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CHAUVINIST
- (n): someone prejudiced in favor of a group to chich he or she belongs.
- ex: The attitude that men are inherently superior to women and therefore must be obeyed is common among male CHAUNINISTS.
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CHICANERY
- (n): deception by means of craft or guile
- ex: Dishonest used car sales people often use CHICANERY to sell their beat-up old cars.
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COGENT
- (adj): convincing and well reasoned
- ex: Swayed by the COGENT argument of the defense, the jury had no choice but to acquit the defendant.
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CONDONE
- (v): to overlook, pardon, or disrsegard
- ex: Some theorists believe that failing to prosecute minor crimes is the same as CONDONING an air of lawlessness.
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CONVOLUTED
- (adj): intricate and complicated
- ex: Although man people bought A Brieft history of Time, few could follow its CONVOLUTED ideas and theories.
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CORROBORATE
- (v): to provide supporting evidence
- ex: fingerprints CORROBORATED the witness's testimony that he saw the defendant in the victim's apartment.
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CREDULOUS
- (adj): too trusting; gullible
- ex: Although some four-year-olds believe in the Easter Bunny, only the most CREDULOUS nine-year-olds also believe in him.
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CRESCENDO
- (n): steadily increasing volume or force
- ex: The CRESCENDO of tension became unbearable as Evel Knievel prepared to jump his motorcycle over the school buses.
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DECORUM
- (n): appropriateness of behavior or conduct; propreity
- ex: The countess complained that the vulgar peasants lacked the DECORUM appropriate for a visit to the palace.
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DEFERENCE
- (n): respect, courtesy
- ex: The respectful young law clerk treated the Supreme Court justice with the utmost DEFERENCE.
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DERIDE
- (v): to speak of or treat with contempt; to mock
- ex: The awkward child was often DERIDED by his cooler peers.
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DESICCATE
- (v): to dry out thoroughly
- ex: After a few weeks of lying on the desert's baking sands, the cow's carcass became completely DESICCATED.
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DESULTORY
- (adj): jumping from onething to another; disconnected
- ex: Diane had a DESULTORY academic record; she had changed majors 12 times in three years
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DIATRIBE
- (n): an abusive, condemnatory speech.
- ex: The trucker bellowed a DIATRIBE at hte driver who had cut him off.
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DIFFIDENT
- (adj): lacking self-confidence
- ex: Steve's DIFFIDENT manner during the job interview stemmed from his nervous nature and lack of experience in the field.
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DILATORY
- (adj): intended to delay
- ex: The Congressman used DILATORY measures to delay the passage of the bill.
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DILETTANTE
- (n): someone with an amateurish and superficial interest in a topic.
- ex: Jerry's friends were such DILETTANTES that they seemed to have new jobs and hobbies every week.
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DIRGE
- (n): a funeral hymn or mournful speech
- ex: Melville wrote the poem "A DIRGE for James McPherson" for the funeral of a Union general who was killed in 1864.
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DISABUSE
- (v): to set right; to free from error
- ex: Galileo's observations DISABUSED scholars of the notion that the sun revolved around the earth.
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DISCERN
- (v): to perceive; to recognize
- ex: It is easy to DISCERN the difference between butter and butter-flavored topping.
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