Mots difficiles en anglais

trash grabber tool

pince à déchets

to belittle

déprécier, rabaisser, diminuer. « Don't let anyone belittle you. »

leniency

indulgence. To show leniency. « His parents' leniency towards him. »
clémence « She wrote to the judge pleading for leniency. »
légèreté (d'une peine) « The leniency of the sentence. »

transient

passager, éphémère. The transient nature of fashion. « She had a number of transient, casual relationships with fellow students. »
transitoire

lead time

délai. « A way to reduce the building's lead time. »

dean

doyen
academic dean : président de faculté

far-fetched

tiré par les cheveux. « This all sounds very far-fetched. »

to pluck

cueillir. To pluck a flower « I plucked a lemon from the tree. »
arracher « She plucked the baby out of my arms. »
to be plucked to safety = être mis à l'abri « The children were plucked to safety as the building burned around them.         »
pincer les cordes d'un instrument. « To pluck the strings of a guitar. »    
to pluck up courage = prendre son courage à deux mains
to pluck up the courage to do sth = trouver le courage de faire qch « I eventually plucked up enough courage to ask her for her number. »
to pluck at = tirer sur « The boy plucked at Adam's sleeve. »

brazen

impudent, effronté, sans gêne.  « He's brazen, selfconfident, charismatic. » « It's brazen, insane, wonderful ! »
to brazen it out = la jouer au culot, au bluff.

sham

simulacre « They will prove that their love is real and their marriage not a sham. »        
imposteur « This man was a sham, an imposter. »
feint, simulé, bidon « sham marriage. »
to sham = feindre, simuler, faire semblant. « He's shamming » = il fait semblant.

to fret

se tracasser « Don't fret, Mary. »
to fret about/over sth : se tracasser au sujet de qch « Philip was fretting about his exams. » « I don't think people should fret over this. »

gum

gencive « She smiled widely, showing her toothless gums. »        
chewing-gum « He chews gum, and wears a baseball cap. »        
colle, coller  

eyebrow

sourcil
fig.: to raise an eyebrow = sourciller, tiquer « his behaviour raised a few eyebrows. »
eyebrow pencil = crayon à sourcils

lumpy

grumeleux « When the rice isn't cooked properly it goes lumpy. »
bosselé « The barn floor is a little lumpy, but better than sleeping with 60 guys snoring and coughing. »

cobblestone

pavé « the narrow cobblestone streets of the Left Bank. »

goo

pâte visqueuse, matière visqueuse  « a sticky goo of pineapple and coconut. »

bevel

biseau
beveled = en biseau
 bevel edge = bord biseauté. « A bathroom mirror with bevelled edges. »

ado

without further ado, without more ado = sans plus de cérémonie  
much ado about nothing = beaucoup de bruit pour rien

in the midst of

au milieu de. « In the midst of the scandal. »

refurbish

rénover, remettre à neuf « I bought a Refurbished iPhone 5 on eBay. Where we have refurbished stores, we've seen sales move ahead. »

bezel

monture, cadre. « The screen is framed with a stainless steel bezel. » « She used a sponge to remove scratches on her iPhone's bezel. »

to cram

fourrer « He crammed the bank notes into his pockets and ran off » « I’ve tried to cram all the wisdom I’ve accumulated in my book. »

to behead

décapiter « A soldier was beheaded by jihadists in the public square. » 

heist

hold-up, casse, cambriolage. « Jewelry heists happen surprisingly often. What's less common is that the perpetrators get caught. » to heist = faire un casse, un hold-up, braquer, cambrioler

cartwheel

roue de charrette
to turn a cartwheel = faire la roue

fir

sapin. « There was a big fir tree with stars and garlands. »

twinkle

scintillement, scintiller « At night, lights twinkle in distant villages. »
[eyes] pétillement, pétiller « I noticed a twinkle in her eye at the suggestion. »

sprout

pousser, germer « If you leave onions long enough they will start to sprout. » « Is it safe to eat potatoes that have sprouted ? » « Chinese restaurants have sprouted everywhere. »
Brussels sprouts = choux de Bruxelles.

rotten

pourri « The front bay window is rotten » « It's a rotten idea. » « what rotten weather! »
a rotten apple = une pomme pourrie. Fig: une brebis galeuse. « Police corruption is not just a few rotten apples. »
dégueulasse (fig.) That's a rotten thing to do = c'est dégueulasse de faire une chose pareille.  
to feel rotten = se sentir honteux.

rife

répandu.
to be rife [corruption, disease] = sévir, aller bon train « Unemployment is rife. » « Bribery and corruption were rife in the industry. »
rumours are rife = de nombreuses rumeurs circulent.
rife with sth = en proie à qch « Politicians world is rife with jealousy. » « Hollywood soon became rife with rumors. »

stroller

poussette

dumbass

idiot. « You're gonna get us all killed, dumbass ! »

weird

bizarre « He wasn't mad but he was certainly weird. » 
weirdo = type bizarre, farfelu.

to backfire

avoir l'effet inverse que prévu « The President's tactics could backfire. » « The rehousing scheme backfired when refugees decided they did not want to move . »
to backfire on sb = se retourner contre qn « His plan backfired on him. »
pétarader « The car backfired. »
backfire = retour de flamme.

amid

au milieu de, parmi « a tiny bungalow amid clusters of trees. »  « She was sitting amid a swarm of photographers. » « Children were changing classrooms amid laughter and shouts. »

swarm

essaim, nuée « She left amid a swarm of photographers. »
se regrouper en masse, fourmiller, grouiller « They swarmed across the bridge. »
to be swarming with people = grouiller de monde « The White House was swarming with security men. »

bland

fade, insipide, sans relief « Henry has a blander personality than Howard »  « bland vegetable soup » « the film was bland and forgettable. »

chubby

potelé
chubby-faced = joufflu

chin

menton

the ball of the foot

la plante du pied

chandelier

lustre

downfall

fig.: chute, ruine « his lack of experience had led to his downfall  » « his honesty had been his downfall. »

to cater for

préparer des repas (pour)
satisfaire, pourvoir à « In a consumer society no effort is made to cater for the needs of the elderly. »
s'adresser à, pourvoir aux besoins de « we can cater for all age groups in our summer schools. »

tangle

enchevêtrement « a tangle of wires. »
to be in a tangle, to be tangled = être emmêlé « I've got my shoelaces in a bit of a tangle. »        
fig.: « a confused tangle of plots and subplots. » « My tax affairs were in a complete tangle » (= "sac de nœuds"). 
fig.: to be in a tangle = être en pleine confusion.
to tangle = s'emmêler « her hair tends to tangle. »

leaf blower

leaf blowersouffleur de feuilles

to underpin

sous-tendre « Several factors underpin this policy. »

to nod

faire oui de la tête « "Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded. »
faire un signe de tête « All the girls nodded and said "Hi". »

to flounder

battre de l'aile « The economy was floundering. »        
tourner en rond « I was floundering. I worked in a number of jobs. I had no direction in my life. »     

gizmo

truc, gadget « a plastic gizmo for holding a coffee cup on the dashboard. »

mundane

banal, terre à terre « our robot can do most of the mundane work for you » « the mundane realities of life »
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