A-J

invective

abuse He had expected criticism but not the invective that greeted his proposal.

chasm

abyss They could not see the bottom of the chasm.

fortuitous

accidental; by chance There is no connection between these two events; their timing is entirely fortuitous.

adventitious

accidental; casual He found this adventitious meeting with his friend extremely fortunate.

incriminate

accuse; serve as evidence against The witness's testimony against the racketeers incriminates some high public officials as well.

inured

accustomed; hardened She became inured to the Alaskan cold.

appropriate

acquire; take possession of for one's own use The ranch owners appropriated the lands that had originally been set aside for the Indians' use.

exonerate

acquit; exculpate I am sure this letter naming the actual culprit will exonerate you.

arbitrate

act as judge She was called upon to arbitrate the dispute between the union and the management.

incarnation

act of assuming a human body and human nature The incarnation of Jesus Christ is a basic tenet of Christian theology.

diversion

act of turning aside; pastime After studying for several hours, he needed a diversion from work.

animosity

active enmity He incurred the animosity of the ruling class because he advocated limitations of their power.

dynamic

active; efficient A dynamic government is necessary to meet the demands of a changing society.

anguish

acute pain; extreme suffering Visiting the site of explosion, Premier Gorbachev wept to see the anguish of the victims and their families.

elaboration

addition of details; intricacy Tell what happened simply, without any elaboration.

addendum

addition; appendix to book Jane's editor approved her new comparative literature text but thought it would be even better with an addendum on recent developments in literary criticism.

accessory

additional object; useful but not essential thing She bought an attractive handbag as an accessory for her dress.

condign

adequate; deservedly severe The public approved the condign punishment for the crime.

formality

adherence to established rules or procedures Signing this petition is a mere formality; it does not obligate you in any way.

contiguous

adjacent to; touching upon The two countries are contiguous for a few miles; then they are separated by the gulf.

apparition

ghost; phantom Hamlet was uncertain about the identity of the apparition that had appeared and spoken to him.

benefactor

gift giver; patron Scrooge later became Tiny Tim's benefactor and gave him a benediction.

acclimate

adjust to climate or environment One of the difficulties of our present air age is the need of travellers to acclimate themselves to their new and often strange environments.

compromise

adjust; endanger the interests or reputation of Your presence at the scene of the dispute compromises our claim to neutrality in this matter.

enfranchise

admit to the rights of citizenship (especially the right to vote) Although blacks were enfranchised shortly after the Civil War, women did not receive the right to vote until 1920.

concede

admit; hield Despite all the evidence Monica had assembled, Mark refused to concede that she was right.

espouse

adopt; support She was always ready to espouse a worthy cause.

embellish

adorn My mother-in-law's stories about her journey from Russia made us laugh because she embellished the bare facts of her travels with humourous acecdotes.

enhance

advance; improve Your chances for promotion in this department will be enhanced if you take some more courses in evening school.

dissuade

advise against He could not dissuade his friend from joining the conspirators.

gustatory

affecting the sense of taste The Thai restaurant offered an unusual gustatory experience for those used in a bland cuisine.

catalyst

agent that brings about a chemical change while it remains unaffected and unchanged Many chemical reactions cannot take place without the presence of a catalyst.

emissary

agent; messenger The secretary of State was sent as the President's special emissary to the conference on disarmament.

ferment

agitation; commotion With the breakup of the Soviet Union, much of Eastern Europe was in a state of ferment.

accede

agree If I accede to this demand for blackmail, I am afraid that I will be the victim of future demands.

concur

agree Did you concur with the decision of the court or did you find it unfair?

assent

agree; accept It gives me great pleasure to assent to your request.

amiable

agreeable; lovable His amiable disposition pleased all who had dealings with him.

accord

agreement She was in complete accord with the verdict.

compact

agreement; contract The signers of the Mayflower Compact were establishing a form of government.

dilettante

aimless follower of the arts; amateur; dabbler He was not serious in his painting; he was rather a dilettante.

desultory

aimless; haphazard; digressing at random In prison Malcolm X set himself the task of reading straight through the dictionary; to him reading was purposeful, not desultory.

disport

amuse The popularity of Florida as a winter resort is constantly increasing; each year, thousands more disport themselves at Miami and Palm Beach.

beguile

amuse; delude; cheat I beguiled himself during the long hours by playing solitaire.

concession

an act of yielding Before they could reach an agreement, both sides had to make certain concessions.

alias

an assumed name John Smith's alias was Bob Jones.

dissection

analysis; cutting apart in order to examine The dissection of frogs on the laboratory is particularly unpleasant to some students.

assay

analyze; evaluate When they assayed the ore, they found that they had discovered a very rich vein.

forebears

ancestors Reverence for one's forebears (sometimes referred to as ancestor worship) plays an important part in many Oriental cultures.

cherubic

angelic; innocent-looking With her cheerful smile and rosy cheeks, she was a particularly cherubic child.

indignation

anger ar an injustice He felt indignation at the ill-treatment of the helpless animals.

irate

angry When John's mother found out that he had overthrown his checking account for the third month in a row, she was so irate that she could scarcely speak to him.

gadfly

animal-biting fly; an irritating person Like a gadfly, he irritated all the guests at the hotel; within forty eight hours, everyone regarded him as an annoying busybody.

fauna

animals of a period or region The scientist could visualize the fauna of the period by examining the skeletal remains and the fossils.

harass

annoy by repeated attacks When he could not pay his bills as quickly as he had promised, he was harrassed by his creditors.

gall

annoy; chafe Their taunts galled him.

irksome

annoying; tedious He found working on the assembly line irksome because of the monotony of the operation he had to perform.

archaic

antiquated "Methinks," "thee," and "thou" are archaic words that are no longer part of our normal vocabulary.

antediluvian

antiquated; ancient The antediluvian customs had apparently not changed for thousands of years.

canker

any ulcerous sore; any evil Poverty is a canker in the body politic; it must be cured.

aloof

apart; reserved Shy by nature, she remained aloof while all the rest conversed.

gyroscope

apparatus used to maintain balance, ascertain direction, etc. By using a rotating gyroscope, they were able to stabilize the vessel, counteracting the rolling movements of the sea. 114. - apparatus used to maintain balance, ascertain direction, etc.

guise

appearance; costume In the guise of a plumber, the detective investigated the murder case.

accost

approach and speak first to a person When the two young men accosted me, I was frightened because I thought they were going to attack me.

apposite

appropriate; fitting He was always able to find the apposite phrase, the correct expression for every occasion.

approbation

approval Wanting her parents' regard, she looked for some sign of their approbation.

endorse

approve; support Everyone waited to see which one of the rival candidates for the city council the mayor would endorse.

felicitous

apt; suitably expressed; well chosen He was famous for his felicitous remarks and was called upon to serve as master-of-ceremonies at many banquet.

conduit

aqueduct; passageway for fluids Water was brought to the army in the desert by an improvised conduit from the adjoining mountain.

fervid

ardent Her fervid enthusiasm inspired all of us to undertake the dangerous mission.

fervent

ardent; hot She felt that the fervent praise was excessive and somewhat undeserved.

haggle

argue about prices I prefer to shop in a store that has a one-price policy because, whenever I haggle with a shopkeeper, I am never certain that I paid a fair price for the articles I purchased.

disputatious

argumentative; fond of argument People avoided discussing contemporary problems with him because of his disputatious manner.

cohorts

armed band Caesar and his Roman cohorts conquered almost all of the known world.

incite

arouse to action The demogogue incited the mob to take action into its own hands.

graduated

arraged by degree (of height, difficulty, etc.) Margaret loved her graduated set of Russian hollow wooden dolls; she spent hours happily putting the smaller dolls into their larger counterparts.

codify

arrange (laws, rules) as a code; classify We need to take the varying rules and regulations of the different health agencies and codify them into a national health code.

apprehend

arrest ( a criminal); dread; perceive The police will apprehend the culprit and convict him before long.

advent

arrival Most Americans were unaware of the advent of the Nuclear Age until the news of Hiroshima reached them.

hubris

arrogance; excessive self-conceit Filled with hubris, Lear refused to heed his friends' warnings.

incendiary

arsonist The fire spread in such an unusual manner that the fire department chiefs were certain that it had been set by an incendiary.

choreography

art of dancing Martha Graham introduced a form of choreography that seemed awkward and alien to those who had been brought up on classic ballet.

dialectic

art of debate I am not skilled in dialectic and therefore, cannot answer your arguments as forcefully as I wish.

dictum

arthoritative and weighty statement She repeated the statement as though it were the dictum of the most expert worker in the group.

affected

artificial; pretended His affected mannerisms irritated may of us who had known him before his promotion.

factitous

artificial; sham Hollywood actresses often create factitious tears by using glycerine.

attribute

ascribe; explain I attribute her success in science to the encouragement she received from her parents.

ashen

ash-colored; deadly pale Her face was ashen with fear.

assail

assault He was assailed with questions after his lecture.

convene

assemble Because much is needed legislation had to be enacted, the governor ordered the legislature to convene in special session by January 15.

acquiesce

assent; agree passively Although she appeared to acquiesce to her employer's suggestions, I could tell she had reservations about the changes he wanted made.

abet

assist, usually in doing something wrong She was unwilling to abet him in the swindle he had planned.

consort

associate with We frequently judge people by the company with whom they consort.

imposture

assuming a false identity; masquerade She was imprisoned for her imposture of a doctor.

heinous

atrocious; hatefully bad Hitler's heinous crimes will never be forgotten.

append

attach I shall append this chart to my report.

affix

attach or add on; fasten First the registrar had to affix his signature to the license; then he had to affix his official seal.

iconoclastic

attacking cherished traditions George Bernard Shaw's iconoclastic plays often startled more conventional people.

engage

attract; hire; pledge oneself; confront "Your case has engaged my interest, my lord," said Holmes, "You many engage my services."

comely

attractive; agreeable I would rather have a poor and comely wife than a rich and homely one.

impute

attribute; ascribe If I wished to impute blame to the officers in charge of this program, I would state my feelings definitely and immediately.

antipathy

aversion; dislike His extreme antipathy to dispute caused him to avoid argumentative discussions with his friends.

eschew

avoid He tried to eschew all display of temper.

accolade

award of merit In Hollywood, an "Oscar" is the highest accolade.

hinterlands

back country They seldom had visitors, living as they did way out in the hinderlands.

equilibrium

balance After the divorce, he needed some time to regain his equilibrium.

equipoise

balance; balancing force; equilibrium The high-wire acrobat used his pole as an equipose to overcome the swaying caused by the wind.

embargo

ban on commerce or other activity As a result of the embargo, trade with colonies was at a standstill.

insolvent

bankrupt; lacking money to pay When rumors that he was insolvent reached his creditors, they began to press him for payment of the money due them.

chaffing

bantering; joking Sometimes his flippant and chaffing remarks annoy us.

barrage

barrier laid down by artillery fire; overwhelming profusion The company was forced to retreat through the barrage of heavy canyons.

hypothetical

based on assumptions or hypotheses Why do we have to consider hypothetical cases when we have actual case histories that we may examine?

empirical

based on experience He distrusted hunches and intuitive flashes; he placed his reliance entirely on empirical data.

fundamental

basic; primary; essential The committee discussed all sorts of side issues without ever getting down to addressing the fundamental problem.

disparate

basically different; unrelated It is difficult, if not impossible, to organize these disparate elements into a coherent whole.

dote

be excessively fond of; show signs of mental decline Not only grandmothers bore you with stories about their brilliant grandchildren; grandfathers dote on the littel rascals, too.

behoove

be suited to; be incumbent upon In this time of crisis, it behooves all of us to remain calm and await the instructions of our superiors.

appreciate

be thankful for; increase in worth; be thoroughly conscious of Little Orphan Annie truly appreciated the stocks Daddy Warbucks ave her, whose value appreciated considerably over the years.

fructify

bear fruit This peach tree should fructify in three years.

comport

bear one's self; behave He comported himself with great dignity.

fruition

bearing of fruit; fulfillment; realization This building marks the fruition of all our aspirations and years of hard work.

bestial

beastlike; brutal; inhuman The Red Cross sought to put an end to the bestial treatment of prisoners of war.

calligraphy

beautiful writing; excellent penmanship As we examine ancient manuscripts, we became impressed with the calligraphy of the scribes.

betroth

become engaged to marry The announcement that they had become betrothed surprised their friends who had not suspected any romance.

ingratiate

become popular with He tried to ingratiate himself into her parents' good graces.

degenerate

become worse; deteriorate As the fight dragged on, the champion's style degenerated until he could barely keep on his feet.

implore

beg He implored her to give him a second chance.

importune

beg persistently Democratic and Republican phone solicitors importuned her for contributions so frequently that she decided to give nothing to either party.

inaugurate

begin formally; install in office The candidate promised that he would inaugurate a new nationwide health care plan as soon as he was inaugurated as president.

initiate

begin; originate; receive into a group The college is about to initiate a program for reducing math anxiety among students.

conception

beginning; forming of a idea At the first conception of the work, he was consulted.

incipient

beginning; in an early stage I will go to sleep early for I want to break an incipient cold.

genesis

beginning; origin Tracing the genesis of a family is the theme of "Roots."

demeanor

behavior; bearing His sober demeanor quieted the noisy revelers.

decapitate

behead They did not hang Lady Jane Grey; they decapitated her.

arrears

being in debt He was in arrears with his payments on the car.

fatalism

belief that events are determined by forces beyond one's control With fatalism, he accepted the hardships that beset him.

hedonism

belief that pleasure is the sole aim in life hedonism and asceticism are opposing philosophies of human behavior.

disparage

belittle Do not disparage anyone's contribution; these little gifts add up to large sums.

genuflect

bend the knee as in worship A proud denocrat, he refused to genuflect to any man.

beleaguer

besiege As soon as the city was beleaguered, the life became more subdued as the citizens began their long wait for outside assitance.

condescend

bestow courtesies with a superior air The king condescended to grant an audience to the friends of the condemned man.

indubitably

beyond a doubt Because her argument was indubitably valid, the judge accepted it.

indenture

bind as servant or apprentice to master Many immigrants could come to America only after they had indentured themselves for several years.

astringent

binding; causing contraction; harsh or severe The astringent quality of unsweetened lemon juice made swallowing difficult.

diatribe

bitter scolding; invective During the lengthy diatribe delivered by his opponent he remained calm and self-controlled.

gall

bitterness; nerve The knowledge of his failure filled him with gall.

denigrate

blacken All attempts to denigrate the character of our late President have failed; the people still love him and cherish his memory.

censure

blame; criticize He was censured for his inappropriate behavior.

blanch

bleach; whiten Although age had blanched his hair, he was still vigorous and energetic.

hallowed

blessed; consecrated She was laid to rest in hallowed ground.

beatitude

blessedness; state of bliss Growing closer to God each day, the mystic achieved a state of indescribable beatitude.

benison

blessing Let us pray that the benison of peace once more shall prevail among the nations of the world.

benediction

blessing The appearance of the sun after the many rainy days was like a benediction.

boon

blessing; benefit The recent rains that filled our empty reservoirs were a boon to the whole community.

chauvinist

blindly devoted patriot A chauvinist cannot recognize any faults in his country, no matter how flagrant they may be.

filibuster

block legislation by making long speeches Even though we disapproved of Senator Foghorn's political goals, we were impressed by his ability to filibuster endlessly to keep an issue from coming to a vote.

hindrance

block; obstacle Stalled cars along the highway are a hindrance to traffic that tow trucks should remove without delay.

gory

bloody The audience shuddered as they listened to the details of the gory massacre.

doldrums

blues; listlessness; slack period Once the excitement of meeting her deadline was over, she found herself in the doldrums.

brusque

blunt; abrupt She was offended by his brusque reply.

braggart

boaster Modest by nature, she was no braggart, preferring to let her accomplishments speak for themselves.

braggadocio

boasting He was disliked because his manner was always full of braggadocio.

hierarchy

body divided into ranks It was difficult to step out of one's place in this hierarchy.

clientele

body of customers The rock club attracted a young, stylish clientele.

guffaw

boisterous laughter The loud guffaws that came from the closed room indicated that the members of the committe had not yet settled down to a serious business.

hilarity

boisterous mirth The hilarity is improper on this solemn day of mourning.

dauntless

bold Despite the dangerous nature of the undertaking, the dauntless soldier volunteered for the assignment.

catechism

book for religious instruction; instruction by question and answer He taught by engaging his pupils in a catechism until they gave him the correct answer.

churlish

boorish; rude Dismayed by his churlish manners at the party, the girls vowed never to invite him again.

abut

border upon; adjoin Where our estates abut, we must build a fence.

blase

bored with pleasure or dissipation Your blase attitude gives your students an erroneous impression of the joys of scholarship.

ennui

boredom The monotonous routine of hopital life induced a feeling of ennui which made him moody and irritable.

abysmal

bottomless His arrogance is exceeded only by his abysmal ignorance.

dichotomy

branching into two parts The dichotomy of our legislative system provides us with many safeguards.

fortitude

bravery; courage He was awarded the medal for his fortitude in the battle.

fray

brawl The three musketeers were in the thick of fray.

fracas

brawl; melee The military police stopped the fracas in the bar and arrested the belligerents.

harrow

break up ground after plowing; torture I don't want to harrow you at this time by asking you to recall the details of your unpleasant experience.

breach

breaking of contract or duty; fissure; gap They found a breach in the enemy's fortifications and penetrated their lines.

debacle

breaking up; downfall This debacle in the government can only result in anarchy.

fancier

breeder or dealer of animals The dog fancier exhibited her prize collie at the annual Kennel Club show.

concise

brief and compact When you define a new word, be concise; the shorter the definition, the easier it is to remember.

glossary

brief explanation of words used in the text I have found the glossary in this book very useful; it has eliminated many trips to the dictionary.

compendium

brief, comprehensive summary This text can serve as a compendium of the tremendous amount of new material being developed in this field.

illuminate

brighten; clear up or make understandable; enlighten Just as a lamp can illuminate a dark room, a perceptive comment can illuminate a knotty problem.

incur

bring upon oneself His parents refused to pay any future debts he might incur.

farce

broad comedy; mockery Nothing went right; the entire interview degenerated into a farce.

contusion

bruise She was treated for contusions and abrasions.

atrocity

brutal deed In time of war, many atrocities are committed by invading armies.

bugaboo

bugbear; object of baseless terror If we become frightened by such bugaboos, we are no wiser than the birds who fear scarecrows.

fabricate

build; lie Because of the child's tendency to fabricate, we had trouble believing her.

browbeat

bully; intimidate Billy resisted Ted's attempts to browbeat him into handing over his lunch money.

encumber

burden Some people encumber themselves with too much luggage, when they take short trips.

incubus

burden; mental care; nightmare The incubus of financial worry helped bring on her nervous breakdown.

cauterize

burn with hot iron or caustic In order to prevent infection, the doctor cauterized the wound.

caustic

burning; sarcastically biting The critic's caustic remarks angered the hapless actors who were the subjects of his sarcasm.

inter

bury They are going to inter the body tomorrow ar Broadlawn Cemetry.

entrepreneur

businessperson; contractor Opponents of our present tax program argue that it discourages entrepreneurs from trying new fields of business activity.

catastrophe

calamity The Johnstown flood was a catastrophe.

actuarial

calculating; pertaining to insurance statistics According to recent actuarial tables, life expectancy is greater today than it was a century ago.

fanfare

call by bugles or trumpets; showy display The exposition was opened with fanfare of trumpets and the firing of cannon.

evoke

call forth He evoked much criticism by his hostile manner.

invoke

call upon; ask for She invoked her advisor's aid in filling out her financial aid forms.

dispassionate

calm; impartial In a dispassionate analysis of the problem, he carefully examined the causes of the conflict and proceeded to suggest suitable remedies.

allay

calm; pacify The crew tried to allay the fears of the passengers by announcing that the fire had been controlled.

halcyon

calm; peaceful In those halcyon days, people were not worried about sneak attacks and bombings.

imperturbable

calm; placid Wellington remained imperturbable and in full command of the situation in spite of the hyteria and panic all around him.

equanimity

calmness of temperament In his later years, he could look upon the foolishness of the world with equanimity and humor.

expunge

cancel; remove If you behave, I will expunge this notation from your record.

ambidextrous

capable of using either hand with equal ease A switch-hitter in baseball should be naturally ambidextrous.

enthrall

capture; enslave From the moment he saw her picture, he was enthralled by her beauty.

inadvertently

carelessly; unintentionally; by oversight She inadvertently omitted two questions on the examination and mismarked her answer sheet.

cavalier

casual and offhand; arrogant Sensitive about having her ideas taken lightly, Marcia felt insulted by Mark's cavalier dismissal of her suggestion.

descry

catch sight of In the distance, we could barely descry the enemy vessels.

grievance

cause of complaint When her supervisor ignored her complaint, she took her grievance to the union.

bane

cause of ruin Lack of public transportation is the bane of urban life.

germinate

cause to sprout; sprout After the seeds germinate and develop their permanent leaves, the plants may be removed from the cold frames and transplanted to the garden.

engender

cause; produce To receive praise for real accomplishments engenders self-confidence in a child.

carcinogenic

causing cancer Many supposedly harmless substances have been revealed to be carcinogenic.

analgesic

causing insensitivity to pain The analgesic qualities of his lotion will provide temporary relief.

chary

cautious; sparing or restrained about giving A prudent, thrifty New Englander, DeWitt was as chary of investing money in junk bonds as he was chary of paying people unnecessary compliments.

hap

chance; luck In his poem hap, Thomas Hardy objects to the part chance plays in our lives.

gerrymander

change in voting district lines in order to favor a political party The illogical pattern of the map of this congressional district is proof that the state legislature gerrymandered this area in order to favor the majority party.

innovation

change; introduction of something new She loved innovatins just because they were new.

fickle

changeable; faithless He discovered his supposedly faithful girlfriend was fickle

generic

characteristic of an entire class or species Sue knew so many computer programmers who spent their spare time playing fantasy games that she began to think that playing Dungeon & Dragons was a generic trait.

indict

charge If the grand jury indicts the suspect, he will go to trial.

arraign

charge in court; indict After his indictment by the Grand Jury, the accused man was arraigned in the County Criminal Court.

impeach

charge with crime in office; indict The angry congressman wanted to impeach the President for his misdeeds.

amulet

charm; talisman Around her neck she wore the amulet that the witch doctor had given her.

idyllic

charmingly carefree; simple Far from the city, she led an idyllic existence in her rural retreat.

babble

chatter idly The little girl babbled about her doll.

fraudulent

cheating; deceitful The government seeks to prevent fraudulent and misleading advertising.

alacrity

cheerful promptness He demonstrated his eagerness to serve by his alacrity in executing the orders of his master.

geniality

cheerfulness; kindliness; sympathy This restaurant is famous and popular because of the geniality of the proprietor, who tries to make everyone happy.

cardinal

chief If you want to increase your word power, the cardinal rule of vocabulary-building is to read.

infantile

childish; infantlike When will he outgrow such infantile behavior?

indiscriminate

choosing at random; confused She disapproved of her son's indiscriminate television viewing and decided to restrict him to educational programs.

