Sat Hit Parade List Four

Front 1

Belligerent

Back 1

(adj) hostile; aggressive

(n) one who fights fiercely; an invader

Hint 1

The bartender realized that it would be fruitless to try to subdue the BELLIGERENT drunk by himself.

Front 2

Charlatan

Back 2

an imposter, one who acts in a fraudulent manner; a deceiver

Hint 2

“That CHARLATAN of a doctor prescribed the wrong medicine for me!” complained the patient.

Front 3

Consternation

Back 3

dismay; alarm; dread; confused excitement or distress

Hint 3

The CONSTERNATION on the doctor’s face as he read my test results made my heart jump.

Front 4

Convivial

Back 4

festive; characterized by eating and drinking; sociable

Hint 4

The restaurant’s CONVIVIAL atmosphere contrasted starkly with the gloom of Maureen’s empty apartment.

Front 5

Deleterious

Back 5

harmful; damaging; injurious

Hint 5

It we put these defective clocks on the market, it could be quite DELETERIOUS to our reputation.

Front 6

Depose

Back 6

to remove from office or high position; to dethrone; to say under oath; to testify

Hint 6

After being DEPOSED from his throne, the king spent the rest of his life in exile.

Front 7

Fallow

Back 7

uncultivated; unable to bear fruit; having unused potential

Hint 7

This field should lie FALLOW for a year so that the soil does not become completely depleted.

Front 8

Hyperbole

Back 8

exaggeration; overstatement

Hint 8

When the mayor claimed his town was one of the seven wonders of the world, outsiders classified his statement as HYPERBOLE.

Front 9

Inonoclast

Back 9

one who opposes conventionality or attacks established beliefs and ideals

Hint 9

His lack of regard for traditional beliefs soon established him as an ICONOCLAST.

Front 10

Ignominious

Back 10

dishonorable; despicable; shameful; in disgrace

Hint 10

He was humiliated by his IGNOMINIOUS dismissal.

Front 11

Impecunious

Back 11

having little or no money; broke

Hint 11

After the stock market crashed, many former millionaires found themselves IMPECUNIOUS.

Front 12

Impute

Back 12

to blame or assign responsibility to; to give credit to

Hint 12

The children IMPUTED magical powers to the elderly woman.

Front 13

Insatiable

Back 13

unable to be satisfied; tireless

Hint 13

Myrtle’s INSATIABLE appetite made it difficult for her to lose weight.

Front 14

Jubilant

Back 14

shouting with joy; rejoicing

Hint 14

In the stands, her family was JUBILANT when she came over the finish line first.

Front 15

Malevolent

Back 15

hateful; evil; wicked; having intense ill will

Hint 15

The MALEVOLENT gossiper spread false rumor about people just for the pleasure of upsetting them.

Front 16

Mercurial

Back 16

inconstant; changeable; rapidly changing

Hint 16

Her MERCURIAL personality made it difficult to guess how she would react to the bad news.

Front 17

Parody

Back 17

(n) a silly or humorous imitation

(v) to mimic for comic effect

Hint 17

Shana’s new play is a thinly veiled PARODY of the corruption in the White House.

Front 18

Perverse

Back 18

improper; contrary to what is right or good

Hint 18

Anyone who enjoys looking at child pornography is simply PERVERSE.

Front 19

Profligate

Back 19

(adj) wasteful; reckless; corrupt

(n) one who is wildly extravagant

Hint 19

Some historians claim that it was the Romans’ decadent, PROFLIGATE behavior that led to the decline of the Roman Empire.

Front 20

Prolific

Back 20

highly productive; fertile; fruitful

Hint 20

Stephen King, a PROLIFIC writer, seems to come out with a new book every six months.

Front 21

Querulous

Back 21

habitually complaining; likely to find fault

Hint 21

Curtis’s complaint letter received prompt attention after the company labeled him a QUERULOUS potential troublemaker.

Front 22

Rant

Back 22

(n) wildly excessive speech

(v) to speak or scold uncontrollably

Hint 22

The teenager barreled listened as her father RANTED on and on about her disrespectful behavior.

Front 23

Retrograde

Back 23

(v) to fall or move backward; recede

(adj) contrary to; inverse

Hint 23

The RETROGADE motion of the comet puzzled the astronomists, who had expected it to move forwards.

Front 24

Spurn

Back 24

to reject with disdain or contempt; to speak or strike out against

Hint 24

When Harvey proposed to Harriet, she SPURNED him; she’d always considered him an idiot.

Front 25

Supercilious

Back 25

excessively proud; pompous; stuck-up

Hint 25

She was a shallow and scornful society woman with a SUPERCILIOUS manner.

Front 26

Timorous

Back 26

timid; bashful; fearful

Hint 26

A TIMOROUS woman, Lois relied on her children to act for her whenever aggressive behavior was called for.

Front 27

Torpid

Back 27

lacking energy; sluggish

Hint 27

After surgery, the patient was TORPID until the anesthesia wore off.

Front 28

Unwitting

Back 28

unaware; showing lack of knowledge or awareness

Hint 28

Not looking where he was going, John charged into the subway car, UNWITTINGLY knocking down a blind man.

Front 29

Volatile

Back 29

explosive; tending to quick and violent change; easily aroused

Hint 29

The teacher’s VOLATILE moods left the children anxious when they entered his classroom.

Front 30

Voluble

Back 30

talkative, vocal, able to speak fluently

Hint 30

The VOLUBLE man and his silent wife proved the old saying that opposites attract.

