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frequently_asked_questions_files/Oxford Thesaurus.pdf

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you can almost touch the distant shore. 3 out of focus. unclear,<br />

indistinct, blurred, blurry, fuzzy, woolly: The photos are so<br />

out of focus that I can't tell who's who.<br />

--v. 4 concentrate, centre, converge, meet, pinpoint,<br />

spotlight; bring into focus; Colloq zero in: Without<br />

distractions, we can focus on the problem at hand.<br />

fog n. 1 mist, haze, smog, vapour, cloud, Colloq pea-souper: Our<br />

flight was grounded because of fog. 2 trance, daze, stupor,<br />

brown study, confused state; coma: He's in a fog and didn't<br />

hear a word you said.<br />

--v. 3 dim, obscure, cloud, bedim, becloud, blind, stifle: The<br />

purpose of all that verbiage is merely to fog the issue. 4<br />

Usually, befog. bewilder, mystify, perplex, confuse, muddle,<br />

puzzle, nonplus: I was completely befogged by the technical<br />

language he used. 5 Also, fog up or over. mist over or up,<br />

cloud up or over, shroud: My bathroom mirror fogs when I take a<br />

hot shower.<br />

fogy n. Also, fogey. Usually, old fogy or fogey. conservative,<br />

relic, Colloq fuddy-duddy, fossil, antique, stick-in-the-mud,<br />

back number, square: That old fogy still dances the foxtrot.<br />

foible n. weakness, imperfection, weak point, fault, frailty,<br />

shortcoming, flaw, defect, failing, blemish, infirmity;<br />

peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, quirk, crotchet, eccentricity,<br />

preoccupation, kink, Colloq hang-up, bug: One of her foibles is<br />

that she loves junk food.<br />

foil° v. thwart, offset, defeat, baffle, balk, parry, frustrate,<br />

counter, check, impede, hamper, outwit, circumvent, checkmate,<br />

daunt, disconcert, discomfit, disappoint, pull the rug out from<br />

under (someone), cut the ground from under someone's feet,<br />

nullify, nip in the bud, countervail (against), Brit put a spoke<br />

in (someone's) wheel, Colloq clip (someone's) wings, cut<br />

(someone) down to size, spoil (someone's) game, Chiefly US and<br />

Canadian faze: The villain and his evil plan were again foiled<br />

by the arrival of the sheriff.<br />

foilý n. layer, lamina, lamination, sheet, membrane, film, coating,<br />

flake, scale, wafer: Cigarettes once came packaged in tin foil.

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