vocab 25

• extroverted; sociable; outgoing
• If you know someone who's outgoing, sociable, and fond of the company of others, you might want to call her gregarious.

• cynical; pessimistic
• affected by bitterness, resentment, or envy
• unnaturally yellow in complexion.

• annoy, bother, irritate, or bedevil.
• I was nettled by Alene's tone of superiority

A superlative is the highest attainable level or degree of something. As an adjective superlative means highest in quality.

To whet is to sharpen. You could whet a knife's blade with a whetting stone, or you could whet your appetite by having some Doritos.

If someone is belligerent, they're eager to fight. It's a good idea to avoid hardcore hockey fans after their team loses — they tend to be belligerent.

• abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food.
• she was so emaciated she could hardly stand

• While this looks like a certain racial slur, it's really just a way of saying meager, stingy or ungenerous. If you get a niggardly share of cake, it means someone gave you a very small piece.
• miserly; stingy

• If you donate money to a charity or volunteer to help people in need, you can call your good deeds philanthropy.
• charity; love of mankind

• excessive bureaucracy or adherence to rules and formalities, especially in public business.
• this law will just create more red tape

• complain about
• single women bemoaning the absence of men

If you emancipate someone, you set them free from something. At the end of the Civil War, slaves were emancipated and became free men and women.

sudden loud laughter

A philistine is a person who doesn’t think a lot and isn't interested in learning. Your uncle Marvin, who's only interested in eating, sleeping, and watching game shows, could be considered a philistine.

smelling of; giving off odors

Choose the adjective benevolent for someone who does good deeds or shows goodwill. If your teacher collects homework with a benevolent smile, she's hoping that you've done a good job.

• sorrow and repentance
• In the truest sense, contrition is feeling sorry for committing a religious sin and being scared about the consequences. But anyone can feel general contrition for something they've done wrong.

• When a person embezzles, it usually means that he is stealing money from his employer. If he is caught embezzling, it probably also means that he will soon be unemployed.
• defraud; steal

• If your car sports a bumper sticker that reads, "my country, right or wrong," you might be accused of being jingoistic, or of taking your love for your country way too far
• extremely patriotic; nationalistic

put right something that was wrong, fix a problem and make amends.

cunning

• stubbornly or willfully disobedient to authority.
• Rebellious

• involve (someone) deeply in an argument, conflict, or difficult situation
• she became embroiled in a dispute between two women she hardly knew

If you are guileless, you are not a liar; frank; straightforward; honest

in a joking manner

rob (a place) using violence, especially in wartime; plunder

When something is so unnecessary that it could easily be done away with, like a fifth wheel on a car or a fifth person on a double date, call it superfluous.

flimsy; frail; delicate

compassion; gentleness; fondness

Contusion is really just a fancy word for a bad bruise

come out; appear

Use the noun jollity to describe having fun and being in an extremely good mood, like the jollity you feel when you win the big prize from the lottery

The noun nonentity refers to a person of no significance or importance. If you are a member of a sports team, but spend all your time sitting on the bench watching the rest of the team play, you will probably feel like a nonentity.

topmost point

melancholy; pensive; expressing a longing for something

The tricky word conundrum is used to describe a riddle or puzzle, sometimes including a play on words or pun.

leave something in one's will to be given after one's death

very religious

• The verb refute is to prove that something is wrong. When the kids you're babysitting swear they brushed their teeth, you can refute their claim by presenting the dry toothbrushes.
• disprove

If you know someone who's totally addicted to luxurious things and all of life's pleasures, call them a sybarite. Unless she's inviting you over for champagne brunches and showering you with gifts — in which case you should keep your mouth shut.

To endue with life.

• Conventional is an adjective for things that are normal, ordinary, and following the accepted way.
• usual; customary; common

To endorse is to give support to someone or something. "I endorse this!" means "I think this is a good thing, and so should you."

Notoriety is fame you get from doing something bad or being part of a misfortune or scandal.

