| 1 |
"consider" - deem to be. At the moment, artemisinin-based therapies are considered the best treatment, but cost about $10 per dose - far too much for impoverished communities. |
| 2 |
"minute" - infinitely or immeasurably small. The minute stain on the document was not visible to the naked eye. |
| 3 |
"accord" - concurrence of opinion. The committee worked in accord on the bill, and it eventually passed. |
| 4 |
"evident" - clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment. That confidence was certainly evident in the way Smith handled the winning play with 14 seconds left on the clock. |
| 5 |
"practice" - a customary way of operation or behavior. He directed and acted in plays every season and became known for exploring Elizabethan theatre practices. |
| 6 |
"intend" - have in mind as a purpose. "Lipstick, as a product intended for topical use with limited absorption, is ingested only in very small quantities," the agency said on its website. |
| 7 |
"concern" - something that interests you because it is important. The scandal broke out in October after former chief executive Michael Woodford claimed he was fired for raising concerns about the company's accounting practices. |
| 8 |
"commit" - perform an act, usually with a negative connotation. In an unprecedented front page article in 2003 The Times reported that Mr. Blair, a young reporter on its staff, had committed journalistic fraud. |
| 9 |
"issue" - some situation or event that is thought about. As a result, the privacy issues surrounding mobile computing are becoming ever-more complex. |
| 10 |
"approach" - move towards. Spain's jobless rate for people ages 16 to 24 is approaching 50 percent. |
| 11 |
"establish" - set up or found. A small French colony, Port Louis, was established on East Falkland in 1764 and handed to the Spanish three years later. |
| 12 |
"utter" - without qualification. No one can blame an honest mechanic for holding a wealthy snob in utter contempt. |
| 13 |
"conduct" - direct the course of; manage or control. Scientists have been conducting studies of individual genes for years. |
| 14 |
"engage" - consume all of one's attention or time. We had nearly two hundred passengers, who were seated about on the sofas, reading, or playing games, or engaged in conversation. |
| 15 |
"obtain" - come into possession of. He delayed making the unclassified report public while awaiting an Army review, but Rolling Stone magazine obtained the report and posted it Friday night. |
| 16 |
"scarce" - deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand. Meanwhile, heating oil could grow more scarce in the Northeast this winter, the Energy Department warned last month. |
| 17 |
"policy" - a plan of action adopted by an individual or social group. Inflation has lagged behind the central bank's 2 percent target, giving policy makers extra scope to cut rates. |
| 18 |
"straight" - successive, without a break. After three straight losing seasons, Hoosiers fans were just hoping for a winning record. |
| 19 |
"stock" - capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares. In other words, Apple's stock is cheap, and you should buy it. |
| 20 |
"apparent" - clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment. But the elderly creak is beginning to become apparent in McCartney's voice. |
| 21 |
"property" - a basic or essential attribute shared by members of a class. Owing to these magic properties, it was often planted near dwellings to keep away evil spirits. |
| 22 |
"fancy" - imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind. For a time, indeed, he had fancied that things were changed. |
| 23 |
"concept" - an abstract or general idea inferred from specific instances. As a psychologist, I have always found the concept of speed dating fascinating. |
| 24 |
"court" - an assembly to conduct judicial business. When Brown pleaded not guilty to assaulting Rihanna, their violent past came out in court. |
| 25 |
"appoint" - assign a duty, responsibility or obligation to. In 1863 he was appointed by the general assembly professor of oriental languages at New College. |
| 26 |
"passage" - a section of text, particularly a section of medium length. His interpretation of many obscure scriptural passages by means of native manners and customs and traditions is particularly helpful and informing. |
| 27 |
"vain" - unproductive of success. An attempt was made to ignore this brilliant and irregular book, but in vain; it was read all over Europe. |
| 28 |
"instance" - an occurrence of something. In many instances large districts or towns would have fewer representatives than smaller ones, or perhaps none at all. |
| 29 |
"coast" - the shore of a sea or ocean. Martello towers must be built within short distances all round the coast. |
| 30 |
"project" - a planned undertaking. The funds are aimed at helping build public projects including mass transit, electricity networks, water utility and ports, it said. |
| 31 |
"commission" - a special group delegated to consider some matter. The developers are now seeking approval from the landmarks commission. |
| 32 |
"constant" - a quantity that does not vary. In 1929, Hubble independently put forward and confirmed the same idea, and the parameter later became known as the Hubble constant. |
| 33 |
"circumstances" - one's overall condition in life . The circumstances leading up to the shootings was not immediately available. |
| 34 |
"constitute" - to compose or represent. Oil and natural gas constituted almost 50 percent of Russian government revenue last year. |
| 35 |
"level" - a relative position or degree of value in a graded group. Only last month did the men's and women's unemployment rates reach the same level. |
| 36 |
"affect" - have an influence upon. The central bank will start distributing low-interest loans in early March to individuals and small- and medium-sized companies affected by the flooding. |
| 37 |
"institute" - set up or lay the groundwork for. Corporations have to be more and more focused on instituting higher labor standards. |
| 38 |
"render" - give an interpretation of. But authorities had rendered the weapon and the explosive device inoperable, officials said. |
| 39 |
"appeal" - be attractive to. To get traditional women's accessories to appeal to men, some designers are giving them manly names and styles. |
| 40 |
"generate" - bring into existence. Qualities such as these are not generated under bad working practices of any sort. |
| 41 |
"theory" - a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the world. Testing that theory begins Saturday night, as the Capitals take on Tampa Bay in another important contest. |
| 42 |
"range" - a variety of different things or activities. Like American community colleges, admission at an open university is not competitive, but the schools offer a range of programs, including doctoral degrees. |
| 43 |
"campaign" - a race between candidates for elective office. At the same point in 2004 — as an incumbent facing re-election — Mr. Bush had taken in about $145.6 million for his campaign. |
| 44 |
"league" - an association of sports teams that organizes matches. "When I broke into the big leagues until a month ago, Gary kept in touch," Mets third baseman David Wright said. |
| 45 |
"labor" - any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted. More labor is entailed, more time is required, greater delay is occasioned in cleaning up, and the amount of water used is much greater. |
| 46 |
"confer" - have a meeting in order to talk something over. Ms. Stewart said Mrs. Bachmann conferred with her family and a few aides after her disappointing showing on Tuesday evening. |
| 47 |
"grant" - allow to have. He had been granted entry into the White House only for the daily briefing, later that afternoon. |
| 48 |
"dwell" - think moodily or anxiously about something. But it is hardly necessary to dwell on so normal an event. |
| 49 |
"entertain" - provide amusement for. The first Super Bowl in 1967 featured college marching bands entertaining the crowds at halftime. |
| 50 |
"contract" - a binding agreement that is enforceable by law. <strong>Contracts with utilities will be signed starting next month, he said. |
| 51 |
"earnest" - characterized by a firm, humorless belief in one's opinions. Too much praise cannot be given to the earnest and efficient missionaries who founded and have maintained this mission. |
| 52 |
"yield" - give or supply. It is a very important honey plant, as it yields an exceptionally pure nectar and remains in bloom a long time. |
| 53 |
"wander" - move or cause to move in a sinuous or circular course. While each animal wandered through the maze, its brain was working furiously. |
| 54 |
"insist" - be emphatic or resolute and refuse to budge. Interior Department officials insisted that they had conducted an extensive scientific inquiry before moving ahead with the spill response plan. |
| 55 |
"knight" - a person of noble birth trained to arms and chivalry. The knight was gallant not only in war, but in love also. |
| 56 |
"convince" - make realize the truth or validity of something. But though he listened he was not convinced. |
| 57 |
"inspire" - serve as the inciting cause of. His surprising performance inspired an outpouring of fan adoration that has been dubbed "Linsanity." |
| 58 |
"convention" - a large formal assembly. Last year, the industry's main trade convention, the Inside Self-Storage World Expo, organized workshops in Las Vegas focusing on lien laws and auction sales. |
| 59 |
"skill" - an ability that has been acquired by training. He says many new drivers are terrified of motorway driving because they do not have the skills or confidence needed. |
| 60 |
"harry" - annoy continually or chronically. There's something uplifting about hearing a string instrument when I'm feeling ragged or harried. |
| 61 |
"financial" - involving fiscal matters. Meanwhile, universities have raised tuition every year, putting many students in a financial bind. |
| 62 |
"reflect" - show an image of. Teens ranting over chores and whatnot can often reflect deeper feelings of alienation or perceived uncaring on the part of parents. |
| 63 |
"novel" - an extended fictional work in prose. Before Robert Barr publishes a novel he spends years in thinking the thing out. |
| 64 |
"furnish" - provide with objects or articles that make a room usable. Instead, according to court documents, the money went toward furnishing mansions, flying in private jets, and retaining a $120,000-a-year personal hairstylist. |
| 65 |
"compel" - force somebody to do something. But the flames grew too large, compelling firefighters to call off the rescue. |
| 66 |
"venture" - proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers. Clearly he would not venture to descend while his enemy moved. |
| 67 |
"territory" - the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a state. On Friday, West Africa regional group Ecowas condemned the rebels, urging them to end hostilities and surrender all occupied territory. |
| 68 |
"temper" - a characteristic state of feeling. Oscar Wilde, to do him justice, bore this sort of rebuff with astonishing good temper and sweetness. |
| 69 |
"bent" - fixed in your purpose. The business-oriented constituency of the Republican Party, Jacobs said, has been weakened by a faction bent on lowering taxes and cutting spending. |
| 70 |
"intimate" - marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity. The female spider can choose when to cut off intimate relations by eating her partner, or kicking him out. |
| 71 |
"undertake" - enter upon an activity or enterprise. An autopsy has reportedly been undertaken but the results are not expected for several weeks. |
| 72 |
"majority" - more than half of the votes in an election. Republicans need just four seats in the Senate to take control as the majority party. |
| 73 |
"assert" - declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true. In your talk you asserted the pill's risks of blood clotting, lung artery blockage, heart attack and stroke are minimal. |
| 74 |
"crew" - the men and women who man a vehicle. Several pilots and crew members would have to escape at once, while safety divers watched, ready to rescue anyone who became stuck. |
| 75 |
"chamber" - a natural or artificial enclosed space. "Today," said the old man, "you must push through with me into my most solitary chamber, that we may not be disturbed." |
| 76 |
"humble" - marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful. "Challenging yourself, playing up against stronger, tougher, and overall better competition will keep you humble." |
| 77 |
"scheme" - an elaborate and systematic plan of action. Some companies in the Globe District of Arizona have started extensive underground schemes for mining large tonnages very cheaply by "caving" methods. |
| 78 |
"keen" - demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions. Not one of his movements escaped her keen observation; she drank in every shiver. |
| 79 |
"liberal" - having political views favoring reform and progress. Romney's actually done well in open primaries where fiscally conservative yet socially liberal independents have backed him over his opponents. |
| 80 |
"despair" - a state in which all hope is lost or absent. There were wounded love, and wounded pride, and despair, and coming madness, all in that piteous cry. |
| 81 |
"tide" - the periodic rise and fall of the sea level. In the case of mobile connectivity, a rising tide does not lift all boats. |
| 82 |
"attitude" - a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings. "Behaviours have changed and attitudes have changed," Mr Taylor said. |
| 83 |
"justify" - show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for. He felt sure that if the circumstances justified it, the necessary proceedings could be taken." |
| 84 |
"flag" - a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered flags flown at half staff. |
| 85 |
"merit" - any admirable or beneficial attribute. Thus far in our inquiry extraordinary merits have been offset by extraordinary defects. |
| 86 |
"manifest" - reveal its presence or make an appearance. A too rapid transformation of existing conditions might very easily lead to an economic crisis, symptoms of which are already beginning to manifest themselves. |
| 87 |
"notion" - a general inclusive concept. Does that old notion that defense wins championships still hold up these days? |
| 88 |
"scale" - relative magnitude. And there might not be much money, so fashion shows are done on a much smaller scale. |
| 89 |
"formal" - characteristic of or befitting a person in authority. A formal decision to call off the search is likely on Wednesday, rescue officials said. |
| 90 |
"resource" - a new or reserve supply that can be drawn upon when needed. "Economists assume that, under normal conditions, markets will allocate resources efficiently," he added. |
| 91 |
"persist" - continue to exist. Old ideas, long after the conditions under which they were produced have passed away, often persist in surviving. |
| 92 |
"contempt" - lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike. And with his backhanded contempt for all things ordinary, Blake is making some of the catchiest, most difficult music in recent memory. |
| 93 |
"tour" - a route all the way around a particular place or area. He typed in "South Park" and took senior executives on a tour of Web sites offering pirated episodes. |
| 94 |
"plead" - enter a defendant's answer. Aria pleaded not guilty, but he acknowledged that he had violated some laws. |
| 95 |
"weigh" - be oppressive or burdensome. So far, the political turmoil has not appeared to have discouraged visitors, but prolonged strife could weigh on tourism. |
| 96 |
"mode" - how something is done or how it happens. Speaking of science, he says, in language far in advance of his times: 'There are two modes of knowing—by argument and by experiment. |
| 97 |
"distinction" - a discrimination between things as different. But such a distinction is quite external; at heart the men may be very much alike. |
| 98 |
"inclined" - at an angle to the horizontal or vertical position. Such an inclined passage following a seam of coal is known as a slope. |
| 99 |
"attribute" - a quality belonging to or characteristic of an entity. The authors found that when the available prospects varied more in attributes such as age, height, occupation and educational background, people made fewer dating proposals. |
| 100 |
"exert" - make a great effort at a mental or physical task. School boards may come to exert even greater influence over what students read. |
| 101 |
"oppress" - come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority. Those who managed to survive were later oppressed by Poland's post-war communist authorities. |
| 102 |
"contend" - compete for something. But eight men, however bold and stout-hearted, could not long contend with an enemy at least four times their number. |
| 103 |
"stake" - a strong wooden or metal post driven into the ground. His remains were buried in Cannon Street, and a stake was driven through the body. |
| 104 |
"toil" - work hard. He toiled in the sweat of his brow, tilling the stubborn ground, taking out stones, building fences. |
| 105 |
"perish" - pass from physical life. Simon Wiesenthal's parents are long since deceased, with his father dying in World War I and his mother perishing in the Holocaust. |
| 106 |
"disposition" - your usual mood. Melancholia — the state of mind — can hide behind seemingly sunny dispositions. |
| 107 |
"rail" - complain bitterly. Mr. Gray railed against lengthy stage directions, saying he crossed them out in scripts before he would begin rehearsals with his actors. |
| 108 |
"cardinal" - one of a group of prominent bishops in the Sacred College. Each time he names cardinals he puts his stamp on Roman Catholicism's future by choosing men who share his views. |
| 109 |
"boast" - talk about oneself with excessive pride or self-regard. Mr. Estes was also well connected politically, boasting that the president of the United States took his calls. |
| 110 |
"advocate" - a person who pleads for a person, cause, or idea. Well, safety advocates, consumers and the government dragged the automobile industry toward including seat belts, air bags, more visible taillights and other safety features. |
| 111 |
"bestow" - present. He bestowed public buildings and river improvements in return for votes. |
| 112 |
"allege" - report or maintain. It is being fired into enclosed areas and homes, the human rights group alleges. |
| 113 |
"notwithstanding" - despite anything to the contrary. He seems to have taken things easily enough, notwithstanding the sorrow and suffering that surrounded him on every side. |
| 114 |
"lofty" - of imposing height; especially standing out above others. He found himself in an enormous hall with a lofty ceiling. |
| 115 |
"multitude" - a large indefinite number. Department store chains in general have been strained in recent years as a "multitude" of alternatives has emerged, all competing for customers. |
| 116 |
"steep" - having a sharp inclination. It was narrow and very steep, and had precipices in all parts, so that they could not mount upward except one at a time. |
| 117 |
"heed" - pay close attention to. But Cain was already too far gone to heed the warning voice. |
| 118 |
"modest" - not large but sufficient in size or amount. A healthy person living in an unfashionable city with no student loans to pay off can get by on a fairly modest income. |
| 119 |
"partial" - being or affecting only a segment. Generalizations of this sweeping order are apt to contain only partial truth. |
| 120 |
"apt" - naturally disposed toward. Another reason to display beds at an electronics show: consumers are apt to use high-tech devices while tucked in. |
| 121 |
"esteem" - the condition of being honored. Despite being held in the highest esteem by his fellow poets, Redgrove never quite achieved the critical reception or readership he deserved. |
| 122 |
"credible" - appearing to merit belief or acceptance. Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has acknowledged receiving the memo but said he ignored it as not credible. |
| 123 |
"provoke" - provide the needed stimulus for. It provoked a bigger reaction than we could ever have anticipated. |
| 124 |
