-
Obdurate
Hardened in feeling, resistant to persuasion
The Judge was completely OBDURATE on the decision and no amount of pleading would change his mind.
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Monotony
No variation, tediously the same
The MONOTONY of his factory job slowly drove him insane.
-
Waver
To fluctuate between choices
If you WAVER too long you may miss out on the opportunity.
-
Plastic
Able to be molded, altered or bent
Silly Putty is very PLASTIC and could be molded into any shape.
-
Whimsical
Lightly acting in a fanciful or capricious manner; unpredictable
The WHIMSICAL movie appealed both to children and their parents.
-
Volatile
Easily aroused or changeable; lively or explosive
His VOLATILE attitude made it difficult to critique his work.
-
Vex
To annoy
He alienated himself at work by VEXING his coworkers all day long.
-
Pragmatic
Practical as opposed to idealistic
The PRAGMATIC gamble will always work the odds and know when to quit.
-
Veracity
Filled with truth and accuracy
She was known for her VERACITY so many people were quick to trust her.
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Verbose
Wordy
His answer was so VERBOSE they forgot what the original question was.
-
Zeal
Passion, excitement
Her ZEAL about fashion design always inspired her students.
-
Naive
Lacking sophistication or experience
Having never left the country before he seemed much more NAIVE than the other foreigners.
-
Mollify
- To calm or make less severe
- The racist man was so irate that it seemed impossible to MOLLIFY his anger.
-
Perfidious
Willing to betray one's trust
My PERFIDIOUS friend told my girlfriend about my one night stand.
-
Perfunctory
Done in a routine way; indifferent
The bank teller did his job in a PERFUNCTORY way leaving the customers feeling cold and unimportant.
-
Soporific
Causing sleep or lethargy
The professor’s lecture was so SOPORIFIC that soon half the students were asleep.
-
Permeate
To penetrate
The new cloth prevented any liquids from PERMEATING into the lower layers.
-
Tirade
Long, harsh speech or verbal attack
People were shocked by the chef’s TIRADE over such a minor mistake.
-
Taciturn
Silent, not talkative
Because of his TACITURN nature people often thought he was very shy.
-
Vacillate
To physically sway or be indecisive
The customer VACILLATED for over thirty minutes unable to make up his mind.
-
Satiate
To satisfy fully or overindulge
The growing boy had such an apatite that nothing could SATIATE it.
-
Meticulous
Extremely careful about details
To solve the puzzle you must METICULOUSLY examine every piece.
-
Precipitate
To throw violently or bring about abruptly; lacking deliberation
Since they only knew each other for a short time, people expected the PRECIPITATE marriage to end in divorce.
-
Pedant
Someone who shows off learning
The student’s PEDANT attitude and behavior soon alienated her from her classmates.
-
Sublime
Lofty or grand
The music was so SUBLIME it transformed the old warehouse into a special place.
-
Torpor
Extreme mental and physical sluggishness
After surgery, the patient experienced TORPOR until the anesthesia wore off.
-
Philanthropy
Charity, a desire or effort to promote goodness
The PHILANTHROPY of the donors allowed the students to attend university.
-
Tacit
Done without using words
Although all remained silent everyone knew TACITLY what actions needed to be taken.
-
Paragon
Model of excellence or perfection
She is the PARAGON of what a judge should be: honest, intelligent, and impartial.
-
Opaque
Impossible to see through, preventing the passage of light
The dirt on the windows almost made them OPAQUE.
-
Transitory
Temporary, lasting a brief time
The writer lived a TRANSITORY life living in a place only long enough to write a book.
-
Occlude
To stop up, prevent the passage of
The moon OCCLUDES the light from the Sun during a solar eclipse.
-
Ostentation
Excessive showiness
His OSTENTATION attitude was evident in the way he showed off every new purchase.
-
Obviate
To prevent; to make necessary
The river was shallow enough to wade across, which OBVIATED the need for a bridge.
-
Luminous
Bright, brilliant, glowing
The living room was filled with LUMINOUS sunlight which made it perfect for the lazy dog to sleep.
-
Obstinate
Stubborn, unyielding
The OBSTINATE child would not eat any green vegetables.
-
Pristine
Fresh and clean, uncorrupted
The cave-in blocked the tomb’s entrance leaving the site PRISTINE.
-
Mitigate
To soften, to lessen
The judge MITIGATED the sentence because the crime was committed out of necessity.
-
Venerate
To respect deeply
In many Asian cultures, the young are taught to VENERATE their elders, even people only one year older.
