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| "Definitions, Other Forms, and Examples" |
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| deviating from normal or correct. |
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| "to leave secretly and hide, often to avoid the law." |
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| "to speak, plead, or argue for a cause, or in another’s behalf. (n) -- one who advocates." |
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| "to make greater, to increase, thus, to exaggerate." |
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| to unite or mix. (n) -- amalgamation. |
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| vague; subject to more than one interpretation |
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| "extremely pleasing to the senses, divine (as related to the gods) or delicious (n: ambrosia)" |
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| a person or artifact appearing after its own time or out of chronological order (adj: anachronistic) |
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| "peculiar; unique, contrary to the norm (n: anomaly)" |
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| "ancient; outmoded; (literally,before the flood)" |
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| "hostility toward, objection, or aversion to" |
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| to settle a dispute by impulse (n: arbitration) |
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| to make less severe; to appease or satisfy |
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| "extremely bold; fearless, especially said of human behavior (n: audacity)" |
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| commonplace or trite (n: banality) |
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| "unconcealed, shameless, or brazen" |
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| speech or action intended to coax someone into doing something |
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| pompous speech (adj: bombastic) |
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| "a lapse, gap or break, as in a fortress wall. To break or break through.ex: Unfortunately, the club members never forgot his breach of ettiquette." |
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| to grow or flourish; a bud or new growth (adj: burgeoning ) |
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| to get something by taking advantage of someone |
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| impulse (adj: capricious) |
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| to chastise or criticize severely |
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| an agent of change (adj: catalytic; v. catalyze) |
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| "capable of dissolving by chemical action; highly critical: ""His caustic remarks spoiled the mood of the party.""" |
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| willingly compliant or accepting of the status quo (n: complaisance) |
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| "of or having to do with material, as opposed to spiritual; tangible. (In older writings, coeporeal could be a synonym for corporal. This usage is no longer common)" |
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| "of the body: ""corporal punishment."" a non-commissioned officer ranked between a sergeant and a private." |
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| "to strengthen or support: ""The witness corroborted his story."" (n: corroboration)" |
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| deserving of blame (n: culpability) |
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| "lack, scarcity: ""The prosecutor complained about the dearth of concrete evidence against the suspect.""" |
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| "submission or courteous yielding: ""He held his tongue in deference to his father."" (n: deferential. v. defer)" |
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| "to show, create a picture of." |
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| belittlement. (v. deprecate) |
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| "the act of preying upon or plundering: ""The depredations of the invaders demoralized the population.""" |
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| to dry out thoroughly (adj: desiccated) |
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| a bitter abusive denunciation. |
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| "lacking self-confidence, modest (n: diffidence)" |
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| "to free a person from falsehood or error: ""We had to disabuse her of the notion that she was invited.""" |
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| belittling (n: disparagement. v. disparage) |
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| calm; objective; unbiased |
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| "to conceal one's real motive, to feign" |
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| "stubborn or determined: ""Her dogged pursuit of the degree eventually paid off.""" |
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| "relying upon doctrine or dogma, as opposed to evidence" |
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| "selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources: ""Many modern decorators prefer an eclectic style."" (n: eclecticism)" |
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| effectiveness; capability to produce a desired effect |
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| "the quality of flowing out. something that flows out, such as a stream from a river (n: effluence)" |
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| softening; something that softens |
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| to strive to equal or excel (n: emulation) |
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| a formal eulogy or speech of praise |
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| "prevalent in or native to a certain region, locality, or people: ""The disease was endemic to the region."" Don't confuse this word with epidemic." |
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| "to weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: ""The heatenervated everyone."" (adj: enervating)" |
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| "to give rise to, to propagate, to cause: ""His slip of the toungue engendered much laughter.""" |
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| "puzzle; mystery: ""Math is an enigma to me."" (adj: enigmatic)" |
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| "lasting for only a brief time, fleeting (n: ephemera)" |
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| "ambiguous; unclear; subject to more than one interpretation -- often intentionally so: ""Republicans complained that Bill Clinton's answers were equivocal."" (v. equivocate)" |
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| scholarly; displaying deep intensive learning. (n: erudition) |
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| "intended for or understood by only a few: ""The esoteric discussion confused some people."" (n: esoterica)" |
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| a spoken or written tribute to the deceased (v. eulogize) |