"tread" - a step in walking or running. The farmer went down, his clumsy boots making no sound on the uncarpeted stairway, so careful was his tread. |
| 125 |
"ascertain" - learn or discover with confidence. Health care providers and manufacturers can ascertain alternative treatment more effectively by tackling predicted drug shortage incidences early in the process. |
| 126 |
"fare" - proceed, get along, or succeed. A recent study breaks down how graduates with various college degrees are faring in today's difficult job market. |
| 127 |
"cede" - relinquish possession or control over. Some militia chiefs say they will only cede command of their fighters once an organized military and security apparatus is in place. |
| 128 |
"perpetual" - continuing forever or indefinitely. The river is a perpetual enjoyment, always something going on. |
| 129 |
"decree" - a legally binding command or decision. While the decree takes effect immediately, it requires Parliament's approval within 60 days to remain in force. |
| 130 |
"contrive" - make or work out a plan for; devise. The wily Roc, never taken much by surprise, contrived to escape, but old Tributor and his men were all captured. |
| 131 |
"derived" - formed or developed from something else; not original. Modern kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi are all members of the same species, derived from a single prehistoric plant variety. |
| 132 |
"elaborate" - marked by complexity and richness of detail. But the tobacco industry and owners of other convenience stores say tribal cigarette manufacturing is just an elaborate form of tax evasion. |
| 133 |
"substantial" - real; having a material or factual existence. Defence lawyers said the large number of forensic tests which had been carried out had failed to find any substantial evidence linked to the accused. |
| 134 |
"frontier" - a wilderness at the edge of a settled area of a country. Adding to the precarious security situation, tribesmen kidnapped 18 Egyptian border guards along the frontier with Israel in Sinai Peninsula. |
| 135 |
"facile" - arrived at without due care or effort; lacking depth. As one teacher remarks about a troubled student, "There is no facile solution." |
| 136 |
"cite" - make reference to. The Federal Reserve has pledged low interest rates until late 2014, citing in part the weakness of the job market. |
| 137 |
"warrant" - show to be reasonable or provide adequate ground for. In the United Kingdom and Europe the devices are not used unless the need is warranted by the patient's medical condition. |
| 138 |
"sob" - weep convulsively. He cried and trembled, sobbing, while they spoke, like the child he was. |
| 139 |
"rider" - a traveler who actively sits and travels on an animal. In horseback riding, a rider will give commands by squeezing or lengthening the reins and altering the position of his legs. |
| 140 |
"dense" - permitting little if any light to pass through. <strong>Dense black smoke rose in the distance as demonstrators burned tires in Shiite villages. |
| 141 |
"afflict" - cause physical pain or suffering in. Melanoma globally afflicts nearly 160,000 new people each year. |
| 142 |
"flourish" - grow vigorously. His business had been all along steadily flourishing, his patrons had been of high social position, some most illustrious, others actually royal. |
| 143 |
"ordain" - invest with ministerial or priestly authority. One of the present bishops was consecrated when quite a young boy, and deacons are often ordained at sixteen, and even much earlier. |
| 144 |
"pious" - having or showing or expressing reverence for a deity. Mother, you see, is a very pious woman, and she attributes it all to Providence, saying that it was the Divine interference in her behalf. |
| 145 |
"vex" - disturb, especially by minor irritations. There are vexing problems slowing the growth and the practical implementation of big data technologies. |
| 146 |
"gravity" - the force of attraction between all masses in the universe. Once captured, the combined object will have a new center of gravity and may be spinning in an uncontrolled way. |
| 147 |
"suspended" - supported or kept from sinking or falling by buoyancy. Frustrating enough at ground level, but can you imagine the agony about a stranded, ever-soggier Oreo being suspended 11 feet above the ground? |
| 148 |
"conspicuous" - obvious to the eye or mind. Its bright scarlet fruits are conspicuous in late autumn. |
| 149 |
"retort" - a quick reply to a question or remark. Having put him in ill humour with this retort, she fled away rejoicing. |
| 150 |
"jet" - an airplane powered by gas turbines. Typhoon fighter jets, helicopters, two warships and bomb disposal experts will also be on duty to guard against security threats. |
| 151 |
"bolt" - run away. The blare of bugles was heard, and a few seconds afterwards Jackson, still facing the enemy, shouted: "By Jupiter, they're bolting, sir." |
| 152 |
"assent" - agree or express agreement. His two companions readily assented, and the promise was mutually given and received. |
| 153 |
"purse" - a sum spoken of as the contents of a money container. She watched over her husband, kept his accounts, held the family purse, managed all his affairs. |
| 154 |
"plus" - the arithmetic operation of summing. The survey's margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points. |
| 155 |
"sanction" - give authority or permission to. The Securities and Exchange Commission said last year it had sanctioned 39 senior officers for conduct related to the housing market meltdown. |
| 156 |
"proceeding" - a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked. Chu attended the special court-martial proceeding on Monday in Hawaii, Hill said. |
| 157 |
"exalt" - praise, glorify, or honor. Some exalt themselves by anonymously posting their own laudatory reviews. |
| 158 |
"siege" - an action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place. Rebellion broke out, and finally the aged Caliph, after enduring a siege of several weeks, was murdered in his own house. |
| 159 |
"malice" - feeling a need to see others suffer. He viewed the moths with malice, their fluttering wings fanning his resentment. |
| 160 |
"extravagant" - recklessly wasteful. Advisers say new millionaires are prone to mistakes, like making extravagant purchases or risky deals with friends. |
| 161 |
"wax" - increase in phase. Carols had existed for centuries, though their popularity waxed and waned as different governments and religious movements periodically declared them sinful. |
| 162 |
"throng" - press tightly together or cram. Deafening cheers rent the air as he landed; hundreds thronged around him to clasp his hand. |
| 163 |
"venerate" - regard with feelings of respect and reverence. He venerated me like a being descended from an upper world. |
| 164 |
"assail" - attack someone physically or emotionally. His campaign even issued a press release assailing other rivals for, in Mr. Paul's view, taking Mr. Romney's quote about firing people out of context. |
| 165 |
"sublime" - of high moral or intellectual value. He was uneven, disproportioned, saying ordinary things on great occasions, and now and then, without the slightest provocation, uttering the sublimest and most beautiful thoughts. |
| 166 |
"exploit" - draw from; make good use of. As humans increasingly exploit the deep seas for fish, oil and mining, understanding how species are dispersed is crucial, Copley said. |
| 167 |
"exertion" - use of physical or mental energy; hard work. One day overcome by exertion, she fainted in the street. |
| 168 |
"kindle" - catch fire. Then a match was kindled and fire applied. |
| 169 |
"endow" - furnish with a capital fund. The grammar school here, founded in 1533, is liberally endowed, with scholarships and exhibitions. |
| 170 |
"imposed" - set forth authoritatively as obligatory. The Arab League has already suspended Syria and imposed economic sanctions. |
| 171 |
"humiliate" - cause to feel shame. The letter claims pensioners are too often patronised, humiliated, denied privacy or even medical treatment. |
| 172 |
"suffrage" - a legal right to vote. There has been a great deal said in this country of late in regard to giving the right of suffrage to women. |
| 173 |
"ensue" - issue or terminate in a specified way. An uproar ensued months after the approval, when opponents realized the online gambling measure had been slipped in. |
| 174 |
"brook" - a natural stream of water smaller than a river. He walked across the little bridge over the brook and at once his mood changed. |
| 175 |
"gale" - a strong wind moving 45-90 knots. The gale was accompanied, as usual, by incessant rain and thick weather, and a heavy confused sea kept our decks always flooded. |
| 176 |
"muse" - reflect deeply on a subject. <strong>Musing about the Big Picture may be a lot more gratifying than focusing on the details of the specific policies that aren't working. |
| 177 |
"satire" - witty language used to convey insults or scorn. There's plenty of humor on Russian television, though not much political satire; Mr. Putin put a stop to that long ago. |
| 178 |
"intrigue" - cause to be interested or curious. Designing and building models that intrigue and educate without overwhelming has been challenging. |
| 179 |
"indication" - something that serves to suggest. Authorities said an autopsy found no indications of foul play or obvious signs of trauma on Houston. |
| 180 |
"dispatch" - send away towards a designated goal. More than one assassin was dispatched by the Turkish authorities to murder Napoleon. |
| 181 |
"cower" - crouch or curl up. The knaves lowered their weapons and shrank back cowering before him. |
| 182 |
"wont" - an established custom. He made his customary slick feeds to open teammates, but as is their wont, the Nets struggled at times to convert points on his passes. |
| 183 |
"tract" - a system of body parts that serve some particular purpose. When probiotics flourish in the digestive tract, nutrients are better absorbed and bad bugs are held at bay, research suggests. |
| 184 |
"canon" - a collection of books accepted as holy scripture. For me, all novels of any consequence are literary, and they take their place, high and low, in the canon of English literature. |
| 185 |
"impel" - cause to move forward with force. Some power beyond his comprehension was impelling him toward the neighboring city. |
| 186 |
"latitude" - freedom from normal restraints in conduct. Great employees often get more latitude to bring up controversial subjects in a group setting because their performance allows greater freedom. |
| 187 |
"vacate" - leave behind empty; move out of. Their number diminished sharply after Villaraigosa announced last week that he wanted protesters to vacate the grounds by Monday or be forcibly removed. |
| 188 |
"undertaking" - any piece of work that is attempted. "Let my epitaph be, Here lies Joseph, who was unsuccessful in all his undertakings." |
| 189 |
"slay" - kill intentionally and with premeditation. "It were shame," said Lancelot, "for an armed to slay an unarmed man." |
| 190 |
"predecessor" - one who precedes you in time. Heller fills in the blanks about Taft, overshadowed by colorful predecessor Teddy Roosevelt. |
| 191 |
"delicacy" - the quality of being exquisitely fine in appearance. This refinement appears in his works, which are full of artistic grace and dainty delicacy. |
| 192 |
"forsake" - leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch. "I'm surprised," said Philip, cautiously opening fire, "that you were ever allowed to forsake your native land." |
| 193 |
"beseech" - ask for or request earnestly. Utterly distraught, he ran up and down the bank, hunting for his clothes, calling, crying out, imploring, beseeching help from somewhere. |
| 194 |
"philosophical" - relating to the investigation of existence and knowledge. His arguments, like Einstein's, were qualitative, verging on highly philosophical. |
| 195 |
"grove" - a small growth of trees without underbrush. Soon after we came to Pasadena, father bought an orange grove of twenty-five acres. |
| 196 |
"frustrate" - hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire. <strong>Frustrated after two years of missed budget targets, finance chiefs demanded Greek officials put their verbal commitments into law. |
| 197 |
"illustrious" - widely known and esteemed. She will be joining an illustrious list of recipients that include Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and Princess Diana. |
| 198 |
"device" - an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose. You've probably also noticed that the telephone and computer are no longer the only devices on your employees' desks. |
| 199 |
"pomp" - cheap or pretentious or vain display. Throughout U.S. history, Americans have been fascinated by royal pomp -- even on a movie screen. |
| 200 |
"entreat" - ask for or request earnestly. "Let me go now, please," she entreated, her eyes unable to meet his any longer. |
| 201 |
"impart" - transmit, as knowledge or a skill. Long before writing and books were in common use, proverbs were the principal means of imparting instruction. |
| 202 |
"propriety" - correct behavior. I felt a trifle doubtful about the propriety of taking a short cut across private grounds, and said as much. |
| 203 |
"consecrate" - render holy by means of religious rites. The building was consecrated as a Protestant Episcopal church in May, 1814. |
| 204 |
"proceeds" - the income or profit arising from a transaction. His own share in the proceeds was about a hundred thousand dollars. |
| 205 |
"fathom" - come to understand. But after flying for so many years, the idea of hanging up his sparkling wings is hard for him to fathom. |
| 206 |
"objective" - the goal intended to be attained. The objective was to mobilize students from 18 high schools across the city to provide community services and inspire others. |
| 207 |
"clad" - wearing or provided with clothing. A few of the villagers came behind, clad in mourning robes, and bearing lighted tapers. |
| 208 |
"partisan" - devoted to a cause or party. But given the bitter partisan divide in an election year, Democrats said they would never be able to get such legislation passed. |
| 209 |
"faction" - a dissenting clique. One faction declared it would begin an armed struggle against the government of the United States. |
| 210 |
"contrived" - artificially formal. In lesser hands the story about a young man who discovers life among the dead could be impossibly cute and contrived. |
| 211 |
"venerable" - impressive by reason of age. Thus, after much more than two hundred years, the venerable building looks almost as it did when the first students entered its doors. |
| 212 |
"restrained" - not showy or obtrusive. By contrast, Mr. Pei's restrained design took time to claim my attention, particularly since it sat quietly next door to Saarinen's concrete gull wings. |
| 213 |
"besiege" - harass, as with questions or requests. He can't trot down the street without being besieged by paparazzi. |
| 214 |
"manifestation" - a clear appearance. Singing and dancing are manifestations of what many Syrians describe as a much broader cultural flowering. |
| 215 |
"rebuke" - an act or expression of criticism and censure. Afterward, the leaders fought court orders to release records showing what they had done, drawing an uncommonly sharp rebuke from a federal judge. |
| 216 |
"insurgent" - in opposition to a civil authority or government. The Free Syrian Army, an insurgent group made of defecting soldiers and based in southern Turkey, claimed responsibility for both attacks. |
| 217 |
"rhetoric" - using language effectively to please or persuade. His fiery rhetoric in support of limiting cuts to projected defense spending has surprised and impressed some of Obama's toughest Republican critics. |
| 218 |
"scrupulous" - having ethical or moral principles. The reason is that the vast majority of businesses are scrupulous and treat their employees well. |
| 219 |
"ratify" - approve and express assent, responsibility, or obligation. Company officials at Safeway said those replacement workers will remain on standby until the agreement is ratified by union members. |
| 220 |
"stump" - cause to be perplexed or confounded. Though family members long suspected Evans, a local handyman who frequently hired local youths, the case stumped investigators for years. |
| 221 |
"discreet" - marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint. Sarkozy has attempted to tone down his image, becoming more discreet about his private life. |
| 222 |
"imposing" - impressive in appearance. These buildings were grand and stylized with intricate details and a bit of an imposing presence. |
| 223 |
"wistful" - showing pensive sadness. She turned toward him, her face troubled, her eyes most wistful. |
| 224 |
"mortify" - cause to feel shame. Intensely mortified at this humiliation, the king fell sick, and henceforth his health failed rapidly. |
| 225 |
"ripple" - stir up so as to form small waves. That could precipitate higher interest rates that would ripple across the economy. |
| 226 |
"premise" - a statement that is held to be true. Success, real success, comes to the jack of all trades, a major premise handed down from pioneer days. |
| 227 |
"subside" - wear off or die down. Affliction is allayed, grief subsides, sorrow is soothed, distress is mitigated. |
| 228 |
"adverse" - contrary to your interests or welfare. High doses can have adverse effects and even cause death. |
| 229 |
"caprice" - a sudden desire. Nobody is really in charge, and decisions are made on whim and caprice." |
| 230 |
"muster" - gather or bring together. Yet Fox needed all the strength that he could muster. |
| 231 |
"comprehensive" - broad in scope. The United States Army developed a comprehensive plan to address problematic race relations in the 1970s, recognizing that they were hampering military effectiveness. |
| 232 |
"accede" - yield to another's wish or opinion. Therefore he made up his mind to accede to his uncle's desire. |
| 233 |
"fervent" - characterized by intense emotion. But, to fervent applause and scattered fist pumps from two sets of worshipers, he pledged to legally challenge the claims against him. |
| 234 |
"cohere" - cause to form a united, orderly, and consistent whole. Two antagonistic values may cohere in the same object. |
| 235 |
"tribunal" - an assembly to conduct judicial business. The military has historically been protected from civilian courts, with any crimes committed by soldiers being decided in closed military tribunals. |
| 236 |
"austere" - severely simple. A certain austere simplicity was noticeable all over Longfellow's house. |
| 237 |
"recovering" - returning to health after illness or debility. "The recovering economy is bringing more people back into the market. |
| 238 |
"stratum" - people having the same social or economic status. She belonged to the upper stratum of the profession, and, knowing it, could not sink. |
| 239 |
"conscientious" - characterized by extreme care and great effort. A conscientious hostess would be very much mortified if she served chicken out of its proper course. |
| 240 |
"arbitrary" - based on or subject to individual discretion or preference. Sandra Nurse, a member of Occupy's direct action working group, said police treated demonstrators roughly and made arbitrary arrests. |
| 241 |
"exasperate" - irritate. Shopkeepers, exasperated at the impact of higher taxes and reduced consumer spending, are planning to close down for the day. |
| 242 |
"conjure" - summon into action or bring into existence. Vacation homes typically conjure up dreams of blue skies, pristine sand and crystalline waters. |
| 243 |
"ominous" - threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments. The Count's words were so ominous, so full of sinister meaning that for the moment he felt like crying out with fear. |
| 244 |
"edifice" - a structure that has a roof and walls. They are here erecting a fine stone edifice for an Episcopal Church. |
| 245 |
"elude" - escape, either physically or mentally. But despite racking up world titles, Olympic gold was eluding him. |
| 246 |
"pervade" - spread or diffuse through. An air of intense anticipation pervaded the General's dining room. |
| 247 |
"foster" - promote the growth of. Mr. Horne accused the district's Mexican-American studies program of using an antiwhite curriculum to foster social activism. |
