Academic Word of the Day Set 4

This page contains words from Set 4

Today's word is:

2025-04-11

4

identify   AWL AKL OPAL NGSL

VERB TRANSITIVE to recognise a person, object, problem or need, etc., and be able to describe it and distinguish it from others; to associate yourself with a particular, group, feeling or situation
Learning to identify birds by their songs is as much fun as spotting them by sight. (Steadman 2019)
Other experts can help identify your animal from the picture. (Wishart 2020)
This allows researchers who study them in the wild to identify and count individual tigers. (Cushing 2020)
Psychology and neuroscience researchers have started to identify thinking processes and brain regions involved with creativity. (Beaty 2018)
If you are reading this and identify with any of the above, stop reading now and go straight to hospital. (Yates 2021)
Common collocates for this word:

identify

areas
problems
ways
people
gaps
children
changes
companies
priorities
patients
opportunities
words
training
needs
sites
sources

Word Family: identify (verb), identification (noun), identity (noun),identifiable (adjective)
Synonyms: recognise, distinguish, determine, specify
The verb identify is often used as a task verb.
11/04/25 - Set 4

Test your understanding of the words in set 4 with these quick quizzes: Quiz 4 Quiz 4B Quiz 4C

2025-04-10

4

sustainable  AWL NAWL

ADJECTIVE able to be continued or maintained over a period of time; not harmful to the environment
Environmentalism. The United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development definition.
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Sustainable Development n.d.)
Environmentalism.
To improve the quality of life for both current and future generations we have to protect, restore and promote sustainable land. (Azam 2024)
Environmentalism.
Our carbon labels could be the key to helping consumers turn their sustainable intentions into meaningful climate action. (Li 2025)
Environmentalism.
Solar energy is a widely distributed, sustainable, and renewable energy source. As a renewable resource, solar energy has the capability to replace the widely used fossil fuel resource in the near future. (Pourasl, Barenji, and Khojastehnezhad 2023)
General use.
Exercise snacking may be a more sustainable approach to improve muscle health in those who don’t want to – or can’t – lift heavier weights in a gym. (Fyfe and Keogh 2024)
General use.
But ultimately this is about more than just the figures and obesity rates, this is about making sure the next generation of adults are suitably prepared for a sustainable active lifestyle. (Morley 2017)
Common collocates for this word:

sustainable

development
agriculture
use
energy
communities
management
tourism
growth
future
forest
design
living
business
transport
resource

Word Family: sustainable (adjective), sustain (verb), sustainability (noun)
Morphology: sustainable more...
10/04/25 - Set 4

2025-04-09

4

gender   AWL OPAL NGSL

NOUN 1. The group of people associated with a particular sense of being male, female or other identity; 2. the characteristics associated with with a sense of being male, female or other identity; 3. a grammatical subclass in some languages which assigns (often arbitrarily) a male or female form.

Although gender can be related to sex, it is a very different concept. Gender is generally understood to be socially constructed, and can differ depending on society and culture. (Carver 2018)
Women’s annual earnings are closing in on men’s, with the gender pay gap in Australia’s private sector shrinking from 14.5% to 13.6% in the past year. (Risse 2025)
The UN agency, UN Women, says it could take another 286 years to close the global gender gaps in legal protections. No country has yet achieved gender equality, based on the gender pay gap, legal equality and social inequality levels. (Elhinnawy 2024)
Whether in the media or at school, gender stereotypes can create detrimental learning situations for all, regardless of gender, sex, or age (Connolly, 2022). (Cumming-Potvin 2023)
As we’ve highlighted, German has gendered forms for nouns (doctor can be “der Arzt” for male, “die Ärztin” for female) where in English we don’t gender these noun forms (with some exceptions, themselves contentious, like “actor” and “actress”). (Saunders and Ullmann 2021)
Common collocates for this word:

gender

differences
roles
identity
issues
divisions
inequality
distinctions
bias
politics
stereotypes
discrimination
studies
imbalance
neutrality
consciousness

Word Family: gender (noun), gender (verb), gendered (adjective)
09/04/25 - Set 4

2025-04-08

4

factor   AWL AKL OPAL NGSL

NOUN COUNTABLE something which has an influence on something else; something which influences or determines an outcome or result; a cause
Although relying on electronic eyes may partially curb cheating, there’s another factor in the reasons students cheat that often gets overlooked – student motivation. (Fong and Krou 2021)
The biggest single factor that shapes productivity is technology. (Peetz 2024)
A recent study that looked at 396 studies has even been able to identify ten risk factors that are shown to increase the likelihood of developing the disease. (Dallas 2020)
It is clear from these stories, and those in other studies, that bullying is a significant factor in some parents choosing to homeschool. (English 2022)
Many factors are linked to an increased risk of dementia, and only a small selection of these can be evaluated in any one study. (Hoffman 2021)
Common collocates for this word:

factor

important
major
key
significant
crucial
contributory
limiting
decisive
deciding
common
critical
single
main
vital
determining

