1000 Most Important Words

Front 1

abashed

Back 1

indicates a state of embarrassment; a person abashed feels disconcerted and put to shame

Front 2

abate

Back 2

to lessen or diminish; Latin abattre (to knock down)

Front 3

abdicate

Back 3

to step down, as from a throne, or give something up; Latin abdicare (to renounce, abdicate)

Front 4

aberrant

Back 4

meaning is close to unusual or uncharacteristic; Latin aberrare (to wander, lose one's way)

Front 5

abominate

Back 5

to loathe, hate, abhor, detest; Latin abominari (to hate)

Front 6

abrasive

Back 6

any substance that can be used for polishing or grinding; figuratively, irritatingly or annoyingly harsh and grating; Latin abradere (to scrape off)

Front 7

abrogate

Back 7

to repeal, to annul, to cancel; Latin abrogare (to repeal)

Front 8

abstemious

Back 8

opposite of glutonous; evokes the image of a think, conservative, and picky person; Latin abstemius "away from drink"

Front 9

abstinent

Back 9

self-denying, self-restraining; total abstinence describes a teetotaler; Latin abstinere (to hold back, to keep away from)

Front 10

abstruse

Back 10

clear to person explaing but unintelligible to those on the receiving end; Latin abstrusus (hidden, secret)

Front 11

accolade

Back 11

great praise, enthusiastic approval; tap on the shoulder with a sword, conferring knighthood; Italian acoolare (to hug around the neck)

Front 12

acerbic

Back 12

sour, bitter, harsh; Latin acerbus (bitter)

Front 13

acme

Back 13

summit, utmost limit; Classic Greek (highest point)

Front 14

acolyte

Back 14

an altar boy; a follower or attendant of an important personage; Greek akolouthos (follower, attendant)

Front 15

acquiesce

Back 15

agree with, consent to, comply with; Latin adquiescere (to rest, by extension, to be pleased with)

Front 16

acrimonious

Back 16

bitter and cutting; Later acer (sharp, cutting) and acerbus (bitter)

Front 17

adage

Back 17

a proverb, or a traditional saying; old saws, maxims, or aphorisms; Latin prefex ad and aio (I say)

Front 18

admonitory

Back 18

providing a warning; Latin admonere (to remind, advise)

Front 19

adroit

Back 19

skillful, resourceful, quick to seize upon the right move in a situation; French a droit (on the right)

Front 20

adulation

Back 20

fawning adoration or devotion; state of idolization, or servile and excessive admiration; Latin adulare (to fawn)

Front 21

adversity

Back 21

condition marked by bad luck, troubles, woes, hard times; adversary means opponent; Latin adversitas, opposite of prosperity

Front 22

aegis

Back 22

(ee' jis) sponsorship, patronage; shield of Zeus and symbol of protection in Greek mythology

Front 23

affable

Back 23

pleasant, friendly, easy to talk to; Latin adfabilis (easy to speak to)

Front 24

aficionado

Back 24

a devotee, an ardent follower, a fan; unchanged from Spanish

Front 25

affinity

Back 25

a natural liking and feeling of attraction; Latin adfinitas (literally, relationship by marriage; by extension, union)

Front 26

aggrandize

Back 26

to magnify, inflate, increase; sometimes takes on the meaning of making people or things greater than they are; Latin grandis (great large) and Middle French aggrandissement

Front 27

alacrity

Back 27

used "with alacrity"; completed with cheerful or eager readiness, opposite of reluctance; Latin alacritas (liveliness)

Front 28

allay

Back 28

to calm or quiet; to relieve; Middle English alayen

Front 29

allegory

Back 29

a symbolic narrative; a tale not to be taken literally, but to present a moral lesson or universal truth; a short allegory with animal characters is a fable; Greek allegorein (to speak figuratively)

Front 30

alleviate

Back 30

to relieve or lessen; Latin alleviare (to lighten, diminish)

Front 31

alliteration

Back 31

repitition of a sound or letter in two or more words in a sequence; Middle Latin alliteratio

Front 32

amanuensis

Back 32

secretary; one who takes dictation or copies a manuscript; Latin manus (hand) as is manuscript

Front 33

ambience

Back 33

mood, character, or atmosphere of an environment; the quality of the surroundings or milieu; French ambiance

Front 34

ambiguous

Back 34

capable of more than one meaning, thus, unclear; Latin ambiguus (literally, moving rom side to side)

Front 35

ambivalent

Back 35

indecisive, unable to make up one's mind, wavering between two courses of action or opposing opinions, favoring, at one and the same time, both yes and no; Latin ambi (both) and valere (to be strong)

Front 36

ambulatory

Back 36

able to walk, as opposed to being bedridden; ambulare (to walk)

Front 37

ameliorate

Back 37

to improve or make better; Latin melior (better)

Front 38

amenable

Back 38

agreeable, willing to be persuaded, to listen to reason, and to follow advice; also means "answerable for", as in a debt incurred; Latin minare (to lead to)

Front 39

amenity

Back 39

a noun that connotes pleasantness and agreeableness; amenities can refer to "gracious manners" or "conveniences" like hot and cold running water; Latin amoenitas (pleasantness)

Front 40

amorous

Back 40

affectionate; having a tendency to love; obsessed by sexuality; smitten; showing love; Latin amorosus

Front 41

amorphous

Back 41

without definite shape or form, formless; Greek amorphos (shapeless)

Front 42

anachronism

Back 42

any person, institution, custom, concept, etc. that belongs to another age; Greek anachronismos (wrong time reference)

Front 43

anagram

Back 43

a word formed from a rearrangement of the ltters of another word; evil is an anagram of vile; New Latin anagramma

Front 44

analogy

Back 44

noun used to describe a resemblance on the similarity between certain features of two things, like the human heart and a mechanical pump; Greek analogos

Front 45

anathema

Back 45

noun used to describe a detestable thing or person; literally, a curse laid on by the Church that usually follows with excommunication; figuratively, used to describe anyone or anything detestable or loathsome; Latin anathema (thing accursed)

Front 46

ancillary

Back 46

means the same as auxiliary and describes anything that serves as an accessory; Latin ancilla (maidservant)

Front 47

animus

Back 47

filled with hostility and antagonism; deep-seated ill will; animosity is derived from animus; Latin animus (soul, feeling, wrath)

Front 48

annals

Back 48

historical records; Latin annales (yearly records) and annus (year)

Front 49

anomaly

Back 49

deviation from the general rule or type; anything out of keeping with accepted ideas of how things should be; Latin anomalia

Front 50

antecedents

Back 50

ancestors or events of one's earlier life; antecedent means preceding or previous; Latin antecedere (to precede)

Front 51

anthropology

Back 51

the sutdy of mankind, its origins, development, customs, and racial characteristics; Greek anthropos (man) and logia (study)

Front 52

anthropomorphic

Back 52

ascribes human characteristics to gods, animals, and objects; Greek anthropos (man) and morphe (form)

Front 53

antic

Back 53

describes odd or eccentric behavior, amusing gestures, pranks, and capers; Latin anticus (in front, by extension, primitive)

Front 54

antipathy

Back 54

a strong, settled, unchanging feeling of abhorrence towards a particular person, activity, style, type of food, way of life, race, anything; Greek antipatheia

Front 55

antiquity

Back 55

ancient times; denotes the quality of ancientness; Latin antiquitas

Front 56

antithesis

Back 56

the direct opposite; intact from Greek

Front 57

aphorism

Back 57

a concise statement of a general truth (though only a grain of it); also known as maxims, proverbs, and old saws; Middle Latin aphorismus (definition)

Front 58

aplomb

Back 58

self-assurance, poise, imperturbability; A person with aplomb is not fazed or disconcerted under the most trying circumstances; French a plomb (vertical)

Front 59

apocalypse

Back 59

describes disaster, cataclysm, the end of the world; literally, apocalypse is a revelation, but because of the bible, it is used to describe any cataclysmic event; Greek word meaning (to disclose)

Front 60

apocryphal

Back 60

used to describe things, usually stories or reports, of questionable authenticity; can also be used to indicate spuriousness or falsity; derives from the Apocrypha, 14 books of O.T. with doubtful origin

Front 61

apogee

Back 61

in astronomy, the point in the orbit of a planet, satellite, the moon, etc. when it is farthest from the earth; frequently used to mean high point, climax, summit; Greek apogaion (off-earth)

Front 62

apostate

Back 62

a person who renounces his faith, party, etc., a renegade or defector; Greek apostates (drawing away)

Front 63

appelation

Back 63

a name or designation applied to somebody or something; The name Cassius Clay has been extinguised by the appellation "Muhammad Ali"; Latin appellatio (naming)

Front 64

apposite

Back 64

term apllied to something that is to the point, or well put; an apposite answer or remark is exactly right, on the nose; Latin apponere (to put near)

Front 65

apprehend

Back 65

formal substitute for catch or arrest, in the sense of "take into custody"; to grasp the meaning of something; to worry about, expect fear and anxiety, dread; Latin apprehendere (to grasp)

Front 66

appropriate

Back 66

anything suitable for a particular purpose or occasion (adj.); to set aside for a specific purpose (verb); The Senate appropriated a million dollars for the investigation; Late Latin appropriatus (to make one's own)

Front 67

apt

Back 67

inclined; likey; ability to acquire knowledge quickly; suitable, fit for a particular need, purpose, occasion; Latin aptus (fastened, fitting)

Front 68

arbiter

Back 68

a final authority, one with the absolute power to decide; intact from Latin

Front 69

arcane

Back 69

characterizes something secret or obscure, with a hint of mystery; esoteric; literary word for mysteries; Latin arcanus (literally, shut, closed, and thus secret)

Front 70

arch

Back 70

by itself describes people who are mischievous or roguish, playfully saucy; with another used in the sense of outstanding; Hitler was an archvillain; intensive prefix, in the sense of chief or principal; Greek arche (prefix indicating excellence)

Front 71

arduous

Back 71

laborious, requiring great strength and perseverance; strenuous; characterize something hard to bear; Latin arduus (high, steep, or difficult)

Front 72

argot

Back 72

jargon, the idiom of a particular class or group; applies particularly to the underword; the argot of thieves; but also broader classes; French ar go (slang)

Front 73

arid

Back 73

extremely dry; figuratively, means "dull and uninteresting"; Latin aridus

Front 74

Armageddon

Back 74

biblical scene of the final battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil at the end of the world; figuratively, any decisive, final conflict

Front 75

arrant

Back 75

used to intensify a quality of a person or thing, in the sense of "out-and-out" or "downright"; Al Capone was an arrant knave; Latin errare (to rove, stray)

Front 76

arrogate

Back 76

to claim something as one's own without right; Latin rogare (to ask, request) and ad

Front 77

arsenal

Back 77

literally, denotes a place for the storage or arms and ammunition; figuratively, describes a supply or collection or repertory of anything

Front 78

artful

Back 78

crafty, deceitful, and cunning, opposite of artless; Latin ars (cunning)

Front 79

ascetic

Back 79

a self-denying person; self-denyiny, rigorously refraining from the ordinary pleasures of life; Greek asketikos (rigorous, hardworking)

Front 80

asperity

Back 80

harshness and acrimony; Latin asperitas

Front 81

aspersion

Back 81

aspersons = damaging assertions and slandering vilifications; expression = to cast aspersions; Latin aspersio (sprinkling)

Front 82

assiduous

Back 82

denotes perserverence and diligence; Latin assiduus (sitting down to: by extension, settling down to)

Front 83

assuage

Back 83

to soothe and relieve; Latin ad and suavis (pleasant, agreeable)

Front 84

atavistic

Back 84

exhibiting the characteristics or one's forberas or of a primitive culture; Latin atavus (great-great-great-grandfather)

Front 85

atrophy

Back 85

wasting away or degeneration; to waste away, wither away, or decline; Greek atrophos (not fed)

Front 86

attenuate

Back 86

to weaken, to thin out, reduce in intensity and value; Latin attenuare (to reduce)

Front 87

augment

Back 87

to increase, fill out; Latin augmen (increase)

Front 88

augur

Back 88

to foreshadow; an augur in ancient Rome was an official who practiced certain rites of observing omens in order to advise the government; A good start is an augury of a successful finish.

Front 89

auspicious

Back 89

favorable and promising; Latin auspices (name of those watching bird-omens) from avis (bird) and specere (to look at)

Front 90

autonomous

Back 90

an independent, self-governing, self-regulating body is said to be autonomous; Greek autos (self) and nomos (law)

Front 91

avuncular

Back 91

acting like an affectionate uncle; Latin avunculus (uncle on the mother's side)

Front 92

awry

Back 92

amiss, gone haywire; Greek rhoikos (crooked)

Front 93

axiom

Back 93

a self-evident truth, a truism, a general principle that is universally acknowledged and need no proof; ex. a straight line is the shortest distance between two points; Greek axioma (something worthy)

Front 94

badinage

Back 94

banter, player repartee; French badiner (trifle)

Front 95

bailiwick

Back 95

one's field of skill, one's own particular area of expertise; literally, a bailiwick is the district within the jurisdiction of a bailie or bailiff, whose official duties vary according to locality; Latin vicus (village, hamlet)

Front 96

baleful

Back 96

threatening or destuctive; Ali often threatened his opponents with a baleful look; Old English bealofull

Front 97

banal

Back 97

commonplace, hackneyed, uninspired; intact from French

Front 98

bastion

Back 98

a stronghold or bulwark; literally, a projecting section of a fort; the Western world is the bastion of democracy; Italian bastione

Front 99

bathos

Back 99

sentimentality, as opposed to true sentiment, a ludicrous, anticlimatic drop from the lofty to the commonplace; Greek bathos (depth)

Front 100

behemoth

Back 100

a monster, a gigantic creature; also used with inanimate objects and abstractions, like the federal deficit

Front 101

beleaguer

Back 101

to besiege, harass, or beset; literally; it means "to surround with military forces"; commony means to harass in the sense of besetting someone with problems and annoyances

Front 102

bellicose

Back 102

describes hostility and belligerence, the attitude of one eager to do battle; Latin bellum (war)

Front 103

belligerent

Back 103

as a noun, means a nation at war; as an adj. means "hostile, bellicose"; Latin belligerare (to wage war)

Front 104

bemused

Back 104

puzzled, muddled, preoccupied; describes state of lingering puzzlement; Latin be and mussare (to mutter, be at a loss)

Front 105

bibliophile

Back 105

a booklover, a collector of books; Greek biblios (book) and philos (dear, beloved)

Front 106

bibulous

Back 106

addicted to drink; Latin bibulus (fond of drinking)

Front 107

blandishment

Back 107

describes enticing action or speech and usually used in the plural; Latin blanditia (flattery, coaxing)

Front 108

blatant

Back 108

completely obvious

Front 109

bovine

Back 109

literally, of the ox family; figuratively, means dull, stolid, listless, sluggish; Latin bovis, a form of bos (ox)

Front 110

bravado

Back 110

a swaggering show of bold courage; Italian and Spanish bravata

Front 111

brickbat

Back 111

a cutting remark, an unkind criticism; literaly, "a piece of broken brick" thrown as a missile; figuratively, a caustic comment;

Front 112

bromide

Back 112

literally, a chemical compound involving bromine used as a sedative; figuratively, used to denote a platitude, a commonplace, hackneyed remark, a trite generalization, likewise used as a sedative to soothe someone's nerves; Greek bromos (stench)

Front 113

brook

Back 113

to tolerate something, to put up with it; applied not to people, but to their acts, conduct, or attitudes, and to situations; Middle English brouken

Front 114

brouhaha

Back 114

a commotion, uproar, ado; intact from French; onomatopoetic invention

Front 115

bucolic

Back 115

rustic; Greek boukolikos (ox herder)

Front 116

burgeon

Back 116

literally the budding and sprouting of plants; acquired meaning of "developing suddenly", before your eyes; Middle English burjon (bud)

Front 117

cabal

Back 117

a group of plotters, but can also describe the group's intrigues and plots; also can mean a clique of coterie; small group of secret plotters

Front 118

cachet

Back 118

denotes a stamp of approval from one in a high position; can be applied to a feature that imparts prestige; prestige; intact from French (seal or stamp)

Front 119

cacophony

Back 119

strident, discordant noise; Greek kakophonia (bad sound)

Front 120

cadaverous

Back 120

haggard and ghastly; implies pallor, gauntness, and emaciation; Latin cadaver which is a synonym for corpse, which comes from corpus (body)

Front 121

cadge

Back 121

to get something by begging, with the emphasis on imposing on the other person's good nature; Middle English caggen

Front 122

cajole

Back 122

to wheedle, to coax by promises and flattery; Little boys are good at cajoling autographs of famous athletes; French cajoler (to wheedle)

Front 123

callow

Back 123

immature, or green. Middle and Old English calu (bald or without feathers)

Front 124

calumny

Back 124

slander, smear; the malicious making of false statements in order to damage a reputation; Latin calumnia (false accusation)

Front 125

canard

Back 125

a hoax or false rumor; French, figuratively a hoax

Front 126

candor

Back 126

label of a fine quality in people: frankness, openness, sincerity;

Front 127

canon

Back 127

a rule or general principle; Greek kanon (rule)

Front 128

cant

Back 128

insincere talk; used to denote the special argot or jargon of a particular group; term is applied to underworld jargon; Latin cantus (song)

Front 129

cantankerous

Back 129

bad-tempered, ill-humored, irritable, quarrelsome, grouchy, and generally difficult to deal with and exasperating

Front 130

capitulate

Back 130

to surrender;

Front 131

capricious

Back 131

impulsive and tending to be erratic; Latin capri (goat) the word derives from goats who leap and skip in an unpredictable fashion

Front 132

captious

Back 132

faultfinding and nit-picking;

Front 133

carnal

Back 133

sensual, bodily as opposed to spiritual; Latin carnalis (relating to flesh)

Front 134

carnivorous

Back 134

meat-eating; Latin carn (flesh)

Front 135

carp

Back 135

to complain, find fault, nit-pick; suggests unreasonable and ill-natured complaining and fussing about minor matters

Front 136

carrion

Back 136

unpleasant word that describes dead, decaying fish, unfit for human consumption; can also be used as an adj.; Latin caro (flesh)

Front 137

castigate

Back 137

to punish severely with the intent of improving or correcting the one being punished; Latin castigare (to punish)

Front 138

casuistry

Back 138

dishonest, specious reasoning; the fallacious application of general principles to particular situations; Spanish casuista

Front 139

cataclysm

Back 139

a violent upheavel; literally, a natural disaster that causes changes in the earth's surface; figuratively, a momentous event that affects the social or political order; Greek kataklysmos (flood)

Front 140

catharsis

Back 140

relief from pent-up emotion; originally referred to the purging of the emotions, especially pity and fear, through art; Primal scream therapy is said to be highly cathartic; Greek katharsis (cleaning)

Front 141

catholic

Back 141

applies to people having universal sympathies and appreciation; Greek katholikos (general)

Front 142

caveat

Back 142

warning; Latin for "Let him beware!"

