Barron's GRE 2 (250 words)

portly

Don't call someone fat. Be nice, and call them portly. Portly is just one of several words that are kinder than "fat," including "stout," "heavy," and "pleasingly plump." The tenor was portly, but all that girth makes it easier for him to produce all that sound. One way to remember the meaning of the word portly is to think of a bottle of port, the sweet wine that tastes like sherry and is notoriously calorific. Want to be less portly? Then try drinking less port and other alcoholic beverages.

regal

Even though he was homeless, Dan had a regal bearing. Regal is an adjective that describes things that appear to be royal. There are several synonyms for regal, but they all have slightly different meanings. Reserve regal for those instances when the person or thing truly seems like it wants to be the queen, actually is the queen, or looks like it might belong to the queen. My French teacher has a truly regal bearing: she stands stick-straight, with her chin in the air, and acts as though she's the queen and we're her court. A regal attitude from a trembling Chihuahua is the height of irony: that little bugger couldn't rule a cat-box, let alone a whole country.

riddle

pierce with many holes a difficult problem What's a question or problem that requires a bit of thought before you answer? It's a riddle, of course. The verb riddle can mean to speak in a puzzling fashion, though that use is not very common. The word riddle might put you in mind of such brain-teasers as "Why did the chicken cross the road?", but riddles actually have a distinguished history in English literature going back to the 10th century. Today, you often find riddle used to mean a hard problem or question to figure out. Is it a riddle to you why you have to go to school? In an unrelated use, if something is riddled with holes, there are many holes in it, quite possible from bullets!

retrench

tighten one's belt; use resources carefully;make a reduction, as in one's workforce When times are tight, it's time to retrench. That means rethink your budget, cut back on the spending, and use your pennies wisely. Usually when you have to retrench, it's not a good thing. Companies in the process of retrenching are usually laying off staff or cutting back on employee benefits. But even if you're making gobs of money and your bank account is full of cash, it might be wise to save for a rainy day — that way you won't have to retrench when the going gets tough.

Recession

.1. a time of economic decline 2.This noun can also describe other kinds of "going back," like the recession of floodwaters that enable people to begin cleaning up their homes that had been filled with water Jobs being cut? Houses not selling? Everyone talking about the poor sales of everything from cars to bouquets of flowers? That's a recession, a time of economic decline. Recession comes from the Latin word recessus, meaning "a going back, retreat." Think of all the things that get made and sold in a country. When fewer people buy things, orders for them slow down. The sales "go back" to a lower amount. This is an economic recession. This noun can also describe other kinds of "going back," like the recession of floodwaters that enable people to begin cleaning up their homes that had been filled with water.

poseur

1. A person who habitually pretends to be something he is not. a person who behaves affectedly in order to impress others. "Strike a pose," sang Madonna in her most famous song, "Vogue." But if the pose you're striking is fake, pretentious, or arrogant, you're a poseur. Be yourself: it's cooler. It's one thing to be smart, funny, or cool. It's another thing to pretend to be that way: that's the life of a poseur. (Say it in the French way: poh-ZUHR.) It's all too easy to spot a poseur from their ridiculous posing. Why poseurs think that they come across as anything other than fake is beyond me. They must be really insecure to think they need to pretend to be something they're not. Every once in a while, though, a poseur can fake it till they make it. Then they're no longer a poseur.

potentate

1. A potentate is a person so powerful they don't have to follow the rules that govern everyone else. e.g.diplomatic missions to foreign potentates 2. Potentate normally refers to a king or dictator, but you can call anyone with virtually unlimited power a potentate. The king of a country, the conductor of an orchestra, the commander of a battleship—all of these are examples of a potentate. Take a look at potentate, and you'll see the word potent, which means "powerful," as in "that's one potent cup o' joe!" It's easy to see, then, how potent becomes potentate just by adding a few letters. A potentate is a powerful person. Anna Wintour is a potentate of the fashion world, and her decisions can make or break whole careers.

rostrum

1. A raised platform; podium or lectern You've probably listened to speakers who stood behind a raised platform. They set their notes on top and sometimes possibly gripped the edges for support. That platform is called a rostrum, also known as a podium or lectern. The word rostrum, which originally meant animal snout or bird's beak in Latin, has a back-and-forth history. The word came to be used for the battering beak at a warship's bow. The ancient Romans used the beaks from captured ships to decorate a platform from which orators could speak. The place where the speeches were delivered was called the rostra, which was the plural of rostrum. In the mid-17th century, rostrum came to be used for a public-speaking platform. By the way, the plural of rostrum is still rostra.

repercussion

1. A repercussion is something that happens because of another action. You could quit paying your rent, but getting evicted from your apartment might be the repercussion. 2. A remote or indirect consequence of some action. Repercussion may remind you slightly of concussion or percussion — what they all have in common is the idea of something (a head, a drum) getting hit. With repercussion, the hitting is the action, and the result (i.e., the repercussion) is like hearing an echo of that original strike over and over as it reverberates through the air.

reprieve

1. A reprieve is a break in or cancellation of a painful or otherwise lousy situation. If you're being tortured, a reprieve is a break from whatever's tormenting you. 2. To postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal For some, a night at the opera is a night of punishing boredom during which the only reprieve is the intermission. For others, it's baseball that feels like torture. The seventh-inning stretch is the only reprieve from a night of endless waiting. Often, you'll hear reprieve used when a court or governor decides not to execute a prisoner. That prisoner is given a reprieve and will be allowed to live. He probably won't get a reprieve from prison, though, unless he's found innocent.

retort

1. A retort is a comeback or a quick and clever answer or remark. What's a retort? It's a reply that's short. "Why did the monkey fall out of the tree; please give me a report?" I said "The monkey's dead," with a dry retort. Today retort is used as both a noun and a verb, and both come from 16th- and 17th-century sources meaning "to twist, turn back." A retort is a comeback or a quick and clever answer or remark. It can be a form of payback when someone tries to insult or tease another person, and often, a perfect retort doesn't occur to you till later, when you think "Oh! I wish I had said that earlier!"

proviso

1. A stipulated condition. Stipulate means to demand or specify a requirement , typically part of an argument. A proviso is something added to a document or agreement that details the terms. You might agree to buy a used car with a proviso that the fuzzy steering-wheel cover is included as part of the sale. Proviso looks a lot like the words "provide" and "provision," and it goes back to the Latin verb providēre, "foresee, provide." Proviso often implies that there are conditions to getting something, as when you agree to take your younger brother to the movies with you, provided — with the proviso — that you get popcorn and an 82-ounce soft drink. Most parents would agree, with the proviso that the drink be no more than 20 ounces. Agreed?

tentative

1. Being hesitant or unsure Choose the adjective tentative to describe something you are unsure or hesitant about. On Monday, you can make tentative plans for the weekend, but it's too early to commit to one party or another. Tentative, from the Latin tentātīvus "testing, trying," always describes something that is uncertain. If you make a tentative appointment, write it down in pencil, not pen, because it might have to be changed. Here the opposite of tentative is definite or set. If someone gives you a tentative smile or nod, the person feels hesitant or unsure about something. In this case, its opposite is confident.

refulgent

1. Bright; radiating or as if radiating light If someone tells you that you have refulgent eyes, they mean that your eyes shine brightly, like the stars. This suggests that your special someone is the poetic type, since refulgent is a literary way of saying "bright." The adjective refulgent comes from the Latin fulgere, meaning "to shine." Refulgent is used both literally and figuratively. On a bright day, the sun can be described as refulgent, and the beautiful, sunny weather might cause you to break into a refulgent smile. Refulgent shines brightly among its synonyms: radiant, dazzling, and luminous. You'll typically encounter refulgent in literature and poetry, but using this word is a great way to show off your refulgent mind.

practicable

1. Capable of being done with means at hand, something that can be reasonably done. Something that is practicable is something that can be reasonably done. Look at the word within the word, practice, plus the suffix -able, and you have something that is able to be put into practice, or practicable. Practicable is an adjective built from the word practice and can thus be traced to the Medieval Latin verb practicare and the Medieval French pratiquer, both of which meant "to practice." With the addition of a "c" to remind us of "practice," the French praticable, "able to be put into practice," became the English practicable.

Recidivism

1. Habitual relapse into crime. Recidivism means going back to a previous behavior, especially criminal behavior. People that work with prisoners are always hoping to lower recidivism rates. The word recidivism comes from the Latin root words re, meaning "back," and caedere, meaning "to fall" — or literally "to fall back." The word is most commonly used to discuss the relapse rate of criminals, who have served their sentence and have been released. However, it can be used for any relapse in behavior. Alcoholics who do not receive support are more prone to recidivism than those in recovery programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

preponderance

1. If there's a preponderance of something, there is A LOT of it. If you are a prosecutor, you are looking for a preponderance of evidence to convince the jury that the defendant is guilty. 2. The noun preponderance can also mean superiority in weight or significance. This meaning is particularly reflective of the word's Latin roots in the word praeponderare, which means "outweigh." The noun can also mean superiority in influence or importance. A country's economic preponderance, for example, might give it greater influence in international relations.

recast

1. Mold again by making major changes "Let's start over." That's what someone might say when he or she needs to recast something, meaning "to make major changes that make something seem very different or even brand new." When you recast something, you aren't just improving it slightly — something that is recast typically involves significant changes to the original. As it applies to actors' parts in a movie, television show, or play, to recast a part means finding a different actor to play it. When you recast a metal item, like a piece of jewelry, the item is melted down completely and then remade in a new form. When teachers get blank stares from students, they recast their questions to make them less confusing.

Prosody

1. Prosody is the rhythm and sounds used in poetry. 2. Prosody can also mean the study of the rhythms and sounds of language, Kids who can freestyle rap fit the prosody of their words to a rhythm that's already laid down. Prosody can also mean the study of the rhythms and sounds of language, and sometimes you can talk about the prosody of prose. It's about where the emphasis falls in the words and how those work together. When you read great writers like Alice Munro aloud, you will see that their prosody, as much as anything, is what carries the story forward.

repine

1. To feel or express discontent; fret. Syn:mop "you mustn't let yourself repine" The verb repine describes expressing gloom or discontent. Brooding, fretful, and sad — these are the traits of people who repine at their circumstances in life. Early American poet Anne Bradstreet used repine in her well-known poem, "Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th 1666," describing how the speaker got over the loss: "And when I could no longer look, / I blest His grace that gave and took, / That laid my goods now in the dust. / Yea, so it was, and so 'twas just. / It was his own; it was not mine. / Far be it that I should repine.

rescind

1.revoke, cancel, or repeal (a law, order, or agreement If get a call saying a company has decided to rescind your job offer, it's back to the classifieds for you. Rescind is an official reversal. Things that are rescinded: policies, court decisions, regulations, and official statements. What all these examples have in common is that they are on the record. Also, rescind usually refers to promises instead of tangible objects. You can't rescind a shirt a friend has borrowed from you, but you can rescind your offer to loan them your jeans.

plumb

1. To measure (the depth of a body of water): I plumbed the depth and found the bottom of the shelf to be seven metres down 2. To explore or experience fully or to extremes. "she had plumbed the depths of depravity" 3. (adj) vertical. "ensure that the skirting is straight and plumb 4. To plumb a house, you connect all of its pipes To plumb a body of water, you measure its depth. To plumb a house, you connect all of its pipes. To make carpentry plumb, you get it exactly vertical. Originally, the verb plumb only meant "to measure the depth of water." These days, if you "plumb the depths" of something, you go in deep for knowledge and experience: your Heidegger seminar may plumb the depths of German Existentialism like Jacques Cousteau plumbed the depths of the ocean.

requite

1. To repay or return You can requite a friend's kindness by doing your friend a favor or by being kind in return. Requite means "to repay or return." To requite something is to return it. However, saying that you want to requite a gift means that you want to give something in return for it — not that you want to return the gift to the store for some quick cash. Requite is often used in the context of love; if you requite someone's love, you love that person back. Requite can also be used in a negative sense. Someone who wants to requite an injury wants payback for it.

regale

1. To treat someone with lavish food or drink 2.Providing some form of entertainment such as music or story telling You may have heard it said that the fastest way to a person's heart is through his stomach. So, if you need to please or impress someone, regale them — that is, treat them to lavish food and drink. While food is reliable way to regale someone, regale can also involve providing forms of entertainment such as music or storytelling. Regale is akin to the word gala, meaning "a festive party," and gallant, which can mean "spirited and adventurous" (though gallant can also mean "noble and brave"). If you regale someone with a gala attended by partygoers who are gallant, in either sense of the word, everyone should have a pretty good time.

provenance

1. Where something comes from; where something originated or was nurtured . 2.refers to who has the legal right to the specific work of art, or to whom it belongs.; If you claim that an artwork put up for sale was stolen from your family's art collection, an investigation may be ordered to resolve issues of provenance is its provenance. If a style of music originated in the capital of Rhode Island, you could say that its provenance was Providence. Some items of foreign provenance are taxed more heavily than domestic products. If you claim that an artwork put up for sale was stolen from your family's art collection, an investigation may be ordered to resolve issues of provenance. In this case, provenance refers to who has the legal right to the specific work of art, or to whom it belongs.

rendition

1. a performance or interpretation, especially of a dramatic role or piece of music. "a wonderful rendition of 'Nessun Dorma'" 2.(especially in the US) the practice of sending a foreign criminal or terrorist suspect covertly to be interrogated in a country with less rigorous regulations for the humane treatment of prisoners. A rendition is an interpretation, performance, or translation. Whitney Houston's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner is still used at games today; Roseanne Barr's is not. This word comes from the Old French rendre, which means "to deliver, yield." So if you want to put your spin on a song or poem or your favorite movie monologue, go ahead and deliver your rendition of it. But know that in modern times this word has also been used as a noun, describing the secret capture and interrogation of a terror suspect in a foreign country that has less strict human rights laws.

Portend

1. a sign or warning that (something, especially something momentous or calamitous) is likely to happen.Syn. Foreshadow "the eclipses portend some major events" Indicate by signs Portend means to show a sign that something calamitous is about to happen. The teetering, tottering, pile of fine china piled up after the dinner party portends an imminent crash of broken plates and dishes. Portend is a verb warning of omens, or bad signs. Dark clouds rumbling in over a county fair in Kansas portend the thunderstorm and even tornado that is likely to ruin the festivities. Portend is a helpful way for authors to foreshadow dark events ahead in their stories.

