
cuddle | cuddle: v. 1 snuggle up (to), nestle or huddle (against): She cuddled the baby closer to her. 2 caress, embrace, fondle, hug, pet, bill and coo, make love (to), Colloq neck, smooch, Australian and New Zealand smoodge or smooge, Slang US make out (with), watch the submarine races: The couple were cuddling in the back seat. --n. 3 hug, embrace, snuggle: Give us a cuddle, Janie.
cue | cue: n. 1 prompt, hint, reminder, signal, sign: Give her the cue to start singing. --v. 2 signal, prompt, remind: She was cueing me to begin, but I''d lost my voice.
culprit | culprit: n. 1 accused, prisoner: How does the culprit plead? 2 offender, criminal, malefactor, wrongdoer: They caught the culprit red-handed.
cultivate | cultivate: v. 1 till, plough, farm, work: These lands have been cultivated since time immemorial. 2 grow, raise, tend, produce: What crops can be cultivated in this climate? 3 develop, promote, further, encourage, foster, advance: She''s been cultivating a friendship with her boss. 4 woo, make advances to, ingratiate oneself with, court, pay court to, curry favour with, Colloq work on, Slang suck up to, butter up, US shine up to; Taboo slang brown-nose: He is cultivating Trevor only because he wants something from him.
cultivated | cultivated: adj. sophisticated, cultured, educated, refined, elegant, soign�(e), civilized, polished, aristocratic, urbane, suave, cosmopolitan: She prefers to go out with cultivated older men.
culture | culture: n. 1 cultivation, refinement, sophistication, urbanity, suavity, elegance, (good) breeding, background, erudition, education, enlightenment, learning, taste, discrimination, savoir faire, savoir vivre, discernment: She is a lady of considerable culture as well as beauty. 2 civilization, mores, customs, lifestyle, way of life, (sense of) values: In their culture, biting someone is a sign of love and respect.
curb | curb: n. 1 check, restraint, control: You should put a curb on your tongue. --v. 2 check, restrain, bridle, control, contain, repress, subdue, suppress: Try to curb your exuberance.
cure | cure: n. 1 course of treatment, therapy, remedy, medication, medicament, medicine, drug, prescription; cure-all, nostrum, panacea: The doctor said there was no cure for her illness. --v. 2 heal, mend, restore to health or working order, remedy, rectify, correct, repair, fix: What can''t be cured must be endured. 3 smoke, pickle, dry, salt, preserve, corn, marinate: That cured ox tongue is simply delicious!
curiosity | curiosity: n. 1 inquisitiveness, interest: His insatiable curiosity next led him to study astronomy. 2 snooping, prying, peeping, intrusiveness, meddlesomeness, interference, Colloq nosiness, Nosy Parkerism: Curiosity killed the cat. 3 curio, oddity, rarity, conversation piece, objet de virtu or vertu, objet d''art, found object; bric-�-brac or bric-a-brac, knick-knack, bauble, trinket, gewgaw: The shop sells curiosities, like goblets made from ostrich eggs. In those days, every house had a curiosity cabinet.
curious | curious: adj. 1 inquisitive, inquiring, interested: I am curious to know what you were doing in there all night. 2 snooping, prying, intrusive, meddlesome, interfering, Colloq nosy: Our neighbours are entirely too curious about our activities. 3 odd, peculiar, eccentric, strange, outr�, queer, unusual, outrageous, offbeat, weird, bizarre, unconventional, freakish, exotic, singular, out of the ordinary, extraordinary, erratic, pixilated, quaint, outlandish, grotesque, aberrant, abnormal, singular, irregular, deviant, deviate, Colloq kinky, nuts, nutty; Slang Brit barmy: How do you explain Frieda''s curious behaviour?
current | current: adj. 1 contemporary, ongoing, present, contemporaneous, simultaneous, coeval: The current issue of the magazine came out last week. 2 prevalent, prevailing, common, popular, accepted, known, widespread, reported, in circulation, going round or around, bruited about, widely known, in the air, present-day: The current theories reject those of a decade ago. 3 fashionable, stylish, � la mode, modish, in vogue, latest, up to date, Colloq trendy: The current trend is towards shorter skirts. 4 US up to date, in the know, informed, advised, in touch, aware, posted, au courant, au fait, on the qui vive: The Financial Journal keeps me current on stock prices. --n. 5 stream, flow, undercurrent: The canoe was caught in the current and carried away. 6 course, progress, tendency, tenor, drift, trend, inclination, mainstream: The current of public opinion is turning in favour of policies that are more environmentally responsible.
