Collins Primary Thesaurus. Collins Dictionaries

straight

      crooked (2) Said “kroo-kid” ADJECTIVE

      A crooked person is dishonest.

      corrupt

      The corrupt police officer accepted bribes.

      criminal

      “You have committed a criminal offence,” intoned the judge.

      dishonest

      Something made me suspect that the salesman was dishonest.

      shady INFORMAL

      “He looks a shady customer,” said Carlos, nodding towards a surly man across the street.

      ANTONYMS: law-abiding or honest

      cross ADJECTIVE

      Someone who is cross is rather angry.

      angry

      My friend Anna was rather angry when I lost her favourite CD.

      annoyed

      Dad was annoyed that I hadn’t washed up as I’d promised.

      cantankerous

      The cantankerous old farmer used to shout at anyone who walked past his farm.

      crotchety

      Gran sometimes gets crotchety when her arthritis is painful.

      grumpy

      My brother is always grumpy when it comes to having a bath.

      irritable

      Mum was rather irritable because she had a bad headache.

      snappy

      “There’s no need to get snappy,” Lynn retorted. “Here’s your wretched comb.”

      crowd (1) NOUN

      A crowd is a large group of people gathered together.

      mass

      The whole square was a seething mass of red, white and blue flags.

      mob

      Enraged, the mob surged through the streets like a human tide.

      multitude

      The prophet spoke to the multitude, foretelling the great events to come.

      swarm

      A swarm of demonstrators headed for the parliament building.

      crowd (2) NOUN

      A crowd is a large number of people watching an event.

      audience

      The concert audience clapped when the conductor took the stage.

      gate

      Fifty thousand were there – the biggest gate that United had had all season.

      spectators

      In the past, the spectators cheered as people were publicly executed.

      cruel ADJECTIVE

      Cruel people deliberately cause pain or distress to other people or to animals.

      callous

      The callous emperor made his slaves work their fingers to the bone.

      hard-hearted

      Hard-hearted Scrooge begrudged giving Cratchit a day off at Christmas.

      heartless

      The heartless landlord threw the poor widow into the street.

      merciless

      The merciless sniper picked off his victims one by one with precision.

      ruthless

      Anyone who disagreed with the ruthless dictator disappeared.

      vicious

      The vicious crocodile clamped its jaws on the unfortunate swimmer.

      crumble VERB

      When something crumbles, or you crumble it, it breaks into small pieces.

      collapse

      Weak foundations caused the apartment block to collapse.

      decay

      The beam had decayed, bringing the floor above it crashing down.

      decompose

      Plants, animals and humans begin to decompose when they die.

      disintegrate

      The agent disintegrated as Morpheus fired his phaser weapon.

      cry (1) VERB

      When you cry, tears come from your eyes because you are unhappy or hurt.

       WORD POWER: This word tends to be used a lot. To make your writing more varied, try to use some of the alternative words suggested here instead.

      bawl

      The moment the baby’s bottle was put in its mouth it stopped bawling.

      blubber

      After being refused an ice cream, the toddler blubbered for the next half hour.

      shed tears

      Dad’s advice is not to shed tears over something that is in the past.

      snivel

      “Stop snivelling and you might get a lolly,” the girl’s mother snapped.

      sob

      Milly sobbed her heart out to think that her dog was dead.

      weep

      After her sisters had left for the ball, Cinderella wept silently as she swept.

      cry (2) VERB

      If you cry something, you shout it or say it loudly.

       WORD POWER: This word tends to be used a lot. To make your writing more varied, try to use some of the alternative words suggested here instead.

      bawl

      Everyone came running when the camp cook bawled “Dinner’s ready!”

      bellow

      “Time to go to school,” Dad bellowed up the stairs to us.

      boom

      “Attention!” boomed the sergeant major to the new recruits.

      call

      When I saw my friend on the other side of the street I called out her name.

      shout

      Ben shouted for help when he saw the child fall into the pond.

      yell

      “Watch out!” yelled Yanni as he saw the cricket ball flying in Aidan’s direction.

      cry (3) NOUN

      A cry is a shout or other sound made with your voice.

      bellow

      A loud bellow came from the bull at the end of the field.

      howl

      The wolf let out a howl as he prowled through the moonlit night.

      shout

      The crowd gave a shout of joy as another goal hit the back of the net.

      shriek

      My silly brother gave a shriek when he saw the spider in the bath.

      yell

      With a yell, Aidan jumped out of the way of the speeding cricket ball.

      cupboard NOUN

      A