Barron's GRE 8 (250 words)

augury

1 a sign of what will happen in the future; an omen. "they heard the sound as an augury of death" Is your team losing 15-0? Has your girlfriend just slapped your face? Dude, these are auguries — signs of how things are going to work out in the future. And these two examples don't look good. In fact, not every augury is an ill omen, as the common phrase "augurs well for the future" suggests, but more often than not, it seems, an augury is a sign that the future will be none too rosy. Auguries are signs of what's to come, and it's wise not to ignore them.

arabesque

1, An arabesque is a position in which a ballerina stands on one leg with the other stretched out behind her. The back leg in an arabesque might be just touching the floor or extended straight up in the air. 2. a graceful design originally found in Islamic art and later in European art and design. This kind of arabesque resembles vines and leaves, rendered in metal, ceramic, or stone. A ballet dancer in an arabesque position is familiar — many ballets include arabesques or arabesques penchée, when the ballerina's legs are at an angle greater than ninety degrees. Another kind of arabesque is a graceful design originally found in Islamic art and later in European art and design. This kind of arabesque resembles vines and leaves, rendered in metal, ceramic, or stone. The word arabesque comes from the Italian Arabo, or "Arab," used to describe Moorish architecture.

asylum

1. An asylum offers shelter and protection, like the awning of a building in a downpour Any mom taking care of the kids day in and day out is probably more than ready to seek asylum, or refuge, at a local spa. You may have heard asylum used to describe an institution where insane people are housed, but did you know that an asylum can also be somewhere you'd happily and willingly go? An asylum offers shelter and protection, like the awning of a building in a downpour. Or a country that takes in refugees in danger of persecution — otherwise known as "political asylum."

atrophy

1. It also is used to describe things that go dull through lack of use, like skills in sports or artistic creativity 2.Wearing a cast on a broken leg can cause atrophy, or withering, in the leg, because it is immobilized and gets no exercise. Appearing in English in the 17th century, the word atrophy originally described a lack of nourishment. Atrophy occurs in parts of the body that can't move or be "fed" because of disease or injury. It also is used to describe things that go dull through lack of use, like skills in sports or artistic creativity. The (unrelated) word "trophy" refers to something that sits on a shelf and is admired, while atrophy is a condition of being "shelved," or made inactive and lifeless.

arraign

1. To put someone on trial; call or bring (someone) before a court to answer a criminal charge. Syn: Indict, Prosecute "her sister was arraigned on charges of attempted murder" 2.To find fault with; censure. "social workers were relieved it was not they who were arraigned in the tabloids Arraign comes from Old French, but it traces back to the Latin ad, meaning "to," and ration, meaning "reason or account." So if you arraign someone, it's like you're presenting an account — a record — of the thing the person has done wrong. You're outlining a formal charge in court. Arraign can also be used more broadly to describe any accusation of wrongdoing.

aspire

1. direct one's hopes or ambitions towards achieving something. "we never thought that we might aspire to those heights" 2.rise high; tower. "above the domes of loftiest mosques these pinnacles aspire" Does your life goal include world domination? Have an ambitious plan that involves gold medals and international fame? Then you definitely know what it means to aspire toward something big. The verb aspire commonly means to aim or shoot for. But it comes from the Latin word aspirare, which means "to breathe upon." So here's a trick for remembering this word: Think of yourself reaching up towards a spire, that really tall, tapered structure at the top of a church. Or, if you're in a poetic mood, imagine your wish as a feather that moves forward when you blow on it

Appease

1. pacify or placate (someone) by acceding to their demands. "amendments have been added to appease local pressure groups" 2. Appease often implies abandoning your moral principles to satisfy the demands of someone who is greedy for power: think of British Prime Minister Chamberlain's attempt to appease the Nazis at Munich Appease means to make or preserve peace with a nation, group, or person by giving in to their demands, or to relieve a problem, as in "the cold drink appeased his thirst." Appease often implies abandoning your moral principles to satisfy the demands of someone who is greedy for power: think of British Prime Minister Chamberlain's attempt to appease the Nazis at Munich. The verb appease comes from the Old French apaisier, "to pacify, make peace, or be reconciled," from the phrase "a paisier," which combines a-, or "to," and pais, "peace," from the Latin pax.

Antediluvian

1.Antediluvian means "before the flood" — that is, the Biblical flood with Noah's ark. Generally, though, the word is used — often humorously — to describe something really, really old. 2.In popular language, antediluvian is almost always used to exaggerate how comically, ridiculously old and out-of-date something is. You may laugh at your parents' antediluvian ideas of what's proper for going out on a date. And how about those antediluvian computers they still insist are fine! When the word was coined in the seventeenth century, however, it was meant literally. Back then, the science of reconstructing the Earth's history used the Bible as a frame of reference.

arbitrate

1.Arbitrate is when a neutral third party helps end a conflict. If your two best friends are fighting over the last piece of gum in the pack, you might arbitrate by telling them to split the last piece. Arbitrate is when a neutral third party helps end a conflict. Arbitrate derives from the Latin arbiter "judge." (An arbiter of taste is a good judge of taste.) When you arbitrate, you are doing what a judge does in a court of law. In the US, to avoid litigation, many choose non-binding arbitration—where a neutral third party suggests a settlement.

ardor

1.Are you inspired to write love poems to your crush? Sprinkle rose petals in her path? Then you're feeling ardor — an intense kind of warmth and fervor most often associated with love. 2.great enthusiasm or passion. "the rebuff did little to dampen his ardour" The Brits spell ardor with an extra vowel, so you'll often see this word written as ardour. But on either side of the pond it's a noun that brings to mind Pepe Le Pew and his fervent pursuit of the female species. But ardor isn't always about love. It's perfectly platonic to be "an ardent supporter" of a certain cause, or show eagerness and ardor in your approach to anything.

assimilate

1.If you are trying to fit in, you are trying to assimilate. 2. To take in and understand fully (information or ideas). "Marie tried to assimilate the week's events" 3. (of the body or any biological system) absorb and digest (food or nutrients). "the sugars in the fruit are readily assimilated by the body" Imported from Latin, assimilate has the word similar within it and in fact, means "to become like something else." If someone moves to another country, he or she will need to assimilate by adapting to and taking in the language, culture and customs of the new place. You can also turn the phrase around to say that a country assimilates immigrants, which means that a place accepts immigrants and allows them to adapt easily. In scientific use, the body assimilates nutrients as a part of digestion.

ante

1.In poker, the ante is the money each player puts in the pot before the hand begins. Hesitate to add your cash and the dealer will likely shout "ante up!" 2. ante up: to pay up. 3. up the ante: to raise the stakes or make something either more risky or more desirable. Parents can really up the ante by promising their kids a trip to Disney World if they bring home all As at report card time. There's "ante up" and then there's "up the ante" — both idioms that have seeped out of the poker world into everyday speech. The former means to pay up; the latter means to raise the stakes or make something either more risky or more desirable. Parents can really up the ante by promising their kids a trip to Disney World if they bring home all As at report card time.

anarchist

1.a person who believes in or tries to bring about anarchy. Syn: nihilist, insurgent, terrorist Should you ever decide to form a club for anarchists, you might want to keep this in mind: Running for club president will make you unpopular, since anarchists prefer a stateless society and distrust ruling powers. When the Sex Pistols released "Anarchy in the UK" in 1976, they clashed with Margaret Thatcher's ideal of conservative England. Translated from the Greek, by way of Middle Latin, anarchy means "without a leader," and that's what an anarchist is all about. Given that anarchists reject authority, it's not surprising that there are many types of anarchism, ranging from those that promote the perfect liberty of the individual to those that endorse communist or socialist ideas.

awl

1.a small pointed tool used for piercing holes, especially in leather. An awl is a tool with a long, sharp end that makes it just the thing for punching extra holes in all your leather belts when you lose weight. It looks kind of like an ice pick, but an awl is a tool used by shoemakers, carpenters and other craftsmen who need to punch small holes through leather or wood. If your shoes were made by hand, chances are all those little holes where the laces go through were made with the use of an awl.

aspersion

1.an attack on the reputation or integrity of someone or something.Syn: Defamation "I don't think anyone is casting aspersions on you" An aspersion is a disparaging remark. It almost invariably appears as a plural, following the word "cast" — when you cast aspersions on someone, you are questioning their abilities or doubting them. Finding out that a field-hockey coach had never played the sport might cast aspersions on her ability to coach it. Wendy's ads don't come out and say that McDonald's hamburgers are made out of cardboard, but through shot after shot of their own thick and juicy and oddly square offering, they cast aspersions on the quarter-pounder.

Amnesty

1.an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offences. "an amnesty for political prisoners" 2. grant an official pardon to. "the guerrillas would be amnestied and allowed to return to civilian life" Do not confuse with Amenities. Amnesty can mean a pardon for a wrongdoing, or it can also signal a government's willingness to overlook something. Amnesty sounds a little like "amnesia," and that's because in its more specific sense amnesty means "forgetting." The government will essentially forget about whatever crime was committed, or whatever horrible things were said. As part of a truce, amnesty can be granted to opposition forces in civil disputes. Amnesty to illegal aliens means the government will deliberately overlook their illegal entry to the country. There can also be a period of amnesty when people can turn in something that they would otherwise get in trouble for. "The city offered a period of amnesty for everyone to turn in illegal guns."

appraise

1.assess the value or quality of. When you buy a house someone will need to appraise its value before you can get a mortgage. To appraise something is to figure out its worth in the marketplace, on the field, or in the world of ideas. To appraise the value of a friendship is difficult, but to appraise the value of your grandfather's pocket watch — just go to the pawn shop. The verb appraise comes from the Late Latin word appretiare, which means "value" or "estimate." You can appraise your chances of marrying royalty, which are probably slim. You can also appraise the value of a quarterback on your fantasy football team by looking at the statistics for his completed passes. o appraise is to estimate the value of something, but remove the second "a," and you have apprise, which means "to tell." If you hire someone to appraise your house, you might have to apprise your family of the fact that you now owe the bank more than your house is worth.

accouter

1.clothe or equip in something noticeable or impressive. "magnificently accoutred, he was led up to the high altar" To accouter a soldier is to dress her in military garb and provide her with the equipment she needs. A boy who runs away to join the army might first accouter himself in a camouflage jacket and steel-toed boots. The verb accouter most commonly describes a soldier being outfitted for battle or a person dressing in some impressive uniform or outfit. You could, for example, say that your friends like to accouter themselves in feathers and sequins before they march in the Mardi Gras parade. The word can also be spelled accoutre, and both versions come from acostrer, "arrange, put on clothing, or sew up," from the Latin roots ad, "to," and consutura, "a sewing together."

Asinine

1.extremely stupid or foolish. "Lydia ignored his asinine remark" If you want to call someone a jerk while sounding smart yourself, asinine is your go-to word. Asinine derives from the Latin asinus. Guess what that means? Bonus: Asinine takes stupid up a notch. There's someone so delightful in the double-edged quality of asinine behavior. Talking trash about your boss is stupid. Talking trash about your boss in an email they're cc'd on...that's asinine.

Adventitious

1.happening as a result of an external factor or chance rather than design or inherent nature. "adventitious similarities" Adventitious is a word you use to talk about things that "just kind of happen," not because you are trying to do them, but because they just come along. Christopher Columbus's stumbling upon the Caribbean while searching for a new route to India was adventitious. When you make an adventitious rhyme while speaking, you might hear, "You're a poet, you didn't know it, your long feet show it."

aspirant

1.having ambitions to achieve something, typically to follow a particular career. "an aspirant politician" noun 2. a person who has ambitions to achieve something. "an aspirant to the throne" Ambition is the name of the game for an aspirant, a young person who sets her sights on rising to the top in her chosen field. Every young person who wishes on a star for fame and fortune is an aspirant. Used mostly as a noun, the word also works as an adjective — describing the desire to move up the corporate ladder, to receive national recognition for saving the world, or to achieve success on the Broadway stage — whatever one aspires to: "The aspirant dancer had to start her career as an understudy to the prima ballerina."

animus

1.hostility or ill feeling. "the author's animus towards her" 2.motivation to do something. "the reformist animus came from within the Party" Saying you have animus toward a person is a fancy way of saying that you hate their guts. You could also say that an animus exists between two people. That's when they hate each others' guts. If you're familiar with the word animosity, meaning bad feelings, you're only a hop, skip, or jump away from understanding animus. But then it gets tricky. The word can also mean a motivating force--you could refer to the fear of infection as the animus behind a movement to sterilize public buildings.

apprise

1.inform or tell (someone). "I thought it right to apprise Chris of what had happened" To apprise someone about something is to fill them in, to give them the scoop. If someone in your immediate family wins the mega-bucks lottery, you want to be the first one to be apprised of that event! Don't confused the verbs apprise and appraise. Appraise means to determine the value of something — either its quality or its monetary worth. Apprise, on the other hand, means to inform or make aware. This word has a rather formal, weighty tone. Presidents get apprised of foreign affairs, but you will most likely not get apprised of weather conditions or dinner plans.

