abdicate
(v.) to give up a position, usually one of leadership (When he realized that the revolutionaries would surely win, the king abdicated his throne.)
ballad
(n.) a love song
(Greta's boyfriend played her a ballad on the guitar during their walk through the dark woods.)
coalesce
(v.) to fuse into a whole
(Gordon's ensemble of thrift-shop garments coalesced into a surprisingly handsome outfit.)
denounce
(v.) to criticize publicly
(The senator denounced her opponent as a greedy politician.)
etymology
(n.) the history of words, their origin and development (From the study of etymology, I know that the word "quixotic" derives from Don Quixote and the word "gaudy" refers to the Spanish architect Gaud�.)
inchoate
(adj.) unformed or formless, in a beginning stage
(The country's government is still inchoate and, because it has no great tradition, quite unstable.)
modicum
(n.) a small amount of something
(Refusing to display even a modicum of sensitivity, Henrietta announced her boss's affair in front of the entire office.)
procure
(v.) to obtain, acquire
(The FBI was unable to procure sufficient evidence to charge the gangster with racketeering.)
surreptitious
(adj.) stealthy
(The surreptitious CIA agents were able to get in and out of the house without anyone noticing.)
abhor
(v.) to hate, detest
(Because he always wound up kicking himself in the head when he tried to play soccer, Oswald began to abhor the sport.)
bashful
(adj.) shy, excessively timid
(Frankie's mother told him not to be bashful when he refused to attend the birthday party.)
cognizant
(adj.) aware, mindful
(Jake avoided speaking to women in bars because he was cognizant of the fact that drinking impairs his judgment.)
derelict
(adj.) abandoned, run-down
(Even though it was dangerous, the children enjoyed going to the deserted lot and playing in the derelict house.)
exacerbate
(v.) to make more violent, intense
(The gruesome and scary movie I saw last night exacerbated my fears of the dark.)
incorrigible
(adj.) incapable of correction, delinquent
(You can buy Grandma nicotine gum all you want, but I think that after sixty-five years of smoking she's incorrigible.)
mores
(n.) the moral attitudes and fixed customs of a group of people.
(Mores change over time; many things that were tolerated in 1975 are no longer seen as being socially acceptable.)
promulgate
(v.) to proclaim, make known
(The film professor promulgated that both in terms of sex appeal and political intrigue, Sean Connery's James Bond was superior to Roger Moore's.)
tacit
(adj.) expressed without words
(I interpreted my parents' refusal to talk as a tacit acceptance of my request.)
abnegation
(n.) denial of comfort to oneself
(The holy man slept on the floor, took only cold showers, and generally followed other practices of abnegation.)
benevolent
(adj.) marked by goodness or doing good
(Police officers should be commended for their benevolent service to the community.)
collusion
(n.) secret agreement, conspiracy
(The three law students worked in collusion to steal the final exam.)
desiccated
(adj.) dried up, dehydrated
(The skin of the desiccated mummy looked like old paper.)
exculpate
(v.) to free from guilt or blame, exonerate
(My discovery of the ring behind the dresser exculpated me from the charge of having stolen it.)
indigenous
(adj.) originating in a region
(Some fear that these plants, which are not indigenous to the region, may choke out the vegetation that is native to the area.)
munificence
(n.) generosity in giving
(The royal family's munificence made everyone else in their country rich.)
propriety
(n.) the quality or state of being proper, decent (Erma's old-fashioned parents believed that her mini-skirt lacked the propriety expected of a "nice" girl.)
tedious
(adj.) dull, boring
(As time passed and the history professor continued to drone on and on, the lecture became increasingly tedious.)
abscond
(v.) to sneak away and hide
(In the confusion, the super-spy absconded into the night with the secret plans.)
bereft
(adj.) devoid of, without
(His family was bereft of food and shelter following the tornado.)
commensurate
(adj.) corresponding in size or amount
(Ahab selected a very long roll and proceeded to prepare a tuna salad sandwich commensurate with his enormous appetite.)