Word Family: factor (noun), factor (verb)
Synonyms: element, consideration, circumstance, component
Lexical phrases:[a, an, the] [important, major, key, significant, critical, determining, contributing, essential, decisive, dominant,...] factor in the ...
Cohesive devices: factor is also a classic shell noun used to refer back to an idea already mentioned in the text. Here is an example:
"Sometimes, comparing young adults to older adults can be misleading though. The two generations were brought up in different times, with different levels of education, healthcare and nutrition. They also lead different daily lives, with some older people having lived though a world war while the youngest generation is growing up with the internet. Most of these factors favour the younger generation, and this can explain a proportion of their advantage in cognitive tasks." (Badham 2024 ) In the second sentence these factors refers to possible causes of cognitive differences mentioned earlier in the text. In this case in the previous sentence: different levels of education, healthcare and nutrition, different daily lives. It would be clumsy to repeat these causes in the second sentence so they are just referred to as factors. Also this text (Grobler et al. 2019) contains many useful examples of this use of the word 'factor'.
08/04/25 - Set 4

2025-04-07

4

knowledge   AKL OPAL NGSL

NOUN UNCOUNTABLE Something you know or are aware of and can bring to mind; skill which you have acquired through experience or study; information, facts, data stored in documents, museums, or digital storage devices.
But as Albert Einstein said, “ Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”(Behles 2021)
Scientists formulate ideas or hypotheses using existing knowledge and information. (Lituma 2023)
At the same time, make sure you don’t confuse his having an opinion with actually having knowledge. (Britten 2022)
But for that kind of teaching to happen, teachers can grammar knowledge. (Adoniou 2014)
Around the world, natural history museums hold a treasure trove of knowledge about Earth’s animals. (Barlow, Major, and Wüster 2023)
Common collocates for this word:

knowledge

scientific
personal
local
common
detailed
technical
human
general
prior
previous
intimate
full
public
existing
specific

Word Family: knowledge (noun), know (verb), knowledgeble (adjective), knowingly (adverb)
Synonyms: information, learning, education, skill, erudition,
Antonyms: ignorance, misunderstanding, inexperience
07/04/25 - Set 4

2025-04-04

4

evaluate   AWL AKL OPAL NGSL

VERB TRANSITIVE place a value on something; say what something is worth; estimate the importance, size, amount or quality of something
Critical thinking is the ability to analyse and evaluate information and arguments in a clear, rational and objective manner. (Matisonn 2025)
In a new study, my colleagues and I have put together data from 1,325 surveys of elephant populations – everything we could find – to evaluate how elephant numbers in Africa have changed over the last 50 years or so. (Wittemyer 2025)
We have to remain vigilant and manually evaluate AI predictions to figure out if they fit with our reality. (Elagali et al. 2022)
I think philosophy can help us clarify, systematize and evaluate the arguments on both sides. (Duclos 2017)
Legitimate academic journals evaluate papers before publication by having other researchers in the field carefully read them over. (Labbé, Joelving, and Cabanac 2025)
Common collocates for this word:

evaluate

information
progress
research
health
portfolio
effectiveness
traffic
treatment
training
interventions
offers
remedies
progress
trends
programmes

Word Family: evaluate (verb), evaluation (noun)
Synonyms: assess, appraise, estimate, judge
Lexical phrases: [critically, systematically, properly, carefully] evaluate
in order to evaluate …
[be] used to evaluate …
The verb evaluate is often used as a task verb, requiring a writer to state an opinion about the value of the arguments, proposals, propositions etc. in the task description.
4/04/25 - Set 4

2025-04-03

4

differentiate  AWL AKL NAWL OPAL

VERB TRANSITIVE or INTRANSITIVE find or show a difference between two or more items; make something or someone different; change
Meaning find or show a difference:
The best way to differentiate a cold and the flu is if you have a fever. (Wilson and White 2023)
Many sleep devices also fail to differentiate one stage of sleep from another based on motion alone. (Reid 2021)
Even if readers in 1970 could clearly differentiate between news and opinion, they likely do not have the same level of critical engagement when news exists online and in almost unmanageable volume. (Lerner 2020)
Meaning change:
Accumulating evidence is also showing that cancer stem cells can differentiate into multiple cell types, including noncancerous cells. (Thakur and Chen 2023)
Laterborns must also differentiate themselves to attract parental resources, which could explain their rebellious behaviour. (Sabolova 2020)

Word Family: differentiate (verb), differentiation (noun)
Synonyms: distinguish, discriminate
Lexical phrase: differentiate between X and Y
The verb is often used as a task verb, requiring a writer to show the differences which exist between two entities.
3/04/25 - Set 4

