Academic Word of the Day Set 10

Previous Academic Word of the Day Sets

This page contains words from Set 10

This page examines particular academic words and their usage in academic writing.

For each word, it examines the meaning or meanings of that word and its collocations, connotations, other words in the same word families, possible synonyms, antonyms, and lexical phrases, and provides examples of its use in authentic texts which are cited and listed in the bibliography. Occasionally, where an example is taken from a text which is particularly rich in examples of the headword, the citation is also a link to the source article. There is also an indication of whether the word appears in an academic word list. These are:

AWL: The Academic Word List
NAWL: The New Academic Word List
AKL: The Academic Keyword List
OPAL: The Oxford Phrasal Academic Lexicon
NGSL: The New General Service List (a basic word list rather than an academic one)

In the example sentences the words of the day are highlighted in red. Other 'academic words' are highlighted in bold.
Where the example sentences contain 'academic' words, these are highlighted in bold, as in this paragraph. Only words from the Academic Word List (AWL), the New Academic Word List (NAWL) or some from the Academic Keyword List (AKL) are highlighted. This gives you an idea of how common and important these words are in these types of academic or technical texts.

If you need to find or highlight academic words in a text you can use the Academic Word Highlighter. This gives you a choice about which word list to use for highlighting.

The words of the day appear in order by date.

coincidence AWL: NOUN COUNTABLE When two events happen at the same time or in the same place. The co-occurrence of events which appear to be linked even though they just happen by chance.
The fact that the world has experienced multiple record flooding events in recent years – including catastrophic flooding in Australia, Western Europe India and China – is not a coincidence. Climate change is making record-breaking extreme precipitation more likely. (Davenport 2022)
It is no coincidence that only 3.9% of coaches in Europe’s 14 biggest leagues have an ethnic minority background. (Gillett 2021)
In 1983, Carter attempted to explain what he called a remarkable coincidence: the close approximation between the estimated lifespan of the Sun – 10 billion years – and the time Earth took to produce humans – 5 billion years, rounding up. (Mills, Wright, and Macalady 2025)
But what happens if an outcome follows our actions by coincidence? If I wear my lucky socks and my favourite sports team wins, this is probably just a coincidence (it’s unlikely my sock-wearing actually caused the win). (Cowie and Gomes-Ng 2024)
The fact that solar eclipses happen at all is a bit of a numerical coincidence. It just so happens that the Sun is approximately 400 times larger than the Moon and also 400 times more distant from the Earth. (Palma 2024)
Common collocates for this word:

coincidence

happy
mere
pure
strange
remarkable
sheer
curious
amazing
odd
extraordinary
complete
unfortunate
mere
close
optical

Word Family: coincidence (noun), coincide (verb), coincidental (adjective), coincidentalally (adverb)
Synonyms: chance
Lexical phrases:It [is, was] no coincidence
by coincidence
04/07/25 - Set 10
availability AWL NAWL OPAL: NOUN COUNTABLE 1. the ability to obtain, reach, buy or use something. 2. the possibility of being able to speak to someone
In one district without post-basic pharmacist assistants, medicine availability was an average of 88%. (Zuma 2023)
After all, diet-related choices are not just an outcome of personal preferences. The availability of food outlets, and the range of foods they sell, can influence those choices – and, in turn, nutrition and health. (Paine and Morrison 2023)
The availability of satellite data spanning the past 50 years is a valuable resource for capturing changes in the duration of the vegetation growing season. (Dash 2023)
Water availability is the net difference between the amount of water supplied to the landscape, in the form of rainfall on land, and the water removed to the atmosphere by general evaporation or by plants through their leaves. (Collins 2023)
The new analysis reveals a strong decrease in water availability in South America, most of Africa, and central and northwestern Australia. (Collins 2023)
Common collocates for this word:

availability

general
high
increased
ready
limited
widespread
wide
easy
continued
local
increasing
immediate
high
actual
commercial

Word Family: availability (noun), available (adjective)
Synonyms: accessibility
03/07/25 - Set 10
dimension AWL AKL OPAL NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE 1. an aspect, feature or way of thinking about something;
2. (usually in the plural - dimensions) the length, breadth or width of something.
The shift to renewable energy must be a just transition. It must not leave behind people who currently lack electricity. The justice dimension must be included in energy policies in African countries. (Abe and Azubike 2025)
Politics often seems to work in one dimension: parties and politicians are located on a spectrum stretching from from far left to far right. (Schweighofer 2024)
If politics is reduced to a single ideological dimension it can keep us from finding innovative solutions to our most urgent problems. (Schweighofer 2024)
Alongside this, we have the political dimension. Horror films have always been political, representing the fears and marginal identities of a particular country and time period. (Goodall 2025)
This moral dimension explains why being called “lazy” feels so much worse than being called “distracted” or “slow” — it implies a character flaw. (Devolder 2025)
Common collocates for this word:

dimension

new
social
political
extra
spiritual
international
added
different
regional
important
historical
additional
social
religious
moral