Recant

1. formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief.; Take back If you're someone who speaks before you think, you may need to recant, or take back, that overly honest assessment of your friend's new haircut. Recant comes from two Latin roots: the prefix re-, meaning "back," and the verb cantare, meaning "to sing." It has been suggested that recant was first used when someone reversed a charm, curse, or some other type of magical spell that would have been chanted or sung. Regardless of whether this is true or not, we suggest that you refrain from singing when you need to recant — unless you've been casting nasty spells on people.

relent

1. give in Being unwilling to relent is a good qualification for a sales person. You have to keep trying to make the sale and never give in until you've made it. The root of relent is the Latin "lentus," which means "to slow down or soften," and the original meaning (from the 15th century, no less) most likely had to do with the heart — as in "to stop resisting love". Now, however, relent can have all manner of relevant applications, but the meaning is always the same: to let up, soften, yield or give in. Often, you'll hear the adjective relentless used to describe someone who won't relent: "The firemen refused to relent; they banged relentlessly on the door until I woke up."

redolent

1. having a strong pleasant odor or simply strong, distinctive odor: the pine woods were more redolent, air redolent with the fumes of beer and whiskey. 2. Serving to bring to mind. Syn: reminiscent. He had a shifty eye redolent of years of lying and petty crime. When something is redolent of something, it makes you think of that thing by making a pretty strong impression on you. He had a shifty eye redolent of years of lying and petty crime. People used to use redolent of something with a strong, distinctive odor. Now, think of it as "stinks of" — but in a fancy way. If you're touring an old castle, you might say that the worn carpet and handsome woodwork are redolent of the place's former glory, though otherwise it's a dump.

premonitory

1.warning of future misfortune Use the adjective premonitory to describe something that predicts something bad will happen, like a premonitory sneezing fit that comes before you come down with an awful cold. The adjective premonitory is related to the Latin word praemonere, from prae, meaning "before," and monere, meaning "warn." The dark premonitory clouds that roll in before a storm can ruin your day at the beach, or the premonitory feeling that a new friend isn't trustworthy are warnings to pack up and get out before something disastrous happens.

purgatory

1. if you say you are in purgatory, you feel stuck or not able to continue towards a goal 2.In Roman Catholic doctrine, souls atoned for past sins in purgatory before entering heaven. Being stuck in standstill traffic can feel like purgatory, but this brief spell of unpleasantness is nothing compared to the misery endured by souls waiting to get into heaven, which is the original meaning of the word. Purgatory comes from a Late Latin verb meaning "to cleanse" — purge shares the same root. In Roman Catholic doctrine, souls atoned for past sins in purgatory before entering heaven. In fact, for centuries, purgatory was often regarded as an actual physical place. Today, if you say you are in purgatory, you feel stuck or not able to continue towards a goal. High school might feel like purgatory because even though you're finished with your carefree childhood, you don't have the freedoms of adulthood yet.

polemical

1. of or involving strongly critical or disputatious or controversial writing or speech. "a polemical essay" The adjective polemical describes something related to an argument or controversy. To keep the peace, avoid discussing politics at Thanksgiving, which usually deteriorates into a polemical argument with Uncle Bob. Better stick to football or apple versus pumpkin pie. Polemical is the adjective form of the noun polemic, which itself comes from the Greek word, polemos, meaning "war." Use polemical to describe a controversy or argument that could end up as a huge conflict, because polemical refers to a major disagreement. The word is often used to describe speech and writing — a polemical discussion or a polemical essay — that usually starts a war of words.

reverie

1. pleasant daydream: a knock on the door broke her reverie If you're relaxing on the beach, dreaming of how you will never have to get up and go back to work, you're engaged in a reverie, or pleasant daydream. There's nothing wrong with reverie, but if you follow its path into English, you'll see how closely it is connected to madness. The noun is from French rêverie, from a Middle French word meaning "wild speech, delirium," from rever "to roam, speak wildly." Middle French rever is also the source of English rave, as in raving mad.

rubric

1.1. a heading on a document. 2. a set of instructions or rules or procedure A rubric is a heading or a category in a chart, or a rule of conduct. A teacher's grading rubrics may include participation, homework completion, tests, quizzes, and papers. A rubric can also mean a rule or a procedure. If you use "might makes right" as the rubric for the formation of a list of classroom rules, you'll have a different-feeling classroom culture than if your rubric is "everyone deserves respect."

rout

1.A humiliating defeat. When you think about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, associate a rout with the agonizing defeat. A rout is the kind of humiliating loss that makes you wish you would have been injured in the first quarter so you could have avoided the outcome. One way to remember the meaning of the word rout is to consider its similarity to the word riot, both suggesting a disastrous mess. One interesting thing about the word rout is that whether it's used as a noun or as a verb, it's spelled the same and implies a similar meaning. "The losing team suffers during a rout while the winning team actually routs them!" Whichever form you use, you're referring to a pretty devastating defeat.

quorum

1.A quorum is not necessarily a majority of members of a group, but the minimum needed in order to conduct business. For example, if two members of a group are absent, there can still be a quorum, meaning the meeting can go on without them. 2.a select group The noun quorum is plural of qui in Latin, meaning "of whom." The first quorum was an eminent group of justices of the peace. The word quorum was used in the commission papers that gave them the authority to act. Over time the current meaning, the minimum number needed to conduct business, was added, but the word still retains the meaning of a select group, as well.

Reactionary

1.A reactionary is someone reacting (in horror) to what most of the world considers to be progress.Reactionary describes people on the far right politically. Reactionaries occupy a political space past conservative, near where ultra-conservative bumps shoulders with fascist. A reactionary is someone reacting (in horror) to what most of the world considers to be progress. No one describes themselves as reactionary--you will hear it more often as a condemnation, as in "I cannot support the reactionary policy of mandatory military service for 18-year-olds."

requiem

1.A requiem is a religious ceremony performed for the dead. 2.A requiem, or dirge, can also be a piece of music used for this ceremony or in any other context honoring those who have died. 3.In a nonreligious context the word refers simply to an act of remembrance. The word requiem comes from the opening words of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, which is spoken or sung in Latin (requies means "rest"). In a nonreligious context the word refers simply to an act of remembrance. Mozart, Brahms, and Dvořák have all written important requiems. The English composer Benjamin Britten wrote his famous "War Requiem" for the reconsecration of a cathedral that was destroyed in World War II.

roseate

1.As its sound might suggest, roseate has to do with "rosy." Anything that's roseate is rose colored or pinkish. It's often used in the term "roseate glow," typically to describe a sunset. 2. too optimistically and unrealistic: seeing life through rose tinted glasses Ever heard of the phrase "seeing life through rose tinted glasses," meaning seeing life way too optimistically and unrealistically? Well, roseate can have that sense as well. If you're painting "too roseate" a picture of what college is like to your parents, you're either deliberately or unintentionally giving them a picture that's a bit too good to be true.

putative

1.Generally accepted by reputation or assumption but it is not official or without doubt. You might be the putative leader of your lacrosse team, even if someone else holds the title of captain. Putative means to be known as something by reputation, or assumed to be something, or generally accepted. There is always some doubt--something not quite official--about putative things. Every once in a while, a putative planet is reported in the news, which we get very excited about and which usually turns out to be an illusion. But in 2005, an astronomer discovered what appears to be a new planet beyond Neptune. But is this putative planet for real? There is always some doubt--something not quite official--about putative things.

posthumous

1.If something happens after someone dies, it is described as posthumous. 2.occurring, awarded, or appearing after the death of the originator. "he was awarded a posthumous Military Cross" 3. (of a child) born after the death of its father. "Newton was the posthumous son of an illiterate yeoman" If something happens after someone dies, it is described as posthumous — like the posthumous interest in the music of a singer who died "a nobody." The adjective posthumous comes from Latin — post means "after" and humare, "to bury." (You might also think of humus, which means "dirt" or "earth.") So something that is posthumous happens after a person is dead, like the posthumous discovery that your humble neighbor who lived very modestly was actually a multi-millionaire, or the posthumous publication of a book that the writer finished just before she died.

revile

1.If something is reviled, you alone don't dislike it; a whole community of like-minded souls has to hate its guts. For instance, spam is widely reviled. (The junk e-mails, not the potted meat. Somebody out there really does like that potted meat.) 2.spread negative information about. Syn. Vituperate If you're the only one who hates, say, your math teacher, it's not fair to say that person is reviled. If she is majestically unpopular with the entire senior class and is routinely the butt of geometry-themed insults, well then sadly, this instructor is indeed reviled. Generally, when someone or something is reviled, much of the poison aimed is in print, such as critical reviews or insulting editorials.

Privation

1.If you're lacking the basic necessities of life — food, water, political freedom, and so on — you're suffering from privation. 2.the loss or absence of a quality or attribute that is normally present. "cold is the privation of heat" Privation has become a rather old-fashioned word, and when used now is often with irony: present day privations are usually of the order of not having wireless Internet or video games. It's interesting to compare privation with the similar word deprivation, which is used more commonly now. Deprivation usually suggests that someone or something has actually caused the privation.

Reconnaissance

1.Reconnaissance is checking out a situation before taking action:do reconnaissance on a new employee before you hire her Often it's used as a military term, but you could also do reconnaissance on a new employee before you hire her, or a resort before you take a vacation. Reconnaissance is a noun, and it technically means "the act of reconnoitering." Whoa. Never heard that word before? Reconnoitering is just a fancy way of saying that you're checking something out — sometimes in a sneaky way. If you like a girl in your Spanish class, you might ask a friend to do some reconnaissance to find out what she's like. The word comes from the French reconnaître, which means "recognize."

Resonant

1.Resonant describes sound that is deep and rich. 2.It also can mean deeply evocative or serving to bring to mind. A resonant speech moves you by bringing to mind all that is good in the world: family, friends, laughter. Resonant comes from the Latin re, meaning again, and sonare, meaning to sound--or literally to sound again or echo. So resonant's meanings all have that sense of reverberating or echoing. Not only does it mean echoing or evoking meaning, but it also refers to sound that echoes through a room. Don't confuse the spellings of resonant (the adjective) and resonate (the verb).

Rhetoric

1.Rhetoric is speaking or writing that's intended to persuade. If your goal is to write editorial columns for "The New York Times," you should work on your rhetoric. 2. loud and confused and empty talk Rhetoric comes from the Greek meaning "speaker" and is used for the art of persuasive speaking or writing. When people listened eagerly to long speeches and studied them in school, rhetoric was generally used positively; now it is often a negative term, implying artfulness over real content. If someone gives a clever speech but doesn't really address the problem, you might say, "That's just a lot of rhetoric."

quiescent

1.The adjective quiescent means "being quiet and still," like the quiescent moments lying in a hammock on a beautiful summer Sunday. 2.causing no symptoms." For example, if a disease is quiescent, you probably won't know you have it. 3.And finally, quiescent can mean "not activated," like quiescent cleaning products that don't get the stains out. To be quiescent, pronounced "qwhy-ESS-ent," is to be quiet, resting, which is exactly what its Latin origin quiescens means: In our busy world, it is hard to find a place to be quiescent. It has a second meaning: "causing no symptoms." For example, if a disease is quiescent, you probably won't know you have it. And finally, quiescent can mean "not activated," like quiescent cleaning products that don't get the stains out.

potpourri

1.The noun potpourri can refer to a mixture or collection of seemingly unrelated items, an unusual assortment. You may own a potpourri of books — from classic literature to trashy novels and from Shakespeare's plays to comic books. 2.a scented mixture of spices and dried flowers that is usually kept in a decorative bowl or jar and used to perfume a room. The noun potpourri often refers to a scented mixture of spices and dried flowers that is usually kept in a decorative bowl or jar and used to perfume a room. What's interesting is that the name for this attractively fragrant mixture comes from the French phrase pot pourri, which literally means "rotten pot." The phrase was used to describe a stew. Clearly, some things translate better than others.

rail

1.The verb rail means to criticize severely. When you rail against increased taxes at a town meeting, you speak openly and loudly about how wrong the increase is and point out the problems it will cause. 2.Rail can also mean to spread negative information about someone in an abusive way. If your "friends" rail against you to everyone in school, they're spreading nasty rumors about you, and you should find new friends! Rail can also mean "to complain." When your mom asks you to vacuum the house, you might rail against this chore by saying that you ALWAYS do the vacuuming, that vacuuming is SO hard, and that you hate the stupid vacuum! Rail can also mean to spread negative information about someone in an abusive way. If your "friends" rail against you to everyone in school, they're spreading nasty rumors about you, and you should find new friends!

Primogeniture

1.right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son Primogeniture is when the oldest son inherits all or more of his parents' stuff than any of his siblings. When a king dies, typically by the rules of primogeniture, his eldest son inherits the throne. It may seem vastly unfair, but primogeniture dates back to the Old Testament. Examples of this practice in which the first-born son receives exclusive inheritance rights can be found throughout history and around the world — from the Middle East to Medieval Europe. Today, perhaps the most widely known example of primogeniture is the succession of the British throne, which gives preference to the eldest male child above all others.

rally

1.The verb rally is often used to describe a physical effort that has been renewed, but it can describe anything that involves bouncing back from a setback. For example, if something makes you feel disappointed, you rally to get your positive attitude back. 2. Rally can also describe bringing people together, often to support a cause. Use the verb rally to describe that last push to finish a difficult something. When you hit that last mile in the race and are so tired you want to quit, that's when you rally, finding the strength to pick up the pace. The verb rally is often used to describe a physical effort that has been renewed, but it can describe anything that involves bouncing back from a setback. For example, if something makes you feel disappointed, you rally to get your positive attitude back. Rally can also describe bringing people together, often to support a cause. The event itself is also called a rally, like pep rally in which students boost the confidence of their team as it heads into the championship game.

reimburse

1.To reimburse is to compensate for an expense or loss. If you buy a basketball for your school team with your own money, and you ask your coach to reimburse you, you are asking him to pay you back. To reimburse is to compensate for an expense or loss. The person who collects money at a college is the bursar, a purse is where you store money, and reimburse means to pay money back. All three of these words share the Latin root bursa 'moneybag.' If you want to be paid back for overpaid tuition, ask the bursar, Mr. Moneybags, to reimburse you from the schools purse.

purport

1.Use purport when you want to convince people about something that might not be true, like when you purport that the dog ate your homework. 2.The verb purport can mean "to claim" — whether you mean it or not — or "to intend," like when you purport to study all night. So it makes sense that as a noun, purport means the intention or purpose, like the purport of a political candidate's speech was to get your vote. 3.If the speech was long and hard to follow, you might be lucky just to get the purport, which here means "the main point or meaning."

