Word of the Day: Recent Episodes
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Definition: (adjective) (Of a person) possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful.
Synonyms: brawny, hefty, muscular.
Usage: She saw the sinewy form leap to the shoulder of the lion, hurtling against the leaping beast like a huge, animate battering ram.
Definition: (noun) Taking advantage of opportunities without regard for the consequences for others.
Synonyms: opportunism, self-interest, expedience.
Usage: He had one devoted friend at least, and he had conquered one soul in the world that was neither rudimentary nor tainted with self-seeking.
Definition: (noun) A newly invented word or phrase.
Synonyms: coinage.
Usage: Neologisms are often coined when people begin using newly released technology.
Definition: (verb) Hold back to a later time.
Synonyms: postpone, put off, defer, set back, shelve, table, remit, hold over.
Usage: My students begged me to prorogue the upcoming European history exam so that they could have more time to study.
Definition: (verb) Lock up or confine, in or as in a jail.
Synonyms: immure, imprison, jail, jug, put behind bars, remand, lag, put away.
Usage: It can cost huge sums to incarcerate a prisoner for a year.
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Definition: (noun) A partially partitioned nook in or near the stacks in a library, used for private study.
Synonyms: cubicle, stall.
Usage: There are too many distractions at home, so when I really need to study, I go to the library, find a secluded carrel, and study there.
Definition: (adjective) Difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable.
Synonyms: impossible, unacceptable.
Usage: We both agreed he was the most insufferable bore and that we would not be inviting him to our next dinner party.
Definition: (verb) Detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of; as for political or economic favors.
Synonyms: lobby.
Usage: It is not easy to buttonhole her for an interview.
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Definition: (adjective) Very foolish.
Synonyms: insane, mad.
Usage: She devised a harebrained scheme to get her money back, but it ended up landing her in jail.
Definition: (verb) Desire strongly or persistently.
Synonyms: long, yearn.
Usage: There, my lady cousin; there stands the most undutiful child in the world; she hankers after a beggarly rascal, and won't marry one of the greatest matches in all England.
Definition: (adjective) Having or marked by an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit; greedy.
Synonyms: rapacious, ravening.
Usage: She was a voracious reader and loved to spend her afternoons at the library.
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Definition: (adjective) Based on pretense; deceptively pleasing.
Synonyms: gilded, meretricious.
Usage: "You are a specious fellow," returned Sir John, fixing his eyes upon him, "and carry two faces under your hood, as well as the best."
Definition: (noun) A heavy, uncontrolled outpouring.
Synonyms: deluge, flood, inundation.
Usage: She frowned and overwhelmed Pierre with a torrent of reproaches and angry words.
Definition: (adjective) Short and thick; stocky.
Synonyms: low-set, squat, squatty, stumpy, dumpy.
Usage: But there was a trio involved in this remarkable friendship, and the third was short, and fat, and chunky, and lazy, and, loath to say, it was I.
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Definition: (adjective) Characteristic of informal spoken language or conversation.
Synonyms: conversational.
Usage: She wrote her essays in a colloquial style that the teacher strongly criticized.
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Definition: (adjective) Not contrived for effect; natural.
Synonyms: uncontrived.
Usage: She walked with an unstudied grace that the other models envied and imitated.
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Definition: (noun) The boundary line of a figure, area, or object.
Synonyms: circuit.
Usage: He had walked the full circumference of his land, repairing his fence along the way.
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Definition: (adjective) Conveying an admonition or a warning.
Synonyms: admonitory, cautionary, exemplary, warning.
Usage: She shot him a monitory glance and he quickly changed the subject to one less controversial.
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Definition: (noun) A moment of intense excitement.
Synonyms: chill, quiver, shiver, shudder, thrill, tingle.
Usage: The story's ending arouses a frisson of terror.
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Definition: (verb) To set loose (a mass of ice). Used of a glacier or iceberg.
Synonyms: break up.
Usage: From the deck of the ship, we saw the magnificent glacier calve, sending massive shards of glassy ice into the waters below.
Definition: (adjective) Transmitting light; able to be seen through with clarity.
Synonyms: limpid, lucid, pellucid, transparent.
Usage: This water is of such crystalline purity that the body of the bather appears of an alabaster whiteness.
Definition: (adjective) Not knowledgeable or skilled; inexperienced.
Synonyms: naive.
Usage: To an uninitiated onlooker, nothing could have been more ghastly or absurd.
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Definition: (adjective) Likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease.
Synonyms: pestiferous, plaguey.
Usage: I have a notion, and more than a notion, that I shall never pass back alive through these pestilential swamps.
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Definition: (adjective) Attracting and holding interest as if by a spell.
Synonyms: mesmeric, mesmerizing, spellbinding.
Usage: For a moment she tore her gaze from the hypnotic fascination of that awful face and breathed a last prayer to her God.
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Definition: (adjective) Without precedent; unparalleled.
Synonyms: new.
Usage: It was a time of unexampled prosperity, and the once poor family was able to move to a lovely mansion in an affluent neighborhood.
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Definition: (noun) A going or being beyond what is needed, desired, or appropriate.
Synonyms: overmuch, overmuchness, superabundance.
Usage: Four-year-olds have an overabundance of energy and quickly exhaust even the most active, fit adults.
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Definition: (adjective) Not suitable to your tastes or needs.
Synonyms: incompatible.
Usage: I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own.
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Definition: (adverb) From that place; from there.
Synonyms: therefrom.
Usage: The train went south into Switzerland and thence on to Italy
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Definition: (adjective) Accompanied by bloodshed.
Synonyms: butcherly, gory, slaughterous.
Usage: A sanguinary encounter seemed daily imminent between the two parties in the streets of Baltimore.
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Definition: (noun) A state of agitation or turbulent change or development.
Synonyms: agitation, fermentation, tempestuousness, unrest.
Usage: In 1789 a ferment arises in Paris; it grows, spreads, and is expressed by a movement of peoples from west to east.
Definition: (adjective) Sharp or biting, as in character or expression.
Synonyms: blistering, caustic, acid, vitriolic, acerb, acrid, sulfurous, virulent, bitter.
Usage: The comedienne's acerbic wit drew laughs from the crowd, though some found her jokes offensive.
Definition: (adjective) Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness.
Synonyms: artless.
Usage: His ingenuous delight in it was a delight to her, and a new and mutual love-thrill was theirs—because of a flower.
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Definition: (adjective) Happening every second year.
Synonyms: biyearly.
Usage: They met at the biennial convention and lamented the fact that they would not see each other until the next meeting two years later.
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Definition: (adjective) Tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects.
Synonyms: excursive, rambling, discursive.
Usage: His speech was digressive and rambling, and we soon tired of the pointless tangents.
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Definition: (adjective) Stubbornly resistant to authority or control.
Synonyms: recalcitrant, refractory.
Usage: The young horse was a fractious animal that would not submit to the harness; no one could ride her.
Definition: (noun) A distinct feature or element in a problem.
Synonyms: aspect.
Usage: He carefully studied every facet of the question before offering his response.
Definition: (noun) A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.
Synonyms: poignancy.
Usage: The documentary film captured the pathos of the refugee's situation, and there was not a dry eye in the theater when the movie ended.
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Definition: (adjective) Retired or ineffective because of advanced age.
Synonyms: over-the-hill, overaged.
Usage: The company has a pension plan that provides financial assistance to some of its superannuated employees.
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Definition: (noun) A superiority in numbers or amount.
Synonyms: prevalence, extensiveness.
Usage: The preponderance of the evidence strongly supports his guilt.
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Definition: (noun) The act of resting or the state of being at rest.
Synonyms: ease, relaxation, rest.
Usage: The vacationer took his repose beside the swimming pool.
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Definition: (adjective) Having or showing great emotion or zeal.
Synonyms: ardent, fervid, fiery, impassioned, perfervid, torrid.
Usage: She was a fervent opponent of the death penalty and organized a monthlong hunger strike to protest the practice.
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Definition: (adjective) Resembling a labyrinth in form or complexity.
Synonyms: mazy.
Usage: A labyrinthine maze of sculpted bushes surrounded the estate.
Definition: (noun) The projecting upper edge of a steep place.
Synonyms: top, summit, peak, edge, tip, crown, verge, brink, rim, crest, brim.
Usage: The sun set behind the brow of the distant hills.
Definition: (adjective) Immoderately desirous of wealth or gain.
Synonyms: covetous, grabby, grasping, greedy, prehensile.
Usage: The avaricious man prayed to have a room full of gold.
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Definition: (adjective) Having or marked by imposing physical strength.
Synonyms: hardy, sturdy, stout.
Usage: Athos sprang into the boat, which was immediately pushed off and which soon sped seawards under the efforts of four stalwart rowers.
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Definition: (adjective) Tending to talk excessively.
Synonyms: chatty, garrulous, loquacious, talkative, talky.
Usage: Mary's gabby friends kept her apprised of all the neighborhood gossip.
Definition: (adjective) Feigning piety or righteousness.
Synonyms: holier-than-thou, pharisaic, pietistic, self-righteous.
Usage: With a sickeningly sanctimonious smile and a tap of the fork on her glass, she began the first meeting of the Society of Suburbanites Saving the World.
Definition: (noun) The quality or condition of being scanty or meager.
Synonyms: leanness, meagerness, poorness, scantiness.
Usage: With an exiguity of cloth that would allow only one dress to be made, she selflessly offered that her sister go to the ball in her stead.
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Definition: (adjective) Having a magical quality or charm; fairylike.
Synonyms: fey.
Usage: The ballerina moved across the dimly lit stage with elfin grace.
Definition: (noun) A nearby, surrounding, or adjoining region.
Synonyms: locality, neck of the woods, neighborhood.
Usage: The plane crashed in the vicinity of Asheville, and investigators spent weeks interviewing residents who had witnessed the disaster.
Definition: (adjective) Resembling an oracle in obscurity of thought.
Synonyms: enigmatic.
Usage: As the teacher read aloud, enchanted by the oracular sayings of Victorian poets, the class became progressively more confused.
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Definition: (adjective) Willing to carry out the orders or wishes of another without protest.
Synonyms: biddable.
Usage: She was too acquiescent to challenge authority and did everything she was told.
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Definition: (adjective) Incapable of erring.
Synonyms: infallible.
Usage: Many traditional theologians insist that biblical texts are the literal Word of God and as such are inerrant and infallible.
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Definition: (adjective) Lacking grace or ease of movement or form.
Synonyms: clumsy, clunky, gawky, unwieldy.
Usage: He was a gawky lad with long ungainly legs, but she thought he was the most handsome boy she had ever seen.
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Definition: (adjective) Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments.
Synonyms: menacing, minacious, minatory, ominous, sinister, threatening, forbidding.
Usage: He sprang on the horse of a Blackfoot warrior whom he had slain, and escaping at full speed, brought home the baleful tidings to his village.
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Definition: (adjective) Incapable of being expressed.
