GRE vocabulary

unequivocal

(adjective) admitting of no doubt or misunderstanding; having only one meaning or interpretation and leading to only one conclusion "unequivocal evidence" "took an unequivocal position" "an unequivocal success" "an unequivocal promise" "an unequivocal (or univocal) statement" synonyms: unambiguous, univocal unambiguous, absolute, straightforward Equivocal is from a Latin word meaning of equal voice, so unequivocal means of unequal voice — unmistakable, unambiguous, without question. There might be unequivocal evidence tying a suspect to a crime, or unequivocal support for a popular leader. If you explain something in unequivocal terms, then your words should be clear to everyone. *If there is no doubt about it, it's unequivocal. An unequivocal response to a marriage proposal? "Yes. Yes! A thousand times yes!" -Examples: "Your husband did not state an unequivocal no? He did not lead the defendant to believe that no hope existed for the reclaiming of his family's land?" Though he praised Pollard's riding early in the race and his courage in handling the defeat, Otis, who knew Pollard as Jack, was unequivocal in his assessment of blame. There's one unequivocal piece of good news: the crate of two dozen paintings that Vincent had sent three weeks earlier, the first shipment from Arles, finally arrives in Paris. Ang Dorje's reply was a quick, unequivocal "No"—perhaps because none of Fischer's Sherpas were there to share the work.

tantamount

(adjective) being essentially equal to something "his statement was tantamount to an admission of guilt" synonyms: equivalent, equal Tantamount often refers to an action or thing being compared to another greater action or quality, as in, "Missing your finals is tantamount to dropping out of college." While the two sides are essentially equal, you would not say, "Dropping out of school is tantamount to missing your finals." A related word is paramount, which means "the highest" or "primary." *When something is tantamount to another thing it is essentially its equivalent. For some animal activists, wearing fur is tantamount to murder. -Examples: "And the Commandant deserves to know what her slaves are doing. Not telling her is tantamount to aiding and abetting the enemy. I'm turning them in." "It is of tantamount importance that you find her as soon as possible. The repercussions could be severe." Indeed, he saw pursuit of a single truth as a symptom of an unbalanced mind, tantamount to superstition! Which in this case, Joe figured, was tantamount to being singled out to be a human target on the state police pistol range down in the capital.

rudimentary

(adjective) being in the earliest stages of development Synonyms: incomplete, uncomplete (adjective) being or involving basic facts or principles "these rudimentary truths" synonyms: fundamental, underlying, basic The word rude means simple or offensive — and people with only rudimentary understanding of good manners might not know how that belching is rude. If you remember that the word rude is the foundation of rudimentary, you'll have a rudimentary understanding of the word. *Rudimentary means basic, or at a very early stage. The test should be easy: it requires only a rudimentary understanding of the materials. -Examples: Then I realize this is a rudimentary attempt at minesweeping. I could throw together a rudimentary dish out of metal I find around the base, but this isn't some walkie-talkie I'm working with here. A few minutes' research in any supermarket is enough to alarm the most stouthearted customer — provided, that is, he has even a rudimentary knowledge of the chemicals presented for his choice. I was sharing a rudimentary bedroom with Barack, listening to the stereo sound of crickets in the cornfields all around us, the rustle of animals we couldn't see.

belligerent

(adjective) characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight "a belligerent tone" synonyms: aggressive, hostile (characterized by enmity or ill will) Belligerent comes from the Latin word bellum, for "war." You can use it to talk about actual wars — the nations taking part in a war are called belligerents — but usually belligerent describes a psychological disposition. If you're running a school for aggressive boys, do plenty of arts and crafts to prevent them from becoming too belligerent. The stress is on the second syllable: bə-LIJ-ə-rənt. *If someone is belligerent, they're eager to fight. It's a good idea to avoid hardcore hockey fans after their team loses — they tend to be belligerent. -Examples: There are more than four thousand different sorts of them, and from all those kinds I can only think of five which are belligerent. The rogue commander was getting more and more belligerent, the United States more and more concerned. A one-armed bunk master sets forth rules in a belligerent torrent. In the past, wars had tended to be resolved when the belligerent princes had exhausted their resources.

rustic

(adjective) characteristic of rural life "rustic awkwardness" synonyms: countrified, countryfied (adjective) awkwardly simple and provincial "rustic farmers" synonyms: bumpkinly, hick, unsophisticated, provincial The words rustic and "rural" spring from the same ancient root: *rur-, which means "open space" in the hypothetical ancestor language Proto-Indo-European. In early usage, these two words were used interchangeably, but now, rural is used to describe locations -- "rural community," "rural location" — while rustic refers to the unrefined qualities associated with country life. The best antonym is cosmopolitan, which implies the sophistication and worldliness of city life. *When you think of the word rustic, think of the rural country. This word can be given a positive or a negative spin depending on how you use it; a rustic inn, for example, might be quaint or it might be virtually uninhabitable. -Examples: Upper-class pastoral can admit envy for the intimate pleasures of rustic life as an arrogant way of reminding its listeners of their difference—their own public power and civic position. I had long felt with pleasure that many of my rustic scholars liked me, and when we parted, that consciousness was confirmed: they manifested their affection plainly and strongly. (Jane Eyre) Though they were intended to evoke such rustic dances, they were meant to be played and listened to, not as accompaniment for actual dancing. Woodchuck Lodge is small and rustic, with a sharply gabled roof and a porch railing of twisted limbs and branches.

decorous

(adjective) characterized by propriety and dignity and good taste in manners and conduct Synonyms: in good taste social, proper The adjective decorous shares its origins with decoration. Both words come from the Latin word decor, meaning "beauty, elegance, charm, grace, ornament." So, something decorous is attractive. Decorous can also mean "dignified or proper," like your decorous habit of saying, "How do you do?" when you meet someone for the first time. *Something that is decorous is dignified, proper, and in good taste, like your decorous great-aunt who always wears a dress — even when she's only headed to the grocery store. -Examples: Jo couldn't even lose her heart in a decorous manner, but sternly tried to quench her feelings, and failing to do so, led a somewhat agitated life. I put in long hours at Sidley & Austin, often eating both lunch and dinner at my desk while combating a continuous flow of documents, all of them written in precise and decorous lawyer-language. He poked his head inside the window, elevated his eyebrows, and said in a decorous voice: "I was once an exceedingly odd young lady— Suffering much from spleen and vapors. " And there is so much time to be endured, time heavy as fried food or thick fog; and then all at once these red events, like explosions, on streets otherwise decorous and matronly and somnambulent.

gossamer

(adjective) characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy synonyms: ethereal, delicate The original gossamer, from which these meanings come from, is the fine, filmy substance spiders excrete to weave their webs. A dress can be gossamer-like, if its fabric is so sheer as to be see-through, or almost. Your chances of going to a good college are "gossamer thin" if you've never cracked a book in high school. *Gossamer is something super fine and delicate — like a spider web or the material of a wedding veil. -Examples: The gossamer wings of a butterfly, which allow it to fly, are a cure, so delicate that they are often damaged. A change had come upon our afternoon, it was not the thing of gossamer it had been.(Rebecca) Hers changes from gossamer to quicksilver to a stormy blue. I sat up, and a gossamer sheet floated away. It's of my parents posing in front of a gossamer curtain of pale ivory.

aesthetic

(adjective) concerning or characterized by an appreciation of beauty or good taste synonyms: aesthetical, esthetic, esthetical artistic, cosmetic, enhancive, painterly, sensuous Aesthetic, from a Greek word meaning "perception," comes to us from German philosophers who used it for a theory of the beautiful. From this technical sense, it soon came to refer to good taste and to artistry in general; if something has "aesthetic value," it has value as a work of art (even if nobody will pay much for it). It does not, however, refer to the objects themselves; do not talk about an "aesthetic painting." *The adjective aesthetic comes in handy when the subject at hand is beauty or the arts. A velvet painting of dogs playing poker might have minimal aesthetic appeal. -Examples: "I apologize for offending your aesthetic sensibilities. Maybe I should've put makeup on before coming down to breakfast." My decorating aesthetic included a poster of the earth with the tagline "Save the Humans." Class awareness, if you could call it that, seemed to fall more along the lines of aesthetics and experience than any bald expression of affluence. If we examine its successive stages, we find that the youngster must develop all the skills that go into adult art: coordination, intellect, personality, imagination, creativity, and aesthetic judgment.

vociferous

(adjective) conspicuously and offensively loud; given to vehement outcry synonyms: blatant, clamant, clamorous, strident, noisy Vociferous is from the Latin vociferari, meaning "to shout, yell." If you break it down to the first part, take vox, meaning "voice" and add it to ferre, meaning "to carry," then vociferous describes voices that carry; you can hear a vociferous person from across the room at a dance party. Vociferous isn't just loud, but annoying, too, like when the vociferous fans of the opposing team chant insults in unison. Try yanking a cookie out of a little kid's hand if you want to hear a vociferous reaction. *Vociferous describes loudmouths, such as the vociferous mob at the soccer game. -Examples: I watch from across the menagerie as August's mouth opens in shock, then outrage, and then vociferous complaint. She was vociferous in her scorn for my assailant, and I felt warmly toward her, at least until she whispered, "I'll bet he was black, right?" The Ratliffs are vociferous at the table, opinionated about things his own parents are indifferent to: movies, exhibits at museums, good restaurants, the design of everyday things. Their Sickles had been wasted, however; if anything, they seemed to have made Hermione more vociferous. (Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire)

treacherous

(adjective) dangerously unstable and unpredictable "treacherous winding roads" synonyms: unreliable, dangerous, unsafe (adjective) tending to betray synonyms: perfidious, punic, unfaithful Treachery refers to harmful acts you might do to someone who trusts you. It can also refer to being disloyal to your native country, but the word treason is more common in this sense. Treachery is from Middle English trecherie, from Old French, from trichier "to trick or cheat." The English word trick is from trikier, a slightly different spelling that was used in some dialects of Old French. *Treacherous means either not trusted or dangerous. A treacherous road might be icy or otherwise likely to cause a car accident. A treacherous friend will betray you. -Examples: After listening a moment longer, I realize that they're planning to take the treacherous hidden trail out of the school and into Serra. And only he knew exactly how treacherous this endeavor might prove. (Six of Crows) The trail twists and turns back on itself, treacherous as the shifting dunes. They were designed for winter wear, when treacherous drafts came down chimneys and insidious currents of deadly cold found their way through

disaffected

(adjective) discontented as toward authority synonyms: ill-affected, malcontent, rebellious, discontent, discontented You might have heard the term "disaffected youth," which refers to young people rebelling against some aspect of society. For example, disaffected youth might fight against their lack of political freedom. Disaffected can also be used to describe things rather than people, like the disaffected lyrics in a song or the disaffected mood of a poem describing an unhappy or bitter state of mind. The word disaffected comes from disaffect, meaning "estranged, hostile." *The adjective disaffected describes someone who is dissatisfied or rebellious. Usually if you're disaffected, you're upset with people in authority. You and your fellow disaffected workers might become so upset about the lack of raises that you decided to boycott work. -Examples: She sounded disaffected, cool, all blues and violets, the opposite of the hot ember glow that burned inside Maya. Condemning "welfare queens" and criminal "predators," he rode into office with the strong support of disaffected whites—poor and working-class whites who felt betrayed by the Democratic Party's embrace of the civil rights agenda. At the same time, the National Party was throwing open its doors to nonwhites and was busily recruiting disaffected Coloureds and Indians. Early rumors had the Florida Room closed for renovations, but leave it to Mr. Saraiva to keep the party going with the Ronsons, Roitfelds and other varieties of the svelte, famous and disaffected.

