My Test Set

Front 1

ABASH

Back 1

ABASH (uh BASH) v to make ashamed; to embarrass<br /><br />• Meredith felt abashed by her inability to remember her lines in the school chorus of “Old McDonald Had a Farm.”<br />To do something without shame or embarrassment is to do it unabashedly.<br />• Ken handed in a term paper that he had unabashedly copied from the National Enquirer.

Front 2

ABATE

Back 2

ABATE (uh BAYT) v to subside; to reduce<br /><br />• George spilled a pot of hot coffee on his leg. It hurt quite a bit. Then, gradually, the agony abated.<br />• Bad weather abates when good weather begins to return. A rainstorm that does not let up continues unabated.<br />A tax abatement is a reduction in taxes. Businesses are some times given tax abatements in return for building factories in places where there is a particular need for jobs.

Front 3

ABDICATE

Back 3

ABDICATE (AB duh kayt) v to step down from a position of power or responsibility<br /><br />• When King Edward VIII of England decided he would rather be married to Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American divorcée, than be king of England, he turned in his crown and abdicated.<br />Even people who aren’t monarchs can abdicate their duties and responsibilities.<br />• Abby abdicated her responsibilities as a secretary by dumping in the garbage the reports she was supposed to type and flying to the Bahamas.

Front 4

ABERRATION

Back 4

ABERRATION (ab uh RAY shun) n something not typical; a deviation from the standard<br /><br />• SØren’s bad behavior was an aberration. So was Harry’s good behavior. That is, SØren’s was usually good and Harry’s was usually bad.<br />• The chef at this restaurant is dreadful; the good meal we just had was an aberration.<br />• A snowstorm in June is an aberration; snow doesn’t normally fall in June.

Front 5

ABHOR

Back 5

ABHOR (ab HOR) v to hate very, very much; to detest<br /><br />• Emanuel abhorred having anvils dropped on his head.<br />To abhor something is to view it with horror. Hating a person is almost friendly in comparison with abhorring him or her. To abhor raw chicken livers is to have an abhorrence of them or to find them abhorrent.

Front 6

ABJECT

Back 6

ABJECT (AB jekt) adj hopeless; extremely sad and servile; defeated<br /><br />• While most people would quickly recover from a banana-peel accident, Mia felt abject humiliation.<br />An abject person is one who is crushed and without hope. A slave would be abject, in all likelihood.<br />Perhaps 90 percent of the time, when you encounter this word it will be followed by the word poverty. Abject poverty is hope less, desperate poverty. The phrase “abject poverty” is overused. Writ ers use it because they are too lazy to think of anything original.

Front 7

ABNEGATE

Back 7

ABNEGATE (AB nuh gayt) v to deny oneself things; to reject; to renounce<br /><br />• Ascetics practice self-abnegation because they believe it will bring them closer to spiritual purity.<br />Self-abnegation is giving up oneself, usually for some higher cause.

Front 8

ABORTIVE

Back 8

ABORTIVE (uh BOR tiv) adj unsuccessful<br /><br />• Marie and Elizabeth made an abortive effort to bake a birthday cake; that is, their effort did not result in a birthday cake.<br />• Fred’s attempt to climb the mountain was abortive; he fell off when he was halfway up.<br />To abort something is to end it before it is completed. An aborted pregnancy, called an abortion, is one that ends before the baby is born. An abortion in this sense doesn’t have to be the result of a controversial medical procedure.

Front 9

ABRIDGE

Back 9

ABRIDGE (uh BRIJ) v to shorten; to condense<br /><br />• The thoughtful editor abridged the massive book by removing the boring parts.<br />An abridged dictionary is one that has been shortened to keep it from crushing desks and people’s laps. An abridgment is a shortened or condensed work.

Front 10

ABSOLUTE

Back 10

ABSOLUTE (AB suh loot) adj total; unlimited<br /><br />An absolute ruler is one who is ruled by no one else. An absolute mess is a total mess. An absolute rule is one that has no exceptions and that you must follow, no two ways about it.<br />Absolute is also a noun. It means something that is total, unlimited, or perfect. Death, for living things, is an absolute. There just isn’t any way around it.

Front 11

ABSOLVE

Back 11

ABSOLVE (ab ZOLV) v to forgive or free from blame; to free from sin; to free from an obligation<br /><br />• The priest absolved the sinner who had come to church to confess.<br />• Tom’s admission of guilt absolved Dick, who had originally been accused of the crime.<br />It is also possible to absolve someone of a responsibility.<br />• Jake absolved Ciara of her obligation to go to the prom with him; he told her it was all right if she went with the captain of the football team instead.<br />The act of absolving is called absolution (ab suh LOO shun).

Front 12

ABSTINENT

Back 12

ABSTINENT (AB stuh nunt) adj abstaining; voluntarily not doing something, especially something pleasant that is bad for you or has a bad reputation<br /><br />• Beulah used to be a chain-smoker; now she’s abstinent (it was just too hard to get those chains lit).<br />• Cynthia, who was dieting, tried to be abstinent, but when she saw the chocolate cake she realized that she would probably have to eat the entire thing.<br />A person who abstains from something is an abstainer and engages in abstinence.

Front 13

ABSTRACT

Back 13

ABSTRACT (AB strakt) adj theoretical; impersonal<br /><br />• He liked oysters in the abstract, but when he actually tried one he became nauseated.<br />To like something in the abstract is to like the idea of it.<br />• Bruno doesn’t like abstractart; he thinks that a painting should resemble something real, not a lot of splattered paint.

Front 14

ABSTRUSE

Back 14

ABSTRUSE (ab STROOS) adj hard to understand<br /><br />• The professor’s article, on the meaning of meaning, was abstruse. Michael couldn’t even pronounce the words in it.<br />Nuclear physics is a subject that is too abstruse for most people.

Front 15

ABYSMAL

Back 15

ABYSMAL (uh BIZ mul) adj extremely hopeless or wretched; bottomless<br /><br />An abyss (uh BIS) is a bottomless pit, or something so deep that it seems bottomless. Abysmal despair is despair so deep that no hope seems possible.<br />• The nation’s debt crisis was abysmal; there seemed to be no possible solution.<br />Abysmal is often used somewhat sloppily to mean very bad. You might hear a losing baseball team’s performance referred to as abysmal. This isn’t strictly correct, but many people do it.

Front 16

ACCOLADE

Back 16

ACCOLADE (AK uh layd) n an award; an honor<br /><br />This word is generally used in the plural.<br />• The first break-dancing troupe to perform in Carnegie Hall, the Teflon Toughs, received accolades from the critics as well as from the fans.

Front 17

ACCOST

Back 17

ACCOST (uh KAWST) v to approach and speak to someone aggressively<br /><br />• Amanda karate-chopped the stranger who accosted her in the street and was embarrassed to find he was an old, blind man.

Front 18

ACERBIC

Back 18

ACERBIC (uh SUR bik) adj sour; severe; like acid in temper, mood, or tone<br /><br />• Barry sat silently as our teacher read aloud her acerbic comments on his paper.<br />Acerb and acerbic are synonyms. Acerbity is the state of being acerbic.

Front 19

ACQUIESCE

Back 19

ACQUIESCE (ak wee ES) v to comply passively; to accept; to assent; to agree<br /><br />• The pirates asked Pete to walk the plank; he took one look at their swords and then acquiesced.<br />To acquiesce is to do something without objection—to do it quietly.<br />As the similarity of their spellings indicates, the words acquiesce and quiet are closely related. They are both based on Latin words meaning rest or be quiet.<br />Acquiesce is sometimes used sloppily as a simple synonym for agree in situations in which it isn’t really appropriate. For example, it isn’t really possible to acquiesce noisily, enthusiastically, or eagerly. Don’t forget the quiet in the middle.<br />To acquiesce is to exhibit acquiescence.

Front 20

ACRID

Back 20

ACRID (AK rid) adj harshly pungent; bitter<br /><br />• The chili we had at the party had an acrid taste; it was harsh and unpleasant.<br />• Long after the fire had been put out, we could feel the acrid sting of smoke in our nostrils.<br />Acrid is used most often with tastes and smells, but it can be used more broadly to describe anything that is offensive in a similar way. A comment that stung like acid could be called acrid. So could a harsh personality.

Front 21

ACRIMONIOUS

Back 21

ACRIMONIOUS (ak ruh MOH nee us) adj full of spite; bitter; nasty<br /><br />• George and Elizabeth’s discussion turned acrimonious when Elizabeth introduced the subject of George’s perennial, incorrigible stupidity.<br />• Relations between the competing candidates were so acrimonious that each refused to acknowledge the presence of the other.

Front 22

ACUMEN

Back 22

ACUMEN (AK yoo mun) n keenness of judgment; mental sharpness<br /><br />• A woman who knows how to turn one dollar into a million over night might be said to have a lot of business acumen.<br />• Ernie’s lack of acumen led him to invest all his money in a company that had already gone out of business.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 23

ACUTE

Back 23

ACUTE (uh KYOOT) adj sharp; shrewd<br /><br />If your eyesight is acute, you can see things that other people can’t. You have visual acuity (uh KYOO uh tee). An acute mind is a quick, intelligent one. You have mental acuity. An acute pain is a sharp pain.<br />Acute means sharp only in a figurative sense. A knife, which is sharp enough to cut, is never said to be acute.<br />Acute is a word doctors throw around quite a bit. An acute disease is one that reaches its greatest intensity very quickly and then goes away. What could a disease be if it isn’t acute? See chronic.