Synonyms: indescribable, unspeakable, untellable, unutterable, indefinable.
Usage: There was an expression of ineffable sadness on her face as she spoke, and I could not but feel that she knew that I knew her secret.
Definition: (adjective) Serving to set in motion.
Synonyms: initiative, initiatory, maiden, first.
Usage: The magazine's inaugural issue sold out in a matter of days, prompting the owners to publish the second issue in larger numbers.
Definition: (adjective) Rough or irregular; textured.
Synonyms: homespun, nubby, slubbed, tweedy.
Usage: The seamstress preferred the nubbly, matte surface of raw silk to the glossy, smooth look of satin.
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Definition: (noun) An earnest request or petition; a plea.
Synonyms: appeal, prayer.
Usage: Nothing is wanting but to have you here, and it is our particular wish and entreaty that you would come to us as soon as you can.
Definition: (adjective) Filled with or expressing grief.
Synonyms: mournful.
Usage: The poor child's doleful eyes compelled me to buy him expensive toys and bags of candy in the hopes of cheering him up.
Definition: (noun) Irrepressible liveliness and good spirit.
Synonyms: irrepressibility.
Usage: With his natural buoyancy of spirits, he began to hope again.
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Definition: (noun) The mark on the surface of the abdomen of mammals where the umbilical cord was attached during gestation.
Synonyms: bellybutton, omphalos, umbilicus.
Usage: The first-graders were awed by Tom's navel, which protruded outward in classic "outie" fashion.
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Definition: (adjective) Tending to irritate.
Synonyms: repellant, repellent.
Usage: As the night wore on, the petulant man became increasingly rebarbative and prickly and spiteful.
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Definition: (verb) Put at a disadvantage; hinder, harm.
Synonyms: disadvantage.
Usage: These laws clearly disfavor the underprivileged and poor because they do not address the problem of child labor.
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Definition: (noun) A forward position seized by advancing troops in enemy territory as a foothold for further advance.
Synonyms: foothold.
Usage: The soldiers made a brave attempt to secure a bridgehead behind enemy lines.
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Definition: (adverb) By accident.
Synonyms: by chance, by luck.
Usage: Her true feelings were betrayed by a word haply spoken and immediately regretted.
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Definition: (adjective) Watchful; vigilant.
Synonyms: sleepless.
Usage: He was vigilant—a lidless watcher of the public weal—and took great care to make sure that all was well with his neighbors.
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Definition: (adjective) Not permitted or governed by law.
Synonyms: nonlegal.
Usage: The vigilantes believed they were simply dispensing an extralegal form of frontier justice.
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Definition: (verb) To bargain, as over the price of something; dicker.
Synonyms: chaffer, higgle, huckster.
Usage: He preferred to be overcharged than to haggle over such a trivial item.
Definition: (adjective) Unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings.
Synonyms: extravagant, exuberant, excessive.
Usage: It may be all right, sir, but I have no overweening reliance on the faith of these marquesses, or marquis, as they call themselves.
Definition: (adjective) Seen by the eye.
Synonyms: visual.
Usage: The evidence that the house is haunted is of two kinds: the testimony of disinterested witnesses who have had ocular proof, and that of the house itself.
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Definition: (adjective) Marked by uncontrolled excitement or emotion; ecstatic.
Synonyms: excited, frantic, mad, unrestrained.
Usage: A crowd of delirious baseball fans cheered the home team to a shutout victory.
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Definition: (adjective) Broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce.
Synonyms: ludicrous, ridiculous.
Usage: The clown, with his farcical exuberance, rainbow striped hair, and poorly timed gags, drew enthusiastic applause and laughter from the audience.
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Definition: (noun) An abrupt failure of function or complete physical exhaustion.
Synonyms: collapse.
Usage: The weakness of the young missionary became so extreme that they had to lay him again on the bed, where a prostration, lasting for several hours, held him like a dead man.
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Definition: (adjective) Consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds.
Synonyms: assorted, miscellaneous, mixed, sundry.
Usage: The other occupants of the room, five in number, were all females, and they were still sleeping, piled high with a motley array of silks and furs.
Definition: (verb) To remove from association; separate.
Synonyms: disjoint, disunite, divorce.
Usage: The senator dissociated herself from the organization when she found out that its president had been involved in an embezzlement scheme.
Definition: (adjective) Lacking strength or energy; spiritless; weak.
Synonyms: feeble.
Usage: He was a weak, nerveless fool, devoid of energy and promptitude.
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Definition: (adjective) Working, acting, or speaking with effortless ease and fluency.
Synonyms: eloquent, silver-tongued, smooth-spoken, fluent, silver.
Usage: Those facile and brilliant phrases and ideas struck me as the finest things I had yet known in literature, and I borrowed the book and read it through.
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Definition: (adjective) Lacking a backbone or spinal column; not vertebrate.
Synonyms: spineless.
Usage: The sixth grade class groaned in unison as the students learned that they would be dissecting worms during their study of invertebrates.
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Definition: (noun) An employee of a department store who supervises sales personnel and assists customers.
Synonyms: shopwalker.
Usage: Although Bill thoroughly enjoyed the raise associated with his promotion to floorwalker, he disliked answering customer complaints and sometimes wished he had remained a cashier.
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Definition: (adjective) Not lasting or durable; not permanent.
Synonyms: temporary.
Usage: After weeks of carefully constructing the beautiful sand mandala, the Tibetan monks quietly swept it away in a ceremony emphasizing the impermanent nature of existence.
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Definition: (noun) Concentration of emotional energy on an object or idea.
Synonyms: charge.
Usage: Freud thought of cathexis as a psychic analog of an electrical charge.
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Definition: (adjective) Showing lack of emotional involvement.
Synonyms: detached, uninvolved.
Usage: Mrs. Smith was not easily impressed by excuses, and she adopted a degage pose on the arm of the easy chair as her son tried to explain why he missed dinner.
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Definition: (adjective) Characterized by abject fear; cowardly.
Synonyms: recreant.
Usage: The cowardly shopkeeper angered the revolutionaries with his craven proposal to raise the white flag and surrender.
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Definition: (noun) The act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan.
Synonyms: parceling, assignation, allocation, allotment.
Usage: The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives is based on the relative population of each state.
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Definition: (adjective) Blemished by imperfections of the skin.
Synonyms: acned, pimpled.
Usage: She tormented her brother about his pustulate complexion until she herself developed a severe case of acne.
Definition: (noun) A quaint and amusing jest.
Synonyms: waggery.
Usage: We filed into the parlor for some entertainment from Uncle Jones, who was known for his drollery and excellent impersonation of Aunt Cecilia.
Definition: (noun) A mischievous, troublesome, or unruly person.
Synonyms: devil, heller.
Usage: He chased the young hellions out of his yard, but the boys had already trampled his wife's precious flowerbeds, and the blooms could not be salvaged.
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Definition: (noun) The abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment.
Synonyms: Hell, infernal region, nether region, Inferno.
Usage: She feared the fires of perdition and listened closely to the preacher's sermon about purity of heart and avoiding sin.
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Definition: (noun) A sleeveless garment similar to an apron, worn especially by small girls as a dress or an overdress.
Synonyms: jumper, pinny.
Usage: Dolly came into the yard sobbing and crying, with her little blue frock and white pinafore spattered all over with mud.
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Definition: (noun) Extreme want or poverty; destitution.
Synonyms: indigence, pauperism, beggary, need.
Usage: Fyne did not know what it might mean to be suddenly reduced from riches to absolute penury.
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Definition: (noun) A small elevator used to convey food (or other goods) from one floor of a building to another.
Synonyms: food elevator.
Usage: The cook put the food on the dumbwaiter and sent it upstairs, where the waiters served it.
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Definition: (adjective) Stubbornly contrary and disobedient; obstinate.
Synonyms: headstrong, self-willed, willful.
Usage: Her siblings were obedient and well-behaved, but she was froward and stubborn.
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Definition: (noun) A channel for an overflow of water, as from a reservoir.
Synonyms: wasteweir, spill.
Usage: The workers cleared the debris from the spillway so the excess water could flow through the channel.
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Definition: (noun) A state of extreme confusion and disorder.
Synonyms: bedlam, chaos, topsy-turvydom.
Usage: Instantly the avenue was a pandemonium of clashing blades, cursing warriors, and squealing throats.
Definition: (noun) Urgent requirements; pressing needs. Often used in the plural.
Synonyms: need, demand, requirement, necessity, constraint, wont.
Usage: The reduction was caused by the exigencies of a wartime economy.
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Definition: (noun) A jointed puppet manipulated from above by strings or wires attached to its limbs.
Synonyms: puppet.
Usage: They appeared to me clear-cut and very small, with affected voices and stiff gestures, like a procession of rigid marionettes upon a toy stage.
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Definition: (adjective) Having no limbs, feet, or footlike appendages.
Synonyms: apodous.
Usage: Eels are apodal and well adapted for wriggling in the mud, through the crevices of reefs, and along rocky shores.
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Definition: (noun) A minor error, such as a slip of the tongue, thought to reveal a repressed motive.
Synonyms: slip-up, miscue, slip.
Usage: She thought her verbal blunder was just a silly mistake, but her friend, a Freud enthusiast, tried to convince her that the parapraxis actually had great significance.
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Definition: (noun) An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path.
Synonyms: steamroller.
Usage: It touched the ground just as it struck among them and mowed through them, a veritable juggernaut of destruction.
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Definition: (adjective) Capable of being seen or noticed.
Synonyms: evident, observable.
Usage: Monkeys scampered about the deserted ruins, and gaily plumaged birds flitted in and out among the columns and the galleries far above; but no sign of human presence was discernible.
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Definition: (noun) A small bunch of flowers.
Synonyms: bouquet, corsage, posy.
Usage: The wedding was informal and intimate, with the bride wearing a simple white dress and holding a nosegay of daisies.
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Definition: (noun) An intoxicant.
Synonyms: alcoholic beverage, intoxicant, alcohol.
Usage: He guzzled the inebriant like a thirsty man would water and promptly dropped to the floor with a thud.
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Definition: (adjective) Having or emitting fragrance.
Synonyms: aromatic.
Usage: The whole atmosphere was redolent with the savory fumes of roast meat.
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Definition: (adjective) Releasing heat.
Synonyms: heat-releasing, exothermal.
Usage: Scientists use a calorimeter to measure the amount of heat released during an exothermic reaction.
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Definition: (noun) A defeat in a game where one side fails to score.
Synonyms: skunk.
Usage: The coach knew that if his team could score just one point, it would avoid the humiliation of a shutout.
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Definition: (noun) A sound thrashing or defeat.
Synonyms: debacle, drubbing, thrashing, trouncing, whipping, slaughter.
Usage: The tournament was an embarrassment, with our team receiving a thorough walloping from the opponent.
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Definition: (noun) A state of extreme poverty or destitution.
Synonyms: indigence, penury, need.