audacious

(adjective) disposed to venture or take risks synonyms:daring, venturesome, venturous, adventuresome, adventurous The adjective audacious comes from the Latin word audacia and means "daring, boldness, courage," and often gets applied in situations where someone does something pretty unusual, like becoming an astronaut and going to the moon. It can also mean challenging conventions and doing things that most people don't do, such as when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the United States to become a doctor. Blackwell then inspired Elizabeth Garrett Anderson to become the first female doctor in England. And the rest is history! *This adjective is very bold — if you are audacious, you are daring and unconventional! -Examples: The new plan was audacious, maybe even mad. (Six of Crows) Crick's intelligence was as free ranging and as audacious as his voice; he thought nothing of invading the problems of others and suggesting solutions. Negotiating furiously, he assembled a force of as many as 200,000 men and built thirteen big ships in an audacious plan to assault Tenochtitlan from the water. The two young men were taking the same engineering class and had a common and audacious objective that radiant afternoon.

entrenched

(adjective) established firmly and securely, fixed firmly or securely Synonyms: constituted, established Entrenched things are buried so solidly that they can't move — or just behave like they're firmly lodged in some deep hole. Usually this word refers to views people hold very strongly. Having turkey on Thanksgiving is a tradition that's entrenched in American culture — it's long been established and isn't going anywhere. When you're entrenched, you're being stubborn or consistent, depending on your view. *When you're entrenched, you're dug in. Sometimes that means you're literally in a trench, but usually it means you just won't budge from a position or belief. -Examples: By the time we reach 60-years old, most of our habits are enterenched that it is difficult for us to change. He'd been a young man in the 1940s when he first joined the African National Congress and began boldly challenging the all-white South African government and its entrenched racist policies. American troops entrenched on the new line and repulsed two powerful German counterattacks. The sickness had been entrenched in the building since early October, and it was now the middle of November. The enemy army was closer now, entrenched only a few hundred yards outside the palace.

avaricious

(adjective) excessively greedy "they are avaricious and will do anything for money" The Latin verb avēre, meaning "to crave" provides the groundwork for the word avaricious and its definition as "greedy or covetous." The adjective is applied to anyone who "craves" great wealth, and suggests that desire for personal gain is an overriding influence in the avaricious person's life. The widespread quality of this selfishness was cleverly noted by Voltaire, who wrote, "Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him." *Someone who is avaricious is greedy or grasping, concerned with gaining wealth. The suggestion is that an avaricious person will do anything to achieve material gain, and it is, in general, not a pleasant attribute. -Examples: It was roughly four times what even the most avaricious moneylender would charge. Finally, Colonel Meecham began his descent, every step a deliberate one, tortoise-slow, designed to augment the impatience of his giddily avaricious offspring. Colonel Cathcart brightened instantly at the thought and began rubbing his hands with avaricious zest. The extravagantly hooked nose devised for the avaricious crook led to accusations of antisemitism, the vehement protests even preventing the film from being shown in Berlin.

quotidian

(adjective) found in the ordinary course of events synonyms: everyday, mundane, routine, unremarkable, workaday, ordinary When you talk about the quotidian, you're talking about the little things in life: everyday events that are normal and not that exciting. Going to the store, doing chores, working or going to school, and brushing your teeth are all quotidian. If you take a spaceship to Mars, that would be unusual and extraordinary: the opposite of quotidian. *Quotidian is a fancy way of saying "daily" or "ordinary." Quotidian events are the everyday details of life. -Examples: But there was more quotidian work to be done as well. They are passionate spokespeople for their brand of life, giving Gogol and Moushumi a steady, unquestionable stream of advice about quotidian things. This theory is bound to provoke a variety of reactions, ranging from disbelief to revulsion, and a variety of objections, ranging from the quotidian to the moral. Mr. Nelson finds the weave of momentous history in the fabric of the quotidian.

guileless

(adjective) free of deceit synonyms: transparent, square, straight To be guileless is to be without guile. Guile is "deceit, duplicity and trickery." The young and uninitiated are the ones we call guileless, and they are the ones who often get stung by the more heartless among us. You might recall being a guileless freshman trying out for the school play, and being told by a veteran performer that it would be best to come to the audition for Our Town in a chicken costume, so you did. *If you are guileless, you are not a liar; you are innocent, and you might be a touch on the gullible side. -Examples: Behind him, just then, Franny blew her nose with guileless abandon; the report was considerably louder than might have been expected from so fine and delicate-appearing an organ. Hodor blinked at him with guileless brown eyes, eyes innocent of understanding. Milo watched Colonel Cathcart steadily with a bland and guileless expression. With her smooth face, she looked like a young girl, frail, guileless, and innocent.

jubilant

(adjective) full of high-spirited delight because of triumph or success synonyms: elated, gleeful, joyful When you feel jubilant, you're full of extreme happiness. Usually people are jubilant after great victories, whether in sports, politics, or life. When you're jubilant, it's a moment of extreme happiness, like giving birth or watching a child graduate. There can also be jubilant songs, jubilant performances, even jubilant periods in history, times when people are especially proud and filled with triumph. The end of World War II was just such a jubilant moment. *If you were the quarterback that threw the touchdown pass that won the Super Bowl, you would be jubilant: filled with joy. -Examples: He noticed a jubilant little girl with a grenadier bearskin hat on her head, half over her face. Sometimes we see a jubilant Kim return with a smile on his face and know we will eat well that night. I was cocksure, jubilant, at that moment I almost had the courage to claim equality. (Rebecca) We stopped the frantic celebrating, but everyone was jubilant.

querulous

(adjective) habitually complaining synonyms: fretful, whiney, whiny, complaining, complaintive Querulous may remind you of the word query, which means "question." However, the two words are not closely related. It's perfectly reasonable to make a query; just don't be querulous if you don't like the answer you get. Querulous does share its origins with the word quarrel, which means "argument" — and that's what's likely to happen if you complain too much. *Querulous means "having a tendency to complain" or, more directly put, "whiny." Sure, no one can be happy all the time, but that's no excuse for being querulous. -Examples: The querulous old woman was beginning to were down even the happier members of the staff with ceaseless complaining. "Aren't you even going to punish me?" he inquired with querulous surprise. Christmas carols were in the air; they issued from the radio of the four women and mixed strangely with Miami's sunshine and the cries of the querulous, never thoroughly silent seagulls. Sometimes he becomes querulous, at other times philosophical; or he wishes to explain things, justify himself. I can't recall those nights, but do remember saying to him, and hearing the querulous keening note in my own voice, "He could have stopped. He saw the guards. He ran right into the guns."

cryptic

(adjective) having a secret or hidden meaning mysterious or vague, usually intentionally "cryptic writings" synonyms: cabalistic, cryptical, kabbalistic, qabalistic, sibylline, esoteric (adjective) of an obscure nature "the new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms" synonyms: cryptical, deep, inscrutable, mysterious, mystifying, incomprehensible, inexplicable Cryptic is from Late Latin crypticus, from Greek kryptos, "hidden." This Greek adjective is the source of the English noun crypt, referring to a room under a church in which dead people are buried. That might account for why the word cryptic has an eerie tone to it. *"White bunny. Moon square." Do you understand what that means? Of course not! It's totally cryptic. Cryptic comments or messages are hard to understand because they seem to have a hidden meaning. -Examples: And then Ellis noticed that the first cryptic entry in the hiker's journal read, "Exit Fairbanks. Sitting Galliean. Rabbit Day." I studied them closely until they left the train, their shoulders rocking, their heavy heel plates clicking remote, cryptic messages in the brief silence of the train's stop. (Invisible Man) Several such passages are starred and highlighted in the dog-eared text, the margins filled with cryptic notes printed in McCandless s distinc-tive hand. I didn't know anything at the time; Dennis had been as cryptic and evasive as ever, Jack professing nothing.

incisive

(adjective) having or demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions "incisive comments" "as sharp and incisive as the stroke of a fang" synonyms: acute, discriminating, keen, knifelike, penetrating, penetrative, piercing, sharp ✗ [(adjective) suitable for cutting or piercing "incisive teeth" Synonyms: sharp] The word incisive is rooted in a Latin word that literally means "to cut with a sharp edge." To help you remember the meaning, you can think of the similar word, incisors, which are the teeth that are sharp and cut and tear. The more figurative meaning of describing something that is mentally sharp first appeared in the 1850s. Keen criticism and cutting remarks have been called incisive ever since. *The adjective incisive describes something that is sharp, decisive, and direct. A comment that cuts right to the bone can be just as incisive as an actual knife. -Examples: The lawyer had an incisive mind, able in a flesh to dissect a hopelessly tangled issue and isolate the essential laws at play. Just now and then he posted an incisive little farewell note in the Paris sewerage system, and it was delivered promptly to Dufarge's boot. And then she said, "I love this white dress you got me" and "This scene is so incisive!" For why should I get excited learning boring chemical facts as long as the chemists never provided anything incisive about the nucleic acids? Winchell, his confidence growing, threw three passes, all of them short, incisive strikes to Hill, all of them complete.