• High school graduation is a pivotal moment in most people's lives — an important point that signifies a shift in direction.
• of central importance

entertain or amuse (someone) with talk.

Zeal is dedication or enthusiasm for something. If you have zeal, you're willing, energized, and motivated

jurisprudence, the study and philosophy of law. You want to study jurisprudence? Get ready for law school, where you’ll find even longer, more troubling words.

Relegate means assign to a lower position. If the quarterback of the football team stops making decent throws he might be relegated to the position of benchwarmer, while another kid is given the chance to play.

• Bestial sounds like beast, and that is precisely what it means, beast-like. When a human acts like an animal, their behavior is called bestial.
• brutal

To proscribe something is to forbid or prohibit it, as a school principal might proscribe the use of cell phones in class.

If something eases your disappointment or grief, consider it a solace. If you're sad, you might find solace in music or in talking to your friends.

dull; uninspiring

• based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system
• his mealtimes were entirely arbitrary

• (of a person or their behavior) tending to attract attention because of their exuberance, confidence, and stylishness.
• showy; ornate

to ask for; seek

Something variegated has many different colors, as in the trees of autumn or the feathers of a peacock(паун)

obscure; known only to a few people

indirectness

show off; display in a showy manner

famous for something bad

When something becomes mellow, it gets softer or more relaxed. People are often said to mellow with age, meaning their aggressiveness, their sarcasm, and their short temper have given way to a more easygoing, genial manner.

• 1. lying face down
• 2. be overcome with extreme weakness

violence; fervor; forcefulness

secret; covert; stealthy

collection of live animals that people visit, study, or keep as pets.

If you patronize a business, you support it and shop there regularly. But if someone patronizes you, it's not so pleasant — they talk to you as if you were inferior or not very intelligent.

A protagonist is the central character in a story: the protagonist of Huckleberry Finn is — guess who? — Huckleberry Finn.

fortuneteller

extremely strong, powerful, or intense emotion or force

An archetype is a perfect example of something.

• openly disregard (a rule, law or convention).
• these same companies still flout basic ethical practices
• defy, disobey, reject

naïve, unsophisticated person

A mendacious person is one who tells lies habitually and intentionally.

juvenile; immature

Someone with venal motives is corrupt and maybe a little evil. Nobody wants to be thought of as venal.

You pay a bribe to get someone to do something they wouldn't do otherwise. It's usually dishonest and often criminal.

If you haven't got anything nice to say, then it's time to disparage someone. It means to belittle,criticize or degrade a person or idea.

• To be flustered is to lose your cool. When you're flustered, you're embarrassed, agitated, or just confused.
• worked-up; not calm

an ungrateful person

minor weakness; trivial offence

You know how some furniture looks like solid oak or maple until it gets chipped and reveals itself to be nothing more than some cheap particle-board covered with a thin layer of fancy wood? That thin layer is called a veneer.

unreliable; disreputable

• To be inimical is to be harmful, antagonistic, or opposed to — like smoking two packs a day is to healthy lungs.
• hostile

Mercurial describes someone whose mood or behavior is changeable and unpredictable, or someone who is clever, lively, and quick.

person who insists on strict adherence to rules or narrow learning

spare; bare; meager

deception; trickery

• of, relating to, or denoting the application of scientific methods and techniques to the investigation of crime.
• forensic evidence

common; mundane; banal

• superficially plausible, but actually wrong.
• a specious argument

• Some crimes are unforgivable. Others are venial — venial crimes and sins are excusable. They're not a big deal.
• minor; unimportant

craftsman

• spread or disperse (something, especially information) widely.
• spread, circulate, distribute, disperse, promulgate

bravery

harmless; inoffensive

spotted; freckled; dotted

Coercion is making something happen by force, like when bullies use coercion to make kids give them their lunch money.

• relating to or of the nature of a germ cell or embryo
• just growing; not developed; immature

If your little brother keeps saying the same phrase over and over again, you might find it irksome — that is, annoying in a tiresome way.