Module 7 Resources.

🌟 Celebrities and Fame Vocabulary

🟢 Level C1: Advanced

Focus: General public life, media attention, career stages, and common industry issues.

1. Phrasal Verbs (C1)

• Rise to

  • Meaning: To reach a position of power, influence, or prominence.

  • Example: She rose to international fame after her debut album became a global hit.

• Cash in on

  • Meaning: To profit financially from a particular event or situation, often opportunistically.

    
    

  • Example: The actor started a clothing line to cash in on his newfound popularity.

• Live up to

  • Meaning: To meet the standard or expectation set by someone or something.

    
    

  • Example: The young star struggled to live up to the hype created by the media.

• Fade away

  • Meaning: To gradually disappear or become less noticeable.

    
    

  • Example: After his show was cancelled, his name slowly started to fade away from the public conversation.

• Lay bare

  • Meaning: To expose, reveal, or make visible (secrets, truths, etc.).

    
    

  • Example: The tell-all memoir laid bare the toxic environment behind the scenes of the successful TV show.

    
    

2. Idioms (C1)

• The limelight

  • Meaning: The focus of public attention.

    
    

  • Example: The actress prefers to stay out of the limelight when she is not working on a project.

• In the public eye

  • Meaning: Subject to the scrutiny of the general public.

  • Example: Everything a celebrity does is instantly in the public eye and open to criticism.

• Fifteen minutes of fame

  • Meaning: A brief period during which a person attracts a great deal of public attention.

  • Example: The viral video sensation enjoyed his fifteen minutes of fame before a new story took over the news cycle.

• On thin ice

  • Meaning: In a precarious or risky situation.

  • Example: The reality star is on thin ice with her sponsors after making several controversial remarks.

• Foot the bill

  • Meaning: To pay the cost of something.

  • Example: The studio had to foot the bill for the massive damages caused by the diva's entourage.

    
    

3. Nouns (C1)

• Adulation

  • Meaning: Excessive admiration or praise.

  • Example: The pop star received universal adulation from her millions of loyal fans.

• Scrutiny

  • Meaning: Critical observation or examination.

  • Example: Politicians and public figures are often subject to intense media scrutiny.

• Endorsement

  • Meaning: An act of giving one's public approval or support to someone or something.

  • Example: Her lucrative endorsement deal with the sports brand was worth millions.

• Entourage

  • Meaning: A group of assistants and associates accompanying an important person.

  • Example: The film star arrived at the awards ceremony with a huge entourage of bodyguards and assistants.

• Paparazzi

  • Meaning: Freelance photographers who pursue celebrities to get candid pictures.

    
    

  • Example: The actress filed a restraining order against the paparazzi who were constantly harassing her children.

    
    

4. Adjectives (C1)

• A-list

  • Meaning: Belonging to the most famous and successful group of people (especially actors or musicians).

  • Example: The benefit concert attracted an unprecedented number of A-list musicians.

• High-profile

  • Meaning: Attracting a great deal of attention or publicity.

  • Example: She took on a high-profile role as a goodwill ambassador for the charity.

• Insatiable

  • Meaning: (Of a desire or appetite) impossible to satisfy.

  • Example: The media's insatiable demand for celebrity gossip drives many invasive reporting tactics.

• Candid

  • Meaning: Truthful and straightforward; frank (often used for unposed photographs).

    
    

  • Example: His recent interview was surprisingly candid, revealing personal struggles he had never discussed before.

• Controversial

  • Meaning: Giving rise or likely to give rise to controversy or public disagreement.

  • Example: His latest movie was met with controversial reviews due to its shocking subject matter.

    
    

5. Verbs (C1)

• Sustain

  • Meaning: To cause or allow (something) to continue for a period of time.

  • Example: It is difficult to sustain a twenty-year career at the very top of the industry.

• Tarnish

  • Meaning: To lose or cause to lose shine; to damage the good quality or standing of.

  • Example: The financial scandal threatened to tarnish the singer's otherwise pristine reputation.

• Leverage

  • Meaning: To use (something) to maximum advantage.

  • Example: She effectively leveraged her social media following to launch her own successful brand.

• Court

  • Meaning: To attempt to gain the favor or support of (a person or group).

  • Example: The politician tried to court the celebrity vote by appearing at several high-profile charity events.

• Venerate

  • Meaning: To regard with great respect; to revere.

  • Example: Despite his career decline, many fans still venerate the rock legend for his past work.

    
    

🟣 Level C2: Proficiency

Focus: The psychological and economic structures of fame, media manipulation, and long-term impact.