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| "to increase the bitterness or violence of; to aggravate: ""The decision to fortify the border exacerbated tensions.""" |
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| "to demonstrate or prove to be blameless: ""The evidence tended to exculpate the defendant.""(adj: exculpatory)" |
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| "exceeding customary or normal limits, esp. in quantity or price: ""The cab fare was exorbitant.""" |
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| fully and clearly expressed |
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| "in existence, still existing: The only extant representative of that species.""" |
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| "a measure of length (six feet) used in nautical settings. to penetrate to the depths of something in order to understand it: ""I couldn't fathom her reasoning on that issue.""" |
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| "to seek favor or attention; to act subserviantly (n, adj: fawning)" |
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| "to give false appearance or impression: ""He feigned illness to avoid going to school."" (adj: feigned)" |
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| "highly emotional; hot: ""The partisans displayed a fervent patriotism."" (n: fervor)" |
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| a baby bird; an inexperienced person; inexperienced. |
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| "flushed with a rosy color, as in complexion; very ornate and flowery: ""florid prose.""" |
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| "struggling: ""We tried to save the floundering business.""" |
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| "verbose; talkative; rambling: ""We tried to avoid our garrulous neighbor.""" |
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| "fine cobweb on foliage; fine gauzy fabric; very fine: ""She wore a gossamer robe.""" |
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| "skillful deceit: ""He was well known for his guile."" (v. bequile; adj: beguiling. Note, however, that these two words have an additional meaning: to charm (v.) or charming (adj:), while the word guile does not generally have any such positive connotations)" |
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| honest; straightforward (n: guilelessness) |
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| "headfirst; impulsive; hasty. impulsively; hastily; without forethought: ""They rushed headlong into marriage.""" |
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| "similar in nature or kind; uniform: ""a homogeneous society.""" |
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| one who attacks traditional ideas or institutions or one who destroys sacred images (adj: iconoclastic) |
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| insinuation or connotation (v. implicate) |
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| "to suggest indirectly; to entail: ""She implied she didn't believe his story."" (n: implication)" |
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| "an absence of foresight; a failure to provide for future needs or events: ""Their improvidence resulted in the loss of their home.""" |
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| "in an initial or early stage; incomplete; disorganized: ""The act of writing forces one to clarify incohate thoughts.""" |
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| "not capable of being corrected: ""The school board finally decided the James was incorrigible and expelled him from school.""" |
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| "permanent; unerasable; strong: ""The Queen made an indelible impression on her subjects.""" |
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| undescribable; inexpressible in words; unspeakable |
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| "to deduce: ""New genetic evidence led some zoologists to infer that the red wolf is actually a hybrid of the coyote and the gray wolf.""" |
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| "clever: ""She developed an ingenious method for testing her hypothesis.""(n: ingenuity)" |
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| "unsophisticated; artless; straightforward; candid: ""Wilson's ingenuous response to the controversial calmed the suspicious listeners.""" |
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| "to hold back, prohibit, forbid, or restrain (n: inhibition, adj: inhibited)" |
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| harmless; having no adverse affect; not likely to provoke strong emotion |
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| "numb; unconscious: ""Wayne was rendered insensible by a blow to the head."" unfeeling; insensitive: ""They were insensibile to the suffering of others.:" |
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| lacking zest or excitement; dull |
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| "of or pertaining to an island, thus, excessively exclusive: ""Newcomers found it difficult to make friends in the insular community."" " |
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| "stubborn; immovable; unwilling to change: ""She was so intransigent we finally gave up trying to convince her."" (n: intransigence)" |
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| "prone to outbursts of temper, easily angered" |
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| "using few words; terse: ""a laconic reply.""" |
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| present or potential but not evident or active (n: latency) |
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| praiseworthy; commendable (v. laud) |
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| "giant whale, therefore, something very large" |
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| "clear; translucent: ""He made a lucid argument to support his theory.""" |
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| "weighty, mournful, or gloomy, especially to an excessive degree: ""Jake's lugubrious monologues depressed his friends.""" |
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| generosity and nobility. (adj: magnanimous) |
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| "malicious; evil; having or showing ill will: ""Some early American colonists saw the wilderness as malevolent and sought to control it.""" |
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| "one who hates people: ""He was a true misanthrope and hated even himself.""" |
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| incorrect name or word for something |
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| "to make less forceful; to become more moderate; to make less harsh or undesirable: ""He was trying to mitigate the damage he had done."" (n: mitigation)" |
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| "wicked, evil: ""a nefarious plot.""" |
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| "harmful, offensive, destructive: ""The noisome odor of the dump carried for miles.""" |
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| hardened against influence or feeling; intractable. |
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| to prevent by anticipatory measures; to make unnecessary: |
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| to close or shut off; to obstruct (n: occlusion) |