Primordial

1.When something is primordial, it has existed since the earliest time, like the primordial mud some scientists believe was the source of all life on Earth. Primordial, an adjective, describes something that has been around forever, like cockroaches. Primordial comes the Latin words primus, meaning "first" and ordiri, "to begin." So it is easy to see that this adjective means "first of all, original." When something is primordial, it has existed since the earliest time, like the primordial mud some scientists believe was the source of all life on Earth. Remember that is it a scientific term — don't call your teacher primordial just because she's been teaching at your school since it opened.

prelate

1.a high-level church dignitary A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy, such as a cardinal, abbot, or bishop, who has authority over lesser clergy. Both Catholic and Protestant religions have prelates in their ranks. The source of prelate is the Latin adjective praelatus, "noble," whose meaning is appropriate to the modern meaning, a high-level church dignitary. The word was applied to those high-ranking clergymen around the beginning of the 13th century, the Middle English coming from the Middle French prelat. As the church's importance increased, so did the importance implied by the word prelate. Ambrose Bierce referred to a prelate as "one of Heaven's aristocracy."

roster

1.a list of names If you see your name on the roster of players for the new softball team, then congratulations! Better start practicing, because you're on the list of players who made the team. The word roster originally meant a list of the names, duties, and schedule of members of the military. That meaning is still in use, but today, a roster is more likely to be a list of players on your favorite team, a list of artists whose artwork appears regularly in a certain gallery, or a list of participants, such as an airline that posts its roster of flight crew members for the red-eye to Phoenix.

promontory

1.a natural elevation (especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea) A promontory is a high, rocky cliff jutting into a body of water. A promontory is just the kind of thing a heroine will threaten to throw herself off of if the love of her life does not return to her. A promontory can be a foreland, headland, or rocky cliff. Think Ireland's Cliffs of Moher jutting into the sea. Connect promontory with prominent, "important or sticking out," project, "estimate forward" and protrude, "stick out," which also carry this sense of jutting out. In anatomy, promontory can refer to a projecting part of the body.

quarry

1.a place, typically a large, deep pit, from which stone or other materials are or have been extracted. "a limestone quarry" 2.extract (stone or other materials) from a quarry. "limestone is quarried for use in blast furnaces" cut into (rock or ground) to obtain stone or other materials. "the hillside had been quarried for many years" 3.an animal pursued by a hunter, hound, predatory mammal, or bird of prey. Syn. prey, victim "grouse are not an easy quarry for a hawk" 4.a thing or person that is chased or sought. "the security police crossed the border in pursuit of their quarry Both meanings of quarry have to do with going after something. An animal being hunted is called quarry, and when you dig a hole in the earth looking for rocks, both the digging and the hole are called quarry as well. Gross fact: Quarry derives from the Latin cor "heart," because hunters used to drape the entrails of their chosen quarry on their dogs' backs. The origin in a word for "heart" can help you remember both quarries: a rock quarry is searching down toward the heart of the earth; a stag's heart is considered a hunter's greatest prize.

prologue

1.a prologue is concerned with setup of a story. "As a prologue to what happened in the gym, I'll tell you about the food fight in the cafeteria earlier that day." With the lines, "Two households, both alike in dignity," Shakespeare begins the prologue to Romeo and Juliet, setting up the idea of two families who hate each other before introducing the lovers in the opening scene. Like its buddy epilogue, which tells you what happens after the end of a story, a prologue is concerned with setup of a story. "As a prologue to what happened in the gym, I'll tell you about the food fight in the cafeteria earlier that day."

portent

1.a sign or warning that a momentous or calamitous event is likely to happen. "many birds are regarded as being portents of death" While you might love crows, your father will shudder when he sees them if he superstitiously believes they're a portent — a sign or warning — of death. A portent is an omen of something momentous, which can be good, but is more often negative. You can use portent to mean a magical foretelling or symbol, but you can also use it to talk about something real, the way you could describe big, dark storm clouds as a portent of a thunderstorm.

Recourse

1.a source of help in a difficult situation.Syn. option,possibility,alternative "surgery may be the only recourse" 2. the use of (someone or something) as a source of help in a difficult situation. "a means of solving disputes without recourse to courts of law" 3.the legal right to demand compensation or payment. "the bank has recourse against the exporter for losses incurred" AN act of turning to for assistance Recourse is a source of help. If you're failing trigonometry in spite of studying until your brain hurts, you may have no recourse but to hire a tutor. Recourse comes from the Latin word recursus, meaning "to run back or retreat." People seek recourse from such difficulties as debt, illness and legal woes, so you can think of recourse as the words "retreating from curses" squished together. For the record, though, the cursus in recursus means course, not curse. Actually, no one knows where the word curse comes from. There may be some connection between cursus and curses, but then again, there may not be.

polemic

1.a strong verbal or written attack on someone or something.Syn. Diatribe "his polemic against the cultural relativism of the Sixties" A polemic is something that stirs up controversy by having a negative opinion, usually aimed at a particular group. A piece of writing can be a polemic, as long as it gets someone's goat. Polemic comes from the Greek polemikos meaning "warlike, belligerent." It's like challenging someone to a duel of ideas. These days a polemic is usually a piece of writing, such as if the Grinch published a powerful polemic against Christmas. It's like a debate, and philosophers from Nietzsche to Voltaire are known for theirs. The British philosopher John Stuart Mill had this to say about it: "The worst offense that can be committed by a polemic is to stigmatize those who hold a contrary opinion as bad and immoral men."

prompt

1.according to schedule or without delay; on time:the train is prompt 2.performed with little or no delay: a prompt reply" 3. ready and willing or quick to act: she is always prompt to help her friends 4.to inspire or make happen:She prompted me to call my relatives a cue given to a performer (usually the beginning of the next line to be spoken) If you're prompt, you're on time. Go ahead and be prompt to class. Also, to prompt is to inspire or make happen. Getting in trouble for being late should prompt you to get a better alarm clock. The adjective prompt can mean "as scheduled," or simply "quick." When you prompt someone, you motivate them in some way: you might offer a reminder, assistance, or even inspiration to do something. For example, honking your car horn prompts your friend to get moving, and speaking up in defense of your classmate might prompt a bully to change his ways. If a director prompts an actor who's forgotten his lines, she reminds him what comes next.

prudent

1.acting with or showing care and thought for the future. Syn: Wise, sage "no prudent money manager would authorize a loan without first knowing its purpose" 2.Describe an action as prudent if it is the wise thing to do under the existing circumstances. If you're getting in trouble, it is probably prudent to keep your mouth closed and just listen. If you show good and careful judgment when handling practical matters, you can be described as prudent. Similarly, a wise and well-thought-through decision or action can be called prudent. The word comes from a contracted form of the Latin prōvidēns from the verb "to foresee." The English word provident "wise in planning for the future" is the non-contracted descendent of the same Latin root.

retroactive

1.affecting things past The adjective retroactive refers to something happening now that affects the past. For example, a retroactive tax is one that is passed at one time, but payable back to a time before the tax was passed. The Latin word retroagere, an ancestor of the adjective retroactive, means "drive or turn back," and goes along with the meaning of the word. Sometimes governments pass rulings that are set as if they were in effect before the ruling was even made, and that means they are retroactive. On the bright side, you might be awarded a salary raise that is retroactive, meaning you'll get paid more for work you did in the past. And, retroactive fads in clothing keep vintage clothing stores in business.

progenitor

1.an ancestor in the direct line While any ancestor can be a progenitor, or previous member of a family line, the word is usually applied to someone who was an originator of or major contributor to the characteristics of that line. The word progenitor can be traced to the Latin prōgignere, which means "to beget," and so is linked to the beginning of a genealogical line. The clue comes in the "gen" part, meaning "birth, procreation," and signifying the genetic contribution of an ancestor to a family line. Prō- means "forward," and the -tor suffix indicates someone doing an action — so a progenitor is someone who gives rise to a family line.

premonition

1.an early warning about a future event 2. a feeling of evil to come Some people claim to have premonitions, such as a dream about a friend they haven't seen in years the night before the friend dies. A premonition is a warning that comes in advance, or a feeling that something is going to happen. Like the synonym foreboding, a premonition usually refers to something bad or harmful. This noun is from Middle French premonicion, from Late Latin praemonitio, from Latin praemonere "to warn in advance," from the prefix prae- "before" plus monere "to warn."

rave

1.an extremely enthusiastic recommendation or appraisal If you rave about a book you just read, you're telling people you think it's great, or you're giving it a rave review. Rave has two levels, one that implies you're very excited about something and the other that you are too excited, so you seem crazy. While raving about a movie means to talk it up, being a raving lunatic means you are engaging in a lot of crazy talk. When you rave about a performance, you talk enthusiastically about it. Take that enthusiastic talking to the next level, and you might be called raving in the crazy sense.

ramp

1.behave violently, as if in state of a great anger:they roared and ramped in cages 2.a slope or inclined plane for joining two different levels, as at the entrance or between floors of a building. "a wheelchair ramp"

promiscuous

1.casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior 2.Not selective: If you're a promiscuous reader, you'll read just about anything — from biographies to science fiction to the back of the cereal box. Use promiscuous to describe someone who will say "yes" to just about anything. If you are the kind of person who goes on a lot of dates with a lot of different people, you might be described as promiscuous. Promiscuous is not limited to a romantic context. Long ago promiscuous described "a disorderly mixture of people and things," and shades of that original meaning linger. If a chef at an Italian restaurant is promiscuous, you might find him mixing ingredients from South America or Asia into his pasta. Carpet bombing as opposed to targeted invasion might be called a promiscuous use of military force.

Rankle

1.cause continuing annoyance or resentment. "the casual manner of his dismissal still rankles" 2. continue to be painful; fester. "the wound is but skinned over and rankles still at the bottom" Rankle is a cranky-sounding verb that means to eat away at or aggravate to the point of causing anger. If you want to rankle a cat, try splashing it with water and then putting it in the bathtub. Rankle goes back to the French verb rancler, which comes from an old word for "festering sore," which paints a pretty negative picture of what it means to rankle. A sore that festers gets worse and worse, or more infected, and if you rankle someone, they will get more and more angry. "Ankle" rhymes with rankle, and if you were to prank a friend and hold him by his ankles over a trash can every day for a week, it would definitely rankle him.

riveting

1.completely engrossing; compelling. "the book is a riveting account of the legendary freedom fighter" A rivet is a fastener that holds something closed or down, and something riveting keeps you glued to your seat and grabs your attention. Sometimes a movie is so riveting that not even free popcorn refills can lure you away. Riveting is an adjective for things that really draw you in, like a book you read in one sitting or a song you turn up so you can hear every lyric. Beautiful scenes are riveting, but terrible and ugly things are also riveting, like the site of an accident you can't stop looking at. Words from a teacher or actor have a riveting effect when they're full of impact and interest, and when you exaggerate a story for your best friend, that's riveting too.

rig

1.equip with sails or masts 2. To connect or secure to:They rigged the bomb to the ignition 3.manipulate in a fraudulent manner ;arrange the outcome of by means of deceit: rig an election When you rig something, you connect parts in a way that's just so crazy it might work. You could rig your jeans by using a paper clip to replace a button that pops. Rig can also describe deceiving people to achieve a certain outcome. Voting multiple times, purposely miscounting the number of votes a person received, even throwing out certain people's votes: these are all ways to rig an election. Outraged people say, "The election was fixed!" This doesn't mean it was repaired; it means it was rigged — fraud played a role in the outcome.

reparation

1.fixing or making up for a past wrong. If you guessed that reparation is related to the word repair, you were right. Both come from the Latin word meaning "to restore." While reparation has a range of meanings, they all convey the sense of fixing or making up for a past wrong. In contemporary usage, the plural form is more common than the singular. Victims of a crime, for example, may receive reparations from the perpetrators. A defeated nation may be forced to pay reparations to its victorious enemies. Many have suggested that the United States government should provide reparations to the descendants of slaves. The word almost always has legal or political connotations, and it conveys the sense of restitution — often expressed in money — for wrongdoing.

Provender

1.food for domestic livestock 2. the supply of food meant to sustain people but not fancy foods Provender is food that might not be fancy but it keeps you from going hungry, like the long-time provender of college students: rice, pasta, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the occasional discount pizza. The noun provender comes from the Latin word praebenda, meaning "things to be furnished or provided." Provender is a supply of food meant to sustain people, like a hearty stew that is lunch for military troops who need to keep their energy up. Provender can also describe a food supply for animals such as cows or horses. No matter who or what the provender feeds, the point is, it provides nutrition.

prurient

1.having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters, especially the sexual activity of others. "she'd been the subject of much prurient curiosity" Something is prurient if it focuses attention on sex not in an artistic way or to teach something, but purely to appeal to your baser instincts. If something is prurient, it's sure to offend somebody. An MTV series that includes explicit teenage sex scenes might be considered prurient and have censors screaming to have it taken off the air. The word prurient comes from a Latin root that means literally, "to itch," and you may have heard the medical term pruritus, which means "severe itching." The word can also be used to describe any kind of perverse interest, like onlookers who have a prurient curiosity about the details of a particularly gory crime scene.

puerile

1.it is used in a derisive manner to comment on the immaturity, silliness, or juvenile nature of something or someone. Some people like their movies to have sophisticated humor and others prefer the more puerile humor of pratfalls or jokes about smelly underwear, inappropriate belching, and passing gas. Although the adjective, puerile can be used to describe anything related to childhood, more often than not, it is used in a derisive manner to comment on the immaturity, silliness, or juvenile nature of something or someone. So if you hear someone talk about puerile toys, they may merely be remarking on the toys of childhood, but it is more likely they are discussing whoopee cushions, fake dog poo, and the like.

refurbish

1.make brighter and prettier 2. renovate and redecorate (something, especially a building). Whether it's a bike, an old computer, or a tennis stadium, when you refurbish something you clean it up and make it look or perform better. When you refurbish something, you generally keep the structure the same but improve its looks and possibly its functionality. For example, if you renovate a room you may make it "new again" with structural changes, such as tearing down walls and altering its original design. If you refurbish it, however, you will most likely focus on making it look better with cosmetic changes, such as painting it. The word refurbish is also often used to describe secondhand technology that has been rebuilt to restore function by replacing a component that has failed.

rehabilitate

1.restore (someone) to health or normal life by training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction, or illness. If you have been in a bad accident or have an addiction problem, you may go away for a stretch of time to rehabilitate yourself or, in other words, bring yourself back to health. Though we hear a lot about rehabilitation or "rehab" in the press in connection with drugs or alcohol, the word rehabilitate has a lot of other meanings. You can rehabilitate a building's structure by reinforcing it with steel beams, or rehabilitate your bad reputation by staying after school to help clean up the grounds.

precept

1.rule of personal conduct. Precepts are little life lessons that are usually passed down to children by authority figures such as parents, teachers, or religious figures. They are not as simple or practical as "eat your vegetables"; they tend to be more weighty and pretentious: give every man thy ear, but few thy voice 2.a general rule intended to regulate behaviour or thought. "the legal precept of being innocent until proven guilty" 3. a writ or warrant. "the Commissioner issued precepts requiring the companies to provide information" 2. A precept is a rule or direction, often with some religious basis, dictating a way you should act or behave: he believed all the Christian precept Precepts are little life lessons that are usually passed down to children by authority figures such as parents, teachers, or religious figures. They are not as simple or practical as "eat your vegetables"; they tend to be more weighty and pretentious. In Hamlet, the character Polonius dished out a few choice precepts to his son Laertes: "neither a borrower nor a lender be" and "give every man thy ear, but few thy voice." Of course Laertes never lived long enough to benefit from Polonius's sage advice, since Hamlet offed him with his own poisoned blade

prefatory

1.serving as an introduction or preface. Syn: Introductory The adjective prefatory describes something that serves as a beginning or introduction. The president of the organization made some prefatory remarks before the main speaker at the event. Prefatory is often used to describe an introduction to a speech, book, or other text. If you are asked to speak on a highly controversial subject, you may want to first offer some prefatory remarks that you are only offering your opinion. But at least half the audience will disagree with whatever you say anyway. Your will may have a prefatory clause explaining why you've left everything to your cat Fluffy and not to your awful siblings.

ratify

1.sign or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid To ratify a treaty or contract is to officially approve it by signing or voting for it. You and your brothers and sisters might devise a plan for a family vacation to Disney World, but it would need to be ratified by your parents. You are most likely to hear the word ratify when talking about laws. In the US, Congress writes bills, but they need to be ratified before they become law. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution must be ratified by three-fourths of the states, either passed by the state legislatures or by state conventions.

rakish

1.stylishly handsome and prone to saucy, fast behavior. Synonyms include charming, flashy, and immoral. Ladies, the rakish fellow you met last night with the suave dance moves, smoothly rehearsed lines, and your number listed as "Goddess #14" in his phone is fine for a flirt, but probably isn't meet-the-parents material. Used as an adjective to describe a dashing ladies' man or a streamlined ship, rakish comes from the fusing of rake + -ish. Don Juan, the famous Spanish nobleman immortalized in 17th century Spanish tales, is the epitome of rakish: stylishly handsome and prone to saucy, fast behavior. Synonyms include charming, flashy, and immoral.

