Beyond The Hit Parade

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alloy

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v. to commingle; to debase by mixing with something inferior; unalloyed means pure

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appropriate

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v. to take for one's own use, confiscate

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arrest, arresting

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v. adj. to suspend; to engage; holding one's attention: as in arrested adolescence, an arresting portrait

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august

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adj. majestic, venerable

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bent

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n. leaning, inclination, proclivity, tendency: He had a naturally artistic bend.

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broach

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v. bring up, announce, begin to talk about

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brook

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v. to tolerate, endure, countenance

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cardinal

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adj. major, as in cardinal sin

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chauvinist

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n. a blindly devoted patriot

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color

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v. to change as if by dyeing, i.e. to distort, gloss or affect (usually the first) Yellow journalism colored the truth.

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consequential

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adj. pompous, self-important (primary definitions are: logically following; important)

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damp

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v. to diminish the intensity or check the vibration of a sound

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die

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n. a tool used for shaping, as in a tool-and-die shop

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essay

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v. to test or try; attempt, experiment; The newly born fawn essayed a few wobbly steps.

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exact

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v. to demand, call for, require, take: Even a victorious war exacts a heavy price.

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fell

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v. to cause to fall by striking: The lumberjacks arrived and felled many trees.

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fell

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adj. inhumanly cruel: Fell beasts surrounded the explorers.

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flag

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v. to sag or droop, to become spiritless, to decline: Think of a flag on a windless day, as in her flagging spirits.

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flip

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adj. sarcastic, impertinent, as in flippant: a flip remark

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ford

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v. to wade across the shallow part of a river or a stream

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grouse

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v. to complain or grumble

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guy

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n.v. a rope, cord, or cable attached to something as a brace or guide; to steady or reinforce using a guy: Think guide.

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intimate

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v. to imply, suggest, or insinuate: Are you intimating that I cannot be trusted?

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list

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v. to tilt or lean to one side: The ship's broken mast listed helplessly in the wind.

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lumber

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v. to move heavily and clumsily: Lumbering giants on land, walruses are actually graceful swimmers.

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meeting

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adj. fitting, proper: It is altogether meet that Jackie Robinson is in the baseball hall of fame.

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milk

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v. to exploit, to squeeze every last ounce of: I milked the position for all it was worth.

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mince

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v. pronounce or speak affectedly, euphemize, speak too carefully: Don't mince words. Also, to take tiny steps, tiptoe

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nice

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adj. exacting, fastidious, extremely precise: He made a nice distinction between the two cases.

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obtain

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adj. to be established, accepted, or customary: Those standards no longer obtain.

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occult

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adj. hidden, concealed, beyond comprehension

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pedestrian

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adj. commonplace, trite, unremarkable, quotidian

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pied

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adj. multicolored, usually in blotches: The Pied Piper of Hamlin was so called because of his multicolored coat.

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pine

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v. to lose vigor (as through grief); to yearn

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plastic

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adj. moldable, pliable, not rigid

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pluck

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n. courage, spunk, fortitude: Churchill's speeches inspired the pluck of his countrymen during the war.

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prize

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v. to pry, to process or force with a lever; something taken by force, spoils: The information was prized from him.

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rail

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v. n. torn, past of rend: He rent his garments; an opening or tear caused by such: a large rent in the fabric

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quail

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v. to lose courage, turn frightened

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qualify

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v. to limit: Let me qualify that statement.

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sap

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n. a fool or a nitwit: Don't be a sap!

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scurvy

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adj. contemptible, despicable: he was a scurvy old reprobate.

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singular

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adj. exceptional, usual, odd: He was singularly well-suited for the job.

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stand

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n. a group of trees

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steep

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v. to saturate or completely soak, as in to let a tea bag steep: She was steeped in esoteric knowledge.

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strut

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n. the supporting structural cross-part of a wing

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table

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v. to remove (as a parliamentary motion) from consideration: They tabled the motion and will consider it again later.

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tender

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v. to proffer or offer: He tendered his resignation.

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waffle

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v. to equivocate; to change on'es position: His detractors say that the President waffles too much; he can never make up his mind.

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wag

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n. wit, joker: Groucho Marx was a well-known wag.

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abjure

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v. to renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to avoid

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adumbrate

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v. to foreshadow vaguely or intimate; to suggest or outline sketchily; to obscure or overshadow

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anathema

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n. a solemn or ecclesiastical (religious) curse; accursed or thoroughly loathed person or thing

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anodyne

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adj. n. soothing, something that assuages or allays pain or comforts

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apogee

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n. farthest or highest point; culmination; zenith

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apostate

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n. one who abandons long-held religious or political convictions

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apotheosis

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n. deification, glorification to godliness, an exalted example, a model of excellence or perfection

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asperity

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n. severity, rigor; roughness, harshness, acrimony, irritability

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asseverate

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v. to aver, allege, assert

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assiduous

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adj. diligent, hard-working, sedulous

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augury

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n. omen, portent

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bellicose

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adj. belligerent, pugnacious, warlike

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calumniate

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v. to slander, make a false accusation; calumny means slander, aspersion

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captious

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adj. disposed to point out trivial faults, calculated to confuse or entrap in argument

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cavil

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v. to find fault without good reason

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celerity

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n. speed, alacrity; think accelerate

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chimera

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n. an illusion; originally, ann imaginary fire-breathing she-monster

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contumacious

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adj. insubordinate, rebellious; contumely means insult, scorn, aspersion

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debacle

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n. rout, fiasco, complete failure: My first attempt at a souffle was a total debacle.

