Advanced Vocabulary 17: Business, Economy, And Workplace News

2026-05-27 By Yongjie Xue In Notes

Yongjie XueFull Stack & AI Engineer based in Austin, Texas. Engineering with a writer's eye.

Advanced Vocabulary 17: Business, Economy, And Workplace News

Date: 2026-05-27
Category: english-writing

Summary

This note collects advanced vocabulary from class about business news, workplace changes, economic pressure, layoffs, gas prices, and problem-solving. The goal is to make these words easier to review, understand in context, and use naturally in speaking or writing.

Key Points

Many of these words are common in news, business articles, and workplace discussions.
Some words describe economic changes, such as prices rising, companies cutting jobs, or markets dropping.
Some words describe emotional reactions, workplace culture, or difficult situations.
Example sentences matter because several words have different meanings depending on context.
Pronunciation notes help avoid common mistakes with company and app names.

Decisions / Conclusions

Save this as a separate English vocabulary review note in the english-writing category.
Keep the same grouped-table style as the existing vocabulary notes.
Clean up grammar in example sentences while preserving the original meaning.

Open Questions

None.

Next Steps

Review one section at a time.
Practice making your own sentence for each word.
Pay special attention to words that can be both literal and figurative, such as steep, slam, fuel, and stir.
Practice full phrases from business news, such as frenzied turnover, sweeten the deal, and reversal of fortune.

How to Review

Cover the Advanced vocab column and try to recall the word from the simple phrase.
Read the meaning and create one sentence.
Mark words that feel hard and review only those next time.
For phrase-based vocabulary, practice the whole phrase, not only the main word.

Business, Work, And Company Terms

#	Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage
1	confusing or difficult problem	conundrum	a confusing or difficult problem; often used when there is no easy answer
2	mixed home and office work	hybrid work	a work model that combines working from home and working in the office
3	company profit / main point	bottom line	a company’s profit after expenses; can also mean the most important point
4	reduce size or amount	scale back	to reduce the size, amount, or scope of something
5	majority / main part	bulk	the majority or main part of something
6	ordinary workers	rank and file	ordinary workers or members of an organization, excluding leadership
7	too satisfied and not improving	complacent	overly satisfied with the current situation, so effort or improvement decreases
8	most important	overriding	most important, dominant, or more important than other concerns
9	not revealed	undisclosed	not made public or not revealed
10	layoff pay	severance	money or benefits paid to employees when they are laid off
11	important person	heavyweight	an important, powerful, or influential person in a field
12	layoffs	job cuts	reductions in the number of employees

Economy, Prices, And Numbers

#	Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage
13	sudden increase	surge	a sudden increase in number, price, demand, or activity
14	sudden irregular movement	lurch	a sudden, awkward, or irregular movement or change
15	lose or get rid of	shed	to lose or get rid of something, such as jobs, weight, or subscribers
16	drop sharply	plummet	to fall or decrease very quickly, often used for stock prices, sales, or temperatures
17	increase very rapidly	skyrocket	to increase very quickly, often about prices, costs, or growth numbers
18	very high price / sharp slope	steep	very high, especially for prices; also describes a sharp physical slope
19	very large amount	whopping	very large, especially before a number
20	increase three times	triple	to become three times as much or increase something three times
21	difficult shortage or pressure	crunch	a difficult situation caused by shortage, pressure, or limited resources
22	near future	near-term	related to the near future
23	high gas-price pressure	pain at the pumps	difficulty people feel from expensive gasoline prices

Problems, Pressure, And Change

#	Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage
24	unexpected problem	curveball	an unexpected event or problem that disrupts plans
25	make a situation stronger or worse	fuel	to intensify something; often means making a negative situation worse
26	continue forcefully	rage on	to continue with force, violence, or intensity
27	act quickly under pressure	scramble	to act quickly, often in a difficult or urgent situation
28	increase or strengthen	ramp up	to increase, strengthen, or expand something
29	solve or deal with a problem	address	to start dealing with or trying to solve a problem
30	control or limit something harmful	curb	to control, reduce, or limit something harmful
31	begin and continue	set in	to begin and seem likely to continue for a long time
32	one thing is more important	outweigh	to be more important, valuable, or significant than something else

