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v. To make ashamed; to embarrass.
"Meredith felt abashed by her inability to remember her lines in the school chorus of "Old McDonald Had a Farm." |
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v. to subside; to reduce.
"Georg spilled a pot of hot coffee on his leg. It hurt quite a bit. Then, gradually, the agony abated." |
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v. to step down from a position of power or responsibility.
"When King Edward VIII of England decided he would rather be married to Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcee, that be king of England, he turned in his crown and abdicated. |
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n. something not typical; a deviation from the standard.
"Soren's bad behavior was an aberration. So was Harry's good behavior. That is, Soren's was usually good and Harry's was usually bad." |
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v. to hate very, very much; to detest.
"Emanuel abhorred having anvils dropped on his head." |
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adj. hopeless; extremely sad and servile; defeated.
"While most people would quickly recover from a banana-peel accident, Mia felt abject humiliation. |
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v. to deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce.
"Ascetics practice self-abnegation because they believe it will bring them closer to spiritual purity." |
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adj. unsuccessful.
"Marie and Elizabeth made an abortive effort to bake a birthday cake; that is, their effort did not result in a birthday cake." |
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v. to shorten; to condense.
"The thoughtful editor abridged the massive book by removing the boring parts." |
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adj. total; unlimited.
An absolute ruler is one who is ruled by no one else. An absolute mess is a total mess. |
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v. to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation.
"The priest absolved the sinner who had come to the church to confess." |
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adj. abstaining; voluntarily not doing something, especially something that is bad for you or has a bad reputation.
"Beulah used to be a chain-smoker; now she's abstinent. |
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adj, theoretical; impersonal.
"He liked oysters in the abstract, but when he actually tried one he became nauseated." |
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adj. hard to understand.
"The professor's article, on the meaning of meaning was abstruse. Michael couldn't even pronounce the words in it." |
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adj. extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless.
"The nation's debt crisis was abysmal; there seemed to be no possible solution." |
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n. an award; an honor.
"The first break-dancing troupe to perform in Carnegie Hall. the Teflon Toughs, received accolades from the critics as well as from the fans." |
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v. to approach and speak to someone aggressively.
"Amanda karate-chopped the stranger who accosted her in the street and was embarrassed to find he was an old, blind man." |
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adj. sour; severe; like acid in temper, mood, or tone.
"Barry sat silently as our teacher read aloud her acerbic comments on his paper." |
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v. to comply passively; to accept; to assent; to agree.
"The pirates asked Pete to walk the plank; he took one look at their swords and then acquiesced." |
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adj. full of spite; bitter; nasty.
"George and Elizabeth's discussion turned acrimonious when Elizabeth introduced the subject of George's perennial, incorrigible stupidity." |
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adj. harshly pungent; bitter.
"The chili we had at the party had an acrid taste; it was harsh and unpleasant." |
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n. keenness of judgment; mental sharpness.
"A woman who knows how to turn one dollar into a million overnight would be said to have a lot of business acumen." |
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adj. sharp; shrewd.
If your eyesight is acute, you can see things that other people can't. You have visual acuity. |
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adj. stubborn; unyeilding; completely inflexible.
"Candice was adamant: She would never go out with Paul again." |
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v. to speak to; to direct one's attention to.
"Ernie addressed the problem of addressing the convention by sitting down and writing his speech." |
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n. follower; supporter; believer.
"The king's adherents threw a big birthday party for him, just to show how much they liked him." |
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v. to scold gently; to warn.
"The boys' father admonished them not to eat the pie he had just baked. When they did so anyway, he admonished them." |
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adj. skillful, dexterous; clever; shrewd; socially at ease.
"Julio was an adroit salesperson: His highly skilled pitch, backed up by extensive knowledge, nearly always resulted in a sale." |
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n. wild or excessive admiration; flattery.
"The boss thrived on the adulation of his scheming secretary." |
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v. to contaminate; to make impure.
"We discovered that our orange juice had radioactive waste in it; we discovered, in other words, that it had been adulterated." |
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adj. unfavorable; antagonistic.
"We had to play our soccer match under adverse conditions: It was snowing and only three members of our team had bothered to show up." |
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adj. having to do with artistic beauty; artistic.
"Our art professor had a highly developed aesthetic sense; he found things to admire in paintings that, to us, looked like garbage." |
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adj. easy to talk to; friendly.
"Susan was an affable girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost anyone." |
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n. unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress.
"Becky's English accent is an affectation. She spent only a week in England, and that was several years ago." |
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n. sympathy; attraction; kinship; similarity.
"Ducks have an affinity for water; that is, the like to be in it." |
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adj. rich; prosperous.
A person can be affluent; all it takes is money. A country can be affluent too, if it's full of affluent people. |
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n. program; the things to be done.
"What's on the agenda for the board meeting? A little gossip, then lunch." |
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n. sum total; a collection of separate things mixed together.
"Chili is an aggregate of meat and beans." |
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n. one who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven.
"An atheist himself, Jon concluded from Jorge's spiritual skepticism that they shared similar beliefs. In fact, Jorge's reluctance to affirm or discredit a god's existence reflects his agnosticism." |
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adj. relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land.
