stack
- 01 B1 Intermediate
n.a neat pile of objects, usually placed one on top of another.
n.an orderly pile or heap of items, typically arranged vertically.
Simple“He left a tall stack of newspapers on the kitchen table.”
In context“A precarious stack of dusty journals occupied the corner of the office, threatening to topple at the slightest vibration.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a large quantity of something.
n.a significant or large amount of something; often used in the plural.
Simple“Don't worry about the cost; I've got stacks of money in my savings account.”
In context“The researchers spent the weekend reviewing stacks of data before the final presentation on Monday morning.”
- 03 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a tall vertical pipe or chimney that lets out smoke or steam.
n.a tall chimney or vertical exhaust pipe, especially on a factory, ship, or locomotive.
Simple“Thick black smoke poured from the factory stack into the grey sky.”
In context“The industrial landscape was dominated by massive concrete stacks that vented steam into the cold morning air.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
n.the area in a library where many rows of books are kept.
n.the main storage area of a library, consisting of numerous rows of bookshelves.
Simple“I spent the afternoon wandering through the library stacks looking for a rare history book.”
In context“Access to the closed stacks is restricted to faculty members and graduate students conducting primary research.”
Synonyms - 05 C1 Advanced
n.a way of storing computer data where the last item put in is the first one taken out.
n.a last-in, first-out (LIFO) data structure used in programming for temporary storage and task management.
Simple“The program crashed because the stack was full of too many temporary files.”
In context“The developer implemented a stack to manage the undo history, ensuring the most recent action was always the first to be reversed.”
SynonymsLIFOAntonyms - 06 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to arrange something, like a deck of cards, in a dishonest way to get an advantage.
v.to manipulate the order of something, such as a deck of cards or a committee, to ensure a specific outcome.
Simple“It felt like the odds were stacked against us from the very beginning.”
In context“The opposition accused the governor of stacking the committee with his own supporters to guarantee the bill's passage.”
UsageCommonly used in the passive voice as 'the odds are stacked against someone'.
Teacher's tipExplain the idiom 'to stack the deck' as a metaphor for creating an unfair situation.
Synonyms
From Middle English stack, stacke, stakke, stak, from Old Norse stakkr (“a barn; haystack; heap; pile”), from Proto-Germanic *stakkaz (“a barn; rick; haystack”). The data structure sense is a calque of Dutch stapel, introduced by Edsger W. Dijkstra. Cognate with Icelandic stakkur (“stack”), Swedish stack (“stack”), Danish stak (“stack”), Norwegian stakk (“stack”). Related to stake and sauna.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.