Psyche

1.the human soul, mind, or spirit. "their childhood made them want to understand the human psyche and to help others" 2.the deepest thoughts, feelings, or beliefs of a person or group: the male psyche. Peru is a very traditional country, and embedded in its psyche is a love of ceremony. Another word for the place where your thoughts come from is your psyche. Not your actual brain, but whatever it is that generates all of your thoughts and emotions. Psyche comes from the Greek psykhe, which means "the soul, mind, spirit, or invisible animating entity which occupies the physical body." That about sums the way we understand the word today. People have their own individual psyches of course, but you often hear the word used to describe the similar mind set or thought process of a group of people, such as "the American psyche."

proscenium

1.the part of a theatre stage in front of the curtain. The proscenium of a theater stage is a structure in front of the stage that frames the action of the play. It can be square or arched, and the stage curtain is generally directly behind it. The ancient Greeks gave us the modern concept of theater and, with it, the proscenium, one of the divisions of the stage. The word itself can be broken down into prō-, "in front of," and skēnē, "scene": The proscenium is thus the part "in front of the scenery." In a modern theater, the proscenium makes up the so-called "fourth wall," the invisible barrier that separates the stage from the audience and through which the audience watches the action.

rebuttal

1.the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary contention or argument; comeback 2.an instance of rebutting evidence or an accusation. a statement that says that something is not true.When two people debate, one of them makes an argument, and the other follows with a rebuttal, which, plainly put, is the "no, you're wrong and this is why" argument. When two people debate, one of them makes an argument, and the other follows with a rebuttal, which, plainly put, is the "no, you're wrong and this is why" argument. We often associate rebuttals with arguments made in the courtroom or public debates that occur around election time, but the word can really apply to any situation in which an argument is put forth and someone disagrees, and explains why. Sports fans, for instance, like to argue about the likely winner of an upcoming game and when you make a case for why your friend is wrong, you are offering a rebuttal of his argument.

rectify

1.to correct, or set right Did anyone ever rectify, or correct, the prediction of the chicken that kept running around saying that "The sky is falling! The sky is falling," or did people eventually realize that the sky wasn't going anywhere? Looking at rectify and talking about what it means, "to correct, or set right," makes it tempting to think "correct-ify." Nothing genuinely word-rooted about it, but for remembering the meaning, correct and rectify work well together. "Correct-ify" would not be correct, though, because it isn't a word, at least nowadays. Let's rectify that: rectify means to correct, or adjust to make right.

pore

1.to pore means to concentrate your attention on or devote hours of focus to something: like poring over the overwhelming choices in the antiperspirant aisle. 2.tiny opening on the surface of your skin. That trickle of sweat didn't just miraculously appear — it was secreted out of a pore, a really tiny opening on the surface of your skin.When used as a noun, pore means any tiny hole or opening that allows the passage of liquid. In humans, pores are the little holes that bring us such pleasures as armpit sweat and, when clogged, pimples. But when used as a verb, to pore means to concentrate your attention on or devote hours of focus to something: like poring over the overwhelming choices in the antiperspirant aisle.

refectory

A fancy word for a dining hall, or a place for communal meals, is a refectory. It is usually used to describe a dining hall in a religious institution, like where monks eat together. The word refectory comes from the Latin word reficere which means "to restore, renew." A meal together is a great way of restoring unity to a group. Nothing renews community like a great dinner, and the conversation that occurs around it. Lunch in your school's refectory? Maybe not so much.

repute

A person of great or fine repute is someone who's widely known and highly respected. The word has a stuffy feel, so you're better off describing a cellist as being of great repute than, say, a rapper or comedian. Like the words reputation and putative, repute comes from the Latin word putare, which means "consider." And the re? Let's say that the cellist Yo-Yo Ma is widely respected. That means a lot of people consider him to be great. He's considered great not just once but again (and again and again).

plight

A plight is a situation that's hard to get out of. Learning about the plight of very poor people trying rebuild their homes after a devastating earthquake might inspire you to send money to a charity. Plight means predicament. It comes from the word for pleat, which means fold. A plight is a tough bind. You'll usually hear the word plight for groups of people or animals struggling to survive, or struggling for better lives. We talk about the plight of refugees, or the plight of sea birds after an oil spill. An old-fashioned use of plight is for pledge. If you get engaged, you give a plight of your love.

podiatrist

A podiatrist is a foot doctor. Got a bunion? A hammer toe? Call the podiatrist. The word podiatrist is composed of two ancient Greek parts: pod, meaning "foot," and iatrist, meaning "healer." Other kinds of doctors have a similar suffix: think psychiatrist — a doctor of the mind. The pod prefix and suffix is used to name a number of things. For example, a camera tripod has three "feet." Pea pods and iPods? Nothing to do with feet!

podium

A podium is a raised platform like the kind Olympians stand on when they win a medal or like the overturned crate in the garage where you pretend to accept your Academy Award. Stepping up to a podium means taking center stage. A person might be receiving an honor or giving a speech and the added height of a podium makes that person the focus. If you wave a baton as the conductor of an orchestra or band, you'll need to stand on a podium so the musicians can see you. And, if you deliver a rousing message in a church you might use a podium, but probably shouldn't be waving a baton

precis

A precis is a summary of something's main points. If you've ever jotted down notes about your main ideas before writing a persuasive essay, you've used a precis. Precis looks like precise, and of course, you always want your precis to be precise. But the words are pronounced differently. Precis comes from the French word précis, so say it like this: "PRAY see." Or you can accent the other syllable: "pray SEE." The s is only pronounced if the word is plural: "PRAY sees." The spelling stays the same.

premise

A premise is what forms the basis of a theory or a plot. When you called 911 on the guy in your back yard, it was on the premise that he was a thief and not the meter-reader. In logic, the premise is the basic statement upon whose truth an argument is based. Criticize alternative theories by demonstrating their false premises. In a more general sense, it's a basic assertion. On the premise that people are generally good, you keep your doors unlocked. Premise is also used more loosely for the starting point for a plot. A movie's premise could be that two people trapped on a desert island will inevitably fall in love.

rivulet

A rivulet is a small stream. A rivulet is to a river as a baby is to an adult. There are several ways to remember this word. One is the similarity of its sound to "river." Another is the suffix -let, which indicates small things. For example, a piglet is a small pig or baby pig. A 300-pound pig probably wouldn't drown in a tiny rivulet, but a piglet should stay clear. Another word for rivulet is "streamlet."

prerogative

A prerogative is someone's special right or privilege. As Bobby Brown once sang, "I don't need permission / Make my own decisions / That's my prerogative." Prerogative goes back to a Latin root for a group having the right to vote first (prae- 'pre-' + rogare 'to ask') and thus came to mean "privileged rank." In current use, it refers to a right or privilege held by any person or group. A near synonym is privilege, which puts more emphasis on the fact that others do not have it. The self-justifying phrase "That's my prerogative" (for example, in reference to changing one's mind) is quite common.

presage

A presage is a sign that something bad is about to happen, like when you get that queasy feeling in your stomach because your mom found out you skipped band practice to go to the movies. Presage, pronounced "PREH-sige," can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, presage is a warning or omen of bad things to come, like a strange quiet and stillness in the air, presage to the coming tornado. As a verb, presage means "making a prediction or giving a warning of what's to come," like a terrible end-of-season football game's outcome game that presaged the struggles the team faced the next season.

proclivity

A proclivity is a natural tendency to like something, such as your sister's proclivity for restaurants that serve hot, spicy food. When you have a proclivity, it feels automatic — you like what you like; you don't even have to think about it. The origin of the word proclivity supports this feeling. Proclivity comes from the Latin word proclivis, which literally means "sloping forward." You slide toward a proclivity — no effort is needed. You just give in to it, since you're headed in that direction naturally.

prodigy

A prodigy is someone who is so naturally talented at something that they become a master of that particular skill as a child--you can be a musical prodigy or a math prodigy. Mozart was one, writing symphonies and playing for kings when he was only five years old. Prodigy is one of those wonderful words whose different meanings tell a story about how the meanings of words bloom over time. The word derives from the Latin prodigium, meaning an omen or a sign of something to come. Prodigies are kids who often seem so talented that their success must presage even greater mastery, though, of course, the irony is that most prodigies peak in their youth.

projectile

A projectile is a type of weapon that is propelled towards its target. If you shoot a gun at someone, the bullet is a projectile, but the gun itself is not. When projectile refers to a weapon, it is always propelled by something else. Think of the bullet in a gun or a spear thrown by a person. A rocket, which is self-propelled, is also called a projectile. As an adjective, projectile means "propelled forward" as in a projectile force or weapon. Sometimes you see the expression, projectile vomiting, a particularly violent way to throw up.

propensity

A propensity is a natural tendency to behave in a certain way. We all have propensities — things we tend to do. Dogs have a propensity to bark, and many people have a propensity for getting annoyed by it. If you have a propensity for something, then it's something that comes naturally to you or something you just do a lot. Some people have a propensity to laugh. Other people have a propensity for making others laugh, or for being generous, or for getting angry. It's hard to change your propensities. Sometimes a propensity is a bad thing, as in a criminal with a propensity for theft or murder.

protuberance

A protuberance is something that sticks out, like a swelling or a lump, like a bunion on your foot. A protuberance doesn't have to be hideous; it could be your nose on your face or a knot on a tree. The late Latin word prōtūberāre meant "to swell," coming from the prefix pro, which means "forward," and the root word tūber, meaning "swelling." And "root word" is appropriate here, since a tuber is a thick, fleshy part of a root, like a potato. And that should help you remember how to spell the word protuberance. Don't you love it when a word's meaning and its spelling work together?

protégé

A protégé is a person who receives special protection and promotion from someone more established in a field. If your boss introduces you as his newest protégé, you're off to a good start in your career. Essentially, a protégé is a teacher's pet, someone who is given special status or favors. Often, the word is used for someone who has special standout talent and is taken up as an upcoming star or powerhouse. The word's original associations, however, have nothing to do with talent and everything to do with how a person treats the protégé — the source of the word means "protection."

punctilious

A punctilious person pays attention to details. Are you always precisely on time? Is your room perfectly neat? Do you never forget a birthday or a library book's due date? Then you are one of the punctilious people. The adjective punctilious, pronounced "punk-TIL-ee-us," is related to the Italian word puntiglio, meaning "fine point." For someone who is punctilious no point is too fine, no detail too small, to be overlooked. The word is often used to describe people, but it can be used more broadly to apply to observations, behavior, or anything else that is characterized by close attention to detail.

purveyor

A purveyor is someone who supplies goods — often of food or drinks. If you're a seafood purveyor, you will always smell a bit fishy — which is no surprise, considering that you sell cod and haddock all day long. A purveyor can be someone who provides food or drinks, as in the popcorn purveyor who walks up and down through the stands of a baseball game trying to peddle his salty treats. When you go to the circus you will see clowns, who are purveyors of silliness because of their repertoire of fun and hilarious stunts.

pylon

A pylon is a bar or rod that supports some structure, like a bridge or a highway overpass. You might notice the pylons underpinning your city's elevated train tracks. Pylons are often made of steel or concrete, because they are strong substances that can hold a large amount of weight. A pylon needs to be sturdy, since it is supporting a bridge, road, or power lines. Other pylons act as navigational aids, marking paths for cars or small planes. The word's original meaning was "gateway to an Egyptian temple." Pylon is a Greek word that means "gateway," from pyle, "gate or entrance."

retinue

A retinue is a group of people that accompany an important person. If you're a king or queen, you can think of a retinue as your royal crew or posse. Retinue shares a root with retain. This fact can help you remember the word. If you hire someone to help you out while you travel, you are retaining their services. When their services are retained, they become part of your retinue. The Secret Service could be thought of as the U.S. President's retinue. Another example: A celebrity's retinue might include a hair dresser, a personal assistant, and a toy poodle.

quagmire

A quagmire is a dangerous place, like the muddy shoreline of a pond. The more you try to climb out of a quagmire, the more you seem to slip. That's because as you step on the mud, it oozes everywhere. Long ago, quag was a synonym for "bog" or "marsh," a swampy area where water seems to sit instead of drain out. Mire is another word to describe such a place. As a verb mire means "stuck," like someone who is mired in quicksand or mired in work — both prevent you from going anywhere. In a quagmire, you get stuck physically — or, using its other meaning, in a situation that is hard to escape because there is no easy solution.

quibble

A quibble is a small argument or fight. As a verb, it means to pick a mini-fight over something that doesn't really matter. "Let's not quibble over price," people will say, usually when they plan to gouge you. It's better to watch figure skating with the sound off, rather than listening to the announcers quibble over a not-fully-rotated knee or the slightly diminished altitude of a jump. Sometimes a quibble between neighbors over two feet of property can escalate into a major feud.

quirk

A quirk is a unique, odd, and sometimes charming trait that makes a person stand out from the crowd. Country comedian Minnie Pearl was known for her quirk of wearing a $1.98 price tag dangling from her hat. A quirk can be an adorable little habit, like wearing flowery dresses and big sun bonnets or bow ties every day. Someone who has one or many quirks is said to be quirky — a little odd, but usually in a fun way. When it's not being used to describe people's unusual traits, quirk can mean a quick curve, or a groove, that runs along or separates the molding in a building.

rebate

A rebate is a partial refund of the cost of an item. It acts as an incentive to help sell the product. If your new cell phone came with a rebate, you'll get a check in the mail for a certain amount of the cost. A well-known rebate occurred in 2007 when President George Bush issued tax rebate checks to many people in America, giving back some of what each person paid in taxes. Rebate comes from the Old French word rabattre, meaning "beat down, drive back." Rebate can also be used as a verb that refers to giving a reduction in price during a sale. For example, your internet provider might rebate your bill for three months to keep you as a customer.

rebus

A rebus is a puzzle that uses symbols or pictures to represent the sounds of words. A picture of an eye, a heart, and a ewe might be used to say "I love you." Isn't that sweet? A rebus uses pictures and symbols to convey a message in what may be considered a fun code. The letters ICU might be used to stand for the sentence "I see you." The word rebus could be depicted with the letters RE followed by a picture of a school bus. Some children's books use rebuses as a way of introducing kids to the reading process, but rebuses can also be quite challenging, even for the adult mind.

recluse

A recluse lives alone, works alone, eats alone, and generally stays away from other people. Anti-social old hermits are recluses, as are a lot of students during exam time. In the early 13th century, a recluse was a person who shut out the world to go meditate on religious issues. But nowadays recluses can think about whatever they want while they're sitting in solitude — they're simply people who shy away from social interaction and live secluded lives. Or think of the Brown Recluse spider, who likes to hide out in dark old boots or undisturbed corners of the basement.