dogmatic

(adjective) highly opinionated, not accepting that one own belief my not be correct. Dogmatic goes back to the Greek words dogma, which means basically "what one thinks is true" and dogmatikos, "pertaining to doctrine." To be dogmatic is to follow a doctrine relating to morals and faith, a set of beliefs that is passed down and never questioned. It also refers to arrogant opinions based on unproven theories or even despite facts. Someone dogmatic might insist that dinosaurs never existed or that women shouldn't drive. Dogmatic people are usually not very popular. *To be dogmatic is to follow a set of rules no matter what. The rules might be religious, philosophical, or made-up, but dogmatic people would never waver in their beliefs so don't even think of trying to change their minds. -Examples: "About what? About Freud? The one time I mentioned a Freudian theory in class, all I got out of Appleman was that dogmatic psychoanalysis was related to psychology as magic was related to science. ' With a "dogmatic, pushy father," as Wilkins would later write, Franklin grew up in a household where "her brothers and father resented R.F.'s greater intelligence." She was scrappy yet willing to please, feminist yet feminine, full of rage yet friendly, articulate yet not dogmatic. But for all the attention paid to such rituals, Buddhism as practiced by the Sherpas was a refreshingly supple and non- dogmatic religion.

inexorable

(adjective) impossible to stop or prevent impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason "Cynthia was inexorable" synonyms: adamant, adamantine, intransigent, inflexible This is a word for people and things that will not change direction. An inexorable person is hard-headed and cannot be convinced to change their mind, no matter what. You can also say that a process, like the progress of a deadly illness, is inexorable because it can't be stopped. A speeding train with no brakes is inexorable; it's not stopping till it crashes. When you see the word inexorable, think "No one's stopping that." *When a person is inexorable, they're stubborn. When a thing or process is inexorable, it can't be stopped. -Examples: Hence they must have inexorable explanations, ones more basic than mere details concerning who happened to win some battle or develop some invention on one occasion a few thousand years ago. Meanings inscribed by God in the forms of things, the great chain of being, sympathy and antipathy, natural magic, had been replaced by blind mechanisms and inexorable laws. "It is all right" said the Wart again, disgusted by the fuss, but fate was bent on punishing him, and the old lady was inexorable. Dunwing leaned back, trying to dig her claws in somewhere to check the inexorable slide.

impudent

(adjective) improperly forward or bold synonyms: fresh, impertinent, overbold, sassy, saucy, smart, wise, forward (adjective) marked by casual disrespect synonyms: flip, insolent, snotty-nosed, disrespectful Impudent comes from the Latin combination of im, meaning without, and pudens, meaning shame. We often call someone impudent if they're disrespectful, snotty, or inappropriate in a way that makes someone feel bad. If you know someone has just lost all their money on the stock market, don't be impudent and ask them how they're going to afford gas money for their yacht. *An impudent person is bold, sassy, and shameless. If your teacher asks the class to open their textbooks, and you snap back, "Let's not and say we did," you're being impudent. -Examples: It was the boy with the impudent face who had guided us. Then they let out yells of rage and tried to seize the impudent hare. 'Now, Cilia, I want you to go to your room and He down. You are too tired. If you had not been, you would never have been so impudent as to contradict me.' As he turned away, he gave me an impudent wink.

didactic

(adjective) instructive (especially excessively) synonyms: instructive, didactical, informative When you're didactic, you're trying to teach something. Just about everything teachers do is didactic: the same is true of coaches and mentors. Didactic is often used in a negative way. If you heard that a movie is overly didactic, that's probably not good. Most people want to see a story and be entertained when going to the movies, and if it feels like the movie is just telling you what to think, that's didactic in a bad way. *When people are didactic, they're teaching or instructing. This word is often used negatively for when someone is acting too much like a teacher. -Examples: Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Iluich is a didactic novel, instructing the reader on how to live a good life. She sent this didactic gem to several markets, but it found no purchaser, and she was inclined to agree with Mr. Dashwood that morals didn't sell. Always didactic, he went into a learned exposition of the diabolical properties of cinnabar, but Úrsula paid no attention to him, although she took the children off to pray. For the first time in his life, he managed to link those didactic anecdotes with a reality he could see. Then he continued with his discussion in the same didactic tone as before.

incongruous

(adjective) lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness "a plan incongruous with reason" "incongruous behavior" "a joke that was incongruous with polite conversation" If we break it down into its Latin roots, incongruous is formed by adding in, meaning "not," to congruous, which means "suitable, proper." So, something that is incongruous is "not suitable or proper" — in other words, not in harmony with everything else. That's why burping at the dinner table could be called incongruous behavior: it's not proper and certainly doesn't go well with the main course. *Something that's incongruous is inconsistent or incompatible with something else. Remember that Sesame Street song "One of these things is not like the other"? They were talking about that one thing being incongruous. -Examples: "She's pretty ugly, isn't she?" he said with a big, incongruous beam. But then again, when I think about it, there's a sense in which that picture of us on that first day, huddled together in front of the farmhouse, isn't so incongruous after all. The young woman pressed both hands to her left side, and on that peach-bright, doll-beautiful face of hers appeared a strangely incongruous expression of yearning distress. The room suited my father perfectly: it was larger than life and wonderfully incongruous.

ephemeral

(adjective) lasting a very short time "the ephemeral joys of childhood" synonyms: fugacious, passing, short-lived, transient, transitory, impermanent, temporary Ephemeral (ə-FEM-ər-əl) was originally a medical term with the specific meaning "lasting only one day," as a fever or sickness (Hemera means "day" in Greek.) The word became more general, coming to mean "lasting a short time," covering the life spans of plants or insects and then eventually anything that is fleeting or transitory. A related word is the plural noun ephemera, meaning "things that are meant to last for only a short time." Posters for a rock concert are often ephemera, unless the band is so famous that they get saved and sold on eBay. *Something that is fleeting or short-lived is ephemeral, like a fly that lives for one day or text messages flitting from cellphone to cellphone. -Examples: I have wandered for so long without any sense of purpose, and now this ephemeral purpose has been given to me—it feels like it has been given to me. Other than that ephemeral close encounter, he hadn't had a single interaction with another human in Richton Park in the three months he'd lived there. Compared to a star, we are like mayflies, fleeting ephemeral creatures who live out their whole lives in the course of a single day. The king's Asian empire, alas, proved even more ephemeral than Alexander's: within six months all his appointed governors were deposed, and Seleucus II was crowned in Babylon.

apathetic

(adjective) marked by a lack of interest synonyms: indifferent, uninterested The Greek word pathos describes a type of emotional suffering that afflicts people who are super sensitive to their environment. Pathos is a root word of apathetic, but the prefix a- turns it into the opposite: emotional boredom, insensitivity, and a lack of enthusiasm. Maybe you feel apathetic because nothing around you stirs your interest, or maybe it's because you need some coffee. *Apathetic is an adjective that describes the feeling of being bored with what's going on around you. If you don't care one way or another, you're apathetic. -Examples: She didn't mind disagreement, but she hated people who were apathetic and indecisive. The mere thought of apathetic high school kids taking advantage of Mrs. Parker made me cringe. We stare at one another, keeping our faces blank, apathetic. As he was in London, he is in Paris, unenthusiastic, apathetic.

meticulous

(adjective) marked by extreme care in treatment of details Synonyms: fastidious The Latin root of meticulous is metus, which means "fear." Someone who's meticulous is afraid of what will happen if they're not careful enough to get every detail right. "Detail-oriented" and "perfectionist" are other ways of describing someone who cares deeply about the small things and about getting things exactly right, every time. Concert pianists must be meticulous, because audiences are always listening for wrong notes. *Someone who is meticulous pays extreme attention to detail. If that person is, say, your surgeon or your accountant, you'll definitely want them to be meticulous! -Examples: Stripping pods is a precise and meticulous job that might be suited to pedantic dentists or finicky spice experts, but it's a horror for an impatient teenager like me. And then her record keeping becomes less meticulous. Lee Scoresby knew he'd see nothing from the sky, so he had to content himself with checking his equipment, though it was all in meticulous order. My mother—so pretty and meticulous in life—wears a stiff grimace in death.

forlorn

(adjective) marked by or showing hopelessness Synonyms: hopeless When someone is forlorn it means that they not only feel miserable but simultaneously desolate because they also believe they are alone. Forlorn is a very old word in English, and in fact it comes from the Old English word forlesen and means "to lose completely." Synonyms for forlorn all have fairly sad meanings: disconsolate, pessimistic, despairing, despondent, abandoned, depressed, desperate. *Sniff, sniff, boo-hoo... use the adjective forlorn to express loneliness and feeling left out. -Examples: Most of the cages were patches of dirt surrounded by iron bars, with forlorn gorillas or restless bears or irritable monkeys or anxious gazelles huddled in the corners. Instead they rounded a turn and stopped at a forlorn, ramshackle cottage, gray like chewed-up meat. A single chair stood on the rostrum, looking as forlorn as if someone had left it there and forgotten it. Afraid because I don't want my own funeral to be that forlorn and empty I want words at my funeral.

superfluous

(adjective) more than is needed, desired, or required "delete superfluous (or unnecessary) words" synonyms: excess, extra, redundant, spare, supererogatory, supernumerary, surplus unnecessary, unneedednot necessary (adjective) serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being synonyms: otiose, pointless, purposeless, senseless, wasted, worthless Superfluous (soo-PER-floo-uhs) means "more than required." Use it when pointing out something that could be removed without detracting from the quality of something: "For a climb over a glacier, the very thickest shoes are absolutely necessary; beyond these, all else seems superfluous to me," wrote the adventurer Charles Stoddard in 1899. The word comes from Latin and literally means "overflowing": super ("over") + fluere ("to flow"). So you can think of a superfluous addition as flowing over the boundaries of what's needed. *When something is so unnecessary that it could easily be done away with, like a fifth wheel on a car or a fifth person on a double date, call it superfluous. -Examples: Ash couldn't answer, because her grief and anger now seemed so superfluous in comparison to the perfection of this fairy woman, who took her hand to lead her into the dancing circle. And though nonlawyers might assume that the language of contracts, such as the party of the first part, must serve some legal purpose, most of it is superfluous. His advice may have been superfluous, for when it was fully assembled, nine of the Lawrence panel's twelve scientists were from Livermore. A superfluous major on his rolls meant an untidy table of organization and gave ammunition to the men at Twenty-seventh Air Force Headquarters who Colonel Cathcart was positive were his enemies and rivals.