"Politics in this country often pit the rural, agrarian interests against the urban interests." |
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n. cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond.
"David could hardly wait for his parents to leave; he carried their luggage out to the car with great alacrity." |
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v. to assert without proof.
"If I say, 'Cedric alleges that i stole his hat,' I am saying two things: 1. Cedrick says I stole his hat. 2. I say I didn't do it." |
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v. to relieve, usually temporarily or incompletely; to make bearable; to lessen.
"visiting the charming pet cemetery alleviated the woman's grief over the death of her canary." |
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v. to distribute; to assign; to allot.
"The long car trip had been a big failure, and David, Aaliyah, and Jan spent several hours attempting to allocate the blame. In the end, they decided it had all been Jan's fault." |
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n. a combination of two or more things, usually metals.
"Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. That is, you make brass by combining copper and zinc." |
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n. an indirect reference (often to a literary work); a hint.
"When Ralph said, "I sometimes wonder whether to be or not to be," he was alluding to a famous line in Hamlet. It Ralph had said, 'To be or not to be, that is the question," his statement would have been a direct reference, not an allusion." |
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adj. uninvolved; standing off; keeping one's distance.
"Al, on the roof, felt very aloof." |
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n. selflessness; generosity; devotion to the interests of others.
"The private foundation depended on the altruism of the extremely rich old man. When he decided to start spending his money on his new twenty-year-old girlfriend, the foundation went out of business." |
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n. atmosphere; mood; feeling
"By decorating their house with plastic beach balls and Popsicle sticks, the Cramers created a playful ambience that delighted young children." |
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adj. unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways.
"We listened to the weather report, but the forecast was ambiguous; we couldn't tell whether the day was going to be rainy or sunny." |
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adj. undecided; having opposed feelings simultaneously.
"Susan felt ambivalent about George as a boyfriend. Her frequent desire to break up with him reflected this ambivalence." |
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v. to make better or more tolerable.
"The mood of the room was ameliorated when the warden gave them color television sets and keys to their cells." |
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adj. obedient; willing to give in to the wishes of another; agreeable.
"I suggested that Bert pay for my lunch as well as for his won; to my surprise, he was amenable." |
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n. pleasantness; attractive or comfortable feature.
"The amenities at the local club include a swimming pool, a golf course, and a fallout shelter." |
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adj. friendly; agreeable.
"Our amiable guide made us feel right at home in what would otherwise have been a cold and forbidding museum." |
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n. an official pardon for a group of people who have violated a law or policy.
The word amnesty always refers to a pardon given to a group or class of people. A pardon granted to a single person is simply a pardon. |
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adj. lacking a sense of right and wrong; neither good nor bad, neither moral nor immoral; without moral feelings.
"Very young children are amoral; when they cry, they aren't being bad or good--they're merely doing what they have to do." |
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adj. feeling loving, especially in a sexual sense; in love; relating to love.
"The amorous couple made quite a scene at the movie. The movie they were watching, Love Story, was pretty amorous itself. It was about an amorous couple, one of whom died." |
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adj. shapeless; without a regular or stable shape; bloblike.
"Ed's teacher said that his term paper was amorphous; it was as shapeless and disorganized as a cloud." |
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n. something out of place in time or history; an incongruity.
"In this day of impersonal hospitals, a family doctor who will visit you at home seems like an anachronism." |
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n. a comparison of one thing to another; similarity.
"To say having an allergy feels like being bitten by an alligator would be to make or draw an analogy between an allergy and an alligator bite." |
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n. absence of government or control; lawlessness; disorder.
"The country fell into a state of anarchy after the rebels kidnapped the president and locked the legislature inside the Capitol." |
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n. a short account of a humorous or revealing incident.
"The old lady kept the motorcycle gang thoroughly amused with anecdote after anecdote about her cute little dog." |
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n. agonizing physical or mental pain.
"Theresa had been a nurse in the emergency room for twenty years, but she had never gotten used to the anguish of accident victims." |
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n. resentment; hostility; ill will.
"The rivals for the state championship felt great animosity toward each other. Whenever they ran into each other, they snarled." |
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n. an aberration; an irregularity; a deviation.
"A snowy winter day is not an anomaly, but a snowy July day is." |
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n. someone or something that went before; something that provides a model for something that came after it.
"Your parents and grandparents could be said to be your antecedents; they came before you." |
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n. firm dislike; a dislike.
"I feel antipathy tward bananas wrapped in ham. I do not want them for dinner. I also feel a ertain amount of antipathy toward the cook who keeps trying to force me to eat them. My feelings on these matters are quite antipathetic." |
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n. the direct opposite.
"Erin is the antithesis of Aaron: Erin is bright and beautiful, Aaron is dull and plain." |
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| n. the former policy of racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa. |
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n. lack of interest; lack of feeling.
"The members of the student coundil accused the senior lass of apathy because none of the seniors had bothered to sign up for the big annual bake sale." |
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n. a brief, often witty saying; a proverb.
"Benjamin Franklin was fond of aphorisms. He was frequently aphoristic." |
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| n. a prophetic revelation, especially one concerning the end of the world. |
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n. of dubious authenticity; fictitious; spurious.