| 248 |
"admonish" - scold or reprimand; take to task. "Children, children, stop quarrelling, right here in public!" admonished Mrs. Dering, in a low, shocked tone. |
| 249 |
"repeal" - cancel officially. If Republicans repeal the law, Ms. Schakowsky said, they would be "taking away benefits that seniors are already getting." |
| 250 |
"retiring" - not arrogant or presuming. Foster was an extremely modest, unworldly, retiring gentleman. |
| 251 |
"incidental" - not of prime or central importance. The models themselves are incidental on "Scouted," merely empty planets around which revolve some fascinating characters and plenty more dull ones. |
| 252 |
"acquiesce" - agree or express agreement. American officials initially tried to resist President Karzai's moves but eventually acquiesced. |
| 253 |
"slew" - a large number or amount or extent. In fact, intense focus may be one reason why so-called savants become so extraordinary at performing extensive calculations or remembering a slew of facts. |
| 254 |
"usurp" - seize and take control without authority. More than anything, though, officials expressed concern about reigniting longstanding Mexican concerns about the United States' usurping Mexico's authority. |
| 255 |
"sentinel" - a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event. The prisoners undressed themselves as usual, and went to bed, observed by the sentinel. |
| 256 |
"precision" - the quality of being reproducible in amount or performance. At this time, home ranges of small rodents can not be measured with great precision, therefore any such calculations are, at best, only approximations. |
| 257 |
"depose" - force to leave an office. Late Wednesday, Mr. Toure, the deposed president, spoke out from hiding for the first time. |
| 258 |
"wanton" - unprovoked or without motive or justification. I am not a sentimentalist by any means, yet I abominate wanton cruelty. |
| 259 |
"odium" - state of disgrace resulting from detestable behavior. This was one of the men who bring odium on the whole class of prisoners, and prejudice society against them. |
| 260 |
"precept" - rule of personal conduct. The law of nature has but one precept, "Be strong." |
| 261 |
"deference" - a courteous expression of esteem or regard. Other rules, as indicated in Mr. Collins' book, concerned deportment, and demanded constant deference to superiors. |
| 262 |
"fray" - a noisy fight. Armed rebels have joined the fray in recent months. |
| 263 |
"candid" - openly straightforward and direct without secretiveness. The actor was candid about his own difficult childhood growing up with alcoholic parents. |
| 264 |
"enduring" - unceasing. What makes the galumphing hubby such an enduring stock character? |
| 265 |
"impertinent" - improperly forward or bold. Imagine calling a famous writer by his first name—it seemed impertinent, to say the least. |
| 266 |
"bland" - lacking stimulating characteristics; uninteresting. Many critics were less than enamored with the kind of "easy listening" Mr. Williams embodied, deriding his approach as bland and unchallenging. |
| 267 |
"insinuate" - suggest in an indirect or covert way; give to understand. "Good heavens, do you mean to insinuate that I did anything crooked?" said Bojo loudly, yet at the bottom ill at ease. |
| 268 |
"nominal" - insignificantly small; a matter of form only. He sought nominal damages of one dollar from each defendant. |
| 269 |
"suppliant" - humbly entreating. The colonists asked for nothing but what was clearly right and asked in the most respectful and even suppliant manner. |
| 270 |
"languid" - lacking spirit or liveliness. Many viewers, bored by the languid pace of the show, tuned out early. |
| 271 |
"rave" - praise enthusiastically. I have heard lots of women simply rave about him. |
| 272 |
"monetary" - relating to or involving money. A hundred years ago, monetary policy – control over interest rates and the availability of credit – was viewed as a highly contentious political issue. |
| 273 |
"headlong" - in a hasty and foolhardy manner. "They may not be wishing to rush headlong back into the same sort of risks just yet." |
| 274 |
"infallible" - incapable of failure or error. But conductors are no more infallible than other people, and once in a blue moon in going through a train they miss a passenger. |
| 275 |
"coax" - influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering. He used his most enticing manner and did his best to coax the little animal out again. |
| 276 |
"explicate" - elaborate, as of theories and hypotheses. He urged judges to resist the rigid guidelines and to write opinions explicating their reasons for doing so. |
| 277 |
"gaunt" - very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold. <strong>Gaunt, starved, and ragged, the men marched northwards, leaving the Touat country upon their left hand. |
| 278 |
"morbid" - suggesting the horror of death and decay. Earlier in the day, however, his demise was watched by spectators with a morbid fascination. |
| 279 |
"ranging" - wandering freely. His detective work is fascinating and wide ranging. |
| 280 |
"pacify" - ease the anger, agitation, or strong emotion of. How they pacified him I don't know, but at the end of two hours he had cooled off enough to let us go aboard. |
| 281 |
"pastoral" - idyllically rustic. He made a considerable reputation as an accomplished painter of quiet pastoral subjects and carefully elaborated landscapes with cattle. |
| 282 |
"dogged" - stubbornly unyielding. Some analysts expect Mr. Falcone, who is known for his dogged determination, to just continue to limp along while slashing costs. |
| 283 |
"ebb" - fall away or decline. Although Gardner's competitive appetite ebbed after 2004, other cravings did not. |
| 284 |
"aide" - someone who acts as an assistant. She later found work as a teacher's aide in a Head Start program in Harlem. |
| 285 |
"appease" - cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of. The king also has tried to appease public anger over corruption. |
| 286 |
"stipulate" - make an express demand or provision in an agreement. The mayor has an executive order in place stipulating that all top officials, except those granted a waiver, live in the city. |
| 287 |
"recourse" - something or someone turned to for assistance or security. Bargain hunters and holiday shoppers are bad guys' favorite targets and have little or no recourse when shoddy or fake merchandise arrives. |
| 288 |
"constrained" - lacking spontaneity; not natural. All his goodness, however, will be of a forced, constrained, artificial, and at bottom unreal character. |
| 289 |
"bate" - moderate or restrain; lessen the force of. "You called her 'an interfering, disagreeable old woman'!" whispered Bertha with bated breath, glancing half fearfully at the door as she spoke. |
| 290 |
"aversion" - a feeling of intense dislike. Already my passive dislike had grown into an active aversion. |
| 291 |
"conceit" - an artistic device or effect. An urban panorama is viewed from a high vantage point, a conceit used in topographic art to render vast perspectives. |
| 292 |
"loath" - strongly opposed. Friends and political allies are loath to talk about her, knowing the family's intense obsession with privacy. |
| 293 |
"rampart" - an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes. The night was gloomy, dark, and wet; the soldiers, wearied with watching at the ramparts, dozed, leaning on their weapons. |
| 294 |
"extort" - obtain by coercion or intimidation. The owners, in turn, have called the lawyers shakedown artists bent on ruining their good reputations to extort money. |
| 295 |
"tarry" - leave slowly and hesitantly. For two days I tarried in Paris, settling my little property. |
| 296 |
"perpetrate" - perform an act, usually with a negative connotation. Come on it's just a cruel joke perpetrated by the airline industry." |
| 297 |
"decorum" - propriety in manners and conduct. Wishing to observe the rules of decorum she invited him to stay for supper, though absolutely nothing had been prepared for a guest. |
| 298 |
"luxuriant" - produced or growing in extreme abundance. Her luxuriant curly hair, restrained by no net, but held together simply by a flowering spray, waved over her shoulders in all its rich abundance. |
| 299 |
"cant" - insincere talk about religion or morals. It was the familiar cant of the man rich enough to affect disdain for money, and Wade was not impressed. |
| 300 |
"enjoin" - give instructions to or direct somebody to do something. He turned to beckon the others forward with one hand, while laying the other over his mouth in a gesture enjoining silence. |
| 301 |
"avarice" - extreme greed for material wealth. The old man's fears were assailed with threats, and his avarice was approached by bribes, and he very soon capitulated. |
| 302 |
"edict" - a formal or authoritative proclamation. An edict was issued by him forbidding any Christian to give instruction in Greek literature under any circumstances. |
| 303 |
"disconcert" - cause to lose one's composure. Perplexed and disconcerted, I found no words to answer such an amazing sally. |
| 304 |
"symmetry" - balance among the parts of something. Even the staging displays symmetry, with actors lined up on either side in formal precision. |
| 305 |
"capitulate" - surrender under agreed conditions. "Alas, no," said Bergfeld, mournfully, "the day after the battle our brave soldiers were surrounded by overwhelming forces and obliged to capitulate." |
| 306 |
"arbitrate" - act between parties with a view to reconciling differences. The Scottish throne was now disputed by many claimants, and the Scots asked Edward to arbitrate between them. |
| 307 |
"cleave" - separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument. Instead someone shouts "Go" and he is bearing down on me and almost cleaves my shield in two with his first blow. |
| 308 |
"append" - add to the very end. Some specimens will appear in the papers appended to this report. |
| 309 |
"visage" - the human face. An honest, quiet laugh often mantled his pale earnest visage. |
| 310 |
"horde" - a moving crowd. <strong>Hordes of puzzled tourists, many with rolling suitcases attached, poured down the staircases. |
| 311 |
"parable" - a short moral story . In most instances, I have closed my visits by reading some interesting story or parable. |
| 312 |
"chastise" - censure severely. She remembers an upsetting incident when a headmistress chastised her for working too much. |
| 313 |
"foil" - hinder or prevent, as an effort, plan, or desire. On March 1st, a Turkish newspaper reported that the country's intelligence service had foiled an attempt by Syrian agents to kidnap the colonel. |
| 314 |
"veritable" - being truly so called; real or genuine. The heavy rain had reduced this low-lying ground to a veritable quagmire, making progress very difficult even for one as unburdened as he was. |
| 315 |
"grapple" - work hard to come to terms with or deal with something. But, he said, all coastal communities will have to grapple with rising seas. |
| 316 |
"gentry" - the most powerful members of a society. The mode of travel of the gentry was riding horses, but most people traveled by walking. |
| 317 |
"pall" - a sudden numbing dread. Residents who fled in recent days spoke of the smell of death and piles of garbage drifting like snowbanks, casting a pall over the city. |
| 318 |
"maxim" - a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits. The maxim "All is fair in love and war" was applied literally. |
| 319 |
"projection" - a prediction made by extrapolating from past observations. Volume is down 25 percent from five years ago, and projections show even further declines, said Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe. |
| 320 |
"prowess" - a superior skill learned by study and practice . While our engineering prowess has advanced a great deal over the past sixty years, the principles of innovation largely have not. |
| 321 |
"dingy" - thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot. Though composed amid the unromantic surroundings of a dingy, dusty, and neglected back room, the speech has become a memorable document. |
| 322 |
"semblance" - an outward appearance that is deliberately misleading. He was perceptibly older, in the way in which people look older all at once after having long kept the semblance of youth. |
| 323 |
"tout" - advertise in strongly positive terms. Testing is being touted as the means of making the U.S. education system competitive, even world-class. |
| 324 |
"fortitude" - strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity. Leigh Hunt bore himself in his captivity with cheerful fortitude, suffering severely in health but flagging little in spirits or industry. |
| 325 |
"asunder" - into parts or pieces. In 1854, as I have already remarked, Nicaragua was split asunder by civil war. |
| 326 |
"rout" - an overwhelming defeat. It's how Seattle won Sunday's game in Chicago, scoring 31 consecutive second-half points as an impressive comeback became an overwhelming rout. |
| 327 |
"staid" - characterized by dignity and propriety. He was prim and staid and liked to do things in an orderly fashion. |
| 328 |
"beguile" - influence by slyness. I can no longer remain silent in the presence of the schemers who seek to beguile you. |
| 329 |
"purport" - have the often specious appearance of being or intending. Of course, none of these purported medical benefits have any grounding in science. |
| 330 |
"deprave" - corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality. The people who make up this typical Gorky offering are drunkards, thieves, depraved creatures of every kind. |
| 331 |
"bequeath" - leave or give, especially by will after one's death. No matter how often she changed her will, she told me, that diamond pin was always bequeathed to me. |
| 332 |
"enigma" - something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained. Tails are often an enigma; many creatures have them, but scientists know little about their function, particularly for extinct species. |
| 333 |
"assiduous" - marked by care and persistent effort. He's an assiduous diary-keeper and regularly rereads ancient entries to check up on himself. |
| 334 |
"vassal" - a person holding a fief. And what was of still greater importance, he could only obtain taxes and soldiers from among the vassals, by the consent of their feudal lords. |
| 335 |
"quail" - draw back, as with fear or pain. He quailed before me, and forgetting his new part in old habits, muttered an apology. |
| 336 |
"outskirts" - outlying areas, as of a city or town. Ms. Waters talked about how she had spent the day at an organic farm on the outskirts of Beijing looking at vegetables for the dinner. |
| 337 |
"bulwark" - a protective structure of stone or concrete. The cliffs are of imposing height, nearly three hundred feet: a formidable bulwark. |
| 338 |
"swerve" - an erratic turn from an intended course. However, I was not going to swerve from my word. |
| 339 |
"gird" - prepare oneself for action or a confrontation. Protesters are girding for another police raid as several City Council members have called on protesters to leave. |
| 340 |
"betrothed" - pledged to be married. We are not betrothed'—her eyes filled with tears,—'he can never marry me; and he and my father have quarrelled. |
| 341 |
"prospective" - of or concerned with or related to the future. Most prospective homesteaders make the same mistake I did in buying horses, unless they are experienced. |
| 342 |
"advert" - make reference to. In the family circle it was rarely adverted to, and never except when some allusion to the approaching separation had to be made. |
| 343 |
"peremptory" - not allowing contradiction or refusal. This time it was not a request but a peremptory order to go at once to Cuba and undertake the work. |
| 344 |
"rudiment" - the elementary stage of any subject. He retraced his steps, and came to Cape Girardeau, in Missouri, where he remained some time, acquiring the rudiments of the English language. |
| 345 |
"deduce" - reason from the general to the particular. They then used models of global wind circulation to deduce which dust sources have become stronger and which weaker. |
| 346 |
"halting" - proceeding in a fragmentary, hesitant, or ineffective way. "I so much love cricket," he said, shyly, in halting English. |
| 347 |
"ignominy" - a state of dishonor. After all, we love nothing better than seeing the powerful and formerly smug dragged across the front pages in ignominy. |
| 348 |
"ideology" - an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group. Bill O'Reilly and others picked up on the theme, summing up left-wing ideology as "San Francisco values." |
| 349 |
"pallid" - lacking in vitality or interest or effectiveness. But too often the music sounded thin and pallid. |
| 350 |
"chagrin" - strong feelings of embarrassment. But he was feeling deeply chagrined and mortified over his last escapade. |
| 351 |
"obtrude" - thrust oneself in as if by force. She had no right to obtrude herself into his life and to disturb it. |
| 352 |
"audacious" - disposed to venture or take risks. In an audacious operation that unfolded like a Hollywood thriller, the Navy Seals executed a daring raid deep into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. |
| 353 |
"construe" - make sense of; assign a meaning to. But nothing that was said Tuesday can be construed as good news. |
| 354 |
"ford" - cross a river where it's shallow. Sometimes they drive their teams through unsettled country, without roads, swimming and fording streams, clearing away obstructions, and camping where night overtakes them. |
| 355 |
"repast" - the food served and eaten at one time. Fragrant coffee, light rolls, fresh butter, ham and eggs, fried crocuses and soft crabs, formed the repast. |
| 356 |
"stint" - an unbroken period of time during which you do something. He found his unionized warehouse job after a stint working for his father, an accountant. |
| 357 |
"fresco" - a mural done with watercolors on wet plaster. The little church has an ancient fresco of St. Christopher, placed, as usual, opposite the entrance. |
| 358 |
"dutiful" - willingly obedient out of a sense of respect. Perhaps he thinks an engaged young lady should be demure and dutiful, having no eyes or ears for any one except her betrothed. |
| 359 |
"hew" - make or shape as with an axe. They bought a log chain, and lumber for a door; the window frames were hewed from logs. |
| 360 |
"parity" - functional equality. How many of the world's problems would be solved, or at least greatly reduced, if women had true parity with men? |
| 361 |
"affable" - diffusing warmth and friendliness. He was well liked and respected in these islands, for his affable manners had obtained for him much popularity. |
| 362 |
"interminable" - tiresomely long; seemingly without end. All was going well, but slowly, the time taken for the last few feet seeming to be interminable. |
| 363 |
"pillage" - steal goods; take as spoils. In addition great material losses were inflicted: seven hundred houses were destroyed, six hundred stores pillaged, and thousands of families utterly ruined. |
| 364 |
"foreboding" - a feeling of evil to come. Mr. Harding had strong forebodings that the trouble, so far from being ended, was only just beginning. |
| 365 |
"rend" - tear or be torn violently. In the distance heavy artillery was growling, and high explosive shells were bursting with a violence that seemed to rend the sky. |
| 366 |
"livelihood" - the financial means whereby one lives. With businesses shut, fields untended and fishing abandoned many have lost their livelihoods as well as their homes, our correspondent says. |
| 367 |
"deign" - do something that one considers to be below one's dignity. To Mr. Gompers' courteous letter Czar Gary did not deign to reply. |
| 368 |
"capricious" - determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity. Her admirers were capricious, returning to her at times, and then holding aloof again; and as for suitors, they entirely disappeared. |
| 369 |
"stupendous" - so great in size, force, or extent as to elicit awe. The fact was so stupendous that Terry felt almost frightened over the great good fortune. |
| 370 |
