Crucial Terms for Performance and Professional Growth

Entertainment and Performance Terminology

This section covers key vocabulary related to the entertainment industry, live performances, and artistic endeavors.

Performance and Production Essentials

• Act out: To perform a role or an event with actions and gestures.
• Attend: To be present at an event, meeting, or performance.
• Character: A person or an animal in a play, film, or book.
• Conduct: To organize and carry out an activity or performance.
• Costume: The set of clothes worn by an actor or performer.
• Dance routine: A sequence of dance steps and movements.
• Deliver a decent performance: To perform well enough to be considered satisfactory.
• Go all out: To put all one's energy or resources into an effort.
• Lines: The words spoken by an actor in a play or film.
• Outfit: A set of clothes worn together, especially for a particular occasion.
• Pace: The speed at which something happens or develops.
• Rehearsal: A practice session for a performance.
• Run the show: To be in charge of an event or organization.
• Set: The scenery and props used on a stage or in a film.
• Showing: A public display or screening of a film or play.
• Sing one's heart out: To sing with great enthusiasm and emotion.
• Stunt: A difficult or dangerous act, often performed by a professional.
• Take up: To begin a new hobby, sport, or activity.

Audience, Reception, and Impact

• Appeal: To be attractive or interesting to someone.
• Audience: The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event.
• Box-office hit: A film or play that is very successful financially.
• Catch on: To become popular or fashionable.
• Catchy: (Of a tune or phrase) instantly appealing and memorable.
• Cheer: To shout for joy or in praise or encouragement.
• Come out: To be released or published (e.g., a film, album).
• Emotions run high: Feelings are very intense and easily expressed.
• Following: A group of admirers or supporters.
• Have an impact: To have a strong effect on someone or something.
• Hit the big time: To become very successful and famous.
• Hype: Extensive publicity or advertising.
• Indescribable: Too unusual or extreme to be described.
• Make an appearance: To attend an event, often briefly.
• Make it into the mainstream: To become widely accepted or popular.
• Massive: Extremely large or substantial.
• On the edge of one's seat: Very excited and eager to know what happens next.
• Out of this world: Extremely good or impressive.
• Overrated: Not as good as people generally think.
• Pop up: To appear suddenly or unexpectedly.
• Preview: An advance showing of a film, play, or exhibition.
• Pull in: To attract people or money.
• Pull off: To succeed in doing something difficult.
• Queue: A line of people or vehicles waiting for something.
• Realise: To become aware of a fact or situation.
• Release: To make a film, album, or product available to the public.
• Sit through: To stay until the end of something boring or unpleasant.
• Sold out: All tickets or items have been bought.
• Stand out: To be clearly visible or noticeable.
• Star-studded event: An event featuring many famous people.
• Touching: Arousing feelings of sympathy or tenderness.
• Understatement: The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Behind the Scenes and Logistics

• Behind the scenes: Not visible to the public; in private.
• Expenses: The cost required for something; money spent.
• Interval: A pause or break in an activity or performance.
• Involve: To include or affect someone or something.
• Invest: To put money into something to gain a profit or advantage.
• Label: A company that produces and sells records, tapes, or CDs.
• Outline: A general description or plan, giving only the main points.
• Set up: To establish or arrange something.
• Shut down: To close a business or operation.

Figurative Language and Idioms in Entertainment

• At every opportunity: Whenever there is a chance.
• Award-winning: Having won an award.
• Barefoot: Wearing nothing on the feet.
• Be around: To exist or be present.
• Be in the limelight: To be the center of public attention.
• Be worth seeing: To be good enough to justify the effort of seeing it.
• Beeping sound: A short, high-pitched sound.
• Break a leg: Good luck! (used in theater).
• Break up: To end a relationship or a gathering.
• Childhood: The period of a person's life when they are a child.
• Come together: To unite or combine.
• Down: Feeling sad or depressed.
• Dozens of: A large, unspecified number.
• Exhausting: Making one feel very tired.
• Explode: To burst or shatter violently.
• Failure: The state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective.
• Fine art: Art forms such as painting, sculpture, and music, pursued for their aesthetic value.
• Fit in: To be accepted by a group of people.
• Flawlessly: Without any imperfections or mistakes.
• Gang: A group of friends or associates.
• Have a feeling that: To have an intuition or belief about something.
• Keep up with: To stay informed about or abreast of.
• Let-down: A disappointment.
• Loneliness: Sadness because one has no friends or company.
• Long-running: Having continued for a long time.
• Move on: To leave one place and go to another; to progress.
• Newsletter: A bulletin issued periodically to the members of a society or other organization.
• Odds: The chances or likelihood of something happening.
• One-off: Something that happens or is made only once.
• Safety hazard: A source of potential harm or danger.
• Set a good/bad example: To behave in a way that others should or should not imitate.
• Sights: Places of interest, especially to tourists.
• Tend to: To regularly or frequently behave in a particular way.
• The show must go on: Despite difficulties, the event should continue.
• Unreasonable: Not guided by or based on good sense.

