to humiliate, degrade

(After being overthrown and abased, the deposed
leader offered to bow down to his conqueror.)

to reduce, lessen

(The rain poured down for a while, then abated.)

to give up a position, usually one of leadership

(When he realized that the revolutionaries would surely win, the king abdicated his throne.)

something that differs from the norm

(In 1918, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox have not won a World Series since.)

to aid, help, encourage

(The spy succeeded only because he had a friend on the
inside to abet him.)

to hate, detest

(Because he always wound up kicking himself in the head
when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)

1. to put up with

(Though he did not agree with the decision, Chuck decided
to abide by it.)

2.to remain

(Despite the beating they’ve taken from the weather
throughout the millennia, the mountains abide.)

wretched, pitiful

(After losing all her money, falling into a puddle, and
breaking her ankle, Eloise was abject.)

to reject, renounce

(To prove his honesty, the President abjured the

evil policies of his wicked predecessor.)

denial of comfort to oneself

(The holy man slept on the floor, took only cold showers, and generally followed other practices of abnegation.)

 to cut down, shorten

(The publisher thought the dictionary

was too long and abridged it.)

to abolish, usually by authority

(The Bill of Rights assures that the government cannot abrogate our right to a free press.)

to sneak away and hide

(In the confusion, the super-spy absconded into the   night with the secret plans.)

freedom from blame, guilt, sin

(Once all the facts were known, the jury gave Angela absolution by giving a verdict of not guilty.)

to freely choose not to commit an action

(Everyone demanded that Angus put on the kilt, but he did not want to do it and abstained.)

hard to comprehend

(Everyone else in the class understood geometry
easily, but John found the subject abstruse.)

to agree

(When the class asked the teacher whether they could play baseball instead of learn grammar they expected him to refuse, but instead he acceded to their request.)

to stress, highlight

(Psychologists agree that those people who are
happiest accentuate the positive in life.)

obtainable, reachable

(After studying with SparkNotes and getting a great score on the SAT, Marlena happily realized that her goal of getting into an Ivy-League college was accessible.)

high praise

(Greg’s excellent poem won the acclaim of his friends.)

high praise, special distinction

(Everyone offered accolades to Sam

after he won the Noble Prize.)

helpful, obliging, polite

(Though the apartment was not big enough for three people, Arnold, Mark, and Zebulon were all friends

and were accommodating to each other.)

an agreement

(After much negotiating, England and Iceland finally

came to a mutually beneficial accord about

fishing rights off the cost of Greenland.)

to confront verbally

(Though Antoinette was normally quite calm, when the
waiter spilled soup on her for the fourth time in 15 minutes she stood up and accosted
the man.)

slow growth in size or amount

(Stalactites are formed by the accretion of
minerals from the roofs of caves.)

biting, bitter in tone or taste

(Jill became extremely acerbic and began to
cruelly make fun of all her friends.)

to agree without protesting

(Though Mr. Correlli wanted to stay outside and work in his garage, when his wife told him that he had better come in to dinner, he acquiesced to her demands.)

bitterness, discord

(Though they vowed that no girl would ever come
between them, Biff and Trevor could not keep acrimony from overwhelming their friendship after they both fell in love with the lovely Teresa.)

keen insight

(Because of his mathematical acumen, Larry was

able to figure out in minutes problems that took

other students hours.)

1. sharp, severe

(Arnold could not walk because the

pain in his foot was so acute.)

2. having keen insight

(Because she was so acute, Libby instantly figured

out how the magician pulled off his “magic.”)

impervious, immovable, unyielding

(Though public pressure was intense, the President remained adamant about his proposal.)

extremely skilled

(Tarzan was adept at jumping

from tree to tree like a monkey.)

1. to stick to something

(We adhered the poster to the wall with tape.)

2. to follow devoutly

(He adhered to the dictates of his

religion without question.)

to caution, criticize, reprove

(Joe’s mother admonished him not to ruin
his appetite by eating cookies before dinner.)

to decorate

(We adorned the tree with ornaments.)

skillful, dexterous

(The adroit thief could pick someone’s pocket

without attracting notice.)

extreme praise

(Though the book was pretty good, Marcy did not believe
it deserved the adulation it received.)

to sketch out in a vague way

(The coach adumbrated a game plan, but
none of the players knew precisely what to do.)

antagonistic, unfavorable, dangerous

(Because of adverse conditions, the hikers

decided to give up trying to climb the mountain.)

