Upper-Intermediate — Set 69

Set 69 of Upper-Intermediate covers 5 words: fire, hire, resign, pursue, retire. Each entry below includes its definition, an example sentence, and synonyms — practice them with the interactive cards above.

1. fire · verb/ˈfaɪ(ə)r/

   to make someone leave his/her job

   Although my brother had informed his employer about his son’s premature birth and hospitalization, he was fired for not being at the office for 5 days.

   Synonyms: sack, dismiss

   Origin: Old English fȳr (noun), fȳrian ‘supply with material for a fire’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vuur and German Feuer

2. hire · verb/ˈhaɪ(ə)r/

   to employ someone

   When she realized that her business was bringing in money, she decided to start new projects and hire more workers.

   Synonyms: employ

   Origin: Old English hȳrian ‘employ someone for wages’, hȳr ‘payment under contract for the use of something’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch huren (verb), huur (noun)

3. resign · verb/rəˈzaɪn/

   to give up a position by formal announcement

   Resigning from his job, he threw all his energy into learning Spanish in a language course.

   Synonyms: leave,quit

   Origin: late Middle English: from Old French resigner, from Latin resignare ‘unseal, cancel’, from re- ‘back’ + signare ‘sign, seal’

4. pursue · verb/pərˈsu/

   to try to gain or accomplish

   To save money and avoid bankruptcy, the company owner pursued a strategy of using temporary workers, which worked pretty well.

   Synonyms: aim for, aspire to

   Origin: Middle English (originally in the sense ‘follow with enmity’): from Anglo-Norman French pursuer, from an alteration of Latin prosequi ‘prosecute’

5. retire · verb/rəˈtaɪ(ə)r/

   to stop working after reaching a certain age

   His friendships and interests were work related, so when he was forced to retire at the age of 60, he found it very hard.

   Synonyms: exit, depart

   Origin: mid 16th century (in the sense ‘withdraw to a place of safety or seclusion’): from French retirer, from re- ‘back’ + tirer ‘draw’