Usage: Two children begged for money on the subway, and their pauperism weighed heavily on the minds of the train's passengers.
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Definition: (noun) Abandonment of one's religious faith, a political party, one's principles, or a cause.
Synonyms: defection, renunciation.
Usage: He had been very devoted to his cause, so when he declared his apostasy to the crowd, there was an audible gasp.
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Definition: (noun) A visible trace, evidence, or sign of something that once existed but exists or appears no more.
Synonyms: tincture, trace, shadow.
Usage: He was so deadly pale—which had not been the case when they went in together—that no vestige of color was to be seen in his face.
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Definition: (adjective) Demanding great effort or labor; difficult.
Synonyms: backbreaking, grueling, laborious, toilsome, punishing, hard, heavy.
Usage: The roofer's work was so arduous that he was forced to take numerous medications to relieve the pain in his back.
Definition: (adjective) Being independent in thought and action or exhibiting such independence.
Synonyms: unorthodox, irregular.
Usage: He was a maverick politician and refused to align himself with any of the established parties.
Definition: (noun) Land with a soft muddy surface.
Synonyms: mire, morass, quag, slack.
Usage: We had some difficulty in reaching the point, owing to the intolerably bad paths; for everywhere in the shade the ground soon becomes a perfect quagmire.
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Definition: (noun) A satire or lampoon, especially one that ridicules a specific person, traditionally written and posted in a public place.
Synonyms: parody, put-on, sendup, spoof, charade, lampoon, mockery, burlesque, travesty, takeoff.
Usage: The corrupt politician was a popular target of the pasquinades that were posted all over the city.
Definition: (noun) A grasping structure on the limb of a crustacean or other arthropods.
Synonyms: chela, nipper, claw.
Usage: The front pair of legs terminate in very strong and heavy pincers.
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Definition: (noun) A split or opening in an organ or part.
Synonyms: crack, crevice, fissure, cleft.
Usage: The surgeon explained that the stitches he had used to sew the scissure shut would dissolve in a few weeks.
Definition: (adjective) Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed.
Synonyms: furtive, stealthy, sneaky.
Usage: She stole a surreptitious glance at him, but he, too, seemed to have been caught up by Rose's gay, good humor.
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Definition: (noun) A metal ring or cap placed around a pole or shaft for reinforcement or to prevent splitting.
Synonyms: collet.
Usage: The walking stick was quite old, and the large brass ferrule at its tip was worn down and dented.
Definition: (noun) A structure in the form of a network, especially of nerves, blood vessels, or lymphatics.
Synonyms: rete.
Usage: The bullet missed his cardiac plexus by an inch, leaving all the nerves intact.
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Definition: (adjective) Marked by low spirits; showing no enthusiasm.
Synonyms: dispirited.
Usage: A subtle change had transformed her from the listless woman he had known into a being who, for the moment, seemed palpitant with the forces of life.
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Definition: (noun) A monster able to change appearance from human to wolf.
Synonyms: werewolf, wolfman, loup-garou.
Usage: She thought the novel about the lycanthrope would be silly, but the sad tale about the werewolf's struggles to regain control of his life moved her to tears.
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Definition: (noun) Outer tissue of bark; a protective layer of dead cells.
Synonyms: cork.
Usage: Joe carefully harvested the phellem from the tree, excited at the prospect of using the buoyant material to make his very own toy boat.
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Definition: (noun) A symptom consisting of the involuntary expulsion of air from the nose.
Synonyms: sneeze, sneezing.
Usage: John complained that every time he came to visit, my dusty carpet would send him into fits of sternutation.
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Definition: (noun) Equipment, such as clothing, tools, or instruments, used for a specific purpose or task.
Synonyms: paraphernalia, gear.
Usage: He had half expected that she would drive up to the side door in a hansom, would wear a thick veil, and adopt the other appurtenances of a clandestine meeting.
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Definition: (noun) The philosophy or science of law.
Synonyms: legal philosophy, law.
Usage: Because he hoped to one day run for office, he decided to delve into the study of jurisprudence.
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Definition: (noun) Denunciatory or abusive language.
Synonyms: vituperation, vitriol.
Usage: Bartle had become so excited and angry in the course of his invective that he had forgotten his supper.
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Definition: (noun) A card game in which the winner is the player who holds two or three cards totaling closest to nine.
Synonyms: chemin de fer.
Usage: Because baccarat attracts wealthy players who place enormous bets, a casino can win or lose millions of dollars a night on the game.
Definition: (noun) A formal public statement.
Synonyms: proclamation, declaration, announcement.
Usage: A long and dramatic drum-roll signaled that a royal annunciation was about to be delivered.
Definition: (adjective) Marked by trembling, quivering, or shaking.
Synonyms: quavering.
Usage: The moonlight on the lawn was tremulous, as if the sward were a rippling sea.
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Definition: (noun) A receptacle for spit (usually in a public place).
Synonyms: spittoon.
Usage: Louisa was revolted when their mysterious guest coughed, spitting mucus into his already brimming cuspidor.
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Definition: (noun) A signed written agreement between two or more parties (nations) to perform some action.
Synonyms: compact, covenant.
Usage: The two nations were bitter enemies, but the signing of a concordat showed progress.
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Definition: (noun) A tricycle (usually propelled by pedaling); used in the Orient for transporting passengers for hire.
Synonyms: cycle rickshaw.
Usage: Boys who once pulled rickshaws now pedal pedicabs.
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Definition: (noun) Something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity.
Synonyms: blind.
Usage: The manner in which he said this made Ned feel sure that Tom had had other thoughts, and that he had used a little subterfuge in his answer.
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Definition: (noun) A shortened version of a written work.
Synonyms: condensation, capsule.
Usage: In a word, I gave him an abridgment of this whole history; I gave him a picture of my conduct for fifty years in miniature.
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Definition: (noun) A device that is very useful for a particular job.
Synonyms: gizmo, appliance, contrivance, gadget, widget, gismo, convenience.
Usage: He turned the contraption around and around in his hands, not believing that such simple, small thing could save lives.
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Definition: (noun) A disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others.
Synonyms: deference, compliancy, obligingness, compliance.
Usage: He complied with her request, and answered her challenge in a large wine-cup; she then proceeded with her story, as if appeased by his complaisance.
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Definition: (noun) A likeness or image, especially of a person.
Synonyms: simulacrum, image.
Usage: The penny bears an effigy of Lincoln.
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Definition: (noun) A person who operates a farm.
Synonyms: farmer, granger, sodbuster.
Usage: The husbandman will not make his own plough or mattock, or other implements of agriculture, if they are to be good for anything.
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Definition: (noun) Ornamental trimming for a garment, as braid, lace, or metallic beads.
Synonyms: trim.
Usage: The passementerie on her hat was so elaborate that it made the brim droop.
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Definition: (noun) A person who is of equal standing with another in a group.
Synonyms: equal, peer, match.
Usage: He was a motivated and slightly competitive student who worked hard to distinguish himself from his compeers.
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Definition: (noun) A sum total of many heterogeneous things taken together.
Synonyms: conglomeration, aggregate.
Usage: The top floor is devoted to the servants—a congeries of little kitchens and cubicles, used by many as lumber-rooms.
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Definition: (noun) A tiredness of the eyes caused by prolonged close work by a person with an uncorrected vision problem.
Synonyms: eyestrain.
Usage: The jeweler developed asthenopia due to the long hours he spent fitting small clasps on thin chains.
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Definition: (noun) One who has a political appointment in the government.
Synonyms: placeseeker.
Usage: They viewed the placeman as a colorless bureaucrat.
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Definition: (noun) A reappearance of an earlier characteristic.
Synonyms: throwback, reversion.
Usage: Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history.
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Definition: (noun) An agent that causes vomiting.
Synonyms: nauseant, vomitive, vomit.
Usage: She was highly allergic to dairy products; pizza gave her a stomachache, and ice cream was a virtual emetic.
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Definition: (noun) A model or brand of a manufactured product, especially an automobile.
Synonyms: brand, trade name.
Usage: The public relations department argued that the prestige consumers associated with marque of the car was even more important than the quality of the product.
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Definition: (adjective) Incapable or seemingly incapable of being fatigued.
Synonyms: tireless, unflagging, unwearying.
Usage: His indefatigable spirit helped him to cope with the illness.
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Definition: (noun) Intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement
Synonyms: enlightenment.
Usage: He knew very well that he must tell some story this evening for the edification of the company.
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Definition: (adjective) Perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements; filled with bewilderment.
Synonyms: bewildered, confounded, baffled, mixed-up, bemused, lost.
Usage: The audience was befuddled by the speaker's contradictory statements.
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Definition: (noun) A series of entertainments presented in a nightclub.
Synonyms: cabaret.
Usage: The floorshow was spectacular and loud, and the next morning, he had a splitting headache.
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Definition: (noun) A selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend.
Synonyms: scrooge, churl, niggard.
Usage: He had earned for himself the reputation of an awful skinflint, of a miser in the matter of living.
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Definition: (noun) A list or collection of various items.
Synonyms: collection.
Usage: Aglaya's husband was to be a compendium of all the virtues, and of all success, not to speak of fabulous wealth.
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Definition: (verb) Formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure.
Synonyms: abjure, forswear, retract, resile.
Usage: The dissident refused to recant and was imprisoned.
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Definition: (noun) A mark ( ¨ ) placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate that they are to be pronounced as separate sounds rather than a diphthong, as in naïve.
Synonyms: umlaut.
Usage: The presence of a dieresis might indicate that a word originated in a foreign language.
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Definition: (noun) A figure of a man used as a supporting pillar.
Synonyms: atlas.
Usage: The portico of the Hermitage Museum in Russia features ten enormous telamones carved from granite.
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Definition: (noun) A person who dissents from some established policy.
Synonyms: objector, dissident, protester, contestant.
Usage: With the exception of one or two dissenters, the members agreed to the proposition.
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Definition: (adjective) Strictly attentive to minute details of form in action or conduct.
Synonyms: meticulous.
Usage: The old prince, like all fathers indeed, was exceedingly punctilious on the score of the honor and reputation of his daughters.
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Definition: (adjective) Barefoot or wearing sandals. Used of certain religious orders.
Synonyms: unshod.
Usage: When a procession of discalced friars passed through the doors, I wondered if I should remove my shoes.
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Definition: (adjective) Characterized by many curves or turns; winding.
Synonyms: wiggly, sinuate.
Usage: We tried to trace the path of the sinuous stream, but it veered and curved in every direction.
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Definition: (noun) A horizontal beam at the ridge of a roof to which the rafters are attached.
Synonyms: rooftree.
Usage: I knew a girl in Marysville who could walk the ridgepole of a roof.
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Definition: (adjective) As if showing violent anger.
Synonyms: angry, furious, raging, wild.
Usage: The raging sea and tempestuous winds indicated that a big storm was coming.
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Definition: (noun) A shawl with a ritually knotted fringe at each corner; worn by Jews at morning prayer.