1. to argue in favor of something

(Arnold advocated turning left at the stop sign, even though everyone else thought we should turn right.)

2. a person who argues in favor of something

(In addition to wanting to turn left at every stop

sign, Arnold was also a great advocate of

increasing national defense spending.)

somehow related to the air

(We watched as the fighter planes

conducted aerial maneuvers.)

artistic, related to the appreciation of beauty

(We hired Susan as our interior decorator because
she has such a fine aesthetic sense.)

friendly, amiable

(People like to be around George because he

is so affable and good-natured.)

feeling of closeness

(Jerry didn’t know why, but he felt an incredible

affinity for Kramer the first time they met.)

rich, wealthy

(Mrs. Grebelski was affluent, owning a huge house,

three cars, and an island near Maine.)

an insult

(Bernardo was very touchy, and took any

slight as an affront to his honor.)

to increase or make greater

(Joseph always dropped the names of then

famous people his father knew as a way to

aggrandize his personal stature.)

1. a whole or total

(The three branches of the U.S. Government form an
aggregate much more powerful than its individual parts.)

2. to gather into a mass

(The dictator tried to aggregate as many people

into his army as he possibly could.)

distressed, wronged, injured

(The foreman mercilessly overworked

his aggrieved employees.)

quick, nimble

(The dogs were too slow to catch the agile rabbit.)

believing that the existence of God cannot

be proven or disproven

(Joey’s parents are very religious, but he is agnostic.)

farming

(It was a huge step in the progress of civilization

when tribes left hunting and gathering and began to

develop more sustainable methods of obtaining food,

such as agriculture.)

a passageway between rows of seats

(Once we got inside the stadium we walked

down the aisle to our seats.)

eagerness, speed

(For some reason, Chuck loved to help his mother
whenever he could, so when his mother asked him

to set the table he did so with alacrity.)

a false name or identity

(He snuck past the guards by

using an alias and fake ID.)

to soothe, ease

(The chairman of the Federal Reserve gave a speech to try to allay investors’ fears about an economic downturn.)

to assert, usually without proof

(The policeman had alleged that Marshall committed

the crime, but after the investigation turned up

no evidence, Marshall was set free.)

to relieve, make more bearable

(This drug will alleviate the symptoms of
the terrible disease, but only for a while.)

to distribute, set aside

(The Mayor allocated 30 percent of the funds

for improving the town’s schools.)

reserved, distant

(The scientist could sometimes seem aloof, as if he

didn’t care about his friends or family, but really he

was just thinking about quantum mechanics.)

a dispute, fight

(Jason and Lionel blamed one another for the

car accident, leading to an altercation.)

to bring together, unite

(Because of his great charisma, the presidential
candidate was able to amalgamate all democrats

and republicans under his banner.)

uncertain, variably interpretable

(Some people think Caesar married Cleopatra for her power, others believe he was charmed by her beauty.

His actual reasons are ambiguous.)

having opposing feelings

(My feelings about Calvin are ambivalent
because on one hand he is a loyal friend, but on

the other, he is a cruel and vicious thief.)

to improve

(The tense situation was ameliorated when Sam

proposed a solution everyone could agree upon.)

willing, compliant

(Our father was amenable when we asked him to
drive us to the farm so we could go apple picking.)

an item that increases comfort

(Bill Gates’s house is stocked with so many

amenities, he never has to do anything for himself.)

friendly

(An amiable fellow, Harry got along

with just about everyone.)

friendly

(Claudia and Jimmy got divorced, but

amicably and without hard feelings.)

inclined toward or displaying sexual love or romance

(Whenever Albert saw Mariah wear her slinky

red dress, he began to feel quite amorous.)

without definite shape or type

(The effort was doomed from the start, because

the reasons behind it were so

amorphous and hard to pin down.)

being out of correct chronological order

(In this book you’re writing, you say that the Pyramids were built after the Titanic sank, which is anachronistic.)

something that reduces pain

(Put this analgesic on the wound so that the

poor man at least feels a little better.)

similar to, so that an analogy can be drawn

(Though they are unrelated genetically, the bone

structure of whales and fish is quite analogous.)

one who wants to eliminate all government

(An anarchist, Carmine wanted to dissolve

every government everywhere.)

a cursed, detested person

(I never want to see that murderer.