Front 24

ADAMANT

Back 24

ADAMANT (AD uh munt) adj stubborn; unyielding; completely inflexible<br /><br />• Candice was adamant: She would never go out with Paul again.<br />A very hard substance, like a diamond, is also adamant. Adamantine (ad uh MAN teen) and adamant are synonyms. Adamancy is being adamant.

Front 25

ADDRESS

Back 25

ADDRESS (uh DRES) v to speak to; to direct one’s attention to<br /><br />To address a convention is to give a speech to the convention. To address a problem is to face it and set about solving it.<br />• Ernie addressed the problem of addressing the convention by sitting down and writing his speech.

Front 26

ADHERENT

Back 26

ADHERENT (ad HEER unt) n follower; supporter; believer<br /><br />• The king’s adherents threw a big birthday party for him, just to show how much they liked him.<br />To adhere to something is to stick to it. Adherents are people who adhere to, or stick to, something or someone. Following someone or something, especially rules or laws, is adherence.<br />A religion could be said to have adherents, assuming there are people who believe in it. Governments, causes, ideas, people, philosophies, and many other things can have adherents, too.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 27

ADMONISH

Back 27

ADMONISH (ad MAHN ish) v to scold gently; to warn<br /><br />• The boys’ father admonished them not to eat the pie he had just baked. When they did so anyway, he admonished them.<br />In the first sentence admonish means warn; in the second it means scold gently. Consider yourself admonished not to misuse this word.<br />The noun is admonition (ad muh NISH un) and the adjective is admonitory (ad MAHN i tor ee).

Front 28

ADROIT

Back 28

ADROIT (uh DROYT) adj skillful; dexterous; clever; shrewd; socially at ease<br /><br />• Julio was an adroit salesperson: His highly skilled pitch, backed up by extensive product knowledge, nearly always resulted in a sale.<br />Adroit comes from the French word for right (as in the direction), and refers to an old superstition that right-handedness is superior. It’s a synonym of dexterous (which comes from the Latin for right) and an antonym of gauche and maladroit.<br />• My brilliant accountant adroitly whipped my taxes into shape, then made a gauche remark about my ignorance of financial matters.

Front 29

ADULATION

Back 29

ADULATION (aj uh LAY shun) n wild or excessive admiration; flattery<br /><br />• The boss thrived on the adulation of his scheming secretary.<br />• The rock star grew to abhor the adulation of his fans. The verb is adulate (AJ uh layt).

Front 30

ADULTERATE

Back 30

ADULTERATE (uh DUL tuh rayt) v to contaminate; to make impure<br /><br />• We discovered that our orange juice had radioactive waste in it; we discovered, in other words, that it had been adulterated.<br />Vegetarians do not like their foods adulterated with animal fats. Unadulterated means pure. Unadulterated joy is joy untainted by sadness.

Front 31

ADVERSE

Back 31

ADVERSE (ad VURS) adj unfavorable; antagonistic<br><br>• We had to play our soccer match under adverse conditions: It was snowing and only three members of our team had bothered to show up.<br>Airplanes often don’t fly in adverse weather. An airplane that took off in bad weather and reached its destination safely would be said to have overcome adversity. Adversity means misfortune or unfavorable circumstances. To do something “in the face of adversi ty” is to undertake a task despite obstacles. Some people are at their best in adversity because they rise to the occasion.<br>A word often confused with adverse is averse (uh VURS). The two are related but they don’t mean quite the same thing. A person who is averse to doing something is a person who doesn’t want to do it. To be averse to something is to be opposed to doing it—to have an aversion to doing it.

Front 32

AESTHETIC

Back 32

AESTHETIC (es THET ik) adj having to do with artistic beauty; artistic<br /><br />• Our art professor had a highly developed aesthetic sense; he found things to admire in paintings that, to us, looked like garbage.<br />Someone who admires beautiful things greatly can be called an aesthete (ES theet). Aesthetics is the study of beauty or principles of beauty.

Front 33

AFFABLE

Back 33

AFFABLE (AF uh bul) adj easy to talk to; friendly<br /><br />• Susan was an affable girl; she could strike up a pleasant conversation with almost anyone.<br />• The Jeffersons’ dog was big but affable; it liked to lick little children on the nose.<br />The noun is affability.

Front 34

AFFECTATION

Back 34

AFFECTATION (af ek TAY shun) n unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress<br><br>• Becky’s English accent is an affectation. She spent only a week in England, and that was several years ago.<br>• Elizabeth had somehow acquired the absurd affectation of pretending that she didn’t know how to turn on a television set.<br>A person with an affectation is said to be affected. To affect a characteristic or habit is to adopt it consciously, usually in the hope of impressing other people.<br>• Edward affected to be more of an artist than he really was. Every one hated him for it.

Front 35

AFFINITY

Back 35

AFFINITY (uh FIN uh tee) n sympathy; attraction; kinship; similarity<br /><br />• Ducks have an affinity for water; that is, they like to be in it.<br />• Children have an affinity for trouble; that is, they often find themselves in it.<br />• Magnets and iron have an affinity for each other; that is, each is attracted to the other.<br />Affinity also means similarity or resemblance. There is an affinity between snow and sleet.

Front 36

AFFLUENT

Back 36

AFFLUENT (AF loo unt) adj rich; prosperous<br /><br />A person can be affluent; all it takes is money. A country can be affluent, too, if it’s full of affluent people. Affluence means the same thing as wealth or prosperity. Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 37

AGENDA

Back 37

AGENDA (uh JEN duh) n program; the things to be done<br /><br />• What’s on the agenda for the board meeting? A little gossip, then lunch.<br />A politician is often said to have an agenda. The politician’s agenda consists of the things he or she wishes to accomplish.<br />An agenda, such as that for a meeting, is often written down, but it doesn’t have to be. A person who has sneaky ambitions or plans is often said to have a secret or hidden agenda.<br />

Front 38

AGGREGATE

Back 38

AGGREGATE (AG ruh gut) n sum total; a collection of separate things mixed together<br /><br />• Chili is an aggregate of meat and beans.<br />Aggregate (AG ruh gayt) can also be a verb or an adjective. You would make chili by aggregating meat and beans. Chili is an aggregate (AG ruh gut) food.<br />Similar and related words include congregate, segregate, and integrate. To aggregate is to bring together; to congregate is to get together; to segregate is to keep apart (or separate); to integrate is to unite.

Front 39

AGNOSTIC

Back 39

AGNOSTIC (ag NAHS tik) n one who believes that the existence of a god can be neither proven nor disproven<br><br>An atheist is someone who does not believe in a god. An agnostic, on the other hand, isn’t sure. He doesn’t believe, but he doesn’t not believe, either.<br>The noun is agnosticism (ag NAHS tih siz um).<br>• An atheist himself, Jon concluded from Jorge’s spiritual skepticism that they shared similar beliefs. In fact, Jorge’s reluctance to affirm or discredit a god’s existence reflects his agnosticism.

Front 40

AGRARIAN

Back 40

AGRARIAN (uh GRAR ee un) adj relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land<br><br>Agrarian usually has to do with farming. Think of agriculture.<br>• Politics in this country often pit the rural, agrarian interests against the urban interests.

Front 41

ALACRITY

Back 41

ALACRITY (uh LAK ri tee) n cheerful eagerness or readiness to respond<br><br>• David could hardly wait for his parents to leave; he carried their luggage out to the car with great alacrity.<br>Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 42

ALLEGE

Back 42

ALLEGE (uh LEJ) v to assert without proof<br><br>• If I say, “Cedrick alleges that I stole his hat,” I am saying two things:<br>1. Cedrick says I stole his hat.<br>2. I say I didn’t do it. To allege something is to assert it without proving it. Such an assertion is called an allegation (al uh GAY shun).<br>The adjective is alleged (uh LEJD). If the police accuse someone of having committed a crime, newspapers will usually refer to that person as an alleged criminal.<br>• The police have alleged that he or she committed the crime, but a jury hasn’t made a decision yet.

Front 43

ALLEVIATE

Back 43

ALLEVIATE (uh LEE vee ayt) v to relieve, usually temporarily or incompletely; to make bearable; to lessen<br><br>• Visiting the charming pet cemetery alleviated the woman’s grief over the death of her canary.<br>• Aspirin alleviates headache pain. When your headache comes back, take some more aspirin.

Front 44

ALLOCATE

Back 44

ALLOCATE (AL uh kayt) v to distribute; to assign; to allot<br><br>• The long car trip had been a big failure, and David, Aaliyah, and Jan spent several hours attempting to allocate the blame. In the end, they decided it had all been Jan’s fault.<br>• The office manager had allocated just seven paper clips for our entire department.

Front 45

ALLOY

Back 45

ALLOY (AL oy) n a combination of two or more things, usually metals<br /><br />• Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. That is, you make brass by combining copper and zinc.<br />Alloy (uh LOY) is often used as a verb. To alloy two things is to mix them together. There is usually an implication that the mixture is less than the sum of the parts. That is, there is often some thing undesirable or debased about an alloy (as opposed to a pure substance).<br />Unalloyed means undiluted or pure. Unalloyed dislike is dislike undiminished by any positive feelings; unalloyed love is love undiminished by any negative feelings.

Front 46

ALLUSION

Back 46

ALLUSION (uh LOO zhun) n an indirect reference (often to a literary work); a hint<br /><br />To allude to something is to refer to it indirectly.<br />• When Ralph said, “I sometimes wonder whether to be or not to be,” he was alluding to a famous line in Hamlet. If Ralph had said, “As Hamlet said, ‘To be or not to be, that is the question,’” his statement would have been a direct reference, not an allusion.<br />An allusion is an allusion only if the source isn’t identified directly. Anything else is a reference or a quotation.<br />• If Andrea says, “I enjoyed your birthday party,” she isn’t alluding to the birthday party; she’s mentioning it. But if she says, “I like the way you blow out candles,” she is alluding to the party.

