1.championship: a competition held to determine the champion; position of a champion
　Examples:
　　An American team won the pairs championships.
　　They won the men's and women's singles championships respectively.

2. senior: older in years; higher in rank, authority, etc.
　Examples:
　　Mr. Gray is a senior officer in this bank.
　　He is too senior to try for a young man’s job.

3. bound: ready to start, having started (for)
　Examples:
　　They were on the New York express, bound for Maine.
　　That ship is bound for South America.

4. distress: a state of danger or great difficulty
　Examples:
　　If the storm continues on the mountain, the climber will be in distress by morning.
　　The lifeboat went out to rescue a ship in distress.

5. signal: something intended to warn, command, or give a message
　Examples:
　　A red light is often used as a danger signal.
　　American Indians used to occasionally send smoke signals.

6. contact: get in touch with (someone)
　Examples:
　　I shall contact you by telephone.
　　I must contact my lawyer before I make my final decisions.

7. lower: move or let down in height
　Examples:
　　Lowering the window shade will keep out the sun.
　　He sat quite still, with his gaze lowered to the carpet.

8. approach: the act of coming near or nearer
　Examples:
　　Our approach drove away the wild animals.
　　With the approach of the Spring Festival the weather turned cold.

9. collision: an accident in which two or more people or vehicles hit each other while moving in different directions
　Examples:
　　The liner is reported to have had a collision with an oil tanker.
　　The two cars were broken into pieces in the collision.

10. in any case: whatever happens
　Examples:
　　In any case, I shall return in a day or two.
　　In any case, I would insist upon your being paid.

11. crash: a violent vehicle accident
　Examples:
　　There have been a lot of crashes lately.
　　All the passengers were killed in the plane crash.

12. rear: raise; lift up
　Examples:
　　A lion suddenly reared its head from among the tall grass.
　　The skyscraper rears above the neighboring buildings.

13. explode: burst or cause to burst violently and noisily
　Examples:
　　The boiler exploded and many people were injured by the hot steam.
　　He pumped the ball up too much and it exploded.

14. tragic: very sad; unfortunate
　Examples:
　　The tragic accident took eight lives.
　　The driver of the car made a tragic mistake.

15. comb through: search something thoroughly
　Example:
　　The rescuers combed through the forests for the missing soldier.
　　The students spent many hours in the library combing through old books looking for facts they wanted.