Word Family: dimension ()
Synonyms: aspect, feature, measurements
02/07/25 - Set 10
focus AWL AKL OPAL NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE or UNCOUNTABLE 1. concentration or attention on an issue under consideration or discussion; 2, the main point of something
Research is increasingly showing one of the best ways to boost memory, focus and brain health is exercise. (Smith and Singh 2025)
Workplaces and schools are starting to take note. Short movement breaks are being introduced during the workday to improve employee focus. (Smith and Singh 2025)
In modern society, there tends to be a greater focus on setting and achieving individual goals and less on creating meaningful connections with others, which are important for finding meaning and purpose in our lives. (Ahmed 2023)
Maths, science and literacy have been the focus of British schools for many years. (See 2015)
The growing focus on links between the chemical, physical, geological and biological states of the ocean, and planetary climate states, provides a much-improved structure for forecasting the state of the ocean. (deYoung et al. 2025)
Common collocates for this word:

focus

main
central
major
sharp
particular
narrow
important
specific
clear
prime
exclusive
strategic
central
increasing
proper

Word Family: focus (noun), focus (verb)
Synonyms: attention
Lexical phrases: lose focus
focus of [attention, interest, research, concern, discussion, infection, analysis, treatment, ... ]
01/07/25 - Set 10
identity AWL AKL OPAL NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE or UNCOUNTABLE the fact or condition of being a particular person or thing
As I’ve argued, identity is the image someone has of themselves. This image is made of different components – football teams we support, cities we live in, music we listen to, and more. (Oliver 2018)
The intrigue of the Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda, isn’t solely due to Leonardo’s revolutionary painting techniques. It’s also because the identity of the subject is unconfirmed to this day. (Sporzynski 2024)
More than half a millennium since it was first painted, the real identity of the Mona Lisa remains one of art’s greatest mysteries, intriguing scholars and enthusiasts alike. (Sporzynski 2024)
So while being Indigenous has always been tied very closely to place, today it is also a matter of cultural and political identity. (Fodder 2022)
Identity politics, at face value, is a politics that speaks to our image of ourselves. (Oliver 2018)
Common collocates for this word:

identity

national
corporate
personal
cultural
new
social
true
sexual
separate
ethnic
common
mistaken
corporate
racial
numerical

Word Family: identity (noun), identify (verb), identifiable (adjective), identifiably (adverb)
Synonyms: character, self, individuality
30/06/25 - Set 10
integrity AWL: NOUN UNCOUNTABLE 1. being honest and having strong moral principles; 2. (things) being whole, complete.
Having a lot of integrity has traditionally been considered one of the most important qualities of a business leader. (Gala 2023)
Research has shown that a high level of CEO integrity is a key trait in determining employee loyalty as well as preventing problems like fraud. (Gala 2023)
The health of our democracy, the integrity of our institutions, the transparency and fairness of our laws, the harmony and cohesion of our population. These aren’t just noble ideals. They are a powerful defence against the threat of modern authoritarianism. (Brown 2025)
Ethical leadership is evident in an organization when employees recognize values such as integrity, fairness and care for others through the actions of a leader. (Serviss et al. 2025)
Leaders who demonstrate integrity, strong values and clear expectations foster an environment where employees feel supported and motivated. (Serviss et al. 2025)
But self-governance on integrity matters is fraught with problems. (Tran 2025)
Common collocates for this word:

integrity

territorial
personal
professional
moral
political
artistic
physical
structural
great
referential
scientific
high
personal
absolute
internal