Synonyms: prayer shawl.
Usage: He donned his tallith as he entered the synagogue.
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Definition: (noun) A musician who plays the vibraphone.
Synonyms: vibraphonist.
Usage: The singing group hired a vibist to spruce up one of the tracks on their latest record.
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Definition: (noun) A rude expression intended to offend or hurt.
Synonyms: insult, revilement, vilification, abuse.
Usage: I can bear Dishonor, public insult, many shames, Shrill scorn, and open contumely, but he Who filches from me something that is mine ... he Perils his soul and body in the theft And dies for his small sin.
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Definition: (adjective) Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness.
Synonyms: oleaginous, buttery, fulsome, smarmy, oily.
Usage: In David Copperfield, the unctuous Uriah Heep is notable for his cloying humility and general insincerity.
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Definition: (verb) To expose or ridicule the falseness, sham, or exaggerated claims of.
Synonyms: expose.
Usage: When Rosa heard the ridiculous rumor being spread around the class, she decided to debunk the myth herself.
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Definition: (noun) A man's full-dress jacket with two long tapering tails at the back.
Synonyms: morning coat.
Usage: When he decided to wear a swallowtail to his wedding, he endured some playful mockery from his groomsmen.
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Definition: (adjective) Spacious; roomy.
Synonyms: roomy, large, ample, spacious, expansive, capacious.
Usage: The accommodations were commodious, and we had plenty of room to store our belongings.
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Definition: (noun) A slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece.
Synonyms: oboe.
Usage: What hautboys and Zamora bagpipes we shall hear, what tabors, timbrels, and rebecks!
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Definition: (noun) A hearty eater.
Synonyms: glutton, gourmand.
Usage: The waiter set the steak down in front of the smiling trencherman who had already polished off three other entrees.
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Definition: (noun) A rule or principle that provides guidance to appropriate behavior.
Synonyms: rule of thumb, guideline.
Usage: His guidepost in social situations was the belief that people tend to be kind to those who are kind.
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Definition: (noun) A domestic establishment.
Synonyms: household.
Usage: What sort of a menage is it which pays double the market price for a governess but does not keep a horse, although six miles from the station.
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Definition: (noun) A contest in which you are eliminated if you fail to spell a word correctly.
Synonyms: spelling bee.
Usage: Our school hosts a spelldown every year, but since Tom always wins, it's not very exciting.
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Definition: (noun) A visual defect in which distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than on it; nearsightedness.
Synonyms: nearsightedness, shortsightedness.
Usage: By the time she was 30, her myopia had gotten so bad that she was declared legally blind.
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Definition: (noun) A lover of good food.
Synonyms: trencherman, glutton.
Usage: Because he had a great appreciation for fine cuisine, the gourmand was asked to serve as a judge in the televised cooking contest.
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Definition: (noun) Disturbed digestion.
Synonyms: indigestion, upset stomach.
Usage: Certain foods trigger his dyspepsia, so he makes sure to avoid them at all costs.
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Definition: (noun) A desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters.
Synonyms: materialism.
Usage: His unabashed philistinism offended Susan, who had abandoned a lucrative business career to pursue her humanitarian interests.
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Definition: (noun) A hardy cabbage with coarse curly leaves that do not form a head.
Synonyms: kale, Brassica oleracea acephala, colewort.
Usage: The aristocrats did not enjoy the health benefits of borecole because they considered it a peasant's food.
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Definition: (adjective) Lacking taste, zest, or flavor; flat.
Synonyms: flavorless, insipid, savorless, bland, flat.
Usage: The bar was rundown and filthy, serving vapid beer and stale peanuts.
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Definition: (noun) The quality or condition of being tortuous; twistedness or crookedness.
Synonyms: crookedness, torsion, contortion.
Usage: The old tree was enormous, and they built a tree house in the tortuosities of its boughs.
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Definition: (noun) A strong yellow color.
Synonyms: lemon yellow, maize, lemon.
Usage: His blood may be gamboge yellow with green spots, for all anybody knows.
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Definition: (verb) To destroy totally.
Synonyms: eradicate, exterminate, uproot.
Usage: The tyrant's first order of business upon assuming power was to extirpate the vestiges of political democracy.
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Definition: (noun) Superfluity; excess.
Synonyms: excess, surplus, surplusage.
Usage: After her long nap, the baby had a nimiety of energy that exhausted her parents.
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Definition: (noun) A propeller that rotates to push against air.
Synonyms: prop.
Usage: The model airplane had an airscrew powered by a rubber band.
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Definition: (noun) A dunghill or refuse heap.
Synonyms: muckheap, muckhill, dunghill.
Usage: His opponent, as proud as the rooster who is left unchallenged upon the midden, crowed away in a last long burst of quotation and deduction.
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Definition: (verb) To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or withhold information.
Synonyms: prevaricate, beat around the bush, palter, tergiversate.
Usage: She was known for her tendency to equivocate, and many of her friends gave up on trying to discern her true opinions.
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Definition: (noun) An ulterior, usually implicit meaning or quality; an implication or a hint. Often used in the plural.
Synonyms: connotation, hint, implication, undercurrent, intimation.
Usage: There were overtones of discontent in his speech.
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Definition: (adjective) Having the supposed power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses.
Synonyms: precognitive, second-sighted.
Usage: An advertisement marked "fortune-teller" listed the abilities of a supposedly clairvoyant woman.
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Definition: (noun) A larval frog or toad.
Synonyms: tadpole.
Usage: The boy found it hard to believe that this tiny, legless polliwog would someday sprout limbs and hop away a fully formed frog.
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Definition: (adjective) Covered with a layer of myelin.
Synonyms: medullated.
Usage: The medical textbook had a detailed diagram of myelinated nerve fibers.
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Definition: (adjective) Causing debilitation.
Synonyms: debilitative, enfeebling, weakening.
Usage: The air of the place, so fresh in the spring and early summer, was stagnant and enervating now.
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Definition: (noun) A smaller room serving as an entryway into a larger room.
Synonyms: foyer, lobby, vestibule, hall, anteroom, entrance hall.
Usage: He led the way across the hall, through the common drawing-room and one useless antechamber, into a room magnificent both in size and furniture.
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Definition: (noun) An offensive odor; a stench.
Synonyms: malodor, reek, stench, stink, mephitis.
Usage: He waited in the basement, trying to ignore the moldy fetor that permeated the air.
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Definition: (noun) The combination of qualities of a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds of the same pitch and volume.
Synonyms: tone, quality.
Usage: The timbre of her soprano was rich and lovely.
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Definition: (verb) Hinder or prevent the progress or accomplishment of.
Synonyms: blockade, obstruct, embarrass, hinder.
Usage: He worked to improve his athletic skills, but his weak knees stymied his progress at every turn.
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Definition: (noun) A group of confidential, often scheming advisers.
Synonyms: cabal, faction, junto.
Usage: The people thought the war was for a righteous cause, but in truth, it was the brainchild of a greedy camarilla that hoped to profit from it.
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Definition: (noun) A poem or song of mourning or lamentation.
Synonyms: coronach, dirge, requiem, lament.
Usage: He had made all the plans for his funeral, choosing and purchasing a casket and even selecting the threnody he wanted played.
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Definition: (noun) Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom.
Synonyms: boredom, tedium.
Usage: On rainy days, of which we have had a good many of late, it is quite painful to witness his ennui.
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Definition: (noun) A medical dressing consisting of a soft heated mass of meal or clay that is spread on a cloth and applied to the skin to treat inflamed areas or improve circulation etc.
Synonyms: poultice, plaster.
Usage: In an effort to reduce the inflammation, they wrapped the horse's leg in a cataplasm made of leaves.
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Definition: (noun) A physical alteration thought to occur in living neural tissue in response to stimuli, posited as an explanation for memory.
Synonyms: memory trace.
Usage: The neuroscientist likened engrams in neural tissue to data on the hard drive of a computer.
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Definition: (noun) A temporary state resulting from excessive consumption of alcohol.
Synonyms: drunkenness, tipsiness, intoxication.
Usage: He was a man who would have made a success of life a century and a half ago when conversation was a passport to good company and inebriety no bar.
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Definition: (noun) A plant adapted to grow in water.
Synonyms: aquatic plant.
Usage: Water lilies and other hydrophytes dotted the surface of the lake.
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Definition: (adjective) Cut low at the neckline.
Synonyms: low-cut, low-necked.
Usage: She wore a decollete dress that many of the guests deemed inappropriately revealing.
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Definition: (noun) A main organ that is situated inside the body.
Synonyms: internal organ.
Usage: The doctor showed the students a detailed model of the viscus and explained its many functions.
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Definition: (noun) A small brook or stream.
Synonyms: rill, runnel, streamlet, run.
Usage: A tiny rivulet of cold water trickled outward from the opening.
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Definition: (noun) A pocket-size case for holding papers and paper money.
Synonyms: wallet, notecase, pocketbook.
Usage: The thief was at the bar, eyeing the patrons' billfolds and gauging their levels of intoxication.
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Definition: (noun) A member of a ship's crew who performs manual labor.
Synonyms: deckhand.
Usage: He worked as a roustabout on the Mississippi from the time he was a boy.
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Definition: (noun) A basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated.
Synonyms: criterion, standard, measure.
Usage: You appear to me to be the very touchstone of responsibility.
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Definition: (noun) A person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment (especially good food and drink).
Synonyms: gastronome, bon vivant, foodie, gourmet.
Usage: He fancied himself an epicure and dined out at the finest restaurants every night.
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Definition: (adjective) Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional.
Synonyms: indifferent, cold, heavy, dull, stoical, bovine, apathetic, frigid, lymphatic, listless, impassive, stolid, unfeeling, undemonstrative.
Usage: No sign of astonishment appeared on Emil's phlegmatic face.
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Definition: (noun) A steep artificial slope in front of a fortification.
Synonyms: protective embankment.
Usage: Instead of trying to breach the escarp, the army encircled the fortress, planning to starve out the inhabitants above.
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Definition: (adjective) Having many branches.
Synonyms: branching.
Usage: The ramose tree sheltered us from the blistering sun.
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Definition: (verb) To make known (a decree, for example) by public declaration; announce officially.
Synonyms: exclaim, proclaim.
Usage: Where is the staircase from which Charles VI promulgated his edict of pardon?
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Definition: (noun) Poverty; neediness.
Synonyms: beggary, pauperism, penury, need.
Usage: The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another.
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Definition: (noun) Bits, fragments, or splinters.
Synonyms: slivers, splinters.
Usage: The bullet blew the glass bottle into flinders.
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Definition: (noun) A morally unprincipled person.
Synonyms: miscreant.
Usage: The prison was full of notorious reprobates.
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Definition: (noun) A hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback.
Synonyms: cattleman, cowboy, cowhand, cowherd, cowman, cowpoke.
Usage: The only time the cowpuncher was not on horseback was when he was repairing the fence around the estate.