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| "not transparent or transluscent; dense; difficult to comprehend, as inopaque reasoning" |
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| "turned to bone; hardened like bone; Inflexible: ""The ossified culture failed to adapt to new economic conditions and died out.""" |
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| a writing or speech in praise of a person or thing |
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| "showing a narrow concern for rules or formal book learning; making an excessive display of one's own learning: ""We quickly tired of his pedantic conversation."" (n: pedant, pedantry)." |
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| deliberately treacherous; dishonest (n: perfidy) |
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| "easily or frequently annoyed, especially over trivial matters; childishly irritable" |
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| "tendency or action for the benefit of others, as in donating money or property to a charitible organization" |
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| not easily excited; cool; sluggish |
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| "to calm or reduce anger by making concessions: ""The professor tried to placate his students by postponing the exam.""" |
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| related to being shaped or molded; capable of being molded. (n: plasticity n: plastic) |
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| "excessively large quantity; overabundance: ""We received a p lethora of applications for the position.""" |
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| "heavy; massive; awkward; dull: ""A ponderous book is better than a sleeping pill.""" |
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| "concerned with facts; practical, as opposed to highly principled or traditional: ""His pragmatic approach often offended idealists."" (n: pragmatism)" |
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| "cliff with a vertical or nearly vertical face; a dangerous place from which one is likely to fall; metaphorically, a very risky circumstance" |
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| "to fall; to fall downward suddenly and dramatically; to bring about or hasten the occurrence of something: ""Old World diseases precipitated a massive decline in the American Indian population.""" |
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| "something (or someone) that precedes another: ""The assasination of the Archduke was a precursor to the war.""" |
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| "to stray away from or evade the truth: ""When we asked him what his intentions were, he prevaricated.""(n: prevarication; prevaricator)" |
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| "rashly wasteful: ""Americans' prodigal devotion to the automobile is unique.""" |
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| "to conciliate; to appease: ""They made sacrifices to propitiate angry gods.""" |
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| beautiful (n: pulchritude) |
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| "cowardly, timid, or irreselute; petty: ""The pusillanimous leader soon lost the respect of his people.""" |
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| inactivity; stillness; dormancy (adj: quiescent) |
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| "to make or become thin; to purify or refine (n: rarefaction, adj: rarefied)" |
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| "the act of censuring, scolding, or rebuking. (v. reprove)." |
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| having a sharp or powerful intellect or discernment. (n: sagacity). |
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| "cheerful; confident: ""Her sanguine attitude put everyone at ease.""(Sangfroid (noun) is a related French word meaning unflappibility. Literally, it means cold blood)" |
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| to satisfy fully or to excess |
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| having a gloomy or morose temperament |
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| a very knowledgable person; a genious |
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| "diligent; persevering; persistent: ""Her sedulous devotion to overcoming her background impressed many."" (n: sedulity; sedulousness; adv. sedulously)" |
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| "seemingly true but really false; deceptively convincing or attractive: ""Her argument, though specious, was readily accepted by many.""" |
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| "only covering the surface: ""A superficial treatment of the topic was all they wanted.""" |
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| "unspoken: ""Katie and carmella had a tacit agreement that they would not mention the dented fender to their parents.""" |
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| habitually untalkative or silent (n: taciturnity) |
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| exercising moderation and self-denial; calm or mild (n: temperance) |
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| "an angry speech: ""His tirade had gone on long enough.""" |
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| "twisted; excessively complicated: ""Despite public complaints, tax laws and forms have become increasingly tortuous."" Note: Don't confuse this with torturous." |
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| "ability to be easily managed or controlled: ""Her mother wished she were more tractable."" (n: tractibility)" |
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| "depravity; baseness: ""Mr. Castor was fired for moral turpitude.""" |
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| "beginner; person lacking experience in a specific endeavor: ""They easily took advantage of the tyro.""" |
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| "empty; without contents; without ideas or intelligence:: ""She flashed a vacuous smile.""" |
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| "great respect or reverence: ""The Chinese traditionally venerated their ancestors; ancestor worship is merely a popular misnomer for this tradition."" (n: veneration, adj: venerable)" |
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| "wordy: ""The instructor asked her verbose student make her paper more concise."" (n: verbosity)" |
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| "to annoy; to bother; to perplex; to puzzle; to debate at length: ""Franklin vexed his brother with his controversial writings.""" |
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| "slow moving; highly resistant to flow: ""Heintz commercials imply that their catsup is more viscous than others'."" (n: viscosity)" |
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| explosive; fickle (n: volatility). |
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| "craving or devouring large quantities of food, drink, or other things. She is a voracious reader." |
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| to hesitate or to tremble |
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| extremely pitiful or unfortunate (n: wretch) |
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| "enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal (n: zealot; zealoutry. adj: zealous)" |
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