Communication, Ideas, And Meaning

#	Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage
33	friendly joking conversation	banter	friendly, playful conversation or joking
34	treated as absolute truth	gospel	something treated as unquestionably true, even if it may not be
35	nonsense speech	gibberish	speech or writing that has no clear meaning; nonsense
36	criticize harshly	slam	to criticize harshly; also means to shut something loudly and forcefully
37	cause movement or emotion	stir	to cause an emotion, reaction, movement, or action

Emotions, Difficulty, And Outlook

#	Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage
38	difficult and frightening	daunting	difficult or frightening in a way that makes you feel less confident
39	not hopeful	bleak	not hopeful, discouraging, or depressing
40	deep anxiety	angst	a feeling of deep anxiety, worry, or emotional tension

Corrected Example Sentences

Vocabulary	Natural sentence
bottom line	Adopting this new technology will improve the bottom line.
bulk	The bulk of the work has already been done.
banter	We bantered with our waitress. / There was friendly cafeteria banter.
outweigh	My desire for success outweighs my fear of failure.
complacent	Companies should not grow complacent after early success.
overriding	The overriding need is to keep people safe.
steep	You must be an experienced skier to ski down such a steep mountain.
steep	The private club charges a steep price.
stir	She was stirred by the sad story.
pain at the pumps	Many drivers are feeling pain at the pumps because gas prices are high.
whopping	The company reported a whopping 30% increase in sales.
rage on	The storm raged all night. / The war raged on for over two years.
scramble	Lawmakers are scrambling to find a solution.
ramp up	The company plans to ramp up production next month.
slam	The film was slammed by critics.
curb	You need to learn to curb your anger.

Usage Notes And Common Mistakes

Topic	Note
adopt vs adopting	At the beginning of a sentence, use the gerund: `Adopting this new technology will improve the bottom line.`
desire vs desires	Use singular if you mean one main desire: `My desire for success outweighs my fear of failure.`
outweighs	With singular subject `desire`, use `outweighs`, not `outweigh`.
experienced	Say `an experienced skier`, not `a very experience skier`. `Experienced` is the adjective.
banter	`Banter` can be a noun or a verb: `office banter`; `we bantered with them`.
slam	`Slam` can mean criticize harshly or close something loudly. Context decides the meaning.
steep	`Steep` can describe a mountain/slope or a very high price.
address pronunciation	As a verb, `address` usually stresses the second syllable: ad-DRESS. As a noun, it usually stresses the first syllable: AD-dress.
little hope	`There is little hope` means almost no hope, so it sounds negative.
a little hope	`There is a little hope` means some hope, so it sounds more positive.

Sensitive Or Context-Specific Words

Word / phrase	Why to be careful
gospel	Can relate to religion, but in business/news it often means something treated as absolute truth. Use carefully depending on context.
angst	Describes inner anxiety or emotional tension. It is not the same as `daunting`, which describes something difficult or intimidating.
job cuts	A softer/business-news way to say layoffs, but it still refers to people losing jobs.
severance	Only use when talking about layoff or termination pay, not normal salary.
fuel	Often means making a bad situation worse, such as fueling anger, inflation, or conflict.
slam	Can sound strong because it means harsh criticism.