destitute
(adj.) impoverished, utterly lacking
(The hurricane destroyed many homes and left many families destitute.)
exigent
(adj.) urgent, critical
(The patient has an exigent need for medication, or else he will lose his sight.)
indomitable
(adj.) not capable of being conquered
(To be honest, Jim, my indomitable nature means I could never take orders from anyone, and especially not from a jerk like you.)
nascent
(adj.) in the process of being born or coming into existence
(Unfortunately, my brilliant paper was only in its nascent form on the morning that it was due.)
prowess
(n.) extraordinary ability
(The musician had never taken a guitar lesson in his life, making his prowess with the instrument even more incredible.)
tenuous
(adj.) having little substance or strength
(Your argument is very tenuous, since it relies so much on speculation and hearsay.)
accede
(v.) to agree
(When the class asked the teacher whether they could play baseball instead of learn grammar they expected him to refuse, but instead he acceded to their request.)
blandish
(v.) to coax by using flattery
(Rachel's assistant tried to blandish her into accepting the deal.)
complacency
(n.) self-satisfied ignorance of danger
(Colin tried to shock his friends out of their complacency by painting a frightening picture of what might happen to them.)
diaphanous
(adj.) light, airy, transparent
(Sunlight poured in through the diaphanous curtains, brightening the room.)
expiate
(v.) to make amends for, atone
(To expiate my selfishness, I gave all my profits to charity.)
inexorable
(adj.) incapable of being persuaded or placated (Although I begged for hours, Mom was inexorable and refused to let me stay out all night after the prom.)
neophyte
(n.) someone who is young or inexperienced
(As a neophyte in the literary world, Malik had trouble finding a publisher for his first novel.)
pugnacious
(adj.) quarrelsome, combative
(Aaron's pugnacious nature led him to start several barroom brawls each month.)
toady
(n.) one who flatters in the hope of gaining favors (The other kids referred to the teacher's pet as the Tenth Grade Toady.)
accolade
(n.) high praise, special distinction
(Everyone offered accolades to Sam after he won the Noble Prize.)
bombastic
(adj.) excessively confident, pompous
(The singer's bombastic performance disgusted the crowd.)
compliment
(n.) an expression of esteem or approval
(I blushed crimson when Emma gave me a compliment on my new haircut.)
dilatory
(adj.) tending to delay, causing delay
(The general's dilatory strategy enabled the enemy to regroup.)
extol
(v.) to praise, revere
(Violet extolled the virtues of a vegetarian diet to her meat-loving brother.)
ingenious
(adj.) clever, resourceful
(Her ingenious use of walnuts instead of the peanuts called for by the recipe was lauded by the other garden club members who found her cake delicious.)
nominal
(adj.) trifling, insignificant
(Because he was moving the following week and needed to get rid of his furniture more than he needed money, Jordan sold everything for a nominal fee.)
punitive
(adj.) involving punishment
(If caught smoking in the boys' room, the punitive result is immediate expulsion from school.)
tortuous
(adj.) winding
(The scary thing about driving in mountains are the narrow, tortuous roads.)
accretion
(n.) slow growth in size or amount
(Stalactites are formed by the accretion of minerals from the roofs of caves.)
brusque
(adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive
(The captain's brusque manner offended the passengers.)
compunction
(n.) distress caused by feeling guilty
(He felt compunction for the shabby way he'd treated her.)
disaffected
(adj.) rebellious, resentful of authority
(Dismayed by Bobby's poor behavior, the parents sent their disaffected son to a military academy to be disciplined.)
fabricate
(v.) to make up, invent
(When I arrived an hour late to class, I fabricated some excuse about my car breaking down on the way to school.)
iniquity
(n.) wickedness or sin
("Your iniquity," said the priest to the practical jokester, "will be forgiven.")
novice
(n.) a beginner, someone without training or experience
(Because we were all novices at yoga, our instructor decided to begin with the basics.)
quandary
(n.) a perplexed, unresolvable state
(Carlos found himself in a quandary: should he choose mint chocolate chip or cookie dough?)