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Definition: (adjective) Marked by intellectual productivity.
Synonyms: prolific, fertile.
Usage: He had a fecund imagination and wrote four novels in two years.
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Definition: (adjective) Full of mettle; spirited and plucky.
Synonyms: spirited, game, gritty, spunky.
Usage: Joe, being a mettlesome fellow, returned the stranger's angry glance with a steady look.
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Definition: (noun) A light boat propelled by sails or oars, formerly used as a tender for merchant and war vessels.
Synonyms: ship's boat, cutter, tender.
Usage: Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled the salt breeze with delight.
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Definition: (noun) A mark consisting of characters written on a book; used to indicate shelf location.
Synonyms: call number, call mark.
Usage: Long days spent examining pressmarks had taken a toll on the librarian's eyes.
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Definition: (noun) An extremely dense, vertically developed cumulus with a relatively hazy outline and a glaciated top extending to great heights, usually producing heavy rains, thunderstorms, or hailstorms.
Synonyms: thundercloud.
Usage: The cumulonimbus looming above our heads did not bode well for the future of our barbecue.
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Definition: (noun) A beginner in learning something.
Synonyms: beginner, initiate, novice.
Usage: I once heard a pirate swear, but his best efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's masterful and scientific imprecations.
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Definition: (adjective) Having great variety; diverse.
Synonyms: multifaceted, many-sided.
Usage: This famous old French trading post continued to be a rallying point for a multifarious and motley population.
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Definition: (noun) A common language used by speakers of different languages.
Synonyms: lingua franca, koine.
Usage: Koine Greek was the interlanguage of the empire of Alexander the Great and was widely spoken throughout the eastern Mediterranean.
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Definition: (noun) The calling down of a curse.
Synonyms: imprecation.
Usage: They muttered maledictions and curses, but we ignored them.
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Definition: (noun) A sudden uncontrollable attack.
Synonyms: convulsion, fit.
Usage: Michael strained backward in a paroxysm of rage, making fierce short jumps to the end of the tether as he snarled and growled with utmost fierceness.
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Definition: (noun) A tapered, open-ended sleeve pivotally attached to a standard, that indicates the direction of the wind blowing through it.
Synonyms: drogue, air sock, wind cone.
Usage: The air traffic controller noted that the airport's windsock was fully extended.
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Definition: (adjective) Full of eagerness; enthusiastic.
Synonyms: impatient.
Usage: Standing at the starting line of the race, he shifted from foot to foot and was raring to go.
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Definition: (noun) A specialist in the care of woody plants, especially trees.
Synonyms: tree surgeon.
Usage: The arborist informed the homeowners that the sick tree would need to be cut down.
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Definition: (noun) An odd, whimsical, or stubborn notion.
Synonyms: oddity, queerness, quirk.
Usage: He is perhaps the sanest man and has the fewest crotchets of any I chance to know.
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Definition: (noun) A band of material around the waist that strengthens a skirt or trousers.
Synonyms: waistband, waistcloth, girdle, sash.
Usage: Their adornments were completed by passing a few loose folds of white tappa, in a modest cincture, around the waist.
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Definition: (noun) An extreme state of adversity; the lowest point of anything.
Synonyms: low-water mark, rock bottom.
Usage: They lost everything in the fire and reached the nadir of their fortunes.
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Definition: (noun) A large warship that carries planes and has a long flat deck for take-offs and landings.
Synonyms: aircraft carrier.
Usage: Before the invasion, the general ordered a large flattop to anchor several miles offshore to facilitate a swift aerial attack.
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Definition: (noun) A person who has recently attained high position or great power but not general acceptance or respect; an upstart.
Synonyms: nouveau-riche, parvenu, upstart.
Usage: The arriviste tried to gain acceptance into society through ostentatious displays of his newfound wealth, but his actions only inspired resentment.
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Definition: (noun) A horny material from the upper jaws of certain whales; used as the ribs of fans or as stays in corsets.
Synonyms: whalebone.
Usage: Baleen, formerly used in buggy whips, parasol ribs, and corsets, has largely been replaced by plastic in these items.
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Definition: (noun) A facing, as of masonry, used to support an embankment.
Synonyms: stone facing.
Usage: Like seawalls, revetments armor and protect the land behind them.
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Definition: (noun) A painful sore with a hard pus-filled core.
Synonyms: boil.
Usage: His doctor referred him to a dermatologist who would examine the furuncle on his leg.
Definition: (noun) An instrument for measuring wind force and velocity.
Synonyms: wind gauge.
Usage: The storm chasers loaded their van with high-tech gear, including a number of powerful anemometers.
Definition: (noun) A restaurant that specializes in steaks.
Synonyms: steakhouse.
Usage: The best steak we ever ate was at a small chophouse in California.
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Definition: (noun) A consecrated mixture of oil and balsam, used for anointing in church sacraments such as baptism and confirmation.
Synonyms: holy oil, sacramental oil.
Usage: Though his parents told him it was unlikely, he believed he could remember the smell of the chrism used in his baptism.
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Definition: (noun) Any of the relatively cool dark spots appearing periodically in groups on the surface of the sun that are associated with strong magnetic fields.
Synonyms: macula.
Usage: Come, cheer up, old man; there's no use in losing your grip and going back to this child's play merely because this big sunspot is drifting across your shiny new disk.
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Definition: (noun) A trait of dignified seriousness.
Synonyms: staidness, sedateness.
Usage: Do I seem to have lost my solemnity, my gravity, my poise, my dignity?
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Definition: (verb) To oppose, especially by contradiction.
Synonyms: challenge, dispute.
Usage: In vain did the poor old father weep and implore her pity; she was firm, and he dared not gainsay her.
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Definition: (verb) Make something more diverse and varied.
Synonyms: vary.
Usage: After the third consecutive dinner of mashed potatoes, we began to hope that the cook would begin to variegate the menu.
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Definition: (noun) A bag carried over one shoulder to transport supplies, as on a hike.
Synonyms: backpack, knapsack.
Usage: She carried the heavy haversack for most of the hike.
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Definition: (verb) To subject to smoke or fumes, usually in order to exterminate pests or disinfect.
Synonyms: fume.
Usage: When we found out there was an infestation next door, we considered fumigating our house too.
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Definition: (noun) The property of being close together.
Synonyms: proximity.
Usage: She loved Emma Jane, but it was a friendship born of propinquity and circumstance, not of true affinity.
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Definition: (noun) A slogan used to rally support for a cause.
Synonyms: cry.
Usage: "Fight and fall, but fly not," that was our watchword.
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Definition: (noun) A pseudonym.
Synonyms: nom de guerre, pseudonym.
Usage: Aware that all kinds of people would be reading the bulletin board, he used an anonym when posting messages on it.
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Definition: (noun) A payment or profit received in addition to a regular wage or salary, especially a benefit expected as one's due.
Synonyms: fringe benefit, perk.
Usage: We had promised her a liberal perquisite in the event of our success.
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Definition: (noun) A downward slope or bend.
Synonyms: fall, downslope, declension, declination, decline, descent.
Usage: As best I could, I stumbled after him down a steep declivity beginning at the forest's edge.
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Definition: (noun) A tenant in someone's house.
Synonyms: boarder, lodger.
Usage: My aunt took in roomers for years and is still in touch with many of her former tenants.
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Definition: (adjective) Harmful and often untrue; tending to discredit or malign.
Synonyms: calumnious, defamatory, denigrating, libellous, slanderous.
Usage: The article, being libelous, had to be returned as impossible; and I had to renounce my dream of dragging its author into the limelight.
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Definition: (adjective) Of or characteristic of the countryside or its people; rustic.
Synonyms: rustic, arcadian, pastoral.
Usage: The illustrations in the book depicted pleasant, bucolic scenes with farmers happily toiling in the fields.
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Definition: (noun) A lump of material formed from the content of a liquid.
Synonyms: clot.
Usage: His nose began to bleed again when a hearty sneeze dislodged the coagulum that had formed inside his nostril.
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Definition: (noun) A place where bees and beehives are kept, especially a place where bees are raised for their honey.
Synonyms: bee house.
Usage: She had started her apiary with a small capital, a book of practical hints, and a second-hand queen.
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Definition: (noun) A written release from an obligation, specifically a receipt indicating payment in full.
Synonyms: release.
Usage: After years of haggling over debts and money owed, the two men resolved their dispute and drew up an acquittance.
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Definition: (noun) A mixture.
Synonyms: mishmash, farrago, hodgepodge, mingle-mangle, oddments, odds and ends, omnium-gatherum, ragbag.
Usage: The movie was a strange melange of romance, science fiction, comedy, and drama.
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Definition: (noun) Swiftness of action or motion; speed.
Synonyms: rapidity, quickness.
Usage: These rapid attentions were bestowed with the celerity and skill of a practiced surgeon.
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Definition: (noun) A polite refusal of an invitation.
Synonyms: regrets.
Usage: His declination of the dinner invitation was a great disappointment to the would-be host.
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Definition: (noun) A place where goods are stored or deposited and from which they are distributed.
Synonyms: transshipment center.
Usage: Bahrain has been an entrepot of trade between Arabia and India since the second millennium BCE.
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Definition: (noun) A small, often temporary defensive fortification.
Synonyms: sconce.
Usage: Great mounds had been heaped about the crest of the hill, making a huge redoubt of it.
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Definition: (noun) A scholar who is skilled in academic disputation.
Synonyms: academician.
Usage: The symposium was scheduled to end at seven, but the schoolman continued to lecture the group for an additional hour.
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Definition: (noun) A person excessively concerned with dress.
Synonyms: dandy, dude, fashion plate, fop, gallant, sheik, beau, swell.
Usage: The clotheshorse could be found at the boutique once a week, poring over a variety of suits, sweaters, and ties, and inevitably buying at least three of each.
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Definition: (noun) The principal team representing a university, college, or school in sports, games, or other competitions.
Synonyms: first team.
Usage: She was determined to make the varsity basketball team and practiced her game all summer.
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Definition: (noun) A scoundrel.
Synonyms: rascal.
Usage: Both Kuragin and Dolokhov were at that time notorious among the rakes and scapegraces of Petersburg.
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Definition: (noun) A tuba that coils over the shoulder of the musician.
Synonyms: bombardon.
Usage: As the marching band strolled by, Karen could see that the small boy carrying the giant helicon was sweating profusely.
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Definition: (noun) A verbal denunciation characterized by harsh, often insulting language; a tirade.
Synonyms: tirade, broadside.
Usage: Ferrars looked exceedingly angry, and drawing herself up more stiffly than ever, pronounced in retort a bitter philippic.
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Definition: (noun) Adherence.
Synonyms: compliance, conformity.
Usage: In my parents' household, strict abidance by the rules was required, so naturally I rebelled.
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Definition: (noun) A patchy brown or dark brown skin discoloration that usually occurs on a woman's face and may result from hormonal changes, as in pregnancy.
Synonyms: mask of pregnancy, melasma.