Traffic And Road Conditions

Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage	Natural example
tangled, messy, or blocked	snarled	Tangled, messy, blocked, or congested. It can describe hair or traffic.	Traffic was snarled by lane closures.
road or business closing	closure	The closing of something, especially a road, lane, bridge, or business.	The bridge closure caused delays.
closed road lane	lane closure	When one or more lanes on a road are closed.	Several lane closures will affect the evening commute.
car driver	motorist	A driver of a car. `Motorists` means drivers as a group.	Motorists should expect delays this weekend.
going west	westbound	Going toward the west.	The westbound lanes will be closed through the weekend.
regular trip to work or school	commute	The regular trip between home and work or school.	The evening commute was delayed by construction.
long section or period	stretch	A long section of road, land, or water. It can also mean a period of time.	Crews are repairing a six-mile stretch of highway.
six-mile-long section	six-mile stretch	A six-mile-long section of road, land, or water.	A six-mile stretch of the road will be closed.

Bridge And Infrastructure Vocabulary

Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage	Natural example
door or gate connector	hinge	A metal part that allows a door, gate, or lid to swing open and closed.	The door hinge is squeaking.
support or safety bar	railing	A bar or fence people can hold for support or safety.	Hold on to the railing when you go down the stairs.
rainwater street drain	storm drain	A drain that carries rainwater away from streets or roads.	Leaves blocked the storm drain after the storm.
official speaker	spokesperson	A person who speaks officially for a company, organization, or government agency.	A city spokesperson said the repairs will take place this weekend.
physically demanding	strenuous	Requiring a lot of physical effort or energy.	Repairing the bridge can be strenuous work.

Traffic And Infrastructure Expressions

Expression	Meaning / usage	Natural example
closed through the weekend	Closed from now until the end of the weekend.	The bridge will be closed through the weekend.
down the drain	Wasted or lost.	All that money went down the drain.
worsen	To become worse or to make something worse.	The lane closures could worsen traffic.
take place	To happen or occur, often for planned events.	Where did the party take place?
subject to change	May change later.	The schedule is subject to change.

Traffic And Infrastructure Key Concepts

Road-condition vocabulary includes snarled, lane closures, motorists, commute, westbound, and stretch.
Bridge-repair vocabulary includes hinge, railing, storm drain, spokesperson, and strenuous.
Formal expressions include take place, subject to change, closed through the weekend, and directional words with bound, such as westbound.

Labor Market And Hiring

Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage	Natural example
employees leaving a company	turnover	The number or rate of workers who leave a company and are replaced.	The company has a low turnover rate.
few employees leave	low turnover rate	A situation where few workers leave the company.	A low turnover rate usually means employees are satisfied.
fast or chaotic employee movement	frenzied turnover	Very rapid or chaotic movement of employees between jobs.	The job market had frenzied turnover last year.
wages rising quickly	rapid wage growth	Wages increasing quickly over a short period.	Rapid wage growth may slow down soon.
become weaker	abate	To lessen, weaken, or become less intense.	The storm finally abated.
temporary stop in hiring	hiring freeze	A temporary company decision to stop hiring new employees.	The company announced a hiring freeze.
completely stop hiring	freeze hiring altogether	To stop all hiring, not just reduce it.	Some companies have frozen hiring altogether.
all company workers	workforce	All the people working for a company, industry, or country.	The company reduced its workforce by 13%.

Competition, Deals, And Market Trends

Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage	Natural example
intense competition	steep competition	Strong or difficult competition.	Startups face steep competition.
outdoor advertising sign	billboard	A large outdoor sign used for advertising.	The company advertised on a billboard.
make something increase	drive up	To cause prices, demand, or numbers to increase.	High demand drove up prices.
make an offer better	sweeten the deal	To make an offer more attractive.	They offered free delivery to sweeten the deal.
extremely high	through the roof	Extremely high, especially for prices, costs, or emotions.	Housing prices went through the roof.
gradually become weaker	die down	To become less strong, loud, active, or exciting.	The excitement eventually died down.
situation has reversed	the tables have turned	The situation has changed so the opposite side now has the advantage.	Last year employees had power, but now the tables have turned.
become less exciting	lose its sizzle	To become less exciting, attractive, or strong.	The job market may be losing its sizzle.

