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100 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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malingerer
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v. to feign illness or other incapacity in order to avoid duty or work
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misanthrope
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n. one who hates or mistrusts mankind
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neophyte
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n. a recent convert to a belief
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occlude
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v. to cause to become closed; obstruct; prevent passage
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penury
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n. extreme want or poverty; destitute
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phlegmatic
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adj. having or suggesting calm; unemotional
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plasticity
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adj. capable of being shaped or formed
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propriety
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n. the quality of being proper
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recondite
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adj. not easily understood; abstruse
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sedulous
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adj. diligent
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soporific
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adj. inducing sleep; drowsy
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stolid
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adj. revealing little emotion or sensibility
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striated
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v./adj. to mark with striae; grooved or ridged
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viscous
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adj. having reliatvely high resistance to flow; sticky
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vituperative
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adj. marked by harshly abusive censure
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welter
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n. a confused mass; a jumble
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woolgathering
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n. indulgence in idle daydreaming
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bete noire
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n. something or someone particularly detested or avoided; a bugbear
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polyglot
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adj. containing or made of several languages; one who speaks in several languages
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mercurial
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adj. (1) changeable in temperament or mood; volatile (2) having the qualities of shrewdness, eloquence or thievishness
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gesticulate
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intr v. to make gestures or motions, especially while speaking or instead of speaking; to express by gesture
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perfervid
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adj. ardent; impassioned; marked by exaggerated or overwrought emotion
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flaneur
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n. one who strolls about aimlessly; a lounger; a loafer
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histrionic
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adj. excessively dramatic or emotional
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halcyon
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adj. (1) calm; peaceful; golden; prosperous (2) a fabled bird that was able to calm the wind over the ocean
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genuflect
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v. to be servilely respectful or deferential; grovel
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obeisance
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n. attitude of deference or homage
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accrete
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v. to make larger or greater
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panache
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n. dash; verve
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prurient
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adj. inordinately interested in matters of sex
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ensconce
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v. to settle oneself securely or comfortably
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ethereal
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adj. (1) characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible (2) highly refined; delicate (3) spiritual; heavenly
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recrudescence
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v. to come into renewed activity after a period of quiescence
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treppenwitz
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a riposte to an insult that comes to mind too late to be useful
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sanguine
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adj. cheerfully confident; optimistic
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luddite
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n. one who opposes technological change
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extirpate
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v. (1) to pull up by the stem; to remove by surgery (2) to destroy completely
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amour fou
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crazy love; all consuming passion
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fructify
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v. to become fruitful
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trammel
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n./v. something that restricts activity, expression, or progress; a restraint
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rarefy
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v. (1) to make thin; less compact; less dense (2) to purify or refine
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deipnosophist
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n. someone who is skilled in table talk
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postprandial
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adj. happening or done after a meal
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somniferous
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adj. causing or inducing sleep
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makeweight
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n. (1) something added only to fill a lack (2) a counterweight
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recumbent
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adj. reclining; lying down; resting; inactive; idle
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foundling
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n. a deserted or abandoned infant; a child found without a parent or caretaker
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kvetch
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adj. to complain habitually; a complaint
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niggardly
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adj. grudging and petty in giving or spending; meanly small, scanty or meager
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de minimis
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(1) about minimal things; something unworthy of attention
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hirsute
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adj. covered with hair; shaggy; hairy; set with bristles
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cavalcade
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n. any procession; a procession of riders or horse-drawn carriages
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malapropos
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adj. unseasonable; unsuitable, inappropriate; inopportune
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vicissitude
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n. (1) regular change or succession from one thing to another; alteration; mutual succession; interchange (2) irregular change; revolution; mutation
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miasma
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n. a noxious atmosphere or influence
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irreverent
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adj. critical of what is generally excepted; a lack of reverence or disrespect
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unctuous
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adj. (1) insincere earnestness (2) containing or composed of oil or fat
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perspicacious
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adj. showing penetrating mental discernment; clear-sighted
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apotheosis
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n. exaltation to divine rank or stature, deification
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sua sponte
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adj. of one's own will
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hoary
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adj. (1) gray or white as if with age (2) so old as to inspire veneration; ancient
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ecumenic
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adj. of worldwide scope or applicability; universal
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abattoir
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n. a slaughterhouse
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taradiddle
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n. (1) a petty falsehood; a fib (2) pretentious nonsense
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kibosh
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n. a checking or restraining element
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au courant
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adj. informed on current affairs; up-to-date; fully familiar; knowledgeable
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lurid
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adj. causing shock or horror; gruesome; marked by sensationalism
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gravamen
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n. the part of a charge or an accusation that weighs most substantially against the accused
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deracinate
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v. (1) to pluck up by the roots; to uproot (2) to displace from one's native or accustomed environment
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estoppel
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n. a rule of evidence whereby a person is barred from denying the truth of a fact that has already been settled
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escrow
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n. money, property, etc. put into custody of a third party for delivery to a grantee only after the fulfillment of the conditions
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cognate
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adj. related or analogous in nature, character or function; having a common ancestor
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surly
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adj. ill-humored; churlish in manner or mood; sullen and gruff
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dispositive
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adj. relating to or having an effect on disposition or settlement
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churlish
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adj. (1) having a bad disposition; boorish or vulgar (2) difficult to work with; intractable
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prosaic
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adj. (1) characeristic of prose; matter-of-fact; straightforward (2) lacking in imagination and spirit; dull
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hortatory
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adj. marked by exhortation or strong urging
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inapposite
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adj. not pertinent; unsuitable
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salient
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adj. strikingly conspicuous; prominent
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apodictic
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adj. necessarily or demonstratably true; incontrovertible
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raconteur
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n. one who tells stories and anecdotes with skill and wit
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apery
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n. the act of mimicking; imitative behavior
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collate
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v. to examine and compare carefully in order to note points of disagreement
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recission
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n. the act of rescinding
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je ne sais quoi
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n. a quality or attribute that is difficult to describe or express
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mendicant
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n. one who makes a business of begging
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rapprochement
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n. the establishment of cordial relations
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sententious
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adj. (1) concise and full of meaning (2) abounding in aphorisms (3) given to pompous moralizing
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tawdry
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adj. gaudy and cheap; shameful; indecent
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vae victis
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woe to the vanquished
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collocation
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v. place together; arrange side by side; group
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hardtack
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n. a hard biscuit
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serviette
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n. a table napkin
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dissentious
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adj. not in agreement or harmony
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syncretize
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v. to reconcile and unite
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dendriform
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adj. shaped like or having the form of a treem
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aseptic
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adj. lacking animation or emotion
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vermiculate
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adj. (1) sinuous; tortuous (2) resembling features of worms
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lobscouse
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n. a sailor's stew made of meat, vegetables and hardtack
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desuetude
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n. a state of disuse or inactivity
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