regatta

A regatta is an organized series of boat races. In a regatta, yachts or sailboats usually participate, but some regattas focus on rowboats or powerboats. In the 1650s, regatta related to a boat race among gondoliers, held on the Grand Canal in Venice. The Italian word regatta means "contention for mastery" and comes from the Latin word regattare, or "to compete, haggle, sell at retail." Regatta came to specifically mean "boat race" — and the many social events related to it — in the late 1700s.

regime

A regime is the ruling government of a country. The amount of freedom and restriction that citizens of a country have can change from regime to regime. Regime takes its militaristic and government feel from the Latin word regimen "to rule." A political regime has a negative association to it that makes you think of totalitarian governments. How did it come to mean "diet" or "program of exercise" as well? If you are put on a regime of exercise and healthy eating, you are ordered by a doctor to do these things and it probably feels like you're being ruled sometimes!

regimen

A regimen is a systematic plan for some kind of therapy. If your doctor tells you to eat more vegetables, cut out potato chips, exercise, and take vitamins, he is prescribing a regimen for better health. It's easy to confuse regimen with regime, which means a ruling government. Both words involve things that you follow. If you wash your face twice a day, apply medicine to your acne, and use a special lotion, that's your "skin-care regimen." A skin-care regime would be armed dermatologists taking over the government.

rejoinder

A rejoinder usually means a witty comeback. If someone asks you a silly question like, "Are you painting?" when you are holding a paint can and a brush, your rejoinder could be, "No, I'm just doing my nails." The word rejoinder comes from the Middle French word rejoindre, which meant to answer a legal charge. The meaning of a witty retort developed from the legal meaning. You often think of the best rejoinders long after the crucial moments have passed, which can be really frustrating.

reminiscence

A reminiscence is a memory, or the act of recovering it. A visit to your old elementary school may flood your brain with reminiscences--things you hadn't thought of in years coming suddenly back. Many people find that when they travel or have quiet time to think, their brain becomes occupied with reminiscence. You can see how close the word reminiscence is in meaning to the word remember--you might think of the word reminiscence as a remembering.

renegade

A renegade is a person who has deserted their cause or defied convention; they're rebels and sometimes outlaws, or even traitors. A long, long time ago, a renegade was a Christian person who decided to become Muslim. That definition is pretty outdated, as these days a renegade is anyone who breaks laws or expectations to do their own thing or join the other side. It might sound kind of cool to be a renegade, like some rogue action hero. But in general, renegade actions are frowned, not smiled, upon.

ruffian

A ruffian is a bully, someone who is violent toward others. Maybe they had a bad childhood, or perhaps they like the sound of people in pain. No matter where they come from, ruffians are best avoided. Soccer fans have a reputation for being ruffians. Sure, some are sensitive poetry-reading types, but the ones that get the most attention scream obscenities, break things, and fight each other. Ruffian comes from a Germanic word that literally translates as "scabbiness," and perhaps ruffians are covered in scabs from all the fights they start. Sometimes a ruffian is a person involved in crime, however, the word is always used to describe someone who's a cruel, violent jerk.

raspy

A sound is raspy when it is rough or scratchy. If you get a bad cold or scream encouragement to a losing team for a few hours, you will end up with a raspy voice. A rasp is a tool, usually used by wood- or metal-workers, to scrape. Nail files and kitchen graters do the same work that a rasp does. A raspy voice sounds like it had to pass through a rasp or a grater to get out of your mouth. If you can barely speak, you might ask for water in a raspy whisper. Other sounds can seem raspy too like a dry cough, the caw of a crow or the bark of a dog that has been at it for a long time.

propinquity

Ah propinquity, a word meaning "proximity or physical closeness." Your propinquity to someone in a conversation will affect whether you can smell his breath or not. Propinquity had a brief moment in the sun on a television show in the 1950s called Dobie Gillis. There was an episode in which the nerdy girl, who was in love with Dobie Gillis, decided to get him to love her back. How? Propinquity! And so she explained it to him, over and over and over, theorizing that just being near someone long enough would tip them over the edge into love. Sadly for her, it didn't work, but everyone who has ever seen or heard of the episode has the meaning of propinquity burned into their brain.

recount

As a verb, recount can mean either "tell the story of" or "add up again." As a noun, recount usually refers to the second (or third or fourth) tallying of votes in a close election. The word count comes from the old French conter, which means "add up" or "tell a story." Here's a story to recount (narrate): In an election featuring Count Dracula and Count Johnson, Dracula wins by two votes, so Johnson demands a recount (an adding up of the votes again). The officials recount (count again) the votes, and this time find Count Johnson the winner. Dracula threatens to bite the officials and they quickly change their minds.

postulate

Assume something or present it as a fact and you postulate it. Physicists postulate the existence of parallel universes, which is a little mind-blowing. Anyone who has suffered through geometry class is familiar with some of the greatest hits, like Euclid's postulate and the point-line-plane postulate. Those are propositions that have to be assumed for other mathematical statements to follow logically. As a verb (pronounced "POST-you-late") it describes the act of presenting an idea, theory, belief, or concept.

recumbent

Bikes on which you recline rather than sit upright are recumbent. Recumbent means to leaning back in a reclining position. Recumbent starts like recline, which is an easy way to remember it. Your dad's position in his favorite La-Z-Boy reclining chair? Recumbent. Your position when you lay back on lounge chair at the pool? Also recumbent — and in both cases, these are both positions of comfort.

preeminent

Calling someone preeminent means they're truly outstanding or better than everyone else — not in general, but in a specific field or specialty. Such as a preeminent geologist. The adjective preeminent was first recorded in the mid 15th century and has its roots in the Latin praeeminentem, which means "to project forward, rise above." And anything that's been described as preeminent certainly does rise above the rest. Preeminent scholars or universities or craftsmen are the best at what they do and are well known because of it.

precipice

Cartoon characters often end up on a precipice, the edge of a steep cliff, where their chubby toes curl and cling as they totter and eventually fall, making a hole in the ground below and getting up again. Most real people avoid precipices. Unless you're a skilled climber or mountain-sport enthusiast, a precipice is a scary thing. Some imagine falling off and making the sharp drop, while others get dizzy just thinking about looking down. This makes sense, considering that the 17th-century English word precipice comes, through French, from Latin words meaning "headlong" and even "abrupt descent." In modern use, precipice also describes how it feels to fall, or fail, in areas of life that don't involve mountains, such as being "on the precipice of losing everything."

retract

Have you ever said something you wish you could retract, or take back? You're not alone. Even newspapers and magazines have sections where the editors can retract something written that was incorrect. The sense of the word retract meaning to draw back or withdraw comes from the mid-16th century, and its meaning was clear when Napoleon Bonaparte said, "In politics...never retreat, never retract...never admit a mistake." Still, sometimes you wish you could retract something you said or did. Cats can retract their claws, and some snakes can retract their fangs, but words spoken in anger can never be fully retracted, or taken back.

remediable

If it's remediable than it can be fixed or cured. Your dog's bad breath, dangerous shopping habits, and poison ivy are all remediable afflictions. Remediable is a formal way of describing something that can be fixed up because there's a remedy for it. Horace Mann, the first American advocate of public education, said that "evil is inevitable, but is also remediable" — meaning that even the most rotten kids can be reformed and rehabbed into model citizens. Today's detention hall monitors might disagree.

Pulchritude

If someone comments on the pulchritude of your face, you shouldn't be offended. It may sound like quite the opposite, but pulchritude actually means "beauty." Pulchritude is one of those words that is more often commented upon for its oddness than actually used in its intended meaning. Many people dislike the sound of this word or are surprised to find that it is a synonym of beauty. These days pulchritude is considered outdated and is usually only used in highly literary writing or, in more common writing, to achieve a witty effect.

Recalcitrant

If someone is so pig-headed that he won't budge on an issue, call him recalcitrant. Not that it will make a difference... Recalcitrant is from Latin calcitrare, meaning "to kick," so someone who is recalcitrant is kicking back against what's wanted of them. Synonyms are unruly, intractable, and refractory, all referring to what is difficult to manage or control. Writers are frequently referring to recalcitrant Democrats and Republicans, since many people are stubbornly loyal to their political parties and unwilling to change.

Reparable

If something is broken or lost but can be put back together, or replaced, then it is reparable. You may be disappointed if someone knocks over your house of cards, but you can take comfort knowing that the structure is reparable. Reparable is a close relative of its more common synonym repairable (both basically mean "able to be repaired"). The word reparable, though, is usually reserved for damages or injuries that can be reversed or losses that can be replaced, while the word repairable is more for things or problems that can be fixed. For example, if your friend broke your glasses, they are repairable, but if he hurt your pride, it is reparable — hopefully.

potable

If something is potable that means it's safe to drink. In developed countries, tap water is usually potable. Puddle water is not. I know you want to take a sip of that puddle water, but please, restrain yourself. Potable can also be a noun, meaning any drinkable liquid. The word comes from the Latin potare, meaning "to drink." Not only did the Romans come up with that word; they built some of the world's first aqueducts, above-ground channels that brought potable water from the mountains to the cities. Potable water is often in short supply after natural catastrophes like earthquakes and hurricanes, and its availability is often discussed on the news.

rampart

If you are building a sand castle and want it to be extra realistic, don't forget the rampart. This protective wall may not keep the ocean away, but it might intimidate a few hostile hermit crabs. This noun is derived from the French verb remparer, meaning "to fortify," and dates back to the 16th century. This usually refers to a large defensive wall surrounding a castle, but can be a barrier built along a road or an embankment constructed alongside a river. This word is famously used in the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States: "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming..."

politic

If you are politic, you are smooth and diplomatic. You'd probably make a good politician. Being politic is being polite and agreeable. Screaming and yelling is not politic. Speaking quietly, making apologies, and giving compliments are all politic things to do. When you want something, being politic is the way to go. It can definitely help to remember that politicians are good at getting what they want — they are shrewd and very politic.

propitiate

If you forgot flowers on your Mom's birthday, you can still propitiate her by sending a bouquet the next day. Propitiate means to appease someone or make them happy by doing a particular thing. Handy strategy for lovers, too. One of the most common uses of propitiate historically was in the sense of appeasing the Gods, often with a gift in the form of an animal or human sacrifice. Fortunately, for most people today flowers and candy will do the trick. But then again, some Moms can be tough to appease.

reverberate

If you give a loud shout in a cavernous place, like a gym, or a church, the sound of your voice will reverberate throughout the room. Reverberate means sound waves traveling back and forth, as in an echo. Often we use reverberate to talk about sound, or sometimes light. If a noise echoes for a long time, we can say the space reverberates with that noise. You may have heard of a reverb effect in audio processing, which is basically a long echo. We also use the word metaphorically to describe the impact of huge events. For example, the 2008 mortgage crisis in the US reverberated throughout the world's economy, causing a global recession.

rebuff

If you rebuff someone, you reject or snub him. You might decide to rebuff a classmate's invitation to the dance after hearing him gossip meanly about a friend. Although the verb rebuff is a somewhat old fashioned one to use for social relationships, it's still common in the world of diplomacy. One country's rebuff of another might start a war, or end peace talks, or otherwise reverberate through the world of international relations. You can also use rebuff as a noun — deliberately ignoring your sister's text message is one example of a rebuff. The Italian root word, ribuffo, combines ri, expressing opposition, and buffo, "a puff."

relinquish

If you relinquish something, you let it go. You relinquish control of the army when you resign as general. Your relinquish your plan to sneak into town when your parents find out what's going on. Relinquish is also commonly used to mean physically letting go of something: The monkey wouldn't relinquish its grasp on the banana. Relinquish descends from Latin relinquere, from the prefix re- "again" plus linquere "to leave."

privy

If you're privy to something, you've been let in on a secret or know about something that most people don't. Not many people are privy to what those top secret documents are all about, for example. The adjective privy comes from the Latin privatus, meaning "private," and describes someone who has knowledge of secret or confidential information. But watch out: If you use privy as a noun, it can mean "outhouse" or "toilet," which actually might be a good place to hide your diary if you don't want anyone else to be privy to its contents.

Prattle

If your little sister won't stop talking about her latest crush and you don't want to hear it, you might say, "Stop prattling on about that loser!" To prattle is go on and on about something unimportant. Prattle can also be a noun. If your sister tattles about your comment regarding her prattling, you could defend yourself to your mother with: "I didn't mean to call Sophie's crush a loser, but she had driven me mad with her constant prattle." There are a lot of funny-sounding words with a meaning similar to prattle - chatter, blether, blather, jabber, gabble, blabber, and babble, to name a few.

ravine

In a Western, outlaws will lie in wait at the top of a ravine, or narrow valley, until they see a traveler entering at the bottom. Then, the outlaws will come pounding down the ravine's steep sides. Ravines can be lonely and violent places averse to settlement as nothing can be built along their steep sides. The word ravine itself derives from the archaic rapin, which is a violent seizure of property. During times of heavy rains and snow melt, a ravine may be filled with violent, rushing water.

plutocracy

In a plutocracy, the people are ruled by the wealthy few. We know that's not true of our democracy. "One person, one vote" is how our system works. There's no plutocracy here. Rich people theoretically have no more power than do the poor. Whenever you see cracy, you know you're dealing with a form of rulership or government. The first part of the word comes from the Greek ploutos, meaning wealth. Put them together, and you get plutocracy, a government ruled by the rich. How does this differ from, say, an aristocracy? Well, the truth is that it isn't very different. Members of the aristocracy tend to be rich, but their money tends to be "old money." In a pure plutocracy, even the overnight billionaire can be a ruler.

ramshackle

Is your house in terrible condition? Does the roof leak? Is it half tumbling down? Congratulations! It's ramshackle — in other words — in terrible condition and barely holding together. If you think there's a similarity between a place that's been ransacked and a place that's ramshackle, you'd be right. Ramshackle comes from ransackle, an old nineteenth century term for ransack. Although ramshackle is usually intended as a negative term, that's not always the case. Sometimes it can imply a certain cute picturesque quality. Buildings, places, and even some objects such as cars can be considered ramshackle.

Repartee

Late night talk show hosts are known for being experts at repartee, or clever conversation, with their celebrity guests. Repartee comes from the French word repartire which is a fencing term meaning an answering thrust with a sword. When you are engaging in repartee, you don't literally stab someone, but you come back with a quick sharp blow. Most of us aren't as quick as we'd like to be. Mark Twain defined repartee as, "something we think of 24 hours too late."

Plethora

Plethora means an abundance or excess of something. If you have 15 different people who want to take you on a date, you have a plethora of romantic possibilities. Plethora comes from the Greek for "fullness." Although it was originally used only in old-fashioned medicine to describe the condition of having too much blood, we use it to talk about any excessive supply. If you run a theater and all the seats are taken, that's a full house. But if the seats are full and people are standing in the aisles, you have a plethora of patrons. The stress is on the first syllable: PLETH-uh-ruh.

Posterity

Posterity is a noun meaning "future generations." These people of the future could be your children and great-great grandchildren, or any people who are born after you. If you save something "for posterity," you're hoping that years later people will appreciate it, like a time capsule you bury in the yard. The word comes from the Latin word for "post, after." It's also related to the word posterior, which means "behind, to come after in time." In legal terms, posterity refers to the offspring of a person and it often has to do with inheriting property and who is entitled to do so.

