is important to lead a healthy life to prevent illnesses.

   Synonyms: stop, block, hinder

   Origin: late Middle English (in the sense ‘act in anticipation of’): from Latin praevent- ‘preceded, hindered’, from the verb praevenire, from prae ‘before’ + venire ‘come’

5. heal · verb/hil/

   to become healthy again or make an injury better

   As a doctor, his only concern was to heal his patients no matter how bad the working conditions were.

   Synonyms: mend, recover, get better

   Origin: Old English hǣlan (in the sense ‘restore to sound health’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heelen and German heilen, also to whole