Usage: She developed chloasma on her face during her pregnancy, but it disappeared when her baby was a few months old.
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Definition: (verb) To belittle.
Synonyms: depreciate.
Usage: The teacher should not deprecate his student's efforts.
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Definition: (noun) Any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part.
Synonyms: groove.
Usage: The medical students studied the diagram depicting the vallecula between the hemispheres of the brain.
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Definition: (noun) A trembling or shaking.
Synonyms: shakiness, trembling, quiver, vibration.
Usage: Cornelius put his hand on his heart, to repress as it were its violent palpitation.
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Definition: (noun) A wandering minstrel, poet, or entertainer in medieval England and France.
Synonyms: folk singer, minstrel, poet-singer, troubadour.
Usage: The group of jongleurs was so popular that King Edward requested a private performance.
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Definition: (noun) A notched parapet built on top of a wall, with alternating merlons and crenels for decoration or defense.
Synonyms: crenelation, crenellation.
Usage: I came upon it by a winding ledge of road, which clung to the bare side of the hill like the battlements of some huge castle.
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Definition: (noun) Squid prepared as food.
Synonyms: squid.
Usage: Lisa ordered calamari at the Italian restaurant.
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Definition: (noun) A moral fable, especially one having animals or inanimate objects as characters.
Synonyms: allegory, parable, fable.
Usage: The minister liked to incorporate apologues into his sermons, thinking the moral tales about sly foxes and witty rabbits would appeal to the children in the congregation.
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Definition: (noun) A reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages.
Synonyms: dry.
Usage: She was a tireless prohibitionist who raided saloons and destroyed bottles of liquor with a hatchet.
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Definition: (noun) A woman's loose-fitting dressing gown.
Synonyms: neglige, wrapper, housecoat.
Usage: The tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier's eyes that the damp sleeve of her peignoir no longer served to dry them.
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Definition: (noun) A soft yellow wax secreted by glands in the ear canal.
Synonyms: earwax.
Usage: A buildup of cerumen was irritating Billy's ear, so his mother gently cleaned the area with a cotton swab.
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Definition: (adjective) That cannot undergo mixing or blending.
Synonyms: unmixable.
Usage: When two immiscible liquids, such as oil and water, are shaken together, an emulsion is produced.
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Definition: (noun) An enlisted person in the US or British Navy.
Synonyms: sailor.
Usage: The big steam pinnace went off to her ship to bring over a few bluejackets to furl my sails for me.
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Definition: (noun) A person with great powers and abilities.
Synonyms: superman, Ubermensch.
Usage: The saints and demigods whom history worships we are constrained to accept with a grain of allowance.
Definition: (noun) A person who shows no gratitude.
Synonyms: thankless wretch, ungrateful person.
Usage: This bird was a godsend to us, and I should be an ingrate if I forgot to make honorable mention of him in these pages.
Definition: (noun) A small, scattered amount or number.
Synonyms: handful.
Usage: Her skin had a healthy glow, and her nose was dotted with a smattering of freckles.
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Definition: (noun) A tiresome or unwelcome moral lecture or discourse; tedious sermonizing.
Synonyms: homily.
Usage: Don't torment me with your preachments now, unless you want to kill me outright.
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Definition: (noun) A tourist who is visiting sights of interest.
Synonyms: rubberneck, sightseer, tripper.
Usage: The city's economy depends on tourism, and an influx of enthusiastic excursionists is always welcome.
Definition: (noun) A percussion instrument with a series of metal bars tuned to the chromatic scale and played with two light hammers.
Synonyms: orchestral bells.
Usage: She was always capricious in her tastes, but even her close friends were surprised when she dismissed her piano teacher and took up the glockenspiel.
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Definition: (noun) A mean-spirited miserly person.
Synonyms: niggard, skinflint, churl.
Usage: The old scrooge was married to his money, and spending a penny was, to him, as traumatic as divorce.
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Definition: (noun) A memorandum setting forth the major points of a proposed discussion or agreement, used especially in diplomatic communications.
Synonyms: position paper.
Usage: After the conference, they wrote an aide-memoire and sent copies of it to everyone in the department who had been unable to attend the meeting.
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Definition: (noun) A sudden attempt by a group to overthrow a government.
Synonyms: coup, coup d'etat, takeover.
Usage: The people had been expecting a putsch for years, but they were surprised to wake up one morning and find themselves the subjects of a new government.
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Definition: (adjective) Inspiring awe or admiration; majestic.
Synonyms: lordly, grand.
Usage: He was of august lineage, and was widely admired for his family connections.
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Definition: (noun) Haughtiness in bearing and attitude.
Synonyms: arrogance, haughtiness, lordliness.
Usage: There was no trace of hauteur in her expression, and she seemed humbled and meek.
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Definition: (adjective) Originating or existing during the same period; lasting through the same era.
Synonyms: coetaneous, contemporaneous.
Usage: The range was composed of grand, solid, abrupt masses of granite, which appeared as if they had been coeval with the beginning of the world.
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Definition: (noun) A thin, fetid, greenish fluid consisting of serum and pus discharged from a wound, ulcer, or fistula.
Synonyms: pus, festering, ichor, purulence, suppuration.
Usage: The doctor bandaged my hand and told me to call him if sanies began to ooze from the wound.
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Definition: (adjective) Capable of being farmed productively.
Synonyms: arable, tillable.
Usage: Though she had inherited a large farm, it was practically worthless because of the lack of cultivable land.
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Definition: (noun) A margin of freedom or variation, as of activity, time, or expenditure; latitude.
Synonyms: margin, allowance, tolerance.
Usage: Lisa's parents gave her a lot of leeway with her curfew, but they expected her to finish all her chores before she left the house.
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Definition: (noun) A fancy twist or curl, such as a flourish made with a pen.
Synonyms: squiggle.
Usage: Her penmanship was beautiful, but with so many curlicues, it was hard to read.
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Definition: (noun) A show, pretense, or display.
Synonyms: pose, mannerism.
Usage: Strickland would not go near them, not from any affectation of stoicism, for I found him seated on a three-legged stool when I went into the studio one day and he was alone, but because he did not like them.
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Definition: (noun) The part of the respiratory tract between the pharynx and the trachea, having walls of cartilage and muscle and containing the vocal cords enveloped in folds of mucous membrane.
Synonyms: voice box.
Usage: By cunning operations on tongue, throat, larynx, and nasal cavities a man's whole enunciation and manner of speech could be changed.
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Definition: (noun) A painted or carved screen placed above and behind an altar or communion table.
Synonyms: altarpiece.
Usage: The artist is best known for the reredos he painted for the church in his hometown.
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Definition: (noun) Something that is utterly stupid or silly.
Synonyms: absurdity, fatuousness, silliness.
Usage: In his fatuity, the beggar believed the princess to be in love with him.
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Definition: (noun) Something, such as a skin or peel, that has been pared off.
Synonyms: shaving, sliver.
Usage: We do not mourn over the parings of our nails nor the cut locks of our hair, though they were once part of ourselves.
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Definition: (verb) To give vent to angry disapproval; protest vehemently.
Synonyms: rail.
Usage: The detective had, indeed, good reasons to inveigh against the bad luck which pursued him.
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Definition: (noun) A stopping.
Synonyms: cessation.
Usage: More than anything else in the world, my frayed and frazzled mind wanted surcease from weariness in the way it knew surcease would come.
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Definition: (noun) A spectacular public display.
Synonyms: ostentation.
Usage: Because they were considered hometown heroes, the returning astronauts were greeted with much fanfare.
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Definition: (verb) Ask for and get free; be a parasite.
Synonyms: bum, grub, mooch, sponge.
Usage: Though she had a pantry full of groceries, Sheila loved to cadge her meals from her sister.
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Definition: (noun) A person who delivers a speech or oration.
Synonyms: orator, speechifier, speechmaker.
Usage: They continued to correspond, she in the unweighed language of unwavering affection, he in the chilly phraseology of the polished rhetorician.
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Definition: (verb) To mislead by means of a petty trick or fraud.
Synonyms: deceive, delude, lead on.
Usage: He has wronged me and deceived me enough, he shall not cozen me further!
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Definition: (noun) A technique of growing plants (without soil) in water containing dissolved nutrients.
Synonyms: aquiculture, tank farming.
Usage: The soil where he lived was poor in nutrients, so he decided to try his luck with hydroponics.
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Definition: (verb) To make smooth or glossy by or as if by rubbing; polish.
Synonyms: furbish, buff, flush.
Usage: Every afternoon, she would obsessively burnish the floors until the parlor gleamed like an ice rink.
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Definition: (adjective) Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words; concise and terse.
Synonyms: compendious, summary, compact.
Usage: Some students enjoyed the teacher's succinct style, while others wished she would elaborate on certain topics.
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Definition: (noun) A grid or pattern placed in the eyepiece of an optical instrument, used to establish scale or position.
Synonyms: graticule, reticule.
Usage: Looking through the microscope's eyepiece, he was able to establish the size of the molecule with the help of a reticle.
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Definition: (verb) To show or demonstrate clearly; manifest.
Synonyms: express, show.
Usage: The baby couldn't tell us she disliked the cereal, but she evinced her distaste by grimacing.
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Definition: (noun) Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit.
Synonyms: craftiness, foxiness, slyness, wiliness, cunning.
Usage: Her mild eyes seemed incapable of any severity or guile, and yet she has committed a murder.
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Definition: (verb) To relinquish (power or responsibility) formally.
Synonyms: renounce.
Usage: The King abdicated the throne when he married a divorcee.
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Definition: (noun) A serviceman in the artillery.
Synonyms: gunner, artilleryman.
Usage: You were a cannoneer that day there, and you were among the first to enter the accursed fortress when it fell.
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Definition: (noun) A smug, ignorant, especially middle-class person who is regarded as being indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values.
Synonyms: anti-intellectual.
Usage: He may have an advanced degree in mathematics, but the man is a total philistine when it comes to the arts.
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Definition: (verb) To be full of things; abound or swarm.
Synonyms: pullulate, swarm.
Usage: The street teemed with hundreds of policemen who questioned every potential witness.
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Definition: (noun) The highest point.
Synonyms: acme, vertex, peak.
Usage: Though he was afraid of heights, he forced himself to climb to the roof's apex to fix the leak.
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Definition: (adjective) Strikingly conspicuous.
Synonyms: prominent, outstanding, striking, spectacular.
Usage: I took in much of this in the few seconds during which we stood facing each other, and I also observed another salient feature of her appearance: she was frightfully dirty.
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Definition: (noun) A dense winter fog containing ice particles.
Synonyms: ice fog.
Usage: He trudged on through the pogonip, oblivious to the delicate ice crystals melting on his face and hands.
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Definition: (noun) A small, white or yellowish cystlike mass just below the surface of the skin, caused by retention of the secretion of a sebaceous gland.
Synonyms: whitehead.
Usage: The soap promised to eradicate milia by thoroughly cleansing the skin and unclogging pores.
