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abate
- verb: to lessen in intensity or degree
- In an hour or so the storm would abate and they could leave.
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accolade
- noun: an expression of praise
- He does not praise his employees; silence is his highest accolade.
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adulation
- noun: excessive praise; intense adoration
- But here in America, great accomplishments and pop-culture adulation walk hand in hand.
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aesthetic
- adj: dealing with, appreciative of, or responsive to art or the beautiful
- The new browser is much more than an aesthetic overhaul.
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ameliorate
- verb: to make better or more tolerable
- I'm very glad to see someone working to help ameliorate that situation.
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ascetic
- noun: one who practices rigid self-denial, esp. as an act of religious devotion
- He renounced his kingdom and embraced instead the path of the ascetic.
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avarice
- noun: greed, esp. for wealth
- adj form: avaricious
- Usually, politics is about the avarice of one person or group in conflict .
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axiom
- noun: a universally recognized principle
- adj form: axiomatic
- Another axiom of science is dispassionate observation.
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burgeon
- verb: to grow rapidly or florish
- Expect the black market to burgeon again.
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bucolic
- adj: rustic and pastoral; characteristic of rural areas and their inhabitants
- It's true that I had a bucolic, truly peaceful childhood, growing up in a house next to our family's orchard.
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cacophony
- noun: harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance
- adj form: cacophonous
- Some worry that such changes will invite a cacophony of contentious discussion.
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canon
- noun: an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature
- adj form: canonical
- In the ancient canon of the Roman mass, he is ranked among the martyrs
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catalyst
- noun: a substance that accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction without itself changing; a person or thing that causes change
- The bombing attack was the catalyst for war.
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caustic
- adj: burning or stinging; causing corrosion
- a caustic cleaner
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chary
- adj: wary; cautious; sparing
- most people are chary of allowing themselves to be photographed
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misnomer
- n.incorrect name or word for something
- An example of misnomer is someone telling a child that an elephant is a lion.
- “International Airport” is something of a misnomer, since almost all the arriving and departing flights are local.
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misogynist
- n.one who hates women
- A male chauvinist who thinks all women are stupid and manipulative is an example of a misogynist.
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mitigate
- v.to make less forceful; to become more moderate; to make less harsh or undesirable:
- "He was trying to mitigate the damage he had done."
- (n: mitigation)
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cogent
- adj: appealing forcibly to the mind or reason; convincing
- The judge rejected that argument in a cogent and wholly convincing judgment.
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complaisance
- noun: the willingness to comply with the wishes of others
- adj form: complaisant
- A rebellion of public opinion against such complaisance is possible but not certain.
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contentious
- adj: argumentative; quarrelsome; causing controversy or disagreement
- a contentious issue
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contrite
- adj: regretful; penitent; seeking forgiveness
- noun form: contrition
- a broken and a contrite heart
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culpable
- adj: deserving blame
- noun form: culpability
- sometimes you’re just as culpable when you watch something as when you actually participate
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dearth
- noun: smallness of quantity or number; scarcity; a lack
- there is a dearth of evidence
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demur
- verb: to question or oppose
- normally she would have accepted the challenge, but she demurred
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didactic
- adj: intended to teach or instruct
- a didactic novel that set out to expose social injustice
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discretion
- noun: cautious reserve in speech; ability to make responsible decisions
- adj form: discreet
- she knew she could rely on his discretion
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disinterested
- adj: free of bias or self-interested; impartial
- a banker is under an obligation to give disinterested advice
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dogmatic
- adj: expressing a rigid opinion based on unproved or improvable principles
- noun form: dogma
- he gives his opinion without trying to be dogmatic
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ebullience
- noun: the quality of lively or enthusiastic expression of thoughts and feelings
- adj form: ebullient
- the ebullience of happy children
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eclectic
- adj: composed of elements drawn from various sources
- her musical tastes are eclectic
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elegy
- noun: a mournful poem, esp. one lamenting the dead
- adj form: elegiac
- As a result, modern elegies more often than not break with the decorum of earlier modes of mourning and become melancholic, self-centered, or mocking.