transient
(adj.) passing through briefly; passing into and out of existence
(Because virtually everyone in Palm Beach is a tourist, the population of the town is quite transient.)
acumen
(n.) keen insight
(Because of his mathematical acumen, Larry was able to figure out in minutes problems that took other students hours.)
antagonism
(n.) hostility
(Superman and Bizarro Superman shared a mutual antagonism, and often fought.)
cacophony
(n.) tremendous noise, disharmonious sound
(The elementary school orchestra created a cacophony at the recital.)
concoct
(v.) to fabricate, make up
(She concocted the most ridiculous story to explain her absence.)
discomfit
(v.) to thwart, baffle
(The normally cheery and playful children's sudden misery discomfited the teacher.)
fastidious
(adj.) meticulous, demanding, having high and often unattainable standards
(Mark is so fastidious that he is never able to finish a project because it always seems imperfect to him.)
innovate
(v.) to do something in an unprecedented way (Because of the stiff competition, the company knew it needed to pour a lot of energy into innovating new and better products.)
obdurate
(adj.) unyielding to persuasion or moral influences (The obdurate old man refused to take pity on the kittens.)
quotidian
(adj.) daily
(Ambika's quotidian routines include drinking two cups of coffee in the morning.)
trenchant
(adj.) effective, articulate, clear-cut
(The directions that accompanied my new cell phone were trenchant and easy to follow.)
adhere
1. (n.) to stick to something 2. (n.) to follow devoutly (1. We adhered the poster to the wall with tape.) (2. He adhered to the dictates of his religion without question.)
antipathy
(n.) a strong dislike, repugnance
(I know you love me, but because you are a liar and a thief, I feel nothing but antipathy for you.)
calibrate
(v.) to set, standardize
(The mechanic calibrated the car's transmission to make the motor run most efficiently.)
condone
(v.) to pardon, deliberately overlook
(He refused to condone his brother's crime.)
discursive
(adj.) rambling, lacking order
(The professor's discursive lectures seemed to be about every subject except the one initially described.)
felicitous
1. (adj.) well suited, apt 2. (adj.) delightful, pleasing (1. While his comments were idiotic and rambling, mine were felicitous and helpful.) (2. I spent a felicitous afternoon visiting old friends.)
insatiable
(adj.) incapable of being satisfied
(My insatiable appetite for melons can be a real problem in the winter.)
obscure
(adj.) unclear, partially hidden
(Because he was standing in the shadows, his features were obscure.)
rapport
(n.) mutual understanding and harmony
(When Margaret met her paramour, they felt an instant rapport.)
truncate
(v.) to shorten by cutting off
(After winning the derby, the jockey truncated the long speech he had planned and thanked only his mom and his horse.)
adulation
(n.) extreme praise
(Though the book was pretty good, Marcy did not believe it deserved the adulation it received.)
anxiety
(n.) intense uneasiness
(When he heard about the car crash, he felt anxiety because he knew that his girlfriend had been driving on the road where the accident occurred.)
candor
(n.) honesty, frankness
(We were surprised by the candor of the mayor's speech because he is usually rather evasive.)
conflagration
(n.) great fire
(The conflagration consumed the entire building.)
disparage
(v.) to criticize or speak ill of
(The saleswoman disparaged the competitor's products to persuade her customers to buy what she was selling.)
fetter
(v.) to chain, restrain
(The dog was fettered to the parking meter.)
insolent
(adj.) rude, arrogant, overbearing
(That celebrity is so insolent, making fun of his fans right to their faces.)
obstreperous
(adj.) noisy, unruly
(Billy's obstreperous behavior prompted the librarian to ask him to leave the reading room.)
rebuke
(v.) to scold, criticize
(When the cops showed up at Sarah's party, they rebuked her for disturbing the peace.)
umbrage
(n.) resentment, offense
(He called me a lily-livered coward, and I took umbrage at the insult.)
aerial
(adj.) somehow related to the air
(We watched as the fighter planes conducted aerial maneuvers.)
appease
(v.) to calm, satisfy
(When the child cries, the mother gives him candy to appease him.)
