Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

anarcho- /ænɑː ^r koʊ-/ COMB Anarcho- combines with nouns and adjectives to form words indicating that something is both anarchistic and the other thing that is mentioned. □  In France there was a long tradition of anarcho-syndicalism.

an|ar|chy /æ nə ^r ki/ N‑UNCOUNT If you describe a situation as anarchy , you mean that nobody seems to be paying any attention to rules or laws. [DISAPPROVAL ] □  Civil war and famine sent the nation plunging into anarchy.

anath|ema /ənæ θəmə/ N‑UNCOUNT If something is anathema to you, you strongly dislike it. □ [+ to ] Violence was anathema to them.

ana|tomi|cal /æ nətɒ m I k ^ə l/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] Anatomical means relating to the structure of the bodies of people and animals. □  …minute anatomical differences between insects. ●  ana|tomi|cal|ly /æ nətɒ m I kli/ ADV □  I need my pictures to be anatomically correct.

anato|mist /ənæ təm I st/ (anatomists ) N‑COUNT An anatomist is an expert in anatomy.

anato|mize /ənæ təma I z/ (anatomizes , anatomizing , anatomized ) in BRIT, also use anatomise VERB If you anatomise a subject or an issue, you examine it in great detail. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] The magazine is devoted to anatomizing the inadequacies of liberalism.

anato|my /ənæ təmi/ (anatomies )

1 N‑UNCOUNT Anatomy is the study of the structure of the bodies of people or animals.

2 N‑COUNT [usu poss N ] You can refer to your body as your anatomy . [HUMOROUS ]

3 N‑COUNT [oft with poss] An animal's anatomy is the structure of its body.

SUFFIX -ance

forms nouns that refer to a particular action, state, or quality. For example, brilliance is the state or quality of being brilliant, and appearance is the action of appearing.

an|ces|tor /æ nsestə ^r / (ancestors )

1 N‑COUNT [usu pl, with poss] Your ancestors are the people from whom you are descended. □  …our daily lives, so different from those of our ancestors. □  He could trace his ancestors back seven hundred years.

2 N‑COUNT An ancestor of something modern is an earlier thing from which it developed. □ [+ of ] The direct ancestor of the modern cat was the Kaffir cat of ancient Egypt.

an|ces|tral /ænse strəl/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] You use ancestral to refer to a person's family in former times, especially when the family is important and has property or land which they have had for a long time. □  …the family's ancestral home in southern Germany.

an|ces|try /æ nsestri/ (ancestries ) N‑COUNT Your ancestry is the fact that you are descended from certain people. □  …a family who could trace their ancestry back to the sixteenth century.

an|chor /æ ŋkə ^r / (anchors , anchoring , anchored )

1 N‑COUNT An anchor is a heavy hooked object that is dropped from a boat into the water at the end of a chain in order to make the boat stay in one place.

2 VERB When a boat anchors or when you anchor it, its anchor is dropped into the water in order to make it stay in one place. □ [V ] We could anchor off the pier. □ [V n] They anchored the boat.

3 VERB If you anchor an object somewhere, you fix it to something to prevent it moving from that place. □ [V n prep] The roots anchor the plant in the earth. □ [V -ed] The child seat belt was not properly anchored to the car.

4 VERB The person who anchors a television or radio programme, especially a news programme, is the person who presents it and acts as a link between interviews and reports which come from other places or studios. [mainly AM ] □ [V n] Viewers saw him anchoring a five-minute summary of regional news. □ [V -ed] …a series of reports on the Vietnam War, anchored by Mr. Cronkite.