Academic Word of the Day Set 5

Previous Academic Word of the Day Sets

This page contains words from Set 5

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.

scope AWL AKL OPAL NGSL: NOUN UNCOUNTABLE how far something reaches, a limit, boundary
A universe without mathematics is beyond the scope of our imagination. (Watson 2022)
The framework also needs to be broader in scope if it is to achieve its aim. (Ahmed 2024)
The main difference is people with ADHD have more concentration problems and therefore show more scope for improvement on stimulants. (Poulton 2016)
Generally, papers are desk rejected if the paper doesn’t fit the scope of the journal or there is a fundamental flaw which makes it unfit for publication. (Spicer and Roulet 2014)
Most importantly, it helped us form a team of multi-disciplinary students and advisors to broaden the scope of our research, view the solution as a system of systems, and address the full scope of the desired capability. (Norket 2024)
The scope of the project looks at food production systems in and around Des Moines, Iowa. (Science X Network :: Phys.Org, Medical Xpress, Tech Xplore 2021)
Common collocates for this word:

scope

considerable
limited
ample
great
full
wide
geographical
territorial
little
enormous
tremendous
global
broad
unlimited
exact

Word Family: scope (noun), scope (verb)
Synonyms: range, extent, limit, competence, bounds
25/04/25 - Set 5
Test your understanding of the words in set 5 with these quick quizzes: Quiz 5 Quiz 5B Quiz 5C
vehicle NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE a means of carrying something or someone from one place to another; in ordinary writing this is used as a hypernym for items such as car, truck, bus, lorry, etc.; but in academic writing it usually has a broader meaning
Cars are equipped with sensors that measure brake pedal position, vehicle speed, driver’s movements, surrounding vehicles and even traffic lights. (Amini 2023)
Every vehicle built after 1981 has a unique vehicle identification number, or VIN. (Frith 2024)
Another way these tissue cysts serve as a vehicle for parasite transmission is through the alteration of host behavior. (Sullivan 2019)
[Concerns about ChatGPT] include whether AI, more generally, threatens student writing skills, the value of writing as a process, and the importance of seeing writing as a vehicle for thinking. (Baron 2023)
This is where the Paralympics becomes an important vehicle for changing societal perceptions as there are many positive stories on show. (Gray and Verdonck 2016)
Through the vehicle of a family drama, the play emphasises the value of embodied knowledge and how this can never be replaced by artificial intelligence and technology. (Austin 2025)
Common collocates for this word:

vehicle

main
military
commercial
stolen
perfect
single
stationary
major
ideal
important
private
moving
excellent
effective
suitable

Word Family: vehicle (noun), vehicular (adjective)
Lexical phrase: as a vehicle for
24/04/25 - Set 5
unprecedented AWL: ADJECTIVE not seen before; not having happened before
Unprecedented drought in Brazil has dried out enormous rivers and left swathes of empty river beds. (Newsome and Ripple 2024)
If we don’t act to reduce emissions, most of the world will experience unprecedented climate change by 2047. (Whitmore 2013)
Unprecedented climate change means climate variables - such as temperature, evaporation and precipitation - that have moved permanently outside the range of historical variation. (Whitmore 2013)
According to modelling these areas are likely to experience unprecedented climate change much earlier than the global average. (Whitmore 2013)
With unprecedented climates, novel ecosystems, invasive species, and disruptions to the food chain, we can expect more and more species to be added to the threatened list. (Bradshaw and Saltré 2024)
They were also able to get an unprecedented look at the internal anatomy of its foregut, which played the key role in identifying the fossil as a new genus and species. (Siliezar 2021)
Common collocates for this word:

unprecedented

level
scale
growth
opportunity
rate
number
degree
access
step
move
challenges
power
demand
amount
increase