friction

clash in opinion; rubbing against At this time when harmony is essential, we cannot afford to have any friction in our group.

expurgate

clean; remove offensive parts of a book The editors felt that certain passages in the book had to be expurgated before it could be used in the classroom.

bouillon

clear beef soup The cup of bouillon served by the stewards was welcomed by those who had been chilled by the cold ocean breezes.

exculpate

clear from blame He was exculpated of the crime when the real criminal confessed.

ingenious

clever He came up with a use for Styrofoam packing balls that was so ingenious that his business school professors declared it was marketable.

clamber

climb by crawling She clambered over the wall.

compress

close; squeeze; contract She compressed the package under her arm.

array

clothe; adorn She liked to watch her motherarray herself in her finest clothes before going out for the evening.

buffoonery

clowning John Candy's buffoonery in Uncle Buck was hilarious.

bludgeon

club; heavy-headed weapon His walking stick served him as a bludgeon on many occasions.

gauche

clumsy; boorish Such remarks are gauche and out of place; you should apologize for making them.

fodder

coarse food for cattle, horses etc. One of Nancy's chores ar the ranch was to put fresh supplies of fodder in the horses' stalls.

abusive

coarsely insulting; physically harmful An abusive parent damages a child both mentally and physically.

cajole

coax; wheedle I will not be cajoled into granting your wish.

bleak

cold; cheerless The Aleutian Islands are bleak military outposts.

clavicle

collarbone Even though he wore shoulder pads, the football player broke his clavicle during a practice scrimmage.

amass

collect The miser's aim is to amass and hoard as much gold as possible.

agglomeration

collection; heap It took weeks to assort the agglomeration of miscellaneous items she had collected on her trip.

hue

color; aspect The aviary contained birds of every possible hue.

compound

combine; constitute; pay interest; increase The makers of the popular cold remedy compounded a nasal decongestant with an antihistamine.

coalesce

combine; fuse The brooks coalesce into one large river.

amalgamate

combine; unite in one body The unions will attempt to amalgamate their groups into one national body.

accrue

come about by addition You must pay the interest that has accrued on your debt as well as the principal sum.

intervene

come between She intervened in the argument between her two sons.

converge

come together Marchers converged on Washington for the great Save Our Cities-Save Our Children March.

fiat

command I cannot accept government by fiat; I feel that I must be consulted.

enjoin

command; order; forbid The owners of the company asked the court to enjoin the union from picketing the plant.

embark

commence; go on board a boat; begin a journey In devoting herself to the study of gorillas, Dian Fossey embarked on a course of action that was to cost her her life.

annotate

comment; make explanatory notes In the appendix to the novel, the critic sought to annotate many of the more esoteric references.

hackneyed

commonplace; trite The English teacher criticized her story because of its hackneyed and unoriginal plot.

analogous

comparable She called our attention to the things that had been done in an analogous situation and recommended that we do the same.

grouse

complain; fuss Students traditionally grouse about the abysmal quality of "mystery meat" and similar dornitory food.

consummate

complete I have never seem anyone who makes as many stupid errors as you do; you must be a consummate idiot.

complement

complete; consummate; make perfect The waiter recommended a glass of port to complement the cheese.

integral

complete; necessary for completeness Physical education is an integral part of our curriculum; a sound mind and a sound body are complementary.

absolute

complete; totally unlimited; certain Although the King of Siam was an absolute monarch, he did not want to behead his unfaithful wife without absolute evidence of her infidelity.

imbroglio

complicated situation; perplexity; entanglement He was called in to settle the imbroglio but failed to bring harmony into the situation.

improvise

compose on the spur of the moment She would sit at the piano and improvise for hours on themes from Bach and Handel.

fathom

comprehend; investigate I find his motives impossible to fathom.

constraint

compulsion; repression of feelings There was a feeling of constraint in the room because no one dared to criticize the speaker.

egotism

conceit; vanity She thought so much of herself that we found her egotism unwarranted and irritating.

brevity

conciseness brevity is essential when you send a telegram or cablegram; you are charged for every word.

coda

concluding section of a musical or literary composition The piece concluded with a distinctive coda that strikingly brought together various motifs.

finale

conclusion It is not until we reach the finale of this play that we can understand the author's message.

denounce

condemn; critcize The reform candidate denounced the corrupt city officers for having betrayed the public's trust.

deign

condescend He felt that he would debase himself if he deigned to answer his critics.

anemia

condition in which blood lacks red corpuscles The doctor ascribes her tiredness to anemia.

contingent

conditional The continuation of this contract is contingent on the quality of your first output.

bestow

confer He wished to bestow great honors upon the hero.

compliance

conformity in fulfilling requirements; readiness to yield The design for the new school had to be in compliance with the local building code.

fluster

confuse The teacher's sudden question flustered him and he stammered his reply.

befuddle

confuse thoroughly His attempts to clarify the situation succeeded only on befuddling her further.

confound

confuse; puzzle No mystery could confound Sherlock Holmes for long.

disconcert

confuse; upset; embarrass The lawyer was disconcerted by the evidence produced by her adversary.

hubbub

confused uproar The marketplace was a scene of hubbub and excitement.

discombobulated

confused; discomposed The novice square dancer became so discombobulated that he wandered into wrong set.

bemused

confused; lost in thought; preoccupied Jill studied the garbled instructions with a bemused look on her face.

gourmet

connoisseur of food and drink The gourmet stated that this was the best onion soup she had ever tasted.

epicure

connoisseur of food and drink epicures frequent this restaurant because it features exotic wines and dishes.

anoint

consecrate The prophet Samuel anointed David with oil, crowning him king of Israel.

deliberate

consider; ponder; unhurried Offered the new job, she asked for time to deliberate before she made her decision.

flagrant

conspicuously wicked We cannot condone such flagrant violations of the rules.

collusion

conspiring in a fraudulent scheme The swindlers were found guilty of collusion.

despicable

contemptible Your despicable remarks call for no reply.

din

continued loud noise The din of the jackhammers outside the classroom window drowned out the lecturer's voice.

belie

contradict; give a false impression His coarse, hard-bitten exterior belied his innate sensitivity.

contravene

contradict; oppose: infringe on or transgress Mr. Barrett did not expect his frail daughter Elizabeth to contravene his will by eloping with Robert Browning.

foil

contrast In "Star Wars," dark, evil Darth Vader is a perfect foil for fair-haired, naive Luke Skywalker.

antithesis

contrast; direct opposite of or to This tyranny was the antithesis of all that he had hoped for, and he fought it with all his strength.

ascendancy

controlling influence President Marcos failed to maintain his ascendency over Philippines.

amenities

convenient features; courtesies In addition to the customary amenities for the business traveler -- fax machines, modems, a health club -- the hotel offers the services of a butler versed in social amenities.

cogent

convincing She presented cogent arguments to the jury.

facsimilie

copy Many museums sell facsimilies of the works of art on display.

cadaver

corpse In some states, it is illegal to dissect cadavers.

disabuse

correct a false impression; undeceive I will attempt to diabuse you of your impression of my client's guilt; I know he is innocent.

emend

correct, usually a text The critic emended the book by retranslating several passages.

amend

correct; change, generally for the better Hoping to amend his condition, he left Vietnam for the United States.

emendation

correction of errors; improvement Please initial all the emendations you have made in this contract.

congruence

correspondence of parts; harmonious relationship The student demonstrated the congruence of the two triangles by using the hypotenuse-arm theorem.

debauch

corrupt; make intemperate A vicious newspaper can debauch public ideals.

depravity

corruption; wickedness The depravity of the tyrant's behavior shocked us all.

barrister

counselor-at-law Galsworthy started as a barrister, but when he found the practice of law boring, turned to writing.

bogus

counterfeit; not authentic The police quickly found the distributors of the bogus twenty-dollar bills.

affable

courteous Although he held a position of responsibility, he was an affable individual and could be reached by anyone with a complaint.

deference

courteous regard for another's wish In deference to his desires, the employers granted him a holiday.

chivalrous

courteous; faithful; brave chivalrous behavior involves noble words and good deeds.

comity

courtesy; civility A spirit of comity should exist among nations.

fawning

courting favor by cringing and flattering She was constantly surrounded by a group of fawning admirers who had hoped to win some favor.

glaze

cover with a thin and shiny surface The freezing rain glazed the streets and made driving hazardous.

bovine

cowlike; placid and dull Nothing excites Esther; even when she won the state lottery, she still preserved her air of bovine calm.

hurtle

crash; rush The runaway train hurtled toward disaster.

grovel

crawl or creep on ground; remain prostrate Even though we have been defeated, we do not have to grovel before our conquerors.

fissure

crevice The mountain climbers secured footholds in tiny fissures in the rock.

juncture

crisis;joining point At this critical juncture, let us think carefully before determining the course we shall follow.

censorious

critical censorious people delight in casting blame.

animadversion

critical remark He resented the animadversions of his critics, particularly because he realized they were true.

askew

crookedly; slanted; at an angle When he placed his hat askew upon his head, his observers laughed.

horde

crowd Just before Christmas the stores are filled with hordes of shoppers.

diadem

crown The king's diadem was on display at the museum.

fell

cruel; deadly The newspapers told of the tragic spread of the fell disease

elixir

cure-all; something invigorating The news of her chance to go abroad acted on her like an elixir.

imprecation

curse Roused from the bed at what he considered an ungodly hour, Roy muttered imprecations under his breath.

anathematize

curse The high priest anathematized the heretic.

execrate

curse; express abhorrence for The world execrates the memory of Hitler and hopes that genocide will never again be the policy of any nation.

aquiline

curved, hooked He can be recognized by his aquiline nose, curved like the beak of the eagle.

convex

curving outward He polished the convex lens of his telescope.

excise

cut away; cut out When you excise the dead and dying limbs of a tree, you not only improve its appearance but also enhance its chances of bearing fruit.

dismember

cut into small parts When the Austrian Empire was dismembered, several new countries were established.

amputate

cut off part of body; prune When the doctors had to amputate Ted Kennedy's leg to prevent the spread of cancer, he did not let the loss of his leg keep him from participating in sports.

hew

cut to pieces with ax or sword The cavalry rushed into melee and hewed the enemy with their swords.

incisive

cutting; sharp His incisive remarks made us see the fallacy in our plans.

diurnal

daily A farmer cannot neglect his diurnal tasks at any time; cows, for example, must be milked regularly.

humid

damp She could not stand the humid climate and moved to a drier area.

dank

damp The walls of the dungeon were dank and slimy.

hazardous

dangerous Your occupation is too hazardous for insurance companies to consider your application.

audacious

daring; bold Audiences cheered as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia made their audacious, death-defying leap to freedom and escaped Darth Vader's troops.

eclipse

darken; extinguish; surpass The new stock market high eclipsed the previous record set in 1985.

defunct

dead; no longer in use or existence The lawyers sought to examine the books of the defunct corporation.

demise

death Upon the demise of the dictator, a bitter dispute about succession to power developed.

decomposition

decay Despite the body's advanced state of decomposition, the police were able to identify the murdered man.

decadence

decay The moral decadence of the people was reflected in the lewd literature of the period.

guile

deceit; duplicity She achieved her high position by guile and treachery.

delude

deceive Do not delude yourself into believing that he will relent.

hoodwink

deceive; delude Having been hoodwinked once by the fast-talking salesman, he was extremely cautious when he went to purchase a used car.

illusive

deceiving This is only a mirage; let us not be fooled by its illusive effect.

artifice

deception; trickery The Trojan War proved to the Greeks that cunning and artifice were often more effective than military might.

illusory

deceptive; not real Unfortunately, the costs of running the lemonade stand were so high that Tom's profits proved illusory.

delusive

deceptive; raising vain hopes Do not raise your hopes on the basis of his delusive promises.

conclusive

decisive; ending all debate When the stolen books turned up in John's locker, we finally had conclusive evidence of the identity of the mysterious thief.

hatch

deck opening; lid covering a deck opening The latch on the hatch failed to catch, so the hatch remained unlatched.

avow

declare openly I must avow that I am innocent.

decipher

decode I could not decipher the doctor's handwriting.

garnish

decorate Parsley was used to garnish the boiled potato.

adorn

decorate Wall paintings and carved statues adorned the temple.

consecrate

dedicate; sanctify We shall consecrate our lives to this noble purpose.

infer

deduce; conclude We must be particularly cautious when we infer that a person is guilty on the basis of circumstantial evidence.

exploit

deed or action, particularly a brave deed Raoul Wallenberg was noted for his exploits in rescuing Jews from Hitler's forces.

inveterate

deep-rooted; habitual She is an inveterate smoker and cannot break the habit.

ingrained

deeply established; firmly rooted Try as they would, the missionaries were unable to uproot the ingrained superstitions of the natives.

discredit

defame; destroy confidence in; disbelieve The campaign was highly negative in tone; each candidate tried to discredit the other.

foil

defeat; frustrate In the end, Skywalker is able to foil Vader's diabolical schemes.

demean

degrade; humiliate He felt that he would demean himself if he replied to the scurrilous letter.

apotheosis

deification; glorification The Roman empress Livia envied the late emperor his apotheosis; she hoped that on her death she, too, would be exalted to the rank of a god.

demur

delay; object To demur at this time will only worsen the already serious situation; now is the time for action.

belated

delayed He apologized for his belated note of condolence to the widow of his friend and explained that he had just learned of her husband's untimely death.

dilatory

delaying Your dilatory tactics may compel me to cancel the contract.

finesse

delicate skill The finesse and adroitness of the surgeon impressed the observers in the operating room.

filigree

delicate, lacelike metalwork The pendant with gold filigree that she wore round her neck trembled with each breath she took.

consign

deliver officially; entrust; set apart The court consigned the child to her paternal grandmother's care.

acquittal

deliverance from a charge His acquittal by the jury surprised those who had thought him guilty.

cataclysm

deluge; upheaval A cataclysm such as the French Revolution affects all countries.

hallucination

delusion I think you were frightened by a hallucination that you created in you own mind.

disavowal

denial; disclaiming His disavowal of his part in the conspiracy was not believed by the jury.

centigrade

denoting a widely used temperature scale (basically same as Celsius) On the centigrade thermometer, the freezing point of water is zero degrees.

inveigh

denounce; utter censure or invective He inveighed against the demagoguery of the previous speaker and urged that the audience reject his philosophy as dangerous.

gainsay

deny She was too honest to gainsay the truth of the report.

atheistic

denying the existence of God His atheistic remarks shocked the religious worshippers.

abscond

depart secretly and hide The teller absconded with the bonds and was not found.

exodus

departure The exodus from the hot and stuffy city was particularly noticeable on Friday evenings.

despondent

depressed; gloomy To the dismay of his parents, he became more and more depondent every day.

disenfranchise

deprive of a civil right The imposition if the poll tax effectively disenfranchised poor Southern blacks, who lost their right to vote.

bereft

deprived of; lacking The foolish gambler soon found himself bereft of funds.

devolve

deputize; pass to others It devolved upon us, the survivors, to arrange peace terms with the enemy.

deducible

derived byreasoning If we accept your premise, your conclusions are easily deducible.

forsake

desert; abandon; renounce No one expected Foster to forsake his wife and children and run off with another woman.

defection

desertion The children, who had made him an idol, were hurt most by his defection from our cause.

invidious

designed to create ill will or envy We disregarded her invidious remarks because we realized how jealous she was.

annihilate

destroy The enemy in its revenge tried to annihilate the entire population.

defoliate

destroy leaves In Vietnam the army made extensive use of chemical agents to defoliate the woodlands.

demolition

destruction One of the major aims of the air force was the complete demolition of all means of transportation by the bombing of rail lines and the terminals.

holocaust

destruction by fire Citizens of San Francisco remember that the destruction of the city was caused not by the earthquake but by the holocaust that followed.

carnage

destruction of life The carnage that can be caused by atomic warfare adds to the responsibilities of our statesmen.

canvass

determine or seek opinions, votes, etc. After canvassing the sentiments of his constituents, the congressman was confident that he represented the majority opinion of his district.

bent

determined; natural talent or inclination bent on advancing in the business world, the secretary heroine of Working Girl had a true bent for high finance.

dogged

determined;stubborn Les Miserables tells of Inspector Javert's long, dogged pursuit of the criminal Jean Valjean.

depose

dethrone; remove form office The army attempted to depose the king and set up a military government.

die

device for stamping or impressing; mold In coining pennies, workers at the old mint squeezed sheets of softened copper between two dies.

diabolical

devilish This scheme is so diabolical that I must reject it.

disparity

difference; condition of inequality The disparity in their ages made no difference at all.

diverse

differing in some characteristics; various There are diverse ways of approaching this problem.

divergent

differing; deviating The two witnesses presented the jury with remarkably divergent accounts of the same epipode.

fastidious

difficult to please; squeamish The waitresses disliked serving him dinner because of his very fastidious taste.

exhume

dig out of the ground; remove from a grave Because of the rumor that he had been poisoned, his body was exhumed in order that an autopsy might be performed.

disinter

dig up; unearth They disinterred the body and held an autopsy.

delve

dig; investigate delving into old books and manuscripts is part of a researcher's job.

discursive

digressing; rambling They were annoyed and bored by her discursive remarks.

assiduous

diligent It took Rembrandt weeks of assiduous labor before he was satisfied with his portrait of his son.

application

diligent attention; (secondary meaning) apply Pleased with how well Tom had whitewashed the fence, Aunt Polly praised him for his application.

incapacitate

disable During the winter, many people were incapacitated by respiratory ailments.

dissent

disagree In a landmark Supreme Court decision, Justice Marshall dissented from the majority opinion.

disapprobation

disapproval; condemnation The conservative father viewed his daughter's radical boyfriend with disapprobation.

calamity

disaster; misery As news of the calamity spread, offers of relief poured in to the stricken community.

dire

disastrous People ignored her dire predictions of an approaching depression.

exude

discharge; give forth The maple syrup is obtained from the sap that the trees exude in early spring.

chasten

discipline; punish in order to correct Whom God loves, God chastens.

faze

disconcert; dismay No crisis could faze the resourceful hotel manager.

disjointed

disconnected His remarks were so disjointed that we could not follow his reasoning.

dissonance

discord Some contemporary musicians deliberately use dissonance to achieve certain effects.

cacophony

discord Some people seem to enjoy the cacophony of an orchestra that is tuning up.

dishearten

discourage His failure to pass the bar exam disheartened him.

bandy

discuss lightly; exchange blows or words The president refused to bandy words with reporters at the press conference.

ignominious

disgraceful The country smarted under the ignominious defeat and dreamed of the day when it would be victorious.

dissemble

disguise; pretend Even though John tried to dissemble his motive for taking modern dance, we all knew there not to dance but to meet girls.

fulsome

disgustingly excessive His fulsome praise of the dictator annoyed his listeners.

downcast

disheartened; sad Cheerful and optimistic by nature, Beth was never downcast despite the difficulties she faced.

dissolution

disintegration; looseness in morals The profligacy and dissolution of life in Caligula's Rome appall some historians.

disaffected

disloyal Once the most loyal of Gorbachev's supporters, Shverdnaze found himself becoming increasingly disaffected.

appal

dismay; shock We were appalled by the horrifying conditions in the city's jails.

insubordinate

disobedient The insubordinate private was confined to the barracks.

contumacious

disobedient; resisting authority The contumacious mob shouted defiantly at the police.

disclaim

disown; renounce claim to If I grant you this previlege, will you disclaim all other rights?

belittle

disparage; depreciate Parents should not belittle their children's early attempts at drawing, but should encourage their efforts.

flaunt

display ostentatiously She is not the one of those actresses who flaunt their physical charms; she can act.

clemency

disposition ot be lenient; mildness, as of the weather The lawyer was pleased when the case was sent to Judge Smith's chambers because Smith was noted for her clemency toward first offenders.

contest

dispute The defeated candidate attempted to contest the election results.

discount

disregard Be prepared to discount what he has to say about his ex-wife.

dissident

dissenting; rebellious In the purge that followed the student demonstrations at Tianamen Square, the government hunted down the dissident students and their supporters.

heterogeneous

dissimilar In a heterogeneous group, we have an unassorted assemblage, while in a homogeneous group we have people or things that have common traits.

disband

dissolve; disperse The chess club disbanded after its disastrous initial season.

girth

distance around something; circunference It took an extra-large cummerbund to fit around Andrew Carnegie's considerable girth.

cloying

distasteful (because excessive); excessively sweet or sentimental Disliking the cloying sweetness of standard wedding cakes, Jody and Tom chose a homemade carrot cake for their reception.

discernible

distinguishable; perceivable The ships in the harbor were not discernible in the fog.

awry

distorted; crooked He held his head awry, giving the impression that he had caught cold in his neck during the night.

caricature

distortion; burlesque The caricatures he drew always emphasized personal weaknesses of the people he burlesqued.

bifurcated

divided into two branches; forked With a bifurcated branch and a piece of elastic rubber, he made a crude but effective slingshot.

charisma

divine gift; great popular charm or appeal Political commentators have deplored the importance of a candidate's charisma in these days of television campaigning.

canto

division of a long poem Dante's poetic masterpiece The Divine Comedy is divided into cantos.

asceticism

doctrine of self-denial We find asceticism practiced in many monastries.

homespun

domestic; made at home homespun wit, like homespun cloth, was often coarse and plain.

hegemony

dominance, especially of one nation over others As one Eastern European nation after another declared its independence, commentators marveled at the sudden breakdown of the once monolithic Soviet hegemony.

deplicity

double-dealing; hypocrisy People were shocked and dismayed when they learned of his duplicity in this affair, as he had always seemed honest and straightforward.

impugn

doubt; challenge; gainsay I cannot impugn your honesty without evidence.

dubious

doubtful He has the dubious distinction of being the lowest man in his class.

equivocal

doubtful; ambiguous Macbeth was misled by the equivocal statements of the witches.

declivity

downward slope The children loved to ski down the declivity.

conscript

draftee; person forced into military service Did Rambo volunteer to fight in Vietnam, or was he a conscript, drafted against his will?

elicit

draw out by discussion The detectives tried to elicit where he had hidden his loot.

bedizen

dress with vulgar finery The witch doctors were bedizened in their gaudiest costumes.

flotsam

drifting wreckage Beachcombers eke out a living by salvaging the flotsam and jetsam of the sea.

imbibe

drink in The dry soil imbibed the rain quickly.

ferret

drive or hunt out of hiding She was ferreted out their secret.

exorcise

drive our evil spirits By incantation and prayer, the medicine man sought to exorcise the evil spirits that had taken possession of the young warrior.

flag

droop; grow feeble When the opposing hockey team scored its third goal only minutes into the first period, the home team's spirits flagged.

anodyne

drug that relieves pain; opiate His pain was so great that no anodyne could relieve it.

apothecary

druggist In Holland, apothecaries still sell spices as well as ointments and pills.

bacchanalian

drunken Emperor Nero attended the bacchanalian orgy.

carousal

drunken revel The party degenerated into an ugly carousal.

desiccate

dry up A tour of this smokehouse will give you an idea of how the pioneers used to desiccate food in order to preserve it.

