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Banal
- predictable,cliche,borgin
- His conversations consisted of banal phrases liek 'Have a nice day'.
- Similar: bland,bromidic,hackneyed,shopworn,platitudinous
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Bolster
- support, prop up
- The presence of giant footprints bolstered the arguement that bigfoot was in the area.
Similar: sustain,unerprinting,crutch, support,uphole
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Bombastic
- pompous in speech and manner
- Mussolini's speechs were mostly bombastic; his boasting and outrageous claims had no basis in fact.
Similar: bloated, declamatory, grandiose, fustian
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Burgeon
- to grow and flourish
- Faulkner neither confirmed nor denied stories about himself, allowing rumor to burgeon where it would.
Similar: bloom,flourish,thrive,prosper
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Burnish
- tp polish
- He burnished the silver coffee pot until it shone brightly.
Similar: buff, polish, luster,scour
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Cacophony
- harsh, jarring noise
- The junior high orchestra created an almost unbearable cacophony as ther tried to tune their instruments.
Similar: discord,chaos,noise,clamor
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Candid
- impartial and honest in speech
- The observations of a child can be charming since they are candid and unpretentious.
Similar: direct, open, honest, straighforward, sincere
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Capricious
- changing one's mind quickly and often
- Queen's Elizabeth I was quite capricious; her courtiers could never be sure which one would catch her fancy.
Similar: arbitrary, chance, fickle,changeable,inconstant
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Castigate
- to punish or criticize harshly
- Americans are amazed at how harshly the authorities in Singapore castigate perpetrators of what would be only minor crimes in the United States.
Similar: admonish, scold, reproach, tax, reproach
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Catalyst
- something that brings about a change in something else
- The imposition of harsh taxes was the catalyst that finally brought on the revolution.
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Caustic
- biting in wit
- Dorothy Parker gained her caustic reputation from her cutting, yet witty, insults.
Similar: acerbic,trenchant,mordant
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Chaos
- great disorder or confused situation
- In the most religious traditions, God created an ordered univiers from a chaotic void.
Similar: clutter, disorder,jumble,disorderness,disarrangement, mess,snarl,turmoil
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Chauvinist
- someone prejudiced in favor of a group that he or she belongs
- The attitude that men mus be obeyed since they are inherently superior to women is commone amount male chauvinists.
Similar: biased, partial,prepossessed,partisan,one-sided
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Chicanery
- deception by means of raft or guile
- Dishonest used-car salesmen often use chicanery to sell their beat-up old cars.
Similar: artiface,deception,conniving,craftiness,misrepresentation,sneakiness,underhandedness
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Circumspect
- cautious, aware of potential consequences
- She was very circumspect in her language and behavior when first introduced to her fiancee's parents.
Similar: alert, cautious,heedful,solicitous,wary,prudent
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Coalesce
- to grow together to form a single whole
- The sun and planets eventually coalesced out of vast cloud of gas and dust.
Similar: blend, amalgamate, consolidate, fuse, unite
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Cogent
- convincing and well-reasoned
- Swayed by the cogent argument of the defense the jury had no choice but to acquit the defendant.
Similar: convincing, persuasive,solid,valid,tellin
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Condone
- to overlook, pardone or disregard
- The prisoner was condoned due to newly discovered evidence.
Similar: exculpate,excuse,pardon,remit
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Connoisseur
- a person with expert knowledge or discriminaing tastes
- I am a connoisseur of beer; only loving miller lite.
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Convoluted
- intricated and complicated
- My AP class was convoluted by my teacher.
Similar: perplexing,complex,elaborate,tangled,knotty
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Corroborate
- supporting evidence
- Fingerprints provided corroboration for the witness's testimony that he saw the defendant in the victim's apartment.
Similar: buttress,confirm,verify,substantiate, bear out, authenticate
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Credulous
- too trusting; gullible
- Although some 4 year-olds believe in the Easter Bunny, only the most credulous 9 year olds also believe in him.
Similar: naive,susceptable,trusting
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Crescendo
- Stedily incresing in volume or force
- The crescendo of tension built in the movie as the killer was sneaking into the house.
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