Front 143

cavil

Back 143

to quibble, to raise nit-picking, picayune objections; to find fault with, in an irritating manner; Latin cavillare (to jest or joke; by extension, to quibble)

Front 144

celibacy

Back 144

bachelorhood, the unmarried state; can also apply to abstention from sex, whether one is married or not; Latin caelebs (unmarried)

Front 145

champion

Back 145

to support, defend, argue in favor of something; Latin campus (battlefield)

Front 146

charlatan

Back 146

a quack, anyone who claims more skill than he possesses; Italian cairlare (to prate)

Front 147

chary

Back 147

cautious or wary; also means sparing; Literary critics seems generally chary of granting praise.

Front 148

chasm

Back 148

a deep gap, ravine, or gorge; figuratively, denotes a deep difference of opinion of attitude

Front 149

chicanery

Back 149

trickery, deception by sophistry, subterfuge, and artful quibbling to obtain an advantage; sharp practice; intact from French chicaner (to use tricks, to quibble)

Front 150

chide

Back 150

to scold, with the implication that the scolding is on the mild side

Front 151

chimera

Back 151

a figment of the imagination, an illusion; from mythology where a chimera was a fire-breathing monster, part lion, goat, and serpent; commonly used in the expression "dream up a chimera", to describe a vain illusion or utopian wish-dream

Front 152

churlish

Back 152

a churlish person is a boor; churl, in the medieval English social order was the lowest caste of freeman, and come to mean "peasant" or "rustic", and was then applied to any boorish person

Front 153

cipher

Back 153

zero; a person with a minimum of personality, a nonentity; a code, a secret method of communication in writing or otherwise; Arabic cifr (zero)

Front 154

circuitous

Back 154

roundabout, direct; Latin circuitus (a going round in a circle)

Front 155

circumlocution

Back 155

a roundabout way of phrasing something, the use of more words to express a thought or describe something than are necessary; e.g. "Male parent" for "father"; Latin circum (around) and loqui (to speak)

Front 156

circumspect

Back 156

watchful, cautious, looking out for pitfalls, looking before leaping; Latin circum (around) and spectare (to observe carefully)

Front 157

clamorous

Back 157

vociferous and demanding; Latin clamor (loud shouting)

Front 158

clandestine

Back 158

undercover; describes acts, usually meetings, arranged very carefully and executed with the utmost secrecy

Front 159

claptrap

Back 159

pretentious nonsense, primarily to win praise; anything contrived to impress, but without substance

Front 160

clemency

Back 160

mercifulness and leniency; Latin clemens (gentle, merciful)

Front 161

cloy

Back 161

to become distasteful through excess

Front 162

cogent

Back 162

convincing; usually associated with reason or argument; Latin cogere (to compel)

Front 163

cognizant

Back 163

to be aware of something; cognizance means awareness; Latin cognoscere (to become acquainted with)

Front 164

collation

Back 164

the verification of numbering of the pages of a book; more commonly refers to a light meal, with the implication that it is served at some time other than one of the normal mealtimes; Latin conferre (to bring or put together)

Front 165

colloquy

Back 165

conversation or dialogue; Latin cum (together with) and loqui (to talk)

Front 166

compendium

Back 166

a brief, concise treatise on a subject; a summary; intact from Latin (shortening)

Front 167

complacent

Back 167

self-satisfied and quite pleased with oneself; Latin complacere (to please exceedingly)

Front 168

complaisant

Back 168

agreeable and obliging; French complaire (to please)

Front 169

complement

Back 169

to complete, fitt out, make a necessary addition to; Latin complere (to complete)

Front 170

compliant

Back 170

submissive and yielding; Spanish cumplir (to perform what is due)

Front 171

concomitant

Back 171

something that accompanies another thing or an event; as an adj. means accompanying or concurrent; Latin concomitari (to accompany)

Front 172

concrete

Back 172

real, actual (as opposed to abstract); specific, particular (as opposed to general); Latin concrescere (to grow together)

Front 173

conduit

Back 173

a channel for the conveyance of liquids, or a protective pipe of tube covering electrical wiring; figuratively, any means of transmission of anything, such as information or financial benefits; Latin conducere (to connect)

Front 174

congenital

Back 174

describes something existing at birth; another meaning is "by nature"; Latin con (with) and gignere (to give birth to)

Front 175

consensus

Back 175

a general agreement or majority view; intact from Latin

Front 176

consortium

Back 176

an associate, particularly of banks or companies, blending together to combine their capital in an enterprise, often for the purpose of gaining control of the industry; Latin consortium (partnership)

Front 177

consummate

Back 177

to accomplish, to bring to completion; as an adj., complete, top, superb; Latin consummare (to bring to perfection)

Front 178

contentious

Back 178

quarrelsome, hard to deal with, enjoying dispute

Front 179

context

Back 179

the circumstances in which an event occurs; the part of a statement that affects the meaning of the rest of the statement; Latin contextus (joining together, connection)

Front 180

contiguous

Back 180

touching, bordering upon, and is followed by "to"; New York and Connecticut are contiguous states; Latin contingere (to touch)

Front 181

contretemps

Back 181

an unfortunate occurance, a mischance that results in discomfort, especially embarrassment

Front 182

contrite

Back 182

to repent, to be penitent, to suffer from a sense of guilt; Latin conterere (to wear down, crush)

Front 183

contumacious

Back 183

stubbornly disobedient; Mules are typically contumacious; Latin contumax (stubborn, defiant)

Front 184

conundrum

Back 184

a puzzle or riddle, especially to the type of riddle with an answer based on a play on words; figurativley, a problem hard to solve

Front 185

co-opt

Back 185

preempt; to commandeer; literally, to be elected or appointed as a member of a group by those who are already members; Latin cooptare (to elect)

Front 186

copious

Back 186

plentiful, abundant

Front 187

corollary

Back 187

a natural consequence or the inevitable result of something

Front 188

corporeal

Back 188

physical, material, as opposed to spiritual; tangible; Latin corpus (body)

Front 189

correlate

Back 189

to connect in a systematic relationship; also used to describe the bringing together of various activities and organizing them for the most effective action

Front 190

coruscate

Back 190

to sparkle, either physically or abstractly; Latin coruscare (to flash)

Front 191

cosset

Back 191

to pamper and coddle; German kussen (to kiss)

Front 192

coterie

Back 192

a clique, a select group, intimate and exclusive and united by a commmon interest of purpose; intact from French

Front 193

craven

Back 193

highly uncomplimentary word for cowardly, faint-hearted to a contemptible degree, cringing

Front 194

craw

Back 194

a bird's crop or an animal's stomach; frequently used figuratively in the expression "stick in one's craw", meaning "be intolerable"

Front 195

credible

Back 195

believable, convincing; Latin credere (to trust)

Front 196

creditable

Back 196

deserving of praise

Front 197

credulous

Back 197

gullible

Front 198

crestfallen

Back 198

disappointed and dejected; Latin cresta (crest of an animal)

Front 199

culpable

Back 199

blameworthy; Latin culpa (fault, guilt)

Front 200

curmudgeon

Back 200

anyone quick to anger, to complain, to bark

Front 201

cursory

Back 201

hasty, superficial, without attention to details, opposite of thorough; Latin cursor (runner)

Front 202

curt

Back 202

rudely abrupt; Latin curtus (shortened)

Front 203

cynosure

Back 203

the center of attraction; usually found in the expression "cynosure of all eyes";

Front 204

dalliance

Back 204

to dawdle; refers to time-wasting, but its commonest use is in the phrase amorous dalliance, which means flirtation, and dalliance all by itself usually has that implication; Low German dallen (to talk foolishly)

Front 205

daub

Back 205

to smear, to coat (something) with soft adhesive matter; Latin dealbare (to plaster)

Front 206

dauntless

Back 206

fearless; Latin domitare (to tame)

Front 207

dearth

Back 207

scarcity; a negative word that describes the lack of something

Front 208

debacle

Back 208

a sudden collapse, a disastrous breakdown; French debacle (a breaking up) and figuratively (a collapse)

Front 209

debase

Back 209

to lower (someone or something) in quality, rank, worth, etc.; Late Latin bassus (low)

Front 210

debilitate

Back 210

to weaken a person or thing; Latin debilis (weak)

Front 211

debunk

Back 211

to show something as false or exaggerated and strip it of its pretensions

Front 212

decimate

Back 212

to destroy a large proportion of number (of a group); originally, the killing of every tenth man of a group (like a village) chosen by lot, as punishment for an offense like sabotage or insurrection; Latin decimus (tenth)

Front 213

declasse

Back 213

of an inferior class or quality; borrowed from the French, where it means "come down in the world"

Front 214

decorous

Back 214

well-mannered, seemly, observant of the proprieties

Front 215

decorum

Back 215

dignity of behavior, observance of the proprieties

Front 216

decry

Back 216

to disparage, to call attention to defects;

Front 217

deduce

Back 217

to draw a conclusion from given data; Latin deducere (to lead down, derive)

Front 218

deem

Back 218

believe, judge, considere

Front 219

deferential

Back 219

acting respectfully; Latin deferre (to hand over)

Front 220

definitive

Back 220

authoritative, the last word on the subject; A definitive work on the subject is a final, unchallengeable authority; can also take on the meaning of final, in the sense of conclusive

Front 221

delectation

Back 221

delight and enjoyment

Front 222

deleterious

Back 222

harmful, injurious; commonly means "injurious to health"; Latin deletrix (something destructive)

Front 223

demonic

Back 223

anything like a demon, or as though possessed or activated by a demon

Front 224

denigrate

Back 224

to defame; to blacken a reputation; to speak disparagingly of something; Latin denigrare (to blacken)

Front 225

denizen

Back 225

inhabitants, residents; Latin de intus (from within)

Front 226

deprecate

Back 226

to express disapproval, to belittle

Front 227

deracinate

Back 227

to uproot; figuratively, to separate a person from his native culture and environment; Latin radix (root)

Front 228

derelict

Back 228

adj. abandoned; neglectful of duty; noun, implies something abondoned by its owner; a vagrant or bum; Latin derelinquere (to forsake)

Front 229

deride

Back 229

to scoff at or mock someone or something; to laught at or ridicule; Latin ridere (to laugh)

Front 230

derisive

Back 230

describes the state one is in when deriding someone

Front 231

derogatory

Back 231

disparaging and belittling; Latin derogare (to detract from)

Front 232

descry

Back 232

to make something out, catch sight of it, with the implication that the thing is far way; Middle English descrier (to proclaim)

Front 233

desecrate

Back 233

to treat irreverently, to profane, to defile; to violate something's sanctity; Latin consecrare (to consecrate)

Front 234

desicate

Back 234

to dry up; dehydrated; figuratively, dried up in the sense of "dull, listless"; Latin desiccare (to dry thoroughly)

Front 235

desuetude

Back 235

disuse; the state of no longer being used

Front 236

desultory

Back 236

describes anything fitful and lacking in steadiness; Latin desultor (literally, a circus rider who jumps from one horse to another; figuratively, an inconstant person)

Front 237

detrimental

Back 237

harmful, injurious; Latin detrimentum (loss, damage)

Front 238

detritus

Back 238

debris, waste matter; Latin deterere (to rub away)

Front 239

dexterous, dextrous

Back 239

skillful and clever; describes any form of skill or adroitness; Latin dexter (right)

Front 240

diaphanous

Back 240

sheer, almost transparent; see-through; Greek diaphaienein (to show through)

Front 241

diatribe

Back 241

a bitter attack in words; Greek diatribe (discourse) and diatribein (to rub away)

Front 242

dichotomy

Back 242

a division into two parts, generally for the purpose of differentiation between two contrasting concepts, as in the dichotomy between theory and practice

Front 243

didactic

Back 243

instructive, intented to teach

Front 244

diffident

Back 244

shy and lacking in self-confidence; opposite of brash; Latin diffidere (to lack confidence)

Front 245

digress

Back 245

to depart temporarily from the main topic; Latin digredi (to depart)

Front 246

dilettante

Back 246

a dabbler, one who takes up an activity, particularly in the arts, for his own amusement rather than seriously, and goes into it in a rather superficial way; intact from Italian

Front 247

diminution

Back 247

a lessening, a decrease; Old age causes a gradual diminution of the hearing faculty.

Front 248

disaffection

Back 248

disloyalty, with the implication that loyalty once felt no longer exists; Latin dis and affectio (favorable state of mind, goodwill)

Front 249

disconsolate

Back 249

hopelessly unhappy; gloomy; Latin dis and consolari (to console)

Front 250

discursive

Back 250

rambling from subject to subject; Latin discurrere (to run to and fro)

Front 251

disdain

Back 251

to scorn and despise something, to look upon it with contempt or to think it beneath one's dignity; Latin dis and dignare (to consider worthy)

Front 252

disingenuous

Back 252

insincere, lacking candor or frankness

Front 253

disparate

Back 253

distinctly different in kind; Latin disparare (to separate)

Front 254

dissemble

Back 254

to give a false appearance; Latin disumulare (to disguise, conceal)

Front 255

dissertation

Back 255

a formal essay or discourse, especially a treatise required for the degree of Ph.D.; used ironically to describe a long-winded treatement of a subject

Front 256

dissimulate

Back 256

to disguise, hide under a false exterior; Latin dissimulare (to disguise, conceal)

Front 257

dissolute

Back 257

having no morals and shamelessly uninhibited by any rules of conduct; a strong word of condemnation; Latin dissolvere (to break up)

Front 258

distraught

Back 258

greatly upset, deeply troubled

Front 259

doff

Back 259

to take off; A man should doff his hat on entering a church; to lay aside, get rid of

Front 260

dogged

Back 260

persistent, determined, stubbornly tenacious; Dogged students often wind up first in their class

Front 261

doggerel

Back 261

a noun that describes trivial, poor verse

Front 262

dogmatic

Back 262

opinionated and describes the asserting of opinions in an arrogant manner with an air of authority; Gree dogma (a philosophical doctrine; literally, that which one thinks is true)

Front 263

doleful

Back 263

mournful and sorrowful; Latin dolor (sorrow)

Front 264

dolt

Back 264

a blockhead or nitwit; numbskull; Middle English dollen (to dull)

Front 265

don

Back 265

to put on; contraction of "do on"

Front 266

dormant

Back 266

temporarily inactive, in abeyance; French dormier (to sleep)

Front 267

dossier

Back 267

a record; literally, an accumulation of documents containing data relating to someone or something, but used loosely to mean record, in the ense of background information; intact from French

Front 268

doughty

Back 268

stout-hearted, resolute, unafraid; intact from Middle English

Front 269

dour

Back 269

severe and stern; harsh, sullen, forbidding; Latin durus (hard)

Front 270

doyen

Back 270

the senior member (in the sense of leading representative) or dean of a group; interchangeable with the word dean; an especially skilled or knowledgeable person who is outstanding in his field; intact from French senior or oldest member)

Front 271

draconian

Back 271

expresses the concept of extreme harshness or severity and is most often found in the term draconian measures, describing harsh laws or procedures, the kind beloved of dictators; Greek Draco (an Athenian lawgiver who flourished around 620 B.C. and was responsible for lawas that were strict to the point of cruelty)

Front 272

droll

Back 272

oddly amusing; Droll people make you laught by whimsical, eccentric conduct or words

Front 273

dudgeon

Back 273

resentment and indignation, and is practically always found in the expression "in high dudgeon", meaning "very resentful and full of indignation"

Front 274

duplicity

Back 274

a noun that expresses deceitfulness, double-dealing, bad faith; describes the acts of one who pretends to feel one way and acts the opposite way, and cheats

Front 275

ebullient

Back 275

high-spirited, exuberant; Latin ebullire (to boil up)

Front 276

eclectic

Back 276

selective, choosing from various sources; Greek eklektikos (selective)

Front 277

edify (vb); edifying (adj.); edification (n)

Back 277

to instruct and to uplift; adj., reflects the uplifting aspect; as a noun, refelcts the instructing or enlightening aspect; Latin aedificare (to build)

Front 278

effective

Back 278

describes situations where something is helpful in producing an effect, where something goes into effect, where something is actual, where something or somebody is impressive or striking