"chaff" - material consisting of seed coverings and pieces of stem. The wheat, being heavy, falls, while the chaff is blown away. |
| 371 |
"innate" - not established by conditioning or learning. In other words, one of our most essential abilities as humans--reading--is the product of a combination of innate and learned traits. |
| 372 |
"reverie" - an abstracted state of absorption. He stood still, seemingly lost in reverie, and quite oblivious to the group about him. |
| 373 |
"wrangle" - quarrel noisily, angrily, or disruptively. Here were many fierce and bitter wrangles over vexed questions, turbulent scenes, displays of sectional feelings. |
| 374 |
"crevice" - a long narrow opening. The disruptive power of tree roots, growing in the crevices of rocks, is well known. |
| 375 |
"ostensible" - appearing as such but not necessarily so. This already-exhaustive book is studded with diary entries, academic papers and other ostensible evidence that its fictitious stories of destruction are true. |
| 376 |
"craven" - lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful. Was it for them to follow the craven footsteps of a cowardly generation? |
| 377 |
"vestige" - an indication that something has been present. Now, there was no vestige of vegetation; no living thing. |
| 378 |
"plumb" - examine thoroughly and in great depth. Tellingly, Ms. Liao said she had great difficulty finding three actors willing to plumb their own personalities. |
| 379 |
"reticent" - temperamentally disinclined to talk. No questions were asked, and few indeed were the words spoken, his reticent manner preventing any undue familiarity. |
| 380 |
"propensity" - an inclination to do something. A longtime colleague, Gate Theatre director Michael Colgan, noted Kelly's old-school charms, punctuated by his propensity for bow ties and smart suits. |
| 381 |
"chide" - censure severely or angrily. He chided reporters as having "stalked" family members, demanding that his relatives be left alone. |
| 382 |
"espouse" - choose and follow a theory, idea, policy, etc.. He said Islam should not be equated with terrorism or the kind of violence espoused by Bin Laden. |
| 383 |
"raiment" - especially fine or decorative clothing. Clothed in fine raiment and faring sumptuously every day, he soon developed into a handsome lad. |
| 384 |
"intrepid" - invulnerable to fear or intimidation. There are some very courageous and intrepid reporters in Afghanistan, including some who work for American media outlets. |
| 385 |
"seemly" - according with custom or propriety. The Baron was less conscientious, for he ate more beefsteak than was seemly, and talked a great deal of stupid nonsense, as was his wont. |
| 386 |
"allay" - lessen the intensity of or calm. Our boy was scared and confused; we tried to allay his fears. |
| 387 |
"fitful" - occurring in spells and often abruptly. She had lost her composure, her breath came in fitful, uneven gasps, and as she sat there she pressed one hand over her heart. |
| 388 |
"erode" - become ground down or deteriorate. Another report today showed home prices fell more than forecast in November, eroding the wealth of families as they seek to rebuild savings. |
| 389 |
"unaffected" - free of artificiality; sincere and genuine. His conversation was unaffectedly simple and frank; his language natural; always abounding in curious anecdotes. |
| 390 |
"canto" - a major division of a long poem. Folengo's next production was the Orlandino, an Italian poem of eight cantos, written in rhymed octaves. |
| 391 |
"docile" - easily handled or managed. Time and again humans have domesticated wild , producing tame individuals with softer appearances and more docile temperaments, such as dogs and guinea pigs. |
| 392 |
"patronize" - treat condescendingly. Ms. Paul herself noted that "glib talk about appreciating dyslexia as a 'gift' is unhelpful at best and patronizing at worst." |
| 393 |
"teem" - be abuzz. The coast, once teeming with traffic, is now lonely and deserted. |
| 394 |
"estrange" - arouse hostility or indifference in. An atmosphere of distrust, suspicion and fear can cause workers to feel estranged from one another, Dr. Wright has written. |
| 395 |
"spat" - a quarrel about petty points. Public spats are rare in the asset-management industry, where companies typically resolve disputes behind closed doors. |
| 396 |
"warble" - sing or play with trills. Meadow larks, as you have undoubtedly noticed, warble many different songs. |
| 397 |
"mien" - a person's appearance, manner, or demeanor. Nevertheless, before going to meet Samuel, she assumed a calm and dignified mien. |
| 398 |
"sate" - fill to contentment. His appetite was not sated by any means, but he knew the danger of overloading his stomach, so he stopped. |
| 399 |
"constituency" - the body of voters who elect a representative for their area. Each posited that the blue-collar Democratic constituency rooted in the New Deal had grown increasingly conservative, alienated from "big government." |
| 400 |
"patrician" - characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy. Respectable ladies, long resident, wearing black poke bonnets and camel's-hair shawls, lifted their patrician eyebrows with disapproval. |
| 401 |
"parry" - avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing. The boys asked a few guarded questions, but gained no information whatever, their questions being parried in every instance. |
| 402 |
"practitioner" - someone who carries out a learned profession. In particular, modern medical practitioners are coming around to the idea that certain illnesses cannot be reduced to one isolatable, treatable cause. |
| 403 |
"ravel" - disentangle. Overcasting is done by taking loose stitches over the raw edge of the cloth, to keep it from ravelling or fraying. |
| 404 |
"infest" - occupy in large numbers or live on a host. Many lived in dilapidated apartments with leaky pipes, broken windows, rooms full of mold, and walls infested with cockroaches and rats. |
| 405 |
"actuate" - give an incentive for doing something. He knew that men were actuated by other motives, good and bad, than self-interest. |
| 406 |
"surly" - unfriendly and inclined toward anger or irritation. But Blake, being surly and quarrelsome even when sober, gave the lapel a savage jerk, and reached out with his other hand. |
| 407 |
"convalesce" - get over an illness or shock. Patients convalescing from pneumonia were evacuated to England or given Base Duty. |
| 408 |
"demoralize" - lower someone's spirits; make downhearted. The storm clobbered many communities still recovering from the flooding two months ago caused by Hurricane Irene, leaving weary homeowners exhausted and demoralized. |
| 409 |
"devolve" - grow worse. As the rhetoric heated up inside, the violence outside devolved into chaos. |
| 410 |
"alacrity" - liveliness and eagerness. Every one exerted himself not only without murmuring and discontent, but even with an alacrity which almost approached to cheerfulness. |
| 411 |
"waive" - do without or cease to hold or adhere to. Low rates have also led retail brokerages to waive fees on money market funds to avoid negative returns for their clients. |
| 412 |
"unwonted" - out of the ordinary. He must rush off to see his people, who no doubt were quite confounded by his unwonted energy. |
| 413 |
"seethe" - be in an agitated emotional state. Outwardly quite calm and matter-of-fact, his mind was in a seething turmoil. |
| 414 |
"scrutinize" - look at critically or searchingly, or in minute detail. Fans and commentators are scrutinizing every blemish: his turnovers, his weak left hand, his jump shot. |
| 415 |
"diffident" - lacking self-confidence. Shyly diffident in the presence of strangers, her head was lowered. |
| 416 |
"execrate" - curse or declare to be evil or anathema. When all Great Britain was execrating Napoleon, picturing him as a devil with horns and hoofs, Byron looked upon him as the world's hero. |
| 417 |
"implacable" - incapable of being appeased or pacified. This man was a savage in his implacable desire for revenge. |
| 418 |
"pique" - a sudden outburst of anger. A talented youngster who smashes his guitar in a fit of pique finds it magically reassembled just in time for a crucial concert. |
| 419 |
"mite" - a slight but appreciable amount. I never saw anybody so pleased with monkeys as she is, and not one mite afraid. |
| 420 |
"encumber" - hold back. Two others were making slower progress for the reason that each was encumbered by supporting a disabled man. |
| 421 |
"uncouth" - lacking refinement or cultivation or taste. He had not stopped to consider her rough speech and uncouth manners. |
| 422 |
"petulant" - easily irritated or annoyed. The black eyes emitted an angry flash, the voice that answered was sharp and petulant. |
| 423 |
"expiate" - make amends for. Wulphere was absolved on condition that he should expiate his crime by founding churches and monasteries all over his kingdom. |
| 424 |
"cavalier" - given to haughty disregard of others. Some would have given Nicklaus a cavalier response: polite nod while thinking, "Yeah, whatever." |
| 425 |
"banter" - light teasing repartee. Our easy banter had suddenly been replaced by strained and awkward interaction. |
| 426 |
"bluster" - act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner. Slade, despite his swaggers and blustering, was at heart a coward. |
| 427 |
"debase" - corrupt morally or by intemperance or sensuality. Long oppression had not, on the whole, either blunted their intellects or debased their morals. |
| 428 |
"retainer" - a person working in the service of another. This faithful and trusted retainer is greatly valued by his employers. |
| 429 |
"subjugate" - make subservient; force to submit or subdue. The Confederacy was led by thoroughgoing racists who wanted to keep blacks subjugated for all time because of the color of their skin. |
| 430 |
"extol" - praise, glorify, or honor. How I praised the duck at that first dinner, and extolled Madame's skill in cookery! |
| 431 |
"fraught" - filled with or attended with. But the ocean remains an unpredictable place, fraught with hazards. |
| 432 |
"august" - profoundly honored. At all times reserved in his manner and his bearing full of dignity, never before had she realized the majesty of General Washington's august presence. |
| 433 |
"fissure" - a long narrow depression in a surface. The brown bark is not very rough, though its numerous fissures and cracks give it a rugged appearance. |
| 434 |
"knoll" - a small natural hill. Opened in 2008, the park serves as a true public space; elderly couples stroll around the artificial lake as toddlers roll down grassy knolls. |
| 435 |
"callous" - emotionally hardened. Outwardly merry and good-humoured, he was by nature coldly fierce, calculating, callous. |
| 436 |
"inculcate" - teach and impress by frequent repetitions or admonitions. But instruction in history has been for a long time systematically used to inculcate certain political sentiments in the pupils. |
| 437 |
"nettle" - disturb, especially by minor irritations. Lincoln began these remarks by good-humored but nettling chaffing of his opponent. |
| 438 |
"blanch" - turn pale, as if in fear. He is silent, as if struck dumb, his face showing blanched and bloodless, while she utters a shriek, half terrified, half in frenzied anger. |
| 439 |
"inscrutable" - of an obscure nature. The fashion industry is notoriously opaque and often inscrutable for outsiders, even ones as well connected as him. |
| 440 |
"tenacious" - stubbornly unyielding. She was a tenacious woman, one who would even hold fast a thing which she no longer valued, simply because it belonged to her. |
| 441 |
"thrall" - the state of being under the control of another person. Then Kiss commenced in earnest, and quickly held his audience in thrall. |
| 442 |
"exigency" - a pressing or urgent situation. The exigency of the situation roused Mr. Popkiss' sluggish faculties into prompt action. |
| 443 |
"disconsolate" - sad beyond comforting; incapable of being consoled. Was there a bereaved mother or disconsolate sister weeping over their dead? |
| 444 |
"impetus" - a force that makes something happen. Critics say it has known mixed success at best, although supporters hope the U.S. drawdown could provide just the impetus it needs to thrive. |
| 445 |
"imposition" - an uncalled-for burden. On that far-away day he had considered the little, lost girl a nuisance and an imposition. |
| 446 |
"auspices" - kindly endorsement and guidance. In March 2009, negotiations between Israel and Hamas were held in Cairo, under the auspices of the Egyptian intelligence agency. |
| 447 |
"sonorous" - full and loud and deep. His voice rang out firmly now, a deep and sonorous bass. |
| 448 |
"exploitation" - an act that victimizes someone . In a scathing report released last year, Amnesty International found there was widespread exploitation of migrants in Malaysia. |
| 449 |
"bane" - something causing misery or death. Knee pain is the bane of many runners, sometimes causing them to give up altogether. |
| 450 |
"dint" - force or effort. If only certain puzzles could be solved by dint of sheer hard thinking! |
| 451 |
"ignominious" - deserving or bringing disgrace or shame. The great Ottawa chief saw his partially accomplished scheme withering into ignominious failure. |
| 452 |
"amicable" - characterized by friendship and good will. After a short colloquy the two men evidently came to an amicable understanding, for they shook hands. |
| 453 |
"onset" - the beginning or early stages. Thousands of families are living in makeshift camps as temperatures fall to freezing with the onset of winter. |
| 454 |
"conservatory" - a schoolhouse with special facilities for fine arts. The young instrumental talent that is coming out of local music schools and conservatories is as amazingly good as you are going to find anywhere. |
| 455 |
"zenith" - the point above the observer directly opposite the nadir. In other words it never reaches the zenith, a point directly overhead. |
| 456 |
"voluble" - marked by a ready flow of speech. I find him charming: shy – yet easy to talk to – voluble and funny once he gets going. |
| 457 |
"yeoman" - a free man who cultivates his own land. On one extreme was the well-to-do yeoman farmer farming his own land. |
| 458 |
"levity" - a manner lacking seriousness. The same balance of seriousness and levity runs through her plays, which put an absurdist spin on everyday problems. |
| 459 |
"rapt" - feeling great delight. She was watching the development of the investigation with rapt, eager attention. |
| 460 |
"sultry" - characterized by oppressive heat and humidity. New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics arrive just as school sports ramp up in sultry August temperatures. |
| 461 |
"pinion" - bind the arms of. The prisoners having dismounted, were placed in a line on the ground facing the guillotine, their arms pinioned. |
| 462 |
"axiom" - a proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof. The fundamental axiom of scientific thought is that there is not, never has been, and never will be, any disorder in nature. |
| 463 |
"descry" - catch sight of. Looking off seaward, I could descry no sails. |
| 464 |
"retinue" - the group following and attending to some important person. Despite his retinue of security personnel, Atambaev had been poisoned during his short tenure as prime minister. |
| 465 |
"functionary" - a worker who holds or is invested with an office. He was the functionary of the assize court, impaneling its juries, bringing accused men before it, and carrying out its penalties. |
| 466 |
"imbibe" - take in liquids. "We're cornered at last," he said suddenly, as the old man set the bottle down after having imbibed the best half of its contents. |
| 467 |
"diversified" - having variety of character or form or components. Funds in both categories tend to be highly diversified, typically with 100 or more stocks across at least 10 industries. |
| 468 |
"maraud" - raid and rove in search of booty. Its reporter says armed gangs and looters are marauding the streets. |
| 469 |
"grudging" - petty or reluctant in giving or spending. Expect delays, scattered outages and surly, grudging customer service in the interim. |
| 470 |
"partiality" - a predisposition to like something. She still showed a partiality for bright colors, by her gown of deep crimson. |
| 471 |
"philology" - the humanistic study of language and literature. I had determined to study philology, chiefly Greek and Latin, but the fare spread out by the professors was much too tempting. |
| 472 |
"wry" - humorously sarcastic or mocking. She also has a very understated but very wry sense of humour; watch out for it. |
| 473 |
"caucus" - meet to select a candidate or promote a policy. Representative Ron Paul of Texas isn't campaigning in Florida, instead focusing on Maine, which will caucus in late February. |
| 474 |
"permeate" - spread or diffuse through. Florida's summertime heat permeates almost every scene, becoming something like a character. |
| 475 |
"propitious" - presenting favorable circumstances. With the Athens stock market down nearly 30 percent so far this year, it would not seem a propitious time for initial public offerings. |
| 476 |
"salient" - conspicuous, prominent, or important. Bullying has become an increasingly salient problem for school-age children, and in rare cases has ended tragically with victims committing suicide. |
| 477 |
"propitiate" - make peace with. King Edward, having subdued the Welsh, "endeavoured to propitiate his newly acquired subjects by becoming a resident in the conquered country. |
| 478 |
"excise" - remove by cutting. Wielding a razor, Jefferson excised all passages containing supernaturalistic elements from the gospels, extracting what he took to be Jesus's pure ethical teachings. |
| 479 |
"betoken" - be a signal for or a symptom of. The haggard face and sombre eyes betokened considerable mental anguish. |
| 480 |
"palatable" - acceptable to the taste or mind. If nicely cooked in this way, cabbage is as palatable and as digestible as cauliflower. |
| 481 |
"upbraid" - express criticism towards. When Kahn warned of a serious economic "depression", he was upbraided by the White House for using such language. |
| 482 |
"renegade" - someone who rebels and becomes an outlaw. If he went off to another people he lost all standing among the Sioux and was thereafter treated as an outlaw and a renegade. |
| 483 |
"hoary" - ancient. The device of the trapped young person saved by books is a hoary one, but Ms. Winterson makes it seem new, and sulfurous. |
| 484 |
"pedantic" - marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning. The reader is treated to pedantic little footnotes, and given a good deal of information which is either gratuitous or uninteresting. |
| 485 |
"coy" - showing marked and often playful evasiveness or reluctance. It was funny watching such a solid person, based in faith and education, grow a trifle coy about the year of his birth. |
| 486 |
"troth" - a solemn pledge of fidelity. She had pledged to him her troth, and she would not attempt to go back from her pledge at the first appearance of a difficulty. |
| 487 |
"encroachment" - entry to another's property without right or permission. The move may mark yet another attempt by France to rein in what it sees as the encroachment of online services on the country's culture. |
| 488 |
"belie" - be in contradiction with. "It is a fine morning," he said, taken aback by my sudden movement, but affecting an indifference which the sparkle in his eye belied. |
| 489 |
"armada" - a large fleet. An armada of three hundred ships manned by eighteen thousand marines assembled in the bay on their way to the conquest of Algiers. |
| 490 |
"succor" - assistance in time of difficulty. Given his health woes, succession worries and persistent isolation, Mr. Kim may simply be seeking succor from what may be his last friend on earth. |
| 491 |
"imperturbable" - marked by extreme calm and composure. Ordinarily imperturbable, even in the face of unexpected situations, he was now visibly agitated. |
| 492 |
"irresolute" - uncertain how to act or proceed. I stood for a moment before I entered on my arduous undertaking, irresolute and hesitating, swayed by two conflicting impulses. |
| 493 |