immutable

(adjective) not able to be change not subject or susceptible to change or variation in form or quality or nature "the view of that time was that all species were immutable, created by God" synonyms: changeless The adjective immutable has Latin roots that mean "not changeable." The Latin prefix for not is in, but the spelling changes when the prefix is put before the consonant m. It is im before a root word starting with m as in immutable. If you learn this rule, you'll know the immutable fact that immutable begins with i-m-m. *If you can't change it, it's immutable. There are many things in life that are immutable; these unchangeable things include death, taxes, and the laws of physics. -Examples: Our instinct is to regard time as eternal, absolute, immutable-nothing can disturb its steady tick. Because we human beings are transitory, our lives as ephemeral as dreams, the tlamatinime suggested that immutable truth is by its nature beyond human experience. Marcos smiled his immutable smile before the avalanche of questions and posed for photographers without offering the least technical or scientific explanation of how he hoped to carry out his plan. In Nahuatl, the words almost shimmer with connotation: what was true was well grounded, stable and immutable, enduring above all.

reticent

(adjective) not inclined to talk or provide information synonyms: untalkative, taciturn The original meaning of reticent describes someone who doesn't like to talk. Be careful in your context, however. Reticent can refer to someone who is restrained and formal, but it can also refer to someone who doesn't want to draw attention to herself or who prefers seclusion to other people. Don't confuse reticent with reluctant, which means unwilling. *Reticent means either quiet or restrained. If you're reticent about your feelings, you like to keep them to yourself, and you're probably quiet in rowdy groups where everyone is talking over each other. -Examples: When relatives and Spanish-speaking friends of my parents came to the house, my brother and sisters seemed reticent to use Spanish, but at least they managed to say a few necessary words before being excused. Thus, the girls were no longer always together, and Nancy deeply felt the daytime absence of her friend, the one person with whom she need be neither brave nor reticent. Anybody meeting him there for the first time might have thought him reticent. These private comments were more often far more expressive than those his reticent public persona allowed.

languid

(adjective) not inclined toward physical exertion or effort; slow and relaxed lacking spirit or liveliness Languid comes from the Latin verb, languere "to be weak or faint" and is a somewhat literary word for something that doesn't use much energy. If someone says goodbye to you with a languid wave of the hand, there's not too much movement involved. You can describe yourself as languid when you have that feeling of not being entirely awake — kind of lazy in the mind. *Describe a slow-moving river or a weak breeze or a listless manner with the slightly poetic adjective, languid. -Examples: A Tennyson garden, heavy with scent, languid; the return of the word swoon. They came out in the spring and stayed until October, hanging around, calling taunts to passersby occasionally but most of the time quiet, languid and peaceful. Her manner was languid, and her gestures without that gayety which had so marked her before. The young woman was gaining weight before everybody's eyes and daily grew more languid and ill-tempered.

derivative

(adjective) not original but drawing strongly on something already in existence, especially in reference to a a creative product The economic meltdown of the last decade is due largely to the mismanagement of derivatives, which are deals based on the outcome of other deals. A movie plot might be described as derivative if it steals from another film — say, if it lifts the tornado, the witch, and the dancing scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. *Alert: shifting parts of speech! As a noun, a derivative is kind of financial agreement or deal. As an adjective, though, derivative describes something that borrows heavily from something else that came before it. -Examples: Alphabets of ultimately eastern Mediterranean origin spread throughout all complex societies of Eurasia, from England to Indonesia, except for areas of East Asia where derivatives of the Chinese writing system took hold. Since limits are logically airtight, by defining a derivative in terms of limits, it becomes airtight as well—and puts calculus on a solid foundation. The other reason is that other opportunities for the independent invention of writing were preempted by Sumerian or early Mesoamerican writing and their derivatives. L'Hôpital's rule states that the value of the fraction was equal to the derivative of the top expression divided by the derivative of the bottom expression. اقتباس

frivolous

(adjective) not serious in content or attitude or behavior Synonyms: superficial, airheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, featherbrained, giddy, light-headed, lightheaded, silly, flighty, flyaway, head-in-the-clouds, scatterbrained flippant, light-minded, idle, light, trivial Frivolous things are goofy, useless, or just plain dumb. The word is often used to describe lawsuits. A frivolous lawsuit has no value and will be a waste of the court's time. If someone is frivolous, that person shouldn't be taken seriously because he's always fooling around and never gets anything done. Frivolous is pretty much the opposite of essential. *Frivolous things are silly or unnecessary. If something is frivolous, then you don't need it. -Examples: That the committee would view the expense of this ball and other Millet events as frivolous seemed certain. It seemed so sad, so frivolous, that mere mortality, not judgment, kept him from it. "I didn't know it was going to be a frivolous occasion." Unlike the frivolous goings-on in Paris or New York, though, the cabaret style of Weimar Berlin had a deadly serious undertow.

conspicuous

(adjective) obvious to the eye or mind "a tower conspicuous at a great distance" Synonyms: attention-getting, eye-catching Conspicuous comes from the adjectival form of the Latin verb, conspicere, meaning "to look at." Conspicuous can mean either very obvious to the eye (like something that is conspicuous from a distance) or attracting attention (like conspicuous consumption). If you are doing something wrong, it's wise not to be conspicuous about it! *Keep your eye on the adjective conspicuous for something that stands out so much you notice it right away — like that zit in the center of your friend's forehead. -Examples: They seemed frightened and ill at ease, and somehow Jane and Michael realised that the two huge sisters were wishing that they were much smaller and less conspicuous. Now I do not doubt that Mr Neighbours had good organizational skills; he did, I understand, mastermind a number of large occasions with conspicuous style. Even across the length of the crowded hall, Viserys should have been conspicuous with his pale skin, silvery hair, and beggar's rags, but she did not see him anywhere. The famous politician had his hat off and was waving it wildly and his white hair was flowing and bobbing, conspicuous, distinguished.

fortuitous

(adjective) occurring by happy chance Synonyms: fortunatehaving unexpected good fortune (adjective) having no cause or apparent cause synonyms: causeless, uncaused, unintended Something fortuitous is random like an accident, but there's no downside. A rock falling on your head is an accident, dollar bills falling on your head is fortuitous. The meaning of fortuitous is changing from "happening by chance" to "lucky chance" because people get it mixed up with fortunate. But watch out: If you say fortuitous to mean just plain lucky without the element of chance -- that's a usage error. *Fortuitous means by chance, like a lucky accident. If you and your best friend's families happen to go on vacation to the same place at the same time, that's a fortuitous coincidence! -Examples: It was entirely fortuitous that Ralph bought a filly instead of a colt. As long as there is a single copy, a solitary typescript of my final draft, then my spontaneous, fortuitous sister and her medical prince survive to love. It was just too fortuitous to pass up. It was 1895, a fortuitous moment when physicists were pondering a host of strange new physical forces manifested in their apparatuses.

fallacious

(adjective) of a belief that is based on faulty reasoning based on an incorrect or misleading notion or information "fallacious hope" Synonyms: incorrect, wrong Fallacious comes ultimately from the Latin fallax, "deceptive." The word fallacious might describe an intentional deception or a false conclusion coming from bad science or incomplete understanding. A tween's assumption that anyone over 20 can't understand her situation would be fallacious; we have all been young once too. *Something fallacious is a mistake that comes from too little information or unsound sources. Predictions that the whole state of California will snap off from the rest of North America and float away have proven to be fallacious — for now, anyway. -Examples: The hospital called the suit "misleading and fallacious." Let me end, then, with a couple of additional bad inferences which are further suggestive of the role that innumeracy—in the guise of fallacious logic—plays in pseudoscience. As Bunny rattled on he would sit smoking with deep, resolute drags, pretending not to understand Bun's fallacious Italian. The Secret History"If they are trying to promote it as a Michelangelo, that's utterly fallacious," Wallace said.

mawkish

(adjective) overly sentimental to the point that is disgusting effusively or insincerely emotional synonyms: bathetic, drippy, hokey, kitschy, maudlin, mushy, sappy, schmaltzy, schmalzy, sentimental, slushy, soppy, soupy, emotional The adjective mawkish came into vogue in the 1600s. Oddly enough, it's rooted in the Middle English word maggot and originally meant "sickly or nauseated." But mawkish eventually evolved to mean something so overly sentimental it makes you sick. It's not a word you hear very often these days, but feel free to use it to describe really lame love poems and annoyingly mushy Valentine's Day cards. *Mawkish means excessively sentimental or so sappy it's sickening. Which is how you'd describe two lovebirds gushing over each other or your grandma's cooing, cheek pinches, and sloppy-lipstick kisses. -Examples: I shall tell them that our courts, swamped with mawkish sentimentality, are no longer fit instruments to safeguard the public peace! Her soliloquies mawkish, her sentiments maudlin, malaise dripped like a fever from her pores. The Cabarets plywood-paneled walls are hung with deer antlers, Old Milwaukee beer promos, and mawkish paintings of game birds taking flight. Carell is a charming, maddening enigma, mawkish and mannered but always, somehow, a magnet for empathy.

bucolic

(adjective) relating to the pleasant aspect of the country (used with regard to idealized country life) idyllically rustic "a pleasant bucolic scene" synonyms: arcadian, pastoral, rural You wouldn't know it to look at it, but bucolic is a distant relation of cow, and all bucolic's meanings can be connected to the bovine creature. Bucolic ultimately comes from the Greek boukolos, cowherd or herdsman. A bucolic could be a short poem about pastoral (cow) life or a country person, who is stereotyped as a cowherd. Used as an adjective, bucolic can refer to an idealized rural life (think life with cows) or to herdsmen (more cows). And that's no bull. *As an adjective, bucolic refers to an ideal country life that many yearn for. If your parents wanted to raise you in a bucolic environment, you may find yourself living 45 minutes away from the nearest movie theater or person your age. Not ideal. -Examples: In their wake fell a strange and bucolic calm, as if it were just another summer day, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She walked in the direction of the song, following it till she found a small, bucolic waterfall that fed into a turquoise pond. At home, he and Oppenheimer would take long walks around Berkeley and into the bucolic woods of Northern California. Even in the bucolic surroundings of Columbia, Seabiscuit could not escape the carnival atmosphere.

germane

(adjective) relevant and appropriate Synonyms: relevant You can thank Shakespeare for the modern meaning of the adjective germane. The word originally referred to people who have the same parents. Shakespeare added the word's figurative meaning of objects being closely related or relevant when he used it in the play Hamlet. You might want to bring up all sorts of complaints during an argument with your best friend, but she says the two of you should only discuss issues that are germane to the current fight. *Germane means relevant; it fits in. If you are giving a speech on dog training, stick to the germane, canine stuff. Topics that would not be germane? Catnip toys, hamster wheels, and the use of a saddle. -Examples: Any sound that was not germane to the night would make them alert. A point that Aristotle makes that is particularly germane here is that arguments are made from accepted premises—"and many accepted premises are mutually contradictory." Watching the often fraught relationships at the intersection of science, government and industry in a time of crisis proves that it is eerily germane to our pandemic reality. Mr. Stull spends a lot of time on intracrew tension and confusion, bits that are sometimes funny but not always germane.

