| 1 |
"burnish" - polish and make shiny. Great cleanliness is enforced in all that belongs to a lighthouse, the reflectors and lenses being constantly burnished, polished, and cleansed. "palpitate" - beat rapidly. After supper my heart started racing, palpitating like a tick. |
| 2 |
"promiscuous" - not selective of a single class or person. A promiscuous assembly had gathered there—men of all creeds and opinions—and an "open-air" meeting was in progress. "dissemble" - make believe with the intent to deceive. Pictures have always dissembled – there are millions of snaps of miserable families grinning bravely – but now they directly lie. |
| 3 |
"flotilla" - a fleet of small craft. She was guarded by a flotilla of boats equipped with satellites, Global Positioning System devices, advanced navigation systems and shark shields. "invective" - abusive language used to express blame or censure. There's much more name-calling, shouting and personal invective in American life than anywhere I've ever traveled outside the United States. |
| 4 |
"hermitage" - the abode of a recluse. All the rest of their time is passed in solitude in their hermitages, which are built quite separate from one another. "despoil" - destroy and strip of its possession. Wherever his lordship's army went, plantations were despoiled, and private houses plundered. |
| 5 |
"sully" - make dirty or spotty, as by exposure to air. Why sully the reputation of an otherwise fascinating online community with really deeply questionable, troubling content? "malevolent" - having or exerting a malignant influence. So you don't believe in evil, as an actual malevolent force? |
| 6 |
"irksome" - so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness. It was pretty irksome passing the time in his enforced prison, and finally Andy went to sleep. "prattle" - speak about unimportant matters rapidly and incessantly. She prattled on about the gossip of the town until Penny and her father were thoroughly bored. |
| 7 |
"subaltern" - inferior in rank or status. The careful commanding officer of a regiment discourages his young subalterns from taking leave to Hill Stations. "welt" - a raised mark on the skin. But red, itchy welts typically appear within 24 to 48 hours of being bitten. |
| 8 |
"wreak" - cause to happen or to occur as a consequence. The burden of paying for college is wreaking havoc on the finances of an unexpected demographic: senior citizens. "tenable" - based on sound reasoning or evidence. First, it is no longer really tenable – and in fact a bit disrespectful – to call a country like China an emerging economy. |
| 9 |
"inimitable" - matchless. Leave aside Spain, where Barcelona breeds its own, inimitable style, and the answer might be that we are rushing toward uniformity. "depredation" - a destructive action. Wild elephants abound and commit many depredations, entering villages in large herds, and consuming everything suitable to their tastes. |
| 10 |
"amalgamate" - to bring or combine together or with something else. Where two weak tribes amalgamated into one, there it exceptionally happened that two closely related dialects were simultaneously spoken in the same tribe. "immutable" - not subject or susceptible to change or variation. We are mistaken to imagine a work of literature is or should be immutable, sculpted in marble and similarly impervious to change. |
| 11 |
"proxy" - a person authorized to act for another. Ideally, everybody over 18 should execute a living will and select a health care proxy — someone to represent you in medical matters. "dote" - shower with love; show excessive affection for. He doted on him, just dearly loved him, and thought he could do no wrong," Kredell said. |
| 12 |
"reactionary" - extremely conservative. Old people are often accused of being too conservative, and even reactionary. "rationalism" - the doctrine that reason is the basis for regulating conduct. Offering a religious rationale for policy goals threatens what for many has become the cherished principle of secular rationalism in public life. |
| 13 |
"endue" - give qualities or abilities to. To say the least of it, he was endued with sufficient intelligence to acquire an ordinary knowledge of such matters. "discriminating" - showing or indicating careful judgment and discernment. Jobs' Apple specializes in delighting the most discriminating, hard-to-please customers. |
| 14 |
"brooch" - a decorative pin worn by women. Upon her breast she wore a brooch of gold set with many precious stones. "pert" - characterized by a lightly exuberant quality. Her pert, lively manner said she hadn't taken any wooden nickels lately. |
| 15 |
"disembark" - go ashore. The immigrants disembarked from their ships tired and underfed—generally in poor health. "aria" - an elaborate song for solo voice. Ms. Netrebko sang an elegantly sad aria with lustrous warmth, aching vulnerability and floating high notes. |
| 16 |
"trappings" - ornaments; embellishments to or characteristic signs of. They were caparisoned in Indian fashion with gay colors and fancy trappings. "abet" - assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing. "Since YouTube, digital culture has aided and enhanced -- or maybe the better word is abetted -- the celebrity meltdown," said Wired magazine senior editor Nancy Miller. |
| 17 |
"clandestine" - conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods. For Jordan, this is a clandestine relationship it would much prefer to have kept secret. "distend" - swell from or as if from internal pressure. Some kids said LaNiyah's distended abdomen looked like she was carrying a baby. |