Front 47

ALOOF

Back 47

ALOOF (uh LOOF) adj uninvolved; standing off; keeping one’s distance<br><br>• Al, on the roof, felt very aloof.<br>To stand aloof from a touch-football game is to stand on the side lines and not take part. Cats are often said to be aloof because they usually mind their own business and don’t crave the affection of people.

Front 48

ALTRUISM

Back 48

ALTRUISM (AL troo iz um) n selflessness; generosity; devotion to the interests of others<br /><br />• The private foundation depended on the altruism of the extremely rich old man. When he decided to start spending his money on his new twenty-year-old girlfriend, the foundation went out of business.<br />To be altruistic is to help others without expectation of personal gain. Giving money to charity is an act of altruism. The altruist does it just to be nice, although he’ll probably also remember to take a tax deduction.<br />An altruistic act is also an act of philanthropy, which means almost the same thing.

Front 49

AMBIENCE

Back 49

AMBIENCE (AM bee uns) n atmosphere; mood; feeling<br /><br />• By decorating their house with plastic beach balls and Popsicle sticks, the Cramers created a playful ambience that delighted young children.<br />A restaurant’s ambience is the look, mood, and feel of the place. People sometimes say that a restaurant has “an atmosphere of ambience.” To do so is redundant—atmosphere and ambience mean the same thing.<br />Ambience is a French word that can also be pronounced “ahm BYAHNS.” The adjective ambient (AM bee unt) means surrounding or circulating.

Front 50

AMBIGUOUS

Back 50

AMBIGUOUS (am BIG yoo us) adj unclear in meaning; confusing; capable of being interpreted in different ways<br><br>• We listened to the weather report, but the forecast was ambiguous; we couldn’t tell whether the day was going to be rainy or sunny.<br>• The poem we read in English class was ambiguous; no one had any idea what the poet was trying to say.<br>The noun is ambiguity (am bih GYOO uh tee).

Front 51

AMBIVALENT

Back 51

AMBIVALENT (am BIV uh lunt) adj undecided; having opposed feelings simultaneously<br /><br />• Susan felt ambivalent about George as a boyfriend. Her frequent desire to break up with him reflected this ambivalence.

Front 52

AMELIORATE

Back 52

AMELIORATE (uh MEEL yuh rayt) v to make better or more tolerable<br /><br />• The mood of the prisoners was ameliorated when the warden gave them color television sets and keys to their cells.<br />• My great-uncle’s gift of several million dollars considerably ameliorated my financial condition.

Front 53

AMENABLE

Back 53

AMENABLE (uh MEE nuh bul) adj obedient; willing to give in to the wishes of another; agreeable<br /><br />• I suggested that Bert pay for my lunch as well as for his own; to my surprise, he was amenable.<br />• The plumber was amenable to my paying my bill with jelly beans, which was lucky, because I had more jelly beans than money.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 54

AMENITY

Back 54

AMENITY (uh MEN i tee) n pleasantness; attractive or comfortable feature<br><br>• The amenities at the local club include a swimming pool, a golf course, and a fallout shelter.<br>If an older guest at your house asks you where the amenities are, he or she is probably asking for directions to the bathroom.<br>Those little bars of soap and bottles of shampoo found in hotel rooms are known in the hotel business as amenities. They are meant to increase your comfort. People like them because people like almost anything that is free (although, of course, the cost of providing such amenities is simply added to the price of hotel rooms).

Front 55

AMIABLE

Back 55

AMIABLE (AY mee uh bul) adj friendly; agreeable<br /><br />• Our amiable guide made us feel right at home in what would otherwise have been a cold and forbidding museum.<br />• The drama critic was so amiable in person that even the subjects of negative reviews found it impossible not to like her.<br />Amicable is a similar and related word. Two not very amiable people might nonetheless make an amicable agreement. Amicable means politely friendly, or not hostile. Two countries might trade amicably with each other even while technically remaining enemies.<br />• Julio and Clarissa had a surprisingly amicable divorce and remained good friends even after paying their lawyers’ fees.

Front 56

AMNESTY

Back 56

AMNESTY (AM nuh stee) n an official pardon for a group of people who have violated a law or policy<br><br>Amnesty comes from the same root as amnesia, the condition that causes characters in movies to forget everything except how to speak English and drive their cars.<br>An amnesty is an official forgetting. When a state government declares a tax amnesty, it is saying that if people pay the taxes they owe, the government will officially “forget” that they broke the law by not paying them in the first place.<br>The word amnesty always refers to a pardon given to a group or class of people. A pardon granted to a single person is simply a pardon.

Front 57

AMORAL

Back 57

AMORAL (ay MOR ul) adj lacking a sense of right and wrong; neither good nor bad, neither moral nor immoral; without moral feelings<br><br>• Very young children are amoral; when they cry, they aren’t being bad or good—they’re merely doing what they have to do.<br>A moral person does right; an immoral person does wrong; an amoral person simply does.

Front 58

AMOROUS

Back 58

AMOROUS (AM ur us) adj feeling loving, especially in a sexual sense; in love; relating to love<br /><br />• The amorous couple made quite a scene at the movie. The movie they were watching, Love Story, was pretty amorous itself. It was about an amorous couple, one of whom died.

Front 59

AMORPHOUS

Back 59

AMORPHOUS (uh MOR fus) adj shapeless; without a regular or stable shape; bloblike<br /><br />• Ed’s teacher said that his term paper was amorphous; it was as shapeless and disorganized as a cloud.<br />• The sleepy little town was engulfed by an amorphous blob of glowing protoplasm—a higher intelligence from outer space.<br>To say that something has an “amorphous shape” is a contradiction. How can a shape be shapeless?

Front 60

ANACHRONISM

Back 60

ANACHRONISM (uh NAK ruh niz um) n something out of place in time or history; an incongruity<br /><br />• In this day of impersonal hospitals, a family doctor who will visit you at home seems like an anachronism.<br />In these modern, liberated times, some women disdain the anachronistic practice of a man’s holding open a door for a woman.

Front 61

ANALOGY

Back 61

ANALOGY (uh NAL uh jee) n a comparison of one thing to another; similarity<br /><br />• To say having an allergy feels like being bitten by an alligator would be to make or draw an analogy between an allergy and an alligator bite.<br />Analogy usually refers to similarities between things that are not otherwise very similar. If you don’t think an allergy is at all like an alligator bite, you might say, “That analogy doesn’t hold up.” To say that there is no analogy between an allergy and an alligator bite is to say that they are not analogous (uh NAL uh gus).<br />Something similar in a particular respect to something else is its analog (AN uh lawg), sometimes spelled analogue.

Front 62

ANARCHY

Back 62

ANARCHY (AN ur kee) n absence of government or control; lawlessness; disorder<br /><br />• The country fell into a state of anarchy after the rebels kidnapped the president and locked the legislature inside the Capitol.<br />The word doesn’t have to be used in its strict political meaning. You could say that there was anarchy in the kindergarten when the teacher stepped out of the door for a moment. You could say it, and you would probably be right.<br />The words anarchy and monarchy are closely related. Anarchy means no leader; monarchy, a government headed by a king or queen, means one leader.

Front 63

ANECDOTE

Back 63

ANECDOTE (AN ik doht) n a short account of a humorous or revealing incident<br /><br />• The old lady kept the motorcycle gang thoroughly amused with anecdote after anecdote about her cute little dog.<br />• Alvare told an anecdote about the time Sally got her big toe stuck in a bowling ball.<br />• The vice president set the crowd at ease with an anecdote about his child hood desire to become a vice president.<br />To say that the evidence of life on other planets is merely anecdotal is to say that we haven’t captured any aliens, but simply heard a lot of stories from people who claimed to have been kidnapped by flying saucers.

Front 64

ANGUISH

Back 64

ANGUISH (ANG gwish) n agonizing physical or mental pain<br><br>• Theresa had been a nurse in the emergency room for twenty years, but she had never gotten used to the anguish of accident victims.

Front 65

ANIMOSITY

Back 65

ANIMOSITY (an uh MAHS uh tee) n resentment; hostility; ill will<br /><br />• The rivals for the state championship felt great animosity toward each other. Whenever they ran into each other, they snarled.<br />A person whose look could kill is a person whose animosity is evident.

Front 66

ANOMALY

Back 66

ANOMALY (uh NAHM uh lee) n an aberration; an irregularity; a deviation<br><br>• A snowy winter day is not an anomaly, but a snowy July day is.<br>• A house without a roof is an anomaly—a cold, wet anomaly.<br>A roofless house could be said to be anomalous. Something that is anomalous is some thing that is not normal or regular.

Front 67

ANTECEDENT

Back 67

ANTECEDENT (an tuh SEED unt) n someone or something that went before; something that provides a model for something that came after it<br /><br />• Your parents and grandparents could be said to be your antecedents; they came before you.<br />• The horse-drawn wagon is an antecedent of the modern automobile.<br />Antecedent can also be used as an adjective. The oil lamp was antecedent to the light bulb.<br />In grammar, the antecedent of a pronoun is the person, place, or thing to which it refers. In the previous sentence, the antecedent of it is antecedent. In the sentence “Bill and Harry were walking together, and then he hit him,” it is impossible to determine what the antecedents of the pronouns (he and him) are.<br />Antecedent is related to a word that is similar in meaning: prec-edent.