-
Misanthrope
A person who dislikes others
He is such a MISANTHROPE that even the sight of children playing makes him angry.
-
Prodigal
Lavish, wasteful
The PRODIGAL son quickly wasted all of his inheritance on a lavish lifestyle.
-
Prudence
Wisdom, caution or restraint
The student showed PRUDENCE by obtaining work experience relating to her major.
-
Repudiate
To reject the validity of
The man’s claim that he won the lottery was quickly REPUDIATED when his ticket didn’t match the winning numbers.
-
Plethora
Excess
The day spa offered a PLETHORA of treatments, more than anyone could need.
-
Obsequious
Overly-submissive and eager to please
Hoping to get a raise the worker was always very OBSEQUIOUS when around his boss.
-
Loquacious
Talkative
She was the most LOQUACIOUS student in the class, which was often problematic.
-
Lucid
Clear and easily understood
To make the instructions easily understood they were written in a simple and LUCID way.
-
Lethargic
Acting in an indifferent or slow, sluggish manner
The clerk was so LETHARGIC that he always had a long line in front of him.
-
Onerous
Troublesome and oppressive; burdensome
The project was so extensive and difficult it proved ONEROUS to the team in charge of it.
-
Stigma
A mark of shame or discredit
The woman wore the letter “A” on her clothes as a public STIGMA for her adultery.
-
Malinger
To evade responsibility by pretending to be ill
By MALINGERING the young men dodged the draft.
-
Specious
Deceptively attractive; seemingly plausible but fallacious
Although false, the student’s SPECIOUS excuse seemed legitimate.
-
Opprobrium
Public disgrace
After the scheme to embezzle the elderly was made public, the treasurer resigned in utter OPPROBRIUM.
-
Rhetoric
Effective writing or speaking
His talent for RHETORIC was evident in his beautifully expressed speech.
-
Reticent
Silent, reserved
Physically small and RETICENT in her speech, she often went unnoticed.
-
Stolid
Unemotional, lacking sensitivity
The prisoner appeared STOLID and unaffected by the judge’s harsh sentence.
-
Propitiate
To conciliate, to appease
The management PROPITIATED the irate union by agreeing to raise wages for its members.
-
Quiescent
Motionless
Many animals are QUIESCENT over the winter months.
-
Pungent
Sharp and irritating to the senses
The smoke from the burning tires was extremely PUNGENT.
-
Propriety
Acting in a proper manner, obeying rules and customs
The aristocracy maintained a high level of PROPRIETY, adhering to even the most minor social rules.
-
Proliferate
To increase in number quickly
Although he only kept two guinea pigs initially, they PROLIFERATED to such an extent that he soon had dozens.
-
Malleable
Capable of being shaped
Gold is the most MALLEABLE of precious metals; it can be easily made it any shape.
-
Placate
To soothe or pacify
The burglar tried to PLACATE the snarling dog with steak.
-
Dogma
A firmly held opinion, especially a religious belief
His central DOGMA was that children who believed in the Great Pumpkin would be rewarded.
-
Dissonance
A harsh and disagreeable combination, especially of sounds
Cognitive DISSONANCE is the inner conflict produced when long standing beliefs are contradicted by new evidence.
-
Dissemble
To present a false appearance, to disguise one's real intentions or character
The villain could DISSEMBLE to the police no longer – he confessed to the crime.
-
Paradox
A contradiction or dilemma
It is a PARADOX that those most in need of medical attention are often those least able to obtain it.
-
Metaphor
A figure of speech comparing two different things, a symbol
The METAPHOR “A sea of troubles,” suggests a lot of troubles by comparing their number to the vastness of the sea.
-
Rarefy
To make thinner or sparser
Since the atmosphere RAREFIES as altitudes increase, the air at the top of very tall mountains is too thin to breathe.
-
Enigma
A puzzle, a mystery
Speaking in riddles and dressed in old robes, the artist gained a reputation as something of an ENIGMA.
-
Engender
To produce, cause, or bring about
His fear and hatred of clowns was ENGENDERED when he witnessed his father’s death by the clown.
-
Enervate
To reduce in strength
The guerrillas hoped that a series of surprise attacks would ENERVATE the regular army.
-
Emulate
To copy; to try to equal or excel
The students wished to EMULATE their professor in every way.
-
Eloquent
Persuasive and moving, especially in speech
The speech is moving not only because of its lofty ideas but also because of its ELOQUENT words.