"Brandi's blog discredited the apocryphal report of Martians in Congress." |
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n. elevation to divine status; the perfet example of something.
"Some people think that the Corvette is the apotheosis of American car making. They think it's the ideal." |
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v. to soothe; to pacify by giving in to.
"Jaleel appeased his angry mother by promising to make his bed every morning without fail until the end of time." |
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v. to increase in value.
"The Browns bought their house twenty years ago for a hundred dollars, but it has appreciated considerably since then; today it's worth almost a million dollars." |
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adj. worried; anxious.
"The apprehensive child clung to his father's leg as the two of them walked into the main circus tent to watch the lion tamer." |
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n. approval; praise.
"The crowd expressed its approbation of what the team had done by gleefully covering the field with chicken carcasses." |
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v. to take without permission; to set aside for a particular use.
"Nick appropriated my lunch; he grabbed it out of my hands and ate it. So i appropriated Ed's." |
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n. capacity for learning; natural ability.
"The Princeton Review students have a marked aptitude for taking the SAT. They earn higher scores." |
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n. one who decides; a judge.
"An arbiter of fashion determines what other people will wear by wearing it herself." |
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adj. random; capricious.
"The grades Mr. Simone gave his English students appeared to be arbitrary; they didn't seem to be related to anything the students had done in class." |
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adj. mysterious; known only to a select few.
"The rites of the secret cult were arcane; no one outside the cult knew what they were." |
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adj. extremely old; ancient; outdated.
"The tribe's traditions are archaic. They have been in force for thousands of years." |
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n. an original model or pattern.
"Plato is the archetype of all philosophers." |
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adj. passionate; enthusiastic.
"Larry's ardent wooing finally got on Cynthia's nerves, and she told him to get lost." |
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adj. hard; difficult.
"Climbing the mountain was arduous. We were so exhausted when we got to the top that we forgot to enjoy the view." |
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adj. of noble birth; snobbish.
"Prince Charles is aristocratic. He is a member of the British aristocracy." |
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adj. crafty; wily; sly.
"After dinner, the artful counselor told the campers that there was a madman loose in the woods, thus causing them to lie quietly in the tent." |
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n. a clever trick; cunning.
"The Trojan Horse was an artifice designed to get the soldiers inside the walls." |
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n. supremacy; domination.
"Small computers have been in ascendancy for the past few years." |
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adj. hermitlike; practicing self-denial.
"The college professor's apartment, which contained no furniture except a single tattered mattress, was uncomfortably ascetic." |
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adj. hardworking; busy; quite diligent.
"The workmen were assiduous in their effort to get nothing done; instead of working, they drank coffee all day long." |
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v. to take in; to absorb; to learn thoroughly.
"Margaret didn't have any friends when she first went to thenew school, but she was gradually assimilated--she became part of the new community. When she was chosen for the cheerleading squad, her assimilation was complete." |
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v. to soothe; to pacify; to ease the pain of; to relieve.
"Beth was extremely angry, but I assuaged her by promising to leave the house and never return." |
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adj. shrewd; keen in judgment.
"Morris was an astute judge of character; he was very good at seeing what people are really like." |
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n. one who does not believe in the existence of any god or divine being.
"Hadley had always imagined a big religious wedding, but Emma, a life-long atheist, preferred a Vegas elopement." |
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n. a gradual wearing away, weakening, or loss; a natural or expected decrease in numbers or size.
"Mr. Gregory did not have the heart to fire his workers even though his company was losing millions each year. He altruistically preferred to ose workers through attrition when they moved away, retired, or decided to change jobs." |
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n. boldness; reckless daring; impertinence.
"Edgar's soaring leap off the top of the building was an act of great audacity." |
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v. to make bigger; to add to; to increase.
"The army augmented its attack by sending in a few thousand more soldiers." |
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adj. favorable; promising; pointing to a good result.
"A clear sky in the morning is an auspicious sign on the day of a picnic." |
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adj. unadorned; stern; forbidding; without excess.
"The Smiths' house was austere; there was no furniture in it and there was nothing hanging on the walls." |
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adj. ruling with absolute authority; extremely bossy.
"The ruthless dictator's autocratic reign ended when the rebels blew up his palace with plastic explosive." |
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adj. acting independently.
"The West Coast office of the law firm was quite autonomous; it never asked the East Coast office for permission before it did anything." |
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n. greed; excessive love of riches.
"The rich man's avarice was annoying to everyone who wanted to lay hands on some of his money." |
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v. to claim; to declare boldly; to admit.
"At the age of twenty five, Louis finally avowed that he couldn't stand his mother's apple pie." |
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adj. like an uncle, especially a nice uncle.
"Professor Zia often gave us avuncular advice; he took a real interest in our education and helped us with other problems that weren't related to multi-dimensional calculus." |
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adj. off course; twisted to one side.
"The hunter's bullet went awry. Instead of hitting the bear, it hit his truck." |
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n. a self-evident rule or truth; a widely accepted saying.
An axiom in geometry is a rule that doesn't have to be proven because its truth is accepted as obvious, self-evident, or unprovable. |
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