2025-04-02

4

whereas   AWL OPAL NGSL

ADVERBIAL SUBORDINATOR A subordinating conjunction used to show contrast or concession. (Only contrast is considered here.)
The left hemisphere controls language and motor abilities, whereas the right hemisphere is responsible for visual-spatial attention. (Spry 2017)
These patterns can vary – some are slow and gentle, like a waltz whereas some are fast and energetic, like a Charleston. (Barlow 2017)
Sometimes the contrast is signalled at the beginning of the sentence; the main clause is at the end of the sentence.
Whereas Google Translate started by offering translations between just three languages in 2006 – English, Chinese and Arabic – today it supports 249. (Lopez 2025)
Whereas other continents currently have several different types of snakes, Australia’s snakes belong almost entirely to one group, called elapids. (Gentle 2020)
Used also as a linking adverbial (still signalling contrast).
We have shown that being socially isolated in older adults is associated with a 26% increased risk of dementia. Whereas, having the optimal number of friends in adolescence, about five, is linked with better brain structure, cognition, educational attainment and wellbeing. (Sahakian and Langley 2025)
In the example above the linking adverbial 'Whereas' links the second sentence with the first and highlights a contrast: social isolation contributing to dementia against having the optimal number of friends contributing to better brain structure, cognition, educational attainment and wellbeing. Note the comma after the word Whereas in this last example; this tells you it is a linking adverbial, unlike examples 3 and 4.
Making comparisons and contrasts is common in academic writing. Using an adverbial like whereas is one simple and effective way to do this.
2/04/25 - Set 4

2025-04-01

4

underlying  AWL OPAL

ADJECTIVE existing but not immediately obvious or visible; basic, supporting
This word is often used when describing medical conditions as in the first four examples below.
If we can discover the underlying mechanisms of visual hallucinations, this will give us targets to focus treatments on. (Pearson 2016)
Unfortunately, very little is still known about the underlying causes of these difficulties or about how best to alleviate them. (Gaigg 2014)
If you start to smell odours that others can’t, you might wish to consult your GP, if only to rule out serious underlying disorders that may be causing the phantom smell. But just remember that in the vast majority of cases, phantosmia is a harmless condition rather than a sign of a serious underlying condition. (Stafford 2018)
Research on the brain mechanisms underlying depression aims to uncover the neurobiological factors that contribute to the development and persistence of this mental health disorder. (Wu et al. 2025)
At the national level, cultural values influence what institutions are formed and how they perform. It is difficult to maintain a democracy if the underlying values necessary to sustain it aren’t respected in the first place. (Steel 2017)
Raising the age is a response that removes responsibility for poor behaviour, but doesn’t necessarily address any underlying causes of youth crime. (Goldsworthy 2022)
Common collocates for this word:

underlying

cause
assumptions
principles
reason
theme
trend
philosophy
structure
problem
idea
analysis
mechanism
purpose
factors
isues

Word Family: underlying (adjective), underlie (verb)
Synonyms: supporting, basic, fundamental
Lexical phrases: the [principles, assumptions, mechanisms, …] underlying the …
1/04/25 - Set 4

2025-03-31

4

quantitative  NAWL OPAL

ADJECTIVE CLASSIFIER describing things which can be measured and expressed in specific units.
Questions exploring whether something is likely to happen or not can be answered with quantitative research. By counting and measuring, we quantify (measure) a phenomenon in our world, and present the results through percentages and averages. We use statistics to help interpret the significance of the results. (Stephens 2018)
Nmber words and written numerals transform our quantitative reasoning as they are coaxed into our cognitive experience by our parents, peers and school teachers. (Everett 2017)
Quantitative research refers to the systematic collection and analysis of numerical data using mathematical or statistical methods in order to explain real-world phenomena and derive conclusive evidence concerning hypotheses. (Quantitative Research - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics n.d.)
Quantitative data analysis involves the use of statistics. Descriptive statistics help summarize the variables in a data set to show what is typical for a sample. (Kotronoulas et al. 2023)
ESG investing examines quantitative and qualitative non-financial data on companies. This includes environmental issues like carbon emissions, pollution and resource use; social issues like employee treatment and relationships with communities; and governance issues like diversity of corporate boards, business ethics and transparency. (Majerbi and Busaan 2023)
Common collocates for this word:

quantitative

analysis
data
methods
research
information
restrictions
studies
determination
assessment
terms
evaluation
measures
results
approach
measurment

Word Family: quantitative (adjective), quantitatively (adverb), quantity (noun)
Antonym: qualitative
Morphology: quantitative more...
Lexical phrases: quantitative and qualitative [disclosures, analysis, research, aspects, data, methods, …]
31/03/25 - Set 4