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Quiescent
- motionless
- Many animal are quiescent over the winter months, minimizing activity in order to converse energy.
Similar: latent,dormant
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Repudiate
- to reject the validity of
- The old woman's claim that she was Russian royalty was repudiated when DNA tests showed she was of no relation to them.
Similar: deny,disown,disavow,disclaim,renounce
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Reticent
- silent, reserved
- Physically small and verbally reticent, Joan Didion often went unnoticed by those she was reporting upon.
Similar: cool, standoffish,taciturn,laconic
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Rhetoric
- effective writing or speaking
- Lincoln's talent for rhetoric was evident in his beautifully expressed Gettysburg Address.
Similar: eloquence,oratory
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Satiate
- to satisfy fully or overindulge
- His desire for power was so great that nothing less than complete control of the country could satiate it.
Similar: cloy,gorge,glut,surfeit
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Soporific
- causing sleep or lethargy
- The movie proved to be so soporific that soon loud snores were heard throughout the cinema.
Similar: Hypnotic, slumberous,narcotic,somnolent
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Specious
- deceptively attractive; seemingly plausible but fallacious
- The student's specious excuses for being alte sounded legitimate, but was proved otherwise when his teacher called his home.
Similar: illusory, spurious,ostensible,plausible,sophistic
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Stigma
- a mark of shame or discredit
- In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne was required to wear the letter 'A' on her clothes as a public stigma for her adultery.
Similar:blemsih,stain,blot,taint,opprobrium
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Stolid
- unemotional, lacking sensitivity
- The prisoner appeared stolid and unaffected by the judge's harsh sentence.
Similar: apathetic,phlegmatic,impassive,stoical,indefferent
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Sublime
- lofty or grand
- The music was so sublime that it transformed the rude surroundings into a special place.
Similar: august,grand,exalted,regal,superb,resplendent
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Tacit
- done without using words
- Although not a word said, everyone in the room knew that a tacit agreement was made about what course of action to take.
Similar:implicit,unsaid,implied,undeclared,unuttered
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Taciturn
- silent, not talkative
- The clerk's taciturn nature earned him the nickname Silent Bob.
Similar: laconic,reticent
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Tirade
- long, harsh speech or verbal attack
- Observers were shocked at the manager's tirade over such a minor mistake.
Similar:diatribe,fulmination,harangue,vilification
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Torpor
- extreme mental and physical sluggishness
- After surgery, the patient experienced torpor until the anesthesisa wore off.
Similar:apathy,langour
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Transitory
- temporary, lasting a brief time
- The reporter lived a transitory life, staying in one place only long enough to cover the current story.
Similar: ephemeral,evanescent,fleeting,momentary,impermanent
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Vacillate
- to physically sway or to be indecisive
- The customer held up the line as he vacillated between ordering chocolate-chip or rocky-road ice-cream.
Similar: dither,falter,irresolute,waver,fluctuate
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Venerateto respect deeply
- respect deeply
- In a traditional Confucian society the young venerate their elders, deferring to the elders' wisdom and experience.
Similar: adore,idolize,honor,revere
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Veracity
- filled with truth and accuracy
- She had a reputation for veracity, so everyone trusted her description of events.
Similar:candor,exactitude,probity
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Verbose
- wordy
- The professor's answer was so verbose that his student forgot what the original question had been.
Similar: longwinded, loquacious,superflous,proflix
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Vex
- to annoy
- The old man who loved his peace and quiet was vexed by his neighbor's loud music.
Similar: annoy,chafe,nettle,exasperate,nuisance,provoke
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Viscous
- thick and adhesive, like a slow flowing fluid
- Most viscous liquids, like oil, or honey, become even thicker as they are cooled down.
Similar: thick,glutinous,gelatinous
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Volatile
- easily aroused or changeable; like or explosive
- His volatile personality made it difficult to predict his reaction to anything.
Similar: capricious,inconsistent,errtic,inconstant,fickle,mercurial
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Waver
- to fluctuate between choices
- If you waver too long before making a decision about which testing site to register for, you may not get your first choice.
Similar: dither,irresolute,falter,oscillate,flucuate
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Whimsical
- lightly acting in a fanciful or caprcious manner; unpredictable
- The ballet was whimsical, delighting the children with its imaginative characters and unpredictable sets.
Similar: erracti,flippant,frivolous
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Zeal
- passion, excitement
- She brought her typical zeal to the project sparking enthusiasm in the other team meambers.
Similar: ardency,fervor,pasion,fire
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