ELL HubAmy Gallo
Amy Gallo
Episode 144
Vocabulary
hardwire (verb)
- Definition:
- to be naturally programmed or designed to think, feel, or act in a specific way
- Example from the episode:
- “I am a big believer that while our natural human instinct is to avoid conflict, because of course we are hardwired for likability and we see conflict as a potential rupture in our relationship or possibly damaging to our reputation.”
- Example sentence:
- “We are hardwired to avoid harm.”
friction (noun)
- Definition:
- disagreement between people
- Example from the episode:
- “I’m often brought in because there’s not enough disagreement happening, there’s not enough feedback, not enough tension or friction.”
- Example sentence:
- “To avoid friction, they decided not to discuss politics.”
dismissive (adjective)
- Definition:
- not thinking something is important or worth paying attention to
- Example from the episode:
- “So I’m sure you’ve been in this situation where you’re in a team meeting and someone disagrees with someone, or maybe is slightly dismissive or just something starts to happen and the whole room just gets tense, right?”
- Example sentence:
- “Don’t be dismissive of their efforts.”
smooth something over (idiom)
- Definition:
- to fix a problem or make a situation better so people are not upset anymore
- Example from the episode:
- “And some people may immediately try to smooth it over.”
- Example sentence:
- “After the argument, he tried to smooth things over with an apology.”