Predispos

Predispose means to have a tendency toward something. Some people believe that just being born in Canada will predispose you to love ice hockey. Many situations or events can predispose you to have a particular reaction, opinion, or feeling. Being bitten by a dog as a child could predispose you to having a fear of dogs. Having ancestors with great athletic ability might predispose you to enjoy running. If you want to predispose your father to liking your new boyfriend, be sure to tell him about volunteering at the food bank and leave out the bits about his arrest and dropping out of school.

Prehensile

Prehensile means "able to grasp" and often refers to such body parts as claws, feet, and tails. Elephants curl their prehensile noses around objects in order to pick them up. Prehensile is an adjective that comes from a French word for "grasped." Humans and other primates (like monkeys, lemurs, and gorillas) have prehensile hands with curling fingers for grasping — a definite advantage over dogs, for instance, who can't use a pencil when poetic inspiration strikes them. Prehensile can also mean "greedy" or "grasping for riches."

Preternatural

Preternatural describes something that seems oddly abnormal and out of sync with everything else. If you hear a preternatural dog's barking, maybe it sounds like a police siren instead of a howl. Note that preternatural contains the word natural. Preter comes from the Latin word praeter which means "beyond"; so something preternatural is beyond nature. It is less commonly used than unnatural or supernatural but means the same thing. If you lift a truck off the ground and hold it above your head, people will marvel at you and say you have preternatural strength.

Pretext

Pretext is a false reason given for doing something. If you catch your mother going through your drawers, and she says she was just tidying up, cleaning was her pretext for snooping. Sometimes a government will try to take away its citizens' rights under the pretext of national security. Though pretext sounds like text that comes before other text, the text you see in it is actually more closely related to the word textile, meaning fabric. Its Latin root meant pretty much "to pull the wool over someone's eyes."

Prim

Prim means polite, straight-laced, even twee. Many characters in Jane Austen novels are prim and proper. Prim describes someone who is so concerned with being proper it becomes almost fake. If you go to the beach on spring break wearing a Victorian bathing costume, you're being prim. Clothes can be prim, too, like that long wool swimsuit. If you're feeling crazy, you can use prim as a verb meaning, "to purse your mouth into a prim expression" — like how you prim your lips when you look down your nose at someone using the wrong fork.

Primp

Primp is a word that is best illustrated by girls getting ready for a ball--it means to groom yourself elaborately. Primp is a word that was very popular in the 19th century. In "Little Women" and other novels by Louisa May Alcott, girls waste much time primping, when they ought to be grooming their character and thinking about their behavior instead.

Profane

Profane is the sort of language that gets bleeped on TV but it's also whenever you deeply offend people with how little respect you show something (usually religious). The Latin root profanus means "unholy," and that's where it all started. If you take the Lord's name in vain, you've profaned Him and probably made your mom pretty angry too. Don't even try the curse words so vital to a truly great hip-hop track but perhaps not recommended for dinner with Grandma.

Protocol

Protocol is most often used when talking about the rules of government or official agencies. It is derived from the French and refers to the correct rules of etiquette for diplomats. The term protocol is used in many areas besides diplomatic ones. School marching bands or college admissions offices follow protocols, and doctors use them to treat patients with specific conditions. In tech circles, a protocol is a set of standards that programmers follow so that their work can be decoded by other computers. The p in the http of a web address is short for protocol. Without this type of protocol, you would not be able to read this page.

Prowess

Prowess means exceptional skill or ability. Your sailing prowess might save your life in a storm, while someone with less experience might make mistakes. An earlier meaning of this word is exceptional bravery in battle, or a specific act of bravery. Prowess is from Middle English, from Old French proece, proesse, from prou, prud "good, capable, brave." The related English word proud has the now obsolete meaning of brave.

Pugilist

Pugilist is a fancy word for boxer, one who indulges in the noble art of pugilism, or fighting with one's fists. Be warned when people use the term pugilist or you see it in the paper. Nowadays such a term is often sarcastic in tone and critical of boxing's claims for legitimacy, often suggesting it's essentially savagery masquerading as sport. If you hear "the term "fighter" you can be more certain it's used with approval, or at least without prejudice.

Punitive

Punitive describes inflicting a punishment. If someone takes punitive action against you, you'll probably whine and complain — you're in trouble and you're about to get punished. An easy way to remember the meaning of punitive is that it looks like the word punish — both come from the Latin root word punire, "to inflict a penalty on." Punitive doesn't always refer to a person-to-person punishment, like a mom disciplining a child. It can also describe the unpleasant result of an action on a large scale, like the punitive effect higher taxes will have on the middle class.

Quaint

Quaint means strange and unusual in an old-fashioned and charming way. It's a word you'd use to describe a little store that sells tea cozies and antique tea services, or your grandmother's habit of calling the radio the "wireless." There is a commonly used sarcastic sense of quaint--when something is run down or shabby and you're trying to say something positive, you might substitute "How...quaint" for "How...interesting." In Middle English, this adjective meant clever or cunning. Its origin is Old French queinte, cointe, from Latin cognitus "known," from cognōscere "to learn."

Quash

Quash means to put down, stop, extinguish, and it's usually used to talk about ideas, feelings, or political movements. You wouldn't quash a grape underfoot; you would squash it. But if you were a military dictator, you would quash a revolution. Quash is an extreme word. It comes from the French word for smash, or shatter. If something is quashed it is completely suppressed, usually by something or someone very powerful or authoritative. If you wrote a poem and asked your favorite teacher to read it, and that teacher tore it to pieces, then your hopes were most likely quashed.

Quizzical

Quizzical usually means puzzled or questioning, though it can also mean confused, surprised, comical, or mocking. If someone's looking at you with a quizzical expression when you mention your summer, it might mean they don't know about your adventures at space camp. The word quiz tucked inside quizzical should help you remember the idea of questioning that this adjective often suggests. The word also comes in handy to describe being eccentric or odd, as well as skeptical or derisive. You raise a quizzical eyebrow every time you see me in my giant fur hat. Does that mean you don't like it?

Raiment

Raiment is an old-fashioned word for clothing, particularly fancy clothing, like ladies who always wore their best raiment when calling on friends. Raiment is formal clothing. It comes from the Old French word areer or "to array," which describes dressing in decorative clothing, or adorning yourself in the very best. The word raiment has mostly gone out of use, much like the rare practice of getting very dressed up.

Rancid

Rancid is a great name for a post-punk band, but a lousy way to describe the sauce on your eggs Benedict. Rancid means sour, rotten, nasty and refers most specifically to the sharp bad smell of decomposing oils or fats. If you've never had the pleasure of smelling something rancid, life has quite a wallop in store for you. As meat, fat, or oil decomposes the chemical change creates a sharp wretched stink that will cause you to recoil. It's just foul. The powerful horrendous fragrance of rancid butter, therefore, makes the word wonderfully potent to describe all sorts of things — from a corrupt dictatorship to a party that's gone on a few hours too long.

Rapport

Rapport is a good sense of understanding and trust. If you have good rapport with your neighbors, they won't mind if you kick your ball onto their property every now and then. If you have rapport with someone, you two communicate with trust and sympathy. The word is often used to mean good interaction between people in different positions or roles such as parent and teacher, teacher and student, doctor and patient, supervisor and worker, or speaker and audience. It is always important to establish rapport with people you come into contact with regularly. Pronounce this borrowed word from the French ra-POOR.

Raucous

Raucous means unpleasantly loud, or behaving in a noisy and disorderly way. It can be hard to give an oral report in the front of a classroom when the kids in the back are being raucous. Raucous is often used to refer to loud laughter, loud voices, or a loud party, all of which can be harsh or unpleasant. Near synonyms are strident and rowdy. This adjective is from Latin raucus "hoarse." Think of raucous as people whose hoarseness can't come on too soon.

Ravel

Ravel is an interesting verb, in that it can mean both "tangle" and "untangle." So if you work to ravel yarn into a neat ball, your cat may come along and try to ravel it again. The first syllable in ravel is accented and gets the short a sound, as in apple: "RA-vle" How can a word mean both one thing and its opposite? In the case of ravel, the answer is sewing: As threads come unwoven from a cloth, they become tangled on each other. Since untangling is never far from tangling, ravel covers both meanings.

Raze

Raze means to tear an object down to the ground. Before Donald Trump can raze that family's home to build another skyscraper, he's going to have to cut them a big check. Raze is most often used to refer to knocking buildings down for construction projects, but it can also describe tearing down other objects. You can raze the sand dunes in order to make the beach perfectly flat. Raze comes from the word rasen, meaning "to scrape or erase," and it sounds similar to the word erase, which can help you remember its meaning. If you raze something, in a way it has been erased — it no longer exists in its previous form.

Rectitude

Rectitude refers to behavior that is correct, upright and honorable. You have moral rectitude if you refuse to be involved with a plan that some kids in your class have to cheat on a test. This is a word that's easy to remember! First of all, rectitude sounds like rector, a member of the clergy, who is supposed to be a person with a highly moral ... 'tude, if you will. It also has the same prefix as rectangle, that most upright of geometric figures. If someone talks about fiscal rectitude, they are concerned with doing the right thing financially.

Regicide

Regicide is the killing of a king (or queen.) From the Latin regis, meaning "king" and the ancient French cide, meaning "killer." Today it can also be applied to politicians who topple a president or prime minister. People had been killing kings and queens (think Cleopatra) long before the term regicide really took off, which was after the execution of King Charles I in England in 1649. The guy had his head chopped off, but a far worse fate awaited those who had signed off in Parliament on the head-chopping. They were hung, drawn, and quartered — i.e., cut up and hanged while still alive. Dangerous profession, regicide.

Relish

Relish isn't just a hotdog topping. The verb relish means to enjoy something immensely. You may relish eating the relish on your hotdog, or you may relish taking an afternoon nap. The word relish has been around since the 16th century and comes to us from the French, who are pretty good at indulging and savoring. When at a dinner party, win points with your host by sighing happily after each bite to show just how much you relish the meal. Relish is also a kind of spicy or savory condiment, the stuff you slather on hotdogs or hamburgers. So if you're fickle when it comes to pickles, you might ask them to hold the relish.

Remission

Remission refers to a stage of lesser intensity, when something subsides or improves. Remission is usually a good thing — like when your cancer is in remission, it means that it is manageable and not getting any worse. Remission comes from the Latin remissionem, meaning "relaxation, a sending back." If something difficult lets up, you'll be able to relax a little. For example, if are being pelted non-stop during a dodgeball game, you'd hope for a remission, so you have a minute to take a breath and find your glasses. Another meaning of the noun remission is a payment. Your college tuition remission must be taken care of before you start classes.

Rendezvous

Rendezvous is a very French way to say "meeting" or "date." So go ahead and call your next dentist appointment or lunch date with friends a rendezvous. In the 1590s, rendezvous meant "a place for assembling of troops." And you'll still hear military tacticians talking about "rendezvous points" today. But more often we use rendezvous to describe an assembling of friends, an appointment, or a date with your secret lover. If you're feeling extra Frenchy, you can use rendezvous as a verb, as in "Let's rendezvous next Saturday at the mall."

Repertoire

Repertoire refers to the full supply of what you can do. A singer's repertoire is all the songs they can sing. A chef's repertoire is what she knows how to cook. Repertoire was borrowed from French répertoire, from Late Latin repertorium "an inventory." The Late Latin word is also the source of English repertory, a group of actors that perform many plays, each performed for a short time. The second "r" in both repertoire and repertory is often not pronounced.

Reprehensible

Reprehensible means deserving of blame or strong criticism. It is a strong word--your mother might forgive you for doing something bad, but something reprehensible? That's worse. Near synonyms are blameworthy and culpable. Antonyms are blameless and praiseworthy. The adjective reprehensible is from Middle English, from Latin reprehensus, from reprehendere plus the suffix -ibilis "deserving of, capable of." If someone is reprehended, they are blamed or strongly criticized.

Reprise

Reprise means "repeat an earlier role." If you're asked to reprise your role as "kid entertainer" at the annual family reunion, that means people want you to do it again this year. Early on, reprise was a part in a song or other musical composition that is repeated. The word still carries that meaning, but now it's more likely to be used as a verb to describe an action or part that is repeated, often a performance. For example, if you played a role in a wildly successful film that is going to have a sequel, you would reprise your role. The word comes from the French word repris, meaning "take back."

Resentment

Resentment, or the strong and painful bitterness you feel when someone does something wrong to you, doesn't have actual physical weight, but it feels very heavy and can last a long time. Forgiveness is one way to get rid of resentment. Sometimes resentment lasts for years. It can be strong and hard to pull out, like an old, gnarled tree root. While resentment over being wronged can come from just one act against you, it also can get stronger over time, as in "your growing resentment might just come from the fact that the team captain always picks you last." It also comes from misunderstandings, like feeling resentment over a dirty look you thought was directed at you but really wasn't. It's usually best to root out resentment early.

Restitution

Restitution is the act of making up for damages or harm, like the time you knocked the ball out of the park, scoring a home run but breaking a house's window in the process. You had to make restitution for the broken window, paying for its replacement. The noun restitution means both "restoring something to its original state" and "returning something to its rightful owner," like a public apology that leads to the restitution of a person's honor and reputation. Restitution also has a specific legal meaning — an order given by a judge to a convicted criminal to make amends for the crime. For examples, judges often order people to pay restitution for the damage they cause.

Resumption

Resumption is what you're doing when you resume, or start from the point where you left off. If your little sister has been bothering you, then goes out to play, you can expect peace for an hour, then a resumption of the annoyance when she returns. Like the word resume, resumption has roots in the Latin prefix re- meaning "again" and sumere meaning to "take up." Combine these two root words: "to take up again" and you get the meaning of the word. If warring nations stop fighting in an attempt to negotiate a peace settlement, you can expect a resumption of hostilities between them if the negotiations fail.

Retrograde

Retrograde describes moving in a backwards or reverse direction. If you're suddenly told that you can no longer vote because you're a woman, that's a retrograde affront to your civil rights. Start protesting! This word comes from the Latin retrogradus, meaning "going backward." You might hear retrograde used in astronomy to describe the movements of the planets. If a planet like Mercury is in retrograde, that means it appears to be moving backwards. Retrograde can also describe something that's going from better to worse. The farm's retrograde practice of spraying their crops with harsher and harsher pesticides is causing our health to suffer.

Retrospective

Retrospective means looking back. An art exhibit that cover an artist's entire career is called a retrospective because it looks back at the work the artist has produced over many years. Retro- means back, -spect- means look (think: spectacles), so the word means literally 'a looking back.' Many people take a retrospective look at their lives on birthdays or on New Year's Eve to evaluate events and see how well they've met their goals. You could call the yearly evaluation you get from your boss a retrospective review of your work.

Revelry

Revelry is a wild, fun time. If you enjoy the revelry of a New Year's Eve party, you might pay for partying hard the next day. The noun revelry means merrymaking, but because it comes from the French word reveler meaning to rebel, its tone indicates carousing or noisy partying. It's not your grandparents' tame, sedate cocktail party: revelry is a full-throttle festive gathering, where people outwardly enjoy themselves. In fact, a wild party was once called a "revel," though you don't hear that term used much today.

rider

Riders are people who are in motion — riding bicycles, subways, horses, roller coasters and much more. Another kind of rider is a special list that comes, or "rides along" with a contract. The noun rider means "one who rides," but its other meaning is "a document that is added to legal or official documents." On Capitol Hill, lawmakers add riders to legislation documents to try to get certain stipulations to be part of new laws. You may have heard of touring musicians who demand that certain rare flowers be placed in their hotel rooms, which must Italian linen sheets on the bed, and be exactly 71 degrees. It's all in the rider of the tour contract.