Word Family: unprecedented (adjective), precedent (noun), precede (verb)
Synonyms: unheard-of, unique, unparalled
Lexical phrases: on an unprecedented scale
at an unprecedented [rate, pace]
to an unprecedented [degree, level, extent]
in an unprecedented [move, way, manner, fashion]
23/04/25 - Set 5
range AWL AKL OPAL NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE a group or set of items of a particular category, usually arranged in a certain order; a distance or an extent
But all animals, including humans, have developed a wide range of capabilities so they can succeed in the environment they live in. (Fanucchi 2025)
In some instances, you may find it hard to speak in a loud voice or have a reduced pitch range, meaning you can’t go as high or loud as normal. (Leung 2024)
This can be caused by a wide range of diseases (and is most well known in type 2 diabetes). (Feehan and Apostolopoulos 2025)
We use our method to quantify the uncertainty of future sea-level rise. It allows us to estimate a “very likely” range. (Horton and Grandey 2025)
Flexibility is the ability to move a joint to through its full range of motion. (Tomkinson, Bennett, and Ingram 2024)
There are only four known species of horseshoe crabs alive today. But the fossil record shows that hundreds of millions of years ago they came in a huge range of shapes and sizes. (Dean and Bicknell 2021)
Common collocates for this word:

range

wide
whole
full
close
broad
limited
vast
narrow
long
extensive
normal
large
comprehensive
complete
huge

Word Family: range (noun), range (verb)
Synonyms:group, set, collection
Lexical phrases:a [wide, full] range of [products, services, topics, applications, issues, activities, subjects, information, materials, disciplines, options, ...]
22/04/25 - Set 5
transformation NAWL OPAL: NOUN COUNTABLE / UNCOUNTABLE an important (usually positive) change in structure or appearance
In the half century since then, Asia has witnessed a profound transformation in terms of the economic progress of its nations and the living conditions of its people. (Nayyar 2019)
Law, like many other professions, is undergoing a major transformation with the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). (Atienza 2025)
As one of the laureates put it, AI’s potential for accelerating scientific discovery makes it “one of the most transformative technologies in human history”. But what will this transformation really mean for science?(Nabavi 2024)
Huawei and other Chinese companies have contributed to Africa’s telecommunications and digital transformation. (Cannon 2025)
Societal transformation is necessary if we are to avoid catastrophe and maintain and improve social and ecological wellbeing. (Boik 2021)
This transformation, driven by the urgent can to mitigate climate change, promises to reshape the area's economic landscape and workforce. (Khan 2024)
Common collocates for this word:

transformation

social
economic
similar
radical
dramatic
fundamental
complete
major
gradual
remarkable
total
malignant
profound
revolutionary
cultural

Word Family: transformation (noun), transform (verb), transformative (adjective)
Synonyms: change, metamorphosis, revolution, alteration
Morphology: transformation
Lexical phrases: [in, of, for, to, on, with, by, ...] the transformation of ...
21/04/25 - Set 5
precede AWL NAWL AKL OPAL: VERB TRANSITIVE to come or place before
Exploitation of the ocean has tended to precede exploration. (Blasiak 2020)
The symptoms that precede syncope vary but may include sweating, nausea, paleness and abdominal discomfort. (Farquhar 2017)
Sleep disturbance, particularly insomnia, has been shown to follow anxiety and precede depression in some people, but it is also a common symptom of both disorders. (Waloszek and Raniti 2017)
A better understanding of the nature of mental wellbeing will follow rather than precede interest in this area. (Stewart-Brown 2015)
In 2011, scientists discovered there were differences in cow and mice blastocysts, the tiny hollow spheres of cells which precede the development of the embryo. (Lozano 2015)
In most cases, these spirals relate to the Fibonacci sequence – a set of numbers where each is the sum of the two numbers that precede it (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 and so on). (Turner and Hetherington 2023)

Word Family: precede (verb), precedence (noun), precedent (noun)
Antonym: follow
18/04/25 - Set 5
outcome AWL AKL OPAL NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE the result of a action or series of actions
The outcome your children and grandchildren will live with depends on what decisions are made today. (Maslin 2021)
In the 2022 federal election, two demographics were key to the final outcome: women and young people. (Chowdhury 2025)
Education has always served a pragmatic purpose . It is a tool to be used to bring about a specific outcome (or set of outcomes). For the most part, this purpose is economic. (Zaphir 2019)
A new study at the CRU hopes to lead to a very different outcome for these patients. (Lorenzo 2024)
These systems are deterministic, which means the outcome is entirely governed by initial conditions. If you know the starting point and the rules of the system, you should be able to predict the future outcome. (Haghani 2025)
The benefits of intrinsic motivation are broad. Child mental health and school performance outcomes are better. (Dawel 2019)
Common collocates for this word:

outcome

final
likely
successful
main
logical
eventual
satisfactory
possible
positive
inevitable
ultimate
different
particular
favouable
clinical