arid

dry; barren The cactus had adapted to survive in an arid environment.

drab

dull; lacking color; cheerless The Dutch woman's drab winter coat contrasted with the distinctive, colorful native costume she wore beneath it.

humdrum

dull; monotonous After years of adventure, he could not settle down to a humdrum existence.

dingy

dull; not fresh; cheerless Refusing to be depressed by her dingy studio apartment, Bea spent the weekend polishing the floors and windows and hanging bright posters on the walls.

effigy

dummy The mob showed its irritation by hanging the judge in effigy.

gnome

dwarf; underground spirit In medieval mythology, gnomes were the special guardians and inhabitants of subterranean mines.

bulwark

earthwork or other strong defense; person who defends The navy is our principal bulwark against invasion.

assuage

ease; lessen(pain) Your messages of cheer should assuage her suffering.

brittle

easily broken; difficult My employer's brittle personality made it difficult for me to get along with her.

combustible

easily burned After the recent outbreak of fires in private homes, the fire commissioner ordered that all combustible materials be kept in safe containers.

gullible

easily deceived He preyed upon gullible people, who believed his stories of easy wealth.

accessible

easy to approach; obtainable We asked our guide whether the ruins were accessible on foot.

facile

easy; expert Because he was a facile speaker, he never refused a request to address an organization.

erode

eat away The limestone was eroded by the dripping water

articulate

effective; distinct Her articulate presentation of the advertising campaign impressed her employers.

economy

efficiency or conciseness in using something Reading the epigrams of Pope, I admire the economy of his verse: in few words he conveys worlds of meaning.

effectual

efficient If we are to succeed, we must seek effectual means of securing our goals.

exertion

effort; expenditure of much physical work The exertion involved in unscrewing the rusty bolt left her exhausted.

component

element; ingredient I wish all the components of my stereo system were working at the same time.

dismiss

eliminate from consideration; reject Believing in John's love for her, she dismissed the notion that he might be unfaithful.

abash

embarrass He was not at all abashed by her open admiration.

detached

emotionally removed; calm and objective; indifferent A psychoanalyst must maintain a detached point of view and stay uninvolved with her patients' perssonal lives.

embed

enclose; place in something Tales of actual historical figures like King Alfred have become embedded in legends.

environ

enclose; surround Paris was environed by a wall

aviary

enclosure for birds The aviary at the zoo held nearly 300 birds.

hortatory

encouraging; exhortive The crowd listened to his hortatory statements with ever-growing excitement; finally they rushed from the hall to carry to his suggestions.

interminable

endless Although his speech lasted for only twenty minutes, it seemed interminable to his bored audience.

incarnate

endowed with flesh; personified Your attitude is so fiendish that you must be a devil incarnate.

gusto

enjoyment; enthusiasm He accepted the assignment with such gusto that I feel he would have been satisfied with a smaller salary.

amplify

enlarge Her attempts to amplify her remarks were drowned out by the jeers of the audience.

astronomical

enormously large or extensive The government seemed willing to spend astronomical sums on weapons development.

incense

enrage; infuriate Unkindness to children incensed her.

devotee

enthusiastic follower A devotee of the opera, he bought season tickets every year.

allure

entice; attract allured by the song of the sirens, the helmsman steered the ship toward the reef.

gamut

entire range In this performance, the leading lady was able to demonstrate the complete gamut of her acting ability.

entree

entrance; a way in Because of his wealth and social position, he had entree into the most exclusive circles.

ambience

environment; atmosphere She went to the restaurant not for the food but for the ambience.

gourmand

epicure; person who takes excessive pleasure in food and drink goumands lack self-restraint; if they enjoy a particular cuisine, they eat far too much of it.

commensurate

equal in extent Your reward will be commensurate with your effort.

accoutre

equip The fisherman was accoutred with the best that the sporting goods store could supply

delete

erase; strike out If you delete this paragraph, the composition will have more appeal.

blunder

error The criminal's fatal blunder led to his capture.

gist

essence she was asked to give the gist of the essay in two sentence.

attribute

essential quality His outstanding attribute was his kindness.

intrinsically

essentially; inherently; naturally Although my grandmother's china has intrinsically little value, I shall always cherish it for the memories it evokes.

appraise

estimate the value of It is difficult to appraise old paintings; it is easier to call them priceless.

assessment

estimation; appraisal I would like to have your assessment of the situation in South Africa.

elusive

evasive; baffling; hard to grasp His elusive dreams of wealth were costly to those of his friends who supported him financially.

biennial

every two years The group held biennial meetings instead of annual ones.

gestate

evolve, as in prenatal growth While this scheme was being gestated by the conspirators, they maintained complete silence about their intentions.

inflated

exaggerated; pompous; enlarged (with air or gas) His claims about the new product were inflated; it did not work as well as he had promised.

hyperbole

exaggeration; overstatement This salesman is guilty of hyperbole in describing his product; it is wise to discount his claims.

autopsy

examination of a dead body; postmortem The medical examiner ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

audit

examination of accounts When the bank examiners arrived to hold their annual audit, they discovered the embezzlements of the chief cashier.

collate

examine in order to verify authenticity; arrange in order They collated the newly found manuscripts to determine their age.

exorbitant

excessive The people grumbled at his exorbitant prices but paid them because he had a monopoly.

egoism

excessive interest in one's self; belief that one should be interested in one's self rather than in others His egoism prevented him from seeing the needs of his colleagues.

fanaticism

excessive zeal The leader of the group was held responsible even though he could not control the fanaticism of his followers.

hypercritical

excessively exacting You are hypercritical in your demands for perfection; we all make mistakes.

garrulous

excessively talkative, especially about unimportant subjects; loquacious; wordy Many club members avoided the company of the garrulous junior executive because his contant chatter bored them to tears.

ejaculation

exclamation He could not repress an ejaculation of surprise when he heard the news.

grueling

exhausting The marathon is a grueling race.

iridescent

exhibiting rainbowlike colors She admired the iridescent hues of the oil that floated on the surface of the water.

expatriate

exile; someone who has withdrawn from his native land Henry James was an American expatriate who settled in England.

congenital

existing at birth His congenital deformity disturbed his parents.

egress

exit Barnum's sign "To the Egress" fooled many people who thought they were going to see an animal and instead found themselves in the street.

dilate

expand In the dark, the pupils of your eyes dilate.

distend

expand;swell out I can tell when he is under stress by the way the veins distend on his forehead.

belabor

explain or go over excessively or to a ridiculous degree; assail verbally The debate coach warned her student not to bore the audience by belaboring his point.

elucidate

explain; enlighten He was called upon to elucidate the disputed points in his article.

construe

explain; interpret If I construe your remarks correctly, you disagree with the theory already advanced.

explicate

explain; interpret; clarify Harry Levin explicated James Joyce's novels with such clarity that even Finnegan's Wake seemed comprehensible to his students.

exegesis

explanation, especially of biblical passages I can follow your exegesis of this passage to a limited degree; some of your reasoning eludes me.

expository

explanatory; serving to explain The mannual that came with my VCR was no masterpiece of expository prose: its explanations were so garbled that I couldn't even figure out how to rewind a tape.

detonation

explosion The detonation of the bomb could be heard miles away.

debunk

expose as false, exaggerated, worthless, etc.; ridicule Pointing out that he conhsistently had voted afainst strenghtening antipollution legislation, reporters debunked the candidate's claim that he was a fervent environmentalist.

jeopardy

exposure to death or danger Legally, one cannot be placed in double jeopardy.

deprecate

express disapproval of; protest against; belittle A firm believer in old-fashioned courtesy, Miss Post deprecated the modern tendency to address new acquaintances by their first names.

gloat

express evil satisfaction; view malevolently As you gloat over your ill-gotten wealth, do you think of the many victims you have defrauded?

decry

express strong disapproval of ; disparage The founder of the Children's Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman, strongly decries the lack of financial and moral support for children in America today.

condole

express sympathetic sorrow His friends gathered to condole with him over his loss.

derogatory

expressing a low opinion I resent your derogatory remarks.

eloquence

expressiveness; persuasive speech The crowds were stirred by Martin Luther King's eloquence.

bowdlerize

expurgate After the film editors had bowdlerized the language in the script, the motion picture's rating was changed from "R" to "PG."

extrinsic

external; not inherent; foreign Do not be fooled by extrinsic causes. We must look for the intrinsic reason.

jingoism

extremely aggressive and militant patriotism We must be careful to prevent a spirit of jingoism from spreading at this time.

exacting

extremely demanding The colonies rebelled against the exacting financial claims of the mother country.

blatant

extremely obvious; loudly offensive Caught in a blatant lie, the scoundrel had only one regret: he wished that he had lied more subtly.

destitute

extremely poor The costs of the father's illness left the family destitute.

astigmatism

eye defect that prevents proper focus As soon as his parents discovered that the boy suffered from astigmatism, they took him to the optometrist for corrective glasses.

founder

fail completely; sink After hitting the submerged iceberg, the Titanic started taking in water rapidly and soon foundered.

default

failure to do As a result of her husband's failure to appear in court, she was granted a divorce by default.

equitable

fair; impartial I am seeking an equitable solution to this dispute, one which will be fair and acceptable to both sides.

equity

fairness; justice Our courts guarantee equity to all.

deciduous

falling off, as of leaves The oak is a deciduous tree.

delusion

false belief; hallucination This scheme is a snare and a delusion.

conversant

familiar with The lawyer is conversant with all the evidence.

grotesque

fantastic; comically hideous On Halloween people enjoy wearing groteque costumes.

chimerical

fantastic; highly imaginative Poe's chimerical stories are sometimes too morbid for reading in bed.

bizarre

fantastic; violently contrasting The plot of the novel was too bizarre to be believed.

beget

father; produce; give rise to One good turn may deserve another; it does not necessarily beget another.

jaded

fatigued; surfeited He looked for exotic foods to stimulate his jaded appetite.

captious

faultfinding His criticisms were always captious and frivolous, never offering constructive suggestions.

impeccable

faultless He was proud of his impeccable manners.

authoritarian

favoring or exercising total control; non-democratic The people had no control over their destiny; they were forced to obey the dictates of the authoritarian regime.

auspicious

favoring success With favorable weather conditions, it was an auspicious moment to set sail.

intimidation

fear A ruler who maintains his power by intimidation is bound to develop clandestine resistance.

claustrophobia

fear of being locked in His fellow classmates laughed at his claustrophobia and often threatened to lock him in his room.

hydrophobia

fear of water; rabies A dog that bites a human being must be observed for symptoms of hydrophobia.

apprehensive

fearful; discerning His apprehensive glances at the people who were walking in the street revealed his nervousness.

intrepid

fearless For his intrepid conduct in battle, he was promoted.

feckless

feeble, ineffective; unthinking, irresponsible Einstein was noted for his extraordinary inspirations; on the other hand, he was noted for being feckless in his daily chores.

commiserate

feel or express pity or sympathy for Her friends commiserated with the widow.

euphoria

feeling of exaggerated (or unfounded) well-being "Jill's been on cloud nine ever since Jacj asked her out," said Betty, dismissing her friend's euphoria.

ewe

female sheep The flock of sheep was made up of dozens of ewes, together with only a handful of rams.

amazon

female warrior Ever since the days of Greek mythology we refer to strong and aggressive women as amazons.

frond

fern leaf; palm or banana leaf After the storm the beach was littered with the fronds of palm trees.

fecundity

fertility; fruitfulness The fecundity of his mind is illustrated by the many vivid images in his poems.

febrile

feverish In his febrile condition, he was subject to nightmares and hallucinations.

capricious

fickle; incalculable The storm was capricious and changed course constantly.

demoniac

fiendish The Spanish Inquisition devised many demoniac means of torture.

dossier

file of documents on a subject Ordered by J. Edgar Hoover to investigate the senator, the FBI compiled a complete dossier.

fraught

filled Since this enterprise is fraught with danger, I will ask for volunteers who are willing to assume the risks.

aversion

firm dislike Their mutual aversion was so great that they refused to speak to one another.

inherent

firmly established by nature or habit His inherent love of justice compelled him to come to their aid.

arable

fit for plowing The land was no longer arable; erosion had removed the valuable topsoil.

aptitude

fitness; talent The counselor evaluated his aptitudes before advising him about the career he should follow.

flaccid

flabby His sedentary life had left him with flaccid muscles.

gaudy

flashy; showy Her gaudy taste in clothes apalled us.

delta

flat plain of mud or sand between branches of a river His dissertation discussed the effect of intermittent flooding on the fertility of the Nile delta.

blandishment

flattery Despite the salesperson's blandishments, the customer did not buy the outfit.

adulation

flattery; admiration The rock star thrived on the adulation of his groupies and yes-men.

excoriate

flay; abrade These shoes are so ill-fitting that they will excoriate the feet and create blisters.

armada

fleet of warships Queen Elizabeth's navy was able to defeat the mighty armada that threatened the English coast.

fugitive

fleeting or transitory; roving The film brought a few fugitive images to her mind, but on the whole it made no lasting impression upon her.

evanescent

fleeting; vanishing For a brief moment, the entire skyline was bathed in an orange-red hue in the evanescent rays of the sunset.

carnal

fleshly The public was more interested in carnal pleasures than in spiritual matters.

deluge

flood; rush When we advertised the position, we received a deluge of applications.

florid

flowery; ruddy His complexion was even more florid than usual because of his anger.

influx

flowing into The influx of refugees into the country has taxed the relief agencies severely.

confluence

flowing together; crowd They built the city at the confluence of two rivers.

flux

flowing; series of changes While conditions are in such a state of flux, I do not wish to commit myself too deeply in this affair.

glib

fluent He is a glib and articulate speaker.

flit

fly; dart lightly; pass swiftly by Like a bee flitting from flower to flower, Rose flitted from one boyfriend to the next.

balk

foil When the warden learned that several inmates were planning to escape, he took steps to balk their attempt.

ensue

follow The evils that ensued were the direct result of the miscalculations of the leaders.

endearment

fond word or act Your gifts and endearments cannot make me forget your earlier insolence.

ambrosia

food of the gods ambrosia was supposed to give immortality to any human who ate it.

fatuous

foolish; inane He is far too intelligent to utter such fatuous remarks.

extrude

force or push out Much pressure is required to extrude these plastics.

contrived

forced; artificial; not spontaneous Feeling ill at ease with his new in-laws; James made a few contrived attempts at conversation and then retreated into silence.

duress

forcible restraint, especially unlawfully The hostages were held under duress until the prisoners' demands were met.

harbinger

forerunner The crocus is an early harbinger of spring.

bode

foreshadow; portend The gloomy skies and the sulfurious odors from the mineral springs seemed to bode evil to those who settled in the area.

granulate

form into grains Sugar that has been granulated dissolves more readily than lump sugar.

discourse

formal disscussion; conversation The young Plato was drawn to the Agora to hear the philosophical discourse of Socrates and his followers.

dissertation

formal essay In order to earn a graduate degree from many of our universities, a candidate is frequently required to prepare a dissertation on some scholarly subject.

citadel

fortress The citadel overlooked the city like a protecting angel.

aromatic

fragrant Medieval sailing vessels brought aromatic herbs from China to Europe.

chassis

framework and working parts of an automobile Examining the car after the accident, the owner discovered that the body had been ruined but that the chassis was unharmed.

candor

frankness The candor and simplicity of his speech impressed all, it was all clear he held nothing back.

gratis

free The company offered to give one package gratis to every purchaser of one of their products.

extricate

free; disentangle He found that he could not extricate himself from the trap.

impunity

freedom from punishment The bully mistreated everyone in the class with impunity for he felt that no one would dare retaliate.

congeal

freeze; coagulate His blood congealed in his veins as he saw the dread monster rush toward him.

berserk

frenzied Angered, he went berserk and began to wreck the room.

frenetic

frenzied; frantic His frenetic activities convinced us that he had no organized plan of operation.

furor

frenzy; great excitement The story of her embezzlement of the funds created a furor on the stock exchange.

amicable

friendly The dispute was settled in an amicable manner with no harsh words.

debonair

friendly; aiming to please The debonair youth was liked by all who met him, because of his cheerful and obliging manner.

amity

friendship Student exchange programs such as the Experiment in International Living were established to promote international amity.

facade

front of the building The facade of the church had often been photographed by tourists because it was more interesting than the rear.

husbandry

frugality; thrift; agriculture He accumulated his small fortune by diligence and husbandry.

baffle

frustrate; perplex The new code baffled the enemy agents.

buxom

full-bosomed; plump; jolly High fashion models usually are slender rather than buxom.

hindmost

furthest behind The coward could always be found in the hindmost lines whenever a battle was being waged.

jollity

gaiety; cheerfulness The festive Christmas dinner was a merry one, and old and young alike joined in the general jollity.

hiatus

gap; pause Except for a brief two-year hiatus, during which she enrolled in the Peace Corps, Ms. Clements has devoted herself to her medical career.

glean

gather leavings After the crops had been harvested by the machines, the peasants were permitted to glean the wheat left in the fields.

garner

gather; store up She hoped to garner the world's literature in one library.

garish

gaudy She wore a garish rhinestone necklace.

blithe

gay; joyous; careless Shelley called the skylark a "blithe spirit" because of its happy song.

consensus

general agreement The consensus indicates that we are opposed to entering into this pact.

fester

generate pus When her finger began to fester, the doctor lanced it and removed the splinter that had caused the pus to form.

arcade

a covered passageway, usually lined with shops The arcade was popular with shoppers because it gave them protection from the summer sun and the winter rain.

disarray

a disorderly or untidy state After the New Year's party, the once orderly house was in total disarray.

grimace

a facial distortion to show feeling such as pain, disgust, etc. Even though he remained silent, his grimace indicated his displeasure.

disquisition

a formal systematic inquiry; an explanation of the results of a formal inquiry In his disquisition, he outlined the steps he had taken in reaching his conclusions.

collation

a light meal Tea sandwiches and cookies were offered at the collation.

artisan

a manually skilled worker Artists and artisans alike are necessary to the development of a culture.

apiary

a place where bees are kept Although he spent many hours daily in the apiary, he was very seldom stung by a bee.

incredulity

a tendency to disbelief Your incredulity in the face of all the evidence is hard to understand.

foresight

ability to foresee future happenings; prudence A wise investor, she had the foresight to buy land just before the current real estate boom.

benevolent

generous; charitable His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him.

empathy

ability to identify with another's feelings, ideas, etc What made Ann such a fine counselor was her empathy, her ability to put herself in her client's place and feel his emotions as if they were her own.

discrimination

ability to see differences; prejudice They feared he lacked sufficient discrimination to judge complex works of modern art.

caliber

ability; capacity A man of such caliber should not be assigned such menial tasks.

amphibian

able to live both on land and in water Frogs are classified as amphibian.

ambulatory

able to walk He was described as an ambulatory patient because he was not confined to his bed.

centurion

Roman army officer Because he was in command of a company of one hundred soldiers, he was called a centurion.

aberrant

abnormal or deviant Given the aberrant nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity of the entire experiment.

anomalous

abnormal; irregular He was placed in the anomalous position of seeming to approve procedures that he despised.

abrogate

abolish He intended to abrogate the decree issued by his predecessor.

consistency

absence of contradictions; dependability; uniformity; degree of thickness Holmes judged puddings and explanations on their consistency; he liked his puddings without lumps and his explanations without improbabilities.

anarchy

absence of governing body; state of disorder The assassination of the leaders led to a period of anarchy.

bountiful

generous; showing bounty She distributed gifts in a bountiful and gracious manner.

distrait

absentminded Because of his concentration on the problem, the professor often appeared distrait and unconcerned about routine.

assimilate

absorb; cause to become homogenous The manner in which the United States was able to assimilate the hordes of immigrants during the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries will always be a source of pride.

celibate

abstaining from sexual intercourse; unmarried Though the late Havelock Ellis wrote extensively about sexual customs and was considered an expert in such matters, recent studies maintain he was celibate throughout his life.

grisly

ghastly She shuddered at the grisly sight.

affluence

abundance; wealth Foreigners are amazed by the affluence and luxury of the American way of life.

ample

abundant He had ample opportunity to dispose of his loot before his police caught up with him.

exuberant

abundant; effusive; lavish His speeches were famous for his exuberant language and vivid imagery.

colossus

gigantic statue The legendary Colossus of Rhodes, bronze statue of the sun god that dominated the harbor of the Greek seaport, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

burlesque

give an imitation that ridicules In his caricature, he burlesqued the mannerisms of his adversary.

foreshadow

give an indication beforehand; portend; prefigure In retrospect, political analysts realized that Yeltsin's defiance of the attempted coup foreshadowed his emergence as the dominant figure of the new Russian republic.

forgo

give up; do without Determined to lose weight for the summer, Ida decided to forgo dessert until she could fit into a size eight again.

gratuitous

given freely; unwarranted; uncalled for Quit making gratuitous comments about my driving; no one asked you for your opinion.

jocose

given to joking The salesman was so jocose that many of his customers suggested that he become a stand-up comic.

beatific

giving bliss; blissful The beatific smile on the child's face made us very happy.

carafe

glass water bottle With each dinner, the patron receives a carafe of red or white wine.

fervor

glowing ardor Their kiss was full of the fervor of first love.

disembark

go ashore; unload cargo from a ship Before the passengers could disembark, they had to pick up their passports from the ship's purser.

chalice

goblet; consecrated cup In a small room adjoining the cathedral, many ornately decorated chalices made by the most famous European goldsmiths were on display.

devious

going astray; erratic Your devious behavior in this matter puzzles me since you are usually direct and straightforward.

bullion

gold and silver in the form of bars Much bullion is stored in the vaults at Fort Knox.

jovial

good natured; merry A frown seemed out of place on his invariably jovial face.

camaraderie

good-fellowship What he loved best about his job was the sense of camaraderie he and his co-workers shared.

bantering

good-naturedly ridiculing They resented his bantering remarks because they misinterpreted his teasing as sarcasm.

bureaucracy

government by bureaus Many people fear that the constant introduction of federal agencies will create a government by bureaucracy.

gerontocracy

government ruled by old people Gulliver visited a gerontocracy in which the young people acted as servants to their elders, all the while dreaming of the day they would be old enough to have servants of their own.

encroachment

gradual intrusion The encroachment of the factories upon the neighborhood lowered the value of the real estate.

attrition

gradual wearing down They decided to wage a war of attrition rather than to rely on all-out attack.

herbivorous

grain-eating Some herbivorous animals have two stomachs for digesting their food.

demure

grave; serius; coy She was demure and reserved.

conflagration

great fire In the conflagration that followed the 1906 earthquake, much of San Francisco was destroyed.

clout

great influence (especially political or social) Gatsby wondered whether he had enough clout to be admitted to the exclusive club.

cataract

great waterfall; eye abnormality She gazed with awe at the mighty cataract known as Niagara Falls.

avarice

greed for wealth King Midas's avarice has been famous for centuries.

avid

greedy; eager for He was avid for learning and read everything he could get.

gruesome

grisly People screamed when her gruesome appearance was flashed on the screen.