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Definition: (noun) A fire-breathing dragon of Germanic mythology.
Synonyms: dragon.
Usage: Unlike other firedrakes, the dragon in this story liked to recite poetry and was a connoisseur of fine wines.
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Definition: (noun) A place where an extensive variety of woody plants are cultivated for scientific, educational, and ornamental purposes.
Synonyms: botanical garden.
Usage: The botany class took a field trip to the arboretum to examine its extensive collection of rare plants.
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Definition: (noun) A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.).
Synonyms: monocracy, dictatorship.
Usage: The people had philosophical problems with the shogunate, but they had to admit that trade and commerce were flourishing under its rule.
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Definition: (noun) A hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers.
Synonyms: auberge, inn, lodge.
Usage: Three large rooms were assigned to them in the monastery hostelry.
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Definition: (noun) Supreme blessedness or happiness.
Synonyms: blessedness, beatification.
Usage: You have it in your power to raise two human beings from a state of actual suffering to such unspeakable beatitude as only generous, noble, self-forgetting love can give.
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Definition: (noun) A large number or amount or extent.
Synonyms: hatful, lot, mint, muckle, peck, slew, spate, tidy sum, wad, stack, raft, pile, plenty, mass, batch, heap, deal, flock, pot, mess, sight.
Usage: It was only when he found a mickle of old letters in the basement that he learned his grandmother had been a prolific and talented writer.
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Definition: (noun) An inert substance used to dilute.
Synonyms: dilutant.
Usage: The artist thinned the paint to a pale yellow using a diluent and a bit of white.
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Definition: (noun) A frame with legs, used to support pieces of wood being sawed.
Synonyms: buck, horse, sawbuck.
Usage: While thus engaged they came to the edge of a wood, and the boy sat down to rest upon an old sawhorse that some woodcutter had left there.
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Definition: (noun) A canvas bag that is used to feed an animal (such as a horse).
Synonyms: feedbag.
Usage: The stableboy replaced the horse's nosebag, which had torn in two places.
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Definition: (adjective) Intended to instruct.
Synonyms: didactical.
Usage: "The principal difficulty in your case," remarked Holmes, in his didactic fashion, "lay in the fact of there being too much evidence."
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Definition: (adjective) Characterized by or causing the absorption of heat; endoergic.
Synonyms: heat-absorbing, endothermal.
Usage: Endothermic reactions are often described as reactions that "feel cold," and they contrast with exothermic reactions, in which heat is released.
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Definition: (adjective) That cannot be transferred to another or others.
Synonyms: unforfeitable.
Usage: When he decided to fight for his inalienable rights, he did not realize that his actions would go down in history.
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Definition: (verb) To cause transformation of (a liquid or sol, for example) into or as if into a soft, semisolid, or solid mass.
Synonyms: clot.
Usage: The medical students watched blood coagulate as part of their lesson in clotting reactions.
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Definition: (noun) An ornamental drapery hung across a top edge, as of a bed, table, or canopy.
Synonyms: cornice, pelmet, valance board.
Usage: Large valances of silk, embroidered with flowers of gay colors, which were rather faded, fell from the wide windows.
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Definition: (noun) A person without moral scruples.
Synonyms: reprobate.
Usage: And here, gentlemen, the foul play of these miscreants must come out.
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Definition: (noun) Acting like a clown or buffoon.
Synonyms: clowning, harlequinade, prank, frivolity.
Usage: Mrs. Williams had little patience for the class clown's buffoonery, and she would often send him to the principal's office.
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Definition: (noun) A canoe made from a hollowed tree trunk.
Synonyms: dugout canoe, dugout.
Usage: Then I'll take you some night in the pirogue when the moon shines.
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Definition: (noun) A system of clandestine printing and distribution of dissident or banned literature.
Synonyms: underground press.
Usage: The samizdat was successful in disseminating the banned literature until an informant turned in its chief operator.
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Definition: (noun) A superior skill that one can learn by study and practice and observation.
Synonyms: prowess, art.
Usage: They were wrought to such a pitch of nervous dread by the uncanny artistry of their witch-doctor, they were helpless with terror.
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Definition: (noun) A school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12.
Synonyms: secondary school, Gymnasium, lycee, middle school.
Usage: "That lyceum has ruined him," she added, remembering the insistence with which the chevalier had spoken of the evils of education in such schools.
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Definition: (noun) A policeman who patrols a given region.
Synonyms: flatfoot.
Usage: The patrolman was familiar with the area and knew the noises he was hearing were coming from foraging raccoons, not people.
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Definition: (noun) A gas that makes the eyes fill with tears but does not damage them; used in dispersing crowds.
Synonyms: teargas.
Usage: When the demonstration turned violent, the police used a potent lachrymator to disperse the mob.
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Definition: (noun) A regular patron.
Synonyms: regular, fixture.
Usage: He was a habitue at the bar, but he never had more than two drinks in a night.
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Definition: (adjective) Rashly or wastefully extravagant.
Synonyms: profligate, spendthrift, extravagant.
Usage: Her prodigal spending left her with a mountain of bills and an empty bank account.
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Definition: (noun) Confused, rambling, or incoherent discourse; nonsense.
Synonyms: twaddle, story, saga, trash, jargon, yarn, gibberish, spiel.
Usage: When I asked why he missed the meeting, he gave me some rigmarole about the train being late.
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Definition: (adjective) Lacking knowledge or awareness.
Synonyms: unaware.
Usage: He was incognizant of the new political situation and needed his brother to brief him on the details.
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Definition: (noun) A building where animals are butchered.
Synonyms: slaughterhouse, butchery, shambles.
Usage: The largest abattoirs are those of the meatpacking industry.
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Definition: (noun) A severe scolding.
Synonyms: castigation, bawling out, chewing out, dressing down, upbraiding, earful.
Usage: When he was caught chewing gum in class, he knew he would have to endure a going-over from the teacher.
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Definition: (noun) A small quantity (especially of a liquid).
Synonyms: drop.
Usage: A driblet of water escaped from the corner of her mouth.
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Definition: (noun) A small glass vial that is sealed after filling and used chiefly as a container for a hypodermic injection solution.
Synonyms: phial, vial.
Usage: Because of his medical condition, he was obligated to carry an ampoule of medicine and a hypodermic needle with him at all times.
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Definition: (noun) A cruel and brutal fellow.
Synonyms: bully, hooligan, roughneck.
Usage: He had been a bully in grade school, so no one was surprised to hear that he is still considered a ruffian.
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Definition: (adjective) Playfully jocular; humorous.
Synonyms: bantering, tongue-in-cheek.
Usage: She was quite gullible and could never tell when his remarks were facetious or when he was being serious.
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Definition: (adjective) Admitting the passage of light; transparent or translucent.
Synonyms: transparent, crystal clear, limpid, crystalline, lucid.
Usage: The water in the fountain, pellucid as crystal, was alive with myriads of gold and silver fishes.
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Definition: (noun) A confused mass; a jumble.
Synonyms: clutter, jumble, mare's nest, muddle, smother.
Usage: Surrounded by a welter of papers and magazines, Susan began work on her scrapbook.
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Definition: (adjective) Devoid of sensation or consciousness; inanimate.
Synonyms: insensate.
Usage: Jim thought he might be losing his mind when he caught himself talking to insentient objects.
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Definition: (noun) A person who escapes into a world of fantasy.
Synonyms: wishful thinker, dreamer.
Usage: She calls herself a mere optimist, but we believe her unconditionally sunny outlook makes her an escapist.
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Definition: (noun) A tower with a light that gives warning of shoals to passing ships.
Synonyms: lighthouse, beacon.
Usage: The pharos was no longer operational and served as a tourist attraction in the sleepy beach town.
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Definition: (verb) To look on or treat (a person) as a celebrity.
Synonyms: celebrate.
Usage: She lionized her older brother and was always proud to be seen with him.
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Definition: (noun) A powerfully built, robust person.
Synonyms: bruiser, bull, Samson.
Usage: Grandmother described everyone in larger-than-life terms. Even scrawny Bill from down the block was "a regular strapper."
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Definition: (noun) A single pictorial composition made by juxtaposing or superimposing many pictures or designs.
Synonyms: collage.
Usage: The children's gift to their grandmother was a montage of family pictures.
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Definition: (adjective) Relating to, situated in, or extending toward the middle; median.
Synonyms: median.
Usage: They took up defensive posts all along the field, with Ray in the medial position.
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Definition: (noun) A person who spreads frightening rumors and stirs up trouble.
Synonyms: stirrer.
Usage: When he started spreading the rumor that the government was bent on destroying our homes, we decided that he was a scaremonger and stopped paying attention.
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Definition: (noun) A quiet plodding workhorse.
Synonyms: farm horse.
Usage: The dobbin had been a loyal and faithful worker, and the farmer was sad to see the quiet horse's health decline.
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Definition: (noun) A substance, such as calcium oxide or silica gel, that has a high affinity for water and is used as a drying agent.
Synonyms: drier, drying agent, siccative.
Usage: The shipment was packed with a desiccant to prevent humidity from warping the wood during transport.
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Definition: (verb) To make uneasy or perplexed; disconcert.
Synonyms: discompose, untune, upset, disconcert.
Usage: Her extreme candor would often discomfit strangers who suddenly found themselves privy to her most private thoughts.
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Definition: (noun) The top stone of a structure or wall.
Synonyms: stretcher, coping stone, copestone.
Usage: When the structure's capstone was finally in place, the builders threw themselves a party to celebrate their achievement.
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Definition: (noun) One who works solely for compensation, especially a person willing to perform for a fee tasks considered menial or offensive.
Synonyms: pensionary.
Usage: The hireling said he would be willing to clean out the cesspool—for the right price.
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Definition: (adjective) Possible to impute or ascribe; attributable.
Synonyms: ascribable, due to, referable.
Usage: The oversight was not imputable to him because he was on vacation when it occurred.
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Definition: (verb) To talk idly and at length; chatter.
Synonyms: blabber, palaver, piffle, prattle.
Usage: I know the age better than you do, though you will prate about it so tediously.
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Definition: (adjective) Enduring a very short time.
Synonyms: ephemeral, fugacious, passing, short-lived, transitory.
Usage: The elderly woman was depressed and spent her days lamenting the transient beauty of youth.
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Definition: (noun) The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.
Synonyms: bast.
Usage: "Girdling" a tree, or cutting through its phloem tubes, results in the starvation of the roots and, ultimately, the death of the tree.
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Definition: (noun) One who shirks work or duty, especially one who tries to evade military service in wartime.
Synonyms: shirker.
Usage: My partner was a slacker, so I had to do all the work on the project.
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Definition: (adjective) Not capable of being persuaded by entreaty; relentless.
Synonyms: relentless, grim, unappeasable, unrelenting, unforgiving, stern.
Usage: The inexorable investigator questioned the witness repeatedly, long after she had been reduced to tears and claimed to know nothing more.