| 18 |
"glib" - having only superficial plausibility. The other sort of engineer understands that glib comparisons between computers and humans don't do justice to the complexities of either. "pucker" - to gather something into small wrinkles or folds. Godmother,' she went on, puckering her forehead again in perplexity, 'it almost feels like feathers. |
| 19 |
"rejoinder" - a quick reply to a question or remark. "Not at all!" was Aunt Susannah's brisk rejoinder. "spangle" - adornment consisting of a small piece of shiny material. Magdalen's garments are rich with spangles; her mantle is scarlet; she has flowers in her luxuriant tresses, and looks a vain creature. |
| 20 |
"blighted" - affected by something that prevents growth or prosperity. Hudec, whose career has been blighted by knee injuries and operations, won for the first time in more than four years. "nicety" - conformity with some aesthetic standard of correctness. They accepted the invitation; but Mrs. Rowlandson did not appreciate the niceties of Indian etiquette. |
| 21 |
"aggrieve" - infringe on the rights of. Some fallout appears evident in donations from Wall Street executives, who feel particularly aggrieved by Mr. Obama's criticisms and policies. "vestment" - gown worn by the clergy. And then a priest, arrayed in all his vestments, came in at the open door, and the prince and princess exchanged rings, and were married. |
| 22 |
"urbane" - showing a high degree of refinement. Polished, urbane and gentlemanly—his manners were calculated to refine all around him. "defray" - bear the expenses of. The legislation also calls for $1.6 billion in spending cuts to help defray the disaster costs. |
| 23 |
"spectral" - resembling or characteristic of a phantom. Hawthorne's figures are somewhat spectral; they lack flesh and blood. "munificent" - very generous. They have shown themselves very loving and generous lately, in making a quite munificent provision for his traveling. |
| 24 |
"dictum" - an authoritative declaration. In other words, they seemed fully subscribed to Andy Warhol's dictum that business art is the best art. "fad" - an interest followed with exaggerated zeal. According to Chinese media, the hottest new fad in China involves selling small live-animal key chains. |
| 25 |
"scabbard" - a sheath for a sword or dagger or bayonet. Drawing his own sabre from its scabbard, he pointed to a stain on it, saying, "This is the blood of an Englishman." "adulterate" - make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance. Shady dealers along the supply chain frequently adulterate olive oil with low-grade vegetable oils and add artificial coloring. |
| 26 |
"beleaguer" - annoy persistently. Rock concert ticket sales dropped sharply last year, sounding another sour note for the beleaguered music industry. "gripe" - complain. If America is going to gripe about the yuan's rate, then China will complain about the dollar's role. |
| 27 |
"remission" - an abatement in intensity or degree. After a few hours there is a remission of the pain, slight perspiration takes place, and the patient may fall asleep. "exorbitant" - greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation. Soon, stories began trickling across the Atlantic of crazed fans paying exorbitant sums to get into London gigs. |
| 28 |
"invocation" - the act of appealing for help. These dances are prayers or invocations for rain, the crowning blessing in this dry land. "cajole" - influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering. Hamilton, however, was not to be cajoled into friendliness by superficial compliment. |
| 29 |
"inclusive" - encompassing much or everything. We are going to adhere to our basic programing strategy of nonpartisan information inclusive of all different points of view. "interdict" - command against. Failing to satisfy his examiners, he was interdicted from practice, but ignored the prohibition, and suffered more than one imprisonment in consequence. |
| 30 |
"abase" - cause to feel shame. Ashamed, abased, degraded in his own eyes, he turned away his head. "obviate" - do away with. Comfortable sleeping-cars obviate the necessity of stopping by the way for bodily rest, provided the traveller be physically strong and in good health. |
| 31 |
"hurtle" - move with or as if with a rushing sound. The hurricane was expected to hit Washington in the early hours of Sunday before hurtling toward New York City. "unanimity" - everyone being of one mind. On all other points of colonial policy, Mackenzie declared, people would be found to differ, but as regards the post office there was absolute unanimity. |
| 32 |
"mettle" - the courage to carry on. The deployment will also test the emotional mettle of soldiers and their families. "interpolate" - insert words into texts, often falsifying it thereby. Most scholars agree that these lines are interpolated, since they do not fit in with the rest of the poem. |
| 33 |
"surreptitious" - marked by quiet and caution and secrecy. He noticed that the peddler was eying the bag Scotty had picked up, and was trying to be surreptitious about it. "dissimulate" - hide feelings from other people. From infancy these people have been schooled to dissimulate and hide emotion, and ordinarily their faces are as opaque as those of veteran poker players. |
| 34 |