Amend

1.make minor changes to (a text, piece of legislation, etc.) in order to make it fairer or more accurate, or to reflect changing circumstances. "the rule was amended to apply only to non-members" 2. improve the texture or fertility of (soil). "amend your soil with peat moss or compost" Amend describes actions or speech intended to correct or improve something. If you confused your audience when you gave your speech, don't be afraid to amend what you said, meaning you make minor changes to better explain what you meant. Amend can also describe adding amendments to an official document, such as a constitution or law. If politicians in your state want to address the growing number of home foreclosures, they might amend the state constitution to include restrictions intended to reduce foreclosures. Amend comes from the Latin word emendare, meaning "to correct, free from fault."

arrears

1.money that is owed and should have been paid earlier. "he was suing the lessee for the arrears of rent" If you are in arrears, you are behind in the payment of a debt. Think: rears=behind. Arrears also refers to the unpaid, overdue debt itself. Your rent arrears are the money you own on rent. Arrears is a term often used in a legal context--like, when you've had to hire a lawyer because you're being sued by your landlord, or being evicted because you're in arrears on your rent. Before it comes to eviction, though, you should try negotiating with your landlord first. They would probably be more interested in collecting arrears, even late, than in evicting you and starting with a new tenant from scratch.

antecedent

1.preceding in time or order; previous or pre-existing.Syn: previous "antecedent events" 2. a thing that existed before or logically precedes another. Syn: Predecessor "some antecedents to the African novel might exist in Africa's oral traditions 3.a person's ancestors or family and social background. "her early life and antecedents have been traced An antecedent is a thing that comes before something else. You might think rap music has no historical antecedent, but earlier forms of African American spoken verse go back for centuries. In logic, mathematics, and grammar, the word antecedent (from Latin ante-, "before" + cedere, "to yield") has the meaning "the first part of a statement." More generally, it means "something that came before, and perhaps caused, something else." The word is also an adjective: a lawyer or judge might talk about the "antecedent events" leading up to someone committing a crime.

auxiliary

1.providing supplementary or additional help and support. "auxiliary airport staff" 2.providing supplementary or additional help and support. "auxiliary airport staff" When you're offering something in support of an already existing thing, you're offering something auxiliary. The auxiliary police will help out the regular police with things like directing traffic and crowd control when there's a special event in town. The Latin word auxilium means "help," and so auxiliary means something that "helps" by providing backup or support. Think of auxiliary verbs (sometimes called helper verbs), that provide support within a verb phrase, as "is" does in "Helen is playing." You can have an auxiliary engine in a car, an auxiliary cook at a restaurant, an auxiliary electrical network at a factory, or auxiliary troops standing by during battle. A "Ladies Auxiliary" functions as support for institutions such as churches, synagogues, or charities.

argot

1.the jargon or slang of a particular group or class. "teenage argot" Argot is language particular to a specific group. It can mean a kind of slang, a technical language or a code. In high school, only those who spend their time studying computer manuals could understand the argot of the computer lab kids. The word argot was originally used to describe the slang of thieves and rogues, who spoke in sneaky ways that the upright citizen couldn't understand. We can also use argot to describe less criminal kinds of vocabularies. Any specialized practice can create an argot: boxers talk of bodyshots and jabs, just as grammar teachers complain of split infinitives and dangling participles.

archaeology

1.the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artefacts and other physical remains. If your idea of excitement is sifting dirt to find bits of pottery, chances are that you're an archaeology enthusiast. Archaeology is all about understanding the past by analyzing material culture — that is, objects shaped by human hands. The Greek suffix -ology ("the study of") should be familiar. Consider the word biology: bios is Greek for "life," so biology is "the study of life." Arkhaios is "ancient." Thus, archaeology is "the study of ancient things." Early archaeologists tended to seek sensational finds — like Howard Carter, who found King Tut's tomb. Contemporary archaeologists are generally more concerned with reconstructing the lives of everyday people through careful analysis of mundane artifacts — like tools and feeding utensils.

astronomical

1.very large or uncountable things sometimes get the description astronomical. 2.If you lie down on a big field or on a rooftop and look up, the sky is so wide and high, it is astronomical in size — bigger than huge. Everything in that sky, including the stars and planets, is also astronomical because it is part of a science called astronomy. Astra and aster are the Latin and Greek words for star, and the first four letters of astronomical, a-s-t-r, are a scramble of the word star. Astronomy includes the study of stars, but planets and other objects and happenings in space are also part of astronomical studies. Considering how large everything in space is, it makes sense that very, very large or uncountable things sometimes get the description astronomical.

ballast

A ballast is any heavy material that helps to make a ship or plane stable, including metaphorical ships like your mood. If you hate school, the thought of a weekend coming might be a ballast for your mood. Ballast comes from old ship terminology for cargo. It came to mean the weight of the cargo that prevents the ship from rocking around on the open seas. Any craft, ship or plane, needs ballast. A weight on the bottom of a rocket might act as ballast to help it glide straight. If you're driving in snow in a tiny tin can car, you'll need to ballast, or add weight, to prevent the wheels from sliding around.

anthology

A collection of writings is an anthology. The heavy textbooks that span the literature of an entire culture and that school children transport in over-sized backpacks with wheels? Those are anthologies. An anthology used to be just a collection of poetry, and the word came from the 17th-century Greek word anthologia for "flower gathering" or "collecting." A contemporary anthology can include anything from classic literature to rap music lyrics. Often an anthology focuses on one type, or genre, of writing, as in an anthology of horse riding haikus, or even an anthology of writings on writing. However, sometimes textbook-style anthologies — like Global Literature — will ambitiously try to include works from writers throughout the ages and from throughout the world.

anecdote

A short, amusing true story is an anecdote. You might come back from a crazy spring break with a lot of anecdotes to tell.The roots of anecdote lie in the Greek word anekdota, meaning "unpublished." The word's original sense in English was "secret or private stories" — tales not fit for print, so to speak. It can still have connotations of unreliability, as in the phrase "anecdotal information." But the most common sense today is that of "a funny story about something that happened."

Aid

Aid is what you do when you help someone — you come to their aid. Rich countries provide economic aid to poor countries, and if you cut your hand, you'll be looking in the first aid kit for a Band-Aid. You can also use aid as a verb: "The librarian will aid you in your search." English has some words with meanings related to aid, but they're spelled with an -e on the end, because they come from the French. A nurse's aide is someone who assists a nurse. An aide-de-camp is a close assistant and confidant to a military officer, a word often shortened to just aide, to refer to an assistant to a political official.

Alluvial

Alluvial refers to the stuff left behind by running water. Think of a city in the aftermath of a flood--streets littered with things that had once been floating--tree branches, parts of buildings, and lots of lots of sand and silt. Alluvial comes from the Latin word for washed, but the stuff water leaves behind doesn't often feel clean. In fact, the word is so closely associated with leftover debris that its meaning goes beyond flooding. If you have a party when your parents are out of town, you'd better get up early and clean up all the alluvial evidence.

Altercation

Altercation is a nicer word for "quarrel," which is a nicer word for "fight." Fight is a simple, effective one-syllable word, while quarrel is a softer, two-syllable word, and altercation is a very civilized-sounding four-syllable word for the same uncivilized thing: a noisy argument between people that are mad at each other. Two cowboys fighting in a saloon probably won't talk about their altercation, but someone who gets a black eye fighting for a parking spot might — after cooling down — describe the incident as an altercation rather than as a knock-down, drag-out brawl.

askew

Although it sounds like a sneeze, the word askew means lopsided or turned and tilted to the side. Like your glasses might be after, well, a sneeze. The movie "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" tells the story of three orphans and their struggle to escape their wicked guardian, Count Olaf. In the story, the orphans are sent to stay with their Aunt Josephine, whose house sits perilously on the edge of cliff over a leech-infested lake. The floor of Josephine's house is at an angle, pictures hang off-center, and in fact everything appears to be tilted and wildly askew, including their aunt's mental condition.

Amass

Amass means bring together or assemble. It can be a real shock to enter a room and see your amassed friends shouting "Surprise!" Although the word amass should not be confused with "a mass," as in the thing you never want to hear has been found on your lung, they both derive from the Latin massa "lump." When you think about it, this makes sense. Whether soldiers or cancer cells, things that come together to form a whole — in this case, a tumor or an army — are amassed.

Ambidextrous

Ambidextrous people have the ability to use both hands with equal dexterity. But the ambidextrous probably prefer to write with their right hands, since lefties always smudge what they've written as they drag their hand across the page. Coming from the Latin word ambidexter, which means "right-handed on both sides," ambidextrous describes someone who can use either hand to write, swing a bat or catch a ball. Lucky ducks. In a broader sense ambidextrous means "facile" or "skillful." But when it first came into use in the 1530's, ambidextrous had more sinister connotations with the practice of deceitful double-dealing.

Amenities

Amenities are the little things in life that make you comfortable — like more legroom on a flight or the chocolate on your hotel pillow. The noun amenities is used for things that make life more pleasant or comfortable. They can take the form of luxurious perks like the hotel's spa and heart-shaped pool, or they could be more basic — like air conditioning during a heat wave or Internet service in a library.

amazon

An amazon is a big, strong, warrior-like woman, someone who reminds you of the mythical Greek women-warriors, the Amazons. Describing someone as an amazon can sometimes have a negative tinge. If you call a tennis star an amazon, you may be suggesting that she's got an unfair advantage over her competitors because of her size, and for some, strength in a woman is not attractive. But amazon can also be an admiring term for a statuesque, athletic woman. After all, Wonder Woman was an amazon.

ambiance

An ambiance is the mood or setting of a place. You might like the ambiance of a certain restaurant because the lighting and decor makes you feel comfortable and happy. Ambiance is pronounced "AHM-bee-ahns." Most places have an ambiance made up of whatever sights, smells, sounds, and even sensations or textures fill the space. A fancy French restaurant gets its ambiance from the candlelight and chic black outfits worn by the wait staff while the diner off the highway might have a funky, retro ambiance because of its 1950s counter and jukebox full of golden oldies.

amble

An amble is a leisurely, pleasurable walk. Care to take an amble down a pleasant country road instead of reading the rest of this word description? That would certainly be understandable. You can use amble as either a noun meaning "a stroll" or as a verb meaning "to walk in a slow, leisurely way." You might decide to amble, or take an amble, on over to the snack table and grab a brownie. This word comes from the Latin ambulare, which means "to walk about," as in ambulatory. Weirdly enough, for a long time it was only used for horses or for those on horseback. We use it for people now, but it still retains some of its horse-like country feel.

ambulatory

An ambulatory surgery is the kind of procedure where the patient walks in and walks out. Ambulatory means able to walk, or related to walking. To remember ambulatory, think of ambulance, which essentially means a walking hospital. (Its meaning derives from the time when it was pulled by horses, which would be walking.) You can also think of the old fashioned word for baby carriage, perambulator (it's been shorted to "pram") which means a carriage you push by walking.

annex

An annex is an extension of, or an addition to a building. A small room off of a main room is an annex, and attics are another type of annex. As a noun, an annex is part of a building or an addition to a main structure, or it can be an attachment, as in "an annex to the current plans." When used as a verb, the word means something a little different. Sometimes annex is used as a nice word for "take" or "grab," as when Nazi Germany took the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in 1938 and added it to their own territory. In order to annex something to what is yours, you have to take it away from someone else.

annuity

An annuity is money that comes from an investment and is paid out regularly over a fixed period of time. You can buy an insurance policy that is an annuity, or you can choose an annuity as one of your retirement fund options. The noun annuity is from the Latin word annus, meaning "year." Indeed, annuities typically pay out on a year basis, although other terms are possible. If you win a large amount of money in the lottery, you can usually choose to take a lump-sum payment or smaller payments paid every year over some term, like 20 or 25 years. Figuring out which payment plan is best for you would be a nice problem to have!

antithesis

An antithesis is the complete opposite of something. Though the counterculture was strong in America in 1968, voters elected Richard Nixon, the antithesis of a hippie. The noun antithesis comes from a Greek root meaning "opposition" and "set against." It's often used today when describing two ideas or terms that are placed in strong contrast to each other. We might come across antithesis in school if we learn about the "Hegelian dialectic." There, the thesis, or main idea put forward in an argument, is countered with its opposite idea — the antithesis — and the two are finally reconciled in a third proposition, the synthesis. An antithesis wouldn't exist without a thesis because it works as a comparison.

anvil

An anvil is a heavy block of iron or steel that blacksmiths use to shape metal. It's durable enough to withstand red hot metals and repeated hammer blows, but you don't want your foot to be under if it falls off the table. We most often associate anvils with metalworking (or cartoon coyotes standing in the wrong place at the wrong time), but did you know that there is also a tiny bone in the middle ear called the anvil? It works with other small bones to transmit vibrations that allow us to hear noises. Scientists also call this bone the incus, but it got the name anvil because of its similarity to the blacksmith's tool. They may be the same shape, but the bone weighs a few milligrams, while the tool can weigh hundreds of pounds.

aperture

An aperture is an opening, usually a small one. "If you can thread the silk through that aperture and pull it out the other side, we can knot it and create a loop." The most common place you'll find aperture is when you're talking about cameras or photography. In that case, an aperture refers specifically to the hole or opening in the lens that lets light through, which you can adjust (with the f-stop) to let in more or less light, resulting in a shallow or deep range of focus. A large aperture means only one tiny point of the photo will be in sharp focus, a small aperture means that much of the background as well as the foreground will be in focus.

apiary

An apiary is a structure for keeping bees. If you love to eat fresh honey and don't have access to a farmer's market, you might consider building an apiary in your back yard. Apiaries have nothing to do with apes! Rather, the word derives from apis, the Latin word for bee. Nowadays, apiary is one of those farm-related words that is slipping out of our common vocabulary as we leave the culture of the small farm behind. But as chefs and slow food activists reintroduce locally farmed food back into our diets, apiarists will reemerge to raise honey from apiaries and sell it to us all. And maybe that will help us remember what that word actually means.

apostate

An apostate is someone who has deserted his cause. The word apostate originally comes from a Greek word that meant "runaway slave." Now, apostate has a religious or political tone to it, so someone might call you "a political apostate" if you ran for office as a Republican during one election and then ran as a Democrat in the following election.

aptitude

An aptitude is something you're good at. A rock star might have an aptitude for energizing an audience, or for trashing his hotel room. When you have a talent or do something well, people say that you have an aptitude for it. But you don't have to be born with an aptitude; you can also acquire your abilities. You are probably already well acquainted with this word, since the zillions of standardized tests you have taken in school are usually called aptitude tests.

arbiter

An arbiter is someone selected to judge and settle a dispute. When Doc and Grumpy disagreed over whose turn it was to stay late at the mine, they chose Snow White as an arbiter. Arbiter, from the Latin, means "one who goes somewhere as witness or judge." The arbiter of a baseball game is called an umpire. In football and basketball, the arbiter is a referee. Arbitration is a type of conflict resolution in which a neutral person — the arbiter — hears the details of a dispute and makes a legally-binding decision about its resolution.

arcade

An arcade is a structure made by enclosing a series of arches and columns. The word's roots go back to the Latin word "arcus," which means arc or bow. An arched, covered passageway with shops or stalls on the sides is also called an arcade and was a precursor to the shopping mall. The Burlington Arcade in London opened in 1819 and was the first shopping arcade of its kind in Britain. It still exists and is the longest covered shopping street in England. As more of these shopping arcades opened, they also began offering games and eventually the word's meaning came to include video arcades, where you can play coin-operated games.

archetype

An archetype is a perfect example of something. If you have blond hair, a perfect size six body and are on the cheerleading squad, you're the archetype of a high school cheerleader. In the psychology of Carl Jung, an archetype is an inherited pattern of thought derived from the past experience of the whole race and present in our unconscious minds--Cinderella might be an archetype for girls in our culture; the boogey man is another. This noun is from Latin archetypum, from Greek archetypon, from archetypos "of the first mold," from archein "to begin" plus typos "type."

aria

An aria is an elaborate song written specifically for a solo voice. If you find yourself belting out "Che gelida manina" from La Boheme in the shower, you've just been performing an aria. The word aria comes from the Italian and means "air." The word is often used to describe songs from operas. Two famous ones include "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" — "Love is a rebellious bird" — and "O mio bambino caro" — "Oh my dear Papa!" It is sometimes used almost metaphorically to describe someone's impressive solo performance of any type. Arias within opera, and classical music in general, are almost always accompanied by instrumental music, but there is only one voice.

array

An array is a display of something — usually something varied. So, you might encounter an array of bathing suits on the beach or an array of cereal brands in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. Which would you prefer? Although the word array comes from the Old French areyer, "to put in order," an array often just comes together. It can be an intentional design of people or features — everything from software packages to fashion shows can have an "impressive array" of components. Or, an array can fall together in nature or by chance: "the clouds became an array of beautiful shapes after the storm."