Front 279

effectual

Back 279

covers the concept of answering the purpose; A machine may not be the most efficient one but can still be effectual

Front 280

effecuate

Back 280

to bring something about, make it happen, bring it to pass; Middle Latin effectuare (to bring to pass)

Front 281

efficacious

Back 281

productive of the desired result; used where a specific result is attained; Aspirin is efficacious in bringing down body temperature; Latin facere (to make)

Front 282

efficient

Back 282

describes a method, machine, substance or person producing a result with the least waste

Front 283

efflorescence

Back 283

a flowering or blossoming; used to describe the growth and development of one's art or the blossoming of a culture or civilization; Latin efflorescere (to blossom)

Front 284

effrontery

Back 284

describes impudent boldness, shameless audacity; Latin ad frontem (at the face) and Old French esfront (shameless)

Front 285

effulgent

Back 285

Latin effulgere (to glitter)

Front 286

egregious

Back 286

intensely pejorative adj., applied to things that are exceptionally, glaringly bad. Latin e grege (out of the (common) herd, exceptional), yet came to mean the opposite, outstandingly bad)

Front 287

egress

Back 287

an exit, Latin egressus (departure)

Front 288

elegy

Back 288

a mournful poem; can also apply to a musical composition in a melancholy vein

Front 289

elicit

Back 289

to draw something out, in a way which persistent questioning by the police results in a disclosure; Latin elicere (to entice out)

Front 290

elide

Back 290

to omit, and the word is most often applied to the omission of one or more ltters, whether in pronunciation or in writing, as in can't for cannot; also applies to the omission or cutting out of things other than letters; Latin elidere (to strike out)

Front 291

elucidate

Back 291

to make something clear or lucid, to throw light upon something; Latin elucidare (to enlighten) and lux (light)

Front 292

emblazon

Back 292

to adorn richly, deck in brilliant colors; originally described the decoration of anything with heraldic ornaments; sometimes used to mean "proclaim" or "extol"

Front 293

emend

Back 293

to correct or edit; Latin emendare (to correct, based on e- (away from) and mendum (mistake))

Front 294

emeritus

Back 294

applies to a person who has retired while retaining his honorary title and is usually found in the expression professor emeritus; Latin emerere (to earn by service and veteran in the miltary sense)

Front 295

emote

Back 295

to act emotionally; somtimes used pejoratively, to indicate theatrical behavior; Latin emovere (to move out)

Front 296

empirical

Back 296

something based on observation and experience, as opposed to theory; Latin empiricus (an unscientific doctor)

Front 297

emulate

Back 297

to imitate, with the implication of an attempt to equal or surpass; sometimes takes on the implication of successful rivalry; Latin aemulari (to rival)

Front 298

encomium

Back 298

high praise; implies a certain degree of formality, as in an official speech or situation

Front 299

endemic

Back 299

characteristic, peculiar to a particular place, race, nation, sect; this word is used, e.g., of diseases that flourish regularly in certain parts of the world; Greek endemos and demos (people)

Front 300

enervate

Back 300

to weaken and lessen one's vitality; Latin enervare (literally, to remove the sinews)

Front 301

enigmatic

Back 301

puzzling and obscure; Greek aenigma (riddle)

Front 302

enmity

Back 302

hostility, antagonism; Latin inimicus (enemy), based on the negative -in and amicus (friend)

Front 303

ennui

Back 303

boredom; French, expresses world-weariness and emptiness of feeling, often felt by the "man who has everything"

Front 304

entity

Back 304

an elevated synonym for thing; anything having a distinct existence

Front 305

enure, inure

Back 305

to accustom, to habituate; in law, it has the effect of "operate"; Middle English enuren

Front 306

envisage

Back 306

to visualize something or imagine it; can also imply foresee

Front 307

ephemeral

Back 307

short-lived, soon over and done with; Greek emphemeros (short-lived)

Front 308

epicure

Back 308

a gourmet, a fastidious diner who understands and lays great stresss upon the refinements of cooking and relishes the best of food and drink; Greek Epicurus, philosopher who held that pleasure was the highest good, which came from modest living, whihc led to calm of mind and body

Front 309

epigram

Back 309

witticisms, witty sayings, wisecracks, tersely expressed, often in verse; applies particularly to a brief satirical poem, usually ending with a terse, witty observation

Front 310

epitaph

Back 310

literally, a tomb inscription; but the word is used more generally to cover any written praise of one who has passed on; Greek epitaphion (over a tomb)

Front 311

epitome

Back 311

an embodiment, typical representation; intract from Greek via Latin

Front 312

equable

Back 312

even-tempered, unvarying

Front 313

equanimity

Back 313

composure, calmness of temperament

Front 314

equitable

Back 314

fair and just; Latin aequitas (faitness, justice)

Front 315

equivocal

Back 315

uncertain, undetermined, or questionable; Late Latin aequivocus (ambiguous)

Front 316

errant

Back 316

describes conduct that amounts to misbehaving; also, can mean "wandering aimlessly", as in an errant breeze, and in this use errant is a gentle, poetic word; Latin errare (to wander)

Front 317

ersatz

Back 317

applies to anything that is synthetic, artificial, substitute; not the genuine article; something else, generally of inferior quality; can be used as a noun to describe anything artificial used as a substitute for a natural product; intact from German (substitute)

Front 318

erudite

Back 318

learned, scholarly; Latin erudire (to instruct)

Front 319

eschew

Back 319

to shun or avoid something; the avoiding is not casual, but determined; Middle English scheowe (shy)

Front 320

esoteric

Back 320

describes anything obscure, far out, beyond the grasp of most people; can apply to ideas, works of art, doctrines, systems of thought, philosophies, and the like; Greek esoterikos (inner)

Front 321

ethereal

Back 321

light, delicate, airy; Greek, ether

Front 322

etymology

Back 322

derivation, in the sense of the specific derivation of a particular word; Greek etymos (true) and logos (word)

Front 323

eulogy

Back 323

a specific speech or writing in praise of a person (usually deceased) or thing, as in a flowery eulogy that keeps a funeral service going for hours, or "praise" generally; Late Latin eulogia (praise)

Front 324

euphemism

Back 324

applied to a mild or indirect word or phrase substituted for one considered too harsh or indelicate; ex. to pass away; can apply to a specific case or to the general practice of resorting to such substitutes; Greek euphemismos (use of words of good omen)

Front 325

euphonious

Back 325

pleasant-sounding

Front 326

euphoric

Back 326

expresses the mood of a person enjoying an exaggerated feeling of well-being; its slang equivalent is "high"; the word usually implies that the feeling is unjustified by the circumstances, or is entirely without a basis in reality; Greek euphoria (state of well-being)

Front 327

exacerbate

Back 327

to worsen, to aggravate, in the sense of increasing bitterness

Front 328

excoriate

Back 328

to upbraid scathingly, reprimand harshly; literally, to flay, to strip the skin off (someone); figuratively, merciless reprimand; Latin excoriare (to skin)

Front 329

excrement

Back 329

feces; describes any bodily waste, but it almost always refers to fecal matter

Front 330

exculpate

Back 330

to free someone from blame; synonymous with exonerate; Latin exulpare (to free from blame)

Front 331

execrable

Back 331

detestable, abominable, hateful

Front 332

exegesis

Back 332

interpretation, especially of Scripture, but applicable generally; intact from the Greek

Front 333

exemplary

Back 333

commendable, setting a high standard, an example worth imitating; Latin exemplary (serving as a copy)

Front 334

exhort

Back 334

to urge, to advise with great emphasis; Latin exhortari (to urge)

Front 335

exigency

Back 335

urgency; in the plural, "urgent needs, demands"; Latin exigere (to demand)

Front 336

exonerate

Back 336

to free from blame; synonymous with exculpate; Latin ex (from) and onus (burden, charge)

Front 337

exorcise

Back 337

to expel, to free

Front 338

expatiate

Back 338

to dwell upon something at great length, going into it in great detail; exspatiari (to walk about, wander, deviate)

Front 339

expiate

Back 339

to atone or make amends for; Latin expiare (to atone for)

Front 340

expostulate

Back 340

to argue vigorously with someone in order to talk him out of doing something or to remonstrate against something he has done; Latin expostulare (to demand urgently)

Front 341

expropriate

Back 341

to take something away without the owner's consent

Front 342

expunge

Back 342

to wipe out, erase, delete; Latin expungere

Front 343

extempore

Back 343

impromptu, done on the spur of the moment; Latin ex tempore (literally, out of time; freely, at the moment)

Front 344

extenuate

Back 344

to lesson the seriousness of an offense, or someone's guilt, or to make it seem less serious; Latin extenuare (to reduce, diminish)

Front 345

extirpate

Back 345

to root out, destroy, eradicate, extirminate; Latin exstirpare (to tear up by the roots), ex (from) and stirps (roots))

Front 346

extrapolate

Back 346

to make a future estimate pased on past data; sometimes has the meaning of "conjecture" or "predict"

Front 347

exuberant

Back 347

in high spirits, full of enthusiasm; can also have the meaning of "lavish, profuse"; Latin exuberare (to grow thickly, abound)

Front 348

facet

Back 348

literally, one of the many polished "faces" of a gem; figuratively, aspect, phase, or angle of a situation; French facette (little face)

Front 349

facile

Back 349

performing and acting with ease; can imply superficiality; intact from French, Latin facilis (easy)

Front 350

facilitate

Back 350

to make easy, to help along

Front 351

fallacious

Back 351

unsound and misleading; Latin fallacia (deceit)

Front 352

fallow

Back 352

literally, plowed and unseeded; metaphorically, dormant, inactive, unproductive; also, "pale, yellow, dun", derived from the color of unplowed land; avoid this last use

Front 353

falter

Back 353

to waver, vacilate; to stumble, tooter, to give way; usually means waver or stumble; Icelandic, faltrast means (to be uncertain)

Front 354

farrago

Back 354

without change from Latin; literally, "mash" (mixed cattle fodder); figuratively, any "mixture" or "medley"; a hodgepodge or mishmash; synonyms are olio and gallimaufry

Front 355

fatuous

Back 355

inane or foolish, with a strong implication of complancency and smug self-satisfaction; silly, but has the implication of stupid; Latin fatuus (silly)

Front 356

feasible

Back 356

a "can do" word; describes something that can be accomplished, a goal that is not beyond wild dreams, something workable; another shade of meaning is "plausible, likely"; Latin facere (to do)

Front 357

feckless

Back 357

untrustworthy due to being incompetent, feeble, or irresponsible, lazy without spirit or energy, or all of these unpleasant things; Scotland feck (effect or value)

Front 358

fecund

Back 358

productive, fertile; Latin fecundus (fruitful)

Front 359

feisty

Back 359

full of spirit, lively, ready for anything; can also imply "short-tempered and quarrelsome"; American dialects a feist is an ill-tempered mutt

Front 360

fellicitate

Back 360

to congratulate; Latin felicitas (success, good fortune)

Front 361

felicity

Back 361

great happiness, as in marital felicity

Front 362

felicitous

Back 362

Latin felicitas (success, good fortune); applies to things, concrete or abstract, that are well-suited, appropriate, well-chosen, such as a well-chosen remark

Front 363

feral

Back 363

an untamed animal that has escaped from the zoo is often referred to as feral; wild or savage; may be used in the place of uncivilized; Latin ferus (wild)

Front 364

ferret

Back 364

usually followed by "out"; to rummage around and eventually find something; from ferret, an animal that can be domesticated and trained to smell and drive out rabbits and rats; Latin furritus (small thief)

Front 365

festoon

Back 365

a chain of flowers or ribbons hung in a loop as a decoration; to festoon something is, literally, to decorate it with festoons; verb can be used figuratively as a vivid description of situations where something or someone is adorned or surrounded in a smothering sort of way; Italian festone, decoration for a feast)

Front 366

fetid, foetid

Back 366

describes a very unpleasant state of affairs; it means "stinking" or "melodorous"; can also be applied, figuratively, to odious or hateful people

Front 367

fey

Back 367

eccentric, in a whimsical way, unworldly, appera to be a little bit "touched," and tend to behave irresponsibly; originally applied to anyone believedd to be conscious of impending doom, even death; Icelandic feigr (doomed)

Front 368

fiasco

Back 368

a total and humiliating failure; Italian, literally, "straw-covered wine bottle" and figuratively, "disastrous failure"

Front 369

fiat

Back 369

a decree, and comes directly from the Latin fiat, which means "Let it be done"; less technically, a fiat is an order, whether issued under authority or arbitrarily, like some of those laid down by the big boss

Front 370

fiduclary

Back 370

applies to a person or firm handling assets of a third party, like a trustee, executor, guardian or anyone else in a position of trust; Latin fiduciarius "entrusted"

Front 371

figurative

Back 371

word of phrase that involves a figure of speech, especially a metaphor; something other than the literal use of the term; Latin fugurare (to form, shape)

Front 372

finite

Back 372

limited in some way, whether in time, space, numerically, or otherwise. Latin finire (to limit, to end)

Front 373

flaccid

Back 373

literally, limp and flabby; figuratively, weak, ineffectual, unimpressive

Front 374

flagellate

Back 374

to whip or flog; figuratively, to punish, especially with severe criticism; can also be used in the sense of "driving" or "urging" someone or oneself, for instance, to fulfull his duty; Latin flagellare (to whip)

Front 375

flamboyant

Back 375

describes anyone or anything outstandingly showy or striking; intact from French (to flame, flare up)

Front 376

flatulent

Back 376

describes an unpleasant condition, meaning "suffering from gas" or "causing gas" (in the digestive tract); figuratively used to describe writing that is bombastic, pompous, turgid, and overwritten

Front 377

flay

Back 377

synonymous with excoriate; literally, to strip off the skin, hide or any out covering (usually) of a living creature, to skin alive; figuratively, to criticize scathingly;

Front 378

fledgling

Back 378

literally, very young birds, who are bald, without feathers; figuratively, applied to inexperienced yougn people who are immature

Front 379

flippant

Back 379

frivolous or disrespectful, not taken seriously; a pejorative, disparaging word suggestive of a somewhat flighty, disrespectful attitude towards the subject matter or athe person addressed

Front 380

flout

Back 380

to scorn, mock, scoff at, disdain; Middle English flouten (to play the flute)

Front 381

foible

Back 381

describes the French word faible, meaning weak; describes a minor, relatively harmless weakness in a person's character, and is especially appropriate when the character is otherwise a strong one; more general than peccadillo (a minor offense, a trivial fault)

Front 382

foment

Back 382

to instigate, promote, in the sense of get something moving or going and is usually applied in an unfavorable way; Latin fovere (to warm or keep warm)

Front 383

font

Back 383

a church basin, usually of stone, for holding baptism water, a holy water receptable; figuratively, source of fountainhead; also, "set type"; Latin fons (fountain) and fundere (to pour)

Front 384

foray

Back 384

a sudden raid, usually to take plunder; to foray is to make such a raid

Front 385

force majeure

Back 385

taken over bodily from the French, meaning "superior force"; in other words, an unforeseeable, uncontrollable event that makes it impossible to perform one's obligations (under a contract) and exempts him, in most cases, from liability for failure to live up to his agreement; commonly known as "an act of God" (who gets blamed for everything)

Front 386

forensic

Back 386

describes things having to do with the law and the courts; Latin forensis, relating to forum (open square where judicial business was conducted)

Front 387

formidable

Back 387

something feared or dreaded; intimidating; can also mean "awe-inspiring"; can also mean "powerful"; Latin formidare (to dread)

Front 388

fortuitous

Back 388

happening by chance; accidental; Latin forte (by chance)

Front 389

founder

Back 389

when a ship founders, it's all over; to sink; when plans founder, they fail, fizzle out; applied to animals, can mean "to become ill by overeating"; Middle English foundren (to plunge, to the bottom)

Front 390

fractious

Back 390

peevish and irritable; unruly; hard to manage; Latin frangere (to break, shatter)

Front 391

fruition

Back 391

fulfillment, attainment, realization, results achieved; Latin frui (to enjoy, have the benefit of)

Front 392

fulminate

Back 392

usually followed by against; to send forth denunciations and condemnation; fulminare (to lighten - from fulmen, and thuderbolt)

Front 393

fulsome

Back 393

offensively excessive; most common use is in the phrase fulsome praise, which is exaggerated and insincere and smacks of the sycophant or toady; Middle English fulsom (foul, disgusting)

Front 394

furtive

Back 394

describes the qualities of stealth, slyness, shiftiness, sneakiness; Latin fur (thief)

Front 395

fusillade

Back 395

a military term signifying a "simultaneous discharge of arms", the sort of bombardment the enemy keeps up from across the river in war stories; figuratively, describes an explosive atmosphere; fusil is French for gun

Front 396

gadfly

Back 396

a species of fly that annoys cattle; figuratively, any pest or anyone who annoys people by continual carping, or persistently pesters others with schemes, demands for action, etc.