"knack" - a special way of doing something. He had a special knack of hunting out farm houses, engaging madame in conversation, and coming away with bread, eggs, or cheese in his knapsack. |
| 494 |
"unseemly" - not in keeping with accepted standards of what is proper. The square mile's upbeat mood may strike some as unseemly at a time of national gloom. |
| 495 |
"accentuate" - stress or single out as important. This sparkling marvel lies modestly nestled among the law courts, whose plainer modern buildings serve but to accentuate its wonderful beauty. |
| 496 |
"divulge" - make known to the public information previously kept secret. She hectors her children not to divulge personal information like phone numbers online. |
| 497 |
"brawn" - possessing muscular strength. He believes Hollywood has often have had an over-reliance on physical brawn as the deciding factor for portraying a strong man. |
| 498 |
"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. |
| 499 |
"palpitate" - beat rapidly. After supper my heart started racing, palpitating like a tick. |
| 500 |
"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. |
| 501 |
"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. |
| 502 |
"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. |
| 503 |
"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. |
| 504 |
"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. |
| 505 |
"despoil" - destroy and strip of its possession. Wherever his lordship's army went, plantations were despoiled, and private houses plundered. |
| 506 |
"sully" - make dirty or spotty. Why sully the reputation of an otherwise fascinating online community with really deeply questionable, troubling content? |
| 507 |
"malevolent" - having or exerting a malignant influence. So you don't believe in evil, as an actual malevolent force? |
| 508 |
"irksome" - tedious or irritating. It was pretty irksome passing the time in his enforced prison, and finally Andy went to sleep. |
| 509 |
"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. |
| 510 |
"subaltern" - inferior in rank or status. The careful commanding officer of a regiment discourages his young subalterns from taking leave to Hill Stations. |
| 511 |
"welt" - a raised mark on the skin . But red, itchy welts typically appear within 24 to 48 hours of being bitten. |
| 512 |
"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. |
| 513 |
"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. |
| 514 |
"inimitable" - matchless. Leave aside Spain, where Barcelona breeds its own, inimitable style, and the answer might be that we are rushing toward uniformity. |
| 515 |
"depredation" - a destructive action. Wild elephants abound and commit many depredations, entering villages in large herds, and consuming everything suitable to their tastes. |
| 516 |
"amalgamate" - 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. |
| 517 |
"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. |
| 518 |
"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. |
| 519 |
"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. |
| 520 |
"reactionary" - extremely conservative. Old people are often accused of being too conservative, and even reactionary. |
| 521 |
"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. |
| 522 |
"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. |
| 523 |
"discriminating" - showing or indicating careful judgment and discernment. Jobs' Apple specializes in delighting the most discriminating, hard-to-please customers. |
| 524 |
"brooch" - a decorative pin. Upon her breast she wore a brooch of gold set with many precious stones. |
| 525 |
"pert" - characterized by a lightly saucy or impudent quality. Her pert, lively manner said she hadn't taken any wooden nickels lately. |
| 526 |
"disembark" - exit from a ship, vehicle, or aircraft. The immigrants disembarked from their ships tired and underfed—generally in poor health. |
| 527 |
"aria" - an elaborate song for solo voice. Ms. Netrebko sang an elegantly sad aria with lustrous warmth, aching vulnerability and floating high notes. |
| 528 |
"trappings" - ornaments; embellishments to or characteristic signs of. They were caparisoned in Indian fashion with gay colors and fancy trappings. |
| 529 |
"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. |
| 530 |
"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. |
| 531 |
"distend" - swell from or as if from internal pressure. Some kids said LaNiyah's distended abdomen looked like she was carrying a baby. |
| 532 |
"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. |
| 533 |
"pucker" - gather something into small wrinkles or folds. Godmother,' she went on, puckering her forehead again in perplexity, 'it almost feels like feathers. |
| 534 |
"rejoinder" - a quick reply to a question or remark. "Not at all!" was Aunt Susannah's brisk rejoinder. |
| 535 |
"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. |
| 536 |
"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. |
| 537 |
"nicety" - conformity with some aesthetic standard of correctness. They accepted the invitation; but Mrs. Rowlandson did not appreciate the niceties of Indian etiquette. |
| 538 |
"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. |
| 539 |
"vestment" - a 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. |
| 540 |
"urbane" - showing a high degree of refinement. Polished, urbane and gentlemanly—his manners were calculated to refine all around him. |
| 541 |
"defray" - bear the expenses of. The legislation also calls for $1.6 billion in spending cuts to help defray the disaster costs. |
| 542 |
"spectral" - resembling or characteristic of a phantom. Hawthorne's figures are somewhat spectral; they lack flesh and blood. |
| 543 |
"munificent" - very generous. They have shown themselves very loving and generous lately, in making a quite munificent provision for his traveling. |
| 544 |
"dictum" - an authoritative declaration. In other words, they seemed fully subscribed to Andy Warhol's dictum that business art is the best art. |
| 545 |
"fad" - an interest followed with exaggerated zeal. According to Chinese media, the hottest new fad in China involves selling small live-animal key chains. |
| 546 |
"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." |
| 547 |
"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. |
| 548 |
"beleaguer" - annoy persistently. Rock concert ticket sales dropped sharply last year, sounding another sour note for the beleaguered music industry. |
| 549 |
"gripe" - complain. If America is going to gripe about the yuan's rate, then China will complain about the dollar's role. |
| 550 |
"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. |
| 551 |
"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. |
| 552 |
"invocation" - the act of appealing for help. These dances are prayers or invocations for rain, the crowning blessing in this dry land. |
| 553 |
"cajole" - influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering. Hamilton, however, was not to be cajoled into friendliness by superficial compliment. |
| 554 |
"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. |
| 555 |
"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. |
| 556 |
"abase" - cause to feel shame. Ashamed, abased, degraded in his own eyes, he turned away his head. |
| 557 |
"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. |
| 558 |
"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. |
| 559 |
"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. |
| 560 |
"mettle" - the courage to carry on. The deployment will also test the emotional mettle of soldiers and their families. |
| 561 |
"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. |
| 562 |
"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. |
| 563 |
"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. |
| 564 |
"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. |
| 565 |
"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. |
| 566 |
"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. |
| 567 |
"hale" - exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health. From a hearty, hale, corn-fed boy, he has become pale, lean, and wan. |
| 568 |
"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. |
| 569 |
"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. |
| 570 |
"querulous" - habitually complaining. He was, at times, as querulous as a complaining old man. |
| 571 |
"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. |
| 572 |
"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. |
| 573 |
"obdurate" - stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing. Several appeared deeply affected, with tears of repentance standing in their eyes, others sullen and obdurate. |
| 574 |
"grovel" - show submission or fear. The two young men who drove them had fallen flat and were grovelling and wailing for mercy. |
| 575 |
"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. |
| 576 |
"dregs" - sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid. "Right got to go," Ali says, draining the dregs of his beer. |
| 577 |
"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. |
| 578 |
"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. |
| 579 |
"pundit" - someone who has been admitted to membership in a field. <strong>Pundits of agricultural science explore the sheds, I believe, the barns, stables, machine-rooms, and so forth, before inspecting the crops. |
| 580 |
"commiserate" - 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. |
| 581 |
"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. |
| 582 |
"assay" - make an effort or attempt. He decided to assay one last project before giving up. |
| 583 |
"parochial" - narrowly restricted in outlook or scope. But Republicans in Pennsylvania also have narrower and more parochial things to worry about. |
| 584 |
"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. |
| 585 |
"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. |
| 586 |
"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. |
| 587 |
"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. |
| 588 |
"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. |
| 589 |
"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. |
| 590 |
"mendicant" - a pauper who lives by begging. In others are the broken-down mendicants who live on soup-kitchens and begging. |
| 591 |
"meander" - 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. |
| 592 |
"bullion" - gold or silver in bars or ingots. In times of economic turmoil, more people tend to invest in bullion gold. |
| 593 |
"diffidence" - lack of self-assurance. His grave diffidence and continued hesitation in offering an opinion confirmed me in my own. |
| 594 |
"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. |
| 595 |
"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. |
| 596 |
"podium" - a platform raised above the surrounding level. Leyva beamed as he stood atop the podium, nodding as the American flag was raised and "The Star-Spangled Banner" played in his honor. |
| 597 |
"dearth" - an insufficient quantity or number. A continuing dearth of snow in many U.S. spots usually buried by this time of year has turned life upside down. |
| 598 |
"granary" - a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. Here is where he does his husking, and the "clear corn" produced is stored away in some underground granary till It is needed. |
| 599 |
"whet" - make keen or more acute. While he described the fishing as "pretty good," the silver salmon running in the creek only whetted his appetite to return to Alaska. |
| 600 |
"imposture" - pretending to be another person. He got somebody to prosecute him for false pretences and imposture, on the ground that Madame was a man. |
| 601 |
"diadem" - an ornamental jeweled headdress signifying sovereignty. I dethrone monarchs and the people rejoicing crown me instead, showering diadems upon my head. |
| 602 |
"fallow" - undeveloped but potentially useful. Several new prostate cancer drugs have been approved in the last couple of years, after a long fallow period, and others are in advanced development. |
| 603 |
"hubbub" - loud confused noise from many sources. There was some good-humoured pushing and thrusting, the drum beating and the church bells jangling bravely above the hubbub. |
| 604 |
"dispassionate" - unaffected by strong emotion or prejudice. The commission sitting by, judicial, dispassionate, presided with cold dignity over the sacrifice, and pronounced it good. |
| 605 |
"harrowing" - causing extreme distress. Belgium found itself in turmoil as hundreds of people came forward to offer harrowing accounts of abuse over several decades. |
| 606 |
"askance" - with suspicion or disapproval. A secret marriage in these days would be looked upon askance by most people. |
| 607 |
"lancet" - a surgical knife with a pointed double-edged blade. His left arm was held by the second physician, while the chief surgeon bent over it, lancet in hand. |
| 608 |
"rankle" - make resentful or angry. He was feeling more like himself now, though the memory of the bully's sneering words rankled. |
| 609 |
"ramify" - have or develop complicating consequences. Cometary science has ramified in unexpected ways during the last hundred years. |
| 610 |
"gainsay" - take exception to. That Whitman entertained a genuine affection for men and women is, of course, too obvious to be gainsaid. |
| 611 |
"polity" - a governmentally organized unit. China needs a polity that can address its increasingly sophisticated society, and to achieve that there must be political reform, Mr. Sun said. |
| 612 |
"credence" - the mental attitude that something is believable. "Well-known brand names that promote new products receive more credence than newcomers that people don't know about." |
| 613 |
"indemnify" - make amends for; pay compensation for. She put her affairs in order and left instructions that those whom she had unwittingly wronged should be indemnified out of her private fortune. |
| 614 |
"ingratiate" - gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts. He became kindly and coaxing, leaning across the table with an ingratiating smile. |
| 615 |
"declivity" - a downward slope or bend. In this frightful condition, the hunter grappled with the raging beast, and, struggling for life, they rolled together down a steep declivity. |
| 616 |
"importunate" - making persistent or urgent requests. The young man was then passionately importunate in the protestations of his love. |
| 617 |
"passe" - out of fashion. My friend is very keen on the new crowd; everything else he declares is "passe." |
| 618 |
"whittle" - cut small bits or pare shavings from. Tad followed, whittling on a stick with his knife and kicking at the shavings as they fell. |
| 619 |
"repine" - express discontent. Those poor fellows above, accustomed to the wild freshness and freedom of the sea, how they must mourn and repine! |
| 620 |
"flay" - strip the skin off. Once at the moose and hastily flaying the hide from the steaming meat my attention became centered on the task. |
| 621 |
"larder" - a small storeroom for storing foods or wines. Mr. Goncalves's larder holds staples like beefsteak, salt cod, sardines, olives, artichokes, hot and sweet peppers and plenty of garlic. |
| 622 |
"threadbare" - thin and tattered with age. They were all poor folk, wrapped in threadbare cloaks or tattered leather. |
| 623 |
"grisly" - shockingly repellent; inspiring horror. Television video showed a heavily damaged building and a grisly scene inside, with clothing and prayer mats scattered across a blood-splattered floor. |
| 624 |
"untoward" - not in keeping with accepted standards of what is proper. Responding to criticism that cash payments are a classic means of tax evasion, he said he had done nothing untoward. |
| 625 |
"idiosyncrasy" - a behavioral attribute peculiar to an individual. One of his well-known idiosyncrasies was that he would never allow himself to be photographed. |
| 626 |
"quip" - make jokes or witty remarks. "I could have joined the FBI in a shorter period of time and with less documentation than it took to get that mortgage," she quipped. |
| 627 |
"blatant" - without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious. There was no blatant display of wealth, and every article of furniture bore signs of long though careful use. |
| 628 |
"stanch" - stop the flow of a liquid. She did not attempt to stanch her tears, but sat looking at him with a smiling mouth, while the heavy drops fell down her cheeks. |
| 629 |
"incongruity" - the quality of disagreeing. Hanging out wet clothes and an American flag at the North Pole seemed an amusing incongruity. |
| 630 |
"perfidious" - tending to betray. The perfidious Italian at length confessed that it was his intention to murder his master, and then rob the house. |
| 631 |
"platitude" - a trite or obvious remark. But details are fuzzy and rebel leaders often resort to platitudes when dismissing suggestions of discord, saying simply that "Libya is one tribe." |
| 632 |
"revelry" - unrestrained merrymaking. But all this revelry — dancing, drinks, exuberant youth — can be hard to manage. |
| 633 |
"delve" - turn up, loosen, or remove earth. So she did what any reporter would do: she delved into the scientific literature and talked to investigators. |
| 634 |
"extenuate" - lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of. Prosecutors often spend time weighing mitigating and extenuating circumstances before deciding to seek the death penalty. |
| 635 |
"polemic" - a verbal or written attack, especially of a belief or dogma. Would it be a polemic that denounced Western imperialism for using cinema to undermine emerging nations like Kazakhstan? |
| 636 |
"enrapture" - hold spellbound. I was delighted, enraptured, beside myself--the world had disappeared in an instant. |
| 637 |
"virtuoso" - someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field. Each of the seven instrumentalists was a virtuoso in his own right and had ample opportunity to prove it, often in long, soulful solos. |
| 638 |
"glower" - look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval. A moment later he would collapse, sit glowering in his chair, looking angrily at the carpet. |
| 639 |
"mundane" - found in the ordinary course of events. Now, it would seem, that the Chinese are getting back to their everyday concerns, paying attention to events more mundane and less cataclysmic. |
| 640 |
"fatuous" - devoid of intelligence. They're too stupid, for one thing; they go on burning houses and breaking windows in their old fatuous way. |
| 641 |
"incorrigible" - impervious to correction by punishment. She scolded and lectured her sister in vain; Cynthia was incorrigible. |
| 642 |
"postulate" - maintain or assert. In fact, when Einstein formulated his cosmological vision, based on his theory of gravitation, he postulated that the universe was finite. |
| 643 |
"gist" - the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work. The syntax was a little off, even comical at times, but I got the gist of what was going on. |
| 644 |
"vociferous" - conspicuously and offensively loud. The complaints grew so loud and vociferous that even President Obama was forced to address the backlash from Lisbon on Saturday. |
| 645 |
"purvey" - supply with provisions. And we will agree also to purvey food for these horses and people during nine months. |
| 646 |
"baleful" - deadly or sinister. "But he is dead," put in Fanning, wondering at the baleful expression of hatred that had come into the man's face. |
| 647 |
"gibe" - laugh at with contempt and derision. So much did their taunts prey upon him that he ran away from school to escape their gibes. |
| 648 |
"dyspeptic" - irritable as if suffering from indigestion. One may begin with heroic renunciations and end in undignified envy and dyspeptic comments outside the door one has slammed on one's self. |
| 649 |
"prude" - a person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum. Criticising high-profile programmes about teenage sex education often means risking being written off as a prude. |
| 650 |
"luminary" - a celebrity who is an inspiration to others. Founded in 1947, the group's members have included such luminaries as Walt Disney, Spencer Tracy and another American president, Ronald Reagan. |
| 651 |
"amenable" - disposed or willing to comply. He, Jean Boulot, being so amenable to sensible argument, would at once fall in with his views. |