Company Layoffs And Financial Changes

Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage	Natural example
cut staff	reduce its workforce	To lay off workers or reduce the number of employees.	Meta reduced its workforce by 13%.
cut greatly	slash	To cut greatly; it can also mean to cut violently with a knife.	The company slashed prices. / Someone slashed the tires.
shocking or surprising	stunning	Shocking, amazing, impressive, or surprising.	The company had a stunning reversal of fortune.
shocked	be stunned	To be very shocked or surprised.	I was stunned by the news.
complete change of luck	reversal of fortune	A complete change from success to trouble, or from trouble to success.	The layoffs marked a reversal of fortune.
formerly	once	Formerly; at some time in the past.	The once famous actor now lives quietly.
very successful	high-flying	Very successful, especially in business or careers.	It was once a high-flying tech company.
expensive or generous	lavish	Large, expensive, impressive, or generous.	They had a lavish wedding.
in an expensive way	lavishly	In an expensive, generous, or impressive way.	The office was lavishly decorated.

Perks, Growth, And Scrutiny

Simple phrase	Advanced vocab	Meaning / usage	Natural example
build up over time	accumulate	To collect, gather, or build up over time.	Snow accumulated overnight.
give someone a lot	shower someone with something	To give someone a large amount of something.	The company showered employees with perks.
desirable	enviable	So good that other people would like to have it.	She has an enviable job.
extra work benefit	perk	An extra benefit beyond salary.	Free meals are a nice company perk.
close examination	scrutiny	Close examination, attention, or investigation.	The company faced media scrutiny.
examine carefully	scrutinize	To examine something carefully.	The policy was scrutinized by regulators.
damage slightly	dent	To damage, weaken, or harm something.	The scandal dented the company’s reputation.
business income	revenue	Money a business receives from sales or services.	The company’s revenue increased.
rise quickly	soar	To rise quickly to a high level.	Food prices soared.
one million million	trillion	One million million; 1,000 billion.	Meta was once valued at one trillion dollars.

Advanced Phrasal Verbs

Phrase	Meaning / usage	Natural example
grapple with	To try hard to deal with a difficult problem.	The company is grappling with slower growth.
play out	To develop or end in a particular way.	I wonder how this situation will play out.

Business News Sentences To Memorize

Unemployment is low and hiring is strong, but frenzied turnover and rapid wage growth are abating.
The company slashed its workforce after revenue growth slowed.
Meta was once a high-flying company that showered employees with enviable perks.
The company is grappling with a decline in digital advertising revenue.
I wonder how this situation will play out.

Pronunciation Notes

Word / phrase	Note
Facebook	The `oo` sounds like `book`, `look`, and `took`, not like the `oo` in `moon`.
Instagram	The first `a` is reduced, like a schwa sound: `Insta-gram`.
WhatsApp	Ends with the `app` sound: `Let's talk on WhatsApp.`
what’s up	Ends with the `up` sound: `Hey John, what's up?`

Review List

snarled
lane closure
motorist
westbound
stretch
hinge
railing
storm drain
down the drain
worsen
take place
subject to change
turnover
frenzied turnover
rapid wage growth
abate
steep competition
drive up
sweeten the deal
through the roof
die down
the tables have turned
lose its sizzle
workforce
hiring freeze
slash
stunning
reversal of fortune
once
high-flying
lavish
accumulate
shower someone with something
enviable
perk
scrutiny
dent
revenue
soar
grapple with
play out

Mini Practice

Rewrite these simple sentences using the vocabulary from this note:

The company had a confusing problem with no easy answer.
Gas prices increased very quickly this month.
The company reduced the size of the project.
Most of the work has already been finished.
The news made investors feel not hopeful.
Lawmakers are trying to act quickly to solve the issue.
The price of the private club is very high.
There is some hope that the situation will improve.
There is almost no hope that the situation will improve.
The unexpected problem disrupted our plan.
The company temporarily stopped hiring new employees.
High demand caused prices to increase.
The offer became more attractive after they added free delivery.
The company gave employees many extra benefits.
I want to know how the situation will develop.