moribund:
1: being in the state of dying; at the point of death; dying
2: being or becoming in a state of inactivity or obsolescence
Example: The real problem is not the economic crisis that dominates the headlines, but a pair of intertwined long-run concerns: the work force is shrinking fast, and Japan undermines its economy's productivity by squandering money on life support for moribund industries and backward regions. [Reference: Nicholas D. Kristof, "Empty Isles Are Signs Japan's Sun Might Dim", New York Times , August 1, 1999]
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
OBDURATE
obdurate:
- unmoved by pity or persuasion; unyielding; hard-hearted; stubborn
- persistently impenitent; hardened in wickedness
Example: Rather, they mean to demonstrate that the obdurate is assailable; that it is, in fact, possible to "turn oppression into opportunity"; and that the experience of a young woman like Rath is replicable: she escaped sexual slavery, which is an accomplishment in itself, and has gone on to become a successful entrepreneur, selling hats and bags and phone calls out of a cart she was able to buy and stock with a $400 loan from an aid group, and now is married, has a son, and supports her extended family. [Reference: The New York Review of Books, "Breaking a Conspiracy of Silence"]
- unmoved by pity or persuasion; unyielding; hard-hearted; stubborn
- persistently impenitent; hardened in wickedness
Example: Rather, they mean to demonstrate that the obdurate is assailable; that it is, in fact, possible to "turn oppression into opportunity"; and that the experience of a young woman like Rath is replicable: she escaped sexual slavery, which is an accomplishment in itself, and has gone on to become a successful entrepreneur, selling hats and bags and phone calls out of a cart she was able to buy and stock with a $400 loan from an aid group, and now is married, has a son, and supports her extended family. [Reference: The New York Review of Books, "Breaking a Conspiracy of Silence"]
STEENTH
steenth:
- one sixteenth
- latest one in an indefinitely long sequence
Example: A jiffy later, I was on my way up, and another steenth of a jiffy I was at the eaves, and, being a very good climber, I scrambled up the other little ladder that was made out of nailed-on boards, to the red brick chimney. [Reference: Shenanigans at Sugar Creek by Paul Hutchens]
- one sixteenth
- latest one in an indefinitely long sequence
Example: A jiffy later, I was on my way up, and another steenth of a jiffy I was at the eaves, and, being a very good climber, I scrambled up the other little ladder that was made out of nailed-on boards, to the red brick chimney. [Reference: Shenanigans at Sugar Creek by Paul Hutchens]
PRECATORY
precatory: of, relating to, characterized by, or expressing a request or an entreaty
Example: "The laws are precatory as opposed to mandatory," said Scott Sommer, "They say the city 'may', rather than 'shall', enforce the housing code." [Reference: Deborah Sontag; A Weak Housing Agency Seems to Be a Step Behind; The New York Times; Oct 7, 1996]
Example: "The laws are precatory as opposed to mandatory," said Scott Sommer, "They say the city 'may', rather than 'shall', enforce the housing code." [Reference: Deborah Sontag; A Weak Housing Agency Seems to Be a Step Behind; The New York Times; Oct 7, 1996]
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Review & Take a Quiz!
Review the following words and (when you would be connected to the Internet*) take this Quiz: quizazz.com:655891
* Kindle Readers
bobo: drunk (Example: She's totally bobo; get her out of here before she barfs.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
torpid:
- numb; dormant; having lost the power of exertion, movement, or feeling
- lacking in energy; lacking in vigor; dull
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
declaim: to speak in an emotional and loud manner; to harangue; to orate
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ignoble:
- not noble; humble; of low origin; plebeian
- characterized by lowness; not noble in character
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
oneiric: pertaining to dreams; dreamy
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
doff:
- to take off or to remove as an article of clothing
- to tip or remove one's hat as in greeting
- to put aside; to discard; to rid oneself of
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
dolorous: causing, marked by, or expressing misery, sorrow, or grief; mournful
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cupidity:
- strong desire for wealth; greed; avarice
- strong desire
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ersatz: inferior substitute; inferior imitation (Example: I looked it over to show I was alert, not because I'd know an ersatz from the real thing. [Reference: NEUTRON STAR by Larry Niven])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
myrmidon:
- a loyal follower who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously
- (Capitalized) a member of the legendary Thessalian people who followed Achilles on the expedition against Troy
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
tact:
- acute sensitivity or aesthetic perception (Example: He could convert the play into a movie script with remarkable skill and tact.)