capitulate
(v.) to surrender
(The army finally capitulated after fighting a long costly battle.)
congeal
(v.) to thicken into a solid
(The sauce had congealed into a thick paste.)
disperse
(v.) to scatter, cause to scatter
(When the rain began to pour, the crowd at the baseball game quickly dispersed.)
flabbergasted
(adj.) astounded
(Whenever I read an Agatha Christie mystery novel, I am always flabbergasted when I learn the identity of the murderer.)
integral
(adj.) necessary for completeness
(Without the integral ingredient of flour, you wouldn't be able to make bread.)
ominous
(adj.) foreboding or foreshadowing evil
(The fortuneteller's ominous words flashed through my mind as the hooded figure approached me in the alley.)
reclusive
(adj.) solitary, shunning society
(Reclusive authors such as J.D. Salinger do not relish media attention and sometimes even enjoy holing up in remote cabins in the woods.)
upbraid
(v.) to criticize or scold severely
(The last thing Lindsay wanted was for Lisa to upbraid her again about missing the rent payment.)
affluent
(adj.) rich, wealthy
(Mrs. Grebelski was affluent, owning a huge house, three cars, and an island near Maine.)
appropriate
(v.) to take, make use of
(The government appropriated the farmer's land without justification.)
carp
(v.) to annoy, pester
(The husband divorced his wife after listening to her carping voice for decades.)
connive
(v.) to plot, scheme
(She connived to get me to give up my vacation plans.)
dissent
1. (v.) to disagree 2. (n.) the act of disagreeing
(1. The principal argued that the child should repeat the fourth grade, but the unhappy parents dissented.) (2. Unconvinced that the defendant was guilty, the last juror voiced his dissent with the rest o
flout
(v.) to disregard or disobey openly
(I flouted the school's dress code by wearing a tie-dyed tank top and a pair of cut-off jeans.)
intimation
(n.) an indirect suggestion
(Mr. Brinford's intimation that he would soon pass away occurred when he began to discuss how to distribute his belongings among his children.)
ornate
(adj.) highly elaborate, excessively decorated
(The ornate styling of the new model of luxury car could not compensate for the poor quality of its motor.)
refract
(v.) to distort, change
(The light was refracted as it passed through the prism.)
vacillate
(v.) to fluctuate, hesitate
(I prefer a definite answer, but my boss kept vacillating between the distinct options available to us.)
aggrieved
(adj.) distressed, wronged, injured
(The foreman mercilessly overworked his aggrieved employees.)
arbitrary
(adj.) based on factors that appear random
(The boy's decision to choose one college over another seems arbitrary.)
caustic
(adj.) bitter, biting, acidic
(The politicians exchanged caustic insults for over an hour during the debate.)
consolation
(n.) an act of comforting
(Darren found Alexandra's presence to be a consolation for his suffering.)
distend
(v.) to swell out
(Years of drinking beer caused his stomach to distend.)
forestall
(v.) to prevent, thwart, delay
(I forestalled the cold I was getting by taking plenty of vitamin C pills and wearing a scarf.)
inundate
(v.) to flood with abundance
(Because I am the star of a new sitcom, my fans are sure to inundate me with fan mail and praise.)
ostentatious
(adj.) excessively showy, glitzy
(On the palace tour, the guide focused on the ostentatious decorations and spoke little of the royal family's history.)
relegate
1. (v.) to assign to the proper place 2. (v.) to assign to an inferior place
(1. At the astrology conference, Simon was relegated to the Scorpio room.)