archipelago

group of closely located islands When he looked at the map and saw the archipelagoes in the South Seas, he longed to visit them.

junta

group of persons joined in political intrigue; cabal As soon as he learned of its existence, the dictator ordered the execution of all of the members of the junta.

burgeon

grow forth; send out buds In the spring, the plants that burgeon are a promise of the beauty that is to come.

flourish

grow well; prosper; make sweeping gestures The orange trees flourished in the sun.

accretion

growth; increase The accretion of wealth marked the family's rise in power.

arroyo

gully Until the heavy rains of the past spring, this arroyo had been a dry bed.

inebriety

habitual intoxication Because of his inebriety, he was discharged from his position as family chauffeur.

banal

hackneyed; commonplace; trite His frequent use of cliches made his essay seem banal.

hackles

hairs on back and neck, especially of a dog The dog's hackles rose and he began to growl as the sound of footsteps grew louder.

coiffure

hairstyle You can make a statement with your choice of coiffure: in the 60's many African-Americans affirmed their racial heritage by wearing their hair in Afros.

hirsute

hairy He was a hitsute individual with a heavy black beard.

factotum

handyman; person who does all kinds of work Although we had hired him as a messenger, we soon began to use him as a general factotum around the office.

hover

hang about; wait nearby The police helicopter hovered above the accident.

concurrent

happening at the same time In America, the colonists were resisting the demands of the mother contry; at the concurrent moment in France, the middle class was sowing the seeds of rebellion.

felicity

happines; appropriateness (of a remark, choice, etc.) She wrote a note to the newlyweds wishing them great felicity in their wedded life.

harry

harass, annoy, torment; raid The guerrilla band harried the enemy nightly.

bait

harass; tease The soldiers baited the prisoners, terrorizing them.

beset

harass; trouble Many problems beset the American public school system.

esoteric

hard to understand; known only to the chosen few New Yorker short stories often include esoteric allusions to obscure people and events: the implication is if you are in the in-crowd, you'll get the reference; if you come from Cleveland, you won't.

adamant

hard, inflexible He was adamant in his determination to punish the wrongdoer.

arduous

hard; strenuous Her arduous efforts had sapped her energy.

callous

hardened; unfeeling He had worked in the hospital for so many years that he was callous to the suffering in the wards.

injurious

harmful Smoking cigarettes can be injurious to your health.

deleterious

harmful Workers in nuclear research must avoid the deleterious effects of radioactive substances.

detrimental

harmful; damaging Your acceptance of her support will ultimately prove detrimental rather than helpful to your cause.

defamation

harming a person's reputation Such defamation of character may result in a slander suit.

innocuous

harmless Let him drink it; it is innocuous and will have no ill effect.

compatible

harmonious; in harmony with They were compatible neighbors, never quarreling over unimportant matters.

concord

harmony Watching Tweediedum and Tweedledee battle, Alice wondered why the two brothers could not manage to life in concord.

consonance

harmony; agreement Her agitation seemed out of consonance with her usual calm.

conformity

harmony; agreement In conformity with our rules and regulations, I am calling a meeting of our organization.

expedite

hasten We hope you will be able to expedite delivery because of our tight schedule.

headlong

hasty; rash The slave seized the unexpected chance to make a headlong dash across the border to freedom.

incubate

hatch; scheme Inasmuch as our supply of electricity is cut off, we shall have to rely on the hens to incubate these eggs.

concentric

having a common center The target was made of concentric circles.

determinate

having a fixed order of procedure; invariable At the royal wedding, the procession of the nobles followed a determinate order of precedence.

decollete

having a low-cut neckline Fashion decrees that evening gowns be decollete this season; bare shoulders are again the vogue.

capillary

having a very fine bore The changes in surface tension of liquids in capillary vessels is of special interest to physicists.

clairvoyant

having foresight; fortuneteller Cassandra's clairvoyant warning was not heeded by the Trojans.

anthropomorphic

having human form or characteristics Primitive religions often have deities with anthropomorphic characteristics.

ciliated

having minute hairs The paramecium is a ciliated, one-celled animal.

authoritative

having the weight of authority; dictatorial We accepted her analysis of the situation as authoritative.

civil

having to do with citizens or the state; courteous and polite Although internal Revenue Service agents are civil servants, they are not always civil to suspected tax evaders.

cognitive

having to do with knowing or perceiving related to the mental precesses Though Jack was emotionally immature, his cognitive development was admirable; he was very advanced intellectually.

fluted

having vertical parallel grooves (as in a pillar) All that remained of the ancient building were the fluted columns.

effeminate

having womanly traits His voice was high-pitched and effeminate.

hale

healthy After a brief illness, he was soon hale.

calorific

heat-producing Coal is much more calorific than green wood.

ardor

heat; passion; zeal Katya's ardor was contagious; soon all her fellow demonstrators were busily making posters and handing out flyers, inspired by her ardent enthusiasm for the cause.

celestial

heavenly She spoke of the celestial joys that awaited virtuous souls in the hereafter.

ballast

heavy substance used to add stability or weight The ship was listing badly to one side; it was necessary to shift the ballast in the hold to get her back on an even keel.

communal

held in common; of a group of people When they were divorced, they had trouble dividing their communal property.

conducive

helpful; contributive Rest and proper diet are conducive to good health.

aristocracy

hereditary nobility; privileged class Americans have mixed feelings about hereditary aristocracy:

halting

hesitant; faltering Novice extemporaneous speakers often talk in a halting fashion as they grope for the right words.

falter

hesitate When told to dive off the high board, she did not falter, but proceeded at once.

flinch

hesitate; shrink He did not flinch in the face of danger but fought back bravely.

irony

hidden sarcasm or satire; use of words that convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning Gradually his listeners began to realize that the excessive praise he was lavishing was merely irony; he was actually denouncing his opponent.

cache

hiding place The detectives followed the suspects until he led them to the cache where he had stored his loot.

encomium

high praise; eulogy Uneasy with the encomiums expressed by his supporters, Tolkien felt unworthy of such high praise.

eminent

high; lofty After his appointment to this emiment position, he seldom had time for his former friends.

intellect

higher mental powers He thought college would develop his intellect.

apogee

highest point When the moon in its orbit is furthest away from the earth, it is at its apogee.

glaring

highly conspicuous; harshly bright glaring spelling or grammatical errors in your resume will unfavorably impress potential employers.

agog

highly excited; intensely curious We were all agog at the news that the celebrated movie star was giving up his career in order to enter a monastery.

baroque

highly ornate Accustomed to the severe, angular lines of modern skyscrapers, they found the flamboyance of baroque architecture amusing.

impede

hinder; block The special prosecutor determined that the Attorney General, though inept, had not intentionally set out to impede the progress of the investigation.

impediment

hindrance; stumbling-block She had a speech impediment that prevented her from speaking clearly.

intimate

hint She intimated rather than stated her preferences.

inkling

hint This came as a complete surprise to me as I did not have the slightest inkling of your plans.

insinuate

hint; imply What are you trying to insinuate by that remark?

innuendo

hint; insinuation I can defend myself against direct accusations; innuendos and oblique attacks on my character are what trouble me.

concave

hollow The back-packers found partial shelter from the storm by huddling against the concave wall of the cliff.

domicile

home Althoughhis legal domicile was in New York City, his work kept him away from his residence for many years.

hermitage

home of a hermit Even in his remote hermitage he could not escape completely from the world.

fete

honor at a festival The returning hero was feted at a community supper and dance.

homage

honor; tribute In her speech she tried to pay homage to a great man.

ghastly

horrible The murdered man was a ghastly sight.

aghast

horrified He was aghast at the nerve of the speaker who had insulted his host.

animus

hostile feeling or intent The animus of the speaker became obvious to all when he began to indulge in sarcastic and insulting remarks.

antagonistic

hostile; opposed Despite his lawyers' best efforts to stop him, the angry prisoner continued to make antagonistic remarks to the judge.

choleric

hot-tempered His flushed, angry face indicated a choleric nature.

firebrand

hothead; troublemaker The police triedto keep track of all the local firebrands when the President came to town.

colossal

huge Radio City Music Hall has a colossal stage.

behemoth

huge creature; something of monstrous size or power Sportcasters nicknamed the linebacker "The Behemoth."

gargantuan

huge; enormous The gargantuan wrestler was terrified of mice.

enormity

hugeness (in a bad sense) He did not realize the enormity of his crime until he saw what suffering he had caused.

humility

humbleness of spirit He spoke with a humility and lack of pride that impressed his listeners.

indulgent

humoring; yielding; lenient indulgent parents spoil their children by giving in to their every whim.

facetious

humorous; jocular Your facetious remarks are not appropriate at this serious moment.

consort

husband or wife The search for a consort for the young Queen Victoria ended happily.

burly

husky; muscular The burly mover lifted the packing crate with ease.

ideology

ideas of a group of people That ideology is dangerous to this country because it embraces undemocratic philosophies.

drone

idle person; male bee Content to let his wife support him, the would-be writer was in reality nothing but a drone.

enmity

ill will; hatred At Camp David President Carter labored to bring an end to the enmity that prevented Egypt and Israel from living in peace.

cantankerous

ill-humored; irritable Constantly complaining about his treatment and refusing to cooperate with the hospital staff, he was a cantankerous patient.

illicit

illegal The defense attorney claimed that the police had entrapped his client; that is, they had elicited the illicit action of which they now accuse of him.

contraband

illegal trade; smuggling; smuggled goods The coast guard tries to prevent contraband in U.S. waters.

fictitious

imaginary Although this book purports to be a biography of George Washington, many of the incidents are fictitious.

fancied

imagined; unreal You are resenting fancied insults. No one has ever said such things about you.

ape

imitate or mimic He was suspended for a week because he had aped the principal in front of the whole school.

incorporeal

immaterial; without a material body We must devote time to the needs of our incorporeal mind as well as our corporeal body.

evenhanded

impartial; fair Do men and women receive evenhanded treatment from their teachers, or, as recent studies suggest, do teachers pay more attention to male students than to females?

inscrutable

impenetrable; not readily understood; mysterious Experienced poker players try to keep their expressions inscrutable, hiding their reactions to the cards behind a so-called poker face.

impalpable

imperceptible; intangible The ash is so fine that it is impalpable to the touch but it can be seen as a fine layer covering the window ledge.

impermeable

impervious; not permitting passage through its substance This new material is impermeable to liquids.

causal

implying a cause-and-effect relationship The psychologist maintained there was a causal relationship between the nature of one's early childhood experiences and one's adult personality.

grandiose

imposing; impressive His grandiose manner impressed those who met him for the first time.

august

impressive; majestic Visiting the palace at Versailes, she was impressed by the august surroundings in which she found herself.

grandeur

impressiveness; stateliness; majesty No matter how often he hiked through the mountains, David never failed to be struck by the grandeur of the Sierra Nevada range.

incarcerate

imprison The warden will incarcerate the felon after conviction.

immure

imprison; shut up in confinement For the two weeks before the examination, the student immureed himself in his room and concentrated upon his studies.

ameliorate

improve Many social workers have attempted to ameliorate the conditions of people living in the slums.

insolence

imprudent disrespect; haughtiness How dare you treat me so rudely! The manager will hear of you insolence.

comatose

in a coma; extremely sleepy The long-winded orator soon had his audience in a comatose state.

gamely

in a spirited manner; with courage Because he had fought gamely against a much superior boxer, the crowd gave him a standing ovation when he left the arena.

amok

in a state of rage The police had to be called in to restrain him after he ran amok in the department store.

enamored

in love Narcissus became enamored of his own beauty.

chaotic

in utter disorder He tried to bring order into the chaotic state of affairs.

innate

inborn His innate talent for music was soon recognized by his parents.

implacable

incapable of being pacified Madame Defarge was the implacable enemy of the Evremonde family.

invulnerable

incapable of injury Achilles was invulnerable except in his heel.

factious

inclined to form factions; causing dissension. Your statement is factious and will upset the harmony that now exists.

comprise

include; consist of If the District of Columbia were to be granted a statehood, the United States of America would comprise fifty-onestates, not just fifty.

irreconsilable

incompatible; not able to be resolved Because the separated couple were irreconcilable, the marriage counselor recommended a divorce.

augment

increase How can we hope to augment our forces when our allies are deserting us?

increment

increase The new contract calls for a 10 percent increment in salary for each employee for the next two years.

aggrandize

increase or intensify; raise in power, wealth, rank or honor The history of the past quarter century illustrates how a President may aggrandize his power to act aggressively in international affairs without considering the wishes of Congress.

irremediable

incurable; uncorrectable The error she made was irremediable; she could see no way to repair it.

bawdy

indecent; obscene She took offense at his bawdy remarks.

apathetic

indifferent He felt apathetic about the conditions he had observed and did not care to fight against them.

insouciant

indifferent; without concern or care Your insouciant attitude at such a critical moment indicates that you do not understand the gravity of the situation.

circumlocution

indirect or roundabout expression He was afraid to call spade a spade and resorted to circumlocutions to avoid direct reference to his subject.

allusion

indirect reference the allusions to mythological characters in Milton's poems bewilder the reader who has not studied Latin.

incontrovertible

indisputable We must yield to the incontrovertible evidence that you have presented and free your client.

futile

ineffective; fruitless Why waste your time on futile pursuits?

fledgling

inexperienced While it is necessary to provide these fledgling poets with an opportunity to present their work, it is not essential that we admire everything they write.

inerrancy

infallibility Jane refused to believe in the pope's inerrancy, reasoning: "All human beings are capable of error. The pope is a human being. Therefore, he pope is capable of error.

contagion

infection Fearing contagion, they took drastic steps to prevent the spread of the disease.

illimitable

infinite Human beings, having explored the far corners of the earth, are now reaching out into illimitable space.

apprise

inform When he was apprised of the dangerous weather conditions, he decided to postpone his trip.

colloquy

informal discussion I enjoy our colloquies but I sometimes wish that they could be made more formal and more searching.

impinge

infringe; touch; collide with How could they be married without impinging on one another's freedom?

denizen

inhabitant of Ghosts are denizens of the land of the dead who return to earth.

incompatible

inharmonious The married couple argued incessantly and finally decided to separate because they were incompatible.

discordant

inharmonious; conflicting She tried to unite the discordant factions.

effervescence

inner excitement; exuberance Nothing depressed her for long; her natural effervescence soon reasserted itself.

deranged

insane He had to be institutionalized because he was deranged.

demented

insane She became increasingly demented and had to be hospitalized.

epitaph

inscription in memory of a dead person In his will, he dictated the epitaph he wanted placed on his tombstone.

interpolate

insert between She talked so much that I could not interpolate a single remark.

foist

insert improperly; palm off I will not permit you to foist such ridiculous ideas upon the membership of this group.

inconsequential

insignificant; unimportant Brushing off Ali's apologies for having broken the wine glass, Tamara said, "Don't worry about it; it's inconsequential."

brazen

insolent Her brazen contempt for authority angered the officials.

impertinent

insolent I regard your remarks as impertinent and I resent them.

edify

instruct; correct morally Although his purpose was to edify and not to entertain his audience, many of his listeners were amused and not enlightened.

affront

insult; offend Accustomed to being treated with respect, Miss Challoner was affronted by Vidal's offensive behavior.

insuperable

insurmountable; invincible In the face of insuperable difficulties they maintained their courage and will to resist.

intelligentsia

intellectuals; members of the educated elite She preferred discussions about sports and politics to the literary conversations of the intelligentsia.

frigid

intensely cold Alaska is in the frigid zone.

expletive

interjection; profane oath The sergeant's remarks were filled with expletives that offended the new recruits.

daunt

intimidate Your threats cannot daunt me.

asunder

into parts; apart Their points of view are poles asunder.

incorporate

introduce something into a larger whole; combine; unite Breaking with precedent, President Truman ordered the military to incorporate blacks into every branch of the armed services.

interloper

intruder The merchant thought of his competitors as interlopers who were stealing away his trade.

figment

invention; imaginary thing That incident never took place; it is a figment of your imagination.

energize

invigorate; make forceful and active Rather than exhausting Maggie, dancing energized her.

impregnable

invulnerable Until the development of the airplane as a military weapon, the fort was considered impregnable.

anvil

iron block used in hammering out metals After heating the iron horseshoe in the forge, the blacksmith picked it up with his tongs and set it on the anvil.

anomaly

irregularity A bird that cannot fly is an anomaly.

ineluctable

irresistable; not to be escaped He felt that his fate was ineluctible and refused to make any attempt to improve his lot.

juggernaut

irresistible crushin force Nothing could survive in the path of the juggernaut.

impiety

irreverence; wickedness We must regard your blasphemy as an act of impiety.

impious

irreverent The congregation was offended by her impious remarks.

irascible

irritable; easily angered Her irascible temper frightened me.

emanate

issue forth A strong odor of sulfur emanated from the spring.

agenda

items of business at a meeting We had so much difficulty agreeing upon an agenda that there was very little time for the meeting.

affiliation

joining; associating with His affiliation with the political party was of short duration for he soon disagreed with his colleagues.

festive

joyous; celebratory Their wedding in the park was a festive occasion.

decimate

kill, usually one out of ten We do more to decimate our population in automobile accidents than we do in war.

humane

kind His humane and considerate treatment of the unfortunate endeared him to all.

ignite

kindle; light When Desi crooned, "Baby, light my fire," literal-minded Lucy looked around for some paper to ignite.

beneficent

kindly; doing good The overgenerous philanthropist had to curb his beneficent impulses before he gave away all his money and left himself with nothing.

benign

kindly; favorable; not malignant The old man was well liked because of his benign attitude toward friend and stranger alike.

affinity

kinship She felt an affinity with all who suffered; their pains were her pains.

consanguinity

kinship The lawsuit developed into a test of the consanguinity of the claimant to the estate.

cognizance

knowledge During the election campaign, the two candidates were kept in full cognizance of the international situation.

imbalance

lack of balance or symmetry; disproportion Because of the great imbalance between the number of men and women invited, the dance was unsuccessful.

apathy

lack of caring; indifference A firm believer in democratic government, she could not understand the apathy of people who never bothered to vote.

discrepancy

lack of consistency; difference The police noticed some discrepancies in his description of the crime and did not believe him.

incongruity

lack of harmony; absurdity The incongruity of his wearing sneakers with formal attire amused the observers.

devoid

lacking He was devoid of any personal desire for gain in his endeavor to secure improvement in the community.

imprudent

lacking caution; injudicious It is imprudent to exercise vigorously and become overheated when you are unwell.

insipid

lacking in flavor; dull Flat prose and flat ginger ale are equally insipid: both lack sparkle.

frivolous

lacking in seriousness; self-indulgently carefree; relatively unimportant Though Nancy enjoyed Bill's frivolous, lighthearted companionship, she sometimes wondered whether he could ever be serious.

dispirited

lacking in spirit The coach used all the tricks at his command to buoy up the enthusiasm of his team, which I had become dispirited at the loss of the star player.

irreverent

lacking proper respect The worshippers resented her irreverent remarks about their faith.

incontinent

lacking self-restraint His incontinent behavior off stage shocked many people and they refused to attend the plays and movies in which he appeared.

inept

lacking skill; inadequate; inappropriate inept as a carpenter, Ira was all thumbs.

insubstantial

lacking substance; insignificant; frail His hopes for a career in acting proved insubstantial; no one would cast him, even in an insubstantial role.

dirge

lament with music The funeral dirge stirred us to tears.

jargon

language used by special group; gibberish We tried to understand the jargon of the peddlers in the market place but could not find any basis for comprehension.

bevy

large group The movie actor was surrounded by a bevy of startlets.

galleon

large sailing ship The Spaniards pinned their hopes on the galleon, the large warship; the British, on the smaller and faster pinnace.

enduring

lasting; surviving Keats believed in the enduring power of great art, which outlast its creator's brief lives.

indolence

laziness He outgrew his youthful indolence to become a model of industry and alertness on the job.

inveigle

lead astray; wheedle She was inveigled into joining the club after an initial reluctance.

gaunt

lean and angular; barren His once-round face looked surprisingly gaunt after he had lost weight.

erudite

learned; scholarly His erudite writing was difficult to read because of the many allusions which were unfamiliar to most readers.

bequeath

leave to someone by means of a will; hand down In his will, Father bequeathed his watch to Phillip; the bequest meant a great deal to the boy.

depreciate

lessen in value If you neglect this properly, it will depreciate.

console

lessen sadness or disappointment; give comfort When her father died, Marius did his best to console Cosette.

diminution

lessening; reduction in size The blockaders hoped to achieve victory as soon as the diminution of the enemy's supplies became serious.

bate

let down; restrain Until it was time to open the presents, the children had to bate their curiosity.

anticlimax

letdown in thought or emotion After the fine performance in the first act, the rest of the play was an anticlimax.

fallible

liable to err I know I am fallible, but I feel confident that I am right this time.

equivocate

lie; mislead; attempt to conceal the truth The audience saw through his attempts to equivocate on the subject under discussion and ridiculed his remarks.

inanimate

lifeless she was asked to identify the still and inanimate body.

flick

light stroke as with a whip The horse needed no encouragement; only one flick of the whip was all the jockey had to apply to get the animal to run at top speed.

giddy

light-hearted; dizzy He felt his giddy youth was past.

ethereal

light; heavenly; fine Visitors were impressed by her ethereal beauty, her delicate charm.

jaunty

lighthearted; animated; easy and carefree In Singing in the Rain, Gene Kelly sang and danced his way throughtthe lighthearted title number in a properly jaunty style.

cadaverous

like a corpse; pale From his cadaverous appearance, we could see how the disease had ravaged him.

glacial

like a glacier; extremely cold Never a warm person, when offended hugo could seem positively glacial.

imperial

like an emperor; related to an empire When hotel owner Leona Helmsley appeared in ads as Queen Leona standing guard over the Palace Hotel, her critics mocked her imperial fancies.

avuncular

like an uncle Avuncular pride did not prevent him from noticing his nephew's shortcomings.

diorama

like-size, three-dimensional scene from nature or history Because they dramatically pose actual stuffed animals against realistic painted landscapes, the dioramas at the Museum of Natural History particularly impress high school biology students.

circumscribe

limit; confine Although I do not wish to circumscribe your activities, I must insist that you complete this assignment before you start anything else.

finite

limited It is difficult for humanity with its finite existence to grasp the infinite.

concatenate

link as in a chain It is difficult to understand how these events could concatenate as they did without outside assistance.

enumerate

list; mention one by one Huck hung his head in shame as Miss Watson enumerated his many flaws.

compilation

listing of statistical information in tabular or book form The compilation of available scholarships serves a very valuable purpose.

animated

lively Her animated expression indicated a keenness of intellect.

coeval

living at the same time as; contemporary coeval with the dinosaur, the pterodactyl flourished during the Mesozoic era.

chameleon

lizard that changes color in different situations Like the chameleon, he assumed the political coloration of every group he met.

abominate

loathe; hate Moses scolded the idol worshippers in the tribe because he abominated the custom.

dawdle

loiter; waste time Inasmuch as we must meet a deadline, do not dawdle over this work.

chronic

long established, as a disease The doctors were finally able to attribute his chronic headaches and nausea to traces of formaldehyde gas in his apartment.