He is an anathema to me.)

a short, humorous account

(After dinner, Marlon told an anecdote about
the time he got his nose stuck in a toaster.)

loss of sensation

(When the nerves in his spine were damaged,

Mr. Hollins suffered anesthesia in his legs.)

extreme sadness, torment

(Angelos suffered terrible anguish when he learned

that Buffy had died while combating a strange

mystical force of evil.)

lively

(When he begins to talk about drama, which is

his true passion, he becomes very animated.)

1. to incorporate territory or space

(After defeating them in battle,

the Russians annexed Poland.)

2. a room attached to a larger room or space

(He likes to do his studying in a little annex

attached to the main reading room in the library.)

to make void or invalid

(After seeing its unforeseen and catastrophic effects,
Congress sought to annul the law.)

something that does not fit into the normal order

(“That rip in the spacetime continuum is certainly

a spatial anomaly,” said Spock to Captain Kirk.)

being unknown, unrecognized

(Mary received a love poem from

an anonymous admirer.)

hostility

(Superman and Bizarro Superman shared a

mutual antagonism, and often fought.)

something that came before

(The great tradition of Western culture had
its antecedent in the culture of Ancient Greece.)

extremely old and antiquated, occurring or belonging

to the era before the Flood

(The antediluvian man still believed that Eisenhower

was president of the United States and that

hot dogs cost a nickel.)

a selected collection of writings, songs, etc.

(The new anthology of Bob Dylan songs contains all

his greatest hits and a few songs that you

might never have heard before.)

a strong dislike, repugnance

(I know you love me, but because you are a liar

and a thief, I feel nothing but antipathy for you.)

old, out of date, no longer used, obsolete; old-fashioned

(That antiquated car has none of the features,

like power windows and steering, that

make modern cars so great.)

thoroughly clean, sterile

(The antiseptic hospital was very bare, but its

cleanliness helped to keep patients healthy.)

the absolute opposite, opposing thought or idea

(Your values, which hold war and violence in the highest esteem, are the antithesis of my pacifist beliefs.)

being of questionable authenticity, false

(Because I am standing before you, it seems obvious that the stories circulating about my demise were apocryphal.)

inspiring shock, horror, disgust

(The judge found the murderer’s

crimes and lack of remorse appalling.)

to calm, satisfy

(When the child cries, the mother

gives him candy to appease him.)

to assess the worth or value of

(A realtor will come over tonight to appraise our house.)

1. to seize, arrest

(The criminal was apprehended at the scene.)

2. to perceive, understand, grasp

(The student has trouble apprehending

concepts in math and science.)

praise, official approval

(The crowd welcomed the heroes with approbation.)

to take, to set apart for a specific use

(The government appropriated the

farmer’s land without justification.)

suitable for growing crops

(The farmer purchased a plot of arable land

on which he will grow corn and sprouts.)

one who can resolve a dispute, make a decision

(The divorce court judge will serve as the arbiter

between the estranged husband and wife.)

based on factors that appear random,

based on or subject to individual discretion or preference

(The boy’s decision to choose one
college over another seems arbitrary.)

the process or act of resolving a dispute (legal technique)

(The employee sought official arbitration when he could not resolve a disagreement with his supervisor.)

of or relating to trees

(Leaves, roots, and bark are a few arboreal traits.)

obscure, secret, known only by a few

(The professor is an expert in

arcane Lithuanian literature.)

of or relating to an earlier period in time, outdated

(In a few select regions of Western Mongolian,

an archaic Chinese dialect is still spoken.)

the most representative or typical example of something

(Some believe George Washington, with

his flowing white hair and commanding

stature, was the archetypal politician.)

extreme vigor, energy, enthusiasm

(The soldiers conveyed their ardor

with impassioned battle cries.)

excessively dry

(Little other than palm trees and cacti

grow successfully in arid environments.)

to take without justification

(The king arrogated the right to order
executions to himself exclusively.)

a craftsman

(The artisan uses wood to make walking sticks.)

to find out, to learn with certainty

(With a bit of research, the student ascertained that
some plants can live for weeks without water.)

practicing restraint as a means of self-discipline, usually religious

(The priest lives an ascetic life devoid of television, savory foods, and other pleasures.)

