Englishfor English speakers
back
Preposition
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Toward the rear.
He went back behind the stands.
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To a place again.
I didn't like it, so I sent it back.
He went back to the same house.
They came back again.
back
Noun
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The back is the rear part of something; it is the part in the other direction from the front.
I went to the back of the house.
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The back is the rear part of the human body.
He had a scar on his back.
back
Verb
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If you back something, you support it.
The Republicans backed the bill.
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If you back up, you move backward.
He put the car in gear and backed right into the garage door.
pressure
Noun
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In science, pressure is force applied over an area.
It hurt when the doctor put pressure on her cut foot.
He accidentally put too much air in his flat tire. The air put so much pressure on the tire that it exploded.
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If a person is under pressure, they feel stressed.
She has been under a lot of pressure lately because of her final exams. If she fails them, she will not graduate.
pressure
Verb
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When you pressure someone, you try to make them do something, especially something they do not want to do.
Her friends tried to pressure her into smoking, even after Maya kept saying "no."
His parents tried to pressure him into becoming a lawyer, but Jamal knew he wanted to be a doctor.
control
Noun
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If you have control over someone or something, you can make it do what you want.
He should try to take control and tell the other handlers what to do.
in the rain, he had lost control on the wet surface and spun off the road.
The country fell under the direct control of the army.
They are trying to keep tighter control over spending.
The government will demand improved pollution control systems for all factories.
Most companies devote some resources to quality control and product testing.
Unless birth control methods are used, sooner or later the woman is likely to get pregnant.
The continuing Soviet desire for arms control led to a SALT II treaty.
The brain's control systems tend to decline with age so that, for instance, our balance gets less good.
The experimental group took the medicine while the control group took a sugar pill.
Suddenly the airplane went out of control and started diving.
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A control is a button, switch, dial, etc. that lets you make a machine do what you want.
If you turn off your TV with the remote control, it continues to use a quarter of normal power.
She touched the volume control and the sound dropped.
control
Verb
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If you control something, you make it do what you want.
Too many people are overweight because they can't control their eating behaviour.
The company is controlled by a New York businessman.
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If you control something, you do not let its numbers or size grow too much.
The new plan should control inflation.
valve
Noun
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A valve is part of a tube that lets liquid or gas go through one way but stops it from going through the other way.
There are four valves in the heart that let blood go in one direction but stop it from going in the other direction.
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A valve is part of a tube that someone can open or close to let water or other things go through.
Open this valve to let water go through the pipe.