"ruse" - a deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture. Overseas criminals use elaborate ruses, including phony websites, to trick job-seekers into helping transfer stolen funds. "specious" - plausible but false. You might be tempted to think of the biggest airline as the one with the most aircraft, but capacity differences make this reasoning specious. |
| 35 |
"revulsion" - intense aversion. After a first instinctive cry of horrified revulsion, the men reached down under water with their hands and drew out—a corpse. "hale" - exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health. From a hearty, hale, corn-fed boy, he has become pale, lean, and wan. |
| 36 |
"palliate" - lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of. Divisions and inequalities persist, but government can palliate their effects with hard cash. "obtuse" - lacking in insight or discernment. The affair had been mentioned so plainly that it was impossible for the most dense and obtuse person not to have understood the allusion. |
| 37 |
"querulous" - habitually complaining. He was, at times, as querulous as a complaining old man. "vagary" - an unexpected and inexplicable change in something. Today such acquisitions are more likely to stay put, destined to survive both market fluctuations and the vagaries of style. |
| 38 |
"incipient" - only partly in existence; imperfectly formed. Above all, medical teams will need to establish quick surveillance to identify health needs and pinpoint incipient outbreaks before they explode. "obdurate" - stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing. Several appeared deeply affected, with tears of repentance standing in their eyes, others sullen and obdurate. |
| 39 |
"grovel" - show submission or fear. The two young men who drove them had fallen flat and were grovelling and wailing for mercy. "refractory" - stubbornly resistant to authority or control. Beyond them the gardener struggled with a refractory horse that refused to draw his load of brush and dead leaves. |
| 40 |
"dregs" - sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid. "Right got to go," Ali says, draining the dregs of his beer. "ascendancy" - the state when one person or group has power over another. But in a few days he had secured an almost incredible ascendancy over the sullen, starved, half-clothed army. |
| 41 |
"supercilious" - having or showing arrogant superiority to. A supercilious, patronizing person—son of a wretched country parson—used to loll against the wall of your salon—with his nose in the air. "pundit" - someone who has been admitted to membership in a field. Pundits of agricultural science explore the sheds, I believe, the barns, stables, machine-rooms, and so forth, before inspecting the crops. |
| 42 |
"commiserate" - to feel or express sympathy or compassion. We had spent countless hours together drinking wine and commiserating about child-rearing, long Wisconsin winters and interrupted sleep. "alcove" - a small recess opening off a larger room. They showed him where he would sleep, in a little closet-like alcove screened from the big room by a gay curtain. |
| 43 |
"assay" - make an effort or attempt. He decided to assay one last project before giving up. "parochial" - narrowly restricted in outlook or scope. But Republicans in Pennsylvania also have narrower and more parochial things to worry about. |
| 44 |
"conjugal" - relating to the relationship between a wife and husband. They even had conjugal visits for prisoners — five hours in a private room every three months with your wife. "abjure" - formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief. The caste abstain from liquor, and some of them have abjured all flesh food while others partake of it. |
| 45 |
"frieze" - an ornament consisting of a horizontal sculptured band. All the doorways mentioned above have cornices, and in those at Palmyra and Baalbec richly carved friezes with side corbels. "ornate" - marked by complexity and richness of detail. Unlike his literary icon, Herman Melville, he doesn't adorn his writing with ornate flourishes or complicated scaffolding. |
| 46 |
"inflammatory" - arousing to action or rebellion. We don't know whether inflammatory language or images can incite the mentally ill to commit acts of violence. "machination" - a crafty and involved plot to achieve your ends. He was continued a member of Congress until 1777 when his enemies succeeded in their long nursed machinations against him. |
| 47 |
"mendicant" - a pauper who lives by begging. In others are the broken-down mendicants who live on soup-kitchens and begging. "meander" - to move or cause to move in a sinuous or circular course. They paused beside one of the low stone walls that meandered in a meaningless fashion this way and that over the uplands. |
| 48 |
"bullion" - gold or silver in bars or ingots. In times of economic turmoil, more people tend to invest in bullion gold. "diffidence" - lack of self-assurance. His grave diffidence and continued hesitation in offering an opinion confirmed me in my own. |
| 49 |
"makeshift" - done or made using whatever is available. The house was still under construction, so he climbed up a ladder being used as a makeshift stairway, fell and injured his leg. "husbandry" - the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock. The U.S. can take a lesson from Denmark, which has efficiently raised livestock without hurting farmers, by using better animal husbandry practices. |
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