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Abate
- To reduce in amount, degree, or severity.
- As the hurrican's force abated, the winds dropped down and the sea becam calm.
- Similar: ebb, lapse,moderate, relent,slacken,wane,subside
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Aberrant
- Deviating from what is normal.
- Since he had been a steady, cheerful worker for many years, his fellow postal workers did not expect his abberant burst of rage.
Similar: abnormal, anomalous,deviant,divergent,errant,irregular
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Abscond
- to leave secretly
- The patron absconded from the resteraunt without paying his bill by sneaking out the back door.
Similar: flee,decamp,escape
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Abstain
- to choose not to do something
- During Lent, practicing Catholics abstain from eating meat.
Similar:forbear,refrain,withhold
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Abyss
- an extremely deep hole
- The submarine dove into the abyss to chart the previously unseen depths.
- Similar: chasm,void
- Related: Abyssal Abysmal
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Adulterate
- to make impure
- The restauranteur made his ketchup last londer by adulterating it with water.
- Similar:doctor;debase;load
- Related: unadulterated; adultery
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Advocate
- to speak in favor
- The vegetarian advocated a diet containing no meat.
- Similar:back,champion,support
- Related: Advocac
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Aesthetic
- concerning the appreciation of beauty
- The Aesthetic Movement regarded the pursuit of beauty to be the only true purpose of art.
- Similar: artistic,tasteful
- Related: Aesthe, Aestheticism
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Aggrandize
- to increase in power,influence,and reputation
- The supervisor sought to aggrandize himself by claiming the the achievements of his staff were actually his own.
Similar: ampilfy,elevate,glorify,apotheosize,augment,ennoble
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Alacrity
- speed or quickness
- The resteraunt won a reputation for fine servicessince the wait staff responded to their clients' request with alacrity.
Similar:celerity,dispatch,haste,swiftness
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Alleviate
- to make more bearable
- Tanking aspirin helps alleviate a headache.
Similar:allay,mitigate,assuage,palliate,lighten,ease,lessen
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Ambiguous
- doubtful or uncertian, can be interpreted several ways
- The directions he gave were so ambiguous that we disagreed on which way to turn.
Similar:cloudy,equivocal,nebulous,vague,obscure,dubious
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Ameliorate
- to make better; to improve
- The doctor was able to ameliorate the patient's suffering using pain killers.
Similar:better,pacify,improve,upgrade,amend
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Anarchronism
- something out of place in time
- The aged hippie used anarchronistic phrases liek "groovey" and "far ouy" that had not been popular for years.
Similar: archaism,incongruity
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Analogous
- similar or alike in some way; equivalent to
- His mother argued that not goin to college was analogous to throwing his life away.
Similar:alike,homogenous,parallelcorresponding
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Anomaly
- deviation from what is normal
- Albino animals may display too great an anomaly in their coloring to attract normally colored mates.
Similar: aberrant,preternaturalness,abnormality,irregularity
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Antagonize
- to annoy or provoke to anger
- The child discovered that he could antagonize the cat by pullin its tail.
Similar:clash,irritate,provoke,incite,pester,vex
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Antipathy
- extreme dislike
- The antipathy between the French and the English regularly erupted into open warfare.
Similar: abhorrence,animosity,repugnance,animus,aversion,loathing
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Apathy
- lack of interest or emotion
- The apathy of voters is so great that less than half the people who are eligible to vote actually bother to do so.
Similar: disinterest,disregard,lethargy,stolidity,phlegm,lassitude
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Apocryphal
- of questionable authority or authenticity
- There is no hard or authoritative evidence to support the apocryphal tales that link Roswell, New Mexico incident to a downed UFO.
Similar:disputed,fictious,fradulent,doubtful
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Approbation
- approval and praise
- The apporbation the Jerry Lewis recieved in France included a medal fro mthe Misistry of Cultrure.
- Similar: acclaim, adulation,commendation,extol,kudos,hail,praise
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Arbitrary
- determined by chance or impulse
- When you lack the information to judge what to do next, you will be forced to make an arbitrary decision.
Similar: erratic,wayward,indiscriminate,random,changeable
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Arbitrate
- to judge a dispute between two opposing parties
- Since the couple could not come to agreement, a judge was forced to arbitrate theri divorce proceedings.
Similar: adjudge,determine,moderate,decide, referee
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Archaic
- ancient, oldfashoined
- Her archaic Commodore computer could not run the latest software.
Similar: ancient,bygone,antediluvian,antigue,fusty,outmoded
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Ardor
- intense and passionate feeling
- Bishop's ardor for the landscape was evident when he passionately described the beauty of the scenic Hudson Valley.
Similar: devotion,anthusiasm,fervidness,zealousness,fire,zeal,passion
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Articulate
- able to speak clearly and expressively
- She articulates her pro-labor views so clearly that unions are among her strongest supporters.
Similar: eloquent, lucid, expresive,fluent, silver-tongued
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Assuage
- to make something unpleasant less severe
- Like many people, Philip LArkin used alcohol to assuage his sense of meaningless and despair.
Similar: allay,comfort,pacify,propiate,sweeten,appease,conciliate,palliate
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Attenuate
- reduce in force or degree; weaken
- The Bill of Rights attenuated the treditional power of government to charge laws at will.
Similar: sap,weaken,dilute,rarefy,devitalize
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Audacious
- fearless and daring
- The Audacious peasant dared to insul the king's mother.
Similar: adventuresome,aggressive,intrepid,valorous,unafraid,plucky,mettlesome
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Austere
- severe or stern in apperance; undecorated
- The lack of decoration makes Zen temples seem austere to the untrained eye.
Similar: bleak,hard,dour,grim,harsh,severe
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