Rift

Rift sounds like rip, and it's helpful to think of it that way. When there is a rift in a political party over how much taxes to pay, it is like a rip or tear in the fabric of the group. Rift has a slightly different sense than break. A group can have a rift without having fully broken apart. A rift can heal, though a break is permanent. A rift can arise between sisters over whose turn it is to do dishes; it can quickly heal when parents promise an ice cream trip when the dishes are done. The Earth's crust has rifts, where it's splitting apart, like in East Africa.

Rococo

Rococo describes a very ornate style originating in Europe. If you love tons of decoration and fancy details, then you'll love the rococo style of architecture and music. Modern design is all simplicity: clean lines and no clutter. Rococo design — which came and went in Europe in the 1700s — is the opposite: it explodes with detail, ornament, patterns, and decoration. If something other than an actual work of design or music is described as rococo, it means wildly detailed, to the point of excess. They sat me next to Diana, who told me the whole rococo story of her divorce. Hours had passed before she even got to the part about the affair.

Rote

Rote means learning a fact by repeating it. Rote means learning a fact by repeating it. Rote means learning a fact by repeating it. Do you remember what rote means yet? Some teachers think rote learning is bad for students. They say that if students just use memorization to learn knowledge that they will not have a deeper understanding of how things relate to one another or can be applied. Another way rote is used, is to refer to knowing something so well that you can recite it from memory, or by heart. You might know a lot of nursery from childhood by rote.

Ruddy

Ruddy is used to describe something that is reddish — like the color of red hair, tomatoes, or your cheeks on a cold winter's day. Ruddy is commonly used to describe someone's complexion. In this case, it describes a healthy, reddish glow. Your skin might have a ruddy tone from working outside. You may hear someone use ruddy as a negative adjective, as well. In Britain it is a substitute for words like bloody or darn: "The ruddy door is stuck again. I'm going to take an axe to it!"

pyromaniac

Someone who loves to set fires — and, for whatever reason, can't stop setting them — is a pyromaniac. Maniac is a word attached to many words for mental illness, but this has to be one of the most scary. A pyromaniac has a frequent, powerful desire to set fires. This is different from an arsonist, who sets fires for money. Pyromaniacs just set fires because they want to and feel a compulsion to. Pyromania is a sickness. A pyromaniac could also be someone who loves watching fires.

Prodigious

Something exceptional, substantial, or great is prodigious. A blizzard includes prodigious wind and snow. A prodigious writer is one who can write a lot and do it well. Prodigious is a word for things that are impressive. If you have prodigious strength, you're very strong. If your cat had a prodigious litter of kittens, then you've got a houseful of kittens. This is a strong word that's also kind of formal. Save it for things that really blow you away because of their quality or quantity. A little drizzle isn't a prodigious rain, but a storm that floods a whole city certainly is.

rapacious

Something rapacious is out to devour — anything, and little can stand in its way. A rapacious landlord is out for more rent, and a rapacious eater is only satisfied at the all-you-can-eat buffet. A 17th-century word, from the Latin rapere, "to snatch," rapacious originally described the people and animals who often preyed on weaker creatures and devoured them, by eating them or by ruining them through some scandal. Modern-day companies even get the label rapacious when their appetites for profit seem to devour "lesser" interests, like the environment and employee benefits.

Ratiocination

Take your time and think things through logically. That's what it means to use ratiocination to solve a problem. To correctly pronounce ratiocination say, "rat-ee-oh-seh-NA-shun." Ratiocination uses reason or logic to figure something out. It might involve determining probabilities, syllogisms, even mathematical formulas, or simply following all the steps in a process that you believe will lead you to the correct or best answer. Ratiocination is the opposite of taking a wild guess or just "going with your gut."

propulsive

The adjective propulsive describes something that has the power to drive something forward. You would not want a propulsive jet engine on your model airplane — it's just too much power for something that should stay in the basement. You can think of propulsive as describing an object that has propellers (like a helicopter) that move it forward. But the word propulsive is not just for the literal. Use propulsive to make a description more colorful and imaginative. The word suggests a feeling of propelling, like hearing a soaring melody with a propulsive rhythm or a propulsive speech that makes you want to change the world.

pomposity

The noun pomposity means super-sized self-confidence. A person who thinks he or she is better than every else suffers from pomposity — and everyone in that person's life suffers, too. Pomposity, pronounced "pahm-POSS-ih-tee," isn't just for arrogant people. Things can have this unpleasant quality, too. For example, the pomposity of an award ceremony that presents the winners and judges as the most important people who ever lived will leave viewers cold. Language can also be a victim of pomposity — when someone says, "We dined at our beloved little bistro," another person would say, "We ate at our favorite neighborhood joint."

poignancy

The noun poignancy refers to something that is deeply touching, especially something that brings forth strong emotions like sympathy, sadness, or sorrow. The poignancy of the movie may bring you to tears. Bring tissues. Lots of tissues. The noun poignancy is from the Old French word poindre, which means "to prick or sting." Related words include the adjective poignant. Similar words include pathos and bathos, although both of these words often imply a sort artificiality that poignancy does not. Pathos can imply a trick by the writer or speaker to produce sympathy or sadness and bathos can imply artificial sentimentality, so poignancy is often the preferred word when genuine emotion is involved.

polity

The noun polity refers to a political group of any size or shape — it can be a government, a state, a country, or even a social group. When you hear the word polity, think politics and you're on the right track. The prefix for polity dates all the way back to Greece, from the word politeia, which means "citizenship" or "government." Any group run by politics can be called a polity. The Democratic Party is a polity, but hopefully your birthday party isn't.

reaper

The noun reaper refers to a person who harvests crops. If your part-time job involves harvesting corn by hand, then you're a reaper. Reaper can also refer to a piece of farm equipment used to harvest crops, especially grains. It's not a coincidence that reap looks a lot like the word ripe. When the crops are ripe — in Old English, "ready for reaping, fit for eating" — a reaper, either human or mechanical, can harvest them. Reap means "to cut grain with a hook or sickle." This might remind you of the Grim Reaper, the personification of death in art, movies, and stories, who is shown carrying a sickle and is said to be the harvester of souls.

rubble

The pile of crumbled debris that's left over after something breaks or collapses is rubble. Famous scenes of rubble include the fallen Twin Towers on September 11 and the remains of the Haitian capital after the 2010 earthquake. Rubble rhymes with "bubble," but when a bubble bursts, it just dissolves into liquid, while rubble is piles of rock, concrete, brick, and other remains that are a very physical reminder of destruction. Rock slides create rubble from rocks, and natural disasters and explosions create rubble from buildings, cars, and trees. Unfortunately, rubble is usually heavy and can trap people or things beneath it, as when bodies are found in the rubble of a fire or earthquake.

prelude

The prefix "pre-" means "before," so it makes sense that a prelude is an introductory action, event or performance that comes before a bigger or more momentous one. People speaking old school French and Latin understood a prelude to be the "notes sung or played to test the voice or instrument." Today preludes are more like introductions than practice, but you can still think of them as a small warm up to the main event. Preludes are often used in classical music, as well as in novels, to set the tone for the rest of the orchestral piece or story.

quintessence

The quintessence of something is its perfect, ideal example. Some people say that the quintessence of American cuisine is the hamburger. Vegetarians may beg to differ. Ancient Greek philosophers claimed there were five elements: earth, wind, air, fire, and a fifth substance that made up objects in the heavens. This idea was passed down through the ages to Latin-speaking scholars who called the fifth element quintessence — from the Latin words quintus, meaning "fifth," and essentia, meaning "being." Eventually, the word's meaning evolved into our modern definition of an ideal, a potentially heavenly example of something — you know, like a hamburger.

ramify

The verb ramify describes something that branches off or spreads, like the new subway lines that ramify across your city and reach even the neighborhoods farthest from the center. Ramify came into English through French, but it traces all the way back to the Latin word ramus, meaning "branch." It can describe things that literally branch out in segments, or it can be used figuratively to describe things that spread, like the effects of a new policy that ramify through your school. Ramify might seem like a strange word, but you probably know the related word ramification, a consequence that stems — or branches — from some other action.

rend

The verb rend means to tear with force or violence. If you are sewing a shirt and haven't been paying attention, to fix it you will rend your shirt from collar to hem. The past tense of the verb is rent. Your shirt was rent from collar to hem. Tear, rip, and rend are all synonyms for each other, but it's a question of degree. Of the three, rend implies the most violent separation. You can also use rend figuratively to express great emotional distress. If you're betrayed by a friend, it rends your heart right out of your chest. The word can also be used figuratively to mean like a forceful tear. On the roller coaster, your scream rends the air as you go upside down and barrel around turns.

rancor

The word rancor is best when you're not just talking about anger, you're talking about deep, twisted bitter type of anger in your heart. The open rancor in political discussion prevents cooperation between political parties. The most helpful way to remember rancor with all its dark, miserable bitterness is to think of how rancor rhymes with canker, as in canker sore, the horrible painful burning on your lip. Or, you might want to remind yourself that rancor has its roots in the word rancid meaning "rotten." Rancor refers particularly to the sort of ill-will associated with resentment, envy, slow-brewing anger, and a very personal sort of hatred.

ravage

The word ravage can be used as a noun or a verb meaning destruction or to destroy. In a war, bombs and the attacking army will ravage the country under siege. When ravage is used as a noun, you usually see it in the plural. Beware of the ravages of drugs on your body and your life. The city has almost been destroyed by the ravages of poverty and disaster. Often you see it paired with the word, time, to describe how things fall apart as they age. The ravages of time may be apparent in the lined faces and hunched postures of your grandparents.

redundant

The word redundant applies to things that are unnecessary or could be left out. Calling a blank sheet of paper empty is redundant. Teachers often tell students to avoid being redundant — meaning avoid saying something twice or more. Have you ever heard someone tell a story and repeat the same thing over and over? The repeated parts are redundant. Sometimes being redundant can make things clear, but it can also be annoying. Redundant can apply to anything that's overflowing or unnecessary. If a business has two stores on the same street, one is redundant. When you hear redundant, think "Too much!"

quack

There are good quacks and bad quacks. A good quack is the sound a duck makes. A bad quack is someone pretending to be a doctor. (You'd be better off visiting the duck with your ailment.) If you ever get a chance to interview a celebrity duck, prepare to write the word quack in your notebook many, many times, because that's all that ducks can say. The way you spell animal sounds changes depending what language you speak. In English a duck quacks, but in Danish a duck "raps," while Indonesian ducks "wek," and Romanian ducks say "mac." And that "MD" who isn't really a doctor, but is good at pretending to be one? He's a quack. If you ever meet a quack that "quacks," please run.

repository

Think of a repository as a storehouse, a place where things are kept until needed. A silo is a repository for animal feed, and a trivia buff's mind is a repository for useless information. The noun repository has a somewhat formal ring to it — why not just call a storehouse a storehouse, right? Think of a repository as somewhat more important and imposing than just a place to dump stuff. It has more of an air of authority, like the things stored there could change the world. Consider nuclear waste — would you rather store it in a dump or a repository? I don't know about you, but I'd prefer the latter—sounds safer.

preposterous

To a vegetarian, the idea of eating a 52-ounce T-bone steak would seem preposterous — absolutely absurd. When the word preposterous was first used, it meant reversing the normal order of things — putting what was last first, and vice versa. Imagine putting on your underwear over your pants and you'll see that there's a kind of absurdity in something that's backwards, which is why preposterous came to mean "ridiculous." The word is often used as part of an exclamation: a chef who is asked to cook with nothing but jelly beans might exclaim, "That's preposterous!"

rapt

To be rapt is to be carried away, caught up or otherwise engrossed in something. If a performer is really good or particularly mesmerizing, the audience will be totally rapt. Rapt developed from the Latin raptus, meaning to "seize, carry off." So imagine something so interesting that it seizes your attention and carries you off to another world. In fact, rapt is related to the word rapture, which is an experience of extreme, other-worldly happiness. So do your teacher a favor and give her your rapt attention during math class.

pluck

To pluck is to pick or pull a single item out of many, like a flower or a hair. As a noun, pluck is energy or enthusiasm, even when things are looking grim. Don't pluck only the best cherries off the tree: that's cherry-picking! Before you cook a goose, you need to pluck its feathers. If it looks like your goose is cooked, however, then show some pluck, and figure out a way to save yourself. Some characters who are famous for showing pluck include the Artful Dodger, Little Orphan Annie, and Benji the dog. They all kept their chins up and kept on trying, even when things looked really dark.

prate

To prate means to talk on and on about something. While it may be interesting to hear about other people's vacations, when they prate about them until the wee hours, it becomes intolerable. There are more than a few instances where the famous have discouraged prating. Nursing great Clara Barton discouraged prating about "moral influences" when she encouraged a cigarette and a good, stiff glass of whiskey for Civil War soldiers. Herman Melville warned against mocking a lover's wounded heart, saying "the stabbed man knows the steel; prate not to him that it is only a tickling feather."

prodigal

Use the adjective prodigal to describe someone who spends too much money, or something very wasteful. Your prodigal spending on fancy coffee drinks might leave you with no money to buy lunch. Prodigal usually applies to the spending of money. In the Bible, the Prodigal Son leaves home and wastes all his money. You could also use this word to describe something that is very abundant or generous in quantity, such as prodigal praise. Prodigal comes from the Latin word prodigere, "to drive away or waste," combining the prefix prod-, or "forth" and agere, "to drive."

prognosticate

To prognosticate means to predict something or at least hint at what will happen in the future. When a lot of natural disasters start happening close together, you might prognosticate that the world is ending, a prediction that's actually thousands of years old. From the Latin prognosticāre, meaning "make a prediction," the verb prognosticate means to foretell or predict what is coming. While a fortuneteller or palm reader might claim special powers for seeing into the future, you can prognosticate by looking at real evidence and making a reasonable conclusion about how events will unfold. Sometimes, though, what you prognosticate from a dream or a fortune-cookie message ends up happening too, which is less reasonable but pretty neat — unless the world really does end.

promulgate

To promulgate is to officially put a law into effect. Your state may announce a plan to promulgate a new traffic law on January 1st. Laws aren't the only things you can promulgate. The word promulgate comes from the Latin word promulgatus, meaning "make publicly known." Someone can promulgate values, belief systems, and philosophies — it just means they're promoted or made public. For example, you might write an article to promulgate the benefits of eating only organic foods.

protract

To protract something is to stretch it out. If you have a disagreement with a friend that you continue for weeks and weeks, you are protracting the argument. Protract can also mean to draw a plan to scale. Basically when you protract something, you draw it out. You may remember from geometry that a protractor is a device used to draw exact angles. A protractor allows you to protract a plan for the perfect catapult — perfect to use to end a protracted battle.