Word Family: integrity (noun)
Synonyms: honesty, morality, probity, rectitude, virtue
27/06/25 - Set 10
minor AWL AKL OPAL NGSL: ADJECTIVE having less importance, weight or influence compared with others of the same type
A recent study found water cooling reduced swelling and improved wound healing for minor burns commonly encountered at home or work. (Vetter 2016)
As the world continues to become more interconnected, a minor problem can become larger if information is not available. (Okrent 2022)
Minor infections like the common cold can cause night sweats. (Grosser and Banks 2023)
For the majority of patients, blood collections are a minor inconvenience. Others may feel uneasy and anxious. (Shibeeb 2023)
Everyday pain and injuries – such as minor bumps, cuts, grazes – are critical learning experiences for young children, and can influence how they interpret and respond to pain or injury experiences in the future. (Wallwork 2022)
Common collocates for this word:

minor

injuries
changes
road
role
counties
surgery
project
damage
offences
modifications
problems
works
changes
parties
scale

Word Family: minor (adjective)
Synonyms: less, insignificant, unimportant
26/06/25 - Set 10
approximation AWL NAWL OPAL: NOUN COUNTABLE a number which is not exact (either because the exact number is not known, or because the exact number is not necessary and we want to give a number which is easy to remember)
My suggestion, then, is that trying to characterize animal thought is like trying to describe the Mona Lisa. Approximations are possible, but precision is not. (Beck 2019)
Between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago, people used trial-and-error approximations of pi, without doing any math or considering potential errors. (Ye 2016)
The first rigorous approach to finding the true value of pi was based on geometrical approximations. (Ye 2016)
Whereas the world of Euclid is perfect, defined by its straight lines and circles, the universe we inhabit is not. Geometrical figures drawn with paper and pencil are only an approximation of the world of Euclid where statements of truth are absolute. (Lewis 2014)
Comparing two experimental results requires careful checking that the same level of approximation has been used in both cases. (Jones 2022)
Common collocates for this word:

approximation

good
close
syntactic
reasonable
linear
crude
rough
first-order
new
practicable
improved
acceptable
close
fair
normal

Word Family: approximation (noun), approximate (verb and adjective), approximately (adverb)
Synonyms: guess, estimate, estimation
Lexical phrases: to a good approximation
25/06/25 - Set 10
restrict AWL AKL OPAL NGSL: VERB COUNTABLE to place a limit on the amount or range of something
Some countries are already taking unilateral action to restrict fossil fuels, by, for instance, banning new oil and gas exploration or extraction. (Asselt, Peterson, and Fragkos 2024)
But my latest study shows that you don’t need to severely restrict your calories to get the metabolic benefits of intermittent fasting. Even just restricting the number of carbs you eat twice a week may be enough to improve your metabolic health. (Collins 2025)
So instead of restricting calories two days a week, you would restrict the number of carbs you consume twice a week. (Collins 2025)
The government thus cannot restrict an individual’s ability to produce or listen to speech based on the topic of the speech or the ultimate opinions expressed. (Goldberg 2022)
And if the government does try to restrict speech in these ways, it likely constitutes unconstitutional censorship. (Goldberg 2022)
Living in enclosures that restrict or prevent normal behavior creates chronic frustration and boredom. In the wild, an animal’s stress-response system helps it escape from danger. But captivity traps animals with almost no control over their environment.(Jacobs 2020)
Common collocates for this word:

restrict

access
liability
themselves
competition
development
entry
pupils
communication
growth
imports
sales
people
liability
eligibility
reliance

Word Family: restrict (verb), restriction (noun)
Synonyms: limit, curtail, confine, contrain, constrict
24/06/25 - Set 10
reconstruction AWL OPAL: NOUN COUNTABLE to construct (build) again
While home quality varies, the reconstruction programme played a major role in helping families build back a key asset they lost in the tsunami. (Thomas and Frankenberg 2014)
But, in the tsunami’s aftermath, a massive reconstruction and recovery effort was mounted, which has been a spectacular success in many ways. (Thomas and Frankenberg 2014)
There has been an energetic move forward in removing debris, consolidating the building and dismantling key parts of the site in preparation for the reconstruction work. (Teba 2024)
Faithful restoration using the same materials requires a quite different process from reconstruction of missing elements, where original materials have been destroyed. (Teba 2024)
This newest facial reconstruction, based on research at the University of Cambridge, invites us to empathise and see the story of Neanderthals as part of a broader human history. (Alberti 2024)
After 1945, schools became central to Europe’s social reconstruction. Seen as spaces of socialisation that included nearly all children, schools were viewed as critical for rebuilding society. (Mahé 2025)
Common collocates for this word:

reconstruction

post-war
national
economic
major
historical
social
constitutional
rational
fundamental
educational
environmental
complete
national
proposed
rural

Word Family: reconstruction (noun), reconstruct (verb)
23/06/25 - Set 10

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