curse | curse: n. 1 malediction, imprecation, denunciation, damnation, execration, oath: He heaped curses on all those who opposed him. 2 evil, bane, misfortune, affliction, torment, harm, scourge, cross to bear: The curse of our generation is that so few of us deeply believe anything. 3 profanity, oath, blasphemy, obscenity, bad language, dirty word, swear-word, curse-word: A stream of curses issued from the bathroom when Joe cut himself shaving. --v. 4 damn, execrate, blast, denounce, anathematize, excommunicate: He was cursed by the priests and forbidden ever to enter a temple again. 5 swear at, blaspheme at: The muleteer was cursing his team. 6 burden, saddle, weigh down, handicap: She was cursed with bad eyesight and had to wear thick glasses.
cursory | cursory: adj. superficial, hasty, hurried, passing, quick, slapdash, perfunctory, rapid, summary: She gave the note a cursory glance and threw it away.
curt | curt: adj. abrupt, short, terse, brief, laconic, concise; blunt, gruff, harsh, brusque, unceremonious, snappish, crusty, rude: His answer was a curt ''No'', without any explanation.
curtail | curtail: v. shorten, abbreviate, cut short, abridge, diminish, reduce, cut, cut back, cut down: Both our working week and our salaries were curtailed.
cushion | cushion: n. 1 pillow, bolster, pad: The women of the harem sat on cushions on the floor. --v. 2 soften, absorb, mitigate, reduce, buffer, insulate, mollify, lessen: They offered me a month''s paid holiday to help cushion the blow of being transferred.
custody | custody: n. 1 care, custodianship, safe keeping, protection, charge, guardianship, keeping: She was granted custody of the children. 2 imprisonment, detention, incarceration, confinement: The police took three troublemakers into custody.
custom | custom: n. 1 practice, habit, usage, fashion, way, wont, tradition, routine, convention, form: According to custom, the warriors of the tribe paint their bodies. 2 customs. toll, duty, impost, tax, excise, levy, dues, tariff: He was assigned to collect customs and port duties. 3 patronage, support, business, trade: The new butcher needs as much custom as possible. --adv. 4 specially, especially, expressly, exclusively, particularly; to order: All her clothes are custom-made.
customary | customary: adj. 1 usual, normal, conventional, routine, everyday, common, commonplace, ordinary: Is it customary for them to eat lunch on the premises? 2 accustomed, habitual, regular, traditional, wonted: I took the customary way home.
customer | customer: n. 1 client, patron, buyer, purchaser; consumer: Mrs Morris is one of our regular customers. 2 chap, fellow, character, person, guy, Colloq Brit bloke: She would never go out with an ugly customer like that.