Front 397

garrulous

Back 397

talkative and rambling on, usually about trivial matters

Front 398

gauche

Back 398

crude, uncouth, and awkward, lacking in social grace and inssensitive

Front 399

generic

Back 399

general, common, in the sense of applicable to a whole class; in medicine, an untrademarked product that is identical, and normally costs substantially less; Latin genus (kind, type)

Front 400

genesis

Back 400

origin or source; intact from Greek

Front 401

gentry

Back 401

upper-class people (well-born and well-bred); also used to describe the people of any particular class or group

Front 402

germane

Back 402

relevant, pertinent; Latin germanus (from the same parents)

Front 403

googol

Back 403

an astronomical number, the largest that can be expressed in words, used primarily to measure the unimaginable distances of outer space; technically, it is 1 followed by 100 zeros

Front 404

gormandize

Back 404

to eat gluttonously

Front 405

gossamer

Back 405

technically, the filmy cobweb left by spiders on grass or bushes; commonly used to describe any thin, delicate fabric

Front 406

grandiloquence

Back 406

high-flown, bombastic speech; Latin grandis (great, large) and loqui (to speak)

Front 407

gratuitous

Back 407

given free of charge; uncalled for, unprovoked; ex. a gratuitous insult

Front 408

gratuity

Back 408

terms covers anything given voluntarily, i.e., not legally required, like a tip or gift over and above the regular price for something or payment due to services; Latin gratum (favor)

Front 409

gravamen

Back 409

issue that weighs most heavily in an accusation or legal action; Latin gravare (to load, weigh down)

Front 410

gregarious

Back 410

sociable, fond of company; Latin gregarius (belonging to a herd or flock)and grex (herd, flock)

Front 411

gulse

Back 411

semblance, assumed appearance, style of dress

Front 412

habituate

Back 412

to get accustomed to, used to, gradually get to accept as normal; Latin habituatus (conditioned)

Front 413

hackneyed

Back 413

trite, made stale from overuse

Front 414

halcyon

Back 414

carefree and happy; can mean tranquil and peaceful, but usually evokes the image of past joyous, carefree times; Greek halkyon (a mythical bird alleged to have the power of calming the sea while it nested on its waters)

Front 415

harbinger

Back 415

someone or something that signals the approach of things to come; a forerunner; Crocuses are a habinger of spring. Middle English herbenger (host)

Front 416

harridan

Back 416

a forceful word for a scolding hag, an ill-tempered old woman; the Queen of Hearts in Alice and Wonderland is a fine prototype

Front 417

hedonist

Back 417

one who believes that pleasure is the chief aim in life and lives thay way; Greek hedone (pleasure)

Front 418

hegemony

Back 418

dominant influence, especially of one nation or state over others; Greek hegemonia (supremacy)

Front 419

hegira

Back 419

a journey to a pleasanter place; the original hegira was Muhammad's flight from Mecca to Medina in 622

Front 420

heinous

Back 420

excessively evil, positively hateful; French haine (hatred)

Front 421

herbivorous

Back 421

plant-eating; Latin herba (plant) and vorare (to eat greedily, gulp)

Front 422

hermaphrodite

Back 422

a living organism with both male and female organs of sex; the adj. means bisexual; Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus became merged in bodies and became both male and female

Front 423

heterogeneous

Back 423

composed of different kinds; Greek hetero (different) and genos (kind or type)

Front 424

homogeneous

Back 424

composed of the same kind; Greek homo (same)

Front 425

heuristic

Back 425

helping to learn, encouraging (students) to find out for themselves; Greek heuriskein (to find out)

Front 426

hiatus

Back 426

synonymous with lacuna; may be abstract as well; applies to any case where there is a break in a sequence, such as four, six, eight; intact from Latin (opening)

Front 427

hie

Back 427

to hasten; evokes a pleasant nostalgic atmosphere

Front 428

homily

Back 428

a sermon, a moralizing talk, usually with the implication of tedious length and dullness

Front 429

honorarium

Back 429

literally, a voluntary payment for services when there is no legal obligation to pay; euphemistic substitute for fee; Latin honorarius (done or given as an honor)

Front 430

hubris

Back 430

arrogance, insolent pride (the kind the goeth before a fall); opposite of modesty; intact from Greek, one of the common sins in Greek tragedy

Front 431

hyperbole

Back 431

exaggeration, intentionally used as a figure of speech; extravagent assertions that are not meant to be taken literally; intact from Greek

Front 432

hypothesis

Back 432

a supposition or theory to explain an occurrence in the absence of actual proof; hypothetical adj. Meaning "unsupported by truth"; intact from Greek

Front 433

iconoclast

Back 433

one who challenges accepted beliefs; Greek eikon (image, idol) and klaste (breaker); literally, an image-breaker;

Front 434

idyllic

Back 434

happily peaceful or charmingly romantic; Greek eidyllion (short pastoral poem); idyll is a poem or prose piece about pastoral scenes or sweet charming happenings

Front 435

ignominy

Back 435

applies to either the disgrace resulting from a shameful act of the dishonorable conduct itself; ignominious means shameful, humiliating

Front 436

illicit

Back 436

unlawful; forbidden; Latin licere (to be allowed)

Front 437

illusory

Back 437

describes things that are deceptive, that cause a false impression, an illusion; Latin illudere (to mock, deceive)

Front 438

imbibe

Back 438

to drink; figuratively, drink in, absorb; Latin imbibere (to drink in)

Front 439

imbroglio

Back 439

confused situation; bitter misunderstanding; violent disagreement; intact from Italian (entanglement)

Front 440

immemorial

Back 440

describes things that extend back beyond memory;

Front 441

immutable

Back 441

unchangeable; Latin mutare (change)

Front 442

impassive

Back 442

neither feeling nor showing emotion; Latin passivus (submissive)

Front 443

impecunious

Back 443

describes the unfortunate state of being penniless; Latin pecuniosus (wealthy) and pecunia (money, wealth)

Front 444

impede

Back 444

to hinder; Latin impedire (literally, to entangle the feet)

Front 445

imperious

Back 445

domineering, bossy, dictatorial; Latin imperiosus (commanding, tyrannical)

Front 446

imperturbable

Back 446

calm, not easily excited, impassive, unlikely to be easily disconcerted; Latin perturbare (to disturb utterly, throw in confusion)

Front 447

implacable

Back 447

relentless and unable to be pacified

Front 448

implement

Back 448

to put something into effet; to carry it out; Late implere (to fill up)

Front 449

implicate

Back 449

when you implicate someone in a crime, you involve him it in, or show him to be involved; Latin implicare (to entwine, entangle; figuratively, to involve)

Front 450

implicit

Back 450

implied, taken for granted; unquestioning, absolute; implicare (to entwine, entangle)

Front 451

imponderable

Back 451

a noun that indicates something difficult to estimate; a matter that cannot be determined by decision; Latin ponderare (literally, to weigh; by extension, to weigh mentally, to ponder)

Front 452

importunate

Back 452

persistent in making requests; Latin importunus (assertive, inconsiderate)

Front 453

importune

Back 453

to press urgently and request something persistently

Front 454

impugn

Back 454

to challenge, to call something into question, to discredit something; Latin impugnare (to attack)

Front 455

impute

Back 455

to attribute or ascribe a result or quality to anything or anybody; impute often implies unjust accusation; Latin putare (to think, believe)

Front 456

inauspicious

Back 456

unfavorable, gloomy, ill-omened

Front 457

incarnate

Back 457

personified; expresses the concept of embodiment; Latin carnis a form of caro (flesh)l

Front 458

inchoate

Back 458

just begun, undeveloped and unorganized; Latin incohare (to begin)

Front 459

icipient

Back 459

just beginning, in the initial stage of development; Late incipere (to begin)

Front 460

inclement

Back 460

harsh, severe; applied to people, means cruel, without mercy

Front 461

incognito

Back 461

usual use is in the adverb expression traveling incognito; the assumed identity is also known as an incognito; Latin incognitus (unrecognized)

Front 462

incongruous

Back 462

out of keeping with one another; superstition is incongruous with intelligence; Latin incongruus (inconsistent)

Front 463

increment

Back 463

an increase, growth or gain, something added; a raise in salary is an increment

Front 464

incredulous

Back 464

skeptical, inclined not to believe; Latin credere (to believe)

Front 465

incubus

Back 465

a male demon believed to swoop down on sleeping women and have sex with them in their sleep; has come to mean nightmare, whether literally or figuratively

Front 466

inculcate

Back 466

to teach by persistent urging, to implant (ideas, habits) through constant admonition; Latin inculcare (to impress upon)

Front 467

incumbent

Back 467

as an adj. Followed by on or upon, means obligatory; can also mean "holding office"; as a noun, it means "office-holder"; Latin incubare (to lie upon)

Front 468

indecorous

Back 468

the opposite of decorous

Front 469

indigenous

Back 469

native, in the sense of characteristic, inherent; Latin indigenus (native)

Front 470

indigent

Back 470

needy, impoverished, lacking the necessities of life; Latin indigere (to need)

Front 471

indolent

Back 471

lazy and slothful, willing to do anything to avoid exertion; evokes the image of someone having a nice, easy time; Latin indolentia (freedom from pain)

Front 472

ineffable

Back 472

inexpressible, in a positive sense; unspeakable, in a negative sense; Latin ineffabilis (unutterable)

Front 473

ineluctable

Back 473

inescapable, cannot be avoided and must happen; Latin eluctari (to struggle out of, surmount a difficulty)

Front 474

ineptitude

Back 474

can denote unfitness generaly, or lack of skill or aptitude for a particular job; can also mean unsuitable, inappropriate, tasteless; Latin ineptus (unsuitable, inappropriate, tasteless)

Front 475

ingénue

Back 475

name assigned, in the theatre, to the role of an artless, unsophisticated girl; French ingénu (naïve, unsophisticated, ingenuous, without artifice)

Front 476

ingenuous

Back 476

free from deceit, artless; ingenuous people shouldn't play poker

Front 477

innate

Back 477

inborn; inherent, built in; Latin natus (born)

Front 478

innocuous

Back 478

harmless; harmless, in the sense of inoffensive; unexciting, vapid; Latin nocuus (harmful)

Front 479

innuendo

Back 479

a veiled intimation or insinuation of a derogatory nature, an equivocal or ambiguous allusion, reflecting on someone's character, honesty, ability, etc.

Front 480

inordinate

Back 480

excessive; disorderly; irregular; inordinatus (disorderly, confused)

Front 481

inscrutable

Back 481

unfathomable, mysterious; Latin scrutari (to investigate)

Front 482

insouciant

Back 482

unconcerned and carefree; intact from French, based on soucier (to trouble) and souci (care)

Front 483

insular

Back 483

literally, means "of or pertaining to islands"; figuratively, describes people who are narrow-minded, like isolated island people with resulting narrow, parochial views; Latin insula (island)

Front 484

intangible

Back 484

describes things that cannot be perceived by touch, but can also mean "vague" or "elusive"

Front 485

integument

Back 485

literally, a natural covering, such as an animal's skin, or the rind or husk of a plant of vegetable; but by extension, it has been broadened to include any covering; Latin integumentum (covering)

Front 486

interdict

Back 486

to forbid, especially with the implication of an authoritative prohibition, as by a church or civil authority; as a noun, certain civil and church prohibitory decrees; Latin interdicere (to forbid)

Front 487

interlocutor

Back 487

anyone participating in a conversation, but the term implies that the conversation or dialogue is of an official nature and on a high level;

Front 488

interpolate

Back 488

to insert, especially with th eimplication that the new material is spurious and has been inserted without authorization and for purposes of deception; Latin interpolare (to polish up, and by extension, to falsify

Front 489

intractable

Back 489

stubborn, hard to manage, obstinate; Latin trahere (to drag, pull)

Front 490

intransigent, intransigeant

Back 490

stubborn, unbending, inflexible, unwilling to compromise; stronger word than intractable; as a noun, can denote a person adamant in his convictions, especially in politcs; Latin transigere (to come to an understanding)

Front 491

intrepid

Back 491

fearless, bold, ready to take recognized risks; Latin trepidus (anxious, worried)

Front 492

intuit

Back 492

to know something instinctively, i.e., through direct insight without any reasoning, without having to think or be told about it; Latin intueri (to contemplate)

Front 493

inundate

Back 493

literally, to flood or overthrow; figuratively, to overwhelm or deluge; Latin inundare (to flood) and unda (wave)

Front 494

inure, enure

Back 494

to accustom, to habituate; in law, used in the phrase "inure to the benefit of", where it means to operate

Front 495

invective

Back 495

as a noun, denotes a violent, abusive attack in words, written or oral; as an adj., describes that sort of attack; the verb is inveigh, which means to use invective, to rail; Latin invehere (to attack)

Front 496

inviolable

Back 496

secure (from invasion, destruction, corruption, etc.)

Front 497

inviolate

Back 497

free from attack, desecration, or outrage; freedom from alteration; Latin inviolatus (unhurt)

Front 498

irascible

Back 498

short tempered and easily roused to anger; Latin erasci (get angry) and ira (anger)

Front 499

issue

Back 499

offspring, descendants; Middle French issir (to go out)

Front 500

iterate

Back 500

to say or do something repeatedly; Latin iterare (to repeat)

Front 501

jejune

Back 501

insipid, childish; literally, unnourishing; Latin jejunus (literally, fasting, by extension, hungry, and then on to poor, mean, meager)

Front 502

jettison

Back 502

the act of throwing cargo overboard to lighten a vessel, and Is also the verb that describes such action; by extension, to jettison is to get rid of any burden, anything unwanted, to discard; Latin jacere (to throw)

Front 503

jingoism

Back 503

describes excessive chauvinism, combined with a bellicose attitude toward foreign countries;

Front 504

jocular

Back 504

joking, facetious, tongue-in-cheeck, jesting, not to be taken seriously; jocular implies kidding, rather than unkindness; Latin jocari (to joke)

Front 505

journeyman

Back 505

a reliable worker, competent but not exceptional; originally applied to a person hired to work for a day, or by the day; has come to be used where one wants to indicate that the worker in question is capable but far from outstanding

Front 506

juxtapose

Back 506

to place two or more things side by side; the implication of this word is to call attention to the combining; Latin juxta (close by, near) and ponere (to put or place)

Front 507

karma

Back 507

this poetic word, borrowed from Buddhist and Hindu theology, is loosely and commonly used to mean "fate" or "destiny"; technically, the word denotes the sum total of one's deeds in one life which decide his fate in the next incarnation

Front 508

keen

Back 508

to wail, used as a noun, a keen is an Irish funeral song characterized by wailing, and to keen, in Irish folkways, is to utter such a keen; Irish caoinim (to lament)

Front 509

ken

Back 509

a range of knowledge; found in expressions, beyond my ken, within my ken, outside my ken; range of sight or recognition; German kennen (to know, be acquainted with)

Front 510

kinetic

Back 510

describes anything having to do with motion, caused by motion or characterized by motion; Greek kinein (to move)

Front 511

kite

Back 511

a bad check, promissory note, or other piece of negotiable commercial paper that has nothing behind it and is worthless; as a verb, kite is to issue such a check, note, etc.

Front 512

kitsch

Back 512

borrowed from German, describes trashy art, without taste or aesthetic value, usually pretentious, intended to appeal to the popular taste, marked by slick sensationalism or sentimentality or both; German kitsch (rubbish, trash)

Front 513

knell

Back 513

describes the sound of a bell, rung in a slow beat, usually to mark a death or a funeral

Front 514

kowtow

Back 514

to act with servility, show exaggerated respect, behave obsequiously; the verb is usually followed by th preposition to or before; Chinese, describes the former custom of kneeling and touching the ground with the forehead as a mark of submission or worship

Front 515

kudos

Back 515

praise, honor, glory; Greek kydos

Front 516

lachrymose

Back 516

tearful, mournful; Latin lacrima (tear)

Front 517

laconic

Back 517

terse, using few words and opposite of garrulous, talkative; Laconia was a region in ancient Greece dominated by Sparta whose inhabitants were noted for their terse and pithy way of speaking

Front 518

lacuna

Back 518

a gap, a missing part; Latin lacuna (hollow, cavity, and by extension, any gap)

Front 519

lagniappe

Back 519

describes a bonus of one sort or another given to a customer as a token of goodwill, whether extra weight or measure, or a little something different; more loosely, used as a synonym for any tip or gratuity; American Spanish la napa (the addition)

Front 520

lambent

Back 520

flickering; softly radiant; brilliantly playful; generates the feeling of light, graceful movement; Latin lambere (to lick)

Front 521

lament

Back 521

an expression of grief, especially a vivid or passionate one; as a verb, to lament is to feel deep sorrow and regret

Front 522

languish

Back 522

to droop, "take on a melancholy air"; to pine; to suffer neglect; Latin languescere (to become faint)

Front 523

lascivious

Back 523

lewd and lustful; describes anything intended to arouse lustful thoughts or sexual desires; Latin lascivus (playful, and wanton, licentious)

Front 524

lassitude

Back 524

describes either the unpleasant state of weariness, physical or mental, that results from malnutrition, strain, or oppressive climatic conditions, or a condition of languor, listlessness, and indifference; that seems to prevent certain people from accomplishing anything; Latin lassus (weary) and lassare (to tire)

Front 525

latent

Back 525

describes things that are in existence, but not yet active or apparent, things that are potential but noy yet brought to the surface; Latin latere (to be concealed)

Front 526

laudatory

Back 526

lavishing praise; Latin laudare (to praise)

Front 527

lax

Back 527

showing a lack of interest in doing something either well or on time; the implication is that they know better, but just don’t' give a damn; negligent, lacking in strict observance; Latin (loose, slack)

Front 528

lay

Back 528

an adj. Applicable to one who is not a member, or connected with, a particular profession, especially law or medicine, but it can apply in its negative sense to any profession, e.g. accounting or architecture; Greek laikos (of the people)

Front 529

lethargic

Back 529

sluggish, listles, without pep or energy, having the morning-after feeling;

Front 530

leviathan

Back 530

a monster, any thing of wondrous size or vast power; biblical name for a sea monster typifying power

Front 531

lexicon

Back 531

a dictionary; intact from Greek, and most completely applied to Greek, Latin, and Hebrew dictionaries; also used to describe the special vocabulary of a person, profession, or field of knowledge; figuratively, it can mean record