arsenal

An arsenal is a storehouse for weapons. It wouldn't be wise to let your enemies get a hold of the keys to your arsenal. Not just a place to store weapons, an arsenal can be a place to make weapons or it can mean the collection of weapons themselves: "The air force had just added two top-secret fighter planes to its arsenal." In a more general sense, the word can be a collection of anything used as a weapon, not just military weapons: "She had a whole arsenal of witty comebacks for the lame pickup-lines guys tried out on her."

artifact

An artifact is a man-made object that has some kind of cultural significance. If you find a 12th century vase, it's an artifact of that time. Don't drop it! Artifact is a combination of two Latin words, arte, meaning "by skill" and factum which means "to make." Usually when you use the word artifact, you are describing something crafted that was used for a particular purpose during a much earlier time.

artisan

An artisan has both the creativity and the skill to make a product. Wandering around a local craft fair, you will often see artisans selling handicrafts like pot holders or beaded jewelry. In medieval times, blacksmiths, carpenters, and masons were artisan trades. Unskilled laborers were not. The hierarchy of skill and prestige among artisans, from apprentice to journeyman to master, is sometimes reflected in ranks among today's trade union members. But today an artisan can just be someone who makes attractive and creative work with their hands, like jewelry or pottery. Although, if they're trying to sell their goods, it probably helps if they're very skilled.

assay

An assay is a breakdown of a material, examining the individual parts that make up the whole. When you assay a situation, you look at all the elements that created the problem in order to come up with a solution. The word assay comes from the French word essai, which means "trial," an appropriate sense for a word that means to examine for analysis. As a noun, assay means a test or appraisal to determine the components of a substance or object. As a verb, it refers to the act of analyzing, or of conducting that test. It is usually used in chemistry-related fields like metallurgy and pharmaceuticals, but you can also assay a poem.

assumption

An assumption is something that you assume to be the case, even without proof. For example, people might make the assumption that you're a nerd if you wear glasses, even though that's not true. Or very nice. From the Latin assumptionem, meaning "a taking or receiving," assumption was recorded circa 1300 as a noun describing "the reception of the Virgin Mary into heaven." The word later shook its religious roots and developed into the noun we hear more often today, usually when a person takes something for granted or literally takes possession of something.

asteroid

An asteroid is a large, irregularly shaped object in space that orbits our Sun. If one of these giant rocks ends up on a collision course with Earth, we are in for big trouble. An asteroid is like a comet. However, while comets are mostly made of ice, asteroids are made up of rock or even metal. This makes them dangerous because they can cause a lot of damage if they collide with a planet. The craters on the Moon were formed by asteroids and some think it was an asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Around a million asteroids are located between Mars and Jupiter in an area called the "asteroid belt."

atheist

An atheist believes there is no such thing as god, or any other deity. The root -theist means "belief in a god." The prefixes mono-, poly-, and a-, mean "one," "many," and "no," respectively. So a monotheist is someone who believes in a single god, a polytheist is someone who believes in many gods, and an atheist is someone who believes there is no god at all.

audit

An audit is a thorough counting, review, or assessment of a situation or collection of things. Before baking cookies, you'd better make an audit of the ingredients available to see whether there is enough sugar and butter. The most common use of the word audit is with the Internal Revenue Service, which sometimes performs an audit of a taxpayer's finances to see whether that taxpayer has accurately reported his or her income. It can also be used in this context as a verb. It's easy to get nervous if the IRS is planning to audit you! You can also audit a class if you attend but don't pay for it. Just don't think that you'll get credit towards graduation from that.

autopsy

An autopsy is the dissection of a dead human body to figure out the cause of death. If you watch much TV, you've probably seen hundreds of 'em. The word autopsy comes from the Greek, meaning "to see with one's own eyes." Many cultures thought it was sacrilegious to mar the human body, because the dead person would need it in the afterlife (you don't want to be hanging out for eternity with your pals while your intestines are flapping around your ankles). Autopsy is used interchangeably with the term post-mortem, Latin for "after-death."

aviary

An aviary is a place where birds are kept, such as a building at the zoo or a bird sanctuary. It can be a peaceful place to visit, but watch out for nasty surprises dropping from birds overhead. Aviary is formed from the Latin word for bird, avis, and the ending -ary, meaning "a place" (similar to the -arium in aquarium). Unlike birdcages for pets, aviaries are large enough to allow the captive birds room to fly around. They are often large enough for people to enter too. Be sure not to confuse aviary with apiary, which is a place for keeping bees, not birds.

avocation

An avocation is an activity that you pursue when you're not at work — a hobby. Pretty much anything can be an avocation: tennis, sudoku, writing poetry. If you're the journalist Clark Kent, your avocation is changing into a skintight red and blue jumpsuit and fighting crime. A vocation is the work you do because you have to; an avocation is what you do for pleasure, not pay. The ancient Latin root is a vocare a calling away from one's work, or a distraction. Today we use the word more to refer to a serious hobby. If you like knitting beautiful sweaters, then you, my friend, have an avocation — as long as you're not making your living from it.

axiom

An axiom is a statement that everyone believes is true, such as "supply equals demand" or "the only constant is change." Mathematicians use axiom to refer to established proofs. Many axioms are so widely used they become clichés—here's one to help you remember what the word means. Axioms are so widely accepted they're seen almost as facts. A police officer interrogating a witness might just as easily say, "Stick to the axioms," as "Stick to the facts, ma'am."

Animadversion

Animadversion is a harsh, critical comment--or even a public censure. You don't hear it very often, but in Puritan times, dressing in bright colors and swearing would bring much animadversions down upon you. Animadversion comes from the verb animadvert. In Middle English, animadvert meant simply to pay attention or "turn your mind to" something (animus means "mind," ad- "to," vertere "turn"). Anyone with parents can understand how a word that means "pay attention" can turn into a word that means "criticize."

Annals

Annals are chronological historical records. Some annals recount the achievements of war heroes; others, in the form of high school yearbooks, record historically terrible hairstyles. Annals comes from the Latin word annus, meaning year. As the word itself suggests, many annals are yearly records, but this is not always the case. You may encounter the word annals in the phrase "annals of history," which refers not to one specific historical record but the collection of all recorded history. Scholarly societies often refer to their regular reports as annals, as in the Annals of the International Society for Porcupine Studies.

Aphasia

Aphasia is the inability to express or comprehend written or spoken words. If you can understand this sentence, you don't have it. Aphasia is a medical condition caused by serious brain damage. However, you can also use it to dramatically exaggerate. If you don't understand the scientific language in a biology textbook, you might feel like you're suffering from aphasia.

Appellation

Appellation means the name or title by which someone is known. Mark Twain is the famous appellation by which everyone remembers author and humorist Samuel Clemens. An appellation is what people call a person or thing — essentially, its name or title. George Herman Ruth's parents may have known him as George, but the rest of the world knew this famous slugger by his appellation, Babe. If you use the word appellation in a discussion of wine, you'd mean the name of the region or vineyard where the wine originated. Champagne is an appellation for the bubbly white wine that comes from the Champagne region of France.

Apropos

Apropos means regarding or appropriate to, as in: Apropos of your interest in fishing, your grandfather gave you his set of championship lures, rods, reels and lucky tackle box. Apropos is a useful word to learn. But first you have to know how to pronounce it: AP-rə-pō. Then you can conveniently change the subject of a conversation by using the expression "Apropos of nothing," which is a glib way of saying, "Oh, and by the way..." If someone's remarks are suitable and appropriate to the occasion, you can get on their good side by saying: How apropos!

Aquiline

Aquiline means like an eagle, so if someone tells you you have an aquiline nose, it means your nose looks like an eagle's beak. Believe it or not, this is a compliment. Aquiline comes from the Latin word aquila, for eagle. The ancient Greeks and Romans were crazy about eagles, and thought that if you saw an eagle flying on a significant day, like a battle, it was a sign that you were going to win. So it was a big compliment to say someone's features were aquiline. It almost always refers to a long, curving nose. We also call it a "Roman nose."

Archives

Archives, a noun, refers to records or historical documents, or the place where those records are kept, like the famous writer's archives that scholars can see by visiting the library archives. Archives are typically records or documents used when researching an event, a person, or even a building. Use archives to research your family tree, which might include birth, marriage, and death certificates, immigration records, tax files, and so on. The noun is also used to describe where historical documents and records are kept, like the National Archives and Record Administration, which holds important records of the Federal government.

Assent

Assent means agreement. If you nod your head in assent, you agree to something or you assent to it. You can assent in the same contexts as agree, but you'll seem a bit more serious. As a verb, assent is generally followed by a phrase beginning with the word "to:" You assent to a plan, an agreement, or to an idea. Assent is also something that you can give. You can give your assent to marry your partner if he or she asks really nicely. The opposite of assent is dissent -- which means disagreeing, or even protesting in a formal way.

Assert

Asserting is all about standing up for what you believe. You might assert an opinion, your innocence, or even your authority over someone else. The verb assert can be used for both opinions and for oneself. When asked, you can politely assert your desire to go to the amusement park for your birthday. If no one listens to you, you can assert yourself and forcefully state that you really want to go the amusement park for your birthday. If that fails, you should just take yourself to the amusement park for your birthday. And get better friends.

Astral

Astral is starlike or having to do with stars. You may wear your hair in a spiky, astral style, resembling the Statue of Liberty's crown. Astrum is Latin for "star," and it shows up in lots of familiar English words: astronomy, asteroid, astrology, even in the name of a sports stadium, the Astrodome. Astral navigation, also called celestial navigation, is the technique of finding your way by the stars. Consult your horoscope to learn what the astral influences have in store for you.

Asunder

Asunder is an adverb that means "into separate pieces." So if you've torn asunder the breakup letter from your girlfriend; you've forcefully ripped it into separate pieces — and rightly so. Asunder comes from the Old English phrase on sundran, which means "into separate places." It is a somewhat archaic and uncommon word and most of us know it only from marriage ceremonies: "What God has joined together let no man put asunder." In most cases you can use its more common synonym "apart" and convey the same meaning, unless you want to express a particularly violent or forceful ripping.

Atrocity

Atrocities, acts of outrageous cruelty, are often committed during wars and armed conflicts. The word atrocity describes both the act of cruelty as well as the sense of cruelty. If you go to visit a poorly run prison, you might be overwhelmed by the atrocity of the place when you see that no one is treated with respect, and torture is rampant. The word atrocity is also often used in the context of warfare and frequently as a plural. There were numerous atrocities on both sides, as the war raged on and the fighters' capacity for cruelty seemed to increase.

Attenuate

Attenuate is a verb that means to make or become weaker. The effects of aging may be attenuated by exercise. (Or by drinking from the fountain of youth.) The versatile word attenuate denotes a weakening in amount, intensity, or value. As a verb, attenuate is usually transitive, meaning it needs an object to be complete, such as in the sentence: "This tanning process tends to attenuate the deer hide, making it softer." The word can be intransitive in past tense, as in "The rain attenuated, ending the storm." And it can even be used as an adjective to describe something weakened: "Even an attenuated solution will remove the stain."

Attrition

Attrition is a gradual process of wearing down, weakening, or destroying something. When a company wants to reduce its payroll without firing anyone, it will sometimes do so through attrition; that is, by waiting for people to retire or quit without hiring anyone new to replace them. In a more general sense, the word means break down, wear out, or reduce in numbers. A triple overtime basketball game, with many players fouling out, is a war of attrition. When you see the word attrition, think "Gradually chipping away."

August

August is not just the eighth month of the year; it also describes something esteemed or regal. The 200-year-old newspaper covering the royal wedding might be called an august institution. The month August was named for Augustus Caesar who was an important and regal person. This is an easy way to remember the two meanings. Interestingly enough, linguists think that the word august did not descend from the same root as the month August. Find that hard to believe? August sources disagree. Oh, and don't forget to pronounce each word properly — the month has the accent on the first syllable, the adjective on the second.

Autocratic

Autocratic describes a way of ruling, but not in a nice way. An autocratic leader is one who rules with an iron fist; in other words — someone with the behavior of a dictator. Autocratic rulers don't tend to be popular. They use fear and control to gain total power over their people. Often, their country is left destitute as a result of their actions. The word autocratic is often used to describe the head of a country, but really, anyone who is a despotic leader can qualify — including the boss who threatens to fire you if you refuse to polish his shoes and work every holiday.

Autonomous

Autonomous describes things that function separately or independently. Once you move out of your parents' house, and get your own job, you will be an autonomous member of the family. This adjective autonomous is often used of countries, regions, or groups that have the right to govern themselves: Vatican City, where the Catholic pope lives, is an autonomous territory located within the city limits of Rome. The corresponding noun is autonomy, referring to the state of existing or functioning independently. Autonomous is from Greek autonomos "independent," from autos "self" plus nomos "law."

Babble

Babble is to talk on and on without a particular goal, to bubble at the mouth, but not in a pretty way. Babble sounds like Babel, the Biblical tower where everyone was talking in their own language. Everyone was babbling without paying attention to their neighbors, like the kid who won't stop talking about his trip to the water park three years ago. A stream or a brook can babble, too, but that's more of a soothing sound of water against rocks. Babies gurgle, because they don't have enough words to babble, yet.