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emollient
- adj/noun: soothing, esp. to the skin; making less harsh; mollifying; an agent that softens or smoothes the skin
- an emollient cream
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nefarious
- adj.wicked, evil:
- "a nefarious plot."
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noisome
- adj.harmful, offensive, destructive:
- "The noisome odor of the dump carried for miles."
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obdurate
- adj.hardened against influence or feeling; intractable.
- An example of obdurate is a judge who sentences a man without feeling.
- He is known for his obdurate determination.
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empirical
- adj: based on observation or experiment
- Our data is based on empirical evidence collected in numerous studies.
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engimatic
- adj: mysterious; obscure; difficult to understand
- noun form: enigma
- After I did a little research, the subject of metaphysics was no longer so enigmatic to me.
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ephemeral
- adj: brief, fleeting
- Because of her ephemeral memory, she forgets things all the time!
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esoteric
- adj: intended for or understood by a small, specific group
- The medical research was so esoteric that only a few physicians could actually understand the results.
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eulogy
- noun: a speech honoring the dead
- verb form: eulogize
- he delivered a moving eulogy at his father's funeral
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exonerate
- verb: to remove blame
- The job of the defense attorney is to exonerate his clients and keep them out of jail.
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facetious
- adj: playful; humorous
- Do you always have to be so facetious?
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fallacy
- noun: an invalid or incorrect notion; a mistaken belief
- adj form: fallacious
- Having money makes you happy is a fallacy because happiness has nothing to do with wealth.
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furtive
- adj: marked by stealth; covert; surreptitious
- Students who cheat on tests employ their furtive tactics to avoid getting caught.
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gregarious
- adj: sociable; outgoing; enjoying the company of other people
- If you want to be more approachable, show a gregarious smile.
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harangue
- verb/noun: to deliver a pompous speech or tirade; a long, pompous speech
- As usual, the priest made his usual harangue about the dangers of listening to rap music.
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heretical
- adj: violating accepted dogma or convention
- noun form: heresy
- men holding heretical opinions were condemned to the stake, women to be buried alive.
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hyperbole
- noun: an exaggerated statement, often used as a figure of speech
- adj form: hyperbolic
- Because Janice was a drama queen, she used a hyperbole in practically every sentence.
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impecunious
- adj: lacking funds; without money
- The sorry appearance of the unpaid letter suggested the impecunious condition of its author.
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incipient
- adj: beginning to come into being or to become apparent
- The best way to stop the disease from spreading is by identifying it while it is incipient.
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obviate
- v.to prevent by anticipatory measures; to make unnecessary:
- An example of to obviate is to eliminate the need for a surgery with a new treatment.
- The new medical treatment obviates the need for surgery.
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occlude
- v.to close or shut off; to obstruct (n: occlusion)
- An example of occlude is hiding a gift for someone behind your back.
- An example of occlude is shutting a window to keep a bee outside.
- a blood clot had occluded a major artery in his body
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opaque
- adj.not transparent or transluscent; dense; difficult to comprehend, as inopaque reasoning
- An example of opaque is the quality of a black sheet of paper.
- An example of opaque is the study of astrophysics.
- somehow listeners seem to connect with the songwriter, despite his deeply personal, often opaque lyrics
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inert
- adj: unmoving; lethargic; sluggish
- Nitrogen is a very inert gas: it will neither burn nor support the combustion of ordinary combustibles.
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innocuous
- adj: harmless; causing no damage
- Because the virus was innocuous, the hospital staff had no need to worry about the leak.
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intransigent
- adj: refusing to compromise
- noun form: intransigence
- When it comes to the safety of my children, I must always take an intransigent position to protect them.
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inveigle
- verb: to obtain by deception or flattery
- Their testimony confirmed the defendant's successful efforts to inveigle them into investing in the hedge fund.
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morose
- adj: sad; sullen; melancholy
- When her dog died, the little girl was morose for months.
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odious
- adj: evoking intense aversion or dislike
- Cleaning the toilet is such an odious task.
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opaque
- adj: impenetrable by light; not reflecting light
- As Larry is an experienced liar, his stories are always quite opaque.