Front 532

licentious

Back 532

lewd and immoral, disregarding the proprieties, the rules of human conduct; used to describe sexual excess and immorality; Latin licentia (freedom)

Front 533

limn

Back 533

to portray or describe something; Latin inluminare (to light up, to make clear)

Front 534

linchpin

Back 534

literally, this word applies to a pin through the end of an axle to keep the wheel on; figuratively, characteruzes anybody or anything deemed vital to keep a situation together

Front 535

limpid

Back 535

clear; lucid; serene, untroubled

Front 536

lissome, lissom

Back 536

supple, agile, lithe; Latin lentus (supple, pliant)

Front 537

litany

Back 537

a form of prayer consistenting of a serious of supplications to God, each followed by the same response by the worshipers; by extension, it has come to be applied to any monotonously repititious recital; often used in the expression litany of complaints

Front 538

lithe

Back 538

lissome, pliant

Front 539

litigious

Back 539

inclined to litigate (sue), acting for a lawsuit; by extension, argumentative, eager to pick a fight; Latin litigiosus (quarrelsome, full of strife)

Front 540

logy

Back 540

sluggish and lethargic; Dutch log (heavy)

Front 541

loquacious

Back 541

talkative, garrulous; the opposite of laconic; Latin loqui (to talk)

Front 542

lothario

Back 542

a rake, a seducer of women; Lothario was a seducer in the tragedy The Fair Penitent

Front 543

lugubrious

Back 543

gloomy, mournful; implies unrelieved gloom, and even more of it than the occasion justifies; Latin lugere (to mourn) and lugubris (mournful)

Front 544

lurid

Back 544

gruesome, shockingly vivid; often has the flavor of "sensational";

Front 545

macrocosm

Back 545

the great world around us, the entire universe, and by extension, the whole of something, any great whole, a whole world in itself; Greek makros (large) and kosmos (order, and by extension, universe)

Front 546

microcosm

Back 546

a miniature world, anything seen as a miniature sample of the whole world, or as resembling something else on a small scale; Greek mikros (small) and kosmos

Front 547

maladroit

Back 547

awkward, bungling, the opposite of adroit; Latin male (badly) and adroit

Front 548

malaise

Back 548

a noun that describes a general feeling of uneasiness, physical or mental or both; intact from French

Front 549

malapropism

Back 549

a ridiculous misuse of words; Latin male (badly) and apropros (appropriately)

Front 550

malfeasance

Back 550

wrongdoing, especially misconduct in public office; French malfaisance (evildoing)

Front 551

malign

Back 551

to slander, defame; as an adj., it means harmful or malicious; Latin malignus (ill-disposed, wicked)

Front 552

malleable

Back 552

impressionable; applied to material in manufacture or sculpture, it means "workable, shapable"; figuratively, used to describe people who can be influenced, those with impressionable or tractable mentalities; Latin malleus (hammer)

Front 553

manqué

Back 553

this word, taken from the French, follows the noun it modifies, and means "unfulfilled, fallen short"; French manquer (to miss, fail, lack)

Front 554

martinet

Back 554

a strict disciplinarian, one who demands obedience without question; named after the French General Jean Martinet, who invented a new military drill system

Front 555

masticate

Back 555

to chew, to reduce to a pulp; Latin masticare (to chew)

Front 556

matriculate

Back 556

to enroll; Middle Latin matriculatus (person listed)

Front 557

maw

Back 557

a mouth, jaws, throat, gullet, or the stomach or an animal; figuratively, any great opening resembling an animal's jaws;

Front 558

mawkish

Back 558

cloyingly, insipidly sentimental

Front 559

megalomania

Back 559

describes delusions of grandeur, exaggerated ideas of one's own importance; Greek megalo (indicating exaggeration or extravagance) and mania (madness)

Front 560

mélange

Back 560

a mixture or medley; the implication is that the mixture is a mixed bag of diverse and heterogeneous elements; French méler (to mix)

Front 561

mellifluous

Back 561

sweet and smooth (literally, flowing with honey); usually found in the expression mellifluous voice; Latin mel (honey) and fluere (to flow)

Front 562

mendacious

Back 562

false, lying, untruthful; Latin mendax (lying)

Front 563

mendicant

Back 563

beggar; as an adj., begging; Latin mendicare (to beg)

Front 564

mercurial

Back 564

lively and sprightly or changeable, fickle, erratic; Greek mythology, Mercury (identified as Hermes who had quick wit, and sharp dealing and thievishness)

Front 565

meretricious

Back 565

applies to anyone or anything tawdry and insincere, though showily attractive; Latin meretrix (prostitute); figuratively, expresses dishonest, cheap, flashy allure, like that of a harlot, with no real feeling behind it

Front 566

messianic

Back 566

adj. Applied to a leader (or would-be leader) claiming to be a liberator or deliverer; more loosely, to anyone or any theory claiming or expected to solve whatever the crisis of the moment happens to be; Hebrew mashiah (annointed)

Front 567

metamorphosis

Back 567

a transformation; Greek meta (change) and morphe (form); in zoology, it is the term describing changes like caterpillar into butterfly;

Front 568

metaphor

Back 568

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used not literally, but in a way that suggests a comparison of the thing described with something else;

Front 569

metaphysics

Back 569

philosophy, particularly in the abstruse variety; in PHL, denotes the branch dealing with first principles, the nature of existence and knowledge; its common use, however, often pejorative, it to characterize an argument or theory as too far-fetched and abstruse to prove the point contended for; Greek meta (after, beyond) and physike (the science of nature)

Front 570

mete

Back 570

to mete something out is to distribute or allot it; German messen (to measure)

Front 571

miasma

Back 571

literally, noxious air or unwholesome exhalations, as from a swamp or any rotting matter; more broadly, the word is used to describe a pervasive atmosphere that tends to harm or corrupt, or an emanation of foreboding and decay; Greek miasma (stain, pollution)

Front 572

mien

Back 572

bearing, air, especially as an indication or a person's character or mood; French mine (expression, appearance)

Front 573

millieu

Back 573

intact from French, means environment, surroundings

Front 574

militate

Back 574

to operate or serve as an important influence in favor of or against something; Latin militare (to serve as a soldier, but by extension, to serve generally)

Front 575

minutiae

Back 575

the smallest details of something; Latin minutia (smallness)

Front 576

misanthrope

Back 576

a people-hater, a person who dislikes just about everybpdy; Greek misos (hate) and anthropos (man)

Front 577

misapprehension

Back 577

mistake

Front 578

misappropriate

Back 578

to take or apply (property of funds) dishonestly, especially for one's own use; steal

Front 579

miscreant

Back 579

a villian; as an adj., villianous; Middle English miscreaunt (unbelieving), in the Middle Ages, unbelievers were considered villianous

Front 580

misnomer

Back 580

a wrong name of something, or the use of a wrong name; Middle French mis (indicating error) and nomer (to name)

Front 581

misogyny

Back 581

hatred of women; adj. Misogynous; Greek misos (hatred) and gyne (woman)

Front 582

mitigate

Back 582

to lessen, make less intense or severe; Latin mitigare (to make mild or soft)

Front 583

mnemonic

Back 583

anything that aids memory; Greek mnemon (mindful)

Front 584

modicum

Back 584

a bit, a small quantity; commonly found in negative expressions; Latin modicus (moderate, limited)

Front 585

molt

Back 585

to molt (speaking of animals) is to shed the outer covering (skin, feathers, etc.); Latin mutare (to change)

Front 586

morass

Back 586

a marsh or bog; figuratively, anything that bogs you down; German marsch (marsh)

Front 587

mordant

Back 587

sarcastic, biting; often used in the expression mordant wit; Latin mordere (to bite)

Front 588

moribund

Back 588

literally, approaching death; generally used to depict something that is on the verge of collapsing, "going fast", "on the way out"; Latin mori (to die)

Front 589

motif

Back 589

the theme of a work of art, whether literary, musical or other, is usually called a motif; taken over from French

Front 590

mottled

Back 590

describes anything splotched with spots of different colors and sizes;

Front 591

moutebank

Back 591

a charlatan and swindler; originally applied to a pitchman hawking quack medicines; Italian montinbanco (literally, a person who climbs up on a bench)

Front 592

mulct

Back 592

to bleed or milk something from something; to mulct something (usually money) is to obtain it by fraud or extortion

Front 593

mundane

Back 593

dull, ordinary or routine; less commonly, wordly; Latin mundus (world)

Front 594

munificent

Back 594

describes anything or anyone extremely generous, bountiful, lavish; Latin munificentia (generosity)

Front 595

nadir

Back 595

the lowest point of something; Arabic nazir (opposite the zenith)

Front 596

nascent

Back 596

just beginning to exist; Latin nasci (to be born)

Front 597

nebulous

Back 597

describes anything hazy, indistinct, foggy (in the figurative sense); Latin nebula (mist, cloud)

Front 598

nefarious

Back 598

wicked, execrable; Latin ne (not) and fas (divine command)

Front 599

nemesis

Back 599

someone's downfall or undoing; also denotes an unbeatable rivalry; Nemesis was the goddess of retribution

Front 600

neophyte

Back 600

a beginner; in church circles, a new convert, or a novice in a religious order; Greek neo (new) and phyton (plant)

Front 601

nether

Back 601

lower; German nieder (low); The Netherlands are sometimes referred to as "the Low Countries", because it lies lower than sea level

Front 602

niggardly

Back 602

niggardly people are stingy, loath to part with even the smallest contribution; niggardly things are meanly small or scanty

Front 603

niggling

Back 603

petty; from niggle, to fuss or carp; can also describe details of work requiring excessive effort

Front 604

nihilism

Back 604

a philosophy that preaches the total rejection of all restraint, all laws, all social and political institutions; Latin nihil (nothing)

Front 605

nirvana

Back 605

perfect bliss, the state of freedom from all the pain and suffering of the world; in eastern religions, the state attained through the extinction of one's personal passions and delusions; in Buddhism, the end of the cycle of reincarnation; generally, perfect peace, heavenly bliss

Front 606

nomenclature

Back 606

a system of names such as those used in a particular branch of science, philosophy, art, etc.; Latin nomenclature (list of names)

Front 607

non sequitur

Back 607

Latin for it does not follow; describes an unwarranted, unsupported conclusion, a statement made as though logically connected with what has gone before, but which in reality has nothing to do with it;

Front 608

nostrum

Back 608

a quack medicine; by extension, a panacea, a pet scheme recommended for the cure of the ills of the world; Latin nostrum (our, evoking the image of a pitchman selling "our" medicine)

Front 609

noxious

Back 609

harmful, physically or morally; Latin noxius (injurious)

Front 610

nuance

Back 610

a shade of meaning, a delicate gradation, a subtle difference in expression, feeling, color, etc.; intact from French

Front 611

nubile

Back 611

applies only to girls and young women and means "marriageable, ready for marriage"; Latin nubere (to marry)

Front 612

nugatory

Back 612

worthless, ineffective, futile; Latin nugari (to talk nonsense, be frivolous, to trifle)

Front 613

obdurate

Back 613

unyielding, inflexible, persistent, especially in the context of resistance to attempts at moral uplifting, as in an obdurate sinner; Latin durus (hard)

Front 614

obeisance

Back 614

homage, deep respect; literally, a bow or curtsy showing deference to a superior; obeissance in French means obedience, and by extension, submission

Front 615

obfuscate

Back 615

to make obscure, to becloud something; Latin fuscus (dark, and by extension, indistinct)

Front 616

oblivion

Back 616

actively, describes a state of forgetting, having forgotten, being unaware; passively, describes the state of being forgotten; Latin oblivisci (to forget)

Front 617

obloquy

Back 617

disgrace and bad repute resulting from public discredit or denunciation; can also be used in the sense of censure; Latin obloqui (to speak against)

Front 618

obscurantism

Back 618

the deliberate avoidance of clarity; Latin obscurare (to darken, cover)

Front 619

obsequies

Back 619

funeral services

Front 620

obsequious

Back 620

excessively deferential and sickeningly servile; Latin obsequi (to comply with)

Front 621

obstreperous

Back 621

unruly and boisterous; Latin obstrepere (to make a noise)

Front 622

obtrude

Back 622

to force (something, or oneself) on others

Front 623

obtrusive

Back 623

describes people who obtrude themselves (and their opinions) on others, and can be used to mean "disagreeably noticeable"; Latin obtrudere (to thrust upon)

Front 624

obtuse

Back 624

slow-witted, insensitive, thick-skinned, and thick-headed; Latin obtusus (dull)

Front 625

obviate

Back 625

to make something unnecessary, to make it possible to do without; Latin obviare (to prevent)

Front 626

occlude

Back 626

to close, stop up; Latin occludere (to close up)

Front 627

odious

Back 627

hateful; Latin odi (to hate)

Front 628

offal

Back 628

the term applied to the parts of a butchered animal considered inedible waste; by extension, it has become a term for refuse or garbage in general; figuratively, can be applied to people considered outcasts;

Front 629

Olympian

Back 629

majestic, incomparable, lofty; the name of a mountain in Greece, the home of the greater Greek gods; by extension, applicable to anyone or anything incomparably superior

Front 630

ombudsman

Back 630

an official appointed to look into complaints by individuals against public bodies and authorities; Swedish word meaning commissioner

Front 631

omniscient

Back 631

adj. That describes people who know everything; Latin omnis (all) and scire (to know)

Front 632

omnivorous

Back 632

describes both meat and plant eaters; figuratively, describes one who reads just about anything that comes his way - an omnivorous reader

Front 633

onerous

Back 633

burdensome; Latin onus (load)

Front 634

onomatopoetic

Back 634

ex. Are boom and sizzle; Greek onoma (name) and poiein (to make)

Front 635

opprobrium

Back 635

describes a disgrace or infamy suffered as a result of shameful conduct; intact from Latin

Front 636

ordure

Back 636

dung, excrement; by extension, anything disgusting or degrading; can be used as an equivalent of filth in the extended use

Front 637

ostensible

Back 637

adj. Applies to things that are pretended, put forward as the reason for something, apparent but not real; Latin ostendere (to hold out, display)

Front 638

ostentatious

Back 638

showy and intended to impress; Latin ostendere (to show, display)

Front 639

ostracize

Back 639

to exclude someone from society or companionship; Greek ostrakon (a fragment of broken pottery)

Front 640

otiose

Back 640

depending on the context, can mean either "idle, at leisure" or "futile, useless"; the first is the most common use; Latin otium (leisure)

Front 641

paean

Back 641

a song of praise, a shout of exultation, and by extension, any lavish expression of praise or joy

Front 642

palliative

Back 642

something that relieves without curing; often used pejoratively to indicate that the thing so characterized is not really "doing the job"; Latin pallium (coverlet)

Front 643

pallid

Back 643

pale and wan; by extension, dull, lacking vitality or sparkle

Front 644

palpable

Back 644

easily perceived, obvious; usually applied to negative things like lies and absurdities; Latin palpari (to touch) but applied to the sense of sight

Front 645

panacea

Back 645

a cure-all; Panacea was the Greek goddess of healing; figuratively, used to describe the impossible

Front 646

panache

Back 646

verve, flair, style, dash; in the days of chivalry, name given to a tuft, usually of feathers, attached to a helmet; from this it came to mean, "dash, verve, flamboyance"

Front 647

panegyric

Back 647

a speech or article in praise of someone or something; in ancient Greece, meant public assembly or festival (at which laudatory orations were given)

Front 648

panoply

Back 648

a complete magnificent outfit, a splendid display; originally meant a "full suit of armor" and became broadened to include any ceremonial outfit; by extension, figuratively describes any glittering covering

Front 649

pantheon

Back 649

describes a preeminent group, those most highly esteemed; originally, it was the term for a temple dedicated to all the gods Greek pan (all) and theos (god); it came to include any public building housing the remains of a nation's ilustrious heroes; by extension, the word has come to mean the illustrious group itself

Front 650

paradox

Back 650

any self-contradictory statement or contradiction in terms; Greek paradoxos (unbelievable)

Front 651

paragon

Back 651

a model of excellence, an ideal example of something; perfection personified; the ideal, the acme of perfection, a standard of comparison for all time; intact from Greek

Front 652

pariah

Back 652

an outcast, a person subjected by society or his immediate circle; Indian language meaning "drummer", which was the hereditary task of a low Indian caste

Front 653

parlous

Back 653

substitute for perilous

Front 654

parochial

Back 654

akin to provincial, in describing people and outlooks that are narrow, restricted; also a parochial school, meaning "pertaining to a parish"; parochial is worse than provincial because a parish is narrower than a province

Front 655

paroxysm

Back 655

a violent outburst

Front 656

parsimonious

Back 656

stingy, niggardly; implies excessive frugality, and is clearly pejorative; Latin parcere (to economize)

Front 657

parvenu

Back 657

an upstart; a person of obscure origin who has recently acquired wealth or position, but not the manners, style, wardrobe, etc., that go with it; can also be used as an adj. To describe such a person; French parvenir (to arrive)

Front 658

pastiche

Back 658

describes an artistic work made up of borrowings from variegated source material, a hodgepodge; Italian pasticcio (literally, pie; figuratively, mess, muddle)

Front 659

pastoral

Back 659

rustic, bucolic; Latin pastor (shepherd)

Front 660

patent

Back 660

obvious, exposed to view; Latin patere (to lie open)

Front 661

pathological

Back 661

caused by disease; pathological liar, describes a person whose constant tendency to lie arises from a mental disorder; pathology, is a general term for the study of diseases

Front 662

pathos

Back 662

the quality in human experience or any art form that evokes compassion; Greek pathos (suffering)