banal

(adjective) repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse synonyms: commonplace, hackneyed, old-hat, shopworn, stock, threadbare, timeworn, tired, trite, well-worn, unoriginal Ever notice how some TV shows, songs, and even phrases are boring and unoriginal? It's like you've seen or heard the same thing a million times. Anything that's unoriginal and dull is banal — a fancy word for things that bore you to tears. When you're writing, try not to be banal. Clichés and dull topics are banal. New ideas, fresh language, and unusual subject matter can keep your writing from being dreary and banal. *If something is boring and unoriginal, it's banal. Banal things are dull as dishwater. -Examples: There was something vacuous and stupid about it, flapping out there in the middle of nowhere, something empty, banal, brutish. But what hope had the West Computers of making a federal case out of something so banal as a cafeteria sign? But this banality of violence can never excuse America, because America makes no claim to the banal. Thus there was seldom chance for anything but banal remarks.

eclectic

(adjective) selecting what seems best of various styles or ideas comprised of a variety of styles The English word eclectic first appeared in the seventeenth century to describe philosophers who did not belong to a particular school of thought, but instead assembled their doctrines by picking and choosing from a variety of philosophical systems. Today, the word can refer to any assemblage of varied parts. You can have an eclectic group of friends (friends from diverse groups), eclectic taste in furniture (a mixture of 18th-century French chairs, Andy Warhol paintings, and Persian rugs), or enjoy eclectic cuisine (fusion cooking that uses ingredients from different national cuisines). *She listens to hip-hop, Gregorian chant, and folk music from the '60s. He's been seen wearing a handmade tuxedo jacket over a thrift-store flannel shirt. They both have eclectic tastes. -Examples: I learned an eclectic smattering of Commonwealth law from a traveling barrister too drunk or too pompous to realize he was lecturing an eight-year-old. The Allies together were an eclectic, spirited group, loaded with idealism and aspirations and representing a broad swath of backgrounds. As a biracial family, the kids exhibited an eclectic mix of physical characteristics and loved comparing which traits they got from what parent. I suck in some coffee, skip to the last paragraph: the inevitable eclectic, the obligatory post-feminist, a however and a despite.

deferential

(adjective) showing deference synonyms: respectful, deferent, regardful To be obedient, courteous, or dutiful are all ways of being deferential. Bowing low to the Queen is a deferential act when visiting Buckingham Palace. On sports teams, rookies are usually deferential to the veterans and star players, while all players should be deferential to the coach. All employees are expected to be at least a little deferential to their bosses. Being deferential shows respect, but also means "I know my place, and it's lower than yours." *When a young person shows respect and obedience to an older person, they're being deferential to the elder's wisdom and experience. -Examples: In other people's presence I was, as formerly, deferential and quiet; any other line of conduct being uncalled for: it was only in the evening conferences I thus thwarted and afflicted him. (Jane Eyre) The southerners, by contrast, were downright deferential in normal circumstances, stepping aside with more than nine feet to go. He was startled to see a white woman, and couldn't decide whether to be deferential or contemptuous, so he alternated. Only Reba, with her light pimply skin and deferential manner, looked as though her simplicity might also be vacuousness.

diffident

(adjective) showing modest reserve "she was diffident when offering a comment on the professor's lecture" Synonyms: reservedmarked by self-restraint and reticence (adjective) lacking self-confidence "stood in the doorway diffident and abashed" synonyms: shy, timid, unsure Diffident can describe someone who is reserved and restrained. Some may mistake your diffident manner for coolness or aloofness. Although it may be in your nature to be diffident, you will find it impossible to remain so when you visit my family. They are a big, noisy, outgoing bunch and they will make you join in the fun until you let loose and open up. Don't say you weren't warned! *The adjective diffident describes someone who is shy and lacking in self-confidence. If you are shy and have a diffident manner, you should probably not choose one of these professions: substitute teacher, stand-up comic, or lion-tamer. -Examples: As a young girl she was diffident and reserved but now as an adult, she is confident and assertive. I could see she despised me, marking with all the snobbery of her class that I was no great lady, that I was humble, shy and diffident. (Rebecca) A provincial schoolteacher of humble origins, unknown to all but a few mathematicians, Kepler was diffident about Tycho's offer. His parents are diffident around Maxine, at first keeping their distance, not boisterous as they typically are around their Bengali friends. He could hear her panting now, her voice almost a wail of diffident yet iron determination: "I dont know what to do. I dont know what to do."

eminent

(adjective) standing above others in quality or position "eminent members of the community" synonyms: superior Every field has eminent — impressive, famous, or accomplished — people. Two of the most eminent coaches in the history of professional basketball are Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson because they've won the most championships. Beethoven was an eminent musician. Frank Lloyd Wright was an eminent architect. Eminent people loom over a field because they're influential and you can't avoid hearing about them. It's not easy to be eminent because you have to be extremely successful. *Anyone highly regarded or prominent is eminent. Eminent people are very successful at their jobs. If you've heard of Neil deGrasse Tyson, it's probably because he's an eminent astrophysicist. -Examples: The eminent Archbishop Latour, knowing that his death was imminent, felt God was immanent. Tenzing Norgay and other eminent Sherpas signed a petition demanding that the government of Nepal conduct an official inquiry of the purported ascent. To marshal further evidence, Galton began to reconstruct pedigrees of eminent men. Tuxedo Park became an obligatory stopover for eminent scientists visiting the United States.

tenacious

(adjective) stubbornly unyielding ""a mind not gifted to discover truth but tenacious to hold it" synonyms: persistent, pertinacious, unyielding, obstinate, stubborn, unregenerate, dogged, dour A strong grip or an unyielding advocate might both be described as tenacious, a word whose synonyms include resolute, firm, and persistent. The word comes from the Latin root tenax, which means "holding fast." The basketball commentator Marv Albert, impressed by a defender's skill, once uttered the sound bite, "That's some tenacious D!" ("D" is short for "defense.") The musicians Jack Black and Kyle Gass borrowed the phrase for the name of their comedy-rock band, Tenacious D. *Use tenacious to mean "not easily letting go or giving up," like a clingy child who has a tenacious grip on his mother's hand. -Examples: "Mercer Day's number two is a tenacious defender! It is going to be hard to get the ball to Majidi under that kind of pressure." Nature had come into her own again and, little by little, in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive with long tenacious fingers. (Rebecca) Recalling the Mars Jars experiments, Vishniac believed that life was tenacious and that Antarctica was perfectly consistent with microbiology. Isabel, a tenacious reporter and mellifluous writer who returned from a long book-writing leave for this project, had composed one of the most powerful chapters in the 1993 "Children of the Shadows" series.

recondite

(adjective0 difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge synonyms: abstruse, deep, esoteric If it's really hard to comprehend, then it's safe to say it's recondite. In the same family as "abstruse," "esoteric" and "totally deep, man," recondite is a very serious word that you could use to describe obscure philosophy books, high level mathematical theory, and the series finale of The Sopranos — you know, things that make your brain hurt. *It's rather difficult to penetrate the meaning of recondite. Fitting, because it's an adjective that basically means hard for the average mind to understand. -Examples: A pair of actors trapped in a recondite play with no hint of plot or narrative. By various recondite processes, he converted the urine first into a noxious paste and then into a translucent warty substance. Instead, I spent some two hours a day in the translation of fragments from Greek and Latin; the texts being chosen for their convolution, recondite meaning, dryness, and insipidity. Dense, challenging, aphoristic and swarming with recondite allusions and puns, these novels display an authoritative grasp of a breathtaking range of subjects.

heretic

(noun) a person who holds unorthodox opinions in any field (not merely religion) The noun heretic is mostly used in a religious context to talk about someone whose actions or beliefs act against the laws, rules, or beliefs of some specific religion. However, heretic can also be used in a non-religious way to mean "someone whose ideas go against the norm." Say your regular hangout is a cowboy honky-tonk and most of your friends play in country bands; you might be considered a heretic if you announced that your favorite kind of music is actually opera. *If your friend became interested in Hinduism, with its many gods and rituals, her Catholic mother might be worried that her daughter was a heretic, or a person whose religious beliefs are in contrast to the fundamental beliefs of her church. -Examples: The truth is that he really was a heretic and was burned for his religious beliefs; it was just unfortunate that the Copernican model got tangled up in the whole business. "Don't be afraid. You are not a heretic. Report what you have learned, and waste no more time." When the book was published Calvin contacted the authorities in Vienna and had the heretic imprisoned. Unitarians did not stand out in society as heretics, but the faith was easy to live with if you felt uncomfortable with a more serious, stricter branch of Christianity.

predilection

(noun) a predisposition in favor of something "a predilection for expensive cars" synonyms: orientation, preference (noun) a strong liking synonyms:penchant, preference, taste Predilection is based on the Latin verb praediligere, or "prefer before others," which breaks down to prae, before, and diligere, "choose or love." We often use the word predilection for tendencies that people seem to have been born with, also called predispositions. If you're a night owl, you probably have a predilection for cities, while morning people tend to prefer the country. *A predilection is a preference for or bias toward something. If you have a predilection for wool clothing, you should take up knitting. -Examples: It was a simple matter of choice, predilection, and a passing grade. It doesn't surprise me that the sheriff would have such predilections, and I wonder if there ain't some more sinister truth to the story about the loss of the sheriff's sweet-tempered wife. In the end, Berkeley got approval for a Bevatron to produce 6-billion-volt protons, satisfying Lawrence's predilection for building as big as he could. Her superior knowledge of its habits and predilections.

culpability

(noun) a state of guilt synonyms: blameworthiness, culpableness Culpability is a fancy-sounding word, but it's a simple concept: guilt. You have culpability if you're responsible for something, usually something bad. If you left the door open and your house was robbed, you have some culpability (not as much as the robber, though). If a store owner doesn't salt the ice on the sidewalk and you slip, he has some culpability if you get injured. Figuring out culpability is about figuring out who's to blame. *Culpability is a state of guilt or responsibility. A lot of lawsuits are about who has culpability for something that went wrong. -Examples: He stamped me with a belief in justice, then drenched me in culpability, and I wouldn't wish such torment even on a mosquito. Officials began to suspect that Myers was the sole killer and was desperately trying to implicate others to minimize his culpability. The perpetrators of all this, as Mrs. Heine has taken pains to point out, are no longer among us, so their culpability is not at issue. Herbert was advised to deny any culpability but ultimately argued that this was reckless murder, not capital murder, which could be punished with life imprisonment but not the death penalty.