Abortive

Did you ever start something and not finish it? If so, that was an abortive project. Abortive things don't get finished. Abortive is a variation of abort, which means to end something, so something abortive never reaches its end point. If you tried like crazy to run a marathon but couldn't finish, your efforts were abortive. If someone tripped you during the marathon, their efforts were abortive too. Abortive things always lead to the words "The end." Abortive can also be a way of avoiding the word unsuccessful.

arroyo

Ever see a dried out stream or brook that sometimes, after a good rain, is racing with water? That's an arroyo, or a creek that dries out and fills with water depending on the time of year and weather. The Arroyo Seco in Southern California is an example of a well-known arroyo. Its name, which translates from Spanish to mean "dry stream" is an apt way to describe what an arroyo is — dry at times, and flowing at others. An arroyo can be natural or man-made. The Los Angeles River, for example, is an arroyo that runs along a concrete channel and helps distribute fresh water to the city.

avuncular

Everyone likes an avuncular guy, that is someone who is kind and patient and generally indulgent with people younger than he is. The Dalai Lama is an avuncular fellow. So is Santa Claus. Unless you haven't been good. The word avuncular originally comes from the Latin avunculus, meaning "maternal uncle," and strictly speaking the term describes the relationship between an uncle and his nephew. Uncles, by their very definition, are supposed to be avuncular to their nephews. For many uncles though, Santa Claus is pretty hard to compete with.

ancestry

Have a family tree hanging on the wall? Then you know a bit about your ancestry, or family history and lineage. If you think ancestry sounds like ancestor, then you're headed in the right direction. Ancestry is basically a history of ancestors, a trail of where your family started and all the descendants that followed. But ancestry goes much further than just your great-great-grand uncle's brother. You can also use the word ancestry to refer to the background of things other than people — such as the ancestry of a building or the ancestry of a nation.

armada

If an armada is looking for you, that's not good news — it's a fleet of warships. Even though armada sounds a little old-fashioned, they still exist. In fact, some armadas look for pirates — another old-fashioned-sounding group that still exists. Though an armada is part of a navy, armada sounds similar to "army,", and it should: they both come ultimately from the same source, the Latin word armata, "armed." Armies and navies are two of the oldest branches of a military power, and an armada is a military fleet — another word for a group of boats or ships.

aseptic

If something is aseptic it is sterile, sanitized, or otherwise clean of infectious organisms. Hospitals make every effort to keep operating rooms aseptic so that patients don't contract infections after surgery. The prefix "a-" almost always means that a word means the opposite of its base. The adjective aseptic, "a-" plus the root "septic," describes anything that is not septic or is without sepsis. The origin of septic is the Greek word septikos meaning "characterized by putrefaction." Putrefaction is the rot that happens to flesh after it dies, and when something is aseptic it is free of any rot, filth, bacteria or viruses that could cause disease or death.

amorous

If you are shot with a mythological arrow by Cupid, the Greek god of love, you may find yourself making amorous advances on the next person you meet. Amorous means having strong feelings of love, especially sexual love. Amorous words or glances show love or sexual desire. This adjective is a Middle English word, borrowed from Middle French, from Medieval Latin amorosus, from Latin amor "love." A more literary and less common synonym is amator

balk

If you balk at your mother's suggestion that you take on more responsibility, you're saying no to added chores. To balk means to refuse to go along with. A donkey balks when it refuses to move forward. This is a good picture for balk which is often used in conjunction with demands. Demands are something people often balk at like a donkey refusing to move. In baseball, a pitcher balks when he or she begins a pitch by winding up, but does not complete it. It is as if he is refusing to complete a started pitch, and it is against the rules.

arable

If you describe land as arable, it means that something can grow there. If you're looking to raise crops, you better find yourself a patch of arable land. Arable has its Latin roots in the word arare, which means "to plow." Arable soil is ground that can be plowed and cultivated. Chances are — if you are using the word arable, then either the word land or the word soil is following it; however, you might also see the phrase "arable crops" — meaning those crops that are able to be grown on arable land.

apolitical

If you don't care who's President, don't belong to a party, and don't care about political issues, you're apolitical: uninterested in politics. Lots of people are very interested in politics. People who vote, follow current events, and register with political parties are being political. On the other hand, some people don't care about such things: they are apolitical. Putting the a in front of political makes it mean "not political." If you're apolitical, you're either politically neutral or don't care about politics at all. Since politics can be very frustrating, it's natural that some people end up being apolitical.

aversion

If you have an aversion to something, you have an intense dislike for it. Commonly it's food, but you could have an aversion to black and white movies, driving with the windows open, or taking calls from salespeople. An aversion is also the person or thing that is the object of such intense dislike: her aversions included all kinds of vegetables and fruits. This noun is from Latin avertio, ultimately from avertere "to turn away," from the prefix a- "from" plus vertere "to turn." Near synonyms are repugnance and antipathy.

aural

If you have excellent aural abilities, it means that your ears work well. Aural means "pertaining to hearing."Some people learn well using their aural skills, which means they can hear something and remember it easily later. The root of the word aural is the Latin word meaning "pertaining to the ear," auris. It's easy to get aural confused with another word that sounds similar, oral, which means "pertaining to the mouth."

anthropologist

If you like to go people watching and enjoy studying the ways that humans behave, then you might be a future anthropologist. Anthropologists are people that practice anthropology, which is the study of humanity. Basically they want to figure out what makes humans human. An anthropologist might be interested in everything from the traditions of a tribe on a remote island to the culture of an urban community and everything in between. Biological anthropologists spend their time with fossils and artifacts trying to figure out how early humans might have behaved and what makes us different from other primates.

amulet

If you rub your pendant while praying to your gods, it sounds like you have an amulet, a necklace or similar item attributed with magical powers. An amulet is something that wards off evil spells and all manner of bad luck. Often found in undeveloped societies — or Brady Bunch episodes — an amulet acts as a charm to protect its wearer from evil. Often worn close to the heart as a necklace, the word amulet can refer to any a piece of jewelry or other trinket that is kept close to the body and believed to keep evil and danger at bay.

apparition

If you see something you think might be a ghost, you can call it an apparition to hedge your bets. Apparition doesn't commit you in the same way the word ghost does—and saying that you've seen one won't cause you to be committed. Deriving from the Latin apparere "appear," apparition was first used in 1520 in a religious context, referring to the moment when the three wise men appear before the infant Jesus in the Bible. Later, apparition came to include the appearance of ghosts, or ghostly figures. It can also mean a memory so vivid it's like seeing a ghost.

anticlimax

If you think you're approaching the high point, but then realize it's really the low point, that's an anticlimax — a moment when excitement quickly changes to disappointment. In a movie or book, a climax is the point where, after a long buildup, everything gets really intense and dramatic. But if there's a lot of buildup and then suddenly something really boring happens, that's an anticlimax. Like waiting all day to see fireworks, but then nobody has any matches. It can also mean discussing something important like war or art, and then someone interrupts to talk about candy. Talk about a letdown.

ancillary

If you use the adjective ancillary to describe your position you are subordinate or supporting something or someone else. The adjective ancillary originally meant "relating to maidservants" from the Latin, but the element of a female servant has fallen away and now the word merely refers to a position as helpful or subordinate. An example of how something in medicine can be ancillary is after you have surgery you may also take a drug to aid healing — the drug would be considered ancillary to the surgery. One could also argue that in the United States the vice-president takes an ancillary role to the president.

balm

If your lips are cracked and dry, lip balm will make them feel better. A balm is a soothing substance with a consistency somewhere between solid and liquid. The ointment-like consistency is part of what the word balm means. It comes down from the word, balsam, which is a gummy substance that comes from trees. You can use the word metaphorically too. If your mother's cooking always makes you feel better no matter how bad things get, you can say her home cooking has been a balm for you in trying times.

ambrosia

In Greek mythology, ambrosia was the food of the gods. At a picnic, ambrosia is a dessert made with oranges and shredded coconut. While the former bestowed immortality on all who ate it, the latter tastes very refreshing after fried chicken and potato salad. In the Odyssey and the Iliad, Homer uses the word ambrosia for three things: the food of the Olympians, a salve used to treat corpses, and as a perfume to cover up the smell of uncured seal skins. Some scholars have identified ambrosia as honey while others feel that a type of hallucinogenic mushroom was meant in the myths. Regardless of all this confusion, the word is now used metaphorically to mean anything so fragrant, so delicious that it seems divine — including a popular orange-and-coconut confection.

amorphous

In a scientific sense amorphous means lacking a crystalline structure, something without solid form. In a broader sense, the word describes anything that lacks a distinct shape or organizing theme, be it a work of art, a political movement, or even someone's direction in life. The Latin roots of this word are clear — morph means form and a means lacking. Lacking form. When used to describe creative works or ideas, it usually refers to a lack of organization and would rarely be considered a compliment. If your writing is amorphous, it's probably not fully formed. An amorphous crowd of people seem to be random and unconnected, until they all start dancing the Macarena in unison.

aureole

In art, the circle of light painted or drawn around the heads of religious figures is called an aureole to indicate their divine nature. It comes from the Latin word aureus, which means golden, and aureoles are often created in golden hues. The meaning of the noun aureole has extended to mean anything that resembles the sort of artistic circle of light that surrounds something. The term is frequently used when describing hair. If you have light-colored hair, in the sunlight, it may look like your head is surrounded by a shimmering aureole. The luminous circle around the sun visible during a solar eclipse is also called an aureole.

arboretum

In even the busiest of cities you can often find an arboretum, a sort of museum for trees, where many different types of trees and shrubs are growing, kept for scientific study and for the enjoyment of the general population. The word arboretum comes from the Latin arbor, "tree," and the suffix -ētum, "place," making the meaning "a place of trees." The concept of the arboretum goes back even further than the word itself, all the way to the ancient pharoahs of Egypt, who raised and studied trees from other lands. The oldest known arboretum in the Western world is the Trsteno Arboretum, in Trsteno, Croatia, which was established in the 15th century.

annihilate

Killing ends when the thing you are killing (your sworn enemy, all hope, a gerbil) is dead. Annihilate goes farther—when you annihilate something, you wipe all trace of it from the earth. You kill a person, but you annihilate a tribe, a town, or even a species. It's nice to think that the human race made it all the way up until the 16th century before annihilate came to mean what it does now. Might this have something to do with the increasing use of gunpowder around this time?

azure

Looking for a fancier way to describe the deep blue sky on a crisp fall day or the jewel toned waters of the Caribbean? Try azure. Some people might describe the color azure as sapphire in hue, but in fact there's another gem responsible for this word. At its root, azure comes to us from a French mistranslation of the Arabic word (al)-lazaward, which means "lapis lazuli" — the dazzling deep blue stone that's very common in Afghanistan. The Arabic word actually refers to an area of Turkestan where Marco Polo collected lapis lazuli for friends back home.

anthropoid

Next time you are in need of a subtle insult that will completely go over your oafish brother's head, accuse him of being just barely anthropoid, or somewhat resembling a human. Anthropoid is formed from the Greek word for human being, anthrōpos and the ending -oid, meaning "resembling." Anthropoid can describe fictional animals that look like humans, like the three bears in the Goldilocks story, standing upright and wearing their Sunday best. The word also can describe objects that have been decorated to have human features, such as an anthropoid mask with a painted-on face (there's a good insult for your great-aunt who wears too

archipelago

Now here's a word, archipelago, that is super-specific: it means a group of many islands. Wouldn't it be great to build your dream house in the Galapagos archipelago? It seems that archipelago came from the Italian Arciplago, the name for the Aegean Sea, which is full of many many islands. Somehow that became the word for any sea that is chock-full of islands. You can also use archipelago to indicate some other grouping that involves neither islands nor water but is similar to them. Your little sister might create an archipelago of Lego buildings on your living room carpet.

bait

People who go fishing aren't the only ones to use bait. When you hold a yard sale, place your best stuff closest to the sidewalk — to serve as bait. Bait can be anything from the worms that hide a hook to a stereo that tempts shoppers to stop and browse. Bait can also mean the act of getting someone or something to do what you want. For generations, students have baited their teachers into wasting class time with a question about a personal interest or obsession: "This talk about integers is very fascinating, Mr. Green, but what do you think about last night's Penguins game?" Bait comes from the Old Norse, word beita — "to cause to bite." Asking Mr. Green what other Viking words he knows might be interesting, and provide bait for his next off-topic musing.

anthem

Rousing, reverential, sometimes even revolutionary, an anthem is a song that represents the ideals of a group of people. Anthem comes from Old English antefn. The original word meant a song sung antiphonally, or in turns by two groups of singers. Today, anthem has little to do with the way the vocals are arranged and more to do with the content of the message. When a group of people sing an anthem, whether it's the national anthem, or the anthem of your third-grader's beetle-collecting club, they express their devotion to a cause they identify with.

arrhythmic

Someone who can't keep a beat is probably a bad dancer. They're also arrhythmic, which is an adjective that means having no rhythm at all. Most people have a steady heartbeat, ticking one pulse after another like a clock. But if you have an arrhythmic heartbeat, better call a doctor!. An arrhythmic heart beats randomly, without any regular pattern. The word can be tough to spell, so one trick is to start with the word rhythm, then add the prefix ar- (meaning "without") and the suffix -ic ("characterized by"). Spell it that way, and you've got the definition memorized too: "characterized by being without rhythm."

altruistic

Someone who is altruistic always puts others first. An altruistic firefighter risks his life to save another's life, while an altruistic mom gives up the last bite of pie so her kid will be happy. This word comes from the Old French altruistic and means "other people" and before that the Latin alter, which means "other." Our current word comes from the nineteenth century and comes from philosophy. It means that it's important for people to be concerned with the good of others and to act unselfishly. When the word refers to the animal world, it means behavior that may actually harm the individual animal but will benefit the species in general. This is a truly selfless act!

astute

Someone who is astute is clever and has good judgment. The kid running around with a bucket stuck on his head? Not so astute. Astute (from Latin) is a formal and flattering adjective for someone with a good head on their shoulders. It differs from its synonym shrewd in placing less emphasis on hardheadedness than on sensitivity: we talk about a shrewd bargainer but an astute interpretation. Other synonyms are perceptive (emphasizing insight) and discerning (emphasizing an ability to distinguish).

aloof

Someone who's aloof isn't warm and friendly, instead being distant and reserved. That emotionally cold and detached fellow who keeps to himself, drinking espresso and reading French philosophy, would best be described as aloof. In Middle English, aloof was originally a nautical term; the loof (now spelled luff) is the windward side of a ship. Smart sailors wanting to avoid a hazard on the leeward side would give the order, "A loof!" From this command we get the idea of steering clear of something (or someone). In modern usage the word has taken on a negative connotation: an aloof person is often considered cold or snobby.

apposite

Something apposite is fitting or relevant. It is apposite that radio stations play Christmas carols on Christmas Eve, and that your tax accountant takes vacation after April 15th. It all makes sense. The adjective apposite is derived from the Latin terms appositus and apponere. Ponere means to place, and thus apponere is "well-placed or well-put." Don't confuse apposite with opposite; they have almost opposite meanings!

appurtenance

Something that is an accessory to something but not an integral part of it is an appurtenance. If you buy a car, you may want to purchase a few appurtenances for it, like an ice scraper and fuzzy dice to hang from your rear view mirror. The noun appurtenance does not only refer to tangible objects, such as appurtenances of a certain lifestyle. It can also mean equipment or gear for a certain task. By the time you fill your locker with all the appurtenances of a high school student, you won't have room for a coat. Perhaps the appurtenances you should invest in are heavy sweatshirts.

animated

Something that seems full of life and movement is said to be animated. Animated films for television and movies include cartoons, Claymation, puppets, and computer-generated images, which are all simulations of living things. The Latin animāre "give breath to" is the basis for the word animated. The business of animated films has grown with the advent of computers, but the idea of animating something began long before cartoons and CGI. In Mary Shelley's classic 19th-century novel "Frankenstein," the monster, built of dead parts, is animated by electrical impulses, an idea that "sparked" a fascination with regeneration that survives to this very day.

aloft

Something up in the air or really high is aloft. Aloft has a soft, floaty sound to it, and it's a great word for talking about flying birds, airborne ballet dancers, and soaring spitballs. Things that are above or overhead are aloft, and they can be flying free or lifted up. Frisbees are aloft when they cut through the air, and your hands are aloft when you hold them high to catch a Frisbee. Some things are stationary, or set in place, and aloft, like tree houses and birds' nests. You might feel suspended in time as you catch air on your bike, aloft over the ground — until you hit pavement reality three seconds later.