- ability to say or do the right thing without offending in dealing with others (Example: By the use of tact, I could calm my jealous girlfriend.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
dismal:
- dark and depressing; showing or causing gloom (Example: When the weather is very dismal my grandma stays in bed all day.)
- lacking merit; characterized by ineptitude (Example: Her dismal performance disappointed me last night.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
nascent: beginning to exist or having recently come into existence; coming into being
(Example: But there are other nascent technologies that are widely predicted to play a major part in moving the world from a dependence on oil, nuclear energy and coal. [Reference: "Out of thin air", The Guardian, October 31, 2001])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
affray: a tumultuous assault or quarrel; a brawl (Example: Mounted encounters by armored knights locked in desperate hand-to-hand combat, stabbing and wrestling in tavern brawls, deceits and brutalities in street affrays, balletic homicide on the dueling field - these were the martial arts of Renaissance Europe. [Reference: Sydney Anglo, The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
puerile:
- juvenile
- childish, silly (Example: Though Laura enjoys a good practical joke, she finds some of the gags pulled by her co-workers on April Fool’s Day to be merely puerile.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
zeitgeist: the spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time (Example: The best writers of that predawn era were originals who had the zeitgeist by the tail. [Reference: Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz: The First Century])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
stoic:
Noun:
- (Capitalized) a member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno holding that one should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity
-one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain, joy or grief
Adjective:
- of or pertaining to the Stoics; resembling the Stoics or their doctrines
- not affected by passion; being or appearing indifferent to pleasure or pain, joy or grief
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
indelible:
- that cannot be removed, erased, or washed away
- making marks that cannot easily be removed or erased
- incapable of being forgotten; memorable
(Example: In a sense, these years were like a blur of hunger, a time without roots or a sense of stability that made an indelible mark and colored his every move years later. [Reference: Marcos Bretón and José Luis Villegas, Away Games])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
limn:
- to depict by drawing or painting
- to portray in words; to describe
(Example: Oh, yes, I write, as I limn the familiar perfections of his profile, "you look very well." [Reference: Kimberly Elkins, "What Is Visible", The Atlantic, March 2003])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
verbiage:
- an overabundance of words; wordiness
- manner or style of expression; diction.
(Example: The sheer volume of verbiage he has expelled over eight years is enough to make John Updike look blocked. [Reference: Andrew Sullivan, "Sounds of Silence", New Republic, January 15, 2001])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
febrile: pertaining to fever; feverish; caused by fever
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
foment: to rouse; to incite; to instigate
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beholden: being under obligation; indebted
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gravid: pregnant; distended with eggs
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bibelot: a small household ornament or decorative object that has no practical utility; trinket
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
edacious: voracious; gluttonous
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
hale: free from disease, infirmity, defect, or weakening conditions; sound; healthy
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
fetid: having a very offensive smell; stinking
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gloaming: twilight; dusk
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bestow:
- to present as a gift; to present as an honor
- to put to use; to apply
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sobriquet: nickname; epithet; a descriptive name
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
taw:
- a large marble used for shooting in playing marbles
- a line from which the players shoot at marbles
- a square-dance partner
- the 23d letter of the Hebrew alphabet
- to shoot a marble
- to tan skins by a dry process; to make skins into leather by treating with alum, or salt
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wizened: dried up; withered; shriveled; shrunken (Example: The new CEO is a wizened old man.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
neologism:
- a new word or a new meaning for an established word or expression
- the use or creation of new words or new expressions
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lassitude:
- a state or feeling of being tired; fatigue
- a condition of weariness or debility; languor
- a condition of listlessness
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cosset:
- a pet lamb
- a small pet
- to treat as a pet; pamper
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cormorant:
- a greedy person
- a gluttonous person
- a rapacious person
- a genus of dark-colored web-footed water birds
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
adobe: a natural building material made from sand, clay, horse manure and water, with some kind of fibrous or organic material which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. Adobe is a Spanish word that is from Arabic al-ṭūb (the brick), from Coptic tōbe (brick), from Egyptian dbt.Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sorcerer: a person who practices sorcery; wizard (Example: The first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
bifurcate:
- to divide into two branches; to divide into two parts
- divided into two branches; divided into two partsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
laureates:
- a person who is the recipient of honor or recognition for achievement in literature, art, or science (Example: The Swedish Academy decides who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and announces the name of the chosen laureate.)
