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abate (v.)
- subsidise or moderate
- Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate.
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aberrant (adj.)
- abnormal or deviant
- Given the aberrant nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity of the entire experiment.
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abeyance (n.)
- suspended action
- The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival.
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abscond (v.)
depart secretly and hide
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abstemious (adj.)
- sparing in eating and drinking; temperate (= not extreme)
- Concerned whether her vegetarian son's abstemious diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him.
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admonish (v.)
- warn; reprove (=take to task)
- When her friends questioned her religious beliefs, she admonished then, declaring that she would worship as she pleased.
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adulterate
- make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances
- It is a crime to adulterate foods without informing the buyer.
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aesthetic
artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful
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aggregate
gather; accumulate
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alacrity
cheerful promptness; eagerness
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amalgamate
- combine; unite in one body
- The unions will attempt to amalgamate their groups into one national body.
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ambiguous
unclear or doubtful in meaning
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ambivalence
- contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes
- Torn between loving her parents one minute and hating them the next, she was confused by the ambivalence of her feelings.
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ameliorate
- improve
- Many social workers have attempted to ameliorate the conditions of people living in slums.
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anachronism
- something or someone misplaced in time
- Shakespeare's reference to clocks in Julius Caesar is an anachronism as no clocks existed in Caesar's time.
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analogous
- comparable
- She called our attention to the things that had been done in an analogous situation and recommended that we do the same.
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anarchy
- absence of a governing body; state of disorder
- The assassination of the leaders led to a period of anarchy.
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anomalous
- abnormal; irregular
- She was placed in the anomalous position of seeming to approve procedures that she despised.
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antipathy
aversion (=a feeling of intense dislike); dislike
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apathy
- lacking of caring; indifference
- A firm believer in democratic government, she could not understand the apathy of people who never bothered to vote.
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appease
- pacify or soothe; relieve
- appease the crying baby
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approbation
official approval
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appropriate (v.)
- acquire; take possession of for one's own use (by force)
- The ranch owner appropriated the lands that had originally been set aside for the Indian's use.
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arduous
- hard; strenuous
- Her arduous efforts had sapped her energy.
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artless
- without guile (=without deception); open and honest
- Red riding hood's artless comment of "What big eyes you have" indicated her innocent surprise of the changed appearance.
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ascetic
practicing self-denial; austere (=practising great self-denial)
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assiduous
- diligent (=Quietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness)
- It took him weeks of assiduous labor before he was satisfied with his portrait of his son.
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assuage
- ease or lessen (pain); satisfy (hunger); soothe (anger)
- Jilted by Jane, Mark tried to assuage his heartache by indulging in ice cream.
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attenuate
- make thinner; weaken or lessen (in density, force, degree)
- intense shock attenuates or lessens
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audacious
- daring; bold
- Audiences cheered as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia made their audacious leap to freedom from Darth Vader.
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austere
- forbiddingly stern; severely simple and unornamented
- The headmaster's austere demeanor tend to scare off the more timid students who never visited his study willingly.
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autonomous
self-governing
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aver
- assert confidently or declare; as used in law, state formally as a fact
- The self-proclaimed psychic averred that because he had extrasensory perception on which to base his predictions, he needed no seismographs in order to foretell earthquakes.
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banal
hackneyed; commonplace; lack of originality
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belie
contradict; give a false impression
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beneficent
kindly; doing good
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bolster
support; reinforce
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bombastic
pompous; using inflated language
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boorish
rude; insensitive
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burgeon
grow forth; send out buds
In the spring, the plants that burgeon are a promis of the beauty that is to come.
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buttress
support; prop up
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cacophonous
discordant; inharmonious (not in harmony)
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capricious
unpredictable; fickle
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castigation
punishment; severe criticism
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catalyst
agent that influences the pace of a chemical reaction while it remains unaffected and unchanged; person or thing that causes action
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caustic
burning; sarcastically biting
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chicanery
trickery; deception
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coagulate
thicken; congeal; clot
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coda
concluding section of a musical or literary musical; something that rounds out, summarises or concludes
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commensurate
corresponding in extent, degree, amount,etc; proportionate
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compendium
brief, comprehensive summary
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complaisant
trying to please; overly polite; obliging
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compliant
yielding; conforming to requirements
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conciliatory
reconciling (reconcile); soothing
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condone
overlook; forgive; give tacit approval; excuse
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connoisseur
person competent to act as a judge of art etc.; a lover of an art
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contrite
penitent (Feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds)
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conundrum
riddle; difficult problem
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converge
approach; tend to meet; come together
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convoluted
coiled around; involved; intricate
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