epic

long heroic poem, novel, or similar work of art Kurosawa's film Seven Samurai is an epic portraying the struggle of seven warriors to destroy a band of robbers.

eon

long period of time; an age It has taken eons for our civilization to develop.

harangue

long, passionate, and vehement speech In her lengthy harangue, the principal berated the offenders.

introspective

looking within oneself We all have our introspective moments during which we examine our souls.

episodic

loosely connected Though he tried to follow the plot of Gravity's Rainbow, John found the novel too episodic.

imperiousness

lordliness; domineering manner; arrogance His imperiousness indicated that he had long been accustomed to assuming command.

amnesia

loss of memory Because she was suffering from amnesia, the police could not get the young girl to identify herself.

aphasia

loss of speech due to injury or illness After the automobile accident, the victim had periods of aphasia when he could not speak at all or could only mumble incoherently.

clangor

loud, resounding noise The blacksmith was accustomed to the clangor of hammers on steel.

abase

lower; degrade; humiliate Anna expected to have to curtsy to the King of Siam; when told to cast herself down on the ground before him, however she refused to abase herself.

degraded

lowered in rank; debased The degraded wretch spoke only of his past glories and honors.

fidelity

loyalty A dog's fidelity to its owner is one of the reasons why that animal is a favorite household pet.

careen

lurch; sway from side to side The taxicab careened wildly as it rounded the corner.

decoy

lure or bait The wild ducks were not fooled by the decoy.

entice

lure; attract; tempt She always tried to entice her baby brother into mischief.

bask

luxuriate; take pleasure in warmth basking on the beach, she relaxed so completely that she fell asleep.

centrifuge

machine that separates substances by whirling them At the dairy, we employ a centrifuge to separate cream from milk.

frenzied

madly excited As soon as they smelled smoke, the frenzied animals milled about in their cages.

grate

make a harsh noise; have an unpleasant effect; shred The screams of the quarreling children grated on her nerves.

expiate

make amends for (a sin) He tried to expiate his crimes by a full confession to the authorities.

atone

make amends for; pay for He knew no way in which he could atone for his brutal crime.

disgruntle

make discontented The passengers were disgruntled by the numerous delays.

cavil

make frivolous objections I respect your sensible criticisms, but I dislike the way you cavil about unimportant details.

alienate

make hostile; separate Her attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith in each other.

adulterate

make impure by mixing with baser substances It is a crime to adulterate foods without informing the buyer.

dilute

make less concentrated; reduce in strength She preferred her coffee diluted with milk.

facilitate

make less difficult He tried to facilitate repayment of the loan by getting a part-time job.

indemnify

make secure against loss; compensate for loss The city will indemnify all home owners whose property is spoiled by this project.

burnish

make shiny by rubbing; polish The maid burnished the brass fixtures until they reflected the lamplight.

attenuate

make thin; weaken By withdrawing their forces, the generals hoped to attenuate the enemy lines.

exploit

make use of, sometimes unjustly Caesar Chavez fought attempts to exploit migrant farmworkers in California.

annul

make void The parents of the eloped couple tried to annul the marriage.

integrate

make whole; combine; make into one unit She tried to integrate all their activities into one program.

compensatory

making up for; repaying Can a compensatory education program make up for the inadequate schooling he received in earlier years?

calumny

malicious misrepresentation He could endure his financial failure, but he could not bear the calumny that his foes heaped upon him.

ductility

malleability; flexibility; ability to be drawn out Copper wire has many industrial uses because of its extreme ductility.

fetid

malodorous The neglected wound became fetid.

anthropoid

manlike The gorilla is the strongest of the anthropoid animals.

gait

manner of walking or running; speed The lame man walked with an uneven gait.

cartographer

map-maker Though not a professional cartographer, Tolkien was able to construct a map of the fictional world.

disfigure

mar the appearance of; spoil An ugly frown disfigured his normally pleasant face.

deface

mar; disfigure If you deface a library book, you will have to pay a hefty fine.

checkered

marked by changes in fortune During his checkered career he had lived in palatial mansions and in dreary boardinghouses.

ceremonious

marked by formality Ordinary dress would be in appropriate at so ceremonious an affair.

array

marshal; draw up in order His actions were bound to array public sentiment against him.

floe

mass of floating ice The ship made slow progress as it battered its way through the ice floes.

conglomeration

mass of material sticking together In such a conglomeration of miscellaneous statistics, it was impossible to find a single area of analysis.

foliage

masses of leaves Every autumn before the leaves fell he promised himself he would drive though the New England to admire the colorful fall foliage.

inimitable

matchless; not able to be imitated We admire Auden for his inimitable use of language; he is one of a kind.

denotation

meaning; distinguishing by name A dictionary will always give us the denotation of a word; frequently, it will always give us its connotation.

dint

means; effort By dint of much hard work, the volunteers were able to control the raging forest fire.

interim

meantime The company will not consider our proposal until next week; in the interim, let us proceed as we have in the past.

carnivorous

meat-eating The lion is a carnivorous animal.

automaton

mechanism that imitates actions of humans Long before science fiction readers became aware of robots, writers were creating stories of automation who could outperform humans.

alchemy

medieval chemistry The changing of baser metals into gold was the goal of the students of alchemy.

baleful

menacing; deadly Casting a baleful eye at his successful rival, the rejected suitor stole off, vowing to have his revenge.

formidable

menacing; threatening We must not treat the battle lightly for we are facing a formidable foe.

drudgery

menial work Cinderella's fairy godmother rescued her from a life of drudgery.

composure

mental calmness Even the latest work crisis failed to shake her composure.

delirium

mental disorder marked by confusion The drunkard in his delirium saw strange animals.

acumen

mental keenness His business acumen helped him to succeed where others had failed.

faculty

mental or bodily powers; teaching staff As he grew old, he feared he might lose his faculties and become useless to his employer.

discerning

mentally quick and observant; having insight Because he was considered the most discerning member of the firm, he was assigned the most difficult cases.

euthanasia

mercy killing Many people support euthanasia for terminally ill patients who wish to die.

jocund

merry Santa Claus is always vivacious and jocund.

bourgeois

middle class The French Revolution was inspired by the bourgeois, who resented the aristocracy.

euphemism

mild expression in place of an unpleasant one The expression "he passed away" is a euphemism for "he died."

balmy

mild; fragrant A balmy breeze refreshed us after the sultry blast.

fallacious

misleading Your reasoning must be fallacious because it leads to a ridiculous answer.

illusion

misleading vision It is easy to create an optical illusion in which lines of equal length appear different.

erroneous

mistaken; wrong I thought my answer was correct, but it was erroneous.

garbled

mixed up; jumbled; distorted A favorite party game involves passing a whispered message from one person to another; by the time it reaches the last player, the message has become totally garbled.

alloy

mixture as of metals alloy of gold are used more frequently than the pure metal.

gibe

mock As you gibe at their superstitious beliefs, do you realize that you, too, are guilty of similarly foolish thoughts?

autocrat

monarch with supreme power He ran his office like an autocrat, giving no one else any authority.

cloister

monastery or convent The nuns lived in the cloister.

hybrid

mongrel; mixed breed Mendel's formula explains the appearance of hybrids and pure species in breeding.

definitive

most reliable or complee Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln may be regarded as the definitive work on the life of the Great Emancipator.

gesticulation

motion; gesture Operatic performers are trained to make exaggerated gesticulations because of the large auditoriums in whic they appear.

actuate

motivate I fail to understand what actuated you to reply to this letter so nastily.

accelerate

move faster In our science class, we learn how falling bodies accelerate.

deploy

move troops so that the battle line is extended at the expense of depth The general ordered the battalion to deploy in order to meet the offensive of the enemy.

amorous

moved by sexual love; loving Don Juan was known for his amorous adventures.

amble

moving at an easy pace When she first mounted the horse, she was afraid to urge the animal to go faster than a gentle amble.

impetus

moving force; incentive; stimulus A new federal highway program would create jobs and five added impetus to our economic recovery.

addle

muddle; drive crazy This idiotic plan is confusing enough to addle anyone.

brawn

muscular strength; sturdiness It takes brawn to become a champion weight-lifter.

concerted

mutually agreed on; done together The girl scouts in the troop made a concerted effort to raise funds for their annual outing, and emitted a concerted sigh when their leader announced that they had reached their goal.

internecine

mutually destructive The rising death toll on both sides indicates the internecine natire of his conflict.

centaur

mythical figure, half man and half horse I was particularly impressed by the statue of the centaur in the Roman Hall of the museum.

ingenuous

naive; young and unsophisticated Although she was over forty, the movie star still insisted that she be cast as an ingenuous sweet young thing.

appellation

name; title He was amazed when the witches hailed him with his correct appellation.

gorge

narrow canyon; steep, rocky cleft Terrified of heights, George could not bring himself to peer down into the gorge to see the rapids below.

isthmus

narrow neck of land connecting two larger bodies of land In a magnificent feat of engineering, Goethals and his men cut through the isthmus of Panama in constructing the Panama Canal.

insularity

narrow-mindedness; isolation The insularity of the islanders manifested itself in their suspicion of anyuthing foreign.

indigenous

native Tobacco is one of the indigenous plants that the early explorers found in this country.

imminent

near at hand; impending Rosa was such a last-minute worker that she could never start writing a paper till the deadline was imminent.

impending

nearing; approaching The entire country was saddened by the news of his impending death.

dapper

neat and trim In "The Odd Couple," Tony Randall played Felix Unger, an excessively dapper soul who could not stand to have a hair out of place.

deft

neat; skillful The deft waiter uncorked the champagne without spilling a drop.

derelict

neglectful of duty; abandoned The corporal who fell asleep while on watch was thrown into the guardhouse for being derelic in his duty.

agility

nimbleness The agility of the acrobat amazed and thrilled the audience.

aspiration

noble ambition Youth's aspirations should be as lofty as the stars.

clamor

noise The clamor of the children at play outside made it impossible for her to take a nap.

altercation

noisy quarrel Throughout the altercation, not one sensible word was uttered.

amoral

non-moral The amoral individual lacks a code of ethics; he should not be classified as immoral.

cipher

nonentity; worthless person or thing She claimed her ex-husband was a total cipher and wondered why she had ever married him.

gibberish

nonsense; babbling Did you hear that foolish boy spouting gibberish about monsters from outer space?

alcove

nook; recess Though their apartment lacked a full-scale dining room, an alcove adjacent to the living room made an adequate breakfast nook for the young couple.

irreparable

not able to be corrected or repaired Your apology cannot atone for the irreparable damage you have done to her reputation.

intangible

not able to be perceived by touch; vague Though the financial benefits of his Oxford post were meager, Lewis was drawn to it by its intangible rewards: prestige, intellectual freedom, the fellowship of his peers.

impenetrable

not able to be pierced or entered How could the murderer have gotten into the locked room? To Watson, the mystery, like the room, was impenetrable.

irrelevant

not applicable; unrelated This statement is irrelevant and should be disregarded by the jury.

insatiable

not easily satisfied; greedy Welty's thirst for knowledge was insatiable; she was in the library day and night.

ineffectual

not effective; weak Because the candidate failed to get across his message to the public, his campaign was ineffectual.

extraneous

not essential; external Do not pad your paper with extraneous matters; stick to essential items only.

incidental

not essential; minor The scholarship covered his major expenses at college and some of his incidental expenses as well.

evasive

not frank; eluding Your evasive answers convinced the judge that you were witholding important evidence.

asymmetric

not identical on both sides of a dividing central line Because one eyebrow was set markedly higher than the other, William's face had a particularly asymmetric appearance.

figurative

not literal, but metaphorical; using a figure of speech "To lose one's marbles" is a figurative expression; if you're told Jack has lost his marbles, no one expects you to rush out to buy him a replacement set.

disingenuous

not naive; sophisticated Although he was young, his remarks indicated that he was disingenous.

exotic

not native; strange Because of his exotic headdress, he was followed in the streets by small children who laughed at his strange appearance.

heedless

not noticing; disregarding He drove on, heedless of the warnings that the road was dangerous.

impervious

not penetrable; not permitting passage through You cannot change their habits for their minds are impervious to reasoning.

extemporaneous

not planned; impromtu Because his extemporaneous remarks were misinterpreted, he decided to write all his speeches in advance.

impenitent

not repentant We could see by his brazen attitude that he was impenitent.

incommodious

not spacious; inconvenient In their incommodious quarters, they had to improvise for closet space.

inalienable

not to be taken away; nontransferable The Declaration of Independence mentions the inalienable rights that all of us possess.

impolitic

not wise I think it is impolitic to raise this issue at the present time because the public is too angry.

egregious

notorious; conspicuously bad; shocking She was an egregious liar; we all knew better than to believe a word she said.

infamous

notoriously bad Jesse James was an infamous outlaw.

effluvium

noxious smell Air pollution has become a serious problem in our major cities; the effluvium and the poisons in the air are hazards to life.

docile

obedient; easily managed As docile as he seems today, that old lion was once a ferocious, snarling beast.

beholden

obligated; indebted Since I do not wish to be beholden to anyone, I cannot accept this favor.

hermetic

obscure and mysterious; occult It is strange to consider that modern chemistry originated in the hermetic teachings of the ancient alchemists.

enigmatic

obscure; puzzling Many have sought to fathom the enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa.

antiquated

obsolete; outdated Accustomed to editing his papers on word processors, Philip thought typewriters were too antiquated for him to use.

hamper

obstruct The minority party agreed not to hamper the efforts of the leaders to secure a lasting peace.

engross

occupy fully John was so engrossed in his studies that he did not hear his mother call.

coincident

occurring at the same time Some people find the coincident events in Hardy's novels annoyingly improbable.

ironic

occurring in an unexpected and contrary manner It is ironic that his success came when he least wanted it.

erratic

odd; unpredictable Investors become anxious when the stock market appears erratic.

eccentric

odd; whimsical; irregular The comet passed close by the earth in its eccentric orbit.

eccentricity

oddity; idiosyncrasy Some of his friends tried to account for his rudeness to strangers as the eccentricity of genius.

ignoble

of lowly origin; unworthy This plan is inspired by ignoble motives and I must, therefore, oppose it.

homogeneous

of the same kind Many educators try to put pupils of similar abilities in the same class because they believe that his homogeneous grouping is advisable.

indignity

offensive or insulting treatment Although he seemed to accept cheerfully the indignities heaped upon him, he was inwardly very angry.

immolate

offer as a sacrifice The tribal kind offered to immolate his daughter to quiet the angry gods.

auxiliary

offering or providing help; additional or sub-sidiary To prepare for the emergency, they built an auxiliary power station.

incumbent

officeholder The newly elected public official received valuable advice from the present incumbent.

functionary

official As his case was transferred from one functionary to another, he began to despair of ever reaching a settlement.

gazette

official publication He read the gazettes regularly for announcement of his promotion.

augury

omen; prophecy He interpreted the departures of the birds as an augury of evil.

ellipsis

omission of words from a text Sometimes an ellipsis can lead to a dangling modifier, as in the sentence "Once dressed, you should refrigerate the potato salad.

caste

one of the hereditary classes in Hindu society, social stratification; prestige The differences created by caste in India must be wiped out if true democracy is to prevail in that country.

apostate

one who abandons his religious faith or political beliefs Because he switched from one party to another, his former friends shunned him as an apostate.

convert

one who has adopted a different religion or opinion On his trip to Japan, though the President spoke at length about the merits of American automobiles, he made few converts to his beliefs.

introvert

one who is introspective; inclined to think more about oneself In his poetry, he reveals that he is an introvert by his intense interest in his own problems.

agnostic

one who is skeptical of the existence of knowability of a god or any ultimate reality The agnostic demanded proof before she would accept the statement of the minister.

hireling

one who serves for hire (usually used contemptuously) In a matter of such importance, I do not wish to deal with hirelings; I must meet with the chief.

herpetologist

one who studies reptiles As a boy, Indiana Jones had a traumatic experience involving snakes; sensibly enough, he studies to be archaeologist, not a herpetologist.

dermatologist

one who studies the skin and its diseases I advise you to consult a dermatologist about your acne.

broach

open up He did not even try to broach the subject of poetry.

gape

open widely The huge pit gaped before him; if he stumbled, he would fall in.

gambit

opening in chess in which a piece is sacrificed The player was afraid to accept his opponent's gambit because he feared a trap which as yet he could not see.

aperture

opening; hole She discovered a small aperture in the wall, through which the insects had entered the room.

agape

openmouthed She stared, agape, at the many strange animals in the zoo.

diva

operatic singer; prima donna Although world famous as a diva, she did not indulge in fits of temerament.

aria

operatic solo At her Metropolitan Opera audition, Marian Anderson sang an aria from Norma.

heresy

opinion contrary to popular belief or to accepted religion He was threatened with excommunication because his remarks were considered to be pure heresy.

adversary

opponent; enemy Batman struggled to save Gotham City from the machinations of his wicked adversary, the Joker.

controvert

oppose with arguments; contradict To controvert your theory will require much time but it is essential that we disprove it.

converse

opposite The inevitable converse of peace is not war but annihilation.

inverse

opposite There is an inverse ratio between the strength of light and its distance.

conventional

ordinary; typical His conventional upbringing left him wholly unprepared for his wife's eccentric family.

chase

ornament a metal surface by indenting With his hammer, he carefully chased an intricate design onto the surface of the chalice.

epaulet

ornament worn on the shoulder (of a uniform, etc.) The shoulder loops on Sam Spade's trench coat are the nonmilitary counterparts of the fringed epaulets on George Washington's uniform.

frieze

ornamental band on a wall The frieze of the church was adorned with sculpture.

brooch

ornamental clasp She treasured the brooch because it was an heirloom.

flamboyant

ornate Modern architecture has discarded the flamboyant trimming on buildings and emphasizes simplicity of line.

denouement

outcome; final development of the plot of a play or other literary work The play was childishly written; the denouement was obvious to sophisticated theatergoers as early as the middle of the first act.

hue

outcry When her purse was snatched, she raised such a hue and cry that the thief was captured.

circumvent

outwit; baffle In order to circumvent the enemy, we will make two preliminary attacks in other sections before starting our major campaign.

amphitheater

oval building with tiers of seats The spectators in the amphitheater cheered the gladiators.

elliptical

oval; ambiguous, either purposely or because key words have been left out An elliptical billiad ball wobbles because it is not perfectly round; an elliptical remark baffles because it is not perfectly clear.

gloss

over explain away No matter how hard he tried to talk around the issue, President Bush could not gloss over the fact that he had raised the taxes after all.

inundate

overflow; flood The tremendous waves inundated the town.

elated

overjoyed; in high spirits Grinning from ear to ear, Bonnie Blair was clearly elated by her Olympic victory.

condone

overlook; forgive; give tacit approval; excuse Unlike Widow Douglass, who condoned Huck's minor offenses, Miss Watson did nothing but scold.

compelling

overpowering; irresistible in effect The prosecutor presented a well-reasoned case, but the defense attorney's compelling arguments for leniency won over the jury.

censor

overseer of morals; person who eliminates inappropriate matter Soldiers dislike having their mail read by a censor but understand the need for this precaution.

glut

overstock; fill to excess The many manufacturers glutted the market and could not find purchasers for the many articles they had produced.

appease

pacify; soothe We have discovered that, when we try to appease our enemies, we encourage them to make additional demands.

fresco

painting in plaste (usually fresh) The cathedral is visited by many tourists who wish to admire the frescoes by Glotto.

brochure

pamphlet This brochure on farming was issued by the Department of Agriculture.

amnesty

pardon When his first child was born, the king granted amnesty to all in prison.

absolve

pardon (an offense) The father confessor absolved him of his sins.

complicity

participation; involvement You cannot keep your complicity in this affair secret very long; you would be wise to admit your involvement immediately.

genre

particular variety of art or literature Both a short story writer and a poet, Langston Hughes proved himself equally skilled in either genre.

faction

party; clique; dissension The quarrels and bickering of the two small factions within the club disturbed the majority of the members.

infiltrate

pass into or through; penetrate (an organization) sneakily In order to infiltrate enemy lines at night without being seen, the scouts darkened their faces and wore black coveralls.

forberance

patience We must use forbearance in dealing with him because he is still weak from his illness.

disburse

pay out When you disburse money on the company's behalf, be sure to get a receipt.

alimony

payments make to an ex-spouse after divorce Because Tony had supported Tina through medical school, on their divorce he asked the court to award him a month in alimony.

acme

peak; pinnacle; highest point Welles's success in Citizen Kane marked the acme of his career as an actor; never again did he achieve such popular acclaim.

idiosyncrasy

peculiarity; eccentricity One of his personal idiosyncrasies was his habit of rinsing all cutlery given him in a restaurant.

contrite

penitent Her contrite tears did not influence the judge when he imposed sentence.

gentry

people of standing; class of people just below nobility The local gentry did not welcome the visits of the summer tourists and tried to ignore their presence in the community.

divine

perceive intuitively; foresee the future Nothing infuriated Tom more than Aunt Polly's ability to divine when he was not telling the truth.

epitome

perfect example or embodiment Singing "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" in The Pirates of Penzance, Major-General Stanley proclaimed himself the epitome of an officer and a gentleman.

interregnum

period between two reigns Henry VIII desperately sought a male heir because he feared the civil strife that might occur if any prolonged interregum succeeded his death.

equinox

period of equal days and nights; the beginning of spring and autumn The vernal equinox is usually marked by heavy rainstorms.

epoch

period of time The glacial epoch lasted for thousands of years.

intermittent

periodic; on and off Our picnic was marred by intermittent rains.

indissoluble

permanent The indissoluble bonds of marriage are all too often being dissolved.

connoisseur

person competent to act as judge of art, ect.; a lover of an art She had developed into a connoisseur of fine china.

ecologist

person concerned with the interrelationship between living organisms and their environment The ecologist was concerned that the new dam would upset the natural balance of the creatures living in Glen Canyon.

felon

person convicted of a grave crime A convicted felon loses the right to vote

beneficiary

person entitled to benefits or proceeds of an insurance policy You may change your beneficiary as often as you wish.

extrovert

person interested mostly in external objects and actions A good salesperson in usually an extrovert, who likes to mingle with people.

hypochondriac

person unduly worried about his health; worrier without cause about illness The doctor prescribed chocolate pills for his patient who was a hypocondriac.

demagogue

person who appeals to people's prejudice; false leader He was accused of being a demogogue because he made promises that aroused futile hopes in his listeners.

founder

person who establishes (an organization, business) Among those drowned when the Titanic sank was the founder of the Abraham & Straus chain.

heretic

person who maintains opinions contrary to the doctrines of the church She was punished by the Spanish Inquisition because she was a heretic.

anarchist

person who rebels against the established order Only the total overthrow of all governmental regulations would satisfy the anarchist.

heckler

person who verbally harasses others The heckler kept interrupting the speaker with rude remarks.

arbiter

person with power to decide a matter in a dispute; judge As an arbiter in labor disputes, she has won the confidence of the workers and the employers.

induce

persuade; bring about After the quarrel, Tina said nothing could induce her to talk to Tony again.