| 652 |
"willful" - habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition. I crossed my arms like a willful child. |
| 653 |
"overbearing" - having or showing arrogant superiority to. "True; but——" "Just so," interrupted Mr. Fauntleroy, in his decisive and rather overbearing manner. |
| 654 |
"dais" - a platform raised above the surrounding level. The throne was elevated on a dais of silver steps. |
| 655 |
"automate" - operate or make run by machines rather than human action. And because leap seconds are needed irregularly their insertion cannot be automated, which means that fallible humans must insert them by hand. |
| 656 |
"enervate" - weaken mentally or morally. The reviewers have enervated men's minds, and made them indolent; few think for themselves. |
| 657 |
"wheedle" - influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering. On one level, I expected incessant flattery in attempts to wheedle equipment or even money from American forces. |
| 658 |
"gusto" - vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment. The audience, surprisingly large given the inclement weather, responded with gusto, applauding each song, including those within the Shostakovich cycle. |
| 659 |
"bouillon" - a clear seasoned broth. The meat soups are called broths, bouillon, or consomme, according to their richness. |
| 660 |
"omniscient" - infinitely wise. Robbe-Grillet responds that his work is in fact far less objective than the godlike, omniscient narrator who presides over so many traditional novels. |
| 661 |
"apostate" - not faithful to religion or party or cause. They are atheist conservatives — Mr. Khan an apostate to his family's Islamic faith, Ms. Mac Donald to her left-wing education. |
| 662 |
"carrion" - the dead and rotting body of an animal; unfit for human food. Habitually his diet is not carnivorous, but he will eat at times either carrion or living flesh. |
| 663 |
"emolument" - compensation received by virtue of holding an office. As the TUC has pointed out, those incomes – except for senior executives, whose emoluments seem to know few bounds – are rising more slowly than prices. |
| 664 |
"ungainly" - lacking grace in movement or posture. Thomas looked up furtively and saw that an ungainly human figure with crooked legs was being led into the church. |
| 665 |
"impiety" - unrighteousness by virtue of lacking respect for a god. That, however, is unbelief, extreme impiety, and a denial of the most high God. |
| 666 |
"decadence" - the state of being degenerate in mental or moral qualities. But there are people who really do not want to import what they regard as Western decadence, especially public drunkenness. |
| 667 |
"homily" - a sermon on a moral or religious topic. In his New Year's homily, the pope said "words were not enough" to bring about peace, particularly in the Middle East. |
| 668 |
"avocation" - an auxiliary activity. Unlike many retired doctors, whom he says often have no life outside their profession, he always knew sailing would become his avocation. |
| 669 |
"circumvent" - avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing. Mr. Bloomberg said he would take several steps to circumvent obstacles to his proposals posed by city labor unions. |
| 670 |
"syllogism" - reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises. The conclusions arrived at by means of syllogisms are irresistible, provided the form be correct and the premises be true. |
| 671 |
"collation" - assembling in proper numerical or logical sequence. In the case of early printed books or manuscripts, which are often not paged, special knowledge is needed for their collation. |
| 672 |
"haggle" - wrangle, as over a price or terms of an agreement. Obama said while officials can haggle over the makeup of spending cuts, the policy issues have no place in the measure. |
| 673 |
"waylay" - wait in hiding to attack. Sir Samuel Clithering was not, of course, a member of it; but he lurked about outside and waylaid us as we went in. |
| 674 |
"savant" - a learned person. Frank had studied something of almost everything and imagined himself a savant. |
| 675 |
"cohort" - a group of people having approximately the same age. The current cohort of college students is, as many have pointed out, the first truly digital generation. |
| 676 |
"unction" - excessive but superficial compliments with affected charm. "You couldn't ask too much of me," he returned, with no unction of flattery, but the cheerfully frank expression of an ingenuous heart. |
| 677 |
"adjure" - command solemnly. "I adjure thee," she said, "swear to me that you will never go near those Christians again or read their books." |
| 678 |
"acrimony" - a rough and bitter manner. Relations with India have been slowly improving, although talks ended in acrimony last July with the two sides indulging in a public spat over Kashmir. |
| 679 |
"clarion" - loud and clear. "He has been the single, clarion voice for commuter rail in central Florida for 20 years," said Mayor Ken Bradley of Winter Park. |
| 680 |
"turbid" - clouded as with sediment. The thick turbid sea rolled in, casting up mire and dirt from its depths. |
| 681 |
"cupidity" - extreme greed for material wealth. Well educated, but very corrupt at heart, he found in his insatiable cupidity many ways of gaining money. |
| 682 |
"disaffected" - discontented as toward authority. The financial crisis, largely caused by banker incompetence, has created legions of disaffected customers. |
| 683 |
"preternatural" - surpassing the ordinary or normal. In fact, they regarded the Spaniards as superior beings endowed with preternatural gifts. |
| 684 |
"eschew" - avoid and stay away from deliberately. Morrissey is among those seniors who are eschewing nursing homes in favor of independent living. |
| 685 |
"expatiate" - add details, as to an account or idea. He then expatiated on his own miseries, which he detailed at full length. |
| 686 |
"didactic" - instructive, especially excessively. Let us have a book so full of good illustrations that didactic instruction shall not be needed. |
| 687 |
"sinuous" - curved or curving in and out. In origami parlance, Mr. Joisel was a wet-folder, dampening his paper so that he could coax it into sinuous curves. |
| 688 |
"rancor" - a feeling of deep and bitter anger and ill-will. The current session of Parliament has so far produced only rancor, as opposition parties have shut down proceedings with angry, theatrical protests against corruption. |
| 689 |
"puissant" - powerful. The ship was not fighting now, but yielding—a complacent leviathan held captive by a most puissant and ruthless enemy. |
| 690 |
"homespun" - characteristic of country life. His rural, homespun demeanor ordinarily might elicit snickers from India's urban elite. |
| 691 |
"embroil" - force into some kind of situation or course of action. But Mr. Marbury, often embroiled in controversy during his N.B.A. days, seems to have found some measure of peace in China. |
| 692 |
"pathological" - caused by or evidencing a mentally disturbed condition. "Fixated individuals" — mentally ill people with a pathological focus on someone, often a stranger — make up the first group. |
| 693 |
"resonant" - characterized by a loud deep sound. His eyes were piercing but sad, his voice grand and resonant, suiting well the wrathful, impassioned Calvinism of his sermons. |
| 694 |
"libretto" - the words of an opera or musical play. In many great operas, composers have had to whittle down an epic literary work into a suitable libretto. |
| 695 |
"flail" - thrash about. Exercise is prescribed, but when she joins an aqua aerobics class, she flails embarrassingly. |
| 696 |
"bandy" - discuss lightly. Hillary Clinton's name has been bandied about, but she's made it clear she's not interested. |
| 697 |
"gratis" - costing nothing. "Would you admit them gratis?" asked Mr. Castlemaine with a smile, "or would they have to pay, like ordinary residents in an hotel?" |
| 698 |
"upshot" - a phenomenon that is caused by some previous phenomenon. The inevitable upshot of their growing social power was that brands wanted an expanded visual presence. |
| 699 |
"aphorism" - a short pithy instructive saying. General Sherman's famous aphorism that "War is Hell," has become classic. |
| 700 |
"redoubtable" - worthy of respect or honor. Captain Miles Standish was a redoubtable soldier, small in person, but of great activity and courage. |
| 701 |
"corpulent" - excessively fat. Obesity is very common, but chiefly among the women, who while still quite young often become enormously corpulent. |
| 702 |
"benighted" - lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture. I alone was magnificently and absurdly aware—everyone else was benightedly out of it. |
| 703 |
"sententious" - abounding in or given to pompous or aphoristic moralizing. He is the village wise man; very sententious; and full of profound remarks on shallow subjects. |
| 704 |
"cabal" - a clique that seeks power usually through intrigue. Supposedly, see, there's this global cabal of scientists conspiring to bring about socialist one-world government. |
| 705 |
"paraphernalia" - equipment consisting of miscellaneous articles. It's outfitted with cricket bats and other antique sports paraphernalia. |
| 706 |
"vitiate" - make imperfect. His talent in writing is vitiated by his affectation and other faults. |
| 707 |
"adulation" - exaggerated flattery or praise. And celebrities get all this adulation for something that is not about character, it's about talent. |
| 708 |
"quaff" - to swallow hurriedly or greedily or in one draught. Meanwhile the officers under the tree had got served, and, cups in hand, were quaffing joyously. |
| 709 |
"unassuming" - not arrogant. Parr's conduct after his most heroic actions was thoroughly modest and unassuming. |
| 710 |
"libertine" - a dissolute person. Still, Mr. Awlaki was neither among the most conservative Muslim students nor among the libertines who tossed aside religious restrictions on drinking and sex. |
| 711 |
"maul" - injure badly. Hundreds of concert goers were mauled as they left by what The New York Times called "bands of roving youths." |
| 712 |
"adage" - a condensed but memorable saying embodying an important fact. So he focuses on the fans and embraces the adage, "Living well is the best revenge." |
| 713 |
"expostulation" - the act of expressing earnest opposition or protest. He even believed he saw visions with his own bodily eyes, and no expostulations of his friends could drive this belief out of his head. |
| 714 |
"tawdry" - tastelessly showy. It was a tawdry affair, all Cupids and cornucopias, like a third-rate wedding cake. |
| 715 |
"trite" - repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse. The subject—a deathbed scene—might seem at first sight to be a trite and common one. |
| 716 |
"hireling" - a person who works only for money. Why should I?—a mere police detective, who had been hired to do a service and paid for it like any other hireling. |
| 717 |
"ensconce" - fix firmly. Though she is firmly ensconced in a writing career, Ms. Freud, 48, said that in the early days she missed acting terribly. |
| 718 |
"egregious" - conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible. "These offenses are very serious, even egregious," the judge said. |
| 719 |
"cogent" - powerfully persuasive. His thesis was too cogent, and appealed too powerfully to all classes of the Upper Canada community, to be anything but irresistible. |
| 720 |
"incisive" - demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions. A half-hour of informed and incisive questioning by Mr. Russert would have demolished Mr. Trump. |
| 721 |
"errant" - straying from the right course or from accepted standards. As the crowd voiced its displeasure, the referees made sure Wisconsin got the ball, but pass was errant and rolled out of bounds at midcourt. |
| 722 |
"sedulous" - marked by care and persistent effort. <strong>Sedulous attention and painstaking industry always mark the true worker. |
| 723 |
"incandescent" - characterized by ardent emotion, intensity, or brilliance. Kirkwood's anger cooled apace; at worst it had been a flare of passion—incandescent. |
| 724 |
"derelict" - in deplorable condition. Others are clustered under a tin awning by a derelict railway station or in similarly run-down school buildings. |
| 725 |
"entomology" - the branch of zoology that studies insects. From the department of entomology you expect to learn something about the troublesome insects, which are so universal an annoyance. |
| 726 |
"execrable" - unequivocally detestable. But minds were so overexcited at the time that the parties mutually accused each other, on all occasions, of the most execrable crimes. |
| 727 |
"sluice" - pour as if from a conduit that carries a rapid flow of water. At 4:15 p.m., as the rain was sluicing off roofs in sheets, the firemen moved the trucks to higher ground. |
| 728 |
"moot" - of no legal significance, as having been previously decided. The statement from Hermitage said even in the Soviet period no defendant had been tried after death, when charges were generally considered moot. |
| 729 |
"evanescent" - tending to vanish like vapor. Time seems stopped but it is moving on, and every glimmer of light is evanescent, flitting. |
| 730 |
"vat" - a large open vessel for holding or storing liquids. The cream remains in the large vat about twenty-four hours before it is churned. |
| 731 |
"dapper" - marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners. Thoroughly dapper, he took off his black-and-white pinstriped suit jacket — with its pocket-square flair — and weaved in and out among them, his voice ever rising. |
| 732 |
"asperity" - harshness of manner. All this proceeds from the old man, whose proper character it is to be angry and bitter, and to exhibit rancor and asperity. |
| 733 |
"flair" - a natural talent. In fact, while Lamarr qualified as an inventive genius for her artistic flair, she fell somewhat short on her scientific acumen. |
| 734 |
"mote" - a tiny piece of anything. He took his discharge out of his pocket, brushed every mote of dust from the table, and spread the document before their eyes. |
| 735 |
"circumspect" - heedful of potential consequences. Obama administration officials argue that new regulations are forcing insurers to be more circumspect about raising rates. |
| 736 |
"inimical" - not friendly. The Hindu idea is that so long as justice and equity characterise a king's rule, even beasts naturally inimical are disposed to live in friendship. |
| 737 |
"apropos" - of an appropriate or pertinent nature. I found myself thinking vaguely about things that were not at all apropos to the situation. |
| 738 |
"gruel" - a thin porridge. He says, keep them on just two pints of Indian-meal gruel—by which he appears to mean thin hasty pudding—a day, and no more. |
| 739 |
"gentility" - elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression. This was no rough bully of the seas; Carew's bearing and dandified apparel bespoke gentility. |
| 740 |
"disapprobation" - pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable. Mr Ruthven shook his head and declared that he regarded the conduct of her persecutors with grave moral disapprobation. |
| 741 |
"cameo" - engraving or carving in low relief on a stone. The trinket was a small round cameo cut out of mother-of-pearl and set in gold; it represented St. George and the dragon. |
| 742 |
"gouge" - swindle; obtain by coercion. Shortages also have raised concerns about higher prices and gouging by wholesale drug companies that obtain supplies of hard-to-get drugs and jack up the costs. |
| 743 |
"oratorio" - a musical composition for voices and orchestra. Mendelssohn had no sooner completed his first oratorio, "St. Paul," than he began to think about setting another Bible story to music. |
| 744 |
"inclement" - severe, of weather. Be prepared for inclement weather and possible ice and snow on park roads. |
| 745 |
"scintilla" - a tiny or scarcely detectable amount. Gardner "never expressed one scintilla of remorse for his attack upon the victim" despite overwhelming evidence, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. |
| 746 |
"confluence" - a flowing together. And indeed, before the 13th century, there was an extraordinary confluence of genius and innovation, particularly around Baghdad. |
| 747 |
"squalor" - sordid dirtiness. What can be expected of human beings, crowded in such miserable habitations, living in filth and squalor, and often pinched with hunger? |
| 748 |
"stricture" - severe criticism. While gratefully accepting the generous praises of our friends, we must briefly reply to some strictures by our critics. |
| 749 |
"emblazon" - decorate with heraldic arms. His coat of arms was emblazoned on the cover. |
| 750 |
"augury" - an event indicating important things to come. This is always an encouraging sign, and an augury of success. |
| 751 |
"abut" - lie adjacent to another or share a boundary. It depicts a mountain landscape near Kingston, a historic town abutting the Hudson River. |
| 752 |
"banal" - repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse. Highly dramatic incidents are juxtaposed with comparatively banal ones; particular attention is given to tales of doomed love affairs. |
| 753 |
"congeal" - solidify, thicken, or come together. Boil down the syrup to half its original quantity, but take care that it does not boil long enough to congeal or become thick. |
| 754 |
"pilfer" - make off with belongings of others. Many young people scavenge for reusable garbage, living on proceeds from pilfered construction material and other recyclables. |
| 755 |
"malcontent" - a person who is unsatisfied or disgusted. Now, unfortunately, some malcontents among the hands here have spread their ideas, and a strike has been called. |
| 756 |
"sublimate" - direct energy or urges into useful activities. They might instead have passionate friendships, or sublimate their urges into other pursuits. |
| 757 |
"eugenic" - causing improvement in the offspring produced. <strong>Eugenics was aimed at creating a better society by filtering out people considered undesirable, ranging from criminals to those imprecisely designated as "feeble-minded." |
| 758 |
"lineament" - the characteristic parts of a person's face. The tears stood in Muriel's eyes, and her face was very pale, but serenity marked every lineament. |
| 759 |
"firebrand" - someone who deliberately foments trouble. But Hassan is not some teenage firebrand hurling rocks; he's a slight, graying scholar committed to peace. |
| 760 |
"fiasco" - a complete failure or collapse. The Stuttgart protests became a national fiasco in late September, when protesters clashed with police wielding batons and water cannons. |
| 761 |
"foolhardy" - marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences. Many mistakes—extravagant purchases, foolhardy investments—are made in the first months after a windfall. |
| 762 |
"retrench" - tighten one's belt; use resources carefully. But there was only one way open to me at present—and that was to retrench my expenses. |
| 763 |
"ulterior" - lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed. Shop window displays may help prettify shopping thoroughfares, but any savvy retailer has the ulterior motive of self promotion. |
| 764 |
"equable" - not varying. His must have been that calm, equable temperament not easily ruffled, which goes with the self-respecting nature. |
| 765 |
"inured" - made tough by habitual exposure. But he had become inured to the rush and whirr of missiles, and now paid no heed whatever to them. |
| 766 |
"invidious" - containing or implying a slight or showing prejudice. "After an old-fashioned, all-round team performance ... it might seem invidious to single out one player," admits the paper before singling out one player. |
| 767 |
"unmitigated" - not diminished or moderated in intensity or severity. In order to be well directed, sympathy must consider all men, and not the individual alone; only then is it an unmitigated good. |
| 768 |
"concomitant" - an event or situation that happens at the same time. The conclusion must be drawn that every epidemic of bubonic plague is caused by the concomitant rat plague. |
| 769 |
"cozen" - cheat or trick. Dicing-houses, where cheaters meet, and cozen young men out of their money. |