prune

To prune means to clip, crop, cut back, and weed out. Pruning usually happens to overgrown trees and bushes, but can also be helpful for wild eyebrows and guest lists that are too long. You may have also heard of another form of prune: the kind you eat. But other than dried plums, the word is generally used in verb form to describe giving something a much needed trim. Gardeners prune plants, cutting back dead branches and weak parts so they can thrive and grow better. Companies prune budgets to cut back on unnecessary spending. And you might need to prune your baseball hat collection if you're running out of places to put them.

pry

To pry is to try and find something out that is none of your business. We all hate people who pry, sticking their nose into our personal affairs, and it is an annoying and disrespectful habit. We are taught as children to ask questions, but sometimes those questions are used to pry, or peek into someone's private business. A nosy person will peek into some else's life the same way one might use a crowbar to pry open a crate (though — alert! — that pry has a different origin). Our word is thought to come from a word related to the Old English verb beprīwan, "to wink," which evolved into the Middle English prie, "to peer in," which gives us today's meaning.

purge

To purge is to get rid of something or someone, and often it's done suddenly. Purge rhymes with urge, and when you have a really strong urge to throw stuff away or clean something out, you have an urge to purge. From the Latin purgare, meaning "purify," purge is used as a verb for removing impure things, whether they're guilty feelings in a person or rotten vegetables in a refrigerator. As a noun, the act of tossing out the too-small clothes in your closet before getting new ones might be called a purge. It can be a very bad act, too, as when individuals have an unhealthy urge to purge or empty their stomachs after eating or when a military group decides to purge a certain ethnic group from a country.

quaff

To quaff is to gulp. You're in a desert; you haven't had water in days; you're wicked thirsty. Then you find an oasis! You lean over and quaff the water. If you're in a room with your favorite foods, you might stuff the food into your mouth. Quaffing is the same fun, but with beverages instead of foods. But just like with stuffing food, quaffing means you drink a little too much. Often, quaffing refers to alcoholic drinks, but it can mean any beverage in general, like milkshakes. Quaff a milkshake and you'll get a headache, but you'll have fun doing it.

recuperate

To recuperate is to get something back that you have lost — could be good health, or money lost in a bad investment. When you recuperate, you heal and recover. Recuperate comes from the Latin word recuperare "to take back," so when you recuperate you gain something back that was yours before — health or money. Recuperate is usually something people do after an illness. If you break your knee playing rugby in college, you might go home to recuperate. If you don't want to sound fancy, just say you're recovering. It also means to get money back, so you can also try to recuperate your losses by staying in the poker game.

reiterate

To reiterate something is to say or do something again, or many times. Let me reiterate: if you repeat yourself, you're reiterating the thing you originally said. This verb is from Middle English reiteraten, from Latin reiteratus, from reiterare "to repeat," from the prefix re- "again" plus iterare "to repeat, iterate." The English word iterate has the same meaning as reiterate, although it is not as commonly used.

renounce

To renounce is to officially give up or turn away from. People on a diet usually renounce pizza and chocolate cake, for example. The transitive verb renounce is a stronger, more formal way of saying that you reject or disown something. A prince who's tired of the royal life could renounce his title and become a commoner, or a senator who wanted to become an independent would have to renounce his political party ties. You'd be wise to heed the wisdom of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who said: "To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties."

repeal

To repeal something — usually a law, ordinance or public policy — is to take it back. For example, dog lovers might want the town council to repeal the law that says residents can have no more than four dogs. The verb repeal comes from the Anglo-French word repeler, "to call back." Repeal is almost always used in the context of law: When a government decides to get rid of an ordinance or law, that ordinance or law is repealed. That means it is no longer in effect, like if the weather becomes unseasonably hot, the schools might repeal the part of the dress code to permit students to wear shorts.

repudiate

To repudiate something is to reject it, or to refuse to accept or support it. If you grow up religious, but repudiate all organized religion as an adult, you might start spending holidays at the movies, or just going to work. This verb usually refers to rejecting something that has authority, such as a legal contract, doctrine, or claim. In connection with debts or other obligations, repudiate is used in the specialized sense "to refuse to recognize or pay." If referring to a child or a lover, repudiate is used in the sense "to disown, cast off." This verb is derived from Latin repudiare "to put away, divorce."

rile

To rile is to stir up, like water that becomes muddy when you rile, or to bother or disturb, especially with little annoyances. For example, if you bring up an unpleasant subject, this might rile your friend's mood, or a noisy neighbor might rile your nerves. The verb rile is derived from roil, and they basically mean the same thing. However, rile is more commonly used to mean "annoy" and roil mostly describes stirred liquid. If you rile up your sister, what you say makes gets her worked up, ready to argue with you. When a kid splashes around in the tub, the water is roiled — but if it gets all over the floor, his parents will be riled.

roil

To roil means to stir up or churn. A stormy ocean might roil, or even a restless crowd. The word roil is often confused with rile, which has a slightly different meaning. If you roil someone you're stirring them up but not necessarily annoying them. To rile someone is to deliberately provoke or antagonize them. Usually there's no roiling without riling. Muhammad Ali roiled much of America when he refused to be drafted for the Vietnam War.

rue

To rue is to feel regret or remorse for something. If that position at the deli ended up involving a reality TV show that made everyone famous, you may rue the day you turned down the job. Rue comes from the Old English word hreowan, meaning "to make sorry," and rue can still sum up a lot of sorrow in one small syllable. Rue is a modern verb that often looks back on the past. Shakespeare made famous the phrase "rue the day," meaning you bitterly regret a moment. For example, you might rue the day you had your first coffee if you become hopelessly addicted to it.

prude

Use prude to describe someone who is too concerned with being proper or modest. It is a derogatory label affixed most often to girls or women who are not forthcoming romantically--it's not very nice. Prude was borrowed from French, short for prude femme "wise and good woman," from Old French prud "wise, good" plus femme "woman." Though the word prude took on a disapproving or negative meaning, Old French prud also meant "capable, brave," and is probably the source of English proud.

rhapsodize

Use the verb rhapsodize to describe something spoken about with extreme enthusiasm — and often at great length, like that friend who tends to rhapsodize about her favorite movie for twenty minutes straight. To correctly pronounce rhapsodize, say "RAP-so-dies." A rhapsody is a conversation or speech that is elaborate and very emotional, so to rhapsodize is to speak that way. Someone with a tendency to rhapsodize gets carried away with the emotion of the topic. That's why when you rhapsodize you don't always notice that listeners stop listening if they don't share the same passion.

ragamuffin

Use the word ragamuffin to affectionately tease your friend who shows up late to brunch with messy hair, dark circles under her eyes, and her shirt on backwards. In essence, you are calling her a shabbily clad street urchin. Now a generally playful and affectionate term indicating dishevelment, ragamuffin came into existence in the mid-14th century with a more punishing connotation. Derived in part from the word ragged, then used to refer to the devil's shaggy appearance, it has also historically been used to describe a lazy and worthless, or beggarly individual. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable provides a helpful and quirky explanation for the word: "A muffin is a poor thing of a creature, a 'regular muff'; so that a ragamuffin is a sorry creature in rags."

repast

Whether it's a sumptuous feast you're sitting down to or just a simple bite to eat, a repast is just another word for "meal." Based on the Latin word repascere, which means "to feed," a repast is any collection of food served and eaten at one time. In verb form, repast means to eat or feast. So at least by dictionary standards, you should feel free to repast on cheese doodles and marshmallow fluff for your morning repast — in other words, eat junk for breakfast.

protean

When Picasso is described as a protean genius, it means that not only was he brilliant, but he changed the way he worked many times. Protean means able to change shape. Proteus was a Greek god who could tell the future, but when he was asked a question he didn't want to answer, he would change shapes. With someone or something protean, you get all the power of shape-shifting, plus some of the menace of a god you cannot control.

preen

When a bird or a cat preens, it smooths its feathers or cleans its fur. When you preen, you primp and pay careful attention to how you're dressed and groomed, as if you're inviting the whole world to watch you. You can also preen just by puffing yourself up and congratulating yourself for something. You've just landed your triple flip on the ski jump, and, as you swoosh to a stop at the foot of the hill and take off your skis, you preen as you make your way through the adoring crowd.

rigor

When a private school boasts of its academic rigor, it means its students learn a lot and work really hard. Rigor means thoroughness and exhaustiveness--the gold standard for a good teacher. You may have heard of "rigor mortis"--which is a medical term describing the stiffness of a body after death. Rigor used to mean stiffness outside of the corpse context, i.e., sternness. The word changes meaning along with our changing standards for what we want teachers to be.

rotunda

When making the plans for your new house, consider adding a rotunda, or a round room. It will give the house a grand appearance and also allow you to walk in circles as much as you please. You may have heard the adjective rotund to describe a person with a round shape. Rotunda, with an -a at the end, is a noun that refers to a type of building or room that is round and often has a dome on top. Rotundas are often found as part of large, important buildings such as capitol buildings and museums.

remunerative

When something is remunerative, it means people get paid for it. Your job is remunerative, and if your research into new farming methods leads to a big government contract, then that also could be called remunerative. Remunerative can also mean that something generates a lot of money, like the remunerative ice cream truck that appears at the park entrance on the hottest days of summer. In Latin, munus and muner- mean "gift." Re- means "again," emphasizing that the reward keeps coming, whether it is a weekly paycheck or something that continues to generate sales, like the ice cream truck.

profound

When you need a word that's deeper than "deep," consider profound. Profundus meant literally "deep" in Latin, and profound had the same meaning when it entered English in the 14th century. But even then, it also meant "figuratively deep" — that is, very great or intense: "The new laws have had a profound impact." Of people, it means "very knowledgeable or insightful," but sometimes if a person tries to sound profound they're really just giving you superficial knowledge dressed up with big words.

premeditate

When you premeditate, you are planning ahead. While most people associate this word with crime, let's hope you can think of a better reason to premeditate — like buying groceries before a storm. When you meditate, you think deeply. The prefix pre- means "before," so to premeditate means to think about a situation before you've jumped into it. If you've ever cooked a meal, you've premeditated the ingredients you need to get started. In a courtroom you'll hear about "premeditated murder," which means the accused killer planned out his crime and it wasn't a crime of passion. Premeditating can be a good thing, but not when it involves murder.

propound

When you propound an idea, you put it forward. If you tell your teacher that listening to music in class would help students do their work, then you propound the idea that music can be a motivator. The word propound is a little bit formal and often used in reference to something that's weighty and serious. Beloved by academics of all types, you might hear someone propound, say, his theory of logocentrism in the works of Jacques Derrida. Don't worry: you don't need to understand the theory, you just need to understand that propound means he's putting it out there.

pulverize

When you pulverize something, you break it up until it becomes dust or powder. You might pulverize coffee beans in grinder, running it until the coffee turns to powder. Pulvis is the Latin word for "dust." When something is turned into dust, often it becomes useless. That's why pulverize can also mean "to destroy or demolish." Construction crews pulverize a building using wrecking balls and sometimes even explosives. The materials left behind are broken into such small parts that they can't be salvaged for other uses.

rotundity

When you talk about the rotundity, or roundness, of a voice, you're talking about how full-bodied and easily heard it is. The rotundity of a person is how round they are in the belly. Any 3D object that has a roundness to it can be described in terms of its rotundity. The word rotundity comes from the Latin rotundus meaning "round, circular, wheel-like." A rotunda is a circular building with a dome over it. The rotundity or roundness of its structure is what gives it its name. The rotundity of an opera singer's voice is what allows her song to carry and fill a room. The rotundity of Santa Claus' belly is part of what makes him the jolly character we love so much.

Proletarian

Working class, blue collar, plebeian and certainly not aristocratic — that's what the adjective proletarian means.the class of society that had no wealth and didn't own property. The only thing these proletarians had to offer was their hard work and their children. Proletarian has roots in the Latin word proles, which means "offspring." That's because back in ancient Rome, a proletarian was a member of the proletariat, the class of society that had no wealth and didn't own property. The only thing these proletarians had to offer was their hard work and their children. Today's proletarians are a little better off; they're considered the working class and just might have better benefits through their unions than some white-collar workers out there.

pusillanimous

You can describe someone who lacks courage as pusillanimous, such as a pusillanimous student who is too afraid to speak out against someone who is bullying others. Its Latin origin — pusillus and animus — tells us that pusillanimous means "very small spirit." If you are pusillanimous, pronounced "pew-sill-AN-ih-mus," you don't have the spirit — or the confidence or drive — to step up when it matters. The pusillanimous person stays quiet, doesn't get involved, waits for someone else to take a stand — not out of laziness, but out of fear.

quay

You know that wharf on the bank of the river where all the boats park? It's not an aqua parking lot. It's called a quay. Don't be fooled by the "qu" at the beginning of quay — there's no "w" sound to be found. It's actually pronounced "kay." That's most likely because it comes to us from the Old French word cai, and that's how the French pronounce their "qu" words. So sit back, make a hard "k" sound and imagine yourself strolling along the quays of the Seine.

ramble

You ramble when your talking or your walking goes on and on and on. And on. You're in no hurry to make a point or get to your destination — if there is one at all. The word ramble comes from similar roots as roam. They both mean wander, but they're often used a little differently. You might roam around on vacation to relax or find adventure. If you're a shark, you roam the deep sea for food. On the other hand, if the person on the plane next to you chatters nervously and can't stop, you wish they wouldn't ramble on like that.

reciprocate

You reciprocate when you return a favor, return a compliment, or respond "the same to you" to the angry guy in the car you just passed. In short, you react to an action, statement, or emotion by mirroring it. This one comes from the Latin verb reciprocare, meaning to move back and forth. Its root makes it sound as if reciprocate implies only a physical action, but it's also used for the less tangible. If you fail to pay the rent, your landlord might reciprocate by evicting you. If your crush acts like he doesn't know you exist when you pass him in the halls, it's probably safe to say he does not reciprocate your amorous feelings.

Quietude

Your mother has probably more than once asked you for quietude even if she hasn't used the word. Quietude means a state of peace and quiet. It goes hand in hand with solitude. Quietude is a word that is used less and less, as we seem to have less time and space for it. A park used to be a good place to find quietude, but with cell phones, you're likely to begin chatting even when no one else is around. If you really want quietude, you might try a library, or a chapel. Meditation can be used to bring you a moment of quietude wherever you are. Try it now. Ohhhmmm. Ohhhmmm. Ohhhmmm.

rabid

marked by excessive enthusiasm for and intense devotion to a cause or idea Chances are that if the tail-wagging dog that just appeared on your doorstep is also foaming at the mouth and chewing on your welcome mat, it's rabid and you should back away slowly; no petting for this infectious pup. While you've likely heard it used to describe an animal infected by rabies, rabid (derived from the Latin verb rabere "be mad, rave") can also dramatically describe a person exhibiting fanatical, extremely enthusiastic, or raging behavior. That guy who nearly knocked you off the stands at the football game with his energetic fist-pumping and then was later kicked out for getting into a fight with another fan? Rabid on both counts.

Retribution

the act of correcting for your wrongdoing;a justly deserved penalty/the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done) especially in the next life "the swiftness of divine retribution" Retribution is the act of taking revenge. If you pull a prank on someone, expect retribution. Retribution comes from the Latin for giving back what's due, either reward or punishment. But when we talk about retribution, we only talk about punishment. The old punishment code of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," is an example of retribution. Some people think about large events like tornados or earthquakes as cosmic retribution for human pride. Some synonyms are compensation, recompense, requital.