germinal

pertaining to a germ; creative Such an idea is germinal; I am certain that it will influence thinkers and philosophers for many generations.

filial

pertaining to a son or daughter Many children forget their filial obligations and disregard the wishes of their parents.

colloquial

pertaining to conversational or common speech Your use of colloquial expressions in a formal essay such as the one you have presented spoils the effect you hope to achieve.

horticultural

pertaining to cultivation of gardens When he bought his house, he beganto look for flowers and decorative shrubs, and began to read books dealing with horticultural matters.

existential

pertaining to existence; pertaining to the philosophy of existentialism To the existential philosopher, human reason is inadequate to explain an irrational, meaningless universe.

infernal

pertaining to hell; devilish They could think of no way to hinder his infernal scheme.

inductive

pertaining to induction or preceeding from the specific to the general The discovery of the planet Pluto is an excellent example of the results that can be obtained from inductive reasoning.

agrarian

pertaining to land or its cultivation As a result of its recent industrialization, the country is gradually losing its agrarian traditions.

connubial

pertaining to maffige or the matrimonial state In his telegram, he wished the newlyweds a lifetime of connubial bliss.

conjugal

pertaining to marriage Their dreams of conjugal bliss were shattered as soon as their temperaments clashed.

erotic

pertaining to passionate love The erotic passages in this novel should be removed as they are merely pornographic.

alluvial

pertaining to soil deposits left by running water The farmers found the alluvial deposits at the mouth of the river very fertile.

graphic

pertaining to the art of delineating; vividly described I was particularly impressed by the graphic presentation of the storm.

auroral

pertaining to the aurora borealis The auroral display was particularly spectacular that evening.

cerebral

pertaining to the brain or intellect The content of philosophical works is cerebral in nature and requires much thought.

ecclesiastic

pertaining to the church The minister donned his ecclesiastic garb and walked to the pulpit.

eugenic

pertaining to the improvement of race It is easier to apply eugenic principles to the raising of racehorses or prize cattle than t the development of human beings.

demotic

pertaining to the people He lamented the passing of aristocratic society and maintained that a demotic society would lower the nation's standards.

germane

pertinent; bearing upon the case at hand The lawyer objected that the testimony being offered was not germane to the case at hand.

badger

pester; annoy She was forced to change her telephone number because she was badgered by obscene phone calls.

carping

petty criticism; fault-finding Welcoming constructive criticism, Lexy appreciated her editor's comments, finding them free of carping.

epistemologist

philosopher who studies the nature of knowledge "What is more important, a knowledge of nature of the nature of knowledge?" the epistemologist asked the naturalist.

cliche

phrase culled in meaning by repetition High school compositions are often marred by such cliches as "strong as an ox."

hieroglyphic

picture writing The discovery of the Rosetta Stone enabled scholars to read the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

impale

pierce He was impaled by the spear hurled by his adversary.

conifer

pine tree; cone-bearing tree According to geologists, the conifers were the first plants to bear flowers.

devout

pious The devout man prayed daily.

cant

pious phraseology; jargon of criminals Angry that the president had slashed the education budget, we dismissed his speech on the importance of education as mere cant.

holster

pistol case Even when he was not in uniform, he carried a holster and pistol under his arm.

aphorism

pithy maxim An aphorism differs from an adage in that it is more philosophical or scientific.

apothegm

pithy, compact saying Proverbs are apothegms that have become familiar sayings.

asylum

place of refuge or shelter; protection The refugees sought asylum from religious persecution in a new land.

juxtapose

place side by side Comparison will be easier if you juxtapose the two objects.

ford

place where a river can be crossed on foot Rather than risk using the shaky rope bridge, David walked a half-mile downstream until he came to the neartest ford.

arboretum

place where different varieties of trees and shrubs are studied and exhibited Walking along the treelined paths of the arboretum, Rita noted poplars, firs, and some particularly fine sycamores.

itinerary

plan of a trip Before leaving for his first visit to France and England, he discussed his itinerary with people who had been there and with his travel agent.

flora

plants of a region or era Because she was a botanist, she spent most of her time studying the flora of the desert.

entreat

plead; ask earnestly She entreated her father to let her stay out till midnight.

congenial

pleasant; friendly My father loved to go out for a meal with congenial companions.

gratify

please Her parents were gratified by her success.

enrapture

please intensely The audience was enraptured by the freshness of the voices and the excellent orchestration.

fallow

plowed but sowed; uncultivated Farmers have learned that it is advisable to permit land to le fallow every few years.

despoil

plunder If you do not yield, I am afraid the enemy will despoil the countryside.

depredation

plundering After the depredations of the invaders, the people were penniless.

douse

plunge into water; drench; extinguish They doused each other with hoses and balloons.

elegy

poem or song expressing lamentation On the death of Edward King, Milton composed the elegy "Lycidas."

bard

poet The ancient bard Homer sang of the fall of Troy.

awl

pointed tool used for piercing She used an awl to punch additional holes in the leather belt she had bought.

aplomb

poise; composure Wellington's nonchalance and aplomb in the heat of battle always heartened his followers.

contaminate

pollute The sewage system of the city so contaminated the water that swimming was forbidden.

defile

pollute; profane The hoodlums defiled the church with their scurrilous writing.

bombast

pompous, inflated language Filled with bombast, the orator's speech left the audience more impressed with his pomposity than with his logic.

grandiloquent

pompous; bombastic; using high-sounding language The politician could bever speak simply; she was always grandiloquent.

consequential

pompous; self-important Convinced of his own importance, the actor strutted about the dressing room with a consequential air.

doggerel

poorverse Although we find occasional snatches of genuine poetry in her work, most of her writing is mere doggerel.

delineate

portray He is weakest when he attempts to delineate character.

depict

portray In this book, the author depicts the slave owners as kind and benevolent masters.

affirmation

positive assertion; confirmation; solemn pledge by one who refuses to take an oath Despite Tom's affirmation of innocence, Aunt Polly still suspected he had eaten the pie.

dogmatic

positive; arbitrary Do not be so dogmatic about that statement; it can be easily refuted.

decant

pour off gently Be sure to decant this wine before serving it.

effusion

pouring forth The critics objected to her literary effusion because it was too flowery.

effusive

pouring forth; gushing Her effusive manner of greeting her friends finally began to irritate them.

indigence

poverty Neither the economists nor the political scientists have found a way to wipe out the inequities of wealth and eliminate indigence from our society.

adversity

poverty, misfortune We must learn to meet adversity gracefully.

intuition

power of knowing without reasoning She claimed to know the truth by intuition.

efficacy

power to produce desired effect The efficacy of this drug depends on the regularity of the dosage.

impuissance

powerlessness; feebleness The lame duck President was frustrated by his shift from enormous power to relative impuissance.

feasible

practical This is an entirely feasible proposal. I suggest we adopt it.

ascetic

practicing self-denial; austere The wealthy young man could not understand the ascetic life led by the monks.

eulogy

praise All the eulogies of his friends could not remove the sting of the calumny heaped upon him by his enemies.

extol

praise; glorify The astronauts were extolled as the pioneers of the Space Age.

eulogistic

praising To everyone's surprise, the speech was eulogistic rather than critical in tone.

encomiastic

praising; eulogistic Some critics believe that his encomiastic statements about Napoleon were inspired by his desire for material advancement rather than by an honest belief in the Emperor's genius.

escapade

prank; flighty conduct The headmaster could not regard this latest escapade as a boyish joke and expelled the young man.

frolicsome

prankish; gay The frolicsome puppy tried to lick the face of its master.

antecede

precede The invention of the radiotelegraph anteceded the development of television by a quarter of a century.

antecedents

preceding events or circumstances that influence what comes later; early life; ancestors Before giving permission for Drummie to marry Estella, Miss Havisham had a few questions about the young man's birth and antecedents.

impasse

predicament from which there is no escape In this impasse, all turned to prayer as their last hope.

foreboding

premonition of evil Caeser ridiculed his wife's foreboding about the Ides of March.

concoct

prepare by combining; make up in concert How did the inventive chef ever concoct such strange dish?

feign

pretend Lady Macbeth feigned illness in the courtyard although she was actually healthy.

dissimulate

pretend; conceal by feigning She tried to dissimulate her grief by her exuberant attitude.

hypocritical

pretending to be virtuous; deceiving I resent his hypocritical posing as a friend for I know he is interested only in his own advancement.

bluff

pretense (of strength); deception; high cliff Claire thought Lord Byron's boast that he would swim the Hellespont was just a bluff, she was astounded when he dove from the high bluff into the waters below.

connivance

pretense of ignorance of something wrong; assistance; permission to offend With the connivance of his friends, he plotted to embarrass the teacher.

endemic

prevailinig among a specific group of people or in a specific are or country This disease is endemic in this part of the world; more than 80 percent of the population are at one time or another affected by it.

forestall

prevent by taking action in advance By setting up a prenuptial agreement, the prospective bride and groom hoped to forestall any potential arguments about money in the event of a divorce.

avert

prevent; turn away She averted her eyes from the dead cat on the highway.

asceptic

preventing infection; having a cleansing effect Hospitals succeeded in lowering the mortality rate as soon as they introduced asceptic conditions.

arrogance

pride, haughtiness The arrogance of the nobility was resented by the middle class.

haughtiness

pride; arrogance I resent his haughtiness because he is no better than we are.

conclave

private meeting He was present at all their conclaves as an unofficial observer.

caucus

private meeting of members of a party to select officers or determine policy At the opening of Congress the members of the Democratic Party held a caucus to elect the majority leader of the House and the party whip.

idiosyncratic

private; peculiar to an individual Such behavior is idiosyncratic, it is as easily identifiable as a signature.

dilemma

problem; choice of two unsatisfactory alternatives In this dilemma, he knew no one to whom he could turn for advice.

cavalcade

procession; parade As described by Chaucer, the cavalcade of Canterbury pilgrims was motley group.

igneous

produced by fire; volcanic Lava, pumice, and other igneous rocks are found in great abundance around Mount Vesuvius near Naples.

artifacts

products of primitive culture Archaeologists debated the significance of the artifacts discovered in the ruins of Asia Minor and came to no conclusion.

blasphemous

profane; impious The people in the room were shocked by his his blasphemous language.

desecrate

profane; violate the sanctity of The soldiers desecrated the temple.

docket

program asfor trial; book where such entries are made The case of Smith v. Jones was entered in the docket for July 15.

interdict

prohibit; forbid Civilized nations must interdict the use of nuclear weapons if we expect out society to live.

inhibit

prohibit; restrain The child was not inhibited in her responses.

extrapolation

projection; conjecture Based on their extrapolation from the results of the primaries on Super Tuesday, the networks predicted that George Bush would be the Republican candidate for the presidency.

assurance

promise or pledge; certainty; self-confidence When Gutherie gave Guiness his assurance that rehearsals were going well, he spoke with such assurance that Guiness was convinced.

apocalyptic

prophetic; pertaining to revelations; especially of disaster His apocalyptic remarks were dismissed by his audience as wild surmises.

decorum

propriety; seemliness Shocked by the unruly behavior, the teacher criticized the class for its lack of decorum.

expostulation

protest; remonstrance Despite the teacher's scoldings and expostulations, the class remained unruly.

archetype

prototype; primitive pattern The Brooklyn Bridge was the archetype of the many spans that now connect Manhattan with Long Island and New Jersey.

authenticate

prove genuine An expert was needed to authenticate the original Van Gogh painting, distinguishing it from its imitation.

harbor

provide a refuge for; hide The church harbored illegal aliens who were political refugees.

defray

provide ofr the payment of Her employer offered to defray the costs of her postgraduate education.

endue

provide with some quality; endow He was endued with a lion's courage.

document

provide written evidence She kept all the receipts from her business trip in order to document her expenses for the firm.

discretion

prudence; ability to adjust actions to circumstances Use your discretion in this matter and do not discuss it with anyone.

circumspect

prudent; cautious Investigating before acting, she tried always to be circumspect.

archives

public records; place where public records are kept These documents should be part of the archives so that historians may be able to evaluate them in the future.

chastise

punish I must chastise you for this offense.

castigation

punishment; severe criticism Sensitive even to mild criticism, Woolf could not bear castigation that she found in certain reviews.

chaste

pure Her chaste and decorous garb was appropriately selected for the solemnity of the occasion.

immaculate

pure; spotless The West Point cadets were immaculate as they lined up for inspection.

cathartic

purgative Some drugs act as laxatives when taken in small doses but act as cathartics when taken in much larger doses.

catharsis

purging or cleansing of any passage of the body Aristotle maintained that tragedy created a catharsis by purging the soul of base concepts.

distill

purify; refine; concentrate A moonshiner distills mash into whiskey; an epigrammatist distills thoughts into quips.

execute

put into effect; carry out The choreographer wanted to see how well she could execute a pirouette.

implement

put into effect; supply with tools The mayor was unwilling to implement the plan until she was sure it had the governor's backing.

don

put on When Clark Kent had to don his Superman outfit, he changed clothes in a convenient phone booth.

discomfit

put to rout; defeat; disconcert This ruse will discomfit the enemy.

entrance

put under a spell; carry away with emotion Shafts of sunlight on a wall could entrance her and leave her spellbound.

enigma

puzzle Depite all attempts to decipher the code, it remained an enigma.

charlatan

quack; pretender to knowledge When they realized that the Wizard didn't know how to get them back to Kansas, Dorothy and her friends were sure they'd been duped by a charlatan.

bicker

quarrel The children bickered morning, noon, and night, exasperating their parents.

contentious

quarrelsome We heard loud and contentious noises in the next room.

belligerent

quarrelsome Whenever he had too much to drink, he became belligerent and tried to pick fights with strangers.

droll

queer and amusing He was a popular guest because his droll anecdotes were always entertaining.

interrogate

question closely; cross-examine Knowing that the Nazis would interrogate him about his background, the secret agent invented a cover story that would help him meet their quesions.

grill

question severely In violation of the Miranda law, the police grilled the suspect for several hours before reading him his rights.

inquisitor

questioner (specially harsh); investigator Fearing being grilled ruthlessly by the secret police, Marsha faced her inquisitors with trepidation.

cite

quote; commend She could cite passages in the Bible from memory.

centrifugal

radiating; departing from the center Many automatic drying machines remove excess moisture from clothing by centrifugal force.

foray

raid The company staged a midnight foray against the enemy outpost.

exalt

raise in rank or dignity; praise The actor Alec Guinness was exalted to the rank of knighthood by the Queen; he now is known as Sir Alec Guinness.

dais

raised platform for guests of honor When he approached the dais, he was greeted by cheers from the people who had come to honor him.

haphazard

random; by chance His haphazard reading left him unaquainted with the authors of the books.

fester

rankle, produce irritation or resentment Joe's insult festered in Anne's mind for days, and made her too angry to speak to him.

ecstasy

rapture, joy; any overpowering emotion The announcement that the war had ended brought on an ecstasy that resulted in many uncontrolled celebrations.

foolhardy

rash Don't be foolhardy. Get the advice of experienced people before undertaking this venture.

incidence

rate of occurrence; particular occurrence Health professionals expressed great concern over the high incidence of infant mortality in major urban areas.

amenable

readily managed; willing to be led He was amenable to any suggestions that came from those he looked up to; he resented advice from his inferiors.

entity

real being As soon as the charter was adopted, the United Nations became an entity and had to be considered as a factor in world diplomacy.

foster

rear; encourage According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were fostered by a she-wolf that raised the abandoned infants as her own.

insurrection

rebellion; uprising Given the current state of affairs in South Africa, an insurrection seems unavoidable.

insurgent

rebellious We will not discuss reforms until the insurgent troops have returned to their homes.

comeuppance

rebuke; deserts After his earlier rudeness, we were delighted to see him get his comeuppance.

ebb

recede; lessen His fortunes began to ebb during the recession.

inchoate

recently begun; rudimentary; elementary Before the Creation, the world was an inchoate mass.

desperado

reckless outlaw Butch Cassidy was a bold desperado with a price on his head.

compute

reckon; calculate He failed to compute the interest, so his bank balance was not accurate.

conciliatory

reconciling; soothing She was still angry despite his conciliatory words.

genealogy

record of descent; lineage He was proud of his genealogy and constantly referred to the achievements of his ancestors.

annals

records; history In the annals of this period, we find no mention of democratic movements.

anneal

reduce brittleness and improve toughness by heating and cooling After the glass is annealed, it will be less subject to chipping and cracking.

debase

reduce to lower state Do not debase youself by becoming maudlin.

deplete

reduce; exhaust We must wait until we deplete our present inventory before we order replacements.

allude

refer indirectly Try not to allude to this matter in his presence because the topic annoys him.

advert

refer to Since you advert to this matter so frequently, you must regard it as important.

ascribe

refer; attribute; assign I can ascribe no motive for her acts.

abstain

refrain; withhold from participation After considering the effect of alcohol on his athletic performance, he decided to abstain from drinking while he trained for the race.

clime

region; climate His doctors advised him to move to a milder clime.

deplore

regret Although I deplore the vulgarity of your language, I defend your right to express yourself freely.

flout

reject; mock The headstrong youth flouted all authority; he refused to be curbed.

exult

rejoice We exulted when our team won the victory.

jubilation

rejoicing There was great jubilitation when the armistice was announced.

cognate

related linguistically; allied by blood; similar or akin in nature The English word "mother" cognate to the Latin word "mater," whose influence is visible in the words "maternal" and "maternity."

canine

related to dogs; doglike Some days the canine population of Berkeley seems almost to outnumber the human population.

demographic

related to population balance In conducting a survey, one should take into account demographic trends in the region.

elysian

relating to paradise; blissful An afternoon sail on the bay was for her an elysian journey.

ethnic

relating to races Intolerance between ethnic groups is deplorable and usually is based on lack of information.

dorsal

relating to the back of an animal A shark may be identified by its dorsal fin, which projects above the surface of the ocean.

climactic

relating to the highest point When he reached the climactic portions of the book, he could not stop reading.

astral

relating to the stars She was amazed at the number of astral bodies the new telescope revealed.

inexorable

relentless; unyielding; implacable After listening to the pleas for clemency, the judge was inexorable and gave the convicted man the maximum punishment allowed by law.

alleviate

relieve This should alleviate the pain; if it does not, we shall have to use stronger drugs.

icon

religious image; idol The icons on the walls of the church were painted in the 13th century.

averse

reluctant He was averse to revealing the sources of his information.

commemorative

remembering; honoring The new commemorative stamp honors the late Martin Luther King, Jr.

compunction

remorse The judge was especially severe in this sentencing because he felt that the criminal had shown no compunction for his heinous crime.

dislodge

remove (forcible) Thrusting her fist up under the choking man's lower ribs, Margaret used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the food caught in this throat.

dehydrate

remove water from; dry out Vigorous dancing quickly dehydrates the body; between dances, be sure to drink more water than normal.

abjure

renounce upon oath He abjured his allegiance to the king.

forswear

renounce; abandon The captured knight could escape death only if he agreed to forswear Christianity and embrace Islam as the one true faith.

abdicate

renounce; give up When Edward VII abdicated the British throne, he surprised the entire world.

abnegation

renunciation; self-sacrifice Though Rudolph and Duchess Flavia loved one another, their love was doomed, for she had to wed the king; their act of abnegation was necessary to preserve the kingdom.

esteem

repect; value; judge I esteem Ezra Pound both for his exciting poetry and for his acute comments on literature.

alliteration

repetition of beginning sound in poetry "The furrow followed free" is an example of alliteration.

chronicle

report; record (in chronological order) The gossip columnist was paid to chronicle the latest escapades of the socially prominent celebrities.

atavism

resemblance to remote ancestors rather than to parents; reversion to an earlier type; throwback Martin seemed an atavism to his Tuscan ancestors who lavished great care on their small plots of soil.

equine

resembling a horse His long, bony face had an equine look to it.

begrudge

resent I begrudge every minute I have to spend attending meetings.

distant

reserved or aloof; cold in manner His distant greeting made me feel unwelcome from the start.

defeatist

resigned to defeat; accepting defeat as a natural outcome If you maintain your defeatist attitude, you will never succeed.

dutiful

respectful; obedient The dutiful child grew up to be a conscientious adult aware of his civic obligations.

disclose

reveal Although competitors offered him bribes, he refused to disclose any information about his company's forthcoming product.

divulge

reveal I will not tell you this news because I am sure you will divulge it prematurely.

cadence

rhythmic rise and fall (of words or sounds); beat Marching down the road, the troops sang out, following the cadence set by the sergeant.

brocade

rich, figured fabric The sofa was covered with expensive brocade.

conundrum

riddle; difficult problem During the long car ride, she invented conundrums to entertain the children.

equestrian

rider on horseback These paths in the park are reserved for equestrians and their steeds.

derision

ridicule They greeted his proposal with derision and refused to consider it seriously.

franchise

right granted by authority The city issued a franchise to the company to operate surface transit lines on the streets for ninety-nine years.

bristling

rising like bristles; showing irritation The dog stood there, bristling with anger.

exposure

risk, particularly of being exposed to disease or to the elements; unmasking; act of laying something open Exposure to sun and wind had dried out her hair and weathered her face.

emulate

rival; imitate As long as our political leaders emulate the virtues of the great leaders of this country, we shall flourish.

desolate

rob of joy; lay waste to; forsake The bandits desolated the countryside, burning farms and carrying off the harvest.

fleece

rob; plunder The tricksters fleeced him of his inheritance.

extirpate

root up The Salem witch trials were a misguided attempt to extirpate superstition and heresy.

carrion

rotting flesh of a dead body Buzzards are nature's scavengers; they eat the carrion left behind by other predators.

gruff

rough-mannered Although he was blunt and gruff with most people, he was always gentle with children.

circuitous

roundabout Because of the traffic congestion on the main highways, she took a circuitous route.

efface

rub out The coin had been handled so many times that its data had been effaced.

abrasive

rubbing away; tending to grind down Just as abrasive cleaning powders can wear away a shiny finish, abrasive remarks can wear away a listener's patience.

debris

rubble A full year after the earthquake in Mexico City, workers were still carting away the debris.

boorish

rude; insensitive Though Mr. Potts constantly interrupted his wife, she ignored his boorish behavior, for she had lost hope of teaching him courtesy.

dilapidated

ruined because of neglect We felt that the dilapidated building needed several coats of paint.

domineer

rule over tyrannically Students prefer teachers who guide, not ones who domineer.

bucolic

rustic; pastoral The meadow was the scene of bucolic gaiety.

disconcolate

sad The death of his wife left him disconsolate.

funereal

sad; solemn I fail to understand why there is such a funereal atmosphere; we have lost a battle, not a war.

jocular

said or done in jest Do not take my jocular remarks seriously.

emolument

salary; compensation In addition to the emolument this position offers, you must consider the social prestige it carries with it.

imbue

saturate, fill His visits to the famous Gothic cathedrals imbued him with feelings of awe and reverence.

dearth

scarcity The dearth of skilled labor compelled the employers to open trade schools.

intersperse

scatter The molecules will intersperse throughout the space according to the second law of thermodynamics.

disperse

scatter The police fired tear gas into crowd to disperse the protesters.