platitude

(noun) a trite or obvious remark synonyms: banality, bromide, cliche, commonplace The English language contains many old, worn-out clichés, or platitudes. Phrases like "ants in your pants" and "as American as apple pie" are so overused that they've almost lost their meaning. People rely on these tired old remarks when they can't think of anything original to say. Be warned: if you throw too many platitudes into your conversations, people are eventually going to get tired of listening to you. *If an executive gives a speech that begins, "This business is all about survival of the fittest. You need to burn the midnight oil and take one for the team," his employees might get sick of listening to these meaningless clichés and tell him to cut the platitudes. -Examples: He waited for her anger to come in fusillades of outraged motherhood, smothering southern platitudes, and Catholic theology. "Oh, spare me your platitudes, mouse," Julian replied in a world-weary voice. It was one of Gregory Powell's favorite platitudes that nothing was to be gained from excitement, so when Mike Donovan came leaping down the stairs toward him, red hair matted with perspiration, Powell frowned. To Rowan it sounded like more empty platitudes—but Volta wasn't like Goddard

apathy

(noun) an absence of emotion or enthusiasm Although apathy is a lazy-sounding word indicating a lack of interest, action, or emotion, it has traveled through many languages to arrive in English. From the Greek apatheia, "freedom from suffering" or "impassibility," apathy has existed in English since the 17th century. Not just one person, but a whole segment of the population can be accused of inaction or emotional detachment: the expressions voter apathy, student apathy, and consumer apathy show just how unenthusiastic groups of people can be. *Use the noun apathy when someone isn't interested in the important things that are happening. You might feel apathy for the political process after watching candidates bicker tediously with one another. -Examples: Despite congressional apathy and obstruction, the suffragists remained steadfast. No wonder there was such apathy in the factory. Her lax mouth hung open in a perfect O, and God alone knew at what her glazed and smoky eyes were staring in such brute apathy. When this stage is reached, shivering ceases as the body just gives up and apathy takes over.

travesty

(noun) an absurd presentation of something; a mockery In literature, a travesty is a work that humorously and crudely imitates another work or style. But you can also use this word to describe anything that seems to mock, distort, or poorly imitate something else. A travesty of justice, for example, is a court case that makes a mockery of the judicial system — or so you might think, if the verdict isn't in your favor. Travesty comes from the French travesti, meaning "dressed in disguise." *A travesty is a cheap mockery, usually of something or someone serious, such as a travesty of justice. -Examples: "They've made a mockery of mortal age faith. Religion is a cherished part of history, and they've turned it into a travesty." And he said he entered the case not because he was interested in determining the grade of an individual student, but because Russeau and Carter had made a travesty of the no-pass, no-play rule. Then someone subtly begins calling her GLaDOS, which is the name of the evil computer in the classic Portal games—and if this session wasn't a travesty before, now it definitely is. It's a travesty, but the only class we share right now is AP English.

perfidy

(noun) an act of deliberate betrayal synonyms: betrayal, treachery, treason (noun) betrayal of a trust synonyms: perfidiousness, treachery The noun perfidy means "deceitfulness" or "treachery," so it's not just being mean, but deliberately betraying a trust. The Latin root of perfidy is made up of per, or "through," and fidem, or "faith." So in order for perfidy to happen, there has to have first been a sense of faith in place, which was then broken or betrayed. *If you shared your most embarrassing secrets with a friend who then told them to everyone he knows, his betrayal could be described as perfidy. -Examples: Isn't it ridiculous to think that a mouse could ever forgive anyone for such perfidy? When I'd said all that nonsense about perfidy, I'd been telling a yarn, hoping that I could distract everyone from my questionable manners. I be busy meanwhile reading my short history of England and finding out all about their perfidy. Reader, do you recall the word "perfidy"? As our story progresses, "perfidy" becomes an ever more appropriate word, doesn't it?

glut

(noun) an excessive supply the quality of being so overabundant that prices fall synonyms: oversupply, surfeit (verb) supply with an excess of synonyms: flood, oversupply Glut comes from the Old French gloter, meaning "to swallow too much." The glottis is the part of your body where your vocal folds reside and where you swallow. If you go to the movies alone and get the family tub of popcorn, you are glutting yourself on the salty snack, but do try not to get any popcorn stuck in your glottis. Glut is used more commonly in reference to the economics of the marketplace, where an oversupply of one thing lowers prices. *A glut is too much of something. A glut of gas in the marketplace can lower its price. A glut of heavy metal T-shirts in your dresser, however, has nothing to do with the economy but might be a signal that it's time to clean your room. -Examples: The man was short, his body a glut of muscles, his hair thinning and sun-bleached. The city was glutted with them, and they looked upon a Negro who might labor for even less pay with jealousy and suspicion. Its electric doors whooshed open and a glut of passengers spilled out. It seemed like a steal at $2.5 million, but with the glut of rigs on the domestic market there weren't any takers.

jingoism

(noun) fanatical patriotism synonyms: chauvinism, superpatriotism, ultranationalism Jingoism comes from the word jingo, the nickname for a group of British people who always wanted to go to war to prove the superiority of Britain. Now we use jingoism for that kind of aggressive, chauvinistic behavior in any country, or for things intended to stir up war-thirst and blind patriotism. If you see a TV show tries to get viewers to support a military cause without a critical look at whether war is necessary, call it jingoism. *Jingoism is fanatical, over-the-top patriotism. If you refuse to eat, read, wear, or discuss anything that wasn't made in your own country, people might accuse you of jingoism. -Examples: The show's geopolitical analysis posits Western Islamophobia as one instigator of Middle Eastern Islamofascism; diagnosing a global epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder, it forbids jingoism. The resulting novel from Grey's visit, "The Call of the Canyon," is so rife with sentimentality, jingoism and sexism that it's barely readable today, with one notable exception — the searing passages about the land itself. It's worth asking, for instance, how his patriotism curdled into jingoism. In his breakout years, Mr. Keith's métiers were jingoism and brawn.

torpor

(noun) inactivity resulting from lethargy and lack of vigor or energy synonyms: listlessness, torpidity, torpidness Torpor can be used in everyday speech, but it's also a scientific term for a state of deep sleep that allows animals to conserve energy. Certain species of bats, birds, and frogs rely on torpor for survival during tough times. While humans don't technically belong to this group of animals, they certainly appear to, especially after a large meal and on most Monday mornings. *Torpor is a state of mental and physical inactivity. "After a huge Thanksgiving meal, my family members fall into a torpor; no one can even pick up the TV remote." -Examples: After work, I was expecting my colleagues to be enthusiastic about the outing, but I found them in a state of complete torpor. Ernest Orlando Lawrence, overlooking the 184-inch cyclotron at what is now Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. shaken off the torpor observed by Livingston in midsummer and were all operating again. The plan had been to feed the beasts and chain them in their torpor, just as the queen had done. Now was the time to ask about the trip, but the same torpor that had overtaken Father also affected Tendai. A dangerous lassitude hovered just out of range in his body; it was accompanied by a defeatist torpor.

aesthete

(noun) one who professes great sensitivity to the beauty of art and nature synonyms: esthete The Greeks considered an aisthētḗs as "one who feels." It's from this idea of emotional sensitivity that the word aesthete came about in the late 19th Century as a noun for someone who greatly appreciates beauty and the arts. An aesthete doesn't have to be wealthy or highly educated. You can be a hotel maid who stops cleaning to absorb a strain of Beethoven and be as much an aesthete as the poet who writes about the splendor of a leaf. *Someone who claims to be concerned only with matters of art and beauty is known as an aesthete. Depending on the way he goes about it, he might also be known as a snob. -Examples: A product of upper-tier English society, he was also an aesthete and idealist with decidedly romantic sensibilities. The sun was the blessing of the morning, the one celebrating element, an aesthete with no purpose except to shed radiance. My father used to call me an aesthete. The face of his grandson, by contrast, is that of a bud-lipped aesthete.

prescience

(noun) the power to foresee the future synonyms: prevision The word prescience might look like pre + science, but it really comes from the Latin word praescientia, which means "fore-knowledge" — or knowledge you know before anyone else. Don't assume it's a crystal ball kind of power that lets someone with prescience see the future. It's more like a state of mind or level of expertise that allows for excellent foresight and planning. *Do you already know what happens tomorrow? Next week? Next year? If you can see into the future, then you have prescience. -Examples: A swift prescience with the strength of adrenaline flowed through him and heralded a day when he would speak to Bull Meecham man to man, as a friend and equal. In her younger years, with prescience and good management, Mammachi had collected all her falling hair in a small, embroidered purse that she kept on her dressing table. Being rediscovered once is proof of a scientist's prescience. "What will happen when...enlightenment actually comes to pass and the facts of heredity are...commonly known?" he wrote, with striking prescience, in 1905.

volubility

(noun) the quality of being facile in speech and writing synonyms: articulateness, fluency -Examples: As they descended the stairs he continued to talk with nervous volubility. He picked up Ansley Matthews at her house on Command Circle, charming her parents with a pleasant volubility that marked him as a blood member of the tribe. Now was the time of hard drinking, rising volubility, and the games of pilots. But Miss Bates soon came—"Very happy and obliged"—but Emma's conscience told her that there was not the same cheerful volubility as before—less ease of look and manner. (Emma)

gall

(noun) the trait of being rude and impertinent synonyms: cheekiness, crust, freshness, impertinence, impudence, insolence (noun) a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will synonyms: bitterness, rancor, rancour, resentment If someone has gall, they're irritating. In fact, as a verb, gall means "to irritate" like new tight jeans that gall your thighs. Gall is "bile," too, like what's in a gall bladder. Back in the days of Hippocrates, if the four humors of the body were out of whack, it affected your spirits. If you had too much bile, or gall, then you'd be aggressive or depressed. It's also a noun for "deep feeling of ill will." *Gall describes something irritating, like someone very rude. If you barge into a bakery and cut in front of a sweet old lady, then you have gall. -Examples: Still, it galled him to think of what wealth might lie beneath the waves. "You had the gall to steal something from me," he says. The forced inaction of their position seemed to gall him more than the others. Olanna had thought he would realize that her father only wanted to gall him and show how unimpressed he was by a senior lecturer from Nsukka.