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oscillation
- noun: the act or state of swinging back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm
- verb form: oscillate
- He observed a small clockwise motion of the pendulum's apparent plane of oscillation.
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penurious
- adj: penny-pinching; excessively thrifty; ungenerous
- Penurious behavior isn't confined to hosts these days.
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pernicious
- adj: extremely harmful; potentially causing death
- If you are going to behave in such a pernicious manner, I would prefer to not be around you.
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peruse
- verb: to examine with great care
- noun form: perusal
- Peruse the manual to set up your television.
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pious
- adj: extremely reverent or devout; showing strong religious devotion
- noun form: piety
- The students running around naked at Berkley Catholic University do not seem very pious.
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precursor
- noun: one that precedes and indicates or announces another
- All too often, high blood pressure is a precursor of heart disease.
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preen
- verb: to dress up; to primp; to groom oneself with elaborate care
- The kiwi's distinctive scent comes from the wax it secretes to preen its feathers.
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prodigious
- adj: abundant in size, force, or extent; extraordinary
- After overindulging in a prodigious meal, I really needed a nap.
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ossified
- adj.turned to bone; hardened like bone; Inflexible:
- "The ossified culture failed to adapt to new economic conditions and died out."
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panegyric
- n.a writing or speech in praise of a person or thing
- A speech praising a new political theory is an example of a panegyric.
- wrote a panegyric on the centennial of the Nobel laureate's birth
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peccadillo
- n.a small sin or fault
- When you break a minor rule, this is an example of a peccadillo.
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prolific
- adj: producing large volumes or amounts; productive
- The prolific chemical reaction produced a lot of carbon monoxide.
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putrefy
- verb: to rot; to decay and give off a foul odor
- adj form: putrid
- Dead bodies quickly putrefy and so become a health hazard to the living.
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quaff
- verb: to drink deeply
- a man in a dinner suit quaffing champagne
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quiescence
- noun: stillness; motionlessness; quality of being at rest
- adj form: quiescent
- South could draw several inferences from the opponents' quiescence.
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redoubtable
- adj: awe-inspiring; worthy of honor
- The revolt speedily collapsed before this redoubtable commander, and Alem and the other leaders surrendered.
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sanction
- noun/verb: authoritative permission or approval; a penalty intended to enforce compliance; to give permission or authority
- Imposition of sanctions against Iraq.
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satire
- noun: a literary work that ridicules or criticizes a human vice through humor or derision
- adj form: satirical
- Its impossible to watch any kind of western satire with her.
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squalid
- adj: sordid; wretched and dirty as from neglect
- noun form: squalor
- The urban poor often lived and worked in squalid and dangerous conditions.
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stoic
- adj: indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; steadfast
- noun form: stoicism
- That night it's obvious to Jake that Skeet, usually stoic, is deeply upset.
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supplant
- verb: to take the place of; to supersede
- Nintendo tried to supplant personal computers?
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torpid
- adj: lethargic; sluggish; dormant
- noun form: torpor
- They usually sit in little tents, and make holes in the ice from which they capture torpid fish.
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ubiquitous
- adj: existing everywhere at the same time; constantly encountered; widespread
- Personal computers have become ubiquitous in rich countries.
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urbane
- adj: sophisticated; refined; elegant
- noun form: urbanity
- He was a good insurance broker: urbane and vigorous, and he could sell.
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vilify
- verb: to defame; to characterize harshly
- People tend to vilify gambling as the root of all evil.
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viscous
- adj: thick; sticky
- noun form: viscosity
- The resulting paste forms a wet, viscous brown dough.
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pedantic
- adj.showing a narrow concern for rules or formal book learning; making an excessive display of one's own learning:
- "We quickly tired of his pedantic conversation." (n: pedant, pedantry).
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perfidious
- adj.deliberately treacherous; dishonest (n: perfidy)
- A person who lies all the time is an example of someone who would be described as perfidious.
- We were betrayed by a perfidious ally.
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petulant
- adj.easily or frequently annoyed, especially over trivial matters; childishly irritable
- An example of petulant is a toddler throwing a temper tantrum when they don't get their way.
- Her tone was petulant and angry.
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