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denouncement

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n. an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot

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descry

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v. to discriminate or discern

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desuetude

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n. disuse: After years of desuetude, my French skills were finally put to use.

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desultory

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adj. random; aimless; marked by a lack of plan or purpose: Her desultory performance impressed no one.

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diaphanous

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adj. transparent, gauzy

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diffident

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adj. reserved, shy, unassuming; lacking in self-confidence: Surprisingly, the CEp of the corporation had been a diffident youth.

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dirge

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n. a song of grief or lamentation: We listened to the slow, funeral dirge.

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encomium

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n. glowing and enthusiastic praise; panegyric, tribute, eulogy

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eschew

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v. to shun or avoid: She chose to eschew the movie theater, preferring to watch DVD at home.

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excoriate

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v. to censure scathingly, to upbraid

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execrate

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v. denounce, feel loathing for, curse, declare to be evil

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exegesis

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n. critical examination, explication

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expiate

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v. to atone or make amends for: Pia Zadora has expiated her movie career by good works and charity.

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extirpate

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v. to destroy, exterminate, cut out, exscind

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fatuous

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adj. silly, inanely foolish: I would ignore such a fatuous comment.

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fractious

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adj. quarrelsome, rebellious, unruly, refractory, irritable

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gainsay

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v. to deny, dispute, contradict, oppose

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heterodox

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adj. unorthodox, heretical, iconoclastic

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imbroglio

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n. difficult or embarrassing situation

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indefatigable

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adj. not easily exhaustible; tireless, dogged

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ineluctable

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adj. certain, inevitable

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inimitable

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adj. one of a knd, peerless

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insouciant

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adj. unconcerned, carefree, heedless

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inveterate

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adj. deep rooted, ingrained, habitual

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jejune

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adj. vapid, uninteresting, nugatory; childish, immature, puerile

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lubricious

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adj. lewd, wanton, greasy, slippery

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mendicant

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n. a beggar, supplicant

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meretricious

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adj. cheap, gaudy, tawdry, flashy, showy; attracting by false show

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minatory

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adj. menacing, threatening (reminds you of the Minotaur, a threatening creature indeed...)

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nadir

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n. low point, perigee

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nonplussed

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adj. baffled, bewildered, at a loss for what to do or think

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obstreperous

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adj. noisily and stubbornly defiant, aggressively boisterous

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ossified

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adj. tending to become more rigid, conventional, sterile, and reactionary with age; literally, turned into bone

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palliate

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v. to make something seem less serious, to gloss over, to make less severe or intense

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panegyric

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n. formal praise, eulogy, encomium; panegyrical means expressing elaborate praise

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parsimonious

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adj. cheap, miserly: A parsimonious person parses out his money with great difficulty.

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pellucid

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adj. transparent, easy to understand, limpid

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peroration

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n. the concluding part of a speech; flowery, rhetorical speech

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plangent

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adj. pounding, thundering, resounding

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prolix

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冗长 adj. long-winded, verbose; prolixity means verbosity: Michael Gorbachev is famous for his prolixity.

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propitiate

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和解 安抚 v. to appease; to conciliate; propitious means auspicious, favorable

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puerile

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adj. childish, immature, jejune, nugatory

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puissance

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n. power, strength; puissant means powerful, strong: The senator delivered a puissant speech to the convention.

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pusillanimous

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adj. cowardly, craven

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remonstrate

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v. to protest, object

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sagacious

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adj. having sound judgement; perspective, wise; like a sage

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salacious

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adj. lustful, lascivious, bawdy

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salutary

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adj. remedial, wholesome, causing improvement

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sanguine

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adj. cheerful, confident, optimistic

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saturnine

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adj. gloomy, dark, sullen, morose

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sententious

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adj. aphoristic or moralistic; epigrammatic; tending to moralize excessively

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stygian

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adj. gloomy, dark

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sycophant

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奴才 n. toady, servile, self-seeking flatterer; parasite

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tendentious

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adj. biased; showing marked tendencies

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timorous

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adj. timid, fearful, diffident

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tyro

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n. novice, greenhorn, rank amateur

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vitiate

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v. to corrupt, debase, spoil, make ineffective

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voluble

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adj. fluent, verbal, having easy use of spoken language