-
Elegy
A sorrowful poem or speech
Even though the ELEGY was about death, it urges its readers to endure this life.
-
Efficacy
Effectiveness
The EFFICACY of the drug was unsurpassed when it was first introduced.
-
Eclectic
Selecting from or made up from a variety of sources
Budapest’s architecture is an ECLECTIC mix of eastern and western styles.
-
Dupe
To deceive or a person who is easily deceived
Bugs Bunny was able to DUPE Elmer Fudd by dressing up like a lady.
-
Dogmatic
Dictatorial in one's opinions
The dictator was DOGMATIC he and only he was right.
-
Exacerbate
To make worse
It is unwise to take aspirin to try to relieve heartburn; it will only EXACERBATE it.
-
Euphemism
Use of an inoffensive word or phrase in place of a more distasteful one
The funeral director preferred to use the EUPHEMISM “sleeping” instead of the word “dead.”
-
Eulogy
Speech in praise of someone
His best friend gave the EULOGY, outlining his many achievements.
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Estimable
Admirable
Most people consider it ESTIMABLE that she spent her life helping the poor.
-
Esoteric
Known or understood only by a few
Only a handful of experts are knowledgeable about the ESOTERIC world of particle physics.
-
Erudite
Learned, scholarly, bookish
The annual meeting appealed only to the most ERUDITE university professors.
-
Erratic
Wandering and unpredictable
The plot seemed predictable until it suddenly took a series of ERRATIC turns.
-
Equivocate
To use expressions of double meaning in order to mislead
When faced with criticism of his policies, the politician EQUIVOCATED and left all parties thinking he agreed with them.
-
Ephemeral
Lasting a short time
The lives of mayflies seem EPHEMERAL to us.
-
Enumerate
To count, list, itemize
Moses returned from the mountain with tablets on which the commandments were ENUMERATED.
-
Florid
Excessively decorated or embellished
The palace had been decorated in an excessively FLORID style.
-
Fervid
Intensely emotional, feverish
The fans were unusually FERVID, doing anything to catch a glimpse of the singer.
-
Fawn
To grovel
The understudy FAWNED over the director in hopes of being cast in the movie.
-
Fanatical
Acting excessively enthusiastic, filled with extreme, unquestioned devotion
The soldiers were FANATICAL in their devotion to the general.
-
Explicit
Clearly stated or shown; forthright in expression
The owners of the house left a list of EXPLICIT instructions detailing their house-sitters’ duties.
-
Exonerate
To clear of blame
The fugitive was EXONERATED when another criminal confessed.
-
Exigent
Urgent; requiring immediate action
The patient was losing blood so rapidly that it was EXIGENT to stop the bleeding.
-
Exculpate
To clear from blame, prove innocent
The adversarial legal system is intended to convict those who are guilty and to EXCULPATE those who are innocent.
-
Impetuous
Quick to act without thinking
It is not good for an investment broker to be IMPETUOUS, since much though should be given to all possible options.
-
Impervious
Impossible to penetrate; incapable of being affected
A good raincoat will be IMPERVIOUS to moisture.
-
Imperturbable
Not capable of being disturbed
Her experience dealing with distraught children made her IMPERTURBABLE, even when faced with the wildest tantrums.
-
Iconoclast
One who opposes established beliefs, customs and institutions
His lack of regard for traditional beliefs soon established him as an ICONOCLAST.
-
Homogenous
Of a similar kind
The class was fairly HOMOGENOUS, since almost all of the students were senior journalism majors.
-
Gullible
Easily deceived
The con man pretended to be a bank officer so as to fool GULLIBLE bank customers into giving him their account information
-
Guile
Deceit, trickery
Since he was not fast enough to catch the roadrunner on foot, the coyote resorted to GUILE in an effort to trap his enemy.
-
Gregarious
Outgoing, sociable
She was so GREGARIOUS that when she found herself alone she felt quite sad.
-
Garrulous
Tending to talk a lot
The GARRULOUS parakeet distracted its owner with its continuous talking.
-
Frugality
Tending to be thrifty or cheap
Scrooge’s FRUGALITY was so great he accumulated a great amount of wealth.
-
Foment
To arouse or incite
The protesters tried to FOMENT feelings against the war through their speeches.
-
Laud
to give praise; to glorify
Parades and fireworks were staged to LAUD the success of the rebels.
-
Lament
To express sorrow, to grieve
The children continued to LAMENT the death of the goldfish weeks after its death.