badinage

Stiff corporate types don't tend to be too fond of badinage, or playful conversation, during important meetings, but sometimes a witty joke about the manager's ugly tie is just the right thing to lighten the mood. Badinage comes from the French word badiner, which means "to joke." In literature, there is no better place to find examples of badinage and witty wordplay than in Shakespeare's comedic plays. You can also find great examples in sitcom television, stand-up comedy, and the everyday frivolous banter among siblings and friends.

appall

That tattoo on your lower back is likely to appall your mother. Just like her pink hair once appalled your grandmother. To appall is to shock and disgust. Appall comes from an Old French word meaning "to make pale." If a gory scene in a movie appalls you, you're likely to turn pale. The word appall always carries with it the feeling of disgust. You might be shocked by a loud noise, but in order for it to appall you, it would probably have to come along with a really foul smell or a gruesome scene.

amphitheater

The "amphi" of amphitheater means "on both sides" in Greek. Ancient amphitheaters were exactly as described: open-air theaters that allowed spectators to sit on both sides of the action. Today, the word amphitheater is used to mean any large, semicircular theater space. Often, although not always, they are outdoor spaces where concerts, theater, and other performances can be held. The Hollywood Bowl is an example of a modern amphitheater, where groups like Monty Python and the Beatles have performed. An amphitheater is also a large gallery overlooking an operating room in a hospital — usually used for teaching purposes.

bacchanalian

The Greek god Bacchus was no teetotaler. A bacchanalian party is a wild, wine-soaked, rowdy affair. Bacchanalian is used to describe any event that Bacchus would have enjoyed. The Romans celebrated Bacchus with wine, songs, dances and more wine — not the kind of behavior you would expect from self-respecting adults (and probably not the kind of thing they would tell their kids about). Bacchanalian sounds like "back-and-nail" yen so you might want to think of it as a description of party where everyone has one drink too many and wants to give each other a back rub.

astigmatism

The eye has a cornea — a clear, curved layer that protects it. If the cornea's shape is irregular, astigmatism results. People who have astigmatism see images as distorted, so they need to wear glasses or contact lenses. Sometimes people mistakenly say, "One of my eyes has a stigmatism." But the a in astigmatism is important to its meaning. The prefix a- means "without." Stigma is Greek for "point," so an eye that is "without point" is one that doesn't allow light rays to meet at a single point or focus. Since astigmatism is a condition, you don't need the article an before it: "My eye has astigmatism," not "My eye has an astigmatism."

apocalyptic

The lyrics of a popular song from the 1980's by the band REM go, "It's the end of the world as we know it." This song's tune may be catchy but the sentiment is rather apocalyptic — since it refers to the final destruction of the world. The base word of apocalyptic, apocalypse, means "ultimate doom." This scenario is most famously described in the Bible's Book of Revelation, but the concept is used in reference to many extreme catastrophes. For example, the devastating conditions left behind after a hurricane or tornado has hit an area can be said to be apocalyptic. Often, this adjective is used for exaggeration, so you could also use apocalyptic to describe the bad haircut you just got.

moral

The moral of a story is the lesson that story teaches about how to behave in the world.Moral comes from the Latin word mores, for habits. The moral of a story is supposed to teach you how to be a better person. If moral is used as an adjective, it means good, or ethical. If you have a strong moral character, you are a good member of society. If someone is a cheat and a liar, you might say, "She is not a moral person."

aboriginals

The native, indigenous people of a country are often called aboriginals. In Canada, the First Nations — Inuits and Métis — would be considered aboriginals. The adjective form of aboriginal is used to describe anything related to the native, indigenous people. You may visit a museum that has an exhibit of aboriginal art; or, if you're a linguist, you may study aboriginal languages. The adjective can also be used to describe something that is indigenous to a place and existed there from the beginning, such as "an aboriginal forest" that consists of old, old trees.

accretion

The process of increasing can be called accretion. Although you may say that stalactites "grow" from the ceilings of caves, they actually form from an accretion of limestone and other minerals. So what's the difference between an addition and an accretion? Addition implies adding to something that already exists, such as an addition to the cast (when a new actor joins an existing show). The noun accretion, on the other hand, implies an accumulation that causes increase, such as "an accretion of frost on the windows" or "an accretion of plaque on your teeth." The latter, of course, is why the dentist always begs you to floss and brush.

amity

The word amity refers to a peaceful, friendly nature, much like the French word for friend — "ami." From the Latin amicus "friend," amity means "friendly relations." That strong sense of friendship lends irony to the name of the book, and later the movie, called "The Amityville Horror," about a horrifying town with a weirdly cheerful name. In truth, though, amity means mutual understanding and peace. Wouldn't it be nice if all of the world's nations lived in amity?

amalgamate

To amalgamate is to combine different things to create something new. Institutions — such as banks, schools, or hospitals — often join forces and amalgamate with one other. But other things — like musical genres — get amalgamated as well. The verb amalgamate original referred specifically to the mixture of metals, now however, it refers to any mixing or blending. A school board might decide to amalgamate two schools into one school due to a decrease in the student population, but amalgamating their mascots would be impossible.

anoint

To anoint means to choose by divine intervention. Or at least it seems like the big guy upstairs had something to do with it. Saints and religious leaders are said to be anointed, but so is that new unstoppable quarterback who saved the team midseason. Anoint comes to us from the ancient Latin word unguere, which means "to smear." Which explains the other sense of this word, which is to apply with oil or another smearable substance, such as during a religious ceremony.

ape

To ape someone is to imitate them, often in a mocking way. Most people don't like being aped. To ape is to imitate, but it can mean a few different things. One type of aping is to blatantly imitate something or someone in every way. That's considered a bad thing because it's so unoriginal — it's a rip-off. Another kind of aping is like a caricature — to ape in this way is a way of making fun or spoofing someone. Either way, you probably don't want to be accused of aping.

append

To append means to add on, usually to the end of something. You might want to append a clause onto a contract if you feel something has been left unsaid in it. You've probably seen the word append before, at least as part of another word: appendix. An appendix is a final section appended onto a book that offers additional information or notes. You can also use append to mean to fix onto or to attach usually at the end. Sometimes you can change the meaning of a word by removing the suffix and appending another to it. You'd best not append your presentation with the remark that you actually don't know what you are talking about.

apprehend

To apprehend is to capture or arrest, as when the police try to apprehend criminals and bring them to justice. You also apprehend a concept when you understand it, grasping or capturing its meaning. The verb apprehend has remained much the same since the original Latin, both in form and meaning. It comes from apprehendere "to grasp or seize." The word came to refer to learning — "grasping or seizing with the mind" — but then came to mean "seize in the name of the law" or "arrest" around the 1540s, a meaning that remains to this day. The word can also be used to suggest an anxious feeling about something about to happen.

assail

To assail is to attack or assault — with throwing stars, fists, words or, less tangibly but just as violently, with troubles or doubts. Believe it or not, assail evolved from the ancient Latin word assilire, which means "to jump on." So picture an attacker jumping on you, throwing punches and maybe some insults, too. Because assail also means to ridicule or heap your worries upon someone. As novelist Charlotte Bronte noted, "Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last." Think on that.

atone

To atone is to do something "right" to make up for doing something wrong. Religious believers are known to atone for their sins, but even students can atone for a past failure by acing a quiz or two. The word atone came to English as a contraction of the words at and one. The verb means to make amends or reparations for an offense or wrong doing. You can remember the meaning by thinking of it as a sort of Zen concept, to be "at one" or in harmony with someone, you have to atone for your mistakes and be forgiven. In a religious sense, it means to repent for sins ("to atone for his sins").

attest

To attest is to prove or declare to be true. For example: the fact that you aced the SAT attests to the strength of your vocabulary. Attest and testify come from the same Latin word testari, which means "to declare." Although both words are kind of formal, you often testify in a courtroom, but attest doesn't require a court of law to function. You can attest to anything — that the funny looking shoes toned your thighs, that what someone says is true, or that the new acne medicine really works. To remember it, think of when you pass a test, you attest that you know the material.

aver

To aver is to declare something is true or to state. This verb has a serious tone, so you might aver something on a witness stand or you might aver that you won't back down to a challenge. The verb aver comes to English via the Latin root words ad, meaning "to," and verus, meaning "true." The word can have the sense of formally declaring something is true, but it can also mean to report positively: "The grandmother averred that her granddaughter would make a fine veterinarian because of her love and caring for animals."

baffle

To baffle is to confuse. If you are completely puzzled as to what baffle means, you might say that this word baffles you. Baffle means "confuse," but it can also mean "amaze." A magician might baffle you with an impressive magic trick. Additionally, this verb can mean "to spoil, thwart, or defeat by means of confusion." In a debate, you might baffle the opposition by introducing new information that your opponents are not familiar with. Baffle can also be used like stump. If you are stumped by a question on a test, then you've been baffled by that question.

Averse

To be averse to something is to be opposed to it on moral, philosophical or aesthetic grounds: my father is averse to people smoking cigarettes in the house, but he would not be averse to your smoking a cigar. Averse comes from a Latin word, aversus, which means "turned away from." To be averse to something is to shun it, turn away from it, or dislike it. Some people are averse to the use of cilantro in any food that comes near them, some others are averse to wearing itchy wool sweaters, and others are averse to any form of exercise. Aversions are really very personal.

cede

To cede is to give up or surrender land, position, or authority. "She reluctantly ceded the coveted position as the baby of the family to her brother when he was born. She would not, however, cede her bedroom to him." Cede is a word often used in discussing diplomatic issues. It is more commonly used in reference to actual physical things, like geographic areas or objects, but can also be used in reference to attitudes or opinions. "The rebels ceded territory after the siege failed." "Dad tried but finally ceded control and let me have my own Facebook account."

Atypical

Typical means what you would expect—a typical suburban town has lots of neat little houses and people. Atypical means outside of type—an atypical suburban town might be populated by zombies in damp caves. Atypical is a synonym of "unusual," but it carries a more objective feel—scientific studies might mention atypical results, suggesting that there is a clear definition of what is typical and what is not. "Unusual" is more of a casual observation that one might make in a non-scientific context.

anarchy

Use the noun anarchy to describe a complete lack of government — or the chaotic state of affairs created by such an absence. A substitute teacher might worry that an unruly classroom will descend into anarchy. From the Greek for "without a ruler" we get this word for the political philosophy that the best government is no government at all — a movement that enjoyed surprising success worldwide in the early and middle parts of the twentieth century. Today, the word is more commonly used to describe not a political ideal but a state of total disorder, chaos and even violence: "A type of bloody anarchy is beginning to reign." A good synonym would be "lawlessness."

annul

When a celebrity wakes up in Las Vegas with a mysterious wedding ring on her finger, the first thing she'll probably want to do is annul the marriage. That will declare it invalid and officially cancel the whole deal. Annul, which means "to cancel" or "to invalidate," is usually used in the context of politics or marriage. New government officials often want to annul laws and policies of the previous post-holder, effectively reversing their work. When you annul a marriage, you are officially declaring it invalid, as if it never happened. In the case of the unfortunate celebrity marriage, however, it could be difficult to completely erase all record of the event — especially if the tabloids hear about it.

awry

When something goes wrong with a decent plan, you say it has gone awry. Losing your backpack is a mistake, but when you realize it contained your ticket and your passport, your vacation plans really go awry. Wry means "twisted"—so going awry means getting "twisted up." Awry is similar to askew, which means "off, out of line," though when you compare the roots skew "turned at an angle" and wry "twisted" you see the subtle difference between the two words.

amiss

When things are out of their proper places or not happening the way they should, we say they are amiss. And remember, amiss is as good as a mile. The word amiss can be used as an adverb, as in the sentence, "I spoke amiss." Or you could use it as an adjective, as when you think something is wrong or missing — "Something in the room is amiss." Either way, amiss refers to something that is wrong, off the mark, or "missed" (note the connection). Once in a while, the word amiss can imply that something fishy or foul has taken place. In Hamlet, when Marcellus said, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," he might as well have said, "Something in Denmark is amiss."

anneal

When you anneal metal or glass, you heat it and then cool it in order to make it less brittle and more malleable.Metallurgists — engineers who specialize in the properties and uses of metals — have to know a variety of methods used to anneal different kinds of metals. You can also anneal glass, to make it stronger and to help keep it from shattering.

annotate

When you annotate, you write critical explanations to add extra insight about something. These explanations can be necessary to understanding writings in which the language might be difficult to make sense of without clarification. The heart of the word annotate is the word note. The Latin annotātus means "noted down," making the word a breeze to remember. A writer will annotate parts that need extra explanation in technical works or classic writings in which the language or concepts might be difficult to grasp. In fact, some works, like James Joyce's "Ulysses," have entire separate volumes of annotations, and readers must shift back and forth from the novel to the annotations. Now that's a dedicated reader!

avow

When you avow something, you say it openly for the whole world to hear. If you're a witness in a trial, you'll be asked to take an oath in which you'll avow that you'll tell the truth. A simple way to remember the meaning of avow is that it sounds and looks a whole lot like "a vow," to which it's closely related. At the end of almost every wedding, the couple takes their vows, in which they avow their commitment to each other. To take a vow is to avow the things that you say in that vow. Be sure that you mean what you say when you avow something, because people will hold you to it. And don't mutter or mumble. That's no way to avow something.

angular

Whether it's a face with strikingly lean bone structure, a tall rectangular building, or a something written in Arabic script, anything that is characterized by sharp angles can be described as angular. The word angular describes objects that have sharp angles, such as something with many corners and few soft curves. You'll also hear it used to describe a person's face or body. A tall, thin person with prominent bones can be described as angular. The word can be used figuratively to describe movements that are jerky and not smooth, such as the angular dance moves that go with a fast rock song.

acclaim

You know you've hit it big, when you earn acclaim, or enthusiastic approval. And when you have achieved "critical acclaim," even the grouchy critics approve of you. The word acclaim comes from the Latin word acclamare, which means to cry out. So it only makes sense that the verb acclaim means to offer enthusiastic praise or applause. "The book was critically acclaimed, but most of the students found it to be stupefyingly boring."

anthropomorphic

Your favorite TV shows when you were a toddler probably had anthropomorphic characters like Thomas the Tank Engine or Arthur, who are non-human, but have human characteristics, such as human faces and the ability to talk. You may have heard of anthropology, the study of human beings. Like anthropomorphic, it derives from the Greek word anthrōposi, which means "human being." One thing human beings like to do is anthropomorphize animals and inanimate objects. If that sounds fancy, just think about a kindergarten student putting a smiley face on his drawing of a sun.

acetic

relating to or containing acetic acid

aggressor

someone who attacks,a confident assertive person who acts as instigator

decant

The verb decant means "to pour." Kids moving water back and forth between two cups, your dad pouring a bucket of soapy water in the sink, or a wine expert emptying a bottle of wine into a fancy glass container — all of them are decanting liquids. When you decant, pronounced "dee-CANT," something by slowly pouring it from one bottle to another, you may feel a little bit like a mad scientist or an alchemist. That image would be appropriate, since early on decant was used by alchemists to describe the process of separating a liquid from a sediment by careful pouring. Today, wine lovers do just that — decanting wine to avoid any solid bits — but pouring any liquid can be described as decanting.