Front 68

ANTIPATHY

Back 68

ANTIPATHY (an TIP uh thee) n firm dislike; distaste<br /><br />• I feel antipathy toward bananas wrapped in ham. I do not want them for dinner. I also feel a certain amount of antipathy toward the cook who keeps trying to force me to eat them. My feelings on these matters are quite antipathetic (an tip uh THET ik).<br />I could also say that ham-wrapped bananas and the cooks who serve them are among my antipathies. My antipathies are the things I don’t like.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 69

ANTITHESIS

Back 69

ANTITHESIS (an TITH uh sis) n the direct opposite<br /><br />• Erin is the antithesis of Aaron: Erin is bright and beautiful; Aaron is dull and plain.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 70

APARTHEID

Back 70

APARTHEID (uh PAHRT hyte) n the former policy of racial segregation and oppression in the Republic of South Africa<br /><br />The word apartheid is related to the word apart. Under apartheid in South Africa, blacks were kept apart from whites and denied all rights.<br />The word apartheid is sometimes applied to less radical forms of racial injustice and to other kinds of separation. Critics have sometimes accused American public schools of practicing educational apartheid by providing substandard schooling for nonwhites.

Front 71

APATHY

Back 71

APATHY (AP uh thee) n lack of interest; lack of feeling<br><br />• The members of the student council accused the senior class of apathy because none of the seniors had bothered to sign up for the big annual bake sale.<br />• Jill didn’t care one bit about current events; she was entirely apathetic.

Front 72

APHORISM

Back 72

APHORISM (AF uh riz um) n a brief, often witty saying; a proverb<br><br>• Benjamin Franklin was fond of aphorisms. He was frequently aphoristic.<br>• Chef Hussain is particularly fond of Woolf’s aphorism, “One cannot think well, love well, or sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

Front 73

APOCALYPSE

Back 73

APOCALYPSE (uh PAHK uh lips) n a prophetic revelation, especially one concerning the end of the world<br><br>In strict usage, apocalypse refers to specific Christian writings, but most people use it more generally in connection with predictions of things like nuclear war, the destruction of the ozone layer, and the spread of fast-food restaurants to every corner of the universe. To make such predictions, or to be deeply pessimistic, is to be apocalyptic (uh pahk uh LIP tik).

Front 74

APOCRYPHAL

Back 74

APOCRYPHAL (uh POK ruh ful) adj of dubious authenticity; fictitious; spurious<br /><br />• Brandi’s blog discredited the apocryphal report of Martians in Congress.<br />An apocryphal story is one whose truth is not proven or whose false hood is strongly suspected. Like apocalypse, this word has a religious origin. The Apocrypha are a number of “extra” books of the Old Testament that Protestants and Jews don’t include in their Bibles because they don’t think they’re authentic.

Front 75

APOTHEOSIS

Back 75

APOTHEOSIS (uh pahth ee OH sis) n elevation to divine status; the perfect example of some thing<br><br>• Some people think that the Corvette is the apotheosis of American car making. They think it’s the ideal.<br>• Geoffrey is unbearable to be with. He thinks he’s the apotheosis of masculinity.<br>

Front 76

APPEASE

Back 76

APPEASE (uh PEEZ) v to soothe; to pacify by giving in to<br /><br />• Jaleel appeased his angry mother by promising to make his bed every morning without fail until the end of time.<br />• The trembling farmer handed over all his grain, but still the emperor was not appeased.<br />The noun is appeasement.

Front 77

APPRECIATE

Back 77

APPRECIATE (uh PREE shee ayt) v to increase in value<br><br>• The Browns bought their house twenty years ago for a hundred dollars, but it has appreciated considerably since then; today it’s worth almost a million dollars.<br>• Harry bought Joe’s collection of old chewing-tobacco tins as an investment. His hope was that the tins would appreciate over the next few years, enabling him to turn a profit by selling them to someone else.<br>The opposite of appreciate is depreciate. When a car loses value over time, we say it has depreciated.

Front 78

APPREHENSIVE

Back 78

APPREHENSIVE (ap ruh HEN siv) adj worried; anxious<br /><br />• The apprehensive child clung to his father’s leg as the two of them walked into the main circus tent to watch the lion tamer.<br />• Rhea was apprehensive about the exam, because she had forgotten to go to class for several months. As it turned out, her apprehensions were justified. She couldn’t answer a single question on the test.<br />A misapprehension is a misunderstanding.<br />• Rhea had no misapprehensions about her lack of preparation; she knew perfectly well she would fail abysmally.

Front 79

APPROBATION

Back 79

APPROBATION (ap ruh BAY shun) n approval; praise<br /><br />• The crowd expressed its approbation of what the team had done by gleefully covering the field with chicken carcasses.<br />• The ambassador’s actions met with the approbation of his commander in chief.<br />Approbation is a fancy word for approval, to which it is closely related. Disapprobation is disapproval.

Front 80

APPROPRIATE

Back 80

APPROPRIATE (uh PROH pree ayt) v to take without permission; to set aside for a particular use<br /><br />• Nick appropriated my lunch; he grabbed it out of my hands and ate it. So I appropriated Ed’s.<br />• The deer and raccoons appropriated the vegetables in our garden last summer. This year we’ll build a better fence.<br />Don’t confuse the pronunciation of the verb to appropriate with the pronunciation of the adjective appropriate (uh PROH pree it). When Congress decides to buy some new submarines, it appropriates money for them. That is, it sets some money aside. The money thus set aside is called an appropriation.<br />When an elected official takes money that was supposed to be spent on submarines and spends it on a Rolls-Royce and a few mink coats, he is said to have misappropriated the money.<br />When the government decides to build a highway through your backyard, it expropriates your property for this purpose. That is, it uses its official authority to take possession of your property.

Front 81

APTITUDE

Back 81

APTITUDE (AP tuh tood) n capacity for learning; natural ability<br><br>• The Princeton Review students have a marked aptitude for taking the SAT. They earn high scores.<br>• I tried to repair my car, but as I sat on the floor of my garage, surrounded by mysterious parts, I realized that I had no aptitude for automobile repair.<br>The opposite of aptitude is ineptitude.

Front 82

ARBITER

Back 82

ARBITER (AHR buh tur) n one who decides; a judge<br><br>• An arbiter of fashion determines what other people will wear by wearing it herself.<br>An arbiter arbitrates, or weighs opposing view points and makes decisions. The words arbiter and arbitrator mean the same thing. An arbiter presides over an arbitration, which is a formal meeting to settle a dispute.

Front 83

ARBITRARY

Back 83

ARBITRARY (AHR buh trer ee) adj random; capricious<br /><br />• The grades Mr. Simone gave his English students appeared to be arbitrary; they didn’t seem related to anything the students had done in class.<br />• The old judge was arbitrary in sentencing criminals; there was no sensible pattern to the sentences he handed down.

Front 84

ARCANE

Back 84

ARCANE (ahr KAYN) adj mysterious; known only to a select few<br><br>• The rites of the secret cult were arcane; no one outside the cult knew what they were.<br>• The arcane formula for the cocktail was scrawled on a faded scrap of paper.<br>• We could make out only a little of the arcane inscription on the old trunk.

Front 85

ARCHAIC

Back 85

ARCHAIC (ahr KAY ik) adj extremely old; ancient; outdated<br /><br />• The tribe’s traditions are archaic. They have been in force for thousands of years.<br />Archaic civilizations are ones that disappeared a long time ago. An archaic meaning of a word is one that isn’t used anymore.

Front 86

ARCHETYPE

Back 86

ARCHETYPE (AHR kuh type) n an original model or pattern<br /><br />An archetype is similar to a prototype. A prototype is a first, tentative model that is made but that will be improved in later versions. Henry Ford built a prototype of his Model T in his basement. His mother kicked him out, so he had no choice but to start a motorcar company.<br />An archetype is usually something that precedes something else.<br />• Plato is the archetype of all philosophers.<br />An archetype is archetypal or archetypical. Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 87

ARDENT

Back 87

ARDENT (AHR dunt) adj passionate; enthusiastic<br><br>• Larry’s ardent wooing finally got on Cynthia’s nerves, and she told him to get lost.<br>• Blanche happily stuffed badgers from morning to night. She was an ardent taxidermist.<br>To be ardent is to have ardor.<br>• The young lovers were oblivious to everything except their ardor for each other.

Front 88

ARDUOUS

Back 88

ARDUOUS (AHR joo us) adj hard; difficult<br><br>• Climbing the mountain was arduous. We were so exhausted when we got to the top that we forgot to enjoy the view.<br>• The arduous car trip was made even more difficult by the fact that all four tires went flat, one after another.

Front 89

ARISTOCRATIC

Back 89

ARISTOCRATIC (uh ris tuh KRAT ik) adj of noble birth; snobbish<br><br>• Prince Charles is aristocratic. He is a member of the British aristocracy.<br>• Polo, which Prince Charles enjoys, is often said to be an aristocratic sport because it is typically played by privileged people.<br>It is possible to be an aristocrat (uh RIS tuh krat) without being rich, although aristocrats tend to be quite wealthy. There is nothing you can do to become an aristocrat, short of being born into a family of them.<br>People who act as though they think they are better than everyone else are often said to be aristocratic. A person with an “aristocratic bearing” is a person who keeps his or her nose in the air and looks down on everyone else.

Front 90

ARTFUL

Back 90

ARTFUL (AHRT ful) adj crafty; wily; sly<br><br>• After dinner, the artful counselor told the campers that there was a madman loose in the woods, thus causing them to lie quietly in the tent.<br>The Artful Dodger is a sly conman in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist. Someone who is artless, on the other hand, is simple and honest. Young children are charmingly artless.