-
Laconic
Using few words
She was a LACONIC poet who builds her reputation on using words as sparingly as possible.
-
Irascible
easily made angry
Attila the Hun’s IRASCIBLE and violent nature made all who dealt with him fear for their lives.
-
Inundate
To overwhelm, to cover with water
The tidal wave INUNDATED Atlantis, which was lost beneath the water.
-
Intransigent
Uncompromising, refusing to be reconciled
The professor was INTRANSIGENT on the deadline, insisting that everyone turn the assignment in at the same time.
-
Insipid
Lacking interest or flavor
The critic claimed that painting was INSIPID, containing no interesting qualities at all.
-
Innocuous
Harmless
Some snakes are poisonous, but most species are INNOCUOUS and pose no danger to humans.
-
Inimical
Hostile, unfriendly
Even though the children had grown up together they were INIMICAL to each other at school.
-
Ingenuous
Showing innocence or childlike simplicity
She was so INGENUOUS that her friends feared that her innocence and trustfulness would be exploited.
-
Inchoate
Not fully formed, disorganized
The ideas expressed in his work also appear in an INCHOATE form in his earlier work.
-
Implacable
Unable to be calmed down or made peaceful
His rage at the betrayal was so great that he remained IMPLACABLE for weeks.
-
Decorum
Appropriateness of behavior or conduct; propriety
The countess complained that the vulgar peasants lacked the DECORUM appropriate for a visit to the palace.
-
Deference
Respect, courtesy
The respectful young law clerk treated the Supreme Court justice with the utmost DEFERENCE.
-
Deride
To speak of or treat with contempt, to mock
The awkward child was often DERIDED by his “cooler” peers.
-
Desiccate
To dry out thoroughly
After a few weeks of lying on the desert’s baking sands, the cow’s carcass become completely DESICCATED.
-
Desultory
Jumping from one thing to another; disconnected
She had a DESULTORY academic record; she had changed majors 12 times.
-
Diatribe
An abusive, condemnatory speech
The trucker bellowed a DIATRIBE at the driver who had cut him off.
-
Diffident
Lacking self-confidence
His DIFFIDENT manner during the job interview stemmed from his nervous nature.
-
Dilate
To make larger, expand
When you enter a darkened room, your pupils DILATE to let more light in.
-
Dilatory
Intended to delay
The congressman used DILATORY measure to delay the passage of the bill.
-
Dilettante
Someone with an amateurish and superficial interest in a topic
His friends were such DILETTANTES that they seemed to have new jobs and hobbies every week.
-
Dirge
A funeral hymn or mournful speech
His brother wrote a DIRGE to be read at the funeral.
-
Disabuse
Set right, free from error
Galileo’s observations DISABUSED scholars of the notion that the Sun revolved around the Earth.
-
Discern
To perceive or recognize
It is easy to DISCERN the difference between butter and butter-flavored topping.
-
Disparate
Fundamentally different; entirely unlike
Although the twins appear to be identical physically, their personalities are DISPARATE.
-
Cacophony
Harsh, jarring noise
The junior high orchestra created an almost unbearable CACOPHONY as they tried to tune their instruments.
-
Candid
Impartial and honest in speech
The observations of a child can be charming since they are CANDID and unpretentious.
-
Capricious
Changing one's mind quickly and often
Queen Elizabeth I was quite CAPRICIOUS; her courtiers could never be sure which of their number would catch her fancy.
-
Castigate
To punish or criticize harshly
Singapore authorities CASTIGATE perpetrators of minor crimes.
-
Catalyst
Something that brings about a change in something else
The imposition of harsh taxes was the CATALYST that finally brought on the revolution.
-
Caustic
Biting in wit
She gained her reputation for CAUSTIC wit from her cutting, yet clever, insults.
-
Chaos
Great disorder or confused situation
In most religious traditions, God created an ordered universe from CHAOS.
-
Chauvinist
Someone prejudiced in favor of a group that he or she belongs to
The attitude that men are inherently superior to women and therefore must be obeyed is common among male CHAUVINISTS.
-
Chicanery
Deception by means of craft or guile
Dishonest used car salesmen often use CHICANERY to sell their beat-up old cars.
-
Cogent
Convincing and well-reasoned
Swayed by the COGENT argument of the defense, the jury had no choice but to acquit the defendant.
-
Condone
To overlook, pardon or disregard
Some theorists believe that failing to prosecute minor crimes is the same as CONDONING an air of lawlessness.