engender

(v.) give rise to (verb) call forth synonyms:breed, spawn (verb) make children synonyms: beget, bring forth, father, generate, get, mother, sire The verb engender has nothing to do with being male or female, though originally, it did mean "beget, procreate." Today, engender means "to produce or bring about." When students come to class prepared, meaning they've read their assignment, this engenders better class discussions, just as mutual trust and the desire to help each other engenders a meaningful friendship. *Engender is a fancy way of saying "to make happen," like when you engender the spirit of teamwork and cooperation by encouraging others and doing your share of the group's work. -Examples: The restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles were so severe that they engendered deep hatred and resentment in the German people. Much too, you will think, reader, to engender jealousy: if a woman, in my position, could presume to be jealous of a woman in Miss Ingram's. (Jane Eyre) If thinking were enough to engender the new science it would have begun not with Galileo but with the fourteenth-century philosopher Nicholas Oresme. This the power lovely and terrible, what we try to engender in Kwang's giant money club, our huge ggeh for all. I thought about taking advantage of the good will I'd engendered and telling her about the job situation, but I didn't want to spoil her evening.

concede

(verb) acknowledge defeat (verb) admit (to a wrongdoing) synonyms: confess, profess (verb) give over; surrender or relinquish to the physical control of another synonyms: cede, grant, yield In its most common senses, a near synonym of concede is acknowledge — if your mom is pointing out that you need sleep before the test, you should concede the truth of what she's saying. But another meaning of concede is to give away or grant something, as when an unpopular leader is unwilling to concede power. Concede is from Latin concēdere, from the prefix com-, "completely," plus cēdere, "to go along, grant, yield." The corresponding noun is concession. *If you concede something, you admit that it is true, proper, or certain — usually in an unwilling way and often in the context of a competition, as in "At midnight, the candidate finally conceded defeat." -Examples: His mouth fell open and he conceded a step. The naked man in formation, he conceded cheerlessly, had been a real black eye for him. Sierra nodded, conceding the point, as Rutilio struggled back to his feet and hurled a random scrap of metal for Cojones to chase after. But he wasn't drawn to move so far away from family and friends himself, he conceded.

eschew

(verb) avoid and stay away from deliberately; stay clear of synonyms: shun Eschew comes from a word meaning dread, or shun. So to eschew something isn't simply to avoid it, the way you would avoid walking in a puddle--it's stronger than that. You eschew things that you find morally or aesthetically wrong, or that you have chosen to find wrong. A dieter might eschew a chocolate sundae, not because he doesn't like it, but because he's afraid of what it will do to his waistline. *If you eschew something, you deliberately avoid it. If you live the bohemian life in the city, then most likely you eschew the suburbs. -Examples: "The Order is eschewing any form of transport that is controlled or regulated by the Ministry; they mistrust everything to do with the place." (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) He clapped in between each word, eschewing the microphone, shouting as loud as he could. They had been hearing isolated reports from the radio and others who had stayed in the city, and they were all relieved they had eschewed shelter there; they had known it would turn out poorly. Not completely eschewing the values he was taught at 26 Markt.

abstain

(verb) choose not to partake in or consume (particularly something enjoyable) "I abstain from alcohol" synonyms: desist, refrain Roots of the word abstain are from the 14th-century French, "to withhold oneself," and the word often refers to people who hold themselves back from indulging in habits that are bad for them, physically or morally. Abstain can also mean to withhold a vote, and sometimes a difficult decision is stalled when government representatives abstain from voting one way or another. *If you abstain from something, you restrain yourself from consuming it. People usually abstain from things that are considered vices — like eating French fries every day for lunch. -Examples: Even when Ramadan arrived during the season and I had to play volleyball and fence while fasting from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from food and water, I still didn't want to quit. I usually abstained completely on the job, much less matched a subject shot for shot. I wonder why Therese abstains from food, though she is not bound by the nun's vows. This will always be the case when he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects, and from their women.

circumvent

(verb) cleverly find a way out of one's duties or obligations. avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues) Circum in Latin means "around" or "round about," and vent- comes from venire, "to come," but painting a picture from these two parts of the word helps. Picture someone circling around a barrier instead of climbing over it. That's what you do when you circumvent. You find a smart way around rules or barriers, or avoid doing something unpleasant altogether. *To circumvent is to avoid. Someone who trains elephants but somehow gets out of picking up after them has found a way to circumvent the cleaning of the circus tent. -Examples: The truth, seldom mentioned but there for anyone to see, is that nature is not so easily molded and that the insects are finding ways to circumvent our chemical attacks on them. I find most interesting the conspiracy of life in the desert to circumvent the death rays of the all-conquering sun. All of the large gunter clans immediately banded together to launch a full-scale assault on the Sixers' force field, trying everything they could think of to bring it down or circumvent it. Butler, perhaps trying to circumvent complaints that might short-circuit his offer, did not disclose ahead of time to Langley's engineering staff that the newest recruit was black.

contrive

(verb) come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort, to poll of a plan or scheme, usually through skill or trickery synonyms: devise, excogitate, forge, formulate, invent Even though contrive often has a false or cunning feel to it, it is not always a bad thing. Mental effort is always required though, as contrive is often used in connection with inventing schemes and plans to make something happen. Contraption, a complicated mysterious device that does something, is related to contrive. Have you ever seen a Rube Goldberg contraption? When you contrive to do something, your plan may end up being that complicated. *When you contrive, you make a plan or a plot. It may take you longer to contrive your way out of doing your homework than would to actually do it. -Examples: While he had fewer tattoos than his companion, they were more elaborate—not the self-inflicted work of an amateur but epics of the art contrived by Honolulu and Yokohama masters. Ere long, with the servant's aid, I contrived to mount a staircase; my dripping clothes were removed; soon a warm, dry bed received me. (Jane Eyre) Oppenheimer duly contrived "an elegant theory to rationalize these results," and when Bohr came for his visit, the work was trotted out for him as a showpiece of Rad Lab science. "Not yet? Not if some better way can be contrived?"

subsume

(verb) contain or include "This new system subsumes the old one" (verb) consider (an instance of something) as part of a general rule or principle "Don Quixote of La Mancha subsumes all other modern novels, demonstrating modern literary devices and predating even the idea if a postmodern, metanarrative." synonyms: colligate Subsume is a verb that comes from the Latin words sub, which means "from below," and sumere, which means "take." So subsume means "to take from below," like a sneak attack by some kind of deep-sea creature. Sailors and scuba divers should beware of monsters from the blackest depths waiting to subsume them. *Subsume means to absorb or include. A successful company might subsume a failing competitor through a merger, or love may subsume you in the early stages of a romance. -Examples: I could be subsumed into Abnegation's hive mind, projecting always outward. Instead, as Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project has noted, "all of these phenomenon were subsumed under the heading of 'crime in the streets.'" Vermeer's mastery of light's expressive qualities elevates his concern for the reality of appearance to the level of poetry and subsumes its visual and symbolic possibilities. But animated by voice those words are subsumed into sounds.

lambast

(verb) criticize severely or angrily censure severely or angrily synonyms: bawl out, berate, call down, call on the carpet, chew out, chew up, chide, dress down, have words, jaw, lambast, lecture, rag, rebuke, remonstrate, reprimand, reproof, scathe, scold, take to task, trounce, vituperate Have you ever watched a basketball game and noticed a coach yelling like a maniac at a referee? That coach is lambasting the referee. Lambasting is also called chewing out, taking to task, scolding, reprimanding, berating, bawling out, and chiding. Parents lambaste disobedient kids. A boss might lambaste a worker who is late all the time. Lambasting is severe and goes way beyond criticizing. When you are lambasting, you are furious at someone and letting them know it. *To lambaste is to reprimand or berate someone severely. People lambaste those who have angered or disappointed them. -Examples: Mom eavesdrops on Abuela and me then lambastes us with one of her sixty-odd diatribes when she doesn't like what she hears. Among the letters lambasting McCandless, virtually all those I received mentioned his misidentification of the caribou as proof that he didn't know the first thing about surviving in the back- country. More than Mr. Kahn drunkenly lambasting Mrs. Kahn for missing a spiderweb in a dark corner or not beating the rugs properly. A few months into his administration, Mayor Schmoke was lambasted for saying, "I started to think, maybe we ought to consider this drug problem a public health problem rather than a criminal justice problem."

delineate

(verb) describe in vivid detail When you create an outline for a paper it usually summarizes what you will detail later. You delineate the sections, or mark the heading lines, and when you write the details, you delineate the subject of each heading. So, to delineate is both to mark lines and to fill in the lines. Using a fence to divide properties or a carpet to claim your side of the bedroom also is a way to delineate, or mark, physical boundaries. *Though you pronounce it duh-LIN-ee-ate, there is a "line" in the middle of delineate. This might help you remember that to delineate is to outline and define something in detail or with an actual marking of lines and boundaries. -Examples: After a brief summary of proper swimming technique, the coach delineated the specifics of each stroke, spending 30 minutes alone on the backstroke. I want her madness clearly delineated so that I can trace its history and my own. The ad hoc village that would serve as our home for the next six weeks sat at the head of a natural amphitheater delineated by forbidding mountain walls. The definition neglects to mention the maps, the ones that delineate the return trip to normal or the site of the sunken treasure. Rows of blue runway lights stretched out along the valley floor behind us, delineating Og's private landing strip.

frustrate

(verb) hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of "What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge" synonyms: baffle, bilk, confound, cross, foil, queer, scotch, scuttle, spoil, thwart (verb) discourage or cause annoyance or upset synonyms: bedevil, crucify, dun, rag, torment If you have ever been frustrated while writing, you may have dropped your pen — or pushed away your keyboard — and stared angrily out the window, thinking, "How will I ever do this?" Well, that pent-up doubting that has made you stop is a sure sign you are frustrated. Plans, too, can be frustrated, like the snow that frustrates our efforts to run our errands. *When you frustrate someone, you do your best to annoy, confuse, or even torment that poor person. Maybe you constantly change your mind — that's sure to frustrate anyone who tries to make plans with you. -Examples: I thought I would finish writing the paper by lunchtime, but a number of urgent interruptions served to frustrate my plan. A soldier stood by to frustrate the designs of thieves. Her players might get frustrated and lash out during a game. This was where the senator preferred to hold his meetings, weave his intrigues, forge his deals, and, in his lonely hours, closet himself to release his rage, his frustrated desire, or his sorrow. Tobias lets out a frustrated sound and turns away from me, pacing a few steps.