disseminate

scatter (like seeds) The invention of the radio helped propagandists to disseminate their favorite doctrines very easily.

dispel

scatter; drive away; cause to vanish The bright sunlight eventually dispelled the morning mist.

conservatory

school of the fine arts (especiallymusic or drama) A gifted violinist, Marya was selected to study at the conservatory.

jurisprudence

science of law He was more a student of jurisprudence than a practitioner of the law.

gastronomy

science of preparing and serving good food One of the by-products of his trip to Europe was his interest in gastronomy; he enjoyed preparing and serving foreign dishes to his friends.

deride

scoff at The people derided his grandiose schemes.

chide

scold Grandma began to chide Steven for his lying.

berate

scold strongly He feared she would berate him for his forgetfulness.

despise

scorn I despise your attempts at a reconciliation at this time and refuse to meet you.

contempt

scorn; disdain Even if you feel superior to others, it is unwise to show your contempt for them.

glower

scowl The angry boy glowered at his father.

conscientious

scrupulous; careful A conscientious editor checked every definition for its accuracy.

hermetic

sealed by fusion so as to be airtight After these bandages are sterilized, they are placed in hermetic containers.

condiments

seasonings; spices Spanish food is full of condiments.

avocation

secondary or minor occupation His hobby proved to be so fascinating and profitable that gradually he abandoned his regular occupation and concentrated on his avocation.

clandestine

secret After avoiding their chaperon, the lovers had a clandestine meeting.

cipher

secret code Lacking his code book, the spy was unable to decode the message sent to him in cipher.

arcane

secret; mysterious What was arcane to us was clear to the psychologist.

anchor

secure or fasten firmly; be fixed in place We set the post in concrete to anchor it in place.

inviolability

security from being destroyed, corrupted or profaned They respected the inviolability of her faith and did not try to change her manner of living.

collateral

security given for loan The sum you wish to borrow is so large that it must be secured by collateral.

dregs

sediment; worthless residue David poured the wine carefully to avoid stirring up the dregs.

aspirant

seeker after position or status Although I am as aspirant for public office, I am not willing to accept the dictates of the party bosses.

confiscate

seize; commandeer The army confiscated all available supplies of uranium.

excerpt

selected passage (written or musical) The cinematic equivalent of an excerpt from a novel is a clip from a film.

eclectic

selective; composed of elements drawn from disparate sources His style of interior decoration was eclectic: bits and pieces of furnishings from widely divergent periods, strikingly juxtaposed to create a unique color.

axiom

self-evident truth requiring no proof Before a student can begin to think along the lines of Euclidean geometry, he must accept certain principles or axioms.

autonomous

self-governing This island is a colony; however, in most matters, it is autonomous and receives no orders from the mother country.

continence

self-restraint; sexual chastity She vowed to lead a life of continence.

complacent

self-satisfied There was a complacent look on his face as he examined his paintings.

dotage

senility In his dotage, the old man bored us with long tales of events in his childhood.

discrete

separate; unconnected The universe is composed of discrete bodies.

estranged

separated; alienated The estranged wife sought a divorce.

casualty

serious or fatal accident The number of automotive casualties on this holiday weekend was high.

gravity

seriousness We could tell we were in serious trouble from the gravity of her expression.

homily

sermon; serious warning His speeches were always homilies, advising his listeners to repent and reform.

exemplary

serving as a model; outstanding Her exemplary behavior was praised at commencement.

ancillary

serving as an aid or accessory; auxiliary In an ancillary capacity Doctor Watson was helpful; however, Holmes could not trust the good doctor to solve a perplexing case on his own.

emancipate

set free At first, the attempts of the Abolitioninst to emancipate the slaves were unpopular in New England as well as in the South.

carillon

set of bells capable of being played The carillon in the bell tower of the Coca-Cola pavilion at the New York World's Fair provided musical entertainment every hour.

ensconce

settle comfortably The parents thought that their children were ensconced safely in the private school and decided to leave for Europe.

hovel

shack; small, wretched house He wondered how poor people could stand living in such a hovel.

fetter

shackle The prisoner was fettered to the wall.

doddering

shaky; infirm from old age Although he is not as yet a doddering and senile old man, his ideas and opinions no longer can merit the respect we gave them years ago.

effrontery

shameless boldness She had the effrontery to insult the guest.

barefaced

shameless; bold; unconcealed Shocked by Huck Finn's barefaced lies, Miss Watson prayed the good Lord would give him a sense of his unregenerate wickedness.

amorphous

shapeless; vague; indeterminate John was subject to panic attacks that left him prey to vague, amorphous fears: he knew he was terrified, but could neither define nor explain the cause of his terror.

barb

sharp projection form fishhook, etc.; pointed comment The barb from the fishhook caught in his finger as he grabbed the fish.

acclivity

sharp upslope of a hill The car could not go up the acclivity in high gear.

angular

sharp-cornered; stiff in manner His features, though angular, were curiously attractive.

acrid

sharp; bitterly pungent The acrid odor of burnt gunpowder filled the room after the pistol had been fired.

hone

sharpen To make shaving easier, he honed his razor with great care.

acuity

sharpness In time his youthful acuity of vision failed him, and he needed glasses.

asperity

sharpness (of temper) These remarks, spoken with asperity, stung the boys to whom they had been directed.

gossamer

sheer; like cobwebs Nylon can be woven into gossaner or thick fabrics.

diaphanous

sheer; transparent They saw the burglar clearly through the diaphanous curtain.

carapace

shell covering the back (of a turtle, crab, etc) At the children's zoo, Richard perched on top of the giant turtle's hard carapace as it slowly made its way around the enclosure.

cameo

shell or jewel carved in relief Tourists are advised not to purchase cameos from the street peddlers of Rome who sell poor specimens of the carver's art.

aegis

shield; defense Under the aegis of the Bill of Rights, we enjoy our most treasured freedoms.

glimmer

shine erratically; twinkle In the darkness of the cavern, the glowworms hanging from the cavern roof glimmered like distant stars.

anecdote

short account of an amusing or interesting event Rather than make concrete proposals for welfare reform, President Raegan told anecdotes about poor people who became wealthy despite their impoverished backgrounds.

epilogue

short speech at conclusion of dramatic work The audience was so disappointed in the play that many did not remain to hear the epilogue.

ephemeral

short-lived; fleeting The mayfly is an ephemeral creature.

abbreviate

shorten Because we were running out of time, the lecturer had to abbreviate her speech.

jostle

shove; bump In the subway he was jostled by the crowds.

exemplify

show by example; furnish an example Three-time winner of the Super Bowl, Joe Montana exemplifies the ideal quarterback.

evince

show clearly When he tried to answer the questions, he evinced his ignorance of the subject matter.

ebullient

showing excitement; overflowing with enthusiasm His ebullient nature could not be repressed.

canny

shrewd; thrifty The canny Scotsman was more than a match for the swindlers.

clarion

shrill, trumpetlike sound We woke to the clarion to muffle its striking.

dwindle

shrink; reduce They spent so much money that their funds dwindled to nothing.

diffidence

shyness You must overcome your diffidence if you intend to become a salesperson.

import

significance I feel that you have not grasped the full import of the message sent tous by the enemy.

inane

silly; senseless Such comments are inane because they do not help us solve our program.

analogy

similarity; parallelism Your analogy is not a good one because the two situations are not similar.

fusilade

simultaneous firing or outburs (of missiles, questions, etc.) Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture concludes with a thunderous fusilade of cannon fire.

incantation

singing or chanting of magical formula Uttering incantations to make the brew more potent, the witch doctor stirred the liquid in the caldron.

adroit

skillful His adroit handling of the delicate situation pleased his employers.

dexterous

skillful The magician was so dexterous that we could not follow his movements as he performed his tricks.

gambol

skip; leap playfully Watching children gamboling in the park is a pleasant experience

azure

sky blue azure skies are indicative of good weather.

detraction

slandering; aspersion He is offended by your frequent detractions of his ability as a leader.

aspersion

slanderous remark Do not cast aspersions on her character.

argot

slang In the argot of the underworld, she "was taken for a ride."

hibernate

sleep throughout the winter Bears are one of the many species of animals that hibernate.

dormant

sleeping; lethargic; torpid Sometimes dormant talents in our friends surprise those of us who never realize how gifted our acquaintances really are.

hazy

slightly obscure In hazy weather, you cannot see the top of this mountain.

acidulous

slightly sour; sharp; caustic James was unpopular because of his sarcastic and acidulous remarks.

catapult

slingshot; hurling machine Airplanes are sometimes launched from battleships by catapults.

incline

slope; slant The architect recommended that the nursing home's ramp be rebuilt because its incline was too steep for wheelchairs.

dowdy

slovenly; untidy She tried to change her dowdy image by buying a fashionable new wardrobe.

decelerate

slow down Seeing the emergency blinkers in the road ahead, he decelerated quickly.

canter

slow gallop Because the racehorse had outdistanced its competition so easily, the reporter wrote that the race was won in a canter.

dinghy

small boat (often ship's boat) In the film Lifeboat, an ill-assorted group of passengers from a sunken ocean liner are marooned at sea in a dinghy.

grotto

small cavern The Blue Grotto in Capri can be entered only by small boats rowed by natives through a natural opening in the rocks.

cabal

small group of persons secretly united to promote their own interests The cabal was defeated when its scheme was discovered.

hummock

small hill The ascent of the hummock is not difficult and the view from the hilltop is ample reward tor the effort.

figurine

small ornamental statuette In the Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade was hired to trace the missing figurine of a black bird.

facet

small plane surface (of a gem); a side The stonecutter decided to improve the rough diamond by providing it with several facets.

asteroid

small planet asteroids have become commonplace to the readers of interstellar travel stories in science fiction magazines.

circlet

small ring; band This tiny circlet is very costly because it is set with precious stones.

cascade

small waterfall We could not appreciate the beauty of the many cascades as we made detours around each of them to avoid getting wet.

clique

small, exclusive group She charged that a clique had assumed control of school affairs.

exiguous

small; minute Grass grew there, an exiguous outcropping among the rocks.

daub

smear (as with paint) From the way he daubed his paint on the canvas, I could tell he knew nothing of oils.

glossy

smooth and shining I want this photograph printed on glossy paper, not matte.

fluency

smoothness of speech He spoke French with fluency and ease.

gregarious

sociable Typically, party-throwers are gregarious; hermits are not.

gaffe

social blunder According to Miss Manners, to call your husband by your lover's name is worse than a mere gaffe; it is a tactical mistake.

convention

social or moral custom; established practice Flying in the face of convention, George Sand (Amandine Dudevant) shocked her contemporaries by taking lovers and wearing men's clothes.

besmirch

soil, defile The scandalous remarks in the newspaper besmirch the reputations of every member of the society.

anathema

solemn curse; someone or something that is despised He heaped anathema upon his foe.

adjuration

solemn urging Her adjuration to tell the truth did not change the witnesses' testimony.

awe

solemn wonder The tourists gazed with awe at the tremendous expanse of the Grand Canyon.

dupe

someone easily fooled While the gullible Watson often was made a dupe by unscrupulous parties, Sherlock Holmes was far more difficult to fool.

glutton

someone who eats too much When Mother saw that Bobby had eaten all the cookies, she called him a little glutton.

adjunct

something attached to but holding an inferior position I will entertain this concept as an adjunct to the main proposal.

comestible

something fit to be eaten The roast turkey and other comestibles, the wines, and the excellent service made this Thanksgiving dinner particularly memorable.

anachronism

something or someone misplaced in time Shakespeare's reference to clocks in Julius Caesar is an anachronism; no clocks existed in Caesar's time.

assumption

something taken for granted; the taking over or taking possession of The young princess made the foolish assumption that the regent would not object to her Assumption of power.

deterrent

something that discourages; hindrance Does the threat of capital punishment serve as a deterrent to potential killers?

balm

something that relieves pain Friendship is the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

brackish

somewhat saline He found the only wells in the area were brackish; drinking the water made him nauseous.

emollient

soothing or softening remedy He applied an emollient to the inflamed area.

bland

soothing; mild She used a bland ointment for her sunburn.

dolorous

sorrowfrl He found the dolorous lamentations of the bereaved family emotionally disturbing and he left as quickly as he could.

judicious

sound in judgment; wise At a key moment in his life, he made a judicious investment that was the foundation of his later wealth.

capacious

spacious In the capacious areas of the railroad terminal, thousands of travelers lingered while waiting for their train.

commodious

spacious and comfortable After sleeping in a small roadside cabins, they found their hotel suite commodious.

fitful

spasmodic; intermittent After several fitful attempts, he decided to postpone the start of the project until he felt more energetic.

idiom

spcial usage in language I could not understand their idioms because literal translation made no sense.

enunciate

speak distinctly How will people understand you if you do not enunciate?

expertise

specialized knowledge; expert skill Although she was knowledgeable in a number of fields, she was hired for her particular expertise in computer programming.

inarticulate

speechless; producing indistinct speech He became inarticulate with rage and uttered sounds without meaning.

celerity

speed; rapidity Hamlet resented his mother's celerity in remarrying within a month after his father's death.

dispatch

speediness; prompt execution; message sent with all due speed Young Napoleon defeated the enemy with all possible dispatch; he then sent a dispatch to headquarters, informing his commander of the great victory.

cleft

split Erosion caused a cleft in the huge boulder.

cleave

split asunder The lightening cleaves the tree in two.

bungle

spoil by clumsy behavior I was afraid you would bungle his assignment but I had no one else to send.

fleck

spot Her cheeks flecked with tears, were testimony to the hours of weeping.

dappled

spotted The sunlight filtering though the screens created a dappled effect on the wall.

incentive

spur; motive Students who dislike school must be given an incentive to learn.

espionage

spying In order to maintain its power, the government developed a system of espionage that penetrated every hosehold.

dissipate

squander The young man quickly dissipated his inheritance and was soon broke.

adjutant

staff officer assisting the commander; assistant Though Wellington delegated many tasks to his chief adjutant, Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Somerset was in no doubt as to who made all major decisions.

deadlock

standstill; stalemate The negotiations had reached a deadlock.

gawk

stare foolishly; look in open-mouthed awe The country boy gawked at the skyscrapers and neon lights of the big city.

inception

start; beginning She was involved with the project from its inception.

aver

state confidently I wish to aver that I am certain of success.

bereavement

state of being deprived of something valuable or beloved His friends gathered to console him upon his sudden bereavement.

immobility

state of being immovable Modern armies cannot afford the luxury of immobility, as they are vulnerable to attack while standing still.

impropriety

state of being inappropriate Because of the impropriety of his costume, he was denied entrance into the dining room.

inertia

state of being inert or indisposed to move Our inertia in this matter may prove disastrous; we must move to aid our allies immediately.

anonymity

state of being nameless; anonymousness The donor of the gift asked the college not to mention him by name; the dean readily agreed to respect his anonymity.

inconsistency

state of being self-contradictory; lack of uniformity or steadiness How are lawyers different from agricultural inspectors? Where lawyers check inconsistencies in witnesses' statements, agricultural inspectors check inconsistencies in Grade A eggs.

decrepitude

state of collagse caused by illness or old age I was unprepared for the state of decrepitude in which I had found my old friend; he seemed to have aged twenty years in six months.

intransigence

state of stubborn unwillingness to compromise The intransigence of both parties in the dispute makes an early settlement almost impossible to obtain.

assert

state strongly or positively; insist on or demand recognition of (rights, claims, etc). When Jill asserted that nobody else in the junior class had such an early curfew, her parents Asserted themselves, telling her that if she didn't get home by nine o'clock she would be grounded for the week.

allege

state without proof It is alleged that she had worked for the enemy.

diligence

steadiness of effort; persisten hard work Her employers were greatly impressed by her diligence and offered her a partnership in the firm.

filch

steal The boys filched apples from the fruit stand.

embezzlement

stealing The bank teller confessed his embezzlement of the funds.

furtive

stealthy; sneaky The boy gave a furtive look at his classmate's test paper.

austerity

sternness; severity; lack of luxuries The austerity and dignity of the court were maintained by the new justices, who were a strict and solemn group.

cohere

stick together Solids have a greater tendency to cohere than liquids.

glutinous

sticky; viscous Molasses is a glutinous substance.

incandescent

stikingly bright; shining with intense heat If you leave on an incandescent light bulb, it quickly grows too hot to touch.

extant

still in existence Although the authorities suppressed the book, many copies are extant and may be purchased at exorbitant prices.

galvanize

stimulate by shock; stir up The entire nation was galvanized into strong military activity by the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

acrimonious

stinging, caustic His tendency to utter acrimonious remarks alienated his audience.

agitate

stir up; disturb Her fiery remarks agitated the already angry mob.

foment

stir up; instigate This report will foment disssension in the club.

hoard

stockpile; accumulate for future use Whenever there are rumors of a food shortage, people are tempted to hoard food.

balk

stoop short, as if faced with an obstacle, and refuse to continue The chief of police balked at sending his officers into the riot-torn area.

check

stop motion; curb or restrain Thrusting out her arm, Grandma checked Bobby's lunge at his sister. "Young man," she said, "you'd better check your temper."

cessation

stopping The workers threatened a cessation of all activities if their demands were not met.

granary

storehouse for grain We have reason to be thankful, for our crops were good and our granaries are full.

inclement

stormy; unkind I like to read a good book in inclement weather.

allegory

story in which characters are used as symbols; fable Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the temptations and victories of the human soul.

cantata

story set to music, to be sung by a chorus The choral society sang the new cantata composed by its leader.

forthright

straightforward; direct; frank I prefer Jill's forthright approach to Jack's tendency to beat around the bush.

austere

strict, stern His austere demeanor prevented us from engaging in our usual frivolous activities.

clapper

striker (tongue) of a bell Wishing to be undisturbed by the bell, Dale wound his scarf around the clapper to muffle its striking.

flay

strip off skin; plunder The criminal was condemned to be flayed alive.

divest

strip; deprive He was divested of his power to act and could no longer govern.

apoplexy

stroke; loss of consciousness followed by paralysis He was crippled by an attack of apoplexy.

forte

strong point or special talent I am not eager to play this rather seious role, for my forte is comedy.

bastion

stronghold; something seen as a source of protection The villagers fortified the town hall, hoping this improvised bastion could protect them from the guerrila raids.

conviction

strongly held belief Nothing could shake his conviction that she was innocent.

contend

struggle; compete; assert earnestly In Revolt of the Black Athlete, sociologist Harry Edwards contends that young black athletes have been exploited by some college recruiters.

bigotry

stubborn intolerance Brought up in a democratic atmosphere, student was shocked by the bigotry and narrowness expressed by several of his classmates.

headstrong

stubborn; willful; unyielding Because she refused to marry the man her parents had chosen for her, everyone scolded Minna and called her a foolish, headstrong girl.

anthropologist

student of the history and science of humankind Anthropologists have discovered several relics of prehistoric humans in this area.

archaeology

study of artifacts and relics of early mankind The professor of archaeology headed an expedition to the Gobi Desert in search of ancient ruins.

ichthyology

study of fish Jacques Cousteau's rpograms about sea life have advanced the cause of ichthyology.

entomology

study of insects I found entomology the least interesting part of my course in biology; studying insects bored me.

ethnology

study of mankind Sociology is one aspect of the science of ethnology.

etymology

study of word parts A knowledge of etymology can help you on many English tests.

gorge

stuff oneself The gluttonous guest gorged himself with food as though he had not eaten for days.

asinine

stupid Your asinine remarks prove that you have not given this problem any serious consideration.

dolt

stupid person I thought I was talking to a mature audience; instead, I find myself addressing a pack of dolts.

hardy

sturdy; robust; able to stand inclement weather We asked the gardening expert to recommend particularly hardy plants that could withstand our harsh New England winters.

appurtenances

subordinate possessions He bought the estate and all its appurtenances.

abate

subside or moderate Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate.

emetic

substance causing vomiting The use of an emetic like mustard is useful in cases of poisoning.

humus

substance formed by decaying vegetable matter In order to improve his garden, he spread humus over his lawn and flower beds.

antiseptic

substance that prevents infection It is advisable to apply an antiseptic to any wound, no matter how slight or insignificant.

anesthetic

substance that removes sensation with or without loss of consciousness His monotonous voice acted like an anesthetic; his audience was soon asleep.

blighted

suffering from a disease; destroyed The extent of the blighted areas could be seen only when viewed from the air.

dyspeptic

suffering from indigestion All the talk about rich food made him feel dyspeptic.

bilious

suffering from indigestion; irritable His bilious temperament was apparent to all who heard him rant about his difficulties.

imply

suggest a meaning not expressed Even though your statement does not declare that you are at war with that country, your actions imply that that is the actual situation.

connotation

suggested or implied meaning of an expression Foreigners frequently are unaware of the connotations of the words they use.

indicative

suggestive; implying A lack of appetite may be indicative of a major mental or physical disorder.

forensic

suitable to debate or courts of law In her best forensic manner, the lawyer addressed the jury.

expedient

suitable; practical; politic A pragmatic politician, he was guided by what was expedient rather than by what was ethical.

dour

sullen; stubborn The man was dour abd taciturn.

aggregate

sum; total The aggregate wealth of this country is staggering to the imagination.

conjure

summon a devil; proactive magic; imagine; invent He conjured up an image of a reformed city and had the voters completely under his spell.

aureole

sun's corona; halo Many medieval paintings depict saintly characters with aureols around their heads.

codicil

supplement to the body of a will This codicil was drawn up five years after the writing of the original will.

alimentary

supplying nourishment The alimentary canal in our bodies is so named because digestion of foods occurs there.

champion

support militantly Martin Luther King, Jr., won the Nobel Peace Prize because he championed the oppressed in their struggle for equality.

fulcrum

support on which a lever rests If we use this stone as a fulcrum and the crowbar as a lever, we may be able to move this boulder.

buttress

support; prop up Just as architects buttress the walls of cathedrals with flying buttresses, debates buttress their arguments with facts.

bolster

support; reinforce The debaters amassed file boxes full of evidence to bolster their arguments.

constituent

supporter The congressman received hundreds of letters from angry constituents after the Equal Rights Amendment failed to pass.

adherent

supporter; follower In the wake of the scandal, the senator's one-time adherent quietly deserted him.

conjecture

surmise; guess I will end all your conjectures; I admit I am guilty as charged.

capitulate

surrender The enemy was warned to capitulate or face annihilation.

extradition

surrender of prisoner by one state to another The lawyers opposed the extradition of their client on the grounds that for more than five years he had been a model citizen.

disgorge

surrender something; efect; vomit Unwilling to disgorge the cash he had stolen from the pension fund, the embezzler tried to run away.

encompass

surround Although we were encompassed by enemy forces, we were cheerful for we were well stocked and could withstand a siege until our allies joined us.

abeyance

suspended action The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival.

bravado

swagger; assumed air of defiance The bravado of the young criminal disappeared when he was confronted by the victims of his brutal attack.

euphony

sweet sound Noted for its euphony even when it is spoken, the Italian language is particularly pleasing to the ear when sung.