-
Convoluted
Intricate and complicated
Although many people bought “A Brief History of Time,” few could follow its CONVOLUTED ideas and theories.
-
Corroborate
Supporting evidence
Fingerprints CORROBORATED the witness’s testimony that he saw the defendant.
-
Credulous
Too trusting; gullible
Although some four yr olds believe in the Easter Bunny, only the most CREDULOUS nine yr olds also believe in him.
-
Crescendo
Steadily increasing in volume or force
The CRESCENDO of tension became unbearable as he prepared to jump his motorcycle.
-
Abate
To reduce in amount, degree, or severity
As the hurricane’s force ABATED, the winds dropped and the sea became calm.
-
Abscond
To leave secretly
The patron ABSCONDED from the restaurant without paying his bill by sneaking out the back door.
-
Abyss
An extremely deep hole
The submarine dove into the ABYSS to char the previously unseen depths.
-
Adulterate
To make impure
The restaurateur made his ketchup last longer by ADULTERATING it with water.
-
Lavish
Extremely generous or extravagant; to give unsparingly
She LAVISHED the puppy with so many treats it soon became over weight.
-
Advocate
To speak in favor of
The vegetarian ADVOCATED a diet containing no meat.
-
Aesthetic
Concerning the appreciation of beauty
Followers of the AESTHETIC Movement regarded the pursuit of beauty as the only true purpose of art.
-
Aggrandize
To increase in power, influence and reputation
The supervisor sought to AGGRANDIZE himself by claiming that the achievements of his staff were actually his own.
-
Alleviate
To make more bearable
Taking aspirin helps to ALLEVIATE a headache.
-
Amalgamate
To combine, to mix together
Giant Industries AMALGAMATED with Mega Products to form Giant-Mega Products Inc.
-
Ambiguous
Doubtful or uncertain, can be interpreted several ways
The directions she gave were so AMBIGUOUS that we disagreed on which way to turn.
-
Ameliorate
To make better; to improve
The doctor was able to AMELIORATE the patient’s suffering using painkillers.
-
Anachronism
Something out of place in time
The aged hippie used ANACHRONISTIC phrases like groovy and far out that had not been popular for years.
-
Analogous
Similar or alike in some way; equivalent to
In a famous argument for the existence of God, the universe is ANALOGOUS to a mechanical timepiece, the creation of a divinely intelligent “clockmaker.”
-
Anomaly
Deviation from what is normal
Albino animals may display too great an ANOMALY in their coloring to attract normally colored mates.
-
Antagonize
To annoy or provoke to anger
The child discovered that he could ANTAGONIZE the cat by pulling its tail.
-
Antipathy
Extreme dislike
The ANTIPATHY between the French and the English regularly erupted into open warfare.
-
Apathy
Lack of interest or emotion
The APATHY of voters is so great that less than half the people who are eligible to vote actually bother to do so.
-
Arbitrate
To judge a dispute between two opposing parties
Since the couple could not come to agreement, a judge was forced to ARBITRATE their divorce proceedings.
-
Archaic
Ancient, old-fashioned
Her ARCHAIC pc could not run the latest software.
-
Ardor
Intense and passionate feeling
Bishop’s ARDOR for landscape was evident when he passionately described the beauty of the scenic Hudson Valley.
-
Articulate
Able to speak clearly and expressively
She is such an ARTICULATE defender of labor that unions are among her strongest supporters.
-
Assuage
To make something unpleasant less severe
Serena used aspirin to ASSUAGE her pounding headache.
-
Attenuate
Reduce in force or degree; weaken
The Bill of Rights ATTENUATED the traditional power of government to change laws at will.
-
Audacious
Fearless and daring
Her AUDACIOUS nature allowed her to fulfill her dream of skydiving.
-
Austere
Severe or stern in appearance; undecorated
The lack of decoration makes Zen temples seem AUSTERE to the untrained eye.
-
Banal
Predictable, cliched, boring
He used BANAL phrases like “Have a nice day” or “Another day, another dollar."
-
Bolster
Support, prop up
The presence of giant footprints BOLSTERED the argument that Sasquatch was in the area.
-
Bombastic
Pompous in speech and manner
The dictator’s speeches were mostly BOMBASTIC; his boasting and outrageous claims had no basis in fact.
-
Prevaricate
To lie or deviate from the truth
Rather than admit he didn't know the answer, he PREVARICATED and made an answer that seemed right.
-
Abstain
To choose to not to do something
Due to his fear of the dentist he choose to ABSTAIN from going there.
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