- to crown with a laurel wreath as a mark of honor, excellence, or achievementCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
limen: threshold (Example: A limen of a psychological response is called a liminal point.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
exiguous: excessively scanty; inadequate; little; small; meagerCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lucre: monetary gain; profit (Example: He is a director who makes movies almost entirely for lucre.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
emolument: the returns, wages or perquisites arising from office, employment, or labor; compensation; gainCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
repast:
- something taken as food; a meal
also:
- the act of taking food
- the time of taking foodCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
eschew: to avoid (as something wrong or distasteful especially on moral or practical grounds)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
chary:
- wary; discreetly cautious as hesitant and vigilant about risks and dangers
- discreetly cautious as slow to accept, or expend; not expending freely; sparingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
extempore: without preparation or premeditation; on the spur of the moment; in an extemporaneous manner (Example: He spoke extempore and wearied the audience.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
bombast: pompous or pretentious inflated speech or writingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
weenie:
- frankfurter; wiener
- penis (slang)
- nerd
- an insignificant, disliked man (slang)
- a weak and ineffectual man (slang)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
segue: a transition from one part to another without pause, as in musicCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
propound: to put forward for discussion or consideration; to set forth; to proposeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
brio: enthusiastic vigor; vivacity (Example: "She tells their story with brio and a mixture of sympathy and tart insight.” [Michiko Kakutani])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
superfluous: unnecessary; useless; more than what is wantedCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
dour: stern; obstinate; inflexibleCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
aberrant: deviating from the normal way; atypical; abnormalCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
stentorian: extremely loud (Example: Then a stentorian voice blared an all-points bulletin: "Calling the G-men! Calling all Americans to war on the underworld!" [Reference: Strobe Talbott, "Resisting the Gangbusters Option"])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
iota:
- the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet
- a bit; a jot; a very small quantity; a very small degreeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cadge:
- to obtain by begging; to sponge
- to begCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
insipid:
- lacking flavor or zest; tasteless
- not exciting; not interestingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
assiduous:
- constant and careful in attention or application; diligent (Example: John is an assiduous programmer who strove for perfection.)
- persistent; unceasing; (Example: The police did an assiduous research to find the murderer.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wanderlust:
an impulse to wander or travel (Example: The British installation artist Mike Nelson doesn’t just embrace such wanderlust. He also makes it a good reason to stay put. [Reference: The New York Times: Mike Nelson’s Trailer Trash])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
asperity: rigor; severity; harshness; roughness (Example: What Pope would say of Cibber nobody inquired, but in hope that Pope's asperity might betray his pain and lessen his dignity. [Reference: Lives of the English Poets: Prior, Congreve, Blackmore, Pope])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
mascot:
An icon, sign, person, animal, or object, adopted by a group, believed to bring good luck (Example: The ongoing search for a new mascot at the University of Mississippi has gained national attention. After students voted in favor of having a say in choosing the mascot, speculation ramped up that Ole Miss could end up with Star Wars character Admiral Ackbar as the mascot. [Reference: USNews.com]Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
interdisciplinary:
involving multiple academic, scientific, or artistic disciplines; involving multiple branches of learning (Example: Some schools allow you to construct your own major, perhaps in an interdisciplinary field. [Reference: USNews.com])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
traumatize
- to wound or injure (e.g. tissues) in a surgical operation, or by force or by thermal, chemical, etc. - to subject to psychological trauma by a childhood experience
- to impose a trauma; to subject to a traumaCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
overhaul:
- a major repair, renovation, or revision (Example: The sewing machine requires a overhaul to work properly again.)