agog

The word agog means with great excitement and interest. When you're falling over yourself with excitement and curiosity to see who's coming up the red carpet next, you're agog about celebrities. At Christmas time, you are probably agog to see what's in all the beautiful presents. An easy way to remember what agog means is to think of it as goggle-eyed, which it sounds a bit like. When you're agog, you're goggle-eyed with excitement about something, whatever that happens to be. In truth, the word has nothing to do with goggle-eyes, but instead relates to the Middle French word en gogues which means "full of mirth, good humor, and joyfulness."

advert

This one's easy. An advert is an advertisement: just shorten advertisement, and you get advert. Of course, as a verb, to advert to something means to refer to it. The noun advert (AD-vert) shows up mostly in England, where people use it interchangeably with advertisement. With the train going so fast, it was hard to read the advert posted along the track. Did you notice our new advert in the paper? No? Nobody else did either. We shouldn't have paid for those adverts. When your friends try to tell you that you drink too much, they might advert (ad-VERT) to your regular binges, barfing, and blackouts.

abase

To abase something or someone is to humiliate them — no, more than just humiliate them. If you abase another person you are bringing them low, humbling them in a mean, base manner. Not nice at all. Abase means to bring someone down, often either in their job or their self-esteem. The early Latin bassus, which meant "thick, low," evolved into the Old French abaissier, meaning "to make lower in value or status." The important clue to the word is "base." Consider that the base of anything is the bottom, and you get an idea as to the meaning of the word abase, which means to make someone feel low.

abbreviate

To abbreviate is to shorten. Words are often abbreviated, like when we say sked instead of schedule. Though we most often think about words being abbreviated — especially terms like OMG and LOL for "oh my God" and "laugh out loud" — lots of things can be abbreviated. You just have to shorten them. Sudden rain might abbreviate a baseball game. A bomb threat would abbreviate a school day. Anytime something is being shortened or cut, abbreviation is going on.

abet

To abet is to help someone do something, usually something wrong. If you were the lookout while your older sister swiped cookies from the cookie jar, you abetted her mischief. The verb abet can be used to generally mean encouragement, but people usually expect to see it in relation to some crime. "The singer was abetted by a pianist in her rendition of Silver Bells," for example, is a harmless construction. However, people more often expect abet in a sentence like this: "She was charged with aiding and abetting the burglar because she drove the getaway car." Abet comes from an Old French word abeter meaning "to bait."

accost

To accost is to approach someone aggressively or confront them in an inappropriate way. Accost describes a confrontation — one that's often aggressive in nature. You're likely to be accosted by angry picketers if you wear your finest fur coat to a march against animal cruelty. The paparazzi make their living by accosting celebrities, pushing in close to snap candid photos as the stars leave their limos. The drunk man who accosts his attractive female co-worker at a company cocktail party is looking for more than conversation.

accrue

To accrue is to accumulate or to keep growing in value or size. If you can accrue enough extra credit to build up your grade, you won't have to take the final exam. Early forms of the word accrue were used as early as the 15th century with the meaning "to increase" or "to grow." Many modern uses for accrue involve money or finances, as when you accrue, or earn, interest on a bank account. You can accrue debt too, as interest grows on top of money owed until you pay it back. It's possible to accrue benefits over the time you work somewhere, or you can accrue demerits while you're misbehaving somewhere.

acquiesce

To acquiesce is to agree to something or to give in. If your kid sister is refusing to hand over the television remote, you hope she acquiesces before your favorite show comes on. The verb acquiesce comes from the Latin word acquiescere, meaning "to rest." If you "rest" or become passive in the face of something to which you object, you are giving tacit agreement, you acquiesce. If you want to go hiking with your family and your children are not interested, it will be a very tough day on the trail until they acquiesce.

actuate

To actuate is to put into motion. The "act" in actuate can remind you of this word's meaning — to put into action. A lever might actuate a pump, or malice might actuate a crime. Coming to us from the Latin word actus, which means "to act," actuate's meaning is simpler than it sounds — it just means to set in motion or activate some kind of motion. Think of one of those complex Rube Goldberg mouse traps; you know, the one where the boot kicks the ball that drops on the plank that tips over the ladder which rings a bell that cracks an egg that knocks over the cage onto the unsuspecting mouse. The boot actuates the whole shebang.

absolve

To be absolved is to be let off the hook, to be set free from a certain obligation or to be forgiven for a wrongdoing. The Church may absolve you of your sins, but that won't absolve you of the need to attend mass. The Latin absolvere, which means "to set free," is the root of the word absolve. In the religious sense, to be absolved means to be truly forgiven in the eyes of the Lord, which must feel like being set free. In a more mundane everyday usage, absolve can be used to describe being let off the hook. For instance, putting a campaign poster in your window does not absolve you of the responsibility to vote.

aegis

To be under the aegis of an organization is to be sponsored or protected by them. For instance, you were under the aegis of the Peace Corps when you were living in Swaziland. The noun aegis comes from the Greek word Aigis, which was the name of Zeus's shield. That's Zeus, the most powerful Greek god, who probably had a pretty tough shield, even though it was made of goatskin. To say that something or someone is under the aegis of another is basically saying that they have the strength of Zeus on their side. Or, at least, whoever is protecting them will be as Zeus-like as possible in their support.

debilitate

To debilitate something is to make it weaker. A bad flu may debilitate your powers of concentration, like the New Year's resolutions that temporarily debilitate bakeries' business. The verb debilitate traces back to the Latin word debilis, meaning "lame, disabled, crippled." It's often used to describe what disability or illness does to a person's health, but it can describe anything that has been weakened, like the sense of community that is slowly debilitated by people working longer hours and the lack of sidewalks that in many towns make it harder to walk around and meet the neighbors.

debacle

Use debacle to refer to a fiasco, disaster, or great failure. If several dogs run onto the field during the big baseball game, tripping players and chewing up the bases, you can call the whole event a debacle. Debacle is sometimes used to describe a military defeat. If your army retreats, that's one thing. If your army is outmaneuvered and ends up huddled in a valley, surrounded on all sides by the enemy, forced to sing 70s sitcom theme songs by their savage captors--that's a debacle. Debacle comes from French débâcler "to clear," from Middle French desbacler, from the prefix des- "completely, utterly" plus bacler "to block."

decelerate

Use the verb decelerate when you want to slow down, like when you realize you are missing important moments in life by racing around, trying to do everything yourself. If you make an effort to decelerate, you might be happier — and healthier. Decelerate is the opposite of accelerate, which means "to go faster." Decelerate often describes slowing a vehicle, but it can relate to nearly anything, like a friendship that begins with hanging out nearly every day but decelerates when you move to a new town or get busy with school and sports. It doesn't mean the friendship is ending or over, just that the pace is now a little slower.

agrarian

Use the word agrarian to describe something related to fields, farming, or rural matters. The school calendar is still based on the old agrarian calendar, when children needed to be off during the summer to help with planting and harvesting. The adjective agrarian comes from the Latin root word ager, meaning a field, but the word's meaning has expanded to include anything rural or farm-related. "The senator, who represented mostly agrarian communities, spent most of her time working on issues of interest to farmers. She lobbied to stabilize the price of corn and milk, fought for subsidies for working farms, and presented ribbons to the prized pig at the county fair."

acrophobia

Want to go to the top of the Empire State Building? You must not have acrophobia. Someone who is terrified of heights will just wait for you in the gift shop — which is on the ground floor. You can see the word phobia, or extreme fear, in acrophobia. Acro comes from the Greek word akron, which means "summit" or "high point." When you put it all together, you have a word that means "fear of heights." Whoever named Akron, Ohio, must have studied Greek; it is located on a plateau in Summit County.

alimony

When a couple gets divorced, the court might order the one spouse to pay alimony to the other, which is like an allowance for basic expenses like food and shelter. Although these days we only use the word alimony when we talk about divorce, it comes from a Latin word alere, meaning to nourish. Traditionally it was the husband's job to take care of his wife's nourishment, and women raising children needed alimony payments to live on after a divorce or separation. Nowadays it might be the dad staying at home, and the working wife who pays alimony after a divorce.

abut

When something borders something else, it is said to abut it. The term is often used in real estate to refer to a lot line. Wouldn't it be nice to have your back yard abut a forest preserve or park? The Old French word but meant "end" — think of "butt" for a crude way to remember that! — and it was joined to a-, from the Latin ad- "near to." The result was abuter, which meant "to touch at an end." The word eventually became abouter, meaning "to join at the ends, or border on." The idea of abut suggesting a common boundary comes from the late Middle English, and today we use the word when anything touches something else

decapitate

When the bad-tempered Queen of Hearts cried "off with their heads!" in "Alice in Wonderland," she was ordering her henchmen to decapitate those who had offended her. The verb decapitate comes from Latin de "away" or "down" and caput "head." Don't confuse it with kaput, a German word that means "broken" or destroyed." Of course, if someone were to decapitate you, you'd be pretty well kaput.

acclimate

When you acclimate yourself to a situation, you become used to it. It usually means getting accustomed to a particular new climate, but it can also mean getting used to other situations, such as a new school. The word climate in the word acclimate should give you a clue as to the word's meaning: to get used to a specific climate. Nature allows the human body to acclimate itself to various weather conditions. For example, people moving to higher altitudes will develop more red blood cells in order to absorb oxygen better. This is their bodies' way of acclimating to the thinner air. It takes a while for the body to become acclimated to a new climate.

affix

When you affix something, you stick it on to something else. You might affix a stamp to a letter or affix colorful stickers to your notebook. The verb affix often refers to physically attaching something — like when you affix a label onto a folder — but it can be used more broadly to describe adding on something. You might affix your signature to a contract. If you like grammar, you might already know that the noun form of affix refers to letters or words that can be tacked onto other base words to alter their meaning. For example, the prefix un- is an affix.

alienate

When you alienate people, you make them stop liking or caring about you. Show up at a conference of cat lovers with a sign around your neck that says, "I hate kittens," and you'll learn firsthand what that means. Back in the days of Latin, before the word alien came to mean little green men from outer space, it described something or someone that was foreign or different or not known: an alien custom, an alien nation. When you alienate people, you make them WISH you were an alien, or at least that they could send you to the moon.

advocacy

When you give your active support to idea or cause, you are showing your advocacy for that cause. Her advocacy for the animal rights group helped them raise a lot of money. The noun advocacy comes to English from a term used in Roman law. An advocate was a professional whose job was to plead cases in front of a court of law. That meaning led to the verb form of advocate, as well as advocacy to describe the work of an advocate. "The lunchroom staff were advocates for healthier school lunches; their advocacy was supported by parents and the school board; however, the students were reluctant to give up their cookies and chips."

decadence

Whether in reference to chocolate cake for breakfast or wild all-night parties, decadence means extravagance, luxury, and self-indulgence with a sense of moral decline. The Latin root of decadence means "to fall down," and this may help you understand the full sense of the word. Decadence is not simply a synonym for excess; it also suggests that one's morals have gone down. The word is usually negative but not always. When hostile critics called a group of French writers and artists in the late 1800s decadents, these poets and painters embraced the label. When a pastry chef calls her creation Chocolate Decadence, she is promoting a mildly guilty pleasure, not announcing the end of Western civilization.

aghast

Would you be aghast, or shocked, to find out that your friends believe in ghosts, or would you share their frightened, or aghast, looks when a floating white being hovers over the campfire? Aghast comes from Old English gasten, "frighten," which comes in turn from gāst, "ghost." If you've seen a look of absolute shock or terror on someone's face — like when your mom (or dad) sees a mouse — you can describe the look with the adjective aghast. If someone says "You should have seen the look on your face!" after sneaking up on you, you probably looked aghast yourself. "Boo!"

alloy

You may have heard of aluminum alloy on a car. What that means is that there is another metal mixed in with the aluminum, to save money and/or to strengthen the wheels. The wheels are an alloy (a mix), rather than pure. In addition to indicating a dilution of one metal with another, alloy can refer to the dilution of a feeling or a quality. Knowing that you look awesome in your Halloween costume would be an alloy to the embarrassment of showing up to a party where you are the only one in a costume.

alias

Your alias could be as important as the name you use when you're on the run from the cops or as simple as your screen name on social networking site. Either way, an alias a temporary name, one you don't use all the time or for every occasion. If you crash your parents' lovingly-restored MG into the garage when you aren't even supposed to be driving it, it might be easier to skip town and live under an assumed name, or alias, than deal with their reaction. Alias can also be used as an adverb to mean "also known as." You might swing back into town after things have cooled off with mom and dad and introduce your new boyfriend "John Smith, alias Lock Jaw Johnnie, wanted in 39 states." Or not.

Debauch

1. It means to destroy the morals of someone. If you debauch a young girl, you introduce her to immoral activities. 2.A debauch is also an excessive amount of eating or drinking. To understand debauch, you have to understand a context in which women were considered pure because they were virgins and also because they were generally innocent. Men—often the kind whose lives were spent in a debauch of eating, drinking, using bad language, smoking, etc.—would debauch these women, ruining them for all time, in a bout of debauchery.

adage

1. proverb or short statement expressing a general truth. "the old adage 'out of sight out of mind'" An adage is a saying, a noun that hasn't traveled far from its Latin root, aio meaning "I say." Moms and dads love adages such as "early to bed early to rise" and "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Like a proverb, an adage can be true or not so much. It's a folksy saying that's been passed around for so long that it doesn't even matter if it's true anymore. Adages can be wise and wisecracking, such as this quote from Alice Roosevelt Longworth: "I've always believed in the adage that the secret of eternal youth is arrested development." There's a Book of Proverbs in the Bible, but adages can show up anywhere, even cross-stitched on a pillow.

abnegation

1. self-denial, Self -sacrifice "people are capable of abnegation and unselfishness" 2. the action of renouncing or rejecting something. "abnegation of political power" When you purposely deny yourself something, especially in favor of the needs of others, you would describe this act as an abnegation. This has to be your choice, not the choice of others — so it's not abnegation when your parents don't let you stay out all night. The noun abnegation definitely has the sense of self-denial and self-sacrifice. So you wouldn't use abnegation to refer to the fact that you are giving up candy in order to eat more fruit. Instead, you would use the word if you were giving up desserts in order to donate to charity all the money you saved by not eating them for a month or two. Some religions have fast days and you would definitely use abnegation if you've given up all food or something you like to eat in order to follow the rules and requirements of your beliefs.

agape

1.(of a person's mouth) wide open in surprise or wonder. "Downes listened, mouth agape with incredulity" If you're watching a powerful display of nature such as an avalanche, you might stare at it with your mouth agape, which means your mouth would be wide open in awe. You should close it, before it is full of snow. Agape, you may have already figured out, comes from the verb gape, meaning "to open wide or split." This is what happens to your mouth when you are looking agape at something in amazement. Don't confuse mouth-wide-open agape with the other agape, which is spelled the same but pronounced differently and refers to Christian love.