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Definition: (noun) Miscellaneous items or written works collected together.
Synonyms: assortment, mixed bag, motley, potpourri, salmagundi, smorgasbord, variety, mixture.
Usage: The office was littered with papers, files, and assorted miscellanea.
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Definition: (noun) Either of two small leather boxes, each containing strips of parchment inscribed with quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures, one of which is strapped to the forehead and the other to the left arm; traditionally worn by Jewish men during morning worship, except on the Sabbath and holidays.
Synonyms: tefillin.
Usage: Just before his bar mitzvah, David got a brand new set of phylacteries.
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Definition: (noun) A tall upright megalith; found primarily in England and northern France.
Synonyms: standing stone.
Usage: The neo-pagans made the huge menhir the site of their annual spring celebration.
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Definition: (noun) A punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information.
Synonyms: separatrix, solidus, slash, diagonal, stroke.
Usage: Because the poem was reproduced in block text, virgules were used to indicate where the lines had originally been separated.
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Definition: (noun) One who is employed in the loading or unloading of ships.
Synonyms: dock worker, dock-walloper, docker, dockhand, loader, longshoreman, lumper.
Usage: As the stevedore worked, he dreamed of the day he would be able to leave the docks behind and see the world from the deck of a ship.
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Definition: (noun) A pipe of the bagpipe that is tuned to produce a single continuous tone.
Synonyms: drone pipe.
Usage: The continuous note emanating from the bourdon was hypnotic and carried the listener off into another world.
Definition: (noun) A peevish, irascible person; a grouch.
Synonyms: crank, grouch, grump, churl.
Usage: He was known to all as a crosspatch, but all that changed with the birth of his first grandchild.
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Definition: (noun) A long angry or violent speech, usually of a censorious or denunciatory nature; a diatribe.
Synonyms: philippic, broadside.
Usage: Milady had listened to all this menacing tirade with a smile of disdain on her lips, but rage in her heart.
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Definition: (adjective) Being or taking a roundabout, lengthy course.
Synonyms: roundabout.
Usage: He prided himself on his sense of direction, so Jane refrained from mentioning that the route he had chosen was circuitous and unnecessarily long.
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Definition: (noun) A meal at midday; a luncheon.
Synonyms: luncheon, dejeuner, lunch.
Usage: His impudence still rankled when I came into the dining room at tiffin time.
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Definition: (noun) A prehistoric megalith typically having two upright stones and a capstone.
Synonyms: cromlech.
Usage: All that was left of the pre-historic community was a dolmen, an enigma that stood in nature like a letter from a lost alphabet.
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Definition: (noun) A person who argues in defense or justification of something, such as a doctrine, policy, or institution.
Synonyms: vindicator, justifier.
Usage: English youth have been so educated time out of mind, and we have hundreds of thousands of apologists and admirers of injustice, misery, and brutality, as perpetrated among children.
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Definition: (noun) Abusive or venomous language used to express blame or censure or bitter deep-seated ill will.
Synonyms: invective, vituperation.
Usage: At first, she patiently listened to him vent his frustration, but when he began to spout vitriol, she told him she had to leave.
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Definition: (noun) A platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it.
Synonyms: dais, podium, pulpit, rostrum, stump, ambo.
Usage: The author ascended the soapbox and began to read from his latest novel.
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Definition: (noun) A flat, elevated region; a plateau or mesa.
Synonyms: plateau.
Usage: The hikers climbed all morning, planning to stop for lunch when they reached the tableland.
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Definition: (noun) A route shorter than the usual one.
Synonyms: shortcut, crosscut.
Usage: My father claimed he knew a great cutoff, but it turned out to be longer than our original route.
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Definition: (noun) A small wooden embroidery frame consisting of two concentric hoops between which fabric is stretched.
Synonyms: embroidery frame, embroidery hoop.
Usage: She was addicted to needlepoint and took her tambour wherever she went.
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Definition: (adjective) Of, relating to, or marked by perfidy; treacherous.
Synonyms: punic, treacherous.
Usage: After Frank betrayed him, James swore he would never forgive his friend's perfidious behavior.
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Definition: (noun) Someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior, especially for the same criminal behavior.
Synonyms: habitual criminal, repeater.
Usage: After his third arrest for petty theft, it became clear to the local police that they had a recidivist on their hands.
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Definition: (adjective) Warlike in manner or temperament; pugnacious.
Synonyms: battleful, combative, contentious.
Usage: She had always found him to be bellicose and was not surprised when he was expelled from the military academy for his belligerent and violent behavior.
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Definition: (noun) A craft capable of moving over water or land on a cushion of air created by jet engines.
Synonyms: ground-effect machine.
Usage: The police lost track of the bank robbers at the water's edge, where the thieves escaped in a hovercraft.
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Definition: (adjective) Unkempt; slovenly.
Synonyms: slovenly.
Usage: Between his frowzy clothes and late arrival, he made a decidedly bad first impression.
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Definition: (adjective) Having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect.
Synonyms: searching.
Usage: His trenchant criticism redirected the debate and gave everyone something new to consider.
Definition: (adjective) Feeding on plants, including shrubs and trees.
Synonyms: plant-eating, phytophilous.
Usage: The dot moth is phytophagous, feeding on a wide variety of plants.
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Definition: (noun) A medicine or drug, especially a cathartic.
Synonyms: aperient, cathartic, purgative.
Usage: "Affery, woman," said Mr. Flintwinch, with a friendly grin on his expressive countenance, "if you ever have a dream of this sort again, it'll be a sign of your being in want of physic."
Definition: (noun) A cell, such as a white blood cell, that engulfs and absorbs waste material, harmful microorganisms, or other foreign bodies in the bloodstream and tissues.
Synonyms: scavenger cell.
Usage: The doctor was fond of referring to phagocytes as "sanitation workers."
Definition: (noun) A brownish substance consisting of a mixture of pollen and honey and used by bees as food.
Synonyms: ambrosia.
Usage: The worker bees prepared the beebread, which was then fed to the larvae.
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Definition: (noun) In Muslim legend, a spirit often capable of assuming human or animal form and exercising supernatural influence over people.
Synonyms: genie, jinnee, jinni.
Usage: The djinni offered to grant Aladdin three wishes.
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Definition: (adjective) Covered with hair; hairy.
Synonyms: hairy.
Usage: The hirsute man used to joke that he looked like a grizzly bear.
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Definition: (noun) A person regarded as arrogant or conceited.
Synonyms: egoist, egotist.
Usage: He was dismissed by many as a swellhead, but his ridiculously high estimation of himself sustained him through all sorts of challenging situations.
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Definition: (noun) A mixture of dissimilar ingredients; a jumble.
Synonyms: patchwork, jumble.
Usage: Paul's screenplay was a hodgepodge of comedy, drama, slapstick, and tragedy.
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Definition: (noun) A cemetery, especially a large and elaborate one belonging to an ancient city.
Synonyms: cemetery, burial ground, graveyard, memorial park.
Usage: A guardian in a braided cap walked listlessly through the room like a ghost stalking through a necropolis.
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Definition: (noun) The supposed development of living organisms from nonliving matter.
Synonyms: spontaneous generation, autogenesis, autogeny.
Usage: Early notions of abiogenesis, now considered incorrect, held that living organisms generate from decaying organic substances, like maggots from meat.
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Definition: (noun) A person used by another as a dupe or tool.
Synonyms: pawn, instrument.
Usage: He was humiliated to learn that he had been made a cat's-paw in the businessman's unscrupulous dealings.
Definition: (noun) A person devoted to pleasure and luxury; a voluptuary.
Synonyms: voluptuary.
Usage: This official sybarite dressed, dined, and visited a dozen or fifteen salons between eight at night and three in the morning.
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Definition: (noun) A small natural hill.
Synonyms: knoll, mound, hammock.
Usage: Umbopa pointed out to us a slight and indistinct hillock on the flat surface of the plain about eight miles away.
Definition: (noun) A tailor.
Synonyms: sartor, tailor.
Usage: We found a talented seamster who fixed the ill-fitting pants in an hour.
Definition: (noun) A fellow member of a fraternity or profession; a colleague.
Synonyms: colleague, fellow.
Usage: She was an intimidating presence in the boardroom, and even her confreres were nervous around her.
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Definition: (noun) A person who diagnoses, especially a physician specializing in medical diagnostics.
Synonyms: pathologist.
Usage: She was an excellent diagnostician and was immediately able to identify the cause of the patient's symptoms.
Definition: (noun) The condition of having a fever.
Synonyms: feverishness, pyrexia.
Usage: His febricity was an indication that his wound had become infected.
Definition: (noun) Lavish quantities.
Synonyms: oodles, dozens, gobs, heaps, loads, lots, rafts, scads, scores, slews, stacks, tons, wads, piles, mountain.
Usage: Famished, the men ate lashings of spaghetti and meatballs when they finally reached their destination.
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Definition: (noun) A gathering, flowing, or meeting together at one juncture or point.
Synonyms: meeting.
Usage: He had long noted that the greatest disasters were rarely the result of one misfortune but were the result of a confluence of several of them.
Definition: (noun) A poem similar to a rondeau, having 13 or 14 lines with two rhymes throughout. The first and second lines reappear in the middle and at the end, although sometimes only the first line appears at the end.
Synonyms: rondeau.
Usage: Her poetry club issued a new challenge every week; last week, everyone had to write a funny rondel about chewing gum.
Definition: (noun) A Muslim place of worship.
Synonyms: mosque.
Usage: Though her friends prayed there often, this was her first visit to the masjid.
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Definition: (noun) A model or standard for making comparisons.
Synonyms: guide.
Usage: By using a templet, the artist was able to reproduce the exact same design on each of the tiles.
Definition: (noun) A mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity.
Synonyms: tongue, clapper, lingua.
Usage: The creature had an enormously long glossa that it used to catch insects.
Definition: (noun) A recall of a recently sold product by the manufacturer to correct a defect.
Synonyms: recall.
Usage: The manufacturer was forced to issue a callback of the toy when it was declared a choking hazard.
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Definition: (noun) Relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.
Synonyms: resonance.
Usage: They had an excellent rapport and would never keep secrets from one another.
Definition: (adjective) Lacking intelligence or wit; foolish.
Synonyms: nitwitted, soft-witted, senseless.
Usage: He was a witless soul who never learned from his mistakes.
Definition: (noun) A deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture.
Synonyms: ruse.
Usage: What could the bewildered scouts do, masters as they were of every war-like artifice save this one, but trot helplessly after him, exposing themselves fatally to view.
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Definition: (noun) A person who is an inspiration to others.
Synonyms: notable, guiding light, leading light, notability.
Usage: He is considered a luminary in his field, due to the groundbreaking research he has published.
Definition: (noun) A gold coin of the Byzantine Empire; widely circulated in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Synonyms: solidus.
Usage: The gold coin I found on my archaeology dig turned out to be an authentic bezant.