- to examine thoroughly for needed repairs
- to dismantle to repair
- to repair, renovate, or revise
- to catch up with; to overtakeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
stymie:
- obstacle; obstruction
- in golf, the condition that exists when an opponent's ball lies in a direct line between the player's ball and the hole
- to present an obstacle in the way of; to block; to impede
- to hinder or obstruct as with a stymieCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
erudite:
- possessing or showing an extensive knowledge gained from reading
- learned
- scholarlyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
nomenclature:
A system or set of names, terms, or procedures used in a branch of science, art, or technology, e.g. the nomenclature of geomorphology.Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
verve:
spirit and enthusiasm in an artistic performanceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
deft:
dexterous; quick; skillful; adroitCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
scrum:
- a restart after an interruption in a rugby play
- throngCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
masthead:
- the top of a mast
- the printed matter in a blog, newspaper or periodical that gives the title and the ownership detail, etc.Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
agelast:
a mirthless person; a person who never laughsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
facade: (also façade)
- the front of a building; any face of a building facing a street, courtyard, etc.; any face of a building that has special architectural treatment
- a superficial, artificial, or false appearanceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
stratum: ( plural: strata)
- a layer of rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that makes it be distinguished from the other contiguous layers
- a horizontal layer or section of material in a set of contiguous layers
- a part of a series that presents a period or a stage of development or formationCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
baryon: the family of composite subatomic particles made of three quarksCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
joust:
- a fight with lances between two knights on horseback
- to fight on horseback as knights
- to engage in fight or competition as in a joustCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lambda:
- the eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ)
- an uncharged hyperonCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
necropsy: autopsy (usually used for autopsy on animals)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vassal:
- in the Middle Ages: a feudal tenant; a person under protection of the feudal lord to whom she or he has vowed fealty and homage
- a person in a subordinate position
- a person in a subservient positionCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
fealty:
- the loyalty that people owe to their country; the loyalty that people owe to their sovereign
- the fidelity that vassals owe to their feudal lord
- the oath of fidelity or loyalty to country, sovereign, or feudal lord
- faithfulness; allegianceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
frolicsome:
full of gaiety; full of high-spirited fun; playful; sportive; rollickingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
disport:
- to amuse; to entertain
- amusement; diversionCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
laager:
- a defensive encampment protected by a circle of armored vehicles or wagons
- a defensive policy; a defensive position
- to camp in a defensive circle of armored vehicles or wagons
- to form (armoured vehicles or wagons) into a laager
- to park (armoured vehicles or wagons) in a laagerCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
Xanthippe (also: Xantippe) :
- Xanthippe was the wife of Socrates
- a scolding woman or wife; an ill-tempered woman or wife; a shrewish woman or wifeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
jollification: festivity; merrymaking; revelry; convivialityCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
roomette:
a small private room on a railroad sleeping car or in a railroad passenger trainCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
tootle:
- to toot gently, softly, repeatedly, or continuously on a flute or some musical instrument like that
- to drive, walk or move along in a leisurely manner; ambleCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
hag:
- an ugly, slatternly, wizened, evil-looking old woman; witch
- a kind of fairy or goddess, often found in folklore and children's tales, who is ugly, slatternly, wizened, or evil-lookingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
old-timer:
- a person who has been an employee, member, soldier or resident for a long time
- an old-fashioned person
- oldster
- veteranCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
expound:
- to set forth in detail; to state in detail
- to explain, interpret, clarify or defend by setting forth in careful and often elaborate detailCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
abstain:
to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from something regarded as improper or unhealthy (Example: He abstains from eating meat.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
remorse:
a gnawing distress for wrongdoing; compunction; self-reproachCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gore:
- a small usually triangular piece of land (as where two roads diverge)
- a triangular piece (as a triangular piece of fabric in clothes)
- to cut into a triangular form
- to pierce or wound with a horn, tusk, or knifeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sorgo:
a sorghum cultivated for the sweet juice in its stems (to make sugar and syrup)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
delve:
- to dig (with a spade)
- to make a careful investigation for information (Example: He delved into the book to understand the complex algorithms.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
shank:
- the part of leg between knee and ankle in human or other vertebrates
- a cut of meat from the upper or the lower part of the leg of animals
- a projection on the back of buttons by which they are sewn to fabricCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pellucid:
- allowing for the passage of light without diffusion; transparent (Example: The air was strangely still, the sky pellucid and speckled with stars except where the swelling clouds massed to the west. [Reference: Conan and the Emerald Lotus by John C. Hocking])
- easy to understand; clearCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
coeval:
of the same age or antiquity; contemporaryCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
affranchise:
to make or set free from obligation or serviceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
eremite:
a religious recluse; hermitCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
de jure:
- by right
- in accordance with the laws or the actions of the stateCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gregarious:
- tending or enjoying to be in crowds and socializing
- traveling or living in herds, flock, or crowd (as animals)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
brut:
- very dry
- a sweetness measure for dry sparkling winesCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ides:
originally referred to the day of the full moon; but then, in the ancient Roman calendar, refers to the 15th day of March, May, July, or October, or the 13th of the other monthsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
eddy:
- a current of water or air running contrary to the main current and with a circular motion; small whirlpool or whirlwind
- an unimportant contrary movement or trend
- a contrary current as of thought or policyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
mortification:
- the control of physical desires and bodily passions and appetites by self-denial, abstinence, fasting, etc.