Front 91

ARTIFICE

Back 91

ARTIFICE (AHRT uh fus) n a clever trick; cunning<br><br>• The Trojan Horse was an artifice designed to get the soldiers inside the walls.<br>• Mrs. Baker had to resort to artifice to get her children to take their baths: She told them that the bathtub was filled with sugar syrup and that they could drink it if they climbed in.<br>Artifice and artificial are related words.

Front 92

ASCENDANCY

Back 92

ASCENDANCY (uh SEN dun see) n supremacy; domination<br><br>• Small computers have been in ascendancy for the past few years.<br>• The ascendancy of the new regime had been a great boon for the economy of the tiny tropical kingdom.<br>When something is in ascendancy, it is ascendant.

Front 93

ASCETIC

Back 93

ASCETIC (uh SET ik) adj hermitlike; practicing self-denial<br /><br />• The college professor’s apartment, which contained no furniture except a single tattered mattress, was uncomfortably ascetic.<br>• In his effort to save money, Roy led an ascetic existence: He never went out, he never ate anything but soup, and he never had any fun.<br>Ascetic can also be a noun. A person who leads an ascetic exist ence is an ascetic. An ascetic is someone who practices asceticism. A similar-sounding word with a very different meaning is aesthet ic (es THET ik). Don’t be confused.

Front 94

ASSIDUOUS

Back 94

ASSIDUOUS (uh SIJ oo us) adj hardworking; busy; quite diligent<br /><br />• The workmen were assiduous in their effort to get nothing done; instead of working, they drank coffee all day long.<br />• Wendell was the only assiduous student in the entire math class; all the other students had to copy their homework from him.

Front 95

ASSIMILATE

Back 95

ASSIMILATE (uh SIM uh layt) v to take in; to absorb; to learn thoroughly<br /><br />To assimilate an idea is to take it in as thoroughly as if you had eaten it. (Your body assimilates nutrients from the food you eat.) To assimilate knowledge is to absorb it, to let it soak in. People can be assimilated, too.<br />• Margaret didn’t have any friends when she first went to the new school, but she was gradually assimilated—she became part of the new community. When she was chosen for the cheerleading squad, her assimilation was complete.

Front 96

ASSUAGE

Back 96

ASSUAGE (uh SWAYJ) v to soothe; to pacify; to ease the pain of; to relieve<br /><br />• Beth was extremely angry, but I assuaged her by promising to leave the house and never return.<br />• The thunderstorm made the baby cry, but I assuaged her fears by singing her a lullaby.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 97

ASTUTE

Back 97

ASTUTE (uh STOOT) adj shrewd; keen in judgment<br /><br />• Morris was an astute judge of character; he was very good at seeing what people are really like.<br />• Yael, who notices everything important and many things that other people don’t see, is an astute observer.

Front 98

ATHEIST

Back 98

ATHEIST (AY thee ist) n one who does not believe in the existence of any god or divine being<br><br>• Hadley had always imagined a big religious wedding, but Emma, a life-long atheist, preferred a Vegas elopement.<br>The noun form is atheism. Atheism is often confused with agnosticism, but the two are not the same.

Front 99

ATTRITION

Back 99

ATTRITION (uh TRISH un) n gradual wearing away, weakening, or loss; a natural or expected decrease in numbers or size<br><br>• Mr. Gregory did not have the heart to fire his workers even though his company was losing millions each year. He altruistically preferred to lose workers through attrition when they moved away, retired, or decided to change jobs.

Front 100

AUDACITY

Back 100

AUDACITY (aw DAS uh tee) n boldness; reckless daring; impertinence<br><br>• Edgar’s soaring leap off the top of the building was an act of great audacity.<br>• Ivan had the audacity to tell that nice old lady to shut up. A person with audacity is said to be audacious.<br>• Bert made the audacious decision to climb Mt. Everest in bowling shoes.

Front 101

AUGMENT

Back 101

AUGMENT (awg MENT) v to make bigger; to add to; to increase<br><br>• The army augmented its attack by sending in a few thousand more soldiers.<br>To augment a record collection is to add more records to it. Adding another example to this definition would augment it. The act of augmenting is called augmentation.

Front 102

AUSPICIOUS

Back 102

AUSPICIOUS (aw SPISH us) adj favorable; promising; pointing to a good result<br><br>• A clear sky in the morning is an auspicious sign on the day of a picnic.<br>• The first quarter of the football game was not auspicious; the home team was outscored by seventy points.

Front 103

AUSTERE

Back 103

AUSTERE (aw STEER) adj unadorned; stern; forbidding; without excess<br><br>• The Smiths’ house was austere; there was no furniture in it, and there was nothing hanging on the walls.<br>• Quentin, with his austere personality, didn’t make many friends. Most people were too intimidated by him to introduce themselves and say hello.<br>The noun austerity (aw STER uh tee) is generally used to mean roughly the same thing as poverty. To live in austerity is to live without comforts.<br>• Conditions in Austria were very austere after the war.

Front 104

AUTOCRATIC

Back 104

AUTOCRATIC (aw tuh KRAT ik) adj ruling with absolute authority; extremely bossy<br /><br />• The ruthless dictator’s autocratic reign ended when the rebels blew up his palace with plastic explosive.<br />• A two-year-old can be very autocratic—he wants what he wants when he wants it.<br />• No one at our office liked the autocratic manager. He always insisted on having his own way, and he never let anyone make a decision without consulting him.<br />An autocrat is an absolute ruler. Autocracy (aw TAHK ruh see), a system of government headed by an autocrat, is not democratic—the people don’t get a say.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of these words.

Front 105

AUTONOMOUS

Back 105

AUTONOMOUS (aw TAHN uh mus) adj acting independently<br /><br />• The West Coast office of the law firm was quite autonomous; it never asked the East Coast office for permission before it did anything.<br />An autonomous nation is one that is independent—it governs itself. It is said to have autonomy. To act autonomously is to act on your own authority. If some thing happens autonomously, it happens all by itself.

Front 106

AVARICE

Back 106

AVARICE (AV ur is) n greed; excessive love of riches<br /><br />• The rich man’s avarice was annoying to everyone who wanted to lay hands on some of his money.<br />Avarice is the opposite of generosity or philanthropy. To be avaricious is to love wealth above all else and not to share it with other people.

Front 107

AVOW

Back 107

AVOW (uh VOW) v to claim; to declare boldly; to admit<br><br>• At the age of twenty-five, Louis finally avowed that he couldn’t stand his mother’s apple pie.<br>To avow something is to declare or admit something that most people are reluctant to declare or admit.<br>• Mr. Smith avowed on television that he had never paid any income tax. Shortly after this avowal, he received a lengthy letter from the Internal Revenue Service.<br>An avowed criminal is one who admits he is a criminal. To disavow is to deny or repudiate someone else’s claim.<br>• The mayor disavowed the allegation that he had embezzled campaign contributions.

Front 108

AVUNCULAR

Back 108

AVUNCULAR (uh VUNG kyuh lur) adj like an uncle, especially a nice uncle<br /><br />What’s an uncle like? Kind, helpful, generous, understanding, and so on, in an uncle-y sort of way. This is a fun word to use, although it’s usually hard to find occasions to use it.<br />• Professor Zia often gave us avuncular advice; he took a real interest in our education and helped us with other problems that weren’t related to multi-dimensional calculus.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 109

AWRY

Back 109

AWRY (uh RYE) adj off course; twisted to one side<br /><br />• The hunter’s bullet went awry. Instead of hitting the bear, it hit his truck.<br />• When we couldn’t find a restaurant, our dinner plans went awry.<br>• The old man’s hat was awry; it had dipped in front of his left eye.

Front 110

AXIOM

Back 110

AXIOM (AK see um) n a self-evident rule or truth; a widely accepted saying<br /><br />“Everything that is living dies” is an axiom.<br />An axiom in geometry is a rule that doesn’t have to be proved because its truth is accepted as obvious, self-evident, or unprovable.

Front 111

BANAL

Back 111

BANAL (buh NAL) adj unoriginal; ordinary<br /><br />• The dinner conversation was so banal that Amanda fell asleep in her dessert dish.<br />A banal statement is a boring, trite, and uncreative statement. It is a banality.<br />• What made Yu fall asleep was the banality of the dinner conversation.<br />This word can also be pronounced “BANE ul.”

Front 112

BANE

Back 112

BANE (bayn) n poison; torment; cause of harm<br><br>Bane means poison (wolfbane is a kind of poisonous plant), but the word is usually used figuratively. To say that someone is the bane of your existence is to say that that person poisons your enjoyment of life.<br>Baneful means harmful.

Front 113

BASTION

Back 113

BASTION (BAS chun) n stronghold; fortress; fortified place<br><br>• Mrs. Garnett’s classroom is a bastion of banality; that is, it’s a place where originality seldom, if ever, makes its way inside.<br>• The robbers terrorized the village for several weeks, then escaped to their bastion high in the treacherous mountains.

Front 114

BEGET

Back 114

BEGET (bih GET) v to give birth to; to create; to lead to; to cause<br><br>• Those who lie should be creative and have good memories, since one lie often begets another lie, which begets another.

Front 115

BELABOR

Back 115

BELABOR (bi LAY bur) v to go over repeatedly or to an absurd extent<br><br>• For more than an hour, the boring speaker belabored his point about the challenge of foreign competition.<br>• Mr. Irving spent the entire period belaboring the obvious; he made the same dumb observation over and over again.

Front 116

BELEAGUER

Back 116

BELEAGUER (bih LEE gur) v to surround; to besiege; to harass<br><br>• No one could leave the beleaguered city; the attacking army had closed off all the exits.<br>• Oscar felt beleaguered at work. He was months behind in his assignments, and he had little hope of catching up.<br>• The beleaguered president seldom emerged from the Oval Office as he struggled to deal with the growing scandal.