Word Family: outcome (noun)
Synonyms: result, effect, consequent
Lexical phrases: the outcome of the ...
17/04/25 - Set 5
mechanism AWL OPAL NGSL: NOUN COUNTABLE a means (not necessarily mechanical) of achieving an objective; a system of components which work together for a particular purpose
The other key mechanism enabling bacterial resistance is the exchange of genetic information between bacteria. (Blaskovich 2023)
Hawking proposed a mechanism, through quantum physics, by which a universe could be born. (Davis 2018)
Your body uses sneezing as a defense mechanism to clear your nose of mucus [...] and prevent foreign objects and particles from entering your airway. (Sorg 2021)
Social media metrics can be an important mechanism through which online influence occurs. (Morales 2023)
The creation of complex patterns in living organisms also begins with simple mechanisms at the molecular level. (Lavrentovich 2022)
Although scientists have traditionally reduced many aspects of animal life to biological mechanisms, new research is challenging this perspective. (Craciun 2023)
Common collocates for this word:

mechanism

important
precise
effective
underlying
proposed
possible
exact
direct
basic
similar
molecular
indirect
likely
different
regulatory

Word Family: mechanism (noun), mechanistic (adjective), mechanize (verb), mechanization (noun)
Synonyms: instrument, tool, apparatus
Morphology: mechanism more...
Lexical phrases:[the, a] mechanism [by, through] which ...
16/04/25 - Set 5
maximise AWL OPAL: VERB TRANSITIVE make as large as possible
Young people highlight social media’s pros and cons, calling for strategies that better engage with them to reduce harm and maximise benefits. (Dastyari et al. 2025)
We now have the knowledge and the tools to maximise photosynthesis in a range of food crops (Menary, Fuller, and Schillberg 2024)
They could provide expert medical supervision, not available to athletes from less wealthy states, to ensure that drugs are used in ways that minimise harm and maximise their effect. (Devine 2023)
An Instagram video can be up to 90 seconds, but experts reckon the ideal time to maximise engagement is less than 15 seconds. (Fry, Farrell, and Elkins 2023)
Enhancing your phone’s battery usability requires a combination of limiting the use of power-hungry hardware and software, as well as handling mobile devices so as to maximise the charge capacity and minimise battery degradation. (Jasieniak 2017)
We can to consider the unique physical demands of each sport and what shoe features are required to help prevent injury and maximise performance. (Bonanno 2018)
Common collocates for this word:

maximise the

value
use
number
benefits
effectiveness
potential
impact
amount
efficiency
chances
probability
productivity
chances
utility
size

of

maximise

profits
efficiency
benefits
revenue
income
opportunities
output
value
sales
attendance
productivity
space
production
returns
earnings

Word Family: maximise (verb), maximum (noun), maximal (adjective)
Synonyms: increase, expand, extend
Antonym: minimise
Morphology: from maximum + ise more...
15/04/25 - Set 5
insignificant AWL: ADJECTIVE having little or no importance or meaning; small
We now recognise our planet to be a rather small and insignificant object in a universe full of an untold number of galaxies, rather than the centre of all creation. (Oberauer and Lewandowsky 2021)
Research also shows that having a single mother has “insignificant” effect on children’s development and being a young parent can be positive. (Carroll 2019)
These fractions of a degree of extra warming might seem insignificant at first, but as we nudge ever closer to the 1.5°C guardrail (and potentially beyond), the past tells us that small changes matter. (McGregor et al. 2016)
Some archaeologists conclude that megafauna-hunting just did not happen, or if it happened it was rare and insignificant. (Johnson 2012)
Inevitably, newly migrated species will shift an ecology in which they establish themselves. In some cases these shifts will be insignificant, and in other cases they will entail some species’ extinction. (Harley 2012)
The choices are almost infinite and are sometimes so small that may appear insignificant. (Science X Network :: Phys.Org, Medical Xpress, Tech Xplore n.d.)
Common collocates for this word:

insignificant

amount
number
role
details
part
minority
effect
portion
activities
changes
exception
fraction
proportion
differences
figure

Word Family: insignificant (adjective), insignificance (noun), insignificantly (adverb), signify (verb), significant (adjective), significance (noun), significantly (adverb)
Synonyms: unimportant, inconsiderable, small, negligible, irrelevant, trivial
Antonyms: significant, important
Morphology: insignificant
Lexical phrases: insignificant compared [with, to]...
14/04/25 - Set 5

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