Oxford Basic American Dictionary

frogs, toads, and other amphibians

am • ple / ' ampl / adjective

enough or more than enough

We have ample time to make a decision.

am • pli • fi • er / ' ampbfarar / noun [ count ]

( music ) an electrical machine that makes sounds louder —Look at the picture at guitar .

am • pu • tate / ' ampyэteIt / verb

( am . pu . tates , am . pu . tat . ing , am . pu . tat . ed )

( health ) to cut off a person's arm, leg, finger, or toe for medical reasons

His leg was so badly injured that it had to be amputated.

a .muse Ф /э'туш/ verb

( a . mus . es , a . mus ing , a . mused )

to make someone smile or laugh Rick's joke did not amuse his mother.

to keep someone happy and busy

We played games to amuse ourselves on the long bus ride.

a • mused / э myuzd / adjective

thinking that something is funny and wanting to laugh or smile

He was amused to see how seriously she took the game.

a • muse • ment / э ' myuzmэnt /

[noncount]

the feeling that you have when something makes you laugh or smile

We watched in amusement as the dog chased its tail.

a • muse • ment park / э ' myuzmэnt park /

noun [ count ]

a large park which has a lot of things that you can ride and play on and many different activities to enjoy

a • mus • ing / э ' myuzig / adjective

Something or someone that is amusing makes you smile or laugh

an amusing story —SYNONYM funny

an Ф / эп ; an / article

1 one or any

ate an apple.

each, or for each

It costs $4 an hour to park your car here. Which word? A or an?

You use an in front of words that start with a vowel sound. Be careful! It is the sound that is important, not the spelling.

Words like university and euro take a instead of an , and words that begin with a silent "h," like hour , take an instead of a .

Look at these examples: a box ♦ a singer ♦ a university ♦ an apple ♦ an hour ♦ an SUV ♦ an umbrella .

a • nal • o • gy AWL / э 'nabd3i / noun [count]

( plural a . nal . o . gies )

a comparison between two things that shows how they are similar

to make an analogy between the human brain and a computer

a • nal • y • sis Ф AWL / э 'nabsis / noun

[count, noncount] ( plural a . nal . y . ses / э 'nabsiz / )

the process of carefully examining the different parts of something

Some samples of the water were sent to a laboratory for analysis .

an • a • lystAWL / ' amlist / noun [ count ]

a person whose job is to analyze things carefully a political analyst

an • a • lyt • ic • al AWB / ^ ' ^ /

( also an . a . lyt . ic / ,жпэ ' litik / ) adjective

looking carefully at different parts of something in order to understand or explain it analytical methods for research

an • a • lyze Ф AWL / ' a^laiz / verb

( an a . lyz . es , an a . lyz . ing , an . a . lyzed )

to look at or think about the different parts of something carefully so that you can understand it They will analyze the statistics.

a • nat • o • my / э ' natpmi / noun ( plural a . nat .o . mies ) ( biology )

[ noncount ] the scientific study of the structure of human or animal bodies

[ count ] the structure of a living thing the anatomy of a frog

► a • nat • o • m • i • cal / ana tamikl / adjective

an • ces • tor / ' ansestэr / noun

[ count ]

( history ) Your ancestors are the people in your family who lived a long time before you My ancestors came from Ireland.

an • chor / ' regksr /

noun [ count ]

a heavy metal thing that you drop into the water from a boat to stop the boat from moving away

a person whose job is to read news reports on TV and introduce news reports from other people a local news anchor