adjuration

1.Adjuration involves both begging and promising. Use the noun adjuration to describe the serious, whole-hearted way you begged your parents to let you have a puppy when you were little. During your adjuration to get that puppy, did you say, "I swear I'll feed it and walk it every day! I swear to clean up after it!"? If so, you were really in tune with the origin of adjuration, the Latin ad- or "to" and jurare, "swear" — in the sense of taking an oath of honesty. Adjuration involves both begging and promising.

aerie

1.An aerie is the nest of a large bird of prey somewhere high up, such as the branch of a tree or a clifftop. 2.Also has the meaning of a human residence that's perched high up — particularly an artist's garret, for example, in the eaves of a building Don't confuse aerie with airy, meaning spacious and well ventilated (though it's a safe bet that given their location most aeries are exactly that). The word also has the meaning of a human residence that's perched high up — particularly an artist's garret, for example, in the eaves of a building.

agenda

1.An agenda is a list of things to do. If you're going to attend a meeting with a long agenda, you'll want to take your coffee mug along. 2. The noun retains this meaning because an agenda is a plan — organized by time — of events or things to do The word agenda is the plural for of the Latin word agendum, which literally means "something to be done." The noun retains this meaning because an agenda is a plan — organized by time — of events or things to do. You might have a meeting, a lunch date, and a doctor's appointment on your agenda for the day. And when you run for office, you better have a political agenda — or a plan for what you want to get done if elected.

adulterate

1.Whenever something original, pure, fresh, or wholesome is marred, polluted, defaced, or otherwise made inferior, it has been adulterated. If you adulterate something, you mess it up. You may not want to adulterate the beauty of freshly fallen snow by shoveling it, but how else are you going to get to work? The verb adulterate comes from the Latin word adulterare, which means "to falsify," or "to corrupt." Whenever something original, pure, fresh, or wholesome is marred, polluted, defaced, or otherwise made inferior, it has been adulterated. Your grandfather may, for instance, believe that bartenders adulterate the name "Martini" by applying it to combinations of vodka, chocolate or anything other than a mixture of five parts gin to one part dry vermouth, on the rocks, with a twist.

agglomeration

1.a mass or collection of things; an assemblage. "the arts centre is an agglomeration of theatres, galleries, shops, restaurants and bars" The word agglomeration is quite an agglomeration of letters, a big bunch of them. Inside of agglomeration you see the word glom which means to become stuck or attached to something. An agglomeration is a bunch of stuff that has glommed onto each other. Try not to confuse the word with abomination which is an awful and reprehensible thing. If you had an agglomeration of abominations, you'd have more than a handful of hateful objects.

alcove

1.a recess in the wall of a room or garden. Syn: niche, nook Chapels in churches are often alcoves. Picture one set off to the side with a vaulted ceiling, separated by pillars and a small railing. See that and you see an alcove, defined. If your bed is in an alcove in a studio apartment, it is in a recessed area of the room, separated by an arch or a half wall but not by a door. Think of an alcove as a sidecar to a room or even a cave. It's a separate smaller area that is still attached, but feels cozy because it is partially enclosed.

allegory

1.a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. Syn: parable, analogy, metaphor "Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the spiritual journey" 2. a symbol. The figurative style known as allegory has nothing do with alligators — unless you're telling a story where alligators represent evil forces snapping at humanity. An allegory is like a metaphor on steroids: a writer tells a fictional story where everything and everyone in it is supposed to represent a deeper meaning. Using a plain old metaphor, you might call death "the grim reaper," but an allegory might build a whole tale of how the grim reaper goes around in a black cloak and informs people of their impending doom. Aesop's Fables are allegories, with animals taking the place of different human character types — though Aesop never wrote an allegory about an alligator.

debutante

1.a way to introduce wealthy young women to especially eligible young bachelors A debutante is usually a wealthy girl whose parents wish to introduce to society in a BIG way — in "a debutante ball" that looks like something out of a scene from "Gone with the Wind." In the United States, debutante balls usually, but not always, take place in the South and are a way to introduce wealthy young women to especially eligible young bachelors. The word debutante is derived from the French word debut, meaning "a first performance or showing." The original French word debutante referred to a new actress making her first appearance on the stage. So, think of a debutante as a young woman making her debut in society.

affidavit

1.a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation, for use as evidence in court. When you state something in an affidavit, you're pledging to the powers that be that you're not lying. "a former employee swore an affidavit relating to his claim for unfair dismissal" If you make a written statement to the police or another recognized authority like a notary public that you swear is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, what you've put down on paper is an affidavit. We get the noun affidavit from the Latin affidare, which means "to pledge." When you state something in an affidavit, you're pledging to the powers that be that you're not lying. The word usually appears in legal settings; if you watch a lot of cop shows or courtroom dramas, it probably rings a bell. "According to the affidavit, Mrs. Smith told police she found the burglar in her closet wearing her most expensive pair of shoes."

allusion

1.an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference. "an allusion to Shakespeare" That little nod to a Dylan Thomas poem that you sneaked into your PowerPoint presentation? That was an allusion, a quick reference to something that your audience will have to already know in order to "get."An allusion often references a famous work of art or literature, or to something from your own life. For example, you might say, "I obviously am no expert at love" — an allusion to your failed relationships. The main thing to remember is that an allusion is a brief hint or a quick mention. It's meant to bring to mind a particular subject, but it always avoids getting into it in great depth.

addendum

1.an item of additional material added at the end of a book or other publication. Syn: Appendix, codicil When you make an addendum to a document, you are adding text to the end. Addenda tend to be serious business as they're added to contracts, reports, and studies. There is nothing dumb about an addendum; often an addendum makes a document "smarter" by adding more information. If you did a science report on plant growth and found that after your study was complete, the plant flowered in an unusual way, you might describe that as an addendum to your report. Fun fact: the plural of addendum is addenda.

abridge

1.condense and cut short So the editor wants to cut your epic 800-page history of the stapler to a 150-page summary instead. Don't cry — he just wants to abridge your masterpiece, trimming it down to the more readable essential elements. Synonymous with abbreviate, condense and cut short, abridge comes from the Latin word abreviare, which means "to shorten." Although it's usually used in reference to wordy texts, one can also abridge or shorten a piece of clothing; a miniskirt is just an abridged version of the old floor length hoop skirt, for example. But abridging something isn't always good: If your civil rights are abridged, they've been lessened in some way.

allay

1.diminish or put at rest (fear, suspicion, or worry).Syn: reduce "the report attempted to educate the public and allay fears" 2. relieve or alleviate (pain or hunger). "some stale figs partly allayed our hunger" The verb allay is used when you want to make something better or eliminate fears and concerns. When you allay something, you are calming it or reducing difficulties. It is used commonly in the context of to allay concerns and to comfort and some of its many synonyms are alleviate, decrease, mitigate, assuage and mollify. Allay comes from the Old English word alecgan, which means "to put down," as in literally "to lighten." So, if you can allay someone's fears, you are lightening their mood!

abstract

1.existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence. "abstract concepts such as love or beauty" 2. relating to or denoting art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but rather seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures. "abstract pictures" Use the adjective abstract for something that is not a material object or is general and not based on specific examples. Abstract is from a Latin word meaning "pulled away, detached," and the basic idea is of something detached from physical, or concrete, reality. It is frequently used of ideas, meaning that they don't have a clear applicability to real life, and of art, meaning that it doesn't pictorially represent reality. It is also used as a noun, especially in the phrase "in the abstract" (a joke has a person laying down a new sidewalk saying "I like little boys in the abstract, but not in the concrete"), and as a verb (accented on the second syllable), meaning "to remove."

alchemy

1.he medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir. "occult sciences, such as alchemy and astrology" 2. a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination. "finding the person who's right for you requires a very subtle alchemy" If your favorite but perpetually losing team picks up a couple of new players and the result is suddenly an unbeatable combo, that's alchemy — any seemingly magical act involving the combining of elements into something new. In medieval times alchemy meant the mysterious science of trying to convert one form of matter into another using fire, potions, spells, and all kind of other tricks. Alchemists often got a bad rap for their obsession with trying to turn base metals into gold, but in fact true alchemy was concerned with a far loftier ideal — that of finding a "universal elixir" that could overcome death.

aggrandiz

1.increase the power, status, or wealth of. "an action intended to aggrandize the Frankish dynasty" 2.enhance the reputation of (someone) beyond what is justified by the facts. "he hoped to aggrandize himself by dying a hero's death" If you are a window washer, but you refer to yourself as a "vista enhancement specialist," then you are aggrandizing your job title — that is, making it sound greater than it is. The verb aggrandize not only means "to make appear greater"; it can also be used to mean simply "to make greater." If you buy an estate and sink millions of dollars into its improvement, then you are actually aggrandizing the estate. If you are making yourself seem greater, then people may say you are "self-aggrandizing."

affected

1.influenced or touched by an external factor. "affected areas" 2. pretentious and designed to impress. "the gesture appeared both affected and stagy" If a company is hit by job cuts, its employees will probably wonder whether they'll be affected — meaning they'll experience a change to their employment status. One of the most common vocabulary mix-ups is effect and affect: effect is usually a noun, and affect is usually a verb that means "to influence" of "act upon." Affected is the adjective form of the verb. After a flood, affected homeowners might try to get insurance. A sad movie might leave you deeply affected. The word can also refer to behavior that's done only to impress someone: if you're acting affected, you might use big, fake melodramatic gestures.

allegiance

1.loyalty or commitment to a superior or to a group or cause. "those wishing to receive citizenship must swear allegiance to the republic" Every second grader knows how to pledge allegiance to the flag, but do you think they realize when they place their right hand over their hearts that they're expressing loyalty to what we call the "Red, White, and Blue"? You can pledge your allegiance to a flag or swear your allegiance to a government or cause. Either way you're expressing your commitment and devotion in the firmest sense of the word. The liege in allegiance comes from the Old French word meaning "lord and master," which is who you would have been swearing your allegiance to if you'd been a servant in France centuries ago

Actuarial

1.relating to actuaries or their work of compiling and analysing statistics to calculate insurance risks and premiums. "an actuarial consulting firm Actuarial data are the statistics used to calculate various sorts of risk that insurance companies insure people against. If you want to know how likely it is for your car to be stolen, there is surely some actuarial data that could give you an answer. Actuarial science includes statistics, probability, mathematics, and economics, and the people trained in it are called actuaries. When you buy a homeowner's insurance policy, for instance, the insurance company calculates how much they'll charge you by consulting the actuarial data, which tells them how likely it is that something will happen to your house (based on how old your house is, where it's located, the building materials, your credit rating, and lots of other factors).

abdicate

1.renounce one's throne. Syn: To resign, to quit "in 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated as German emperor" 2.fail to fulfil or undertake (a responsibility or duty). "the government was accused of abdicating its responsibility" Sometimes someone in power might decide to give up that power and step down from his or her position. When they do that, they abdicate their authority, giving up all duties and perks of the job. The original meaning of the verb abdicate came from the combination of the Latin ab- "away" and dicare "proclaim." (Note that in the charming relationships between languages with common roots, the Spanish word for "he says" is dice, which comes directly from dicare.) The word came to refer to disowning one's children, and it wasn't until the 17th century that the first use of the word relating to giving up power or public office was recorded.

abject

1.something bad experienced or present to the maximum degree. "his letter plunged her into abject misery" If it reeks of humiliation or looks like the lowest of lows, then you can safely describe it as abject. The pronunciation of abject is up for debate: you can decide whether to stress the first or the second syllable. But what's more important is understanding how extreme this adjective is. Abject means absolutely miserable, the most unfortunate, with utter humiliation. You might have heard the phrase abject poverty, which is the absolute worst, most hopeless level of poverty you've ever seen.

allude

1.suggest or call attention to indirectly; hint at. "she had a way of alluding to Jean but never saying her name" When you allude to something, you don't identify it or mention it specifically. If you allude to the fact that a cop is sitting right behind you, your friends might stop talking about their plans to rob a bank.Allude is from Latin allūdere "to play with, joke" from the prefix ad- "toward" plus lūdere "to play." The corresponding noun is allusion, which is often used of an indirect reference in literature: Helen, a fitting name for a woman of great beauty, is an allusion to Helen of Troy.

advent

1.the arrival of a notable person or thing. "the advent of television" The advent of something means that it's finally here. You might be waiting for the advent of a new iPhone or for the advent of cloning. Don't hold your breath. Generally, the noun advent is used for the introduction of something important. The twentieth century saw the advent of many important inventions — including television, computers, and microwave dinners. If the word is capitalized, it has a religious meaning, referring to the period, observed in certain Christian religions, that begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (December 25).

accords

1.the word accord is all about agreement, or unity. An official agreement or treaty. "opposition groups refused to sign the accord" 2. give or grant someone (power, status, or recognition). "the powers accorded to the head of state" If you clean your room of your own accord, you parents will be pleased—it means you did it without having to be asked. They might even accord you an extra privilege. Warring nations make peace accords. A Honda Accord is a nice, agreeable car, and the word accord is all about agreement, or unity. If a whole class begs with one accord to postpone a quiz for a day to allow more review, the teacher is more likely to listen than if it was just one student asking.

adjutant

A general's assistant is his adjutant. The word means someone who serves as a helper to a higher- ranking military officer. The root of adjutant, is Latin juvare "to help, support." It sounds a little like juvenile, doesn't it? So think of an adjutant as a young staff officer helping out an older commanding one. The word adjutant can also be used to describe a loyal deputy or follower. If you are the kind of kid who stays at the side of your favorite teacher and does whatever the teacher ask you to, you might be described as that teacher's adjutant.

Abjure

Abjure means to swear off, and it applies to something you once believed. You can abjure a religious faith, you can abjure your love of another person, and you can abjure the practice of using excessive force in interrogation. Abjure is a more dramatic way to declare your rejection of something you once felt or believed. When you see its Latin roots, it makes sense: from ab- (meaning "away") and jurare ("to swear"). When you abjure something, you swear it away and dissociate yourself with it. You might abjure the field of astrology after receiving a bad fortune, or you might abjure marriage after a bitter divorce.

Abscission

Abscission means the cutting off or removal of something, like an unsightly mole on the chin. You can remember that abscission is all about cutting when you see how close it looks to the word scissors. If you are a public speaker who habitually cuts yourself off, your speeches may suffer from abscission. If you're wounded in the leg in battle and gangrene sets in, you will be faced with the abscission of a limb. Layoffs at work are the abscission of workers.

Abscond

Abscond is to escape, often taking something along. As a kid, you may have absconded from your lemonade stand — with the coffee can of cash in hand, and your bewildered sister still filling cups for your customers. Abscond is generally used to describe someone running from law or capture, and the word abscond has been in use since the early sixteenth century — running away and hiding being nothing new. Dogs who get off the leash and dart into the woods are not necessarily absconding; they are simply making a break for it. On the other hand, the Ponzi schemer who went to live in the South of France with his client's money? He absconded.

