
bias | bias: n. 1 prejudice, partiality; inclination, leaning, bent, disposition, propensity, tendency, predilection, predisposition, proclivity: She shows a marked bias in favour of the Irish. 2 angle, slant, diagonal: Cut the fabric on the bias. 3 influence, impulse, weight: If he is under any bias, it is on the side of fairness. --v. 4 influence, affect unduly or unfairly, sway, incline, prejudice, colour, taint, predispose: Artists are seldom good critics of art because they have been biased.
biased | biased: adj. biased, prejudiced, partial; warped, distorted, jaundiced: I don''t want to listen to your biased opinions about women''s rights.
bicker | bicker: v. dispute, quarrel, wrangle, argue, squabble, tiff, Colloq spat: The couple next door are always bickering about trifling matters.
bid | bid: v. 1 offer, make an offer (for), tender, proffer: We bid �500 for the painting. 2 Archaic or literary ask, pray, press, entreat, beg, request, suggest, invite: She bade me leave her to mourn alone. 3 Formal command, demand, order, tell, enjoin, dictate: Please bid him enter. Custom bade him blow his horn.
bidding | bidding: n. 1 invitation, summons: We attended the ceremony at the bidding of the vice-chancellor. 2 command, order, dictate, direction, instruction, demand: The letter was sent to all theatre directors at the bidding of the Arts Minister.
big | big: adj. 1 large, great, grand; huge, enormous, immense, gigantic, giant, tremendous, colossal, Brobdingnagian, jumbo, Colloq Brit socking or whacking big or great, US humongous: We live in a big house in the country. 2 ample, hefty, huge, bulky, fat, obese; large, hulking, beefy, burly, brawny, strapping, gargantuan, elephantine, enormous, gigantic, immense, monstrous: The sumo wrestler was one of the biggest men I''d ever seen. 3 tall, grown, mature, grown-up, large: Christopher is certainly big for his age. 4 important, significant, outstanding, weighty, consequential, major, grave, momentous, notable, noteworthy, telling: Changing careers can be one of the biggest decisions of your life. 5 important, prominent, illustrious, noteworthy, notable, renowned, eminent, distinguished, esteemed: Mr Johnson is a big man in our town. 6 generous, magnanimous, charitable, unselfish, giving: It was very big of her to take on the support of the orphanage. 7 popular, famous, well-known, successful: That band is very big with the kids these days. 8 capital, large, upper case, majuscule: Always spell London with a big L. --adv. 9 pompously, boastfully, conceitedly, arrogantly, pretentiously: Alfred talks big at home, but he''s very modest when he''s with his friends. 10 successfully, well, oustandingly,effectively: I think your speech went over big with those opposed to the new budget.
bigoted | bigoted: adj. prejudiced, intolerant, biased, jaundiced, one-sided, partial: The judge was bigoted against Blacks, which accounts for the unfair decision.
bigotry | bigotry: n. prejudice, intolerance, bias, partiality: No government that practises bigotry can survive long.
bigwig | bigwig: n. 1 boss, kingpin, king, queen, nabob, VIP, Colloq big-shot, big gun, big cheese, big wheel, hotshot, chief, brass hat, US (chief) honcho, Mr Big: The bigwig sits here, at the head of the table. 2 bigwigs. brass, brass hats: Don''t let the bigwigs find out what we''ve done.
bilious | bilious: adj. ill-tempered, bad-tempered, ill-natured, peevish, testy, cross, petulant, tetchy, choleric, dyspeptic, angry, wrathful: The director was absolutely bilious when he heard we had lost the account.
bill� | bill�: n. 1 invoice, account; tally, reckoning, tabulation, US (restaurant) check, Colloq US tab: Have you paid the telephone bill? 2 US and Canadian note, banknote, paper money, Colloq folding money: The robbers took only small bills, which they could spend easily. --v. 3 invoice, charge: I haven''t got my cheque-book with me, please could you bill me.
bill� | bill�: n. beak, neb, nib, pecker; jaws: One of the birds had a fish in its bill.
bind | bind: v. 1 tie, fasten, secure, make fast, tie up: The thieves bound him hand and foot. 2 constrain; hold, oblige, obligate: The contract we signed is equally binding on both parties. The union is bound by an agreement that expires in a month. 3 gird, encircle, wreathe, wrap, cover, swathe, bandage: They were binding his wounded head. 4 cement, stick, cause to adhere; attach, connect: Ordinary glue will bind these pieces together. --n. 5 Colloq US dilemma, predicament, tight spot, (difficult) situation, Colloq pickle, fix, jam: I''m in a real bind because I''ve invited two girls to the party. 6 Colloq Brit annoyance, irritant, bother, bore, trial, ordeal, irritation, vexation, Colloq pain (in the neck or arse): It was a bit of a bind having to wait three hours at the airport.