Front 663

patrician

Back 663

an aristocrat; as an adj. Means aristocratic, highborn and characteristic of aristocrats; Latin patres (fathers)

Front 664

paucity

Back 664

a scarcity, poor supply; Latin paucus (few)

Front 665

peccadillo

Back 665

pleasant word for a petty offense or trivial fault; in Spanish pecado is sin from Latin peccatum (fault, error, sin) and pecadillo is small sin in Spanish

Front 666

pecuniary

Back 666

describes anything pertaining to money; Latin pecunia (money)

Front 667

pedagogue

Back 667

litearlly, a schoolteacher, but its use implies that th person in question employs pedantic or dogmatic methods; Greek paidagogos (boy's tutor)

Front 668

pedant

Back 668

a person who shows off his learning, a nitpicker who insists on strict adherence to formal rules and overemphasizes minor details, an obsessive stickler;

Front 669

pedestrian

Back 669

a person going on foot; as an adj., means commonplace, dull, unimaginative; also means plodding; Latin pedester (on foot)

Front 670

pejorative

Back 670

as an adj., means disparaging, belittling; as a noun, covers any word or expression that disparages, belittles, talks down, puts down, badmouths someone or something; Latin pejorare (to make worse)

Front 671

penchant

Back 671

an inclination, strong liking; French pencher (to lean)

Front 672

penultimate

Back 672

next to last; Latin pene (almost) and ultimus (last); peninsula is paene (almost) and insula (island)

Front 673

penurious

Back 673

can mean either stingy, parsimonious or destitute, poverty-stricken

Front 674

peregrination

Back 674

traveling or journey; usually found in the plural; Columbus' peregrinations in his search for a short route to India led to the discovery of the New World

Front 675

peremptory

Back 675

imperious, dictatorial, admitting of no discussion; Latin peremptorius (final, decisive)

Front 676

truism

Back 676

a statement so obviously true as to seem hardly necessary to put into words; something one would think everyone would have to agree with, without argument; All truisms are cliches, or platitudes

Front 677

truculent

Back 677

aggressively hostile, belligerent, ready to fight or take offense on very small provocation, defiant; originally, meant "brutal, fierce, ferocious"; Latin truculentus (rough, ferocious)

Front 678

trepidation

Back 678

anxious uncertainty, fear and anxiety, nervous agitation; Latin trepidus (anxious)

Front 679

trenchant

Back 679

originally, meant "cutting, sharp", but it is now used only in the its figurative sense of "forceful, incisive, effective," sometimes even "caustic"; French trenchier (to cut)

Front 680

tremulous

Back 680

trembling with nervousness or timidity

Front 681

travesty

Back 681

literally, a comic imitation of a serious work of art, generally a literary or dramatic work, poking fun at it; in this sense, travesty has about the same meaning as burlesque; by extension, it is used to denote any grotesque or degraded imitation

Front 682

transcend

Back 682

to exceed; surpass, rise above, go beyond; Latin transcendere (to climb over)

Front 683

traduce

Back 683

to slander, malign, vilify, accuse falsely of some base action; Latin traducere (to expose)

Front 684

tortuous

Back 684

describes anythin, like a road or path, that is full of twists and turns; figuratively, it means "devious, not straightforward"; Latin tortuosus (full of turns and windings)

Front 685

torpid

Back 685

slow, sluggish, lacking in vigor, apathetic, dull; Latin torpidus (numb)

Front 686

toady

Back 686

an obsequious flatterer who fawns on someone and caters to his every whim in order to get into or stay in favor; to toady describes the acts of a toady who engages in excessive deference toward another purely from self-interest; From toad in the figurative sense of "object of aversion"

Front 687

titular

Back 687

having the title but without real authority; Latin titulus (title of honor)

Front 688

timorous

Back 688

stronger word for timid, implying a higher degree of fear and uncertainty, and a consciousness of weakness in the face of danger

Front 689

testy

Back 689

impatient, irritable, easily annoyed and quick to show it, equipped with a short fuse; Middle English testif (headstrong)

Front 690

terse

Back 690

concise, brief, short and sweet, as applied to speech or writing; Latin tergere (to wipe, cover, clean)

Front 691

tenuous

Back 691

literally, very thin in either form or consistency, but by extension it has come to mean "of little substance", "thin" in the sense of "not convincing, of little validity"; Latin tenuis (thin, slight)

Front 692

tenet

Back 692

a belief, an opinion, doctrine, position on a given matter, held as true; Latin tenere (to hold)

Front 693

tendentious

Back 693

biased, tending to favor a particular cause or point of view; Latin tendere (to tend, be inclined)

Front 694

temporal

Back 694

like secular, means worldly, or nonclerical; Latin temporalis (temporary - as opposed to eternal)

Front 695

temerity

Back 695

rashness, reckless lack of fear, unthinking boldness, foolhardiness, especially when motivated by an underestimation or disregard of consequences

Front 696

tedious

Back 696

boring; Latin taedium (boredom)

Front 697

tawdry

Back 697

cheap, showy, and gaudy, without real value or taste, while trying to appear elegant

Front 698

tautology

Back 698

the unnecessary use of words that merely repeat a thought and perform no other function, words that add nothing by way of additional information or clarification; Greek tauto (the same) and logos (word)

Front 699

tangible

Back 699

describes anything that can be felt, perceived by touch; extended to mean actual, substantial, definite; Latin tangere (to touch); intangible also has a meaning of vague, elusive

Front 700

tangential

Back 700

deviating or digressing from the main point of subject; it can also mean incidental to describe something that touches only lightly on another subject; Latin tangere (to touch)

Front 701

tactile

Back 701

describes anything pertaining to or using the sense of touch, or anything perceptible to touch, i.e., tangible; Latin tangere

Front 702

taciturn

Back 702

uncommunicative, inclined to keep silent; the oppose of voluble or garrulous; Latin tacere (to be silent)

Front 703

tacit

Back 703

understood without being expressed in so many words; understood, implied (by the circumstances, or by silence); Latin tacere (to be silent)

Front 704

synthesis

Back 704

the combining of elements to create a whole; can apply to the combining of chemical elements to create a compound, and has a special application to the production of a substance that may or may not occur in nature; sythetic is the adj. and means "artificial, imitation" or describes anything made by synthesis

Front 705

syntax

Back 705

the branch of grammar that deals with the arrangement of words in a sentence; Greek syntassein (to put in order, arrange)

Front 706

symbiosis

Back 706

the term for the living together of two different organisms which creates a mutually advantageous situation; adj. is symbiotic; Greek sym (together) and bios (life)

Front 707

sylph

Back 707

a slim, graceful girl; originally applied to an imaginary soulless creature who inhabited the air; adj. is sylphlike

Front 708

sycophant

Back 708

a flatterer, a most unpleasant type, a self-seeking, servile, sniveling hanger-on, a toady

Front 709

sybarite

Back 709

a person who lives mainly for pleasure and luxury, a sensualist or voluptuary - often with the implication that he can afford not to work for a living; derivation from Greek city Sybaris, known for its luxurious way of living; adj. is sybaritic

Front 710

surreptitious

Back 710

stealthy, clandestine; referring to pirated publications, the word means unauthorized; Latin surrepticius (stolen)

Front 711

surmise

Back 711

to suppose, without certain knowledge, to infer on scanty evidence; a belief based on slight evidence, a conclusion with no firm basis

Front 712

surfeit

Back 712

an excess of something, especially of food or drink; sometimes applied to the sensation of disgust and distress caused by such excess; French sufaire (to overdo)

Front 713

supplicate

Back 713

to beg, beseech, petition humbly and prayerfully; Latin supplicare (to kneel, beseech)

Front 714

supine

Back 714

literally, "lying on one's back, face up", the opposite of prone; figuratively, "passive" describing a person who does not react in the face of provocation, threat of danger, etc.; in the latter sense, it is a pejorative implying the behavior is wrong; Latin supinus (lying on one's back; inert)

Front 715

supercillious

Back 715

haughty and contemptuous of supposed inferiors, disdainful, arrogantly superior; Latin supercilium (literally, eyebrow; figuratively, arroagance)

Front 716

sully

Back 716

to stain, blemish; French souiller (to soil)

Front 717

succumb

Back 717

to yield, give way; standing alone, it can mean to die; Latin succumbere (to yield, fall down)

Front 718

succulent

Back 718

literally, means juicy, usually as applied to food and often with the sense of appetizing; figuratively, the word is sometimes applied to a young woman full of sparkle, freshness, and vitality and meant as a compliment; Latin succus (juice)

Front 719

succubus

Back 719

a demon believed to have assumed female form to have sexual intercourse with sleeping men; later applied to any demon or fiend; Latin succuba (prostitute)

Front 720

succor

Back 720

help, aid, usually with the implication that one is coming to rescue somebody from a fairly dangerous or wretched predicament; also a verb to express the giving of such aid; Latin succerrere (to come to the aid of)

Front 721

sub rosa

Back 721

literally, "under the rose"; in Roman times, hanging a rose over the table at a meeting meant the participants were sworn to secrecy; it means "secret(ly), confidential(ly)"; expression applied especially to actions that must be hidden from the public eye

Front 722

sublimate

Back 722

to transform impulses, feelings, etc., leading to forbidden behavior, usually sexual, into socially acceptable activity; the processbeing generally unconscious, and for the purpose of avoiding censure, punishment, or guilty feelings; Latin sublimare (to elevate)

Front 723

stultify

Back 723

to make dull, ineffectual, torpid, especially by long and boring work or a boring environment; Latin stultificare (to make stupid)

Front 724

strident

Back 724

loud and harsh, grating, creaking; strident sounds are harsh and shrill, insistent and discordant; Latin stridere (to make a harsh noise)

Front 725

stolid

Back 725

unemotional, impassive, unexcitable, unresponsive, not easily roused; Latin stolidus (stupid, dull, obtuse)

Front 726

strentorian

Back 726

extremely loud and penetrating; always said of a male voice; Stentor was a Greek herald during the Trojan War

Front 727

squalid

Back 727

miserably dirty and unpleasant, usually from neglect or poverty, wretched, sordid; Latin squalor (dirtiness)

Front 728

spurious

Back 728

counterfeit, not authentic, not the genuine article, phony; Latin spurius (false)

Front 729

sporadic

Back 729

describes anything occuring here and there, now and then; occasional, scattered

Front 730

spleen

Back 730

an important organ of the body, acting on the blood, and once believed to be the seat of melancholy and ill humor; has come to describe spiteful bad temper, and when a person turns in anger upon another

Front 731

spate

Back 731

a sudden outpouring, of overwhelming proportions; literally applied to a huge and unexpected rush of liquid, like a flash flood, but generally used to describe an outpouring of almost anything, like a spate of wrathful words in an argument

Front 732

soupcon

Back 732

French word for "suspicion"; in English it means the very merest dash, trace, or hint of something, usually said of a flavor in cooking;

Front 733

soporific

Back 733

sleep-producing as an adj; as a noun, means "sleep-producing drug"; Latin sopor (sleep)

Front 734

sophomore

Back 734

sophomoric is used to describe the intellectual pretensions and overconfidence of the typical sophomore who thinks he knows a lot more than he actually does; Greek sophos (wise) and moros (foolish)

Front 735

sophism

Back 735

a specious statement or argument made to deceive someone; that that sounds plausible but is actually a clever distortion of the facts

Front 736

sop

Back 736

literally, a piece of bread soaked in a palatable liquid sugar-water or broth, given to a baby, for instance, to pacify it; figuratively, and now more often, covers anything given, such as a trivial bribe or concession, to keep someone or something appeased of quiet for the time being

Front 737

solipsism

Back 737

technically, a term in philosophy covering the thoery that only the self exists or can be demonstrated to exist, because all we can know of the world is what we can get through our own five senses; the adj. is more commonly used, solipsistic to describe "self-centeredness"; Latin solus (alone) and ipse (himself)

Front 738

soliloquy

Back 738

a speech, usually in a play, expressing a person's thoughts alound and addressed to no one in particular; Latin solus and loqui (to speak)

Front 739

zenith

Back 739

the highest point

Front 740

zealot

Back 740

a fanatic, especially a fanatical follower of a radical cause or leader; zeal is the fervor that motivates a zealot, and zealous means "ardent, diligent"; zealot has the greatest force and implies devotion beyond bounds

Front 741

yen

Back 741

a powerful desire or craving, a longing or yearning

Front 742

xenophobia

Back 742

expresses morbid fear and distrust of strangers or foreigners, or of anything new, strange or foreign; the adj. is xenophobic; Greek xenos (stranger, foreign) and phobos (fearing)

Front 743

wry

Back 743

the original, literal meaning of this word is "twisted, distorted," and it is still used that way in the expression wry neck; commonly used to describe an expression of disdainful irony; Greek rhoikos (crooked)

Front 744

wont

Back 744

as a noun, want means "custom, practice"; as a noun, often used negatively; also has an adjective usage; German gewohnt (accustomed)

Front 745

wizened

Back 745

shriveled, full of wrinkles, withered; usually applied to the old and unhealthy; Middle English wisen (to whither)

Front 746

winsome

Back 746

engagingly attractive, charming, usually with the implication of lightheartedness; more likely to be said of a woman than a man; can also be applied to appearances

Front 747

winnow

Back 747

to separate the desirable part from the worthless; can also be used figuratively; Latin ventilare (to fan, wave in the air)

Front 748

welter

Back 748

a condition of turmoil, wild confusion, a jumble, a muddle; as a verb, to welter means to wallow, like pigs in a muddy sty, but can also be used figuratively; German weltern (to roll)

Front 749

waspish

Back 749

ill-tempered, sharp-tongued, ready to snap at others; Latin vespa (wasp)

Front 750

wanton

Back 750

adj., can describe an act committed deliberately, without justification and maliciously; can mean "uncalled-for, willful"; "careless, reckless"; can also mean "loose, lewd, lascivious, sexually without restraint"; as a noun, it can indicate one who acts wantonly, usually a loose woman

Front 751

wag

Back 751

a roguish wit, a person given to droll humor; waggish is the adj.

Front 752

waft

Back 752

to travel or carry lightly through the air

Front 753

votive

Back 753

describes anything given in fulfillment of a pledge or vow; Latin votum (vow)

Front 754

votary

Back 754

a person devoted to a particular religion, cause, ideal, subject, pursuit, etc.; narrowly, it applies to those vowed to the service of God; generally, denotes any ardent adherent; Laton votum (vow)

Front 755

voracious

Back 755

relating to food and eating, "ravenous, craving and consuming great amounts of food"; generally, "insatiable, eager to get and consume (almost anything)"; Latin vorax (gluttonous)

Front 756

voluble

Back 756

talkative, prone to use a great volume of words; the opposite of taciturn; Latin volubilis (rapid, fluent in speech)

Front 757

vociferous

Back 757

clamorous, unrestrained, insistent in expressing one's views; Latin vociferari (to cry aloud)

Front 758

vituperative

Back 758

harsh or abusive, especially in speech or language; vituperative language is the language of vicious and violent denunciation; Latin vituperare (to blame, scold, censure)

Front 759

vitriolic

Back 759

commonly means scathing, savagely hostile, venomously biting; usually used to describe the kind of verbal attack or attacker

Front 760

visceral

Back 760

literally, used in medical references to the internal ograns; figuratively, relating to intuitive, inward feelings, instinctive response, "gut reaction"; Latin viscera (internal organs)

Front 761

visage

Back 761

applied to the face of a human being, usually with reference to its features, expression, or size

Front 762

virulent

Back 762

poisonous, extremely noxious; medically, highly infective; figuratively, violently hostile, bitter, spiteful; Latin virus (poison)

Front 763

virtuoso

Back 763

a person of outstanding skill; a term usually applied in the field of music, but not necessarily so; also used as an adj.; virtuosa for women; Latin virtus (excellence)

Front 764

virago

Back 764

an extremely quarrelsome, loud-mouthed, scolding shrew; Latin virago (a man-like woman, a female warrior) and vir (man)

Front 765

vilify

Back 765

to speak ill of, to defame, with the implication that the charge is unfair; the noun if vilification; Latin vilis (cheap) and facere (to make, do)

Front 766

vignette

Back 766

originally applied to those old photographs or portraits shaded off gradually at the edges, or to decorative designs representing branches and leaves; commonly applied to a brief literary sketch, by itself or as aprt of a larger piece

Front 767

vicissitude

Back 767

almost always heard in the plural, meaning the "ups and downs" of life, the unpredictable changes of fortune

Front 768

vertigo

Back 768

dizziness, giddiness, the feeling that one, or the world about him, is whirling about; figuratively, bewilderment, extreme confusion; intact from Latin where it literally means "whirling around"

Front 769

veritable

Back 769

something not simply true, but absolutely and positvely so, no way to be denied; Latin veritas (truth)

Front 770

verisimilitude

Back 770

expresses the quality of appearing to be true or real or plausible, especially applicable to the representations of reality in fiction or painting; Latin verisimilitudo (probability)

Front 771

veracious

Back 771

when applied to a statement, means "true"; applied to a person, means "truthful"; Latin verax (truthful)

Front 772

venial

Back 772

pardonable, forgivable, not serious; Latin venia (indulgence, forgiveness)

Front 773

venerate

Back 773

to respect deeply, to honor as sacred or noble, to revere; mostly used when describing the feelings inspired by someone or something honored and usually fairly old; Latin venerari (to revere, worship)

Front 774

veneer

Back 774

literally, the term for a thin layer of finer wood laid over cheaper material in furniture, walls, etc.; figuratively, used to describe a superficial show or pretense of a good quality to cover up something disreputable or undesirable