| 770 |
"phlegmatic" - showing little emotion. Humanity, when surfeited with emotion, becomes calm, almost phlegmatic. |
| 771 |
"dormer" - a gabled extension built out from a sloping roof. Other features, such as the front French doors and two roof dormers with curved-top windows and operable shutters, give this home a pleasing, well-balanced presence. |
| 772 |
"pontifical" - denoting or governed by or relating to a bishop or bishops. The high priest made no resistance, but went forth in his pontifical robes, followed by the people in white garments, to meet the mighty warrior. |
| 773 |
"disport" - occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion. Straightway the glade in which they sat was filled with knights, ladies, maidens, and esquires, who danced and disported themselves right joyously. |
| 774 |
"apologist" - a person who argues to defend some policy or institution. Tories, and apologists for Great Britain, have written much about a justification for this action, but there is no real justification. |
| 775 |
"abeyance" - temporary cessation or suspension. My feelings of home-sickness had returned with redoubled strength after being long in abeyance. |
| 776 |
"enclave" - an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct. And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents can't afford a house in the neighborhood. |
| 777 |
"improvident" - not supplying something useful for the future. He was industrious but improvident; he made money and he lost it. |
| 778 |
"disquisition" - an elaborate analytical or explanatory essay or discussion. Cumulatively, what emerges from To Kill a Mockingbird is a thoughtful disquisition that encompasses – and goes beyond – the question of racial bias at its worst. |
| 779 |
"categorical" - not modified or restricted by reservations. "European leaders were united, categorical and crystal clear: Gaddafi must go," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. |
| 780 |
"placate" - cause to be more favorably inclined. The East India Company was placated by the concession of further exemptions in its favour. |
| 781 |
"redolent" - serving to bring to mind. Here, however, are congregated a vast number of curious and interesting objects, while the place is redolent of vivid historical associations. |
| 782 |
"felicitous" - exhibiting an agreeably appropriate manner or style. The first book is the finest, sparkling with felicitous expressions and rising frequently to true poetry. |
| 783 |
"gusty" - blowing in puffs or short intermittent blasts. Winds could get gusty, occasionally blowing at more than 30 miles per hour. |
| 784 |
"natty" - marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners. He wore a checked suit, very natty, and was more than usually tall and fine-looking. |
| 785 |
"pacifist" - opposed to war. He was, furthermore, a real pacifist, believing that war is debasing morally and disastrous economically. |
| 786 |
"buxom" - healthily plump and vigorous. Mrs. Connelly—a round, rosy, buxom Irishwoman, with a mellow voice, laughing eye, and artist-red hair—was very much taken with their plan. |
| 787 |
"heyday" - the period of greatest prosperity or productivity. Playboy's most popular years are well behind it - the magazine enjoyed its heyday in the 1970s. |
| 788 |
"herculean" - displaying superhuman strength or power. He made herculean efforts to get on terms with his examination subjects, and worked harder than he had ever done in his life before. |
| 789 |
"burgeon" - grow and flourish. Brooklyn's burgeoning dining scene has even developed a following among Manhattan food lovers. |
| 790 |
"crone" - an ugly, evil-looking old woman. The aged crone wrinkled her forehead and lifted her grizzled eyebrows, still without looking at him. |
| 791 |
"prognosticate" - make a prediction about; tell in advance. How strange it is that our dreams often prognosticate coming events! |
| 792 |
"lout" - an awkward stupid person. But this question was beyond the poor lout's intelligence; he could only blubber and fend off possible chastisement. |
| 793 |
"simper" - smile affectedly or derisively. Mrs. Barnett's mouth simpered at the implied flattery; but her eyes, always looking calculatingly for substantial results, were studying Reedy Jenkins. |
| 794 |
"iniquitous" - characterized by injustice or wickedness. This was some piece of wickedness concocted by the venomous brain of the iniquitous Vicar, more abominable than all his other wickednesses. |
| 795 |
"rile" - disturb, especially by minor irritations. The prospect of seeing Ms. Palin tour Alaska's wild habitats may rile some people who oppose her opinions about climate change. |
| 796 |
"sentient" - endowed with feeling and unstructured consciousness. The money fluttered from his hand to the floor, where it lay like a sentient thing, staring back as if mocking him. |
| 797 |
"garish" - tastelessly showy. With its opulently garish sets and knee-jerk realism, the production dwarfed the cast, no matter what stars were singing. |
| 798 |
"readjustment" - the act of correcting again . While earpieces are not uncomfortable, they do sometimes come loose, requiring readjustment. |
| 799 |
"erstwhile" - belonging to some prior time. Sony, whose erstwhile dominance in consumer electronics has been eroded by the likes of Samsung, could beat rivals to a potentially new generation of devices. |
| 800 |
"aquiline" - curved down like an eagle's beak. The nose slightly aquiline, curving at the nostril; while luxuriant hair, in broad plaits, fell far below her waist. |
| 801 |
"bilious" - irritable as if suffering from indigestion. But his sleep had not refreshed him; he waked up bilious, irritable, ill-tempered, and looked with hatred at his room. |
| 802 |
"vilify" - spread negative information about. The trial was televised and the victim's identity became known, resulting in her being vilified by almost the entire town. |
| 803 |
"nuance" - a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude. By working so hard to simplify things, we lose any nuance or ability to deal with folks' individual circumstances. |
| 804 |
"gawk" - look with amazement. He speaks mainly of his humiliation at lying on the sidewalk as hipsters gawked. |
| 805 |
"refectory" - a communal dining-hall, usually in a monastery. Meanwhile, the soup was getting cold in the refectory, so that the assembled brotherhood at last fell to, without waiting any longer for the Abbot. |
| 806 |
"palatial" - suitable for or like a large and stately mansion. The house was very large; its rooms almost palatial in size, had been finished in richly carved hardwood panels and wainscoting, mostly polished mahogany. |
| 807 |
"mincing" - affectedly dainty or refined. She went, carrying her little head very high indeed, and taking dainty, mincing steps. |
| 808 |
"trenchant" - having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought. They are written in a serio-comic tone, and for sparkling wit, trenchant sarcasm, and dramatic dialectics surpass anything ever penned by Lessing. |
| 809 |
"emboss" - raise in a relief. Requests may also be made of the stationer to use an embossed plate so that the letters stand out in relief. |
| 810 |
"proletarian" - a member of the working class. As yet, the true proletarian wage-earner, uprooted from his native village and broken away from the organization of Indian society, is but insignificant. |
| 811 |
"careen" - pitching dangerously to one side. I turned the steering wheel all the way to one side, and found myself careening backward in a violent arc. |
| 812 |
"debacle" - a sound defeat. The Broncos are coming off their worst season in franchise history, a 4-12 debacle that included issues on and off the field. |
| 813 |
"sycophant" - a person who tries to please someone to gain an advantage. The people around the king are sycophants who are looking after their own personal advantage. |
| 814 |
"crabbed" - annoyed and irritable. He grew crabbed and soured, his temper flashing out on small provocation. |
| 815 |
"archetype" - something that serves as a model. Newport, R.I., looks like a perfect archetype of a small, seaside New England town. |
| 816 |
"cryptic" - of an obscure nature. The authorities, beyond some cryptic language about the death being sudden but not suspicious, have released no details. |
| 817 |
"penchant" - a strong liking. But sometimes, old Wall Street habits — including a penchant for expensive luxuries — are hard to break. |
| 818 |
"bauble" - cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing. But men were buying Valentine's baubles for their honeys long before the first Zales ever opened its doors in a suburban shopping mall. |
| 819 |
"mountebank" - a flamboyant deceiver. They are singularly clever, these Indian mountebanks, especially in sleight of hand tricks. |
| 820 |
"fawning" - attempting to win favor by flattery. "As any cult leader, he was extremely good at milking the rich, at flattering and fawning," Ms. Gordon said. |
| 821 |
"hummock" - a small natural hill. Captain Bill leaned back on a hummock of earth, his arms folded behind his head. |
| 822 |
"apotheosis" - model of excellence or perfection of a kind. Contrary to popular belief, however, she said Ms. Deen's fat-laden cooking does not in fact represent the apotheosis of Southern cuisine. |
| 823 |
"discretionary" - not earmarked; available for use as needed. Steeper prices for basic necessities have forced many to cut back on more discretionary purchases. |
| 824 |
"pithy" - concise and full of meaning. As Moore isolated finer points of the passing game, Keller in neat penmanship jotted down pithy phrases and punchy quotes, basic ideas and specific concepts. |
| 825 |
"comport" - behave in a certain manner. Ironically, the one man on stage who did comport himself with dignity, John Huntsman, is now being dismissed as having not made an impact. |
| 826 |
"checkered" - marked by changeable fortune. Both restaurants have checkered histories with the health department; they were temporarily shut down for sanitary violations that included evidence of rodents. |
| 827 |
"ambrosia" - the food and drink of the gods. "Frieda represents the lovely goddess, Hebe, who served nectar and ambrosia to the high gods on Mount Olympus," she explained. |
| 828 |
"factious" - dissenting with the majority opinion. Will it be answered that we are factious, discontented spirits, striving to disturb the public order, and tear up the old fastnesses of society? |
| 829 |
"disgorge" - cause or allow to flow or run out or over. There are telephone poles and cinder blocks and living room chairs and large trash bins, overturned and disgorging their soggy contents. |
| 830 |
"filch" - make off with belongings of others. Then, in place of the real site, it displays a fake site created to filch account numbers, login names and passwords. |
| 831 |
"wraith" - a mental representation of some haunting experience. Whichever way he turns there loom past wraiths, restless as ghosts of unburied Grecian slain. |
| 832 |
"demonstrable" - capable of being proved. The linkage between deposits and trade is definite, causal, positive, statistically demonstrable. |
| 833 |
"pertinacious" - stubbornly unyielding. His temper, though yielding and easy in appearance, was in reality most obstinate and pertinacious. |
| 834 |
"emend" - make corrections to. The following were identified as spelling or typographic errors and have been emended as noted. |
| 835 |
"laggard" - someone who takes more time than necessary. Corporate data centers are the slowpoke laggards of information technology. |
| 836 |
"waffle" - pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness. A few days of waffling back and forth and I ended up going out to a mediocre bistro with my parents. |
| 837 |
"loquacious" - full of trivial conversation. Pan soon found it needful to make conversation, in order to keep the loquacious old stage driver from talking too much. |
| 838 |
"venial" - easily excused or forgiven. The confidence of ignorance, however venial in youth, is not altogether so excusable, in full grown men. |
| 839 |
"peon" - a laborer who is obliged to do menial work. For the most part, the men were wiry peons, some toiling half naked, but there were a number who looked like prosperous citizens. |
| 840 |
"effulgence" - the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light. Then, all at once, in a way that seemed to frighten her, the sunshine had burst the clouds, and dazzled her with its effulgence. |
| 841 |
"lode" - a deposit of valuable ore. Such local perturbations are regularly used in Sweden for tracing out the position of underground lodes of iron ore. |
| 842 |
"fanfare" - a gaudy outward display. It opened a month ago to considerable fanfare, with television cameras trailing government officials meandering proudly around the bright new stores filled with imported goods. |
| 843 |
"dilettante" - showing frivolous or superficial interest; amateurish. They dabbled in politics and art in the same dilettante fashion. |
| 844 |
"pusillanimous" - lacking in courage, strength, and resolution. He was described by his friends as pusillanimous to an incredible extent, timid from excess of riches, afraid of his own shadow. |
| 845 |
"ingrained" - deeply rooted; firmly fixed or held. The narrow prejudices of his country were ingrained too deeply in his character to be disturbed by any change of surroundings. |
| 846 |
"quagmire" - a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot. The heavy rain had reduced this low-lying ground to a veritable quagmire, making progress very difficult even for one as unburdened as he was. |
| 847 |
"reprobation" - severe disapproval. Mr. Conway denounced this scheme as "utterly and flagrantly unconstitutional, as radically revolutionary in character and deserving the reprobation of every loyal citizen." |
| 848 |
"mannered" - having unnatural behavioral attributes. Nothing was mannered or pretentious; the texts came through with utter naturalness. |
| 849 |
"squeamish" - excessively fastidious and easily disgusted. But please note that this gunfire-fueled film is for mature audiences; given its content, young and or squeamish viewers should avoid this one. |
| 850 |
"proclivity" - a natural inclination. She received, under her father's supervision, a very careful education, and developed her proclivities for literary composition at an early age. |
| 851 |
"miserly" - characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity. Now, my uncle seemed so miserly that I was struck dumb by this sudden generosity, and could find no words in which to thank him. |
| 852 |
"vapid" - lacking significance or liveliness or spirit or zest. How vapid was the talk of my remaining fellow-passengers; how slow of understanding, and how preoccupied with petty things they seemed! |
| 853 |
"mercurial" - liable to sudden unpredictable change. Wind energy is notoriously mercurial, with patterns shifting drastically over the course of years, days, even minutes. |
| 854 |
"perspicuous" - transparently clear; easily understandable. The statements are plain and simple, a perfect model of perspicuous narrative. |
| 855 |
"nonplus" - be a mystery or bewildering to. I shook my head and rushed from his presence, completely nonplussed, bewildered, frantic. |
| 856 |
"enamor" - attract. Young Indian audiences are so enamored with reality television that they will not watch the soap operas and dramas that their parents or grandparents watch. |
| 857 |
"hackneyed" - repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse. Many speakers become so addicted to certain hackneyed phrases that those used to hearing them speak can see them coming sentences away. |
| 858 |
"spate" - a large number or amount or extent. French authorities are already reporting a rising spate of calls to emergency services by homeowners whose once-frozen water mains have now burst. |
| 859 |
"pedagogue" - someone who educates young people. His old pedagogue, Mr. Brownell, had been unable to teach him mathematics. |
| 860 |
"acme" - the highest level or degree attainable. Scientifically speaking, it is the acme of absurdity to talk of a man defying the law of gravitation when he lifts his arm. |
| 861 |
"masticate" - bite and grind with the teeth. Food should be masticated quietly, and with the lips closed. |
| 862 |
"sinecure" - a job that involves minimal duties. He would have repudiated the notion that he was looking for a sinecure, but no doubt considered that the duties would be easy and light. |
| 863 |
"indite" - produce a literary work. She indited religious poems which were the admiration of the age. |
| 864 |
"emetic" - a medicine that induces nausea and vomiting. The juice of this herb, taken in ale, is esteemed a gentle and very good emetic, bringing on vomiting without any great irritation or pain. |
| 865 |
"temporize" - draw out a discussion or process in order to gain time. So he temporized and beat about the bush, and did not touch first on that which was nearest his heart. |
| 866 |
"unimpeachable" - beyond doubt or reproach. Whether we agree with the conclusions of these writers or not, the method of critical investigation which they adopt is unimpeachable. |
| 867 |
"genesis" - a coming into being. He found himself speculating on the genesis of the moral sense, how it developed in difficulties rather than in ease. |
| 868 |
"mordant" - harshly ironic or sinister. Even Morgan himself, intrepid as he was, shrank from the awful menace of the mordant words. |
| 869 |
"smattering" - a small number or amount. Only a smattering of fans remained for all four ghastly quarters. |
| 870 |
"suavity" - the quality of being charming and gracious in manner. His combativeness was harnessed to his suavity, and he could be forcible and at the same time persuasive. |
| 871 |
"stentorian" - very loud or booming. If a hundred voices shouted in opposition, his stentorian tones still made themselves heard above the uproar. |
| 872 |
"junket" - a trip taken by an official at public expense. Mr. Abramoff arranged for junkets, including foreign golfing destinations, for the members of Congress he was trying to influence. |
| 873 |
"appurtenance" - a supplementary component that improves capability. In the center of this space stood a large frame building whose courtyard, stables, and other appurtenances proclaimed it an inn. |
| 874 |
"nostrum" - patent medicine whose efficacy is questionable. Just here a native "medicine man" dispenses nostrums of doubtful efficacy, and in front a quantity of red Moorish pottery is exposed for sale. |
| 875 |
"immure" - lock up or confine, in or as in a jail. Political prisoners, numbering as many as three or four hundred at a time, have been immured within its massive walls. |
| 876 |
"astringent" - sour or bitter in taste. There was something sharply astringent about her then, like biting inadvertently into a green banana. |
| 877 |
"unfaltering" - marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable. Still unfaltering, the procession commenced to trudge back, the littlest boy and girl bearing themselves bravely, with lips tight pressed. |
| 878 |
"tutelage" - attention and management implying responsibility for safety. It will do so under German leadership that grows less hesitant with each crisis, and without the American tutelage it enjoyed for so many decades. |
| 879 |
"testator" - a person who makes a will. This will was drawn up by me some years since at the request of the testator, who was in good health, mentally and bodily. |
| 880 |
"elysian" - of such excellence as to suggest inspiration by the gods. Life seemed an elysian dream, from which care and sorrow must be for ever banished. |
| 881 |
"fulminate" - criticize severely. But with people looking for almost any excuse to fulminate against airlines these days, there's a certain risk of embellishment. |
| 882 |
"fractious" - easily irritated or annoyed. He was a fractious invalid, and spared his wife neither time nor trouble in attending to his wants. |
| 883 |
"pummel" - strike, usually with the fist. Another, with rubber bands wrapped tightly around his face, is pummelled by a plastic boxing kangaroo. |
| 884 |
"manumit" - free from slavery or servitude. Moreover, manumitted slaves enjoyed the same rights, privileges and immunities that were enjoyed by those born free. |
| 885 |