Abstruse

Abstruse things are difficult to understand because they are so deep and intellectually challenging. It might be hard to figure out how a toilet flushes but the technology that goes into making the Internet function is abstruse. The Latin roots of the word abstruse are about concealing or hiding something, which is a good way to remember the meaning of this word. It is useful when describing something that is overly confusing, or if someone is deliberately making a story or a situation more complicated than necessary. It sounds and looks like obtuse, but abstruse is almost its opposite. Obtuse is dull or lacking a sharpness of intellect. While Abstruse is president of the chess club, Obtuse is hanging out by the parking lot smoking cigarettes.

Acquittal

Acquittal is a legal word that defendants love to hear because it means "not guilty." In the 15th Century, an acquittal referred to the payment of a debt, but now it means being freed of charges against you in court. In fact, now the word is really used only in a legal sense. It's from the Latin ad "to" plus quitare meaning "set free." Getting an acquittal is still like being set free. Free to do what you want, any old time! So now the only time you'll need the word is in court, and it's one word you hope to hear if you've been busted.

Acrid

Acrid is almost always used to describe a smell, and it ain't a pretty one. Acrid is the nasty sting that you feel in your nose when you walk by a building that just burned down--it's sulfur mixed with smoke. You can also use acrid to describe someone's tone or general demeanor when they are being nasty. Someone about to do something evil might first give an acrid sneer, or speak in a chillingly acrid tone of voice, or even shudder as if they'd just bit into something with an acrid taste.

Acuity

Acuity has to do with sharpness and smartness. Do you always get A's in math? Then you have an acuity for numbers. People often talk about "mental acuity," which is a fancy way of saying intelligence, brains, or smartness. There are specific kinds of acuity, too. As people become very old, they tend to lose their acuity in many areas, including their vision, which is one reason very old people don't drive as well. A 40-year-old quarterback isn't going to have the same acuity for seeing receivers and throwing the ball as a 25-year-old quarterback.

Addle

Addle is a verb meaning to confuse. When your great uncle Marvin became infirm in his later years, trying to distinguish between you and your cousins tended to addle his brain. Addle is a Middle English word coming from the Old English adela, meaning "liquid filth." It's related to the German adel, meaning "mire or puddle." In the thirteenth century, addle was used to refer to rotten eggs. Now it's used to describe a confused mind. When someone's mind becomes addled — whether it's from age or love or illness — it's like the brain is rotten.

Agility

Agility is the ability to be quick and graceful. You might have agility on the basketball court or in the courtroom, or even with your gaming remote. The noun agility can be used for both mental and physical skills in speed and grace. Your mental agility might allow you to follow both conversations at once. Or your brother's soccer prowess shows in his physical agility. The word agility does not have to be applied to human abilities, however: "The sailboat's agility in the water made it the perfect craft for racing."

Alliteration

Alliteration is when you use words that have the same sound at the beginning, like "Stellar students synthesize sweet sentences." It's a time-honored poetic device to make a string of words start with the same consonant sound, and that is what alliteration labels. For example, in A Midsummer's Night Dream, Shakespeare broke out the B's: "With bloody blameful blade he bravely broached his bloody boiling breast." And in the song "From A to G" by Blackalicious, a verse with words beginning with the "C" sound describes a "crazy character, constantly creating concoctions."

abash

Although abash sounds like a big party or what firefighters do to get through a locked door, abash is, in fact, a verb that means you have caused another person to feel awkward, bashful, embarrassed, or ashamed. To make your best friend feel abashed, you might tell her new boyfriend about the time she... but why would you want to embarrass her? Typically abash is used when something has a shaming effect. You might find yourself saying: "I was abashed by the magnitude of the others' generosity so I donated twenty thousand more," but you wouldn't just use abash in place of embarrass. It would sound strange to warn, "Don't do that, you're going to abash yourself!"

abeyance

An abeyance is a temporary halt to something, with the emphasis on "temporary." It is usually used with the word "in" or "into"; "in abeyance" suggests a state of waiting or holding. The word abeyance has a legal ring to it, and for a good reason — appearing in English in the 16th century, it comes from the Anglo-French word abeiance, a legal term for waiting or hoping to receive property. Nowadays, the word is used in a similar way. Different legal rights, like property rights, can be held in abeyance until matters are resolved.

ablution

An ablution is a washing or a cleaning of oneself, for personal hygiene, or a ritual washing or cleaning associated with religious observance. The word ablution comes from the Latin abluere, meaning "to wash away." Back in the Middle Ages this term referred to the use of liquids for purification in chemistry; it later took on religious meaning. All the major religions have some rituals of purification. Examples include the washing of the hands or feet, and the cleansing of sacred containers or other objects.

academic

An academic is a career college teacher, a professor. Academics live by the rule "publish or perish." As a noun or an adjective, academic relates to book learning and not always in a good way. An academic discussion back in Plato's Academy was probably something better than what it has more recently come to mean: a discussion that's academic has no place in the real world; it's not practical. An academic might have a PhD in Robotics but not know how to work the TV. It doesn't have to mean stuffy, though, just related to college — like when you need an academic gown for graduation.

acclivity

An acclivity might be something to dread if you ride a bike a lot. An acclivity is an uphill slope, so you'll have to pedal a little harder to get to the top. The word acclivity traces back to the Latin word acclivis, meaning "ascending," which is a combination of ad-, meaning "toward," and clivus, meaning "slope." If you encounter an acclivity, it's going to be all uphill until you get to the top. The opposite of an acclivity is a declivity, which has a similar Latin origin. In the case of declivity, it's the de- prefix, meaning "down," that moves things in the opposite direction and gives it the meaning of "downhill slope."

accomplice

An accomplice is a cooperator or participator, commonly in criminal acts. So you're an accomplice to the gas station robbery if you distracted the store manager while your partner in crime raided the registers for cash. Coming from the Old French word complice, which means "a confederate," an accomplice is an ally or partaker, sometimes in wrongdoing. Novelist Saul Bellow famously said that "when we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice." What he means, in more direct terms, is that we run potential plans by others because we're looking for approval or someone to go along with us, not because we truly want their opinion.

adversary

An adversary is someone who fights against or opposes another. In tennis, you stand across the net from your adversary. Adversary as in "enemy" or "opponent" is related to the words adversarial, or hostile, or adverse, meaning against or contrary. The Adversary is a specific reference to Satan, or the Devil. The word adversary is from Middle English adversarie, from Latin adversarius, from adversus "against."

affiliation

An affiliation is an official connection to something. To have an affiliation to something is to be affiliated with it. The Tea Party pretty clearly has an affiliation with the Republican Party. You can be connected to all sorts of things, but to have an affiliation is to have an official connection. A local church might have an affiliation with a larger religious organization. A bunch of small groups might share an affiliation with a larger one, as in the case of baseball teams and the leagues they belong to. Often you'll hear politicians denying any affiliation with certain groups, places, or companies, because they want to appear neutral. If you have an affiliation with something, you're likely to pay it extra attention.

affliction

An affliction makes you suffer, but you have to deal with it anyway. Diseases are often said to be afflictions, but the word can mean just about anything that causes great suffering. The word afflict, which makes up the first part of the word, means to cause this type of trouble. "Tom liked to afflict pain on his brother. His brother considered Tom just one more affliction he had to bear." The word can also be used as an exaggeration of something that isn't so bad--"Homework is often seen as an affliction by students and parents alike."

affront

An affront is an action that causes offense. If someone blows smoke in your face after you've asked him to put out his cigarette, you would consider it an affront. Affronter was an old French word meaning "to confront" or "slap in the face." It's from the Latin, ad frontem, meaning "to the face." Sure, a slap in the face would still be considered an affront, but other non-physical actions would also count. Some would even call a misplaced apostrophe an affront to the English language. Don't confuse affront with effrontery, which means "presumptuousness."

adherent

Because an adherent is usually something or someone that sticks to something or someone else, it's logical that it can also mean a person who believes in and supports a certain philosophy or leader. An adherent to a cause can be called a disciple, one who believes and tries to get others to believe. It can also refer to a material that sticks to other things. While the first meaning comes from the 15th century, the reference to a sticky substance didn't emerge until the 16th. In all cases, the word comes from the Latin root haerēre "stick," connected to the prefix ad- "to," making the word mean "to stick to."

alleviate

Do all these words make your head ache? If so, take an aspirin to alleviate, or relieve, your pain. The verb, alleviate, stems from the Latin root, levis "light" and is related to modern English words such as elevator and levitate — both words implying a lightening of one's load. Alleviate also has this sense of lightening a burden such as physical pain or emotional duress. You can take medicine to alleviate symptoms or do exercise to alleviate stress. Or if you want a bigger challenge: try alleviating traffic congestion or world hunger.

agnostic

I.a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God. Syn: Sceptic, doubter. f someone believes they cannot know whether or not God exists, label them an agnostic. A bad joke: Did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic insomniac? He stayed up all night wondering if there was a dog. In 1869, English biologist T.H. Huxley coined this noun referring to someone whose religious beliefs lie somewhere in between those of a theist and an atheist — that is, a believer and a disbeliever in God. Huxley combined the Greek prefix a-, meaning "not," with gnostos, "known." It can be used as a noun or adjective, and it can also refer to uncertainty about questions other than the existence of God: "Some philosophers remain agnostic as to whether people have free will."

abhor

If you abhor something, it gives you a feeling of complete hatred. Chances are you abhor that kid who used to torture the frogs in biology class. Abhor is from Latin abhorrere — "to shrink back in horror." It is the strongest way in English to express hatred, even stronger than loathe. We only use abhor in formal contexts; you might say "I abhor that man," but you would be less likely to say "I abhor spinach" unless you tend to express yourself in highfalutin terms no matter what the occasion.

accede

If you accede, it means you agree with someone or give in to his or her wish. The word is often used in a political context — the Queen acceded to the Prince's demands for more territory, a larger army, and funnier jesters. Accede can also be used for everyday situations. If you accede to your mother's request that you come home before ten, it means you'll be missing that midnight movie with your friends. Accede comes from the Latin accedere, meaning to "approach or enter upon." It differs slightly from concede, which also means consent, but a more reluctant kind. If you were to concede to your mom's 10 PM curfew rather than accede to it, you'd be doing so against your will

accommodate

If you accommodate, you are making an adjustment to suit a particular purpose. If you accommodate your brother's demand for the attic room, then you give in and let him take over that space. Accommodate entered English in the mid-16th century from the Latin word accommodat-, meaning "made fitting." Whether it refers to changing something to suit someone's wishes or providing someone with something he needs, accommodate typically involves making something fit. You might change your lunch plans, for example, to accommodate your best friend's schedule. Accommodate can also refer to providing housing or having enough space for something. You might need to open up the extra bedroom to accommodate your out-of-town guests.

allege

If you accuse someone of committing a crime but the proof of the wrongdoing isn't yet found, use the verb allege. You might allege that your sister broke a vase, just because no one else was home when you heard the crash. If you ever watch news programs, you often hear the verb allege. A reporter might say that detectives allege that a certain person, who is now being held without bail, set a fire. This can be confusing: If the person is in jail, then he or she must have set that fire, right? In reality, the person is a suspect, awaiting trial. In our country, people are assumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That's why we used allege until we know for sure.

acoustics

If you choose to study sound, your field of expertise would be called acoustics. Once you get your degree, you might be hired by concert halls to improve the acoustics, or how sound carries through the room. Changing the acoustics of a room can be as simple as adding carpeting or curtains, as materials absorb sound waves. When you go to a fancy restaurant, look around. You might see decorative fabric panels on the walls. These acoustic panels don't just make the room look good, they make it so that you can hear your neighbor, but not the fellow across the room.

acumen

If you have acumen, you are very sharp at what you do. You hope your accountant and your surgeon are both known for their acumen. The noun acumen comes from the Latin word acumen, meaning "a point," or "sting." If you are able to make pointed decisions, if you have a sharp intellect, if you make good strategic moves, if you are successful in your field, or if your business instincts are spot-on, you have acumen. Even if you inherit an entire wholesale furniture dynasty from your grandfather, you could end up with nothing if you don't have his business acumen.

acidulous

If you make lemonade and forget the sugar, the drink would have an acidulous or sour taste. If someone makes a snarky comment about your culinary skills, you might call their comments acidulous or bitter. In either usage, the word acidulous leaves a sour taste in your mouth, or a pursed expression on your face. You see the word acid in the word, which, in fact, can also be used in both senses. Someone's acid remarks will be just as hurtful as their acidulous ones. Lemons are an acidic fruit, as are most citrus fruits, but lemons are more acidulous than oranges.

nimble,

If you're nimble, you can move quickly and with ease. That spryness can be both physical and mental, so even if your granny isn't very nimble on her feet, she can probably still whip you in chess. A toddler might recognize the word nimble from the nursery rhyme: "Jack be nimble / Jack be quick / Jack jump over / The candlestick," but may not be nimble enough to deduce the meaning. Nimble, from the 14th century Old English næmel, meaning "quick to grasp," can refer to one's mental quickness or physical agility.

adulation

If you've ever been to a pop concert filled with screaming fans you've probably been exposed to adulation — praise so over-the-top it's almost embarrassing. The Latin word adulatio means "flattery." It's made up of the roots ad ("to") and ulos ("tail"), and if you're thinking of a dog wagging its tail to and fro to get a treat from its owner, you're on the right track. As anyone who's seen a crazed fan drooling over a celebrity knows, adulation is one of the more doglike of human behaviors.

abstemious

Reserve abstemious for someone who exercises restraint, especially with regard to alcohol. A rock musician may sing about enjoying wine and women, but in his private life he may be abstemious. You might get the idea that abstemious is a relative of abstain with a change of consonant, but in fact the two words only share the abs- prefix, meaning "away." The -temious bit in this adjective is from Latin temetum, "intoxicating drink," so it came to refer to someone who keeps alcohol (or other temptations) at arm's length. This word has the vowels a, e, i, o and u in alphabetical order; the adverb abstemiously adds the y!

adroit

Someone who is adroit is clever and skillful. An adroit leader will be able to persuade people to go with his ideas. An adroit sculptor can turn a lump of clay into an object of great beauty. If you've ever studied French you know that droit means "right," both as in "right of free speech" and as in "left and right," and à droit means both "turn right" and "properly." Once English people borrowed à droit, they changed the meaning slightly, from doing something "properly" to "doing something well." You may have heard the expression "surprisingly adroit," as in, "For a guy whose wife does all the cooking, he is surprisingly adroit in the kitchen."

abates

Something that abates becomes fewer or less intense. Your enthusiasm for skiing might abate after falling off a ski lift and getting a mouthful of snow. Abate comes from the Old French verb abattre, "to beat down," and means to reduce or become less intense or numerous. As an intransitive verb, it is often used with something physically, emotionally, or figuratively violent, as in "the flood of fan mail began to abate." Using it transitively, if you take measures to abate pollution or noise, you reduce them. Pronounce abate with the stress on the second syllable (uh-BATE).