Front 775

venal

Back 775

capable of being bought, susceptible to bribery; Latin venalis (for sale; by extension, venal)

Front 776

vehement

Back 776

impassioned, intensely emotional, violent, extremely forceful

Front 777

variegated

Back 777

norrowly applied to anything marked by a variety of patchwork colors and, more generally, to things that are varied in other ways; synonymos are motley and dappled; Latin variegare (to make something look varied)

Front 778

vapid

Back 778

insipid, flat, dull; noun is vapidity; Latin vapidus (spiritless, flat)

Front 779

vagary

Back 779

unpredicatble, erratic turn of events; almost always used in the plural; Latin vagari (to wander, ramble)

Front 780

vacuous

Back 780

inane, empty-headed, without substance; when applied to a face or look, means expressionless; Latin vacuus (empty)

Front 781

vacillate

Back 781

to waver, hesitate, be indecisive, swing back and forth between feelings or opinions, be unable to make up one's mind; originally meant to sway to and fro; noun is vacillation; Latin vacillare (to totter, sway to and fro)

Front 782

uxorious

Back 782

describes one who obsessively dotes on his wife, and is slavishly submissive to her; Latin uxor (wife)

Front 783

untrammeled

Back 783

not restricted or hampered, often in the expression free and untrammeled; trammel is the noun, which figuratively means "hindrance, impediment" and the verb means to hamper, restrain

Front 784

untenable

Back 784

impossible to defend or maintain; usually applied to theories, arguments, and positions taken; Latin tenere (to hold)

Front 785

unsullied

Back 785

spotless, immaculate; usually found in the expression unsullied reputation, unsullied name

Front 786

unseemly

Back 786

improper, particularly in behavior or manners; especially describing actions socially inappropriate in a specfic situation

Front 787

unpropitious

Back 787

unfavorable; not favorably timed

Front 788

unmitigated

Back 788

absolute, not modified or diminished in any degree; used almost always in the pejorative sense

Front 789

unflagging

Back 789

untiring, persistently determined, not about to quit; to flag means to become weary, slow down from fatigue

Front 790

unfathomable

Back 790

uncomprehensible; something whose meaning you cannot penetrate; fathom means "to measure the depth of";

Front 791

unctuous

Back 791

oily, over-earnest and excessively considerate, overly pious; literally, unctuous describes anything actually oily or greasy, but commonly implies an affectation of sincerity for an ulterior purpose, usually to ingratiate oneself in order to gain some unstated goal; Latin ungere (to anoint, besmear)

Front 792

unconscionable

Back 792

describes actions, attitude, etc. that are unscrupulous, not restrained by one's conscience; excessive, extreme, improper to the point of outrage; always in a bad sense

Front 793

umbrage

Back 793

a feeling of offense, resentment, extreme displeasure and annoyance, usually found in the expression to take umbrage, meaning to take offense; Latin umbrare (to shade)

Front 794

ubiquitous

Back 794

everywhere at the same time (or seems to be); Latin ubique (everywhere)

Front 795

tyro

Back 795

a beginner, novice, especially in some skill or trade; Latin tyro (recruit)

Front 796

turgid

Back 796

literally, swollen, distended; figuratively, pompous, ostentatious, overembellished; particularly applied to language

Front 797

truncate

Back 797

to shorten by cutting off an end or cutting out a part; adj. is truncated which figuratively means incomplete; Latin truncare (to shorten by cutting off, to mutilate)

Front 798

perfidious

Back 798

faithless, disloyal, treacherous; Latin per (through, in the sense of "beyond the limits of") and fides (faith)

Front 799

perfunctory

Back 799

describes anything done routinely, as a duty, without interest or enthusiasm; Latin perfungi (to perform, go through with)

Front 800

peripatetic

Back 800

describes traveling about from place to place; Greek peripatein (to walk about)

Front 801

peripheral

Back 801

describes anything touching upon the incidental rather than the essential aspects of a subject; periphery means "external boundary" and by extension, the superficial aspects of a subject; Greek periphereia (circumference)

Front 802

pernicious

Back 802

very injurious; pernicious disease means fatal disease; Latin perniciosus (destructive, ruinous)

Front 803

peroration

Back 803

the conclusion of a discourse, consisting of a summing up of the main points and a moving final satement urging acceptance of the argument

Front 804

perquisite

Back 804

a fringe benefit, an allowance or other right incidental and additional to your salary; oftened shortened to perk

Front 805

persiflage

Back 805

banter, a flippant, light-hearted way of dealing with a subject; French siffler (to whistle)

Front 806

persona

Back 806

social façade, the "front" he presents to the world at large, as opposed to his real self; in Latin means "mask"

Front 807

perspicacious

Back 807

discerning, gifted with keen insight; Latin perspicax (acute, keen-sighted)

Front 808

peruse

Back 808

to read something through carefully, to go over every word of it; per implies thoroughness

Front 809

pervasive

Back 809

spreading about; Latin pervadere (to go through)

Front 810

petulant

Back 810

unjustifiably impatient, prone to irritation over trifles, easily anoyed; Latin petulantia (impudence)

Front 811

philistine

Back 811

a lowbrow, one who not only lacks culture and is smugly indifferent to it, but tends to attack it; Philistine was the name of an ancient people of Palestine who warred with the Israelites

Front 812

phlegmatic

Back 812

apathetic, sluggish, slow to be aroused or excited; Phlegm, is the thick mucus secreted in the respiratory passages, which was believed to cause apathy and sluggishness

Front 813

piquant

Back 813

pertaining to food, this word conveys the sense of pleasant sharpness in taste; generally, means "ageeably provocative and stimulating, titillating; French piquer (to prick, sting)

Front 814

pithy

Back 814

succinct, meaty, full of substance; pith is the noun, meaning the "heart" or "essential part" of something; a pithy remard goes to the heart of the matter

Front 815

placate

Back 815

to appease, pacify, mollify; Latin placare (to soothe)

Front 816

placebo

Back 816

name given to a substance prescribed by a doctor as though it were medicine, which in fact has no medicinal effect, and is given either for its psychological effect in humoring a patient, or in a controlled experiment to test a real medicine; Latin placere (to please)

Front 817

placid

Back 817

calm, serene, tranquil; Latin placidus (quiet, gentle, still)

Front 818

plaintive

Back 818

expresses sorrow, grief, or melancholy; Latin plangere (to bewail)

Front 819

plangent

Back 819

describes anything that resounds in a mournful way; Latin plangere (to beat the breat, to bewail)

Front 820

platitude

Back 820

a trite remark; applies especially to observations pronounced solemnly, as though they were profound truths newly discovered and being uttered for the first time; French plat (flat)

Front 821

plaudits

Back 821

applause and, by extension, any enthusiastic demonstration of approval; Latin plaudere (to clap, applaud)

Front 822

plethora

Back 822

an overabundance or excess of something, and usually used in a situation when something or other is "too much of a good thing"; Greek plethore (fullness); opposite of dearth

Front 823

poignant

Back 823

moving, in the sense of very touching; intact from French

Front 824

polemic

Back 824

a verbal attack on a doctrine, belief, opinion; polemics is the art of argument or controversy; polemic as an adj. Means "argumentative"; Greek polemikos (pertaining to war)

Front 825

polyglot

Back 825

a person with a command of a number of languages; as an adj., means multilingual; Greek polyglottos (many-tongued)

Front 826

ponderous

Back 826

can apply to anything heavy or unwieldy, or to things like speeches and writings that are labored; Latin pondus (weight)

Front 827

pontificate

Back 827

to speak pompously, hold forth in a dogmatic way; Latin pontificare (to act as a high priest)

Front 828

portend

Back 828

to foreshadow; Latin portendere (to point out, to indicate); portent means omen

Front 829

portmanteau

Back 829

a traveling bag of a special sort; French porter (to carry) and manteau (coat);

Front 830

postulate

Back 830

to assume something to be true; Latin postulare (to claim)

Front 831

potpourri

Back 831

from French meaning hodgepodge

Front 832

potter

Back 832

to keep busy aimlessly

Front 833

pragmatic

Back 833

pragmatic activities deal with situations from a practical point of view; Greek pragmatikos (practical)

Front 834

prate

Back 834

to babble, to talk too much

Front 835

prattle

Back 835

to babble, chatter away; can also be used as a noun

Front 836

precipitate

Back 836

as an adj., can mean many things; headlong; hasty; sudden; rash; as a verb, means to hasten, bring about prematurely

Front 837

precipitous

Back 837

very steep; Latin praeceps (steep)

Front 838

precursor

Back 838

a "predecessor, forerunner" or harbinger; Latin praecursor (forerunner)

Front 839

predilection

Back 839

a liking or preference for something; Latin dilectus (choosing)

Front 840

preen

Back 840

primping, grooming (oneself) or priding, congratulating (oneself); in the animal word, preen is used for grooming

Front 841

prehensile

Back 841

applies to an animal's appendage which is capable of grasping an object; Latin prehendere (to grasp)

Front 842

presage

Back 842

an omen, anything that foreshadows a coming event; as a verb, to foreshadow, portend; Latin praesagire (to presage)

Front 843

prescience

Back 843

foreknowledge; prescient is the adj.; Latin praescire (to know beforehand)

Front 844

presentiment

Back 844

a feeling that something is about to happen, with the implication that the something is bad or evil; a foreboding; Latin praesentire (to feel beforehand)

Front 845

prestidigitator

Back 845

a magician, especially those practicing sleight of hand; figuratively, indicates great or surprising skill; Latin praesto (ready) and digitus (finger)

Front 846

prevaricate

Back 846

to lie or to speak evasively; prevarication is the noun; praevaricari (to walk crookedly)

Front 847

priapic

Back 847

derived from the god Priapus of Greek mythology, describes anyone or anything over-concerned with male sexuality; Priapus was the personification of an erect penis

Front 848

primogeniture

Back 848

a system of inheritance under which the eldest son inherited all real property left by his parents, but if there were no sons, the eldest most closely related male inherited everything; Latin primogenitura (first birth)

Front 849

primordial

Back 849

primeval, first to exist; Latin primordium (first beginning, origin)

Front 850

privation

Back 850

lacking the necessities of life; Latin privatio (taking away)

Front 851

privy

Back 851

to participate in the knowledge of something kept secret from the rest; Latin privatus (private)

Front 852

probity

Back 852

honesty, integrity; Latin probitas (uprightness, honesty)

Front 853

proclivity

Back 853

an inclination, tendency or proneness to something; Latin proclivitas (literally, slope; by extension, inclination)

Front 854

procreate

Back 854

to beget (offspring), to generate; procreation is the noun; procreant is the adj. Describing the ability or tendency to procreate; Latin procreare (to beget)

Front 855

prodigal

Back 855

as an adj, has several meanings; recklessly extravagant, wasteful; lavish; profuse, abundant; as a noun, it means "one who is prodigal"; Latin prodigus (profuse, extravagant)

Front 856

prodigious

Back 856

"enormous" or "amazing, marvelous"; Latin prodigiosus (unnatural; strange; wonderfull)

Front 857

prodigy

Back 857

prodigy can mean an amazing example or to describe a person (usually a young person) endowed with an extraordinary gift

Front 858

profane

Back 858

as a verb, means to defile; as an adj., profane can mean either "secular" or "blasphemous, irreverent"; Latin pro (in front or outside) and fanum (temple)

Front 859

profligate

Back 859

as an adj. Means either "utterly immoral" or "recklessly extravagant"; applied to cases of shameless corruption and vice or to wild and reckless spending; as a noun, used to identify a person with such characteristics

Front 860

prognosis

Back 860

forecast, prediction; most often used in medicine; Greek prognoskein (to know ahead of time)

Front 861

prognosticate

Back 861

to forecast; Greek prognoskein

Front 862

proliferate

Back 862

to multiply, spread; literally, to grow (as in budding or cell division) by multiplication of parts; figuratively, to expand; Latin prolifer (bearing young)

Front 863

prolific

Back 863

describes anyone or anything producing great quantitites

Front 864

prolix

Back 864

wordy and tedious, long-winded; Latin prolixus (widely extended)

Front 865

prone

Back 865

literally, "lying face downward" (the opposite of supine); figuratively, "inclined, disposed"; Latin pronus (inclined forward)

Front 866

propensity

Back 866

an inclination or tendency to something; he word is used, for the most part, in connection with the less desirable traits; Latin propensio (inclination)

Front 867

prophylactic

Back 867

as an adj., means preventive, and is used to describe anything that prevents disease, like a medication; as a noun applies generally to any preventive, but has a special use as a synonym for condom; Greek prophylaktikos (guarding in advance)

Front 868

propinquity

Back 868

nearness, whether in space or time; Latin propinquus (near)

Front 869

propitiate

Back 869

to make favorable, to appease; Latin propitaire (to soothe, appease)

Front 870

propitious

Back 870

favorable to something; Latin propitius (favorable)

Front 871

proprietary

Back 871

generally, this adj. Has to do with owndership; a special use is to describe articles made and sold by a particular company, usually under a patent or a trademark or both, such as proprietary medicines; In this use, it is the opposite of generic; Latin proprietas (property, ownership)

Front 872

prosaic

Back 872

commonplace; describes people and things that are dull, uninspired, and uninspiring, humdrum, run of the mill, as opposed to poetry, a usage based on the assumption that prose, in general, is less inspired or romantic that poetry; Latin prosus (straightforward)

Front 873

proselytize

Back 873

to convert (someone) to a new religion, political party, school of thought, etc.; in this sense, to recruit; a person so recruited is a proselyte; Greek proselytos (newcomer)

Front 874

protean

Back 874

literally, describes one who is capable of quickly assuming many different forms; figuratively, versatile; Proteus, in ancient Greek legends, was herdsman to the god Neptune; he was an old prophet, able to take on different shapes at will; hence, protean means "ever-changing, variable, versatile"

Front 875

protracted

Back 875

to protract is to prolong, extend; a protracted meeting is one that takes a long time; protracted implies extensive prolongation; Latin protrahere (to drag on, protract)

Front 876

proviso

Back 876

a reservation, like a clause (usually in a written document, such as a contract or a warranty) that establishes a limiting condition; Latin providere (to see beforehand, to provide for)

Front 877

prowess

Back 877

exceptional ability or great daring; on the battlefield, implies gallantry and daring; the common use is to denote great ability

Front 878

prurient

Back 878

describes those who have, or are easily susceptible to, lewd thoughts; prurience is the noun; Latin prurire (to itch, long for, be lustful)

Front 879

puckish

Back 879

impish, mischievous, whimsical; Icelandic puki (mischievous demon)

Front 880

puerile

Back 880

a pejorative adj. Describing childishness, immatureness, and silliness; Latin puerilis (boyish, childish, silly) and puer (boy)

Front 881

pugnacious

Back 881

belligerent, always ready to fight, quarrelsome; Latin pugnus (fist)

Front 882

pulchritude

Back 882

beauty; often found in the expression feminine pulchritude; Latin pulcher (beautiful)

Front 883

pummel

Back 883

to beat someone with your fists

Front 884

punctilious

Back 884

extremely strict in observing all the formalities and generally attentive and and conscientious; Spanish punto (point) and illo (ending indicating small)

Front 885

pundit

Back 885

name given to an expert, an authority on a subject, especially one given to holding forth and making authoritative pronouncements; often used in a semi-jocular and semi-pejorative sense; Hindi pandit (learned, or learned man)

Front 886

purgative

Back 886

as an adj., means cleansing, especially of the bowels; as a noun, a cathartic or laxative, or an medicine that has the effect; Latin purus (clean, pure)

Front 887

purloin

Back 887

to steal or filch; purloin implies misappropriation, a breach of trust; Latin pro and longe (a long way off)

Front 888

pusillanimous

Back 888

cowardly, timid, afraid of one's own shadow; Latin pusillus (tiny, puny) and animus (spirit)

Front 889

putative

Back 889

"thought to be, generally regarded as, supposed"; Latin putare (to think)

Front 890

quaff

Back 890

to drink heartily, in long drafts (like those virile men in the beer commercials); quaff implies that what is quaffed is intoxicating liquor

Front 891

quagmire

Back 891

literally, a bog or marsh; figuratively, any situation from which it is difficult to extricate oneself; Icelandic quag (quake) and myrr (marsh)

Front 892

quail

Back 892

to flinch or to cower

Front 893

qualm

Back 893

either a "pang of conscience" or a "misgiving"; in the first sense, often used in the plural

Front 894

quandary

Back 894

dilemma; an apt way to describe any state of perplexity

Front 895

quarry

Back 895

literally, describes a hunted animal, fish, flesh, or fowl; figuratively, signifies anything hunted; Latin corium (hide)

Front 896

quash

Back 896

in the legal sense, means to annul; in a more general sense, to quash is to suppress or quell; Latin quassare (to shatter)

Front 897

quaver

Back 897

three distinct meanings; to tremble; to sing or speak tremulously; to trill

Front 898

quay

Back 898

formerly spelled "key" and is still pronounced that way; influenced by the French quai, which means wharf; a quay is a strengthened bank or man-made stretch of stone along a waterway for the loading and unloading of ships

Front 899

quell

Back 899

means either "to suppress" or "to allay, to quiet"; Old English cwellen (to kill)

Front 900

querulous

Back 900

complaining, grumbling; Latin querulus which also gave rise to quarrel

Front 901

query

Back 901

as a noun, can mean either "question" or "mental reservation"; as a verb, can mean "to inquire about" or "to raise a doubt or question about; to challenge as obscure or doubtful" or "to put questions to, to question directly"; Latin quaerere (to seek, to ask)