cut | cut: v. 1 gash, slash, slit; open: I cut my finger on the glass. 2 slice, cut off, carve: Please cut me a thick piece of steak. 3 Often, cut up. hurt, wound, pain, upset, grieve, distress, aggrieve, slight, insult, offend, affront: I was really all cut up by her nasty remarks. 4 trim, snip, lop, clip, crop, shorten, shear, chop off; mow; dock: The barber has cut too much off the sides. 5 abbreviate, shorten, crop, condense, abridge, edit, cut back, reduce, cut down; epitomize, abstract, digest, summarize, curtail: Cut this script to make it fit into the allotted time. 6 dilute, thin, water (down), weaken; degrade, adulterate: They cut the rum with water to make grog. 7 avoid, fail to attend, eschew: Cynthia cut classes three days this week. 8 lower, reduce, lessen, cut back (on), cut down (on), slash, diminish, decrease, retrench (on), curtail: We shall have to cut expenses if the company is to survive. 9 conclude, settle, agree: Once the deal was cut, there was no going back on it. 10 prepare, draw, write, sign: We''ll have accounting cut your cheque and send it at once. 11 cut back. a See 5, above. b See 8, above. 12 Often, cut dead. snub, slight, spurn, shun, ignore, give the cold shoulder (to): Cornelia had the gall to cut Jason dead at his own party. 13 cut down. a fell, chop or hew down: Don''t cut down that tree! b kill, cut off, murder, assassinate: He was cut down in his prime. 14 cut in. interrupt, intrude, interfere, Colloq butt in: Please don''t cut in on our conversation. 15 cut off. a cleave, sever, chop or lop or hack off: Cut the branch off near the trunk. b intercept, interrupt, discontinue, end, stop, terminate, break off: There was a click and our phone conversation was cut off. c separate, sever, split, estrange: He''s been cut off from the family for years. d disinherit, disown, reject: She was cut off with a shilling. 16 cut out. a delete, remove, excise, strike or cross out, edit out, omit, cut, kill, Technical dele: The publishers made me cut out parts of the book that they were advised might be libellous. b extract, excise, remove, resect: My appendix was cut out years ago. c stop, cease, desist (from), quit: Whenever it rains the engine cuts out. Cut out the clowning around. d suit, equip, fit: I don''t think Cyril''s cut out to be a lumberjack. e plan, prepare, ready, organize, destine: He certainly has his work cut out for him! 17 cut up. a chop (up), dice, cube, mince, cut, divide (up), carve (up): Cut the celery up very small. b misbehave: The football supporters began to cut up rough. 18 cut up rough. get angry, lose one''s temper, show resentment: The driver began to cut up rough when I refused to pay. --n. 19 gash, slash, incision, nick, wound: I got a nasty cut from that razor. 20 share, portion, percentage, piece, dividend, commission: Blatchley gets a cut on every car we sell. 21 reduction, cut-back, curtailment, decrease: The government''s cuts in spending affect us all. 22 deletion, excision, omission: The author refuses to approve the cuts in the script. 23 affront, insult, offence, slight, snub, dig, jibe, slap in the face, cold shoulder: The unkindest cut was the accusation of cheating. 24 engraving, plate: This cut is too badly worn for use now. 25 artwork, picture, illustration, plate, drawing, line cut, line engraving, half-tone: The book has 300 cuts and only 20 pages of text. --adj. 26 separated, detached, severed: I prefer cut flowers to a plant. 27 abridged, abbreviated, cut-down, shortened, edited, curtailed: The magazine published a cut version of the novel. 28 reduced, diminished, lowered, discounted: This shop sells everything at cut prices. 29 cut and dried. a clear-cut, settled, arranged, decided, predetermined, prearranged: Unfortunately, the solution to this problem is not cut and dried. b stale, unoriginal, trite, hackneyed, old; dull, boring: His suggestions for improvement are always cut and dried. c manufactured, automatic, unchanging, unchanged: Mr Mackay will again present his old cut and dried plan.
cute | cute: adj. 1 pretty, attractive, adorable, dainty, lovely, beautiful, Colloq US cunning: There were a lot of cute children at the beauty competition. 2 clever, shrewd, ingenious, adroit, crafty, cunning: It was very cute of him to suggest his brother for the job.
cutthroat | cutthroat: n. 1 murderer, pirate, killer, thug, hatchet man, gunman, assassin, Slang US gunsel, torpedo, hit man: Those streets are frequented by thieves and cutthroats. --adj. 2 merciless, ruthless, unmerciful, unprincipled, relentless, pitiless, brutal, cold-blooded, cold-hearted: Her cutthroat tactics call for dismissing all executives. 3 murderous, homicidal, lethal, deadly, barbaric, fierce, cruel, barbarous, savage, inhuman, brutal, brutish, violent, ferocious, bloodthirsty, sanguinary, bloody, feral, vicious, truculent: He was once a member of a gang of cutthroat hoodlums.
cutting | cutting: adj. 1 severe, biting, chill, cold, icy, frigid, freezing, raw, piercing, penetrating: A cutting wind seemed to go right through me. 2 sarcastic, sardonic, bitter, scornful, sneering, acid, scathing, acerb(ic), wounding, stern, harsh, caustic, mordant, acrimonious, contemptuous; malevolent, malicious, invidious, vicious, venomous: Her cutting remarks completely devastated me. --n. 3 scion, slip, clipping: Mrs Galloway allowed me to take a cutting from her rose bush.