to assign, credit, attribute to

(Some ascribe the invention of fireworks and
dynamite to the Chinese.)

a curse, expression of ill-will

(The rival politicians repeatedly cast
aspersions on each others’ integrity.)

to long for, aim toward

(The young poet aspires to publish

a book of verse someday.)

to attack

(At dawn, the war planes assailed

the boats in the harbor.)

to evaluate

(A crew arrived to assess the damage after the crash.)

hard-working, diligen, marked by care and persistence

(The construction workers erected the skyscraper

during two years of assiduous labor.)

to ease, pacify

(The mother held the baby to assuage its fears.)

very clever, craft, marked by practical hardheaded intelligence

(Much of Roger’s success in politics results from his

ability to provide astute answers to reporters’ questions.)

1. a place of refuge, protection, a sanctuary

(For Thoreau, the forest served as an asylum

from the pressures of urban life.)

2. an institution in which the insane are kept

(Once diagnosed by a certified psychiatrist,

the man was put in an asylum.)

to repent, make amends

(The man atoned for forgetting his wife’s

birthday by buying her five dozen roses.)

to wither away, decay

(If muscles do not receive enough blood,

they will soon atrophy and die.)

to achieve, arrive at

(The athletes strived to attain their

best times in competition.)

1. to credit, assign

(He attributes all of his success to his

mother’s undying encouragement.)

2. a facet or trait

(Among the beetle’s most peculiar attributes

is its thorny protruding eyes.)

not typical, unusual

(Screaming and crying is atypical adult behavior.)

fearlessly daring, recklessly bold in defiance of convention, propriety, law, or the like

(The security guard was shocked by the fan’s

audacious attempt to offer him a bribe.)

able to be heard

(The missing person’s shouts

were unfortunately not audible.)

to add to, expand, enlarge

(The eager student seeks to augment his knowledge

of French vocabulary by reading French literature.)

favorable, indicative of good thing, promising success

(The tennis player considered the sunny forecast an auspicious sign that she would win her match.)

very bare, bleak

(The austere furniture inside the abandoned

house made the place feel haunted.)

excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain

(The banker’s avarice led him to amass

a tremendous personal fortune.)

a particular dislike for something

(Because he’s from Hawaii, Ben has an aversion to autumn, winter, and cold climates in general.)

to stop abruptly and refuse to proceed

or to do something specified

(Edna’s boss balked at her request for another raise.)

a narrative poem, a love song

(Greta’s boyfriend played her a ballad on the

guitar during their walk through the dark woods.)

dull, commonplac, trivial

(The client rejected our proposal because they

found our presentation banal and unimpressive.)

a burden, a source of harm or ruin

(Advanced physics is the bane of

many students’ academic lives.)

a poet, often a singer as well

(Shakespeare is often considered the greatest

bard in the history of the English language.)

shy, excessively timid

(Frankie’s mother told him not to be bashful

when he refused to attend the birthday party.)

1. a device that supplies power

(Most cars run on a combination of

power from a battery and gasoline.)

2. assault, beating

(Her husband was accused of assault and battery

after he attacked a man on the sidewalk.)

to trick, deceive

(The thief beguiled his partners into

surrendering all of their money to him.)

something of tremendous power, size, or appearance

(The new aircraft carrier is among several behemoths

that the Air Force has added to its fleet.)

marked by goodness or doing good

(Police officers should be commended for

their benevolent service to the community.)

favorable, not threatening, mild, harmless

(We were all relieved to hear that the medical

tests determined her tumor to be benign.)

to pass on, to hand down, to leave by will

(Jon’s father bequeathed his entire estate to his mother.)

to scold vehemently, condemn, rebuke

(The angry boss berated his employees

for failing to meet their deadline.)

devoid of, without

(His family was bereft of food and

shelter following the tornado.)

to beg, plead, implore

(The servant beseeched the king for

food to feed his starving family.)

a tendency, inclination, prejudice

(The judge’s hidden bias against smokers

led him to make an unfair decision.)

cheat, defraud,  to slip away from, to evade payment of

(The lawyer discovered that this firm had bilked

several clients out of thousands of dollars.)

to coax by using flattery

(Rachel’s assistant tried to blandish

her into accepting the deal.)