1. Phrasal Verbs (C2)

• Burn through

  • Meaning: To spend money very quickly.

  • Example: Despite her massive earnings, the former child star managed to burn through her fortune in just a few years.

• Wield over

  • Meaning: To have and be able to use (power or influence).

  • Example: The famous director was known to wield considerable creative control over the entire studio.

• Distort (something) out of

  • Meaning: To twist or misrepresent something out of its true meaning or appearance.

  • Example: The tabloid deliberately distorted his comments out of context to make the story more scandalous.

• Shunned by

  • Meaning: To be persistently avoided, ignored, or rejected by someone or a group.

  • Example: After the controversy, the former icon was suddenly shunned by the entire Hollywood community.

• Fawn over

  • Meaning: To pay extravagant and often false compliments to someone; to show excessive flattery.

  • Example: The journalists tended to fawn over the young talent rather than asking probing questions.

    
    

2. Idioms & Collocations (C2)

• A flash in the pan

  • Meaning: Something that happens only once or for a short time and is not likely to be repeated.

  • Example: His first hit album was great, but critics feared he might just be a flash in the pan.

• Parasocial relationship

  • Meaning: A one-sided relationship where one party (the fan) expends time and energy, but the other party (the celebrity) is unaware of the other's existence.

    
    

  • Example: The intensity of some fan interactions can be explained by the strong sense of a parasocial relationship.

• The cult of personality

  • Meaning: The deliberate creation of a heroic and worshipful image for a political leader or a public figure.

  • Example: The musician built a cult of personality around his enigmatic and often controversial public image.

• Sacrificial lamb

  • Meaning: A person or animal sacrificed to appease others; someone blamed for the mistakes of others.

  • Example: When the project failed, the young producer was made the sacrificial lamb to protect the veteran director.

• The trappings of success

  • Meaning: The outward signs, features, or accessories accompanying a particular situation, often implying they are superficial.

  • Example: He grew tired of all the trappings of success—the private jets, the mansions, and the constant attention.

    
    

3. Nouns (C2)

• Idolatry

  • Meaning: Extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone.

  • Example: The idolatry surrounding certain celebrities can lead to unhealthy expectations and behaviour.

• Commodity

  • Meaning: A raw material or agricultural product that can be bought and sold; used metaphorically for a celebrity's image or life.

  • Example: Modern fame treats a celebrity's privacy and image as a tradable commodity.

    
    

• Ostracism

  • Meaning: Exclusion from a society or group.

  • Example: Following the court case, the actor faced total ostracism from the industry.

• Ephemeralness

  • Meaning: The quality of lasting for a very short time.

  • Example: The rise of viral media emphasizes the ephemeralness of modern fame.

• Demarcation

  • Meaning: The action of fixing the boundary or limits of something.

  • Example: The lines of demarcation between an artist's personal life and their public persona have become increasingly blurred.

    
    

4. Adjectives (C2)

• Superlative

  • Meaning: Of the highest quality or degree.

  • Example: The press always uses superlative language when describing the record-breaking young athlete.

• Vindictive

  • Meaning: Having or showing a strong or unreasoning desire for revenge.

  • Example: The tabloids seemed to have a vindictive agenda, pursuing the star with relentless negative coverage.

• Enigmatic

  • Meaning: Difficult to understand; mysterious.

  • Example: The director cultivated an enigmatic public persona, refusing most interviews.

• Inviolable

  • Meaning: Never to be broken, infringed, or dishonored.

  • Example: The celebrity argued that her right to privacy should be inviolable, even in public spaces.

• Lucrative

  • Meaning: Producing a great deal of profit.

  • Example: Streaming rights have become the most lucrative part of the entertainment business model.

    
    

5. Verbs (C2)

• Prostrate

  • Meaning: To lay oneself flat on the ground face downward, especially in reverence or submission; used metaphorically for extreme deference.

  • Example: The interviewer seemed to prostrate himself before the legendary director, afraid to ask any tough questions.

• Excoriate

  • Meaning: To criticize severely.

  • Example: Critics began to excoriate the star's sudden pivot to political commentary.

• Monetize

  • Meaning: To convert into money.

  • Example: Every aspect of the celebrity's life, from their hobbies to their relationships, has been successfully monetized.

• Capitulate

  • Meaning: To cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; to surrender.

  • Example: Facing relentless pressure, the studio was eventually forced to capitulate to the demands of the famous director.

• Codify

  • Meaning: To arrange (laws or rules) into a systematic code; to formalize or express in a systematic way.

  • Example: Talent agencies seek to codify the process of celebrity branding into a reproducible business model.