dulcet

sweet sounding The dulcet sounds of the birds at dawn were soon drowned out by the roar of traffic passing our motel.

bilk

swindle; cheat The con man specialized in bilking insurance companies.

eddy

swirling current of water, air, etc. The water in the tide pool was still, except for an occasional eddy.

bloated

swollen or puffed as with water or air Her bloated stomach came from drinking so much water.

dismantle

take apart When the show closed, they dismantled the scenery before restoring it.

doff

take off A gentleman used to doff his hat to a lady.

flair

talent She has an uncanny flair for discovering new artists before the public has become aware of their existence.

expatiate

talk at length At this time, please give us a brief resume of your work; we shall permit you to expatiate later.

drone

talk dully; buzz or murmur like a bee On a gorgeous day, who wants to be stuck in a classroom listening to the teacher drone?

blowhard

talkative boaster After all Sol's talk about his big show business connections led nowhere, Sally decided he was just another blowhard.

garrulity

talkativeness The man who married a dumb wife asked the doctor to make him deaf because of his wife's garrulity after her cure.

brindled

tawny or grayish with streaks or spots He was disappointed in the litter because the puppies were brindled; he had hoped for animals of uniform color.

didactic

teaching; instructional; preaching or moralizing The didactic qualities of his poetry overshadow its literary qualities; the lesson he teaches is more memorable than the lines.

gouge

tear out In that fight, all the rules were forgotten; the adversaries bit, kicked, and tried to gouge each other's eyes out.

badinage

teasing conversation Her friends at work greeted the news of her engagement with cheerful badinage.

bivouac

temporary encampment While in bivouac, we spent the night in our sleeping bags under the stars.

incursion

temporary invasion The nightly incursions and hit-and-run raids of our neighbors across the border tried the patience of the country to the point where we decided to retaliate in force.

homeostasis

tendency of a system to maintain relative stability A breakdown of the body's immune system severely undermines the body's ability to maintain homeostasis.

cohesion

tendency to keep together A firm believer in the maxim "Divide and conquer," the emperor, by lies and trickery, sought to disrupt the cohesion ofthe free nations.

inclined

tending or leaning toward; bent Though I am inclined to be skeptical, the witness's manner inclines me to believe his story.

inclusive

tending to include all The comedian turned down the invitation to join the Player's Club, saying any club that would let him in was too inclusive for him.

centripetal

tending toward the center Does centripetal force or the force of gravity bring orbiting bodies to the earth's surface?

enclave

territory enclosed within an alien land The Vatican is an independent enclave in Italy.

attest

testify; bear witness Having served as a member of a grand jury, I can attest that our system of indicting individuals is in need of improvement.

deposition

testimony under oath He made his deposition in the judge's chamber.

concomitant

that which accompanies Culture is not always a concomitant of wealth.

implication

that which is hinted at or suggested If I understand the implications of your remark, you do not trust our captain.

galaxy

the Milky Way; any collection of brilliant personalities The deaths of such famous actors as Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, and Marlene Dietrich demonstrate that the galaxy of Hollywood superstars is rapidly disppearing.

ambivalence

the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes Torn between loving her parents one minute and hating them the next, she was confused by the ambivalence of her feelings.

histrionic

theatrical He was proud of his histrionic ability and wanted to paly the role of Hamlet.

abstract

theoretical; not concrete; non-representational To him, hunger was an abstract concept; he had never missed a meal.

coagulate

thicken; congeal; clot Even after you remove the pudding from the burner, it will continue to coagulate as it stands.

emaciated

thin and wasted His long period of starvation had left him emaciated.

gruel

thin, liquid porridge Our daily allotment of gruel made the meal not only monotonous but also unpalatable.

cogitate

think over cogitate on this problem; the solution will come.

comprehensive

thorough; inclusive This book provides a comprehensive review of verbal and math skills for the SAT.

gentility

those of gentle birth; refinement Her family was proud of its gentility and elegance.

cerebration

thought Mathematics problems sometimes require much cerebration.

flail

thresh grain by hand; strike or slap; toss about In medieval times, warriors flailed their foe with a metal ball attached to a handle.

frugality

thrift; economy In these economically difficult days businesses must practice frugality or risk bankruptcy.

improvident

thriftless He was constantly being warned to mend his improvident ways and begin to "save for a rainy day."

embroil

throw into confusion He became embroiled in the heated discussion when he tried to arbitrate the dispute.

jettison

throw overboard In order to enable the ship to ride safely through the storm, the captain had to jettison much of his cargo.

fulminate

thunder; explode The people against whom she fulminated were innocent of any wrongdoing.

compact

tightly packed; firm; brief His short, compact body was better suited to wrestling than to basketball.

heyday

time of greatest success; prime In their heyday, the San Francisco Forty-Niners won the Super Bowl two years running.

gratuity

tip Many service employees rely more on gratuities than on salaries for their livelihood.

apex

tip; summit; climax He was at the apex of his career.

indefatigable

tireless He was indefatigable in his constant efforts to raise funds for the Red Cross.

harping

tiresome dwelling on a subject After he had reminded me several times about what he had done for me I told him to stop his harping on my indebtedness to him.

caption

title; chapter heading; text under illustration I find the captions that accompany these cartoons very clever and humorous.

fret

to be annonyed or vexed To fret over your poor grades is foolish; instead, decide to work harder in the future.

commandeer

to draft for military purposes; to take for public use The policeman commandeered the first car that approached and ordered the driver to go to the nearest hospital.

caulk

to make watertight (by plugging seams) When water from the shower leaked into the basement, we knew it was time to caulk the tiles at the edges of the shower stall.

defrock

to strip a priest or minister of church authority We knew the minister had violated church regulations, but we had not realized his offense was serious enough to cause him to be defrocked.

brook

tolerate; endure The dean would brook no interference with his disciplinary actions.

indisputable

too certain to be disputed In the face of these indisputable statements, I withdraw my complaint.

finicky

too particular; fussy The old lady was finicky about her food and ate very little.

cog

tooth projecting from a wheel A bicycle chain moves through a series of cogs in order to propel the bike.

fiasco

total failure Our ambitious venture ended in a fiasco and we were forced to flee.

explicit

totally clear; definite; outspoken Don't just hint around that you're dissatisfied: be explicit about what's bugging you.

barterer

trader The barterer exchanged trinkets for the natives' furs.

equable

tranquil; steady; uniform After the hot summers and cold winters of New England, he found the climate of the West Indies equable and pleasant.

cede

transfer; yield title to I intend to cede this property to the city.

conspiracy

treacherous plot Brutus and Cassius joined in the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar.

insidious

treacherous; stealthy; sly The fifth column is insidious because it works secretly within our territory for our defeat.

exchequer

treasury He had been Chancellor of the exchequer before his promotion to the office he now holds.

coddle

treat gently; pamper Don't coddle the children to much; they need a taste of discipline.

disdain

treat with scorn or contempt You make enemies of all you disdain.

intrude

trespass; enter as an uninvited person She hesitated to intrude on their conversation.

hoax

trick; practical joke Embarrassed by the hoax, he reddened and left the room.

feint

trick; shift; sham blow The boxer was fooled by his opponent's feint and dropped his guard.

chicanery

trickery Your deceitful tactics in this case are indications of chicanery.

dally

trifle with; procrastinate Laertes told Ophelia that Hamlet could only dally with her affections.

flippancy

trifling gaiety Your flippancy at this serious moment is offensive.

bauble

trinket; trifle The child was delighted with the bauble she had won in the grab bag.

junket

trip, especially one taken for pleasure by an official at public expense Though she maintained she had gone abroad to collect firsthand data on the Common Market, the opposition claimed that her trip was merely a political junket.

jaunt

trip; short journey He took a quick jaunt to Atlantic City.

confidant

trusted friend He had no confidants with whom he could discuss his problems at home.

complaisant

trying to please; obliging The courtier obeyed the king's orders in a complaisant manner.

deflect

turn aside His life was saved when his cigarette case deflected the bullet.

deviate

turn away from Do not deviate from the truth; you must face the facts.

deify

turn into a god; idolize Admire the rock star all you want; just don't deify him.

invert

turn upside down or inside out When he inverted his body in a hand stand, he felt the blood rush to his head.

gnarled

twisted The gnarled oak tree had been a landmark for years and was mentioned in several deeds.

distortion

twisting out of shape It is difficult to believe the newspaper accounts of this event because of the distortions and exaggerations of the reporters.

contortions

twistings; distortions As the effects of the opiate wore away, the contortions of the patient became more violent and demonstrated how much pain she was enduring.

bicameral

two-chambered, as a legislative body The United States Congress is a bicameral body.

despotism

tyranny The people rebelled against the despotism of the king.

irrepressible

unable to be restrained or held back Her high spirits were irrepressible.

doctrinaire

unable to compromise about points of doctrine; dogmatic; unyielding Weng had hoped that the student-led democracy movement might bring about change in China, but the repressive response of the doctrinaire hard-liners crushed his dreams of democracy.

irrevocable

unalterable Let us not brood over past mistakes since they are irrevocable.

inevitable

unavoidable Death and taxes are both inevitable.

infidel

unbeliever The Saracens made war against tne infidels.

irresolute

uncertain how to act; weak She had no respect for him because he seemed weak-willed and irresolute.

indeterminate

uncertain; not clearly fixed; indefinite That interest rates shall rise appears certain; when they will do so, however, remains indeterminate.

immutable

unchangeable Scientists are constantly seeking to discover the immutable laws of nature.

ambiguous

unclear or doubtful in meaning His ambiguous instructions misled us; we did not know which road to take.

invincible

unconquerable Superman is invincible.

indomitable

unconquerable The founders of our country had indomitable willpower.

insensible

unconscious; unresponsive Sherry and I are very different; at times when I would be covered with embarrassment, she seems insensible to shame.

incorrigible

uncorrectable Though Widow Douglass hoped to reform Huck, Miss Watson pronounced him incorrigible and said he would come to no good end.

disengage

uncouple; separate; disconnect A standard movie routine involves the hero's desperate attempt to disengage a railroad car from a moving train.

ethos

underlying character of a culture, group, etc. Seeing how tenderly Spaniards treated her small daughter made author Barbara Kingsolver aware of how greatly children were valued in the Spanish ethos.

implicit

understood but not stated Jack never told Jill he adored her; he believed his love was implicit in his deeds.

embryonic

undeveloped; rudimentary The evil of class and race hatred must be eliminated while it is still in an embryonic state; otherwise, it may grow to dangerous proportions.

inquisitive

unduly curious; prying; seeking knowledge We need more inquisitive students in this school; lectures are dull.

infallible

unerring We must remember that none of us is infallible; we all make mistakes.

inequity

unfairness In demanding equal pay for equal work, women protest the basic inequity of a system that allots greater financial rewards to men.

adverse

unfavorable; hostile adverse circumstances compelled him to close his business.

hapless

unfortunate This hapless creature had never known a moment's pleasure.

canard

unfounded rumor It is almost impossible to protect oneself from such a base canard.

inimical

unfriendly; hostile She felt that they were inimical and were hoping for her downfall.

ingrate

ungrateful person That ingrate Bob sneered at the tie I gave him.

incoherent

unintelligible; muddled; illogical The bereaved father sobbed and stammered, his words becoming almost incoherent in his grief.

incessant

uninterrupted The crickets kept up an incessant chirping that disturbed our attempts to fall asleep.

fusion

union; coalition The opponents of the political party in power organized a fusion of disgruntled groups and became an important element in the election.

carat

unit of weight for precious stones; measure of fineness of gold He gave her a diamond that weighed three carats and was mounted in an eighteen-carat gold band.

catholic

universal; wide-ranging liberal He was extremely catholic in his taste and read everything he could find in the library.

iniquitous

unjust; wicked I cannot approve of the iniquitous methods you used to gain your present position.

fluke

unlikely occurrence; stroke of fortune When Douglass defeated Tyson for the heavyweight championship, some sportscasters dismissed his victory as a fluke.

implausible

unlikely; unbelievable Though her alibi seened implausible, it in fact turned out to be true.

indifferent

unmoved; lacking concern Because she felt no desire to marry, she was indifferent to his constant proposals.

derivative

unoriginal; obtained from another source Although her early poetry was clearly derivative in nature, the critics thought she had promise and eventually would find her own voice.

heterodox

unorthodox; unconventional To those who upheld the belief that the earth did not move, Galileo's theory that the earth circled the sun was disturbingly heterodox.

disinterested

unprejudiced The only disinterested person in the room was the judge.

fantastic

unreal; grotesque; whimsical Your fears are fantastic because no such animal as you have described exists.

arbitrary

unreasonable or capricious; tyrannical The coach claimed the team lost because the umpire made some arbitrary calls.

earthy

unrefined; coarse His earthy remarks often embarrassed the women in the audience.

inordinate

unrestrained; excessive She had an inordinate fondness for candy.

fractious

unruly The fractious horse unseated its rider.

intractable

unruly; refractory The horse was intractable and refused to enter the starting gate.

altruistic

unselfishly generous; concerned for others In providing tutorial assistance and college scholarships to hundreds of economically disadvantaged youths, Eugene Lang performed a truly altruistic deed.

abortive

unsuccessful; fruitless We had to abandon our abortive attempts.

disheveled

untidy Your disheveled appearance will hurt your chances in this interview.

inopportune

untimely; poorly chosen A rock concert is an inopportune setting for a quiet conversation.

apocryphal

untrue; made up To impress his friends, Tom invented apocryphal tales of his adventures in the big city.

ineffable

unutterable; cannot be expressed in speech Such ineffable joy must be experienced; it cannot be described.

insalubrious

unwholesome; not healthful The mosquito-ridden swamp was an insalubrious place, a breeding ground for malarial contagion.

disinclination

unwilingness Some mornings I feel a great disinclination to get out of bed.

grudging

unwilling; reluctant; stingy We received only grudging support from the mayor despite his earlier promises of aid.

integrity

uprightness; wholeness Lincoln, whose personal integrity has inspired millions, fought a civil war to maintain the integrity of the republic, that these United States might remain undivided for all time.

distraught

upset; distracted by anxiety The distraught parents frantically searched the ravine for their lost child.

aloft

upward The sailor climbed aloft into the rigging.

exhort

urge The evangelist will exhort all sinners in his audience to reform.

goad

urge on He was goaded by his friends until he yielded to their wishes.

advocate

urge; plead for The abolitionists advocated freedom for the slaves.

instigate

urge; start; provoke I am afraid that this statement will instigate a revolt.

exigency

urgent situation In this exigency, we must look for aid from our allies.

importunate

urging; demanding He tried to hide from his importunate creditors until his allowance arrived.

coercion

use of force They forced him to obey, but only by great coercion.

colander

utensil with perforated bottom used for straining Before serving the spaghetti, place it in a colander to drain it.

blurt

utter impulsively Before she could stop him, he blurted out the news.

generality

vague statement This report is filled with generalities; you must be more specific in you statements.

foppish

vain about dress and appearance He tried to imitate the foppish manner of the young men of the court.

diversity

variety; dissimilitude The diversity of colleges in this country indicates that many levels of ability are being served.

diverge

vary; go in different directionsfrom the same point The spokes of the wheel diverge from the hub.

isotope

varying form of an element The study of the isotopes of uranium led to the development of the nuclear bomb.

conveyance

vehicle; transfer During the transit strike, commuters used various kinds of conveyances.

execrable

very bad The anecdote was in execrable taste and shocked the audience.

gingerly

very carefully To separate egg whites, first crack the egg gingerly.

infinitesimal

very small In the twentieth century, physicists have made their greatest discoveries about the characteristics of infinitesimal objects like the atom and its parts.

iota

very small quantity She hadn't an iota of common sense.

exasperate

vex Johnny often exasperates his mother with his pranks.

chagrin

vexation; disappointment Her refusal to go with us filled us with chagrin.

infringe

violate; encroach I think your machine infringes on my patent and intend to sue.

infraction

violation Because of his many infractions of school regulations, he was suspended by the dean.

impetuous

violent; hasty; rash We tried to curb his impetuous behavior because we felt that in his haste he might offend some people.

boisterous

violent; rough; noisy The unruly crowd became even more boisterous when he tried to quiet them.

insomnia

wakefulness; inability to sleep He refused to join us in a midnight cup of coffee because he claimed it gave him insomnia.

errant

wandering Many a charming tale has been written about the knights-errant who helped the weak and punished the guilty during the Age of Chivalry.

digression

wandering away from the subject Nobody minded when Professor Renoir's lectures wandered away from their offical theme; his digressions were always more fascinating than the topic of the day.

itinerant

wandering; traveling He was an itinerant peddler and traveled through Pennsylvania and Virginia selling his wares.

bellicose

warlike His bellicose disposition alienated his friends.

chafe

warm by rubbing The collar chafed his neck.

admonish

warn; reprove He admonished his listeners to change their wicked ways.

ablution

washing His daily ablutions were accompanied by loud noises that he humorously labeled "Opera in the Bath."

fritter

waste He could not apply himself to any task and frittered away his time in idle conversation.

dross

waste matter; worhtless impurities Many methods have been devised to separate the valuable metal from the dross.

haggard

wasted away; gaunt After his long illness, he was pale and haggard.

atrophy

wasting away Polio victims need physiotherapy to prevent the atrophy of affected limbs.

gargolye

waterspout carved in groteque figures on a building The gargoyles adorning the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris are amusing in their grotesqueness.

fluctuation

wavering Meteorologists watch the fluctuations of the barometer in order to predict the weather.

impotent

weak; ineffective Although he wished to break the nicotine habit, he found himself impotent in resisisting the craving for a cigarette.

enervate

weaken She was slow to recover from her illness; even a short walk to the window evervated her.

invalidate

weaken; destroy The relatives who received little or nothing sought to invalidate the will by claiming that the deceased had not been in his right mind when he signed the document.

debilitate

weaken; enfeeble Overindulgence debilitates character as well as physical stamina.

extenuate

weaken; mitigate It is easier for us to extenuate our own shortcomings than those of others.

infirmity

weakness Her greatest infirmity was lack of willpower.

frailty

weakness The doctor prescribed vitamin and mineral supplements for the sick old woman because of her frailty.

imbecility

weakness of mind I am amazed at the imbecility of the readers of these trashy magazines.

foible

weakness; slight fault We can overlook the foibles of our friends; no one is perfect.

imponderable

weightless I can evaluate the data gathered in this study; the imponderable items are not so easily analyzed.

eerie

weird In that eerie setting, it was easy to believe in ghosts and other supernatural beings.

genteel

well-bred; elegant We are looking for a man with a genteel apperance who can inspire confidence by his cultivated manner.

bedraggle

wet thoroughly We were so bedraggled by the severe storm that we had to change into dry clothing.

caprice

whim She was an unpredictable creature, acting on caprice, never taking thought of the consequences.

conceit

whimsical idea; extravagant metaphor He was an entertaining companion, always expressing himself in amusing conceits and witty turns of phrase.

fanciful

whimsical; visionary This is a fanciful scheme because it does not consider the facts.

hoary

white with age The man was hoary and wrinkled when he was 70.

breadth

width; extent We were impressed by the breadth of her knowledge.

frantic

wild At the time of the collision, many people became frantic with fear.

dormer

window projecting from roof In remodeling the attic into a bedroom, we decided that we needed to put in dormers to provide sufficient ventilation for the new room.

gusty

windy The gusty weather made sailing precarious.

hibernal

wintry Bears prepare for their long hibernal sleep by overeating.

adage

wise saying; proverb There is much truth in the old adage about fools and their money.

astute

wise; shrewd That was a very astute observation.

askance

with a sideways or indirect look Looking askance at her questioner, she displayed her scorn.

incognito

with identity concealed; using an assumed name The monarch enjoyed traveling throughthe town incognito and mingling with the populace.

apropos

with reference to; regarding I find your remarks apropos of the present situation timely and pertinent.

incredulous

withholding belief; skeptical When Jack claimed he hadn't eaten the jelly doughnut, Jill took an incredulous look at his smeared face and laughed.

guileless

without deceit He is naive, simple, and guileless; he cannot be guilty of fraud.

categorical

without exceptions; unqualified; absolute Though the captain claimed he was never, never sick at sea, he finally qualified his categorical denial; he was hardly ever sick at sea.

insensate

without feeling She lay there as insensate as a log.

impassive

without feeling; not affected by pain The Native American has been incorrectly depicted as an impassive individual, undemonstrative and stoical.

artless

without guile; open and honest Red Riding Hood's artless comment, "Grandma, what big eyes you have!" indicates the child's innocent surprises at her "grandmother's" changed appearance.

impecunious

without money Now that he was wealthy, he gladly contributed to funds to assist impecunious and disbled persons.

impromptu

without previous preparation Her listeners were amazed that such a thorough presentation could be made in an impromptu speech.

epigram

witty thought or saying, usually short Poor Richard's epigrams made Benjamin Franklin famous.

deadpan

wooden; impassive We wanted to see how long he could maintain his deadpan expression.

fleece

wool coat of a sheep They shear sheep of their fleece, which they then comb into separate strands of wool.

epithet

word or phrase characteristically used to describe a person or thing So many kings of France were named Charles that modern students need epithets to tell them apart: Charles the Wise, for example, was someone far different from Charles the Fat.

diffusion

wordiness; spreading in all directions like a gas Your composition suffers from a diffusion of ideas; try to be more compact.

collage

work of art put together from fragments Scraps of cloth, paper doilies, and old photographs all went into her collage.

collaborate

work together Two writers collaborated in preparing this book.

effete

worn out; exhausted; barren The literature of the age reflected the effete condition of the writers; no new ideas were forthcoming.

impair

worsen; diminish in value This arrest will impair her reputation in the community.

exacerbate

worsen; embitter This latest arrest will exacerbate the already existing discontent of the people and enrage them.

idolatry

worship of idols; excessive admiration Such idolatry of singers of country music is typical of the excessive enthusiasm of youth.

chaff

worthless products of an endeavor When you separate the wheat from the chaff, be sure you throw out the chaff.

grapple

wrestle; come to grips with He grappled with the burglar and overpowered him.

abject

wretched; lacking pride On the streets of New York the homeless live in abject poverty, huddling in doorways to find shelter from the wind.

extort

wring from; get money by threats, etc. The blackmailer extorted money from his victim.

indite

write; compose Cyrano indited many letters for Christian.

context

writings preceding and following the passage quoted Because these lines are taken out of context, they do not convey the message the author intended.

affidavit

written statement made under oath The court refused to accept his statement unless he presented it in the form of an affidavit.

amiss

wrong; faulty Seeing her frown, he wondered if anything were amiss.

annuity

yearly allowance The annuity he set up with the insurance company supplements his social security benefits so that he can live very comfortably without working.

jaundiced

yellowed; prejudiced; envious She gazed at the painting with jaundiced eyes; she knew it was better than hers.

compliant

yielding He was compliant and ready to go along with his friends' desires.

cession

yielding to another; ceding The cession of Alaska to the United States is discussed in this chapter.

debutante

yound woman making formal entrance into society As a debutante, she was often mentioned in the society columns of the newspapers.

callow

youthful; immature In that youthful movement, the leaders were only a little less callow than their immature followers.