"unexceptionable" - completely acceptable; not open to reproach. All cowboys are from necessity good cooks, and the fluffy, golden brown biscuits and fragrant coffee of Red's making were unexceptionable. |
| 886 |
"triumvirate" - a group of three people responsible for civil authority. This triumvirate approach has real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and we will continue to discuss the big decisions among the three of us. |
| 887 |
"sybarite" - a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses. He was not used to travelling on omnibuses, being something of a sybarite who spared nothing to ensure his own comfort. |
| 888 |
"jibe" - be compatible, similar, or consistent. Contemporary art has never quite jibed with mainstream media. |
| 889 |
"magisterial" - offensively self-assured or exercising unwarranted power. "Now look here," he said, making believe to take down my words and shaking his pencil at me in a magisterial way. |
| 890 |
"roseate" - of something having a dusty purplish pink color. Behind the trees rough, lichened rock and stony slopes ran up to a bare ridge, silhouetted against the roseate glow of the morning sky. |
| 891 |
"obloquy" - abusive, malicious, and condemnatory language. This is the real history of a transaction which, by frequent misrepresentation, has brought undeserved obloquy upon a generous man. |
| 892 |
"hoodwink" - influence by slyness. The stories of the saints he regarded as preposterous fables invented to hoodwink a gullible and illiterate populace. |
| 893 |
"striate" - mark with stripes of contrasting color. The body is striated with clearly defined, often depressed lines, which run longitudinally and sometimes spirally. |
| 894 |
"arrogate" - seize and take control without authority. Japanese manufacturers were accused of arrogating American technologies to churn out low-cost electronics. |
| 895 |
"rarefied" - of high moral or intellectual value. The debate over climate science has involved very complex physical models and rarefied areas of scientific knowledge. |
| 896 |
"chary" - characterized by great caution. There was no independent verification of the figure; the authorities have been chary of releasing death tolls for fear of inflaming further violence. |
| 897 |
"credo" - any system of principles or beliefs. She preferred to hang out with everyone but was best friends with no one, holding to the credo: "You should be nice to people." |
| 898 |
"superannuated" - too old to be useful. Civil servants are superannuated at fifty-five years of age and are sent home on a pension, seldom enjoying life longer than two years afterward. |
| 899 |
"impolitic" - not marked by artful prudence. Bill Maher has always been a vocal critic of Islam, even at times making impolitic statements about the religion. |
| 900 |
"aspersion" - a disparaging remark. Lord Sanquhar then proceeded to deny the aspersion that he was an ill-natured fellow, ever revengeful, and delighting in blood. |
| 901 |
"abysmal" - resembling an abyss in depth; so deep as to be immeasurable. After all, many Americans regard this Congress as dysfunctional, with abysmal approval ratings. |
| 902 |
"poignancy" - a quality that arouses emotions, especially pity or sorrow. They were curious about the "near loss" experience—specifically the feelings of poignancy that occur when what we cherish disappears. |
| 903 |
"stilted" - artificially formal. But thanks to the stilted writing and stiff acting, the characters still feel very much like one-dimensional figures from a dutiful fable. |
| 904 |
"effete" - excessively self-indulgent, affected, or decadent. John Bull was an effete old plutocrat whose sons and daughters were given up to sport and amusement. |
| 905 |
"provender" - food for domestic livestock. "Fools!" she cried, looking in her magic crystal, "he was in the big sycamore under which you stopped to give your horses provender!" |
| 906 |
"endemic" - of a disease constantly present in a particular locality. Mean-spirited chants and songs are also endemic in British soccer. |
| 907 |
"jocund" - full of or showing high-spirited merriment. Her jocund laugh and merry voice, indeed, first attracted my attention. |
| 908 |
"procedural" - of or relating to processes. In other words, the rejection was a bureaucratic procedural decision. |
| 909 |
"rakish" - marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness. She wore her red cap in a rakish manner on the side of her head, its tassel falling down over her forehead between her eyes. |
| 910 |
"skittish" - unpredictably excitable, especially of horses. That combined with his calm and reassuring tone made me think of an animal trainer trying to woo skittish wild animals. |
| 911 |
"peroration" - a flowery and highly rhetorical address. He had little hope that Gallagher, once embarked on a peroration, would stop until he had used up all the words at his command. |
| 912 |
"nonentity" - a person of no influence. Was he such a nonentity in every way that she could remain unconcerned as to any fear of danger from him? |
| 913 |
"abstemious" - marked by temperance in indulgence. Raw, boozy, untethered performances are heralded as real; the abstemious professional is yawned off the stage. |
| 914 |
"viscid" - having the sticky properties of an adhesive. Roads were quagmires where travellers slipped and laboured through viscid mud and over icy fords. |
| 915 |
"doggerel" - a comic verse of irregular measure. He sang, with accompanying action, some dozen verses of doggerel, remarkable for obscenity and imbecility. |
| 916 |
"sleight" - adroitness in using the hands. The trick was performed Tuesday by Russell Fitzgerald, an amateur magician known to open meetings with a little sleight of hand. |
| 917 |
"rubric" - category name. Ms. Moss took issue, not surprisingly, with the notion that grouping the performances under the rubric of spirituality was a marketing ploy. |
| 918 |
"plenitude" - a full supply. Of course at that season, amid the plenitude of seeds, nuts, and berries, they were as plump as partridges. |
| 919 |
"rebus" - a puzzle consisting of pictures representing words. They wrote at times with pictures standing for sounds, as we now write in rebus puzzles. |
| 920 |
"wizened" - lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness. Kim Jong Il may be increasingly wizened and frail, with fingernails white from kidney disease, but his propaganda apparatus is as vigorous as ever. |
| 921 |
"whorl" - a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles. The flowers are waxy, tubular, fragrant, turning their yellow petals backward in a whorl. |
| 922 |
"fracas" - noisy quarrel. Other cops were battling each other, going after the kids and clutching empty air, cursing and screaming unheard orders in the fracas. |
| 923 |
"iconoclast" - someone who attacks cherished ideas or institutions. Jobs is a classic iconoclast, one who aggressively seeks out, attacks, and overthrows conventional ideas. |
| 924 |
"saturnine" - bitter or scornful. Only when Bill Lightfoot spoke did he look up, and then with a set sneer, growing daily more saturnine. |
| 925 |
"madrigal" - an unaccompanied partsong for several voices. Nevertheless we learn from Malvezzi's publication that the pieces were all written in the madrigal style, frequently in numerous voice parts. |
| 926 |
"discursive" - tending to cover a wide range of subjects. "Tabloid," like his previous films, consists largely of long, discursive conversations — in effect monologues directed at an unseen, mostly unheard interlocutor. |
| 927 |
"zealot" - a fervent and even militant proponent of something. "The public is going to just think of us as these zealots who want to ban smoking everywhere," he said. |
| 928 |
"moribund" - not growing or changing; without force or vitality. The entertainment sector there is booming, while Pakistan's is moribund. |
| 929 |
"modicum" - a small or moderate or token amount. He volunteered a modicum of advice, limited in quantity, but valuable. |
| 930 |
"connotation" - an idea that is implied or suggested. In Arabic, the word "bayt" translates literally as house, but its connotations resonate beyond rooms and walls, summoning longings gathered about family and home. |
| 931 |
"adventitious" - associated by chance and not an integral part. The derivation of the word thus appears to be merely accidental and adventitious. |
| 932 |
"recondite" - difficult to penetrate. The mystery of verse is like other abstruse and recondite mysteries—it strikes the ordinary fleshly man as absurd. |
| 933 |
"zephyr" - a slight wind. The dwellings and public buildings throughout Cuba are planned to give free passage to every zephyr that wafts relief from the oppressive heat. |
| 934 |
"countermand" - cancel officially. In the midst of executing this order, he got another order countermanding it, and proceeding directly from his direct superior. |
| 935 |
"captious" - tending to find and call attention to faults. Miss Burton had been very irritable and captious in class, more so even than usual, and most of her anger was vented upon Gerry. |
| 936 |
"cognate" - having the same ancestral language. The synonyms are also given in the cognate dialects of Welsh, Armoric, Irish, Gaelic, and Manx, showing at one view the connection between them. |
| 937 |
"forebear" - a person from whom you are descended. His forebears were Greek immigrants who opened a small sandwich shop in Brooklyn, then moved, one after another, to Providence, to sell distinct, delectable wieners. |
| 938 |
"cadaverous" - very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold. He looked gaunt and cadaverous, and much of his old reckless joyousness had left him, though he brightened up wonderfully on seeing an old friend. |
| 939 |
"foist" - to force onto another. Mr. Knoll added that the 3-D "Star Wars" movies are not "going to be foisted on anybody against their will." |
| 940 |
"dotage" - mental infirmity as a consequence of old age. He is, as you say, a senile old man in his dotage. |
| 941 |
"nexus" - a connected series or group. Numerous innovators are also worrying away at this nexus of problems. |
| 942 |
"choleric" - characterized by anger. Jonathan, choleric with indignation, stood by his desk, clenching his hands. |
| 943 |
"garble" - make false by mutilation or addition. But the fact remains that the contradictory and inconsistent things said do reach the public, and usually in garbled and distorted form. |
| 944 |
"bucolic" - idyllically rustic. Forty-four years ago, Bill Sievers moved into his neo-Colonial house in Douglaston, Queens, on bucolic Poplar Street, lined with stately trees and equally stately homes. |
| 945 |
"denouement" - the outcome of a complex sequence of events. Suppose the truly apocalyptic denouement happens -- no deal is reached, and taxes rise for everyone. |
| 946 |
"animus" - a feeling of ill will arousing active hostility. The youthful savages had each an armful of snowballs, and they were pelting the child with more animus than seemed befitting. |
| 947 |
"overweening" - unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings. He had overweening ambitions even then, along with a highly developed sense of his own importance. |
| 948 |
"tyro" - someone new to a field or activity. As yet he was merely a tyro, gaining practical experience under a veteran Zeppelin commander. |
| 949 |
"preen" - dress or groom with elaborate care. He preened on fight nights in a tuxedo, a bow tie and no shirt, and he favored showy rings and bracelets. |
| 950 |
"largesse" - liberality in bestowing gifts. After being saved by government largesse, they say, big banks then moved to thwart reforms aimed at preventing future meltdowns caused by excessive risk-taking. |
| 951 |
"retentive" - good at remembering. The child was very sharp, and her memory was extremely retentive. |
| 952 |
"unconscionable" - greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation. For generations in the New York City public schools, this has become the norm with devastating consequences rooted in unconscionable levels of student failure. |
| 953 |
"badinage" - frivolous banter. It was preposterous to talk to her of serious things, and nothing but an airy badinage seemed possible in her company. |
| 954 |
"insensate" - devoid of feeling and consciousness and animation. Men also are those brutal soldiers, alike stupidly ready, at the word of command, to drive the nail through quivering flesh or insensate wood. |
| 955 |
"sherbet" - a frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice and sugar. "One person said it looks like a big lime sherbet ice cream cone!" |
| 956 |
"beatific" - resembling or befitting an angel or saint. She dozed at last, her face serene and beatific. |
| 957 |
"bemuse" - cause to be confused emotionally. They were marching in the middle of the street, chanting and singing and disrupting traffic while countless New Yorkers looked on, some bemused, others applauding. |
| 958 |
"microcosm" - a miniature model of something. The building, he said, is "a microcosm of what Shanghai was all about." |
| 959 |
"factitious" - not produced by natural forces; artificial or fake. Indeed, the Chinese make a factitious cheese out of peas, which it is difficult to discriminate from the article of animal origin. |
| 960 |
"gestate" - have the idea for. Mr. Lucas's most recent project, still gestating, is a collaboration with Cuban musicians. |
| 961 |
"traduce" - speak unfavorably about. For Grover Cleveland there were no longer enemies to traduce and vilify. |
| 962 |
"sextant" - an instrument for measuring angular distance. For example, a sextant could be used to sight the sun at high noon in order to determine one's latitude. |
| 963 |
"coiffure" - the arrangement of the hair. They sat down, and Saint-Clair noticed his friend's coiffure; a single rose was in her hair. |
| 964 |
"malleable" - easily influenced. "The Americans are seen as na ive malleable tools in the hands of the Brits." |
| 965 |
"rococo" - having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation. The upper part of the case is decorated with elaborately carved and gilt rococo motifs. |
| 966 |
"fructify" - become productive or fruitful. Thence they grow, expand, fructify, and the result is Progress. |
| 967 |
"nihilist" - someone who rejects all theories of morality. "He's a loner nihilist who believes in nothing," Mr. Lu said. |
| 968 |
"ellipsis" - omission or suppression of parts of words or sentences. He speaks in ellipses, often leaving sentences hanging, and fiddles apologetically with his BlackBerry. |
| 969 |
"accolade" - a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction. The Nobel Prize, considered one of the highest accolades in literature, is given only to living writers. |
| 970 |
"codicil" - a supplement to a will. The codicil to her will, which she had spoken of with so much composure, left three hundred pounds to Stella and me. |
| 971 |
"roil" - be agitated. Like thousands of fellow students, he was roiled with emotions, struggling to come to grips with an inescapable reality. |
| 972 |
"grandiloquent" - lofty in style. A large part of his duties will be to strut about on the stage, and mouth more or less unintelligible sentences in a grandiloquent tone. |
| 973 |
"inconsequential" - lacking worth or importance. But as the months went by, Mr. Kimura had an unexpected epiphany: His business, which he thought was inconsequential, mattered to a lot of people. |
| 974 |
"effervescence" - the property of giving off bubbles. Both were in the very sparkle and effervescence of that fanciful glee which bubbles up from the golden, untried fountains of early childhood. |
| 975 |
"stultify" - deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless. Far from being engines of economic growth, Egypt's leading cities are stultified. |
| 976 |
"tureen" - large deep serving dish with a cover. Soups are presented in big tureens and can be quite good. |
| 977 |
"pellucid" - transparently clear; easily understandable. Caribou Island is a scant 300 pages, and written in prose as pellucid as the rivers he used to fish as a boy. |
| 978 |
"euphony" - any pleasing and harmonious sounds. It depends somewhat on usage and on euphony or agreeableness of sound. |
| 979 |
"apocryphal" - being of questionable authenticity. We're reminded of the story, possibly apocryphal, that they used to play the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile in psychiatric wards to calm patients. |
| 980 |
"veracious" - precisely accurate. For proof, we cite the following veracious narrative, which bears within it every internal mark of truth, and matter for grave and serious reflection. |
| 981 |
"pendulous" - hanging loosely or bending downward. And all around, far out of reach, the trees of the forest were swaying restlessly, their long, pendulous branches, like tentacles, lashing out hungrily. |
| 982 |
"exegesis" - an explanation or critical interpretation. Its musical significance has been presented with illuminating exegesis by more than one commentator. |
| 983 |
"effluvium" - a foul-smelling outflow or vapor. However, acting on my best judgment, I struck a downward course, and then suddenly a horrible effluvium was wafted to my nostrils. |
| 984 |
"apposite" - being of striking appropriateness and pertinence. He was quite capable of meaningful, apposite phrases about the game, even though distant sports editors did not encourage them enough. |
| 985 |
"viscous" - having the sticky properties of an adhesive. Sluggish, blind crawling things like three-foot slugs flowed across their path and among the tree trunks, leaving viscous trails of slime behind them. |
| 986 |
"misanthrope" - someone who dislikes people in general. And shaking his head like a misanthrope, disgusted, if not with life, at least with men, Patout led the horse to the stable. |
| 987 |
"vintner" - someone who makes wine. The question remains, he said, whether established vintners will change their winemaking practices or "continue to sell their schlock." |
| 988 |
"halcyon" - idyllically calm and peaceful; suggesting happy tranquility. He now seemed to have entered on a halcyon period of life—congenial society, romantic and interesting surroundings. |
| 989 |
"anthropomorphic" - suggesting human features for animals or inanimate things. The same anthropomorphic fallacy that accords human attributes to giant corporations like BP distorts clear thinking about how to limit their political influence. |
| 990 |
"turgid" - ostentatiously lofty in style. His waspish wit can make him entertaining company at a party, but there is little evidence of that in his largely turgid prose. |
| 991 |
"malaise" - a general feeling of discomfort, uneasiness, or depression. Initially, many doctors discounted sufferers' feelings of generalized malaise as nothing more than stress or normal fatigue. |
| 992 |
"polemical" - of or involving dispute or controversy. His works include several dogmatic and polemical treatises, but the most important are the historical. |
| 993 |
"gadfly" - a persistently annoying person. Mr. Phelps is regarded here as the ultimate example of an irritating local gadfly. |
| 994 |
"atavism" - a reappearance of an earlier characteristic. Criminal atavism might be defined as the sporadic reversion to savagery in certain individuals. |
| 995 |
"contusion" - an injury in which the skin is not broken. My falling companion, being a much stouter man than myself did not fare so well, as his right shoulder received a severe contusion. |
| 996 |
"parsimonious" - excessively unwilling to spend. Pill-splitting is catching on among parsimonious prescription-takers who want to lower costs. |
| 997 |
"dulcet" - pleasing to the ear. Ever and anon the dulcet murmur of gurgling streams broke gently on the ear. |
| 998 |
"reprise" - repeat an earlier theme of a composition. The live set reprises material from this remarkable group's earlier Aurora CD. |
| 999 |
"anodyne" - capable of relieving pain. But philosophy failed, as it will probably fail till some far-off age, to find an anodyne for the spiritual distresses of the mass of men. |
| 1000 |
"bemused" - perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements. They were marching in the middle of the street, chanting and singing and disrupting traffic while countless New Yorkers looked on, some bemused, others applauding. |
Комментарии