Front 117

BELIE

Back 117

BELIE (bih LYE) v to give a false impression of; to contradict<br><br>• Melvin’s smile belied the grief he was feeling; despite his happy expression he was terribly sad inside.<br>• The messy appearance of the banquet table belied the huge effort that had gone into setting it up.<br>A word that is sometimes confused with belie is betray. To rework the first example above: Melvin was smiling, but a small tear in one eye betrayed the grief he was feeling.

Front 118

BELITTLE

Back 118

BELITTLE (bih LIT ul) v to make to seem little; to put some one down<br /><br />• We worked hard to put out the fire, but the fire chief belittled our efforts by saying he wished he had brought some marshmallows.<br />• The chairman’s belittling comments made everyone feel small.

Front 119

BELLIGERENT

Back 119

BELLIGERENT (buh LIJ ur unt) adj combative; quarrelsome; waging war<br /><br />• Al was so belligerent that the convention had the feel of a boxing match.<br />A bully is belligerent. To be belligerent is to push other people around, to be noisy and argumentative, to threaten other people, and generally to make a nuisance of oneself.<br />Opposing armies in a war are referred to as belligerents. Sometimes one belligerent in a conflict is more belligerent than the other.

Front 120

BEMUSED

Back 120

BEMUSED (bih MYOOZD) adj confused; bewildered<br><br>• The two stood bemused in the middle of the parking lot at Disneyland, trying to remember where they had parked their car.<br>• Ralph was bemused when all lights and appliances in his house began switching on and off for no apparent reason.<br>To muse is to think about or ponder things. To be bemused, then, is to have been thinking about things to the point of confusion.<br>People often use the word bemused when they really mean amused, but bemusement is no laughing matter. Bemused means confused.

Front 121

BENEFACTOR

Back 121

BENEFACTOR (BEN uh fak tur) n one who provides help, especially in the form of a gift or donation<br /><br />To give benefits is to be a benefactor. To receive benefits is to be a beneficiary. People very, very often confuse these two words. It would be to their benefit to keep them straight.<br />If your next-door neighbor rewrites his life insurance policy so that you will receive all his millions when he dies, then you become the beneficiary of the policy. If your neighbor dies, he is your benefactor.<br />A malefactor (MAL uh fak tur) is a person who does bad things.<br />• Batman and Robin made life hell for malefactors in Gotham City.<br />Remember Maleficent, Sleeping

Front 122

BENEVOLENT

Back 122

BENEVOLENT (beh NEV uh lunt) adj generous; kind; doing good deeds<br /><br />Giving money to the poor is a benevolent act. To be benevolent is to bestow benefits. The United Way, like any charity, is a benevolent organization.<br />Malevolent (muh LEV uh lunt) means evil, or wishing to do harm.

Front 123

BENIGN

Back 123

BENIGN (bih NYNE) adj gentle; not harmful; kind; mild<br /><br />• Karla has a benign personality; she is not at all unpleasant to be with.<br />• The threat of revolution turned out to be benign; nothing much came of it.<br />• Charlie was worried that he had cancer, but the lump on his leg turned out to be benign.<br />The difference between a benign person and a benevolent (see separate entry) one is that the benevolent one is actively kind and generous while the benign one is more passive. Benevolence is usually active generosity or kindness, while benignancy tends to mean simply not causing harm.<br />The opposite of a benign tumor is a malignant one. This is a tumor that can kill you. A malignant personality is one you wish a surgeon would remove. Malignant means nasty, evil, full of ill will. The word malignant also conveys a sense that evil is spread ing, as with a cancer. An adjective that means the same thing is malign.<br />As a verb, malign has a different meaning. To malign someone is to s

Front 124

BEQUEST

Back 124

BEQUEST (bih KWEST) n something left to someone in a will<br /><br />If your next-door neighbor leaves you all his millions in a will, the money is a bequest from him to you. It is not polite to request a bequest. Just keep smiling and hope for the best.<br />To leave something to someone in a will is to bequeath it. A bequest is something that has been bequeathed.

Front 125

BEREAVED

Back 125

BEREAVED (buh REEVD) adj deprived or left desolate, especially through death<br><br>• The new widow was still bereaved when we saw her. Every time any one mentioned her dead husband’s name, she burst into tears.<br>• The children were bereaved by the death of their pet. Then they got a new pet.<br>Bereft (buh REFT) means the same thing as bereaved.

Front 126

BESET

Back 126

BESET (bih SET) v to harass; to surround<br><br>• The bereaved widow was beset by grief.<br>• Problems beset the expedition almost from the beginning, and the mountain climbers soon returned to their base camp.<br>• The little town was beset by robberies, but the police could do nothing.

Front 127

BLASPHEMY

Back 127

BLASPHEMY (BLAS fuh mee) n irreverence; an insult to something held sacred; profanity<br><br>In the strictest sense, to commit blasphemy is to say nasty, insulting things about God. The word is used more broadly, though, to cover a wide range of nasty, insulting comments.<br>To blaspheme (blas FEEM) is to use swear words or say deeply irreverent things. A person who says such things is blasphemous.

Front 128

BLATANT

Back 128

BLATANT (BLAYT unt) adj unpleasantly or offensively noisy; glaring<br /><br />• David was blatantly critical of our efforts; that is, he was noisy and obnoxious in making his criticisms.<br />Blatant is often confused with flagrant, since both words mean glaring. Blatant indicates that something was not concealed very well, whereas flagrant indicates that something was intentional. A blatant act is usually also a flagrant one, but a flagrant act isn’t necessarily blatant. You might want to refer to the listing for flagrant.

Front 129

BLIGHT

Back 129

BLIGHT (blyte) n a disease in plants; anything that injures or destroys<br /><br />• An early frost proved a blight to the citrus crops last year, so we had no orange juice for breakfast.

Front 130

BLITHE

Back 130

BLITHE (blythe) adj carefree; cheerful<br><br>• The blithe birds in the garden were making so much noise that Jamilla began to think about the shotgun in the attic.<br>• The children were playing blithely in the hazardous-waste dump. While they played, they were blithely unaware that they were doing some thing dangerous.<br>To be blithely ignorant is to be happily unaware. Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 131

BOURGEOIS

Back 131

BOURGEOIS (boor ZHWAH) adj middle class, usually in a pejorative sense; boringly conventional<br><br>The original bourgeoisie (boor zhwaw ZEE) were simply people who lived in cities, an innovation at the time. They weren’t farmers and they weren’t nobles. They were members of a new class—the middle class. Now the word is used mostly in making fun of or sneering at people who seem to think about nothing but their possessions and other comforts and about conforming with other people who share those concerns.<br>A hip young city dweller might reject life in the suburbs as being too bourgeois. A person whose dream is to have a swimming pool in his backyard might be called bourgeois by someone who thinks there are more important things in life. Golf is often referred to as a bourgeois sport.<br>Note carefully the pronunciation of these words.

Front 132

BOVINE

Back 132

BOVINE (BOH vyne) adj cow related; cowlike<br><br>• Cows are bovine, obviously. Eating grass is a bovine concern.<br>There are a number of similar words based on other animals: canine (KAY nyne): dogs equine (EE kwyne): horses feline (FEE lyne): cats piscine (PYE seen): fish porcine (POR syne): pigs ursine (UR syne): bears

Front 133

BREVITY

Back 133

BREVITY (BREV i tee) n briefness<br><br>• The audience was deeply grateful for the brevity of the after-dinner speaker’s remarks.<br>• The reader of this book may be grateful for the brevity of this example.<br>Brevity is related to the word abbreviate.

Front 134

BROACH

Back 134

BROACH (brohch) v to open up a subject for discussion, often a delicate subject<br><br>• Henrietta was proud of her new dress, so no one knew how to broach the subject with her of how silly grandmothers look in leather.

Front 135

BUCOLIC

Back 135

BUCOLIC (byoo KAHL ik) adj charmingly rural; rustic; countrylike<br /><br />• The changing of the autumn leaves, old stone walls, distant views, and horses grazing in green meadows are examples of bucolic splendor.<br>• The bucolic scene didn’t do much for the city child, who preferred screaming fire engines and honking horns to the sounds of a babbling brook.

Front 136

BUREAUCRACY

Back 136

BUREAUCRACY (byoo RAHK ruh see) n a system of government administration consisting of numerous bureaus or offices, especially one run according to inflexible and inefficient rules; any large administrative system characterized by inefficiency, lots of rules, and red tape<br><br>• The Department of Motor Vehicles is a bureaucracy. The forms you have to fill out all request unnecessary information. After you finally get every thing all filled out and handed in, you don’t hear another word from the department for many months.<br>The people who work in a bureaucracy are called bureaucrats. These people and the inefficient procedures they follow might be called bureaucratic. Administrative systems outside the government can be bureaucratic, too. A high school principal who requires teachers and students to fill out forms for everything might be called bureaucratic.

Front 137

BURGEON

Back 137

BURGEON (BUR jun) v to expand; to flourish<br><br>• The burgeoning weeds in our yard soon overwhelmed the grass.<br>Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 138

BURLESQUE

Back 138

BURLESQUE (bur LESK) n a ludicrous, mocking, lewd imitation<br /><br />• Vaudeville actors frequently performed burlesque works on the stage.<br />Burlesque, parody, lampoon, and caricature share similar meanings.

Front 139

CACOPHONY

Back 139

CACOPHONY (kuh KAHF uh nee) n harsh-sounding mixture of words, voices, or sounds<br /><br />• The parade’s two marching bands played simultaneously; the resulting cacophony drove many spectators to tears.<br />A cacophony isn’t just a lot of noise—it’s a lot of noise that doesn’t sound good together. A steam whistle blowing isn’t a cacophony. But a high school orchestra that had never rehearsed together might very well produce a cacophony. The roar of engines, horns, and sirens arising from a busy city street would be a cacophony. A lot of people all shouting at once would produce a cacophony.<br />Euphony is the opposite of cacophony. Euphony is pleasing sound.