Front 902

queue

Back 902

as a noun, denotes a line of people waiting to take their turn; to queue is to form a line while waiting turn; Latin coda (tail)

Front 903

quiescent

Back 903

at rest, inactive; Latin quiescere (to rest)

Front 904

quintessence

Back 904

denotes either "the essential part" of something or its "embodiment"

Front 905

quixotic

Back 905

impractical, visionary; Don Quixote was the super-chivalrous and idealistic but totally impractical hero of a novel by Miguel de Cervantes

Front 906

quizzical

Back 906

indicating gentle amusement; somewhat puzzling, marked by a bantering air and a degree of mockery; perhaps derisively questioning; usually whimsical

Front 907

raconteur

Back 907

a skilled teller of anedotes, an interesting storyteller; if a female, the word is raconteuse; intact from French where it means "to narrate"

Front 908

raffish

Back 908

an unpleasant word, describing people who are low-class, crude, rakish, disreputable; Middle English rif and raf (things of little value)

Front 909

rake

Back 909

a dissolute person; the perfect rake drinks, gambles, whores, and lives off friends; the adj. Rakish is much more innocent, and means only "dashing" or "jaunty"; Middle English rakel (rash, coarse)

Front 910

rambunctious

Back 910

"extremely boisterous, hard to manage" or "noisy and overactive"; Icelandic ram (very) and bumptious (irritatingly self-assertive)

Front 911

rancor

Back 911

bitter, rankling resentment and ill will; Latin rancere (to be rancid, to stink)

Front 912

rankle

Back 912

to cause lasting, bitter resentment and annoyance; Middle English ranclen (to fester)

Front 913

rapacious

Back 913

greedy, grasping, ready to seize whatever one can; Latin rapere (to seize, snatch) which also gave us rape

Front 914

rapt

Back 914

absorbed and enraptured; Latin rapere

Front 915

recalcitrant

Back 915

resisting authority and hard to deal with or unmanageable; Latin recalcitrare (of a horse - to kick back)

Front 916

recant

Back 916

to disavow something; Latin recantare (to recall, recant)

Front 917

recapitulate

Back 917

to summarize; the noun is recapitulation; Latin capitulatim (briefly) and recapitulare (to summarize)

Front 918

recidivism

Back 918

repeated, habitual backsliding, relapse, especially into criminal, antisocial or other undesirable behavior; the unfortunate person so affected is known as a "recidivist"; that word also serves as an adj.; Latin recidere (to fall back)

Front 919

reclusive

Back 919

prefering to live alone, avoiding social contact; a recluse is a "reclusive person, a loner"; Latin reclusus (shut up) and cludere (to shut)

Front 920

recondite

Back 920

hard to understand, profound, requiring high intelligence to grasph; Latin recondere (to hide)

Front 921

reconnoiter

Back 921

a type of military maneuver, to inspect the terrain and get as much information as possible about the strength, position, etc. of enemy forces; generally, expresses the idea of exploring any situation where advance information might be useful; Latin recognoscere (to inspect, investigate)

Front 922

rectify

Back 922

to correct something, to put something right; Latin rectus (correct)

Front 923

rectitude

Back 923

righteousness, the strict observance of integrity and adherence to a high moral codeLatin rectus (straight)

Front 924

redolent

Back 924

"smelling of", when the adj. Is followed by a desciption of the source of the odor, or "sweet-smelling" when the fragrance is self-evident; Latin redolere (to emit an odor, smell of)

Front 925

redoubtable

Back 925

formidable, especially with reference to an adversary; Midde French redouter (to fear)

Front 926

redress

Back 926

the setting right of something that is wrong; as a verb to redress is to right a wrong; Middle English, drecier (to straighten)

Front 927

refractory

Back 927

difficult or impossible to manage, stubbornly resistant to authority; Latin refractarius (stubborn); recalcitrant is a synonym

Front 928

refulgent

Back 928

radiant, shining, glowing; Latin refulgere (to shine brightly)

Front 929

regale

Back 929

to entertain someone lavishly, or to amuse or delight him, depending on the context; Old French regale (feast)

Front 930

rejoinder

Back 930

an answer to a reply

Front 931

remand

Back 931

general meanins is "to order back"; almost exclusively found in legal usage; used most frequently when a prisoner or suspect is sent back into detention; Latin remandare (to repeat a command)

Front 932

remonstrate

Back 932

to plead in protest against something, presenting arguments in opposition to something; remonstration is the noun, meaning protest, and is often found in the plural; Latin monstrare (to show)

Front 933

renegade

Back 933

one who deserts his own party, group, country, etc. to join another, usually the enemy or a rival; synonymous with turncoat or traitor; with religion, equivalent to apostate; Latin negare (to deny)

Front 934

renege

Back 934

generally, means "ot break a promise, to go back on one's word"; used in card games; Latin negare (to deny)

Front 935

repartee

Back 935

conversation full of fast, witty replies, quick comebacks; French repartie (retort)

Front 936

repertoire

Back 936

applies to the collectoin or list of works, dramatic, operatic, musical, etc., which a company or performer can perform and which make up the artist's or company's "stock in trade"

Front 937

repertory

Back 937

sometimes used in place of repertoire, but best to be confined to describe theatrical performances of different plays, for relatively short periods, performed in sequence by the same company, known as "repertory theater," performed by a "repertory company"; occasionally used to mean "supple" or "store"

Front 938

replete

Back 938

anything replete with something is full ot it; usually followed by "with"; by itself, replete often means "stuffed full of food and drink"; in the proper context, the word simply means "complete"; Latin replere (to fill)

Front 939

reprehensible

Back 939

blameworthy, deserving of censure; Latin reprehendere (to censure, reprove)

Front 940

reprobate

Back 940

an unprincipled person; seldom used as an adj.; Latin reprobare (to reprove)

Front 941

reprove

Back 941

to scold someone, not necessarily severely; the very is used especially when the scolding is done with a view to correcting a fault of behavior and is close in meaning to "rebuke"; Latin reprobare

Front 942

resolute

Back 942

unshakable determination, firm, determined, steadfast; latin resolvere (to resolve)

Front 943

reticent

Back 943

reserved, inclined to keep quiet; reticence is the noun; Latin tacere (to be silent)

Front 944

retrograde

Back 944

"with a reverse or backward motion", sometimes "in inverse order"; Latin retrogradus (going back)

Front 945

retrogress

Back 945

"to go backward"; usually used in the abstract sense to indicate moving back to a earlier and less desirable state

Front 946

retrospective

Back 946

"looking back into the past"; Latin retro (backward) and specere (to look)

Front 947

rhetoric

Back 947

the art of using language effectively; it can also mean the art of oratory; retorical is the adj. With many meanings; "mainly for effect"; "bombastic"; also a meaning in the phrase "rhetorical question"

Front 948

ribald

Back 948

applies to persons given to vulgar or indecent humor, or to humor of that sort itself; ribaldry means "ribald speech or humor"; Middle English ribaud (lewd person)

Front 949

rife

Back 949

present in abundance, in widespread existence; the word expresses abundance, usually not by prior arrangement of those affected; Icelandic rifr (abundant)

Front 950

rigors

Back 950

has a perfectly good singular, rigor, meaning "severity, strictness", but is commonly used in the plural to describe the harshness or severity of weather or climate, or of a particular way of life or activity; the adj. Rigorous can be applied in several ways: "harsh, severe"; "accurate, precise"; referring to climate or weather, it means "extremely severe, harsh, inclement"; Latin rigor (literally, stiffness)

Front 951

riposte

Back 951

a swift, sharp reply, especially to a challenging or insulting question; Italian risposta (response) and Latin respondere (to answer)

Front 952

risible

Back 952

generally, describes anything pertaining to laughter; its usual meaning is "laughable" or more strongly, "ludicrous"; Latin ridere (to laugh)

Front 953

roué

Back 953

an immoral, dissolute man, a debauchee or rake, especially one who has seduced many women and dropped them for new conquests; French rouer (to break on the wheel)

Front 954

rubicund

Back 954

ruddy, usually found in the description of a complexion, almost always a male's

Front 955

rue

Back 955

to regret deeply, to wish something hadn't happened and could be undone; German reuen (to regret)

Front 956

ruminate

Back 956

to think something over, slowly and thoroughly; to chew over a thought or problem, with concentrated attention, to ponder; literally, to ruminate is to "chew the cud"; animals that do this are called ruminants; Latin rumen (first stomach of multi-stomached animals)

Front 957

sacrosanct

Back 957

extremely sacred, inviolable; literally, this word would be applied to temples, churches, altars, etc. but its most frequent use is figurative, in a nonreligious sense; Latin sacrosanctus (sacred, inviolable; literally, made sacred by a holy rite)

Front 958

sagacity

Back 958

keen judgment, farseeing wisdom; Latin sagax (keen, acute)

Front 959

salacious

Back 959

lewd, not merely erotic; describes anything obscene, whether conduct or writing, painting, etc.; Latin salax (lustful) and salire (to jump)

Front 960

salient

Back 960

outstanding, conspicuous; leaping to the eye and therefore important, noticeable; Latin salire (to spring, leap)

Front 961

salubrious

Back 961

health-giving, healthful, wholesom; Latin salubris (healthful)

Front 962

salutary

Back 962

healthful, or generally beneficial; Latin salutaris (healthful)

Front 963

salvo

Back 963

a burst of gunfire, all at once or in a rapid succession; a load of bombs dropped simultaneously or one after the other; a broadside, especially in sea battles, from many guns; sometimes, a military salute from a number of guns; metaphorically, the use of the word has been extended to cover a burst of applause or laughter; Latin salve (hail!)

Front 964

sanctify

Back 964

to render something sacred or holy, to consecrate something; Latin sanctificare (to make holy)

Front 965

sanctimonius

Back 965

hypocritically pious, "holier than thou"; a pejorative to describe a person who makes a great show of being super-religious and exceedingly righteous; Latin sanctimonia (holiness)

Front 966

sang-froid

Back 966

French for "cold blood"; it signifies a cool head, calm and composure in a situation where most people would lose theirs

Front 967

sanguine

Back 967

optimistic, confidently hopeful; Latin sanguineus (bloody); originally meant "full of blood", therefore ruddy-complexioned, thus (apparently) showing good humor

Front 968

sapient

Back 968

wise; sapience means wisdom; both are often used ironically; Latin sapientia (wisdom)

Front 969

sardonic

Back 969

sneeringly sarcastic, with overtones of scorn or bitter mockery; Greek sardinios (a plant which was alleged to cause spasms of laughter that were eventually fatal)

Front 970

sartorial

Back 970

describes anything pertaining to clothing, dress, style (particularly in men's attire); Latin sartor (tailor)

Front 971

saturnine

Back 971

gloomy, taciturn, and sluggish; originally a astrological term, applied to those born under the sign of Saturn, and therefore, according to old superstition, taciturn, gloomy, and forbidding

Front 972

savoir-faire

Back 972

tact, polish, wide knowledge of the ways of the world, and of how to behave in any company and in any situation; French phrase meaning "to know how to do/act"

Front 973

savor

Back 973

as a noun, can mean "taste" or "smell", nearly always in the favorable sense; metaphorically, can mean any particular quality, especially the power to arouse interest or cause enjoyment; as a verb, savor can mean "to enjoy the taste or smell of (something)" or "to taste or smell like (something)"; can be applied metaphorically to things that have no taste or odor; savory is the adj. and is always complimentary; Latin sapor (taste)

Front 974

saw

Back 974

a well known saying or proverb, a wise adage; German sage (legend, fable) and Icelandic saga

Front 975

scabrous

Back 975

variety of meanings: "having a rough surface"; "knotty, difficult, tricky"'; "risqué, obscene"; "of depraved manners, behaving indecently"; Latin scabere (to scratch)

Front 976

schism

Back 976

a split or division into opposing factions caused by disagreement on matters of doctrine or policy; relates more to religious bodies but can be used generally; can also mean the parties created as a result of such a split, but is not commonly used that way; Greek schizein (to cut, to cleave)

Front 977

scion

Back 977

a descendant, usually a son of a noble or "important" family; rarely applied to a female; in botany, the word is used to describe a cutting from a plant, suitable for use in growing a new one

Front 978

score

Back 978

multiple meanings: as a noun, the tally of a game; twenty of something; in music, a written or printed musical composition; can describe a significant success that gains some great material reward; often used figuratively to describe an experienced person or in the expression "to settle old scores"; as a verb, to make a point in a game; to win a point in an argument; to make a shallow cut in a material; to raise welts by whipping; to make superficial cuts, as on meat; to criticize cruelly; to write out the individual instrumental parts of a musical composition

Front 979

scourge

Back 979

literally, a whip used for severe punishment; commonly used to describe a person of thing considered to be a great affliction or source of heavy punishment or damage; as a verb, "to flog with a whip"; figuratively, it means "to afflict, punish, or criticize severely"; Latin excoriare (to flay)

Front 980

scurrilous

Back 980

a scurrilous attack (the usual phrase) is one that is nastily, grossly insulting and abusive; can imply an unwarranted attack; can also mean "coarsely humorous"; Latin scurrilis (mocking, jesting)

Front 981

scuttle

Back 981

as a noun, describes a container for coal kept in a room, and its verb meaning "to scurry"; primarily meant to describe a small hatch in the deck, side, or bottom of a boat; and the verb means to "open the seacocks of a vessel in order to sink it"; figuratively, means "to destroy", deliberately and completely, in a fairly short time

Front 982

seamy

Back 982

literally, means "showing the seams", like the inside of a garment; therefore rough and not meant to be seen; now heard only in the figurative sense of "disagreeable" or "sordid"

Front 983

secular

Back 983

can mean either "worldy" (as opposed to spiritual) or "lay" (in the sense of nonclerical); synonymous with temporal; Latin saeculum (literally, one generation)

Front 984

seminal

Back 984

literally and technically, seminal means "containing, or pertaining to, semen"; in botany, it means "pertaining to seed"; figuratively, used to mean "original", with the clear implication that whatever is so described is likely to give rise to future growth and development - nearly always in a favorable way; Latin semen (seed)

Front 985

sententious

Back 985

too fond of putting on a show of wisdom, especially in the form of sage maxims and truisms, and usually in a smug and righteous manner; Latin sententia (way of thinking, opinion)

Front 986

sentient

Back 986

capable of perceiving and feeling by means of the senses; Latin sentire (to feel)

Front 987

septic

Back 987

anything that causes or has to do with infection by microorganisms; a septic tank is full of sewage, where bacteria decomposes it; Greek septos (rotted)

Front 988

sequel

Back 988

a follow-up of either an event, an action, or a work of literature, film, etc.; can also be used as well in the sense of "consequence, result"; Latin sequi (to follow)

Front 989

sequester

Back 989

to remove and keep separate; most commonly a matter of legal usage; Latin sequestare (to set aside, for safekeeping)

Front 990

serendipity

Back 990

the making of a pleasant discovery by accident, the good luck of finding something agreeable that you weren't looking for, especially when you were looking for something else; the adj. Is serendipitious

Front 991

serpentine

Back 991

curved and sinuous, shaped like a snake; Latin serpentinus (snakelike)

Front 992

servile

Back 992

slavish, submissive, cringing; Latin servus (slave)

Front 993

shibboleth

Back 993

originally a peculiarity of speech or a custom or usage distinctive or a particular group, is a catchword or slogan characteristic of a party or sect; it has come to mean any such slogan empty of real meaning, an outworn bit of dogma; the word has a general pejorative meaning

Front 994

sibilant

Back 994

hissing; the word is nearly always used to describe a sound uttered in human speech, like the letter s; Latin sibilare (to hiss, whistle)

Front 995

simile

Back 995

a figure of speech that compares two things using the word like or as; Latin similis (like, similar)

Front 996

simulate

Back 996

to simulate is to pretend, to make a showing of (something); Latin simulare (to pretend)

Front 997

sinecure

Back 997

a job or appointment requiring little or no actual work, though paying a salary or other compensation (especially if it pays well); Latin sine cura (without care)

Front 998

sinuous

Back 998

very curved, winding, undulating; Latin sinus (curve)

Front 999

skeptic, sceptic

Back 999

originally, this word was the name of a member of an ancient Greek philosophical school that denied that man could ever know anything with certainty; now, it applies to anyone who makes a practice of doubting and insists on examining all beliefs, including widely accepted ones

Front 1000

skittish

Back 1000

frisky, extremely lively, with the implication of nervous readiness to be triggered into action; the word is associated with horses, and in that connection implies that the animal is easily startled

Front 1001

slake

Back 1001

to quench, and the most common use of the word is in the expression "to slake one's thirst"; generally used to mean "to allay" by doing something that satisfies the situation

Front 1002

slew

Back 1002

as a noun, a lot of something, an abundance, "oceans"; as a verb, slew is a variant of the more common form slue; Irish sluagh (army, multitude)

Front 1003

slue

Back 1003

"to swing around", usually on one's own axis, with the implication that the swinging is done in haste, probably in resposne to an urgent need

Front 1004

smug

Back 1004

self-satisfied, especially to a degree or in a manner that irritates others

Front 1005

sobriquet

Back 1005

an assumed name or a nickname; also applies to and is more commonly understood as a nickname that sticks to a celebrity, with or without his contrivance

Front 1006

sodden

Back 1006

describes the condition of utter saturation, the ultimate degree of wetness, usually with unpleasant implications

Front 1007

solecism

Back 1007

term for any erroneous or ignorant use of words, whether the error relates to grammar, usage, or pronunciation; by extension, can include any breach of good manners; Soloi was a place where they spoke bad Greek