- something causing shame, humiliation, etc. as it wounds one's pride or self-respect
- the sense of shame and humiliation due to something that wounds one's pride or self-respectCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
jovial: good-humored, hearty convivial, or genialCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
abba:
- father
- title of a bishop in some Arabic churchesCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
kame: an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and tillCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
scuttlebutt: rumour; gossipCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wordmonger
- a writer or speaker who uses words pretentiously
- a writer or speaker who uses words carelessly disregarding for meaningsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wean:
- to cause a child or a young animal to get accustomed gradually to food other than its mother's milk
- to detach gradually from a source of dependenceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
elide:
leave out; suppress; omit; ignore; to strike out, e.g. some word written; slur over, e.g. a vowel, syllable, etc. (Example: "Did you know that dragons elide riders' names?" [Reference: The Chronicles of Pern written by Anne McCaffrey])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
elide:
leave out; suppress; omit; ignore; to strike out, e.g. some word written; slur over, e.g. a vowel, syllable, etc. (Example: "Did you know that dragons elide riders' names?" [Reference: The Chronicles of Pern written by Anne McCaffrey])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ewe - a female sheep especially when matureCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
drudge:
- a person who does hard, menial, tedious, or unpleasant work
- to do hard, menial, tedious, or unpleasant work
- to force to do hard, menial, tedious, or unpleasant workCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sabotage:
- destruction of property or obstruction of normal operations in time of war
- destruction of an employer's equipments, tools and materials or hindering of production by discontented workersCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
hoodlum: a gangster; a thug; a ruffianCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
yowl:
- to utter a loud and long mournful cry of grief or distress; wail
- to complain with yowlsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
raver: a person who frequently speaks wildly and irrationallyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sempre: always; used in music directions as without varyingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
turmoil: a state of extreme commotion; tumultCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
oblivion: the state of forgetting or being forgotten (Example: "Oblivion is a kind of annihilation." [Reference: The Life Of Johnson book])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pooh bah: a pompous ostentatious official especially one that holds many offices and jobs but fulfills none of themCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
epigrammatic: relating to or resembling an epigram; where an epigram is a short, witty poem expressing a single thought or observation, as an example the following is an epigram by John Donne entitled as A Lame Beggar:
I am unable, yonder beggar cries,
To stand, or move; if he say true, he lies.Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
topsy-turvy:
- with the head downward; upside down; in a reversed condition
- in confusion or disorderCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
beleaguerment:
- surrounding with troops; besiege
- harassmentCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
algorithm:
- a step by step procedure to solve a problem
- a set of instructions for solving a problem on a computer in a finite number of stepsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lexicon: dictionary; a dictionary especially for of an ancient languageCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vex: disturb; annoy (Eample: "Vex not your mind on that," the prince answered, smiling. [Reference: The White Company book])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
maim: to deprive of a necessary part of the body; cripple (Example: I couldn't, didn't, couldn't believe that Ellis could maim - and effectively kill - a child's pony and three young racehorses. [Reference: Come To Grief book])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
womanizer:
- a man who philanders
- to be sexually promiscuous with women
- to make effeminateCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
duad: pair; couple; unit of two objectsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
downtrodden: figuratively oppressed; subjugated (Example: He is not a spokesman for the downtrodden, much less those who seek just solutions to real dilemmas [Reference: America and the War by Tony Judt])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
oodles: - a great quantity; a great amount; lots; an unspecified large number (Example: I just met her this morning and I could already think of oodles of stuff that I wanted to tell her about.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
foreknowlege: - prescience - awareness of something before its existence or occurrenceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
looby: someone awkward and clumsyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
foolhardy: heady, recklessCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
goo goo:
- loving (mostly used in the phrase: goo-goo eyes)
- an advocate of a political reform movementCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
umpirage: mediation by an umpire; the act of umpiring; refereeingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vorticity:
- the state of a fluid in swirling or vortical motion
- a measure of vortical motionsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
quackery:
- charlatanism
- medical practice and advice based on observation and experience and ignoring scientific findingsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
mooch:
- ask for and get free as being a parasite
- someone who cadges and tries to get something freeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ultramundane: being beyond the world or the limits of the universeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
almsgiving: something such as money, food, etc. given freely to relieve the poorCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lorn: desolate; forsakenCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
idiographic: relating to or concerned with concrete or unique