birth | birth: n. 1 childbirth, delivery, Technical parturition, Old-fashioned confinement: Nicole is expecting the birth of her first baby in early April. 2 origin, creation, emergence, beginning, start, origination: I believe we may be present at the birth of a powerful idea. 3 nativity, origin, extraction; parentage, line, lineage, ancestry, descent, family, blood: She is Scottish by birth. Hortense is of noble birth.
bisexual | bisexual: adj. 1 hermaphrodite or hermaphroditic(al), androgynous: Many of these microscopic animals are bisexual and self-fertilizing. 2 Colloq AC/DC, swinging both ways, Facetious ambisextrous: He was known to have had bisexual relationships. --n. 3 androgyne, hermaphrodite: Statistics showed that more women than previously believed were bisexual.
bit | bit: n. 1 morsel, piece, scrap, fragment, shred, particle, grain, crumb: We didn''t have a bit of food in the house. 2 jot, tittle, whit, scintilla, trace, touch, hint, suggestion, suspicion, particle, iota, speck, atom: There''s not the slightest bit of evidence to link her with the crime. 3 moment, minute, second, flash, Colloq two shakes (of a lamb''s tail): I''ll be with you in a little bit. 4 piece, share, equity, segment, portion, part, fraction: He owns a little bit of the business.
bitch | bitch: n. 1 shrew, nag, termagant, virago, harpy, fury, spitfire, scold: That greedy bitch has the house, and now she''s suing me for half my income. 2 whore, prostitute, bawd, harlot, call-girl, trollop, strumpet, trull, drab, tart, floozie, streetwalker, Colloq bimbo, pro, US hooker, tramp, hustler,: He roamed the street every night, ending up with some bitch he found in a bar. --v. 3 complain, object, protest, grumble, Colloq gripe: Oh, stop your bitching and get on with it! 4 bungle, botch, ruin, spoil: They bitched the job by using too little paint.
bite | bite: v. 1 nip; chew, gnaw: That dog of yours bit a piece out of my ankle. 2 sting: She was bitten by a mosquito. --n. 3 mouthful, morsel, scrap, bit, piece, taste; snack, Slang nosh: The survivors hadn''t had a bite of food for three days. Come round for a bite on Sunday evening before the concert. 4 sting: These mosquito bites itch horribly.
biting | biting: adj. severe, harsh, cutting, piercing, penetrating, keen, sharp, bitter; cold, wintry, freezing: The biting wind went right through his thin coat.
bitter | bitter: adj. 1 harsh, acerbic, acrid, sharp, caustic, mordant: I added some cream to the sauce to try and make it taste less bitter. 2 unappetizing, distasteful, unsavoury, unpleasant, hard (to swallow or take), irritating, obnoxious, disagreeable, nasty, painful, unwelcome, unpalatable: The demand for additional tax payments was a bitter pill. 3 miserable, grievous, dispiriting, distressing, cruel, distressful: Dismissal after all those years in the firm was a bitter experience. 4 resentful, embittered, rancorous; hateful: Andrew felt bitter at not being selected as chairman. 5 stinging, cutting, biting, harsh, reproachful, vicious, acrimonious, virulent; cruel, unkind, unpleasant, nasty: His bitter denunciation of other candidates lost him the campaign. 6 sharp, keen, cutting, severe, biting, cold, wintry, freezing: A bitter gale lashed at the rigging.
bitterness | bitterness: n. 1 harshness, acerbity, acrimony, acrimoniousness, bitterness, spleen, Literary gall and wormwood: The bitterness of his opponent''s attack was totally uncalled for. 2 animosity, hatred, resentment; hostility, antagonism: She felt bitterness in her heart over the way she had been treated.
bizarre | bizarre: adj. 1 eccentric, unusual, unconventional, extravagant, whimsical, strange, odd, curious, peculiar, queer, offbeat, fantastic, weird, incongruous, deviant, erratic, Slang kinky: The police thought his behaviour somewhat bizarre and invited him down to the station for questioning. 2 grotesque, irregular, nonconformist, nonconforming, outlandish, outr�, quaint, fantastic, unconventional: His house is a bizarre mixture of baroque and modern design.