preclude

(verb) keep from happening or arising; make impossible synonyms: forbid, foreclose, forestall, preempt, prevent This is a very formal word, but it has a simple meaning: when something is precluded, it can't happen. See the prefix pre in preclude and in prevent? It is signaling that these words are all about things done before another action would happen — to make it impossible. Staying away from water precludes the possibility of drowning, though it also precludes any chance of having fun swimming. *To preclude something is to prevent it from happening. A muzzle precludes a dog from biting. -Examples: It occurred to me that the business of surviving precluded a great many things, exploring and falling in love not least among them. He'd gone through a repentance process so he could cleanse himself of the behavior that would preclude him from going on a mission. The exhaust whistle, coupled with the natural engine noises, precluded the necessity of Mister Scales' giving any further notice about the car's arrival at its destination. "I rather hope to satisfy you both," said Emma, "for I shall do all in my power to make them happy, which will be enough for Isabella; and happiness must preclude false indulgence and physic."

chortle

(verb) laugh quietly or with restraint synonyms: chuckle, laugh softly In 1871, Lewis Carroll, who wrote "Alice in Wonderland," coined the word chortle in the poem "Jabberwocky," about a son who slays a monster and comes back to his relieved and happy father: "'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy." Experts consider the word a blend of the words chuckle and snort and the laugh itself is also a cross between the two. You may chortle in glee if you find out your work nemesis just got a new job in another office — out of state. *A chortle is a joyful, partly muffled laugh. If you have a toddler, you will recognize the sound of a delighted chortle, sort of louder and a bit more raucous than a giggle. -Examples: Nearly Headless Nick chortled so much that his ruff slipped and his head flopped off, dangling on the inch or so of ghostly skin and muscle that still attached it to his neck. (Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire) Hoover pounded the table and chortled, while Maytag and the baroness exchanged skeptical looks. Then there was Anastasia, chortling like a teenager when Dad had flowers delivered to the house—"Just because I love you," the card said. "Ha! Maybe if you took a swim at the Crystal Palace at Sea Bottom you could figure it out," the emperor chortled.

mitigate

(verb) lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of synonyms: extenuate, palliate (verb) make less severe or harsh The somewhat formal verb mitigate comes from the Latin roots mītis, "soft," and agere, "to do/act," which add up to "to soften." It is often used with words that indicate an outcome or something harmful. When you buy car insurance, you are trying to mitigate the risks involved with driving. Sunscreen is used to mitigate the effects of the sun on your skin. *Choose the verb mitigate when something lessens the unpleasantness of a situation. You can mitigate your parents' anger by telling them you were late to dinner because you were helping your elderly neighbor. -Examples: Further, I want to prevail upon this Court to consider this boy's plea of guilty as evidence mitigating his punishment. Management actions at and in the immediate vicinity of airports do little to mitigate the risk of off-airport strikes during departure and approach. They don't see any hierarchical gap between themselves and the pilots in the air, and to them, mitigated speech from a pilot doesn't mean the speaker is being appropriately deferential to a superior. None of this compelling mitigating evidence was presented at trial, and it should have been.

elucidate

(verb) make clear and (more) comprehensible and easier to understand synonyms: clarify, clear up Elucidate, meaning "to make clear," is from the Late Latin elucidare, from the Latin prefix e-, "thoroughly," and lucidus, "clear, bright." See the word lucid in elucidate? That's an adjective which describes someone who thinks clearly or something that is clear enough to understand. *If you elucidate something, you explain it very clearly. If you don't understand fractions, a visit to the pie shop may elucidate the subject for you. -Examples: Youtube is great place to learn just about anything-- an expert eluciates finer points so that even a complete novice can learn. Some I have already elucidated—such as a grease spot on a passport, etc. Instead she heard her mother, Euphrosyne Stephanides, speaking in this very cocoonery years ago, elucidating the mysteries of silkworms—"To have good silk, you have to be pure," she used to tell her daughter. Which is of course idiotic in the kind of profound and multivalent way that only an English teacher could fully elucidate. The style of teaching was Socratic in nature; ideas and theories were elucidated through the leaders asking and answering questions.

obscure

(verb) make less visible or unclear "the big elm tree obscures our view of the valley" synonyms: becloud, befog, cloud, fog, haze over, mist, obnubilate (adjective) not famous or acclaimed, known by only a few synonyms: unknown, unsung, inglorious Obscure comes from Latin obscurus, which can mean "dark, dim," "unclear, hard to understand," or "insignificant, humble." We tend to use obscure in the metaphorical senses: an obscure sound is unclear, an obscure village is hidden away in the countryside, and an obscure poet is little known and probably insignificant. Obscure can also be used as a verb. If you get really nervous when you speak during a debate, your embarrassing twitches and shaking hands can obscure your argument. *If something is obscure, it's vague and hard to see. Be careful if you're driving in heavy rain — the painted lines can be obscure. -Examples: The city lights obscured the stars, but on clear nights, I could see Venus on the horizon, up over the dark water, glowing steadily. Her hair falls over her face just enough to obscure her cheeks. (Looking for Alaska) The thought pleased her, so much so that she wondered if it might be some obscure saying of Agatha Swanburne's that she had heard in passing long ago and then forgotten. Shields they bore as well, but so obscured by snow and ice that the arms upon them could not be read.

exacerbate

(verb) make worse synonyms: aggravate, exasperate, worsen Exacerbate is related to the adjective acrid, often used to describe sharp-smelling smoke. Think of exacerbate then as a sharp or bitter thing that makes something worse. A drought will exacerbate a country's food shortage. Worsen, intensify, aggravate and compound are similar, but exacerbate has the sense of an irritant being added in to make something bad even worse. *For a formal-sounding verb that means to make worse, try exacerbate. If you're in trouble, complaining about it will only exacerbate the problem. -Examples: I'm frightened, but I'm not sure what I'm afraid of, which just exacerbates the fear. The War on Drugs has greatly exacerbated the problems associated with drug abuse, rather than solved them, but the fact remains that the violence associated with the illegal drug trade is nothing to be celebrated. My inability to discern the obvious was exacerbated to some degree by the guide-client protocol. Fierce winters helped drive the Vikings from Greenland and led to bad harvests that exacerbated social tensions in continental Europe, but few would claim that the little ice age caused the Reformation.

culminate

(verb) reach the highest or most decisive point The word culminate derives from the Latin word culminatus, the past participle of culminare, which means "to top or crown." Use culminate when you are referring to a crowning moment or a final conclusion: "I want my experiments combining strawberry jam with burnt toast to culminate in a Nobel Prize in Chemistry — or at least a lucrative contract with a major food supplier." *The verb culminate is used to describe a high point or a climactic stage in a process. For example, the goal of a Major League baseball team is to have their season culminate in a World Series victory. -Examples: "Oh I suppose not," she sighed, and she sat down to watch their chess match, which culminated in an exciting checkmate of Ron's, involving a couple of recklessly brave pawns and a very violent bishop. (Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire) The clash culminates several weeks after Enrique arrives, when Maria Isabel telephones collect and her call is rejected because some of the immigrants in the trailer do not know who she is. All his work since then had culminated in a factory that could irradiate two hundred tons of uranium at a time to produce a half pound of plutonium every two hundred days. At dawn, Mount Elgon appeared as a slumped pile of gray ridges receding into haze, culminating in a summit with two peaks, which are opposed lips of the eroded cone.

gainsay

(verb) speak against or oppose; deny or contradict, take exception to synonyms: challenge, dispute Gainsay comes from an Old English word that means "contradict" or "say against," as in, "no one dared gainsay the principal, who is well-known for giving detention to students who so much as frown at him." If you know someone who constantly corrects others, tells them that they're wrong, and says, "That's not true," more than anyone else, you have first-hand experience with the art of the gainsay. *Gainsay, a verb, means "contradict" or "speak out against." When you challenge authority, you gainsay, as in teachers don't like it when unruly students gainsay them. -Examples: This time they came from the Bible, through which she made desultory progress: gainsay, ravening, hoar. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Martin admitted he didn't know the meanings of gainsay and ravening.

vilify

(verb) spread negative information about "The Nazi propaganda vilified the Jews" synonyms: rail, revile, vituperate The verb vilify comes from the same root as the word vile and is a negative word if ever there was one! One way to remember the word is to think about how it sounds — like the word villain (which is unrelated and comes from villa). This suggests that when you vilify someone, you make them sound villainous. So avoid spreading vile words that vilify another and make him or her seem like a villain. *To vilify someone is to spread nasty stories about them, whether true or not. -Examples: In class she had insulted and challenged and vilified him at every turn, egging the Reilly monster to join in the attack. She had seen her mentor Howard Fuller vilified. Thus, the Party rejects and vilifies every principle for which the Socialist movement originally stood, and it chooses to do this in the name of Socialism. Yet despite such a careful approach, Carey did go out of his way to vilify one segment of the population: the black volunteers.

supplant

(verb) take the place or move into the position of synonyms: replace, supercede, supersede, supervene upon Being supplanted is something that often happens to ideas or ways of thinking. Encouraging children's freedom has supplanted old ideas about children being better seen than heard. After a shocking upset at Wimbledon, a new tennis player has supplanted the reigning champion. *Kate was out sick for a month with mono, and when she came back to school, Jessie had supplanted her as the funny girl at the lunch table. Supplant means to take the place of. -Examples: Finally, he must have thought, after all these decades, his mother tongue, Afrikaans, was on its way to supplanting English as the language of the land. It had been supplanted by a rueful sympathy and something not unlike affection. She told him how the strange animal had supplanted her and how nobody had been prepared to listen to her explanation at the beginning. But that advantage alone doesn't fully explain how initially so few European immigrants came to supplant so much of the native population of the Americas and some other parts of the world.

precocious

adjective characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude) "a precocious child" "a precocious achievement" Synonyms: intelligent, advanced When you look at the Latin roots of precocious, it all makes sense. When pre (meaning "before") joins coquere (meaning "to ripen"), you have something that is ripening prematurely. And in the case of precocious, you are usually describing young people who have some adult-like quality about them. Maybe it's their vast vocabulary, maybe it's their ease with Calculus, or maybe it's just applying lipstick. *That high school hoops phenom who plays like an NBA pro? The sixth grader who's already asking questions about organic chemistry? They're both precocious — meaning they're way beyond their years in skill or knowledge. -Examples: The docile, obedient student came home a shrill and precocious son who insisted on correcting and teaching his parents with the remark: 'My teacher told us....' Fitzsimmons's barn, consisting of horses owned by the Wheatley and Belair Stables, was teeming with precocious youngsters and proven, high-class older horses. "This defendant acted with the thought and cunning of an adult! Consequently he is to be sentenced as an adult. Without exception this precocious young man has long since outgrown his youth." As a child Bill was precocious and easily bored by his studies.