facts or eventsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cade: left by its mother and reared by hand (e.g. a cade lamb)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
zoolatry: animal worshipCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
baksheesh: munificence (baksheesh is originally a Persian word)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
kabbalah (variant of cabala):
- a medieval and modern system of Jewish theosophy, mysticism and thaumaturgy marked by belief in creation through emanation and a cipher method of interpreting Scripture
- a traditional esoteric matter
- esoteric doctrine or mysterious artCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cabala:
- a medieval and modern system of Jewish theosophy, mysticism and thaumaturgy marked by belief in creation through emanation and a cipher method of interpreting Scripture
- a traditional esoteric matter
- esoteric doctrine or mysterious artCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
iconoclast:
- someone who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration
- someone who attacks settled beliefs or institutionsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
amulet: a small object worn to ward off evil, harm, or illness or to bring
good fortuneCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
balk: to refuse abruptly
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
noun
- a ridge of land left unplowed as a dividing line or through carelessness
- a hindrance
- a ridge between furrows
- a wooden beam or rafter
- failure of a player to complete a motion, especially an illegal motion of the pitcher
in baseball while in position
intransitive verb
- to refuse abruptly [is used with 'at'] (e.g. He balked at putting up the promised
money)
- to stop and refuse to proceed
- to commit a balk in sports
transitive verb
- to check or stop by or as if by an obstacleCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
artiodactyl: having an even number of toes on each foot (as
camel or pig)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
neuston: minute organisms that float in the surface film of waterCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vatic:
- of or related to a prophet or a prophecy
- propheticCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gelid: extremely cold, icyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
litany:
- a liturgical prayer consisting of a series of petitions recited by a leader alternating
with fixed responses by the congregation
- a repetitive or incantatory recitalCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
rorqual: any of a family of large baleen whales having the skin of
the throat marked with deep longitudinal furrowsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
endocarp: the inner, usually woody, layer of the pericarp of a
fruit, such as the stone of a cherry or peachCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pedantic:
- like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning
- being showy of one’s knowledge, often in a boring manner
- being finicky or picky with languageCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
euphemism: the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive
expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasantCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
derision:
- the use of ridicule or scorn to show contempt
- an object of ridicule or scornCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
doppelganger (Doppelgänger): the ghostly double of a living
personCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
subintelligitur:
- something that is implied even though not expressed
- something that is not stated but understoodCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
endemic: native to a particular region
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- constantly present in a particular region
- native to a particular country, nation, or region
noun
- an endemic organism
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pneuma: - soul - spiritCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
interdigitate: to become interlocked like the fingers of folded
handsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
nanocephalous: having abnormally small headCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
firmament: - the arch of the sky - the heavensCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
magniloquent: bombastic in style or expression
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- speaking by a bombastic style or manner
- characterized by a bombastic style or manner
- inflated in style or expression
- pompous in style or expressionCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sapid: - having a strong pleasant flavor - pleasing to the mindCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lumpen: one cut off from his/her normal socioeconomic class
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- relating to displaced people who have been cut off from the socioeconomic class
with which they would ordinarily be identified (e.g. lumpen intellectuals unable to
find jobs in their fields)
- plebeian
- stupid
- unthinking
noun
- a member of the uneducated lowest class of societyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
socioeconomic: relating to, or involving both economic and
social factorsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gadabout: one roaming about in search of amusement or social
activityCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
languor: mental or physical weariness or fatigue
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
noun
- mental or physical weariness or fatigue
- physical or mental laziness or weariness
- weakness or weariness of body or mind
- listless indolence
- indolence of one satiated by a luxury lifeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
obtrude: to impose oneself or one's idea on others without
request
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
transitive verb
- to impose oneself or one's idea without request
- to force oneself or one's idea without warrant or invitation
- to thrust out
intransitive verb
- to become unduly prominent
- to interfere unduly
- to intrudeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
exemplar: one that serves as a model or example
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
noun
- one that serves as a model or example
- a copy of a book or writing
- a model to be copied
- a model to be imitated
- a pattern to be copied
- a pattern to be imitated
- a typical or standard specimen
- an ideal model or typeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
penchant: - a strong liking - a strong inclinationCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