(2. After spilling a drink on a customer's shirt, the waiter found himself relegated to the least lucra
variegated
(adj.) diversified, distinctly marked
(Each wire in the engineering exam was variegated by color so that the students could figure out which one was which.)
aisle
(n.) a passageway between rows of seats
(Once we got inside the stadium we walked down the aisle to our seats.)
archaic
(adj.) of or relating to an earlier period in time, outdated
(In a few select regions of Western Mongolian, an archaic Chinese dialect is still spoken.)
chaos
(n.) absolute disorder
(Mr. Thornton's sudden departure for the lavatory plunged his classroom into chaos.)
construe
(v.) to interpret
(He construed her throwing his clothes out the window as a signal that she wanted him to leave.)
divulge
(v.) to reveal something secret
(Pressured by the press, the government finally divulged the previously unknown information.)
fortuitous
(adj.) happening by chance, often lucky or fortunate (After looking for Manuel and not finding him at home, Harriet had a fortuitous encounter with him at the post office.)
inviolable
(adj.) secure from assault
(Nobody was ever able to break into Batman's inviolable Batcave.)
palette
(adj.) a range of colors or qualities
(The palette of colors utilized in the painting was equaled only by the range of intense emotions the piece evoked.)
renovate
1. (v.) restore, return to original state 2. (v.) to enlarge and make prettier, especially a house
(1. The renovated antique candelabra looked as good as new.)
(2. After getting renovated, the house was twice as big and much more attractive.)
venerate
(v.) to regard with respect or to honor
(The tribute to John Lennon sought to venerate his music, his words, and his legend.)
allege
(v.) to assert, usually without proof
(The policeman had alleged that Marshall committed the crime, but after the investigation turned up no evidence, Marshall was set free.)
arrogate
(v.) to take without justification
(The king arrogated the right to order executions to himself exclusively.)
choreography
(n.) the arrangement of dances
(The plot of the musical was banal, but the choreography was stunning.)
contentious
(adj.) having a tendency to quarrel or dispute (George's contentious personality made him unpopular with his classmates.)
dubious
(adj.) doubtful, of uncertain quality
(Suspicious that he was only trying to get a raise, she found his praise dubious.)
fraught
(adj.)
(usually used with "with") filled or accompanied with
(Her glances in his direction were fraught with meaning, though precisely what meaning remained unclear.)
irrevocable
(adj.) incapable of being taken back
(The Bill of Rights is an irrevocable part of American law.)
paradigm
(n.) an example that is a perfect pattern or model (Because the new SUV was so popular, it became the paradigm upon which all others were modeled.)
replete
(adj.) full, abundant
(The unedited version was replete with naughty words.)
vestige
(n.) a mark or trace of something lost or vanished
(Do you know if the Mexican tortilla is a vestige of some form of Aztec corn-based flat bread?)
altercation
(n.) a dispute, fight
(Jason and Lionel blamed one another for the car accident, leading to an altercation.)
ascetic
(adj.) practicing restraint as a means of self-discipline, usually religious
(The priest lives an ascetic life devoid of television, savory foods, and other pleasures.)
circumlocution
(n.) indirect and wordy language
(The professor's habit of speaking in circumlocutions made it difficult to follow his lectures.)
conundrum
(n.) puzzle, problem
(Interpreting Jane's behavior was a constant conundrum.)
ebullient
(adj.) extremely lively, enthusiastic
(She became ebullient upon receiving an acceptance letter from her first-choice college.)
furtive
(adj.) secretive, sly
(Jane's placement of her drugs in her sock drawer was not as furtive as she thought, as the sock drawer is the first place most parents look.)
knell
(n.) the solemn sound of a bell, often indicating a death
(Echoing throughout our village, the funeral knell made the stormy day even more grim.)
pariah
(n.) an outcast
(Following the discovery of his plagiarism, Professor Hurley was made a pariah in all academic circles.)
reproach
(v.) to scold, disapprove
(Brian reproached the customer for failing to rewind the video he had rented.)
vigilant
(adj.) watchful, alert
(The guards remained vigilant throughout the night, but the enemy never launched the expected attack.)
ameliorate
(v.) to improve
(The tense situation was ameliorated when Sam proposed a solution everyone could agree upon.)
assail
(v.) to attack
(At dawn, the war planes assailed the boats in the harbor.)
clairvoyant
(adj.) able to perceive things that normal people cannot
(Zelda's uncanny ability to detect my lies was nothing short of clairvoyant.)
convoluted
(adj.) intricate, complicated
(Grace's story was so convoluted that I couldn't follow it.)