Front 140

CADENCE

Back 140

CADENCE (KAYD uns) n rhythm; the rise and fall of sounds<br><br>• We wished the tone of Irwin’s words would have a more pleasing cadence, but he spoke in a dull monotone.

Front 141

CAJOLE

Back 141

CAJOLE (kuh JOHL) v to persuade someone to do something he or she doesn’t want to do<br><br>• I didn’t want to give the speech, but Enrique cajoled me into doing it by telling me what a good speaker I am. As it turned out, he simply hadn’t been able to find anyone else.

Front 142

CALLOW

Back 142

CALLOW (KAL oh) adj immature<br><br>• The patient was alarmed by the callowness of the medical staff. The doctors looked too young to have graduated from high school, much less from medical school.<br>To be callow is to be youthfully naive, inexperienced, and unsophisticated.

Front 143

CANDOR

Back 143

CANDOR (KAN dur) n truthfulness; sincere honesty<br><br>• My best friend exhibited candor when he told me that for many years now he has believed me to be a jerk.<br>• Teddy appreciated Ross’s candor; Teddy was glad to know that Ross thought Teddy’s sideburns looked stupid.<br>To show candor is to be candid. What is candid about the camera on “Candid Camera”? The camera is candid because it is truthful in showing what people do when they can’t turn off the coffee machine in the office where they’re applying for a job. Candid does not mean concealed or hidden, even though the camera on “Candid Camera” is concealed. To be candid is to speak frankly.

Front 144

CAPITALISM

Back 144

CAPITALISM (KAP uh tuh liz um) n an economic system in which businesses are owned by private citizens (not by the government) and in which the resulting products and services are sold with relatively little government control<br><br>The American economy is capitalist. If you wanted to start a company to sell signed photographs of yourself, you could. You, and not the government, would decide how much you would charge for the pictures. Your success or failure would depend on how many people decided to buy your pictures.

Front 145

CAPITULATE

Back 145

CAPITULATE (kuh PICH uh layt) v to surrender; to give up or give in<br><br>• On the twentieth day of the strike, the workers capitulated and went back to work without a new contract.<br>• So few students paid attention to Mr. Hernandez that he had to recapitulate his major points at the end of the class.<br>To recapitulate is not to capitulate again. To recapitulate is to summarize.

Front 146

CAPRICIOUS

Back 146

CAPRICIOUS (kuh PRISH us) adj unpredictable; likely to change at any moment<br><br>• Arjun was capricious. One minute he said his favorite car was a Volkswagen Jetta; the next minute he said it was a Passat.<br>• The weather is often said to be capricious. One minute it’s snowing; the next minute it’s 120 degrees in the shade.<br>• Kendra attempted a quadruple somersault off the ten-meter diving board as a caprice. It was a painful caprice.<br>A caprice (kuh PREES) is a whim. Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 147

CARICATURE

Back 147

CARICATURE (KAR uh kuh chur) n a portrait or description that is purposely distorted or exaggerated, often to prove some point about its subject<br><br>• Khoa sat for a caricature at the end of the marathon, but wasn’t pleased with the result: The portrait exaggerated his already dominant acne.<br>Editorial cartoonists often draw caricatures. Big noses, enormous glasses, floppy ears, and other distortions are common in such drawings. A politician who has been convicted of bribery might be depicted in a prison uniform or with a ball and chain around his ankle. If the politician has big ears to begin with, the ears might be drawn vastly bigger.<br>A caricature uses exaggeration to bring out the hidden character of its subject. The word can also be used as a verb. To caricature someone is to create such a distorted portrait.

Front 148

CASTIGATE

Back 148

CASTIGATE (KAS tuh gayt) v to criticize severely; to chastise<br><br>• Jose’s mother-in-law castigated him for forgetting to pick her up at the airport.

Front 149

CATALYST

Back 149

CATALYST (KAT uh list) n in chemistry, something that changes the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being changed; anyone or anything that makes something happen without being directly involved in it<br /><br />• When the mad scientist dropped a few grains of the catalyst into his test tube, the bubbling liquid began to boil furiously.<br />This word is often used outside the laboratory as well. The launching of Sputnik by the Russians provided the catalyst for the creation of the modern American space program.<br />• The tragic hijacking provided the catalyst for Congress’s new anti-terrorist legislation.

Front 150

CATEGORICAL

Back 150

CATEGORICAL (kat uh GOR uh kul) adj unconditional; absolute<br /><br />A categorical denial is one without exceptions—it covers every category.<br />• Crooked politicians often make categorical denials of various charges against them. Then they go to jail.<br />• I categorically refuse to do anything whatsoever at any time, in any place, with anyone.

Front 151

CATHARSIS

Back 151

CATHARSIS (kuh THAR sis) n purification that brings emotional relief or renewal<br /><br />To someone with psychological problems, talking to a psychiatrist can lead to a catharsis. A catharsis is a sometimes traumatic event after which one feels better.<br />A catharsis is cathartic. Some people find emotional movies cathartic—watching one often allows them to release buried feelings. Cathartic can also be a noun.

Front 152

CATHOLIC

Back 152

CATHOLIC (KATH lik) adj universal; embracing everything<br /><br />• Da Vinci was a catholic genius who excelled at everything he did.<br />Parochial means narrow-minded, so parochial and catholic are almost opposites.<br />Catholic with a small c means universal. Catholic with a large C means Roman Catholic or pertaining to an ancient, undivided Christian church.

Front 153

CAUSTIC

Back 153

CAUSTIC (KAW stik) adj like acid; corrosive<br><br>Paint remover is a caustic substance; if you spill it on your skin, your skin will burn.<br>• The caustic detergentate right through Henry’s laundry.<br>• The teacher’s caustic criticism of Sally’s term paper left her in tears.<br>Caustic can be used figuratively as well. A caustic comment is one that is so nasty or insulting that it seems to sting or burn the person to whom it is directed.

Front 154

CELIBACY

Back 154

CELIBACY (SEL uh buh see) n abstinence from sex<br /><br />People who practice celibacy don’t practice sex. Celibacy is one of the requirements for Catholic priesthood.<br />To practice celibacy is to be celibate. You will look a very long time in Hollywood before you find a celibate celebrity.

Front 155

CENSURE

Back 155

CENSURE (SEN shur) v to condemn severely for doing something bad<br /><br />• The Senate sometimes censures senators for breaking laws or engaging in behavior unbecoming to an elected official.<br />Censure can also be a noun.<br />• The clumsy physician feared the censure of his fellow doctors, so he stopped treating anything more complicated than the common cold.<br />A Senate that made a habit of censuring senators might be said to be censorious. To be censorious is to be highly critical—to do a lot of censuring.

Front 156

CEREBRAL

Back 156

CEREBRAL (suh REE brul) adj brainy; intellectually refined<br><br>Your cerebrum is the biggest part of your brain. To be cerebral is to do and care about things that really smart people do and care about.<br>A cerebral discussion is one that is filled with big words and concerns abstruse matters that ordinary people can’t unde stand.<br>• Sebastian was too cerebral to be a baseball announcer; he kept talking about the existentialism of the outfield.<br>This word can also be pronounced “SER uh brul.”

Front 157

CHAGRIN

Back 157

CHAGRIN (shuh GRIN) n humiliation; embarrassed disappointment<br><br>• Much to my chagrin, I began to giggle during the eulogy at the funeral.<br>• Doug was filled with chagrin when he lost the race because he had put his shoes on the wrong feet.<br>The word chagrin is sometimes used incorrectly to mean surprise. There is, however, a definite note of shame in chagrin. To be chagrined is to feel humiliated or mortified.

Front 158

CHARISMA

Back 158

CHARISMA (kuh RIZ muh) n a magical-seeming ability to attract followers or inspire loyalty<br /><br />• The glamorous presidential candidate had a lot of charisma; voters didn’t seem to support him so much as be entranced by him.<br />• The evangelist’s undeniable charisma enabled him to bring in millions and millions of dollars in donations to his television show.<br />To have charisma is to be charismatic.

Front 159

CHARLATAN

Back 159

CHARLATAN (SHAR luh tun) n fraud; quack; conman<br /><br />• Buck was selling what he claimed was a cure for cancer, but he was just a charlatan (the pills were jelly beans).<br />• The flea market usually attracts a lot of charlatans who sell phony products that don’t do what they claim they will.

Front 160

CHASM

Back 160

CHASM (KAZ um) n a deep, gaping hole; a gorge<br><br>• Mark was so stupid that his girlfriend wondered whether there wasn’t a chasm where his brain should be.<br>• The bad guys were gaining, so the hero grabbed the heroine and swung across the chasm on a slender vine.<br>Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 161

CHASTISE

Back 161

CHASTISE (chas TYZE) v to inflict punishment on; to discipline<br><br>• Mother chastised us for firing our bottle rockets through the living-room window.<br>• Chastising the dog for sleeping in the fireplace never seemed to do any good; the minute we turned our backs, he’d curl up in the ashes again.

