Two definitions per word • CEFR-tagged • Collocations • Examples by level
/ˈkændəd/
Learner
Honest and direct, even about difficult things.
Nuanced
Frank in a way that feels open rather than blunt — usually welcome honesty.
“She was candid about the mistakes the team had made.”
Meaning
Describe or identify something exactly right.
Origin
A carpentry image — striking the nail squarely, exactly where it should go.
“You’ve hit the nail on the head — that’s exactly the problem.”
Learner
Start talking about a subject.
Nuanced
Introduce a topic into a conversation; in a separate sense, “bring up” also means to raise a child.
Pitfall Common learner error: with a pronoun it must split — “bring it up”, never “bring up it”.
Teaching tip Separable: “bring up the topic” or “bring the topic up”. Don’t confuse it with the parenting sense: “bring up children”.
“She brought up an interesting point in the meeting.”
CEFR levels derived from the Oxford Learner’s 3000/5000 · What do the levels mean?