Professional and Workplace Vocabulary

This section provides essential terms for understanding career paths, employment processes, and workplace dynamics.

Career and Employment Process

• Acknowledge: To accept or admit the existence or truth of.
• Call off: To cancel an event or agreement.
• Clock in: To record one's arrival at work.
• Dismiss: To order or allow to leave; to send away.
• Earn a living: To earn enough money to support oneself.
• Employee: A person employed for wages or salary.
• Fill out: To complete a form or document.
• Follow up: To pursue or investigate further.
• Gap year: A period, typically a year, taken by a student between school and university or college.
• Get in touch: To communicate with someone.
• Go into: To enter a particular profession or business.
• Hesitate: To pause before saying or doing something.
• Hire: To employ someone for wages.
• Job-hopping: Frequently changing jobs.
• Leave: To go away from; to depart.
• Look into: To investigate.
• Place ads: To publish advertisements.
• Put off: To postpone.
• Recruitment process: The steps involved in finding and hiring new employees.
• Resign: To voluntarily leave a job or position.
• Self-employed: Working for oneself as a freelancer or business owner.
• Submit: To formally hand in a document or application.
• Take on: To undertake a task or responsibility.
• Take over: To assume control of something.
• Time off: A period of time when one is not working.
• Try out for: To audition or compete for a role or position.
• Up-to-date: Current; modern.
• Vacancy: An unoccupied position or job.

Workplace Dynamics and Culture

• Co-worker: A person with whom one works.
• Colleague: A person with whom one works in a profession or business.
• Compromise: An agreement reached by mutual concession.
• Consistent: Acting or done in the same way over time.
• Detail-oriented: Paying close attention to all the small particulars.
• Excel: To be exceptionally good at or proficient in an activity.
• Fall behind: To fail to keep up with a schedule or progress.
• Fast-paced: Moving or developing rapidly.
• Handle: To manage or deal with a situation or person.
• Ins and outs: The detailed procedures or complexities of something.
• Keep in touch with: To maintain communication with someone.
• Look out for: To be careful to notice something.
• Make a difference: To have a significant effect on a person or situation.
• Manage: To be in charge of; to control or administer.
• Multitasking: The ability to handle more than one task at the same time.
• Navigate: To plan and direct the route or course of.
• Neat: Tidy and orderly.
• Room for advancement: Opportunities for promotion or career progression.
• Slack off: To reduce one's effort or performance.
• Sort out: To resolve a problem or difficulty.
• Staff: All the people employed by a particular organization.
• Step up: To take action when there is a need or opportunity.
• Stress out: To become very anxious or worried.
• Team player: A person who works well as a member of a team.
• Work environment: The surroundings and conditions in which a person works.
• Workforce: All the people working or available to work.

Compensation, Benefits, and Work-Life

• Amenities: Desirable or useful features of a building or place.
• Fair pay: Payment that is considered just and reasonable.
• Financial reward: Money or other benefits given in return for service or achievement.
• Overtime: Time worked in addition to normal working hours.
• Perk: An advantage or benefit arising from a job or position.
• Wages: A fixed regular payment, typically paid daily or weekly.
• Wine and dine: To entertain someone with an expensive meal.

Specialized Roles and Contexts

• Animal shelter: A place where stray, homeless, abandoned, or unwanted animals are housed.
• Camp counsellor: A supervisor of children at a summer camp.
• Chlorine: A chemical element used as a disinfectant, especially in swimming pools.
• Landscape: All the visible features of an area of land.
• Membership: The state of belonging to a group or organization.
• Whitehat hacker: An ethical computer hacker who specializes in penetration testing and other testing methodologies to ensure the security of an organization's information systems.

Common Professional Idioms and Phrases

• All or nothing: Either completely or not at all.
• As opposed to: In contrast with.
• Asset: A useful or valuable thing or person.
• Back and forth: Moving first in one direction and then in the opposite one.
• Be in line with: To be consistent with or similar to.
• Bright and early: Very early in the morning.
• By and large: On the whole; in general.
• Frontal: Of or at the front.
• Long story: A complicated or detailed account of events.
• More or less: Approximately; almost.
• Needless to say: Obviously.
• Never-ending: Seemingly without end.
• Now or never: An opportunity that must be taken immediately.
• On and off: Intermittently.
• Once-in-a-lifetime: Occurring only once in a person's life.
• Overseas: In or to a foreign country.
• Peace and quiet: A state of calm and tranquility.
• Roughly: Approximately.
• Ride: A journey on horseback or on a vehicle.
• Seatbelt: A safety belt in a car or aircraft.
• Security system: A system designed to prevent unauthorized entry or theft.
• Sensitive data: Information that must be protected from unauthorized access.
• Shift: A period of time during which a person works.
• Tip: A small payment in return for a service.
• Tried and tested: Proved to be effective or reliable.