Front 162

CHICANERY

Back 162

CHICANERY (shi KAY nuh ree) n trickery; deceitfulness; artifice, especially legal or political<br><br>• Political news would be dull were it not for the chicanery of our elected officials.<br>Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 163

CHIMERA

Back 163

CHIMERA (kye MEER uh) n an illusion; a foolish fancy<br><br>• Jie’s dream of becoming a movie star was just a chimera.<br>• Could you take a picture of a chimera with a camera? No, of course not. It wouldn’t show up on the film.<br>Be careful not to mispronounce this word. Its apparent similarity to chimney is just a chimera. Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 164

CHOLERIC

Back 164

CHOLERIC (KAHL ur ik) adj hot-tempered; quick to anger<br><br>• The choleric watchdog would sink his teeth into anyone who came within biting distance of his doghouse.<br>• When the grumpy old man was in one of his choleric moods, the children refused to go near him.<br>• The choleric administrator kept all the secretaries in a state of terror.

Front 165

CHRONIC

Back 165

CHRONIC (KRAHN ik) adj constant; lasting a long time; inveterate<br /><br />• DJ’s chronic back pains often kept him from football practice, but the post-game internal bleeding lasted only a day.<br />Someone who always comes in last could be called a chronic loser.<br />Chronic is usually associated with something negative or undesirable: chronic illness, chronic failure, chronic depression. You would be much less likely to encounter a reference to chronic success or chronic happiness, unless the writer or speaker was being ironic.<br />A chronic disease is one that lingers for a long time, doesn’t go away, or keeps coming back. The opposite of a chronic disease is an acute disease. An acute disease is one that comes and goes very quickly. It may be severe, but it doesn’t last forever.

Front 166

CHRONICLE

Back 166

CHRONICLE (KRAHN uh kul) n a record of events in order of time; a history<br /><br />• Sally’s diary provided her mother with a detailed chronicle of her daughter’s extracurricular activities.<br />Chronicle can also be used as a verb.<br />• The reporter chronicled all the events of the revolution. Chronology and chronicle are nearly synonyms: Both provide a chronological list of events. Chronological means in order of time.

Front 167

CIRCUITOUS

Back 167

CIRCUITOUS (sur KYOO uh tus) adj roundabout; not following a direct path<br /><br />• The circuitous bus route between the two cities went here, there, and everywhere, and it took an extremely long time to get anywhere.<br />• The sales man’s route was circuitous—it wound aimlessly through many small towns.<br />A circuitous argument is one that rambles around for quite a while before making its point.<br />A circuitous argument is very similar to a circular argument, which is one that ends up where it begins or attempts to prove something with out offering any new information. To say, “Straight means not curved, and curved means not straight,” is to give a circular, or tautological, definition of the word straight.

Front 168

CIRCUMLOCUTION

Back 168

CIRCUMLOCUTION (sur kum loh KYOO shun) n an indirect expression; use of wordy or evasive language<br><br>• The lawyer’s circumlocution left everyone in the courtroom wondering what had been said.<br>• The indicted executive evaded the reporters’ questions by resorting to circumlocution.<br>To use a lot of big, vague words and to speak in a disorganized way is to be circumlocutory.

Front 169

CIRCUMSCRIBE

Back 169

CIRCUMSCRIBE (SUR kum skrybe) v to draw a line around; to set the limits; to define; to restrict<br><br>• The Constitution clearly circumscribes the restrictions that can be placed on our personal freedoms.<br>• A barbed-wire fence and armed guards circumscribed the movement of the prisoners.

Front 170

CIRCUMSPECT

Back 170

CIRCUMSPECT (SUR kum spekt) adj cautious<br><br>• As a public speaker, Nick was extremely circumspect; he always took great care not to say the wrong thing or give offense.<br>• The circumspect general did everything he could not to put his soldiers at unnecessary risk.<br>The word circumspect comes from Greek roots meaning around and look (as do the words circle and inspect). To be circumspect is to look around carefully before doing something.

Front 171

CIRCUMVENT

Back 171

CIRCUMVENT (sur kum VENT) v to frustrate as though by surrounding<br><br>• Our hopes for an early end of the meeting were circumvented by the chairperson’s refusal to deal with the items on the agenda.<br>• The angry school board circumvented the students’ effort to in stall color television sets in every classroom.

Front 172

CIVIL

Back 172

CIVIL (SIV ul) adj polite; civilized; courteous<br><br>• Our dinner guests conducted themselves civilly when we told them we weren’t going to serve them dinner after all. They didn’t bang their cups on the table or throw their plates to the floor.<br>The word civil also has other meanings. Civil rights are rights established by law. Civil service is government service. Consult your dictionary for the numerous shades of meaning.

Front 173

CLEMENCY

Back 173

CLEMENCY (KLEM un see) n mercy; forgiveness; mildness<br><br>• The governor committed an act of clemency when he released all the convicts from the state penitentiary.<br>Mild weather is called clement weather; bad weather is called inclement.<br>• You should wear a coat and carry an umbrella in inclement weather.

Front 174

CLICHÉ

Back 174

CLICHÉ (klee SHAY) n an overused saying or idea<br><br>• The expression “you can’t judge a book by its cover” is a cliché; it’s been used so many times, that freshness has been worn away.<br>Clichés are usually true. That’s why they’ve been repeated often enough to become overused. But they are boring. A writer who uses a lot of clichés—referring to a foreign country as “a land of contrasts,” describing spring as “a time of renewal,” saying that a snow fall is “a blanket of white”—is not in teresting to read, because there is nothing new about these observations.<br>Note carefully the pronunciation of this French word.

Front 175

CLIQUE

Back 175

CLIQUE (kleek) n an exclusive group bound together by some shared quality or interest<br /><br />• The high school newspaper staff was a real clique; they all hung out together and wouldn’t talk to anyone else. It was hard to have fun at that school if you weren’t a member of the right clique. The cheerleaders were cliquish as well.<br />Note carefully the pronunciation of this word.

Front 176

COALESCE

Back 176

COALESCE (koh uh LES) v to come together as one; to fuse; to unite<br /><br />• When the dough coalesced into a big black blob, we began to wonder whether the cookies would be edible.<br />• The people in our neighborhood coalesced into a powerful force for change in the community.<br />• The Southern coalition in Congress is the group of representatives from Southern states who often vote the same way.<br />A coalition is a group of people that has come together for some purpose, often a political one.<br />Coal miners and cola bottlers might coalesce into a coalition for the purpose of persuading coal mine owners to provide cola machines in coal mines.

Front 177

COERCE

Back 177

COERCE (koh URS) v to force someone to do or not to do some thing<br><br>• Darth Vader tried flattery, Darth Vader tried gifts, Darth Vader even tried to coerce, but Darth Vader was never able to make Han Solo reveal the hidden rebel base.<br>The noun is coercion (koh UR shun).

Front 178

COGENT

Back 178

COGENT (KOH junt) adj powerfully convincing<br><br>• Shaft was cogent in explaining why he needed the confidential files, so we gave them to him.<br>• The lawyer’s argument on his client’s behalf was not cogent, so the jury convicted his client. The jury was persuaded by the cogency of the prosecuting attorney’s argument.<br>Cogent reasons are extremely persuasive ones.

Front 179

COGNITIVE

Back 179

COGNITIVE (KAHG nu tiv) adj dealing with how we know the world around us through our senses; mental<br><br>Scientists study the cognitive apparatus of human beings to pattern how computers should gather information about the world.<br>Cognition is knowing.

Front 180

COGNIZANT

Back 180

COGNIZANT (KAHG nu zunt) adj aware; conscious<br><br>To be cognizant of your responsibilities is to know what your responsibilities are.<br>• Al was cognizant of the dangers of sword swallowing, but he tried it anyway and hurt himself quite badly.

Front 181

COHERENT

Back 181

COHERENT (koh HEER unt) adj holding together; making sense<br><br>• After puzzling over Grace’s disorganized Holy Roman Empire essay for almost an hour, Ms. Fabricius needed only twenty minutes to read Arjun’s coherent paper on the Defenestration of Prague.<br>A coherent wad of cotton balls is one that holds together.<br>A coherent explanation is an explanation that makes sense; the explanation holds together.<br>To hold together is to cohere.

Front 182

COLLOQUIAL

Back 182

COLLOQUIAL (kul OH kwee ul) adj conversational; informal in language<br /><br />A writer with a colloquial style is a writer who uses ordinary words and whose writing seems as informal as common speech.<br />“The way I figure it” is a colloquial expression, or a colloquia ism; People often say it but it isn’t used in formal prose.<br />A colloquy (KAHL uh kwee) is a conversation or conference.

Front 183

COLLUSION

Back 183

COLLUSION (kuh LOO zhun) n conspiracy; secret cooperation<br><br>• The increase in oil prices was the result of collusion by the oil-producing nations.<br>• There was collusion among the owners of the baseball teams; they agreed secretly not to sign any expensive free agents.<br>If the baseball owners were in collusion, then you could say that they had colluded. To collude is to conspire.

Front 184

COMMENSURATE

Back 184

COMMENSURATE (kuh MEN sur it) adj equal; proportionate<br><br>• Ryan’s salary is commensurate with his ability; like his ability, his salary is small.<br>• The number of touchdowns scored by the team and the number of its victories were commensurate (both zero).

Front 185

COMPELLING

Back 185

COMPELLING (kum PEL ing) adj forceful; causing to yield<br><br>• A compelling argument for buying a digital video recorder is one that makes you go out and buy a digital video recorder.<br>• The recruiter’s speech was so compelling that nearly everyone in the auditorium enlisted in the Army when it was over.<br>To compel someone to do something is to force him or her to do it.<br>• Our consciences compelled us to turn over the money we had found to the authorities.<br>The noun is compulsion, which also means an irresistible impulse to do something irrational.

Front 186

COMPENDIUM

Back 186

COMPENDIUM (kum PEN dee um) n a summary; an abridgment<br /><br />• A yearbook often contains a compendium of the offenses, achievements, and future plans of the members of the senior class.