Front 31

Ambulatory

Back 31

related to walking; capable of walking

Hint 31

We took an AMBULATORY exploration of the property to determine how well it would support the cattle.

Front 32

Apocryphal

Back 32

of doubtful authenticity; fictitious untrustworthy; mythical

Hint 32

Sharon suspected that the stores she was hearing about the alligators in the sewer were APOCRYPHAL.

Front 33

Atrophy

Back 33

(n) deterioration; erosion

(v) to waste way; to erode from disuse

Hint 33

When Mimi stopped exercising, her muscles began to ATROPHY.

Front 34

Bemused

Back 34

dazed; bewildered; feeling confused and muddled

Hint 34

The computer technician, continually BEMUSED by the complex problems he had to deal with each day, decided to quit and find an easier job.

Front 35

Chimerical

Back 35

imaginary; fanciful; fantastical; visionary

Hint 35

The inventor’s plans seemed CHIMERICAL to the conservative businessman from whom he was asking for financial support.

Front 36

Coalesce

Back 36

to unite or grow together into one

Hint 36

The different factions of the organization COALESCED to form one united front against their opponents.

Front 37

Coterie

Back 37

a clique; a small ingroup with a common interest or skill

Hint 37

Judith invited a COTERIE of fellow stamp enthusiasts to a stamp-trading party.

Front 38

Confluence

Back 38

a junction of two streams; a coming or flowing together

Hint 38

The town of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia was built at the CONFLUNCE of two rivers.

Front 39

Desiccate

Back 39

to dry up; to drain of vigor, life, spirit, or excitement; to dehydrate

Hint 39

The drought DESSICATED the crops which withered in the sun.

Front 40

Diffident

Back 40

bashful, timid, lacking self-reliance

Hint 40

Steve’s DIFFIDENT attitude during the job interview stemmed from his nervous nature and lack of experience.

Front 41

Distend

Back 41

to stretch or expand in all directions; to swell or enlarge

Hint 41

Her stomach was DISTENDED after she gorged on the six-course meal.

Front 42

Endemic

Back 42

native to a people or place; constantly present, like a disease

Hint 42

The health department determined that the outbreak was ENDEMIC to the small village, so they quarantined the inhabitants before the virus could spread.

Front 43

Exhort

Back 43

to advise or warn earnestly; to urge strongly

Hint 43

Rob’s friends EXHORTED him to watch out for ice on the roads when he insisted on driving home in the middle of the snowstorm.

Front 44

Forbearance

Back 44

patience; endurance; tolerance over a long period

Hint 44

In light of the fact that he was new on the job, Collette decided to exercise FORBEARANCE with her assistant’s numerous errors.

Front 45

Gibe

Back 45

(n) sarcastic and insulting words

(v) to ridicule or tease

Hint 45

Tina GIBED at her brothers mercilessly as they clumsily attempted to pitch the tent.

Front 46

Impious

Back 46

lacking respect for God, parents, or anything usually held in respect

Hint 46

The nun cut herself off from her IMPIOUS family after she entered the convent.

Front 47

Insidious

Back 47

secretly harmful; more hurtful or destructive than expected

Hint 47

Iago’s INSIDIOUS comments about Desdemona fuelled Othello’s feelings of jealously regarding his wife.

Front 48

Laconic

Back 48

concise; sparing of words; brief

Hint 48

She was a LACONIC poet who built her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible.

Front 49

Malady

Back 49

disease; ailment; sickness

Hint 49

Elizabeth visited the doctor many times, but he could not identify her mysterious MALADY.

Front 50

Misnomer

Back 50

wrong name

Hint 50

Some feel that to call a nuclear missile a “peacemaker” is a MISNOMER.

Front 51

Obliterate

Back 51

to erase; to destroy; to make unrecognizable

Hint 51

The city center was completely OBLITERATED by the atom bomb.

Front 52

Parsimonious

Back 52

stingy; unwilling to spend money; meager in quantity

Hint 52

Ethel was accused of being PARSIMONIOUS when she refused to pay for her daughter’s college education.

Front 53

Philanthropy

Back 53

love for humankind; good will to all people

Hint 53

The Metropolitan Museum of Art owes much of its collection to the PHILANTHROPY of private collectors who willed their estates to it.

Front 54

Recant

Back 54

to withdraw a statement or belief; to take back an expressed opinion

Hint 54

The statement was so damning that the politician had no hopes of recovering his credibility, even though he tried to RECANT his words.

Front 55

Reverence

Back 55

deep respect; honor, to the point of worship or veneration

Hint 55

All of the nuns in the convent showed REVERENCE to their Mother Superior.

Front 56

Surreptitious

Back 56

secret; sneaky, unauthorized; fradulent

Hint 56

The queen knew nothing of the SURREPTITIOUS plots being hatched against her at court.

Front 57

Tirade

Back 57

a long, harsh speech marked by protest or anger; a tantrum

Hint 57

Observers were shocked at the manager’s TIRADE over such a minor mistake.

Front 58

Trenchant

Back 58

sharp-witted; keen; extremely perceptive; clear-cut; distinct

Hint 58

Dan’s TRENCHANT observations in class made him the professor’s favorite student.

Front 59

Upshot

Back 59

result; consequence; outcome

Hint 59

The UPSHOT of the disagreement was a new bylaw.

Front 60

Whimsical

Back 60

fanciful; somewhat erratic and unpredictable; oddly imaginative

Hint 60

The ballet was WHIMSICAL, delighting the children with the imaginative characters and unpredictable sets.