efface
(v.) to wipe out, obliterate, rub away
(The husband was so angry at his wife for leaving him that he effaced all evidence of her presence; he threw out pictures of her and gave away all her belongings.)
gluttony
(n.) overindulgence in food or drink
(Ada's fried chicken tastes so divine, I don't know how anyone can call gluttony a sin.)
languid
(adj.) sluggish from fatigue or weakness
(In the summer months, the great heat makes people languid and lazy.)
patent
(adj.) readily seen or understood, clear
(The reason for Jim's abdominal pain was made patent after the doctor performed a sonogram.)
repulse
1. (v.) to disgust 2. (v.) to push back
(1. Antisocial Annie tried to repulse people by neglecting to brush her teeth.) (2. With a deft movement of her wrist and a punch to the stomach, Lacy repulsed Jack's attempt to kiss her.)
virtuoso
(n.) one who excels in an art; a highly skilled musical performer
(Even though Lydia has studied piano for many years, she's only average at it. She's no virtuoso, that's for sure.)
amicable
(adj.) friendly
(Claudia and Jimmy got divorced, but amicably and without hard feelings.)
astute
(adj.) very clever, crafty
(Much of Roger's success in politics results from his ability to provide astute answers to reporters' questions.)
clemency
(n.) mercy (After he forgot their anniversary, Martin could only beg Maria for clemency.)
corpulence
(adj.) extreme fatness
(Henry's corpulence did not make him any less attractive to his charming, svelte wife.)
effulgent
(adj.) radiant, splendorous
(The golden palace was effulgent.)
grandiose
(adj.) on a magnificent or exaggerated scale
(Margaret planned a grandiose party, replete with elephants, trapeze artists, and clowns.)
laudatory
(adj.) expressing admiration or praise
(Such laudatory comments are unusual from someone who is usually so reserved in his opinions.)
pejorative
(adj.) derogatory, uncomplimentary
(The evening's headline news covered an international scandal caused by a pejorative statement the famous senator had made in reference to a foreign leader.)
reservoir
1. (n.) reserves, large supply 2. (n.) a body of water used for storing water
(1. Igor the Indomitable had quite a reservoir of strengh and could lift ten tons, even after running 700 miles, jumping over three mountains, and swimming across an ocean.)
(2.
vivacious
(adj.) lively, sprightly
(The vivacious clown makes all of the children laugh and giggle with his friendly antics.)
analgesic
(n.) something that reduces pain
(Put this analgesic on the wound so that the poor man at least feels a little better.)
attain
(v.) to achieve, arrive at
(The athletes strived to attain their best times in competition.)
counteract
(v.) to neutralize, make ineffective
(The antidote counteracted the effect of the poison.)
elegy
(n.) a speech given in honor of a dead person
(At the funeral, the widow gave a moving elegy describing her love for her husband.)
guile
(n.) deceitful, cunning, sly behavior
(Because of his great guile, the politician was able to survive scandal after scandal.)
lethargic
(adj.) in a state of sluggishness or apathy
(When Jean Claude explained to his boss that he was lethargic and didn't feel like working that day, the boss fired him.)
penultimate
(adj.) next to last
(Having smoked the penultimate cigarette remaining in the pack, Cybil discarded the last cigarette and resolved to quit smoking.)
respite
(n.) a break, rest
(Justin left the pub to gain a brief respite from the smoke and noise.)
wane
(v.) to decrease in size, dwindle
(Don't be so afraid of his wrath because his influence with the president is already beginning to wane.)
anecdote
(n.) a short, humorous account
(After dinner, Marlon told an anecdote about the time he got his nose stuck in a toaster.)
audible
(adj.) able to be heard
(The missing person's shouts were unfortunately not audible.)
credulity
(n.) readiness to believe
(His credulity made him an easy target for con men.)
elude
(v.) to evade, escape
(Despite an intense search, the robber continues to elude the police.)
harangue
1. (n.) a ranting speech 2. (v.) to give such a speech (1. Everyone had heard the teacher's harangue about gum chewing in class before.)
(2. But this time the teacher harangued the class about the importance of brushing your teeth after chewing gum.)
limpid
(adj.) clear, transparent
(Mr. Johnson's limpid writing style greatly pleased readers who disliked complicated novels.)
permeate
(v.) to spread throughout, saturate
(Mrs. Huxtable was annoyed that the wet dog's odor had permeated the furniture's upholstery.)
retract
(v.) withdraw
(As the media worked itself into a frenzy, the publicist hurriedly retracted his client's sexist statement.)
winsome
(adj.) charming, pleasing
(After such a long, frustrating day, I was grateful for Chris's winsome attitude and childish naivete.)
annex
1. (v.) to incorporate territory or space 2. (n.) a room attached to a larger room or space
(1. After defeating them in battle, the Russians annexed Poland.)
(2. He likes to do his studying in a little annex attached to the main reading room in the librar
culpable
(adj.) deserving blame
(He was culpable of the crime, and was sentenced to perform community service for 75 years.)
defile
(v.) to make unclean, impure
(She defiled the calm of the religious building by playing her banjo.)
engender
(v.) to bring about, create, generate
(During the Olympics, the victories of U.S. athletes engender a patriotic spirit among Americans.)
illicit
(adj.) forbidden, not permitted
(The fourth-grader learned many illicit words from a pamphlet that was being passed around school.)
mandate
(n.) an authoritative command
(In the Old Testament, God mandates that no one should steal.)
plenitude
(n.) an abundance
(My grandmother was overwhelmed by the plenitude of tomatoes her garden yielded this season.)
serene
(adj.) calm, untroubled
(Louise stood in front of the Mona Lisa, puzzling over the famous woman's serene smile.)
yoke
(v.) to join, link
(We yoked together the logs by tying a string around them.)
cupidity
(n.) greed, strong desire
(His cupidity made him enter the abandoned gold mine despite the obvious dangers.)
entail
(v.) to include as a necessary step
(Building a new fence entails tearing down the old one.)
impeccable
(adj.) exemplary, flawless
(If your grades were as impeccable as your sister's, then you too would receive a car for a graduation present.)
maverick
(n.) an independent, nonconformist person
(Andreas is a real maverick and always does things his own way.)
polemic
(n.) an aggressive argument against a specific opinion (My brother launched into a polemic against my arguments that capitalism was an unjust economic system.)
rhapsodize
(v.) to engage in excessive enthusiasm
(The critic rhapsodized about the movie, calling it an instant classic.)
solicitous
(adj.) concerned, attentive
(Jim, laid up in bed with a nasty virus, enjoyed the solicitous attentions of his mother, who brought him soup and extra blankets.)
avarice
(n.) excessive greed
(The banker's avarice led him to amass a tremendous personal fortune.)
daunting
(adj.) intimidating, causing one to lose courage
(He kept delaying the daunting act of asking for a promotion.)
epitome
(n.) a perfect example, embodiment
(My mother, the epitome of good taste, always dresses more elegantly than I do.)
impertinent
(adj.) rude, insolent
(Most of your comments are so impertinent that I don't wish to dignify them with an answer.)
medley
(n.) a mixture of differing things
(Susannah's wardrobe contained an astonishing medley of colors, from olive green to fluorescent pink.)
pragmatic
(adj.) practical
(The politician argued that while increased security measures might not fit with the lofty ideals of the nation, they were a pragmatic necessity to ensure everyone's safety.)
ruse
(n.) a trick
(Oliver concocted an elaborate ruse for sneaking out of the house to meet his girlfriend while simultaneously giving his mother the impression that he was asleep in bed.)
somnolent
(adj.) sleepy, drowsy
(The somnolent student kept falling asleep and waking up with a jerk.)
debauch
(v.) to corrupt by means of sensual pleasures
(An endless amount of good wine and cheese debauched the traveler.)
emend
(v.) to correct or revise a written text
(If my sentence is incorrect, the editor will emend what I have written.)
eschew
(v.) to shun, avoid
(George hates the color green so much that he eschews all green food.)
implacable
(adj.) incapable of being appeased or mitigated (Watch out: once you shun Grandma's cooking, she is totally implacable.)
lucid
(adj.) clear, easily understandable
(Because Guenevere's essay was so lucid, I only had to read it once to understand her reasoning.)
predilection
(n.) a preference or inclination for something (Francois has a predilection for eating scrambled eggs with ketchup, though I prefer to eat eggs without any condiments.)
salient
(adj.) significant, conspicuous
(One of the salient differences between Alison and Nancy is that Alison is a foot taller.)
deface
(v.) to ruin or injure something's appearance
(The brothers used eggs and shaving cream to deface their neighbor's mailbox.)
empathy
(n.) sensitivity to another's feelings as if they were one's own
(I feel such empathy for my sister when she's in pain that I cry too.)
hedonist
(n.) one who believes pleasure should be the primary pursuit of humans
(Because he's such a hedonist, I knew Murray would appreciate the 11 cases of wine I bought him for his birthday.)
magnanimous
(adj.) noble, generous
(Although I had already broken most of her dishes, Jacqueline was magnanimous enough to continue letting me use them.)
pert
(adj.) flippant, bold
(My parents forgave Sandra's pert humor at the dinner table because it had been so long since they had last seen her.)
prescient
(adj.) to have foreknowledge of events
(Questioning the fortune cookie's prediction, Ray went in search of the old hermit who was rumored to be prescient.)
spurious
(adj.) false but designed to seem plausible
(Using a spurious argument, John convinced the others that he had won the board game on a technicality.)
deleterious
(adj.) harmful
(She experienced the deleterious effects of running a marathon without stretching her muscles enough beforehand.)
hiatus
(n.) a break or gap in duration or continuity
(The hiatus in service should last two or three months�until the cable lines are repaired .)
metamorphosis
(n.) the change of form, shape, substance
(Winnifred went to the gym every day for a year and underwent a metamorphosis from a waiflike girl to an athletic woman.)
petulance
(n.) rudeness, irritability
(The Nanny resigned after she could no longer tolerate the child's petulance.)
sanguine
(adj.) optimistic, cheery
(Polly reacted to any bad news with a sanguine smile and the chirpy cry, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!")
demarcation
(n.) the marking of boundaries or categories
(Different cultures have different demarcations of good and evil.)
impregnable
(adj.) resistant to capture or penetration
(Though the invaders used battering rams, catapults, and rain dances, the fortress proved impregnable and resisted all attacks.)
pinnacle
(n.) the highest point
(Book reviewers declared that the author's new novel was extraordinary and probably the pinnacle of Western literature.)
scrupulous
(adj.) painstaking, careful
(With scrupulous care, Sam cut a snowflake out of white paper.)
succinct
(adj.) marked by compact precision
(The governor's succinct speech energized the crowd while the mayor's rambled on and on.)
encore
(n.) the audience's demand for a repeat performance; also the artist's performance in response to that demand
(At the end of the concert, all the fans yelled, "Encore! Encore!" but the band did not come out to play again.)
inarticulate
(adj.) incapable of expressing oneself clearly through speech
(Though he spoke for over an hour, the lecturer was completely inarticulate and the students had no idea what he was talking about.)
placid
(adj.) calm, peaceful
(The placid lake surface was as smooth as glass.)
seminal
(adj.) original, important, creating a field
(Stephen Greenblatt's essays on Shakespeare proved to be seminal, because they initiated the critical school of New Historicism.)
iconoclast
(n.) one who attacks common beliefs or institutions (Jane goes to one protest after another, but she seems to be an iconoclast rather than an activist with a progressive agenda.)
primeval
(adj.) original, ancient
(The first primates to walk on two legs, called Australopithecus, were the primeval descendants of modern man.)
stoic
(adj.) unaffected by passion or feeling
(Penelope's faithfulness to Odysseus required that she be stoic and put off her many suitors.)
stupefy
(v.) to astonish, make insensible
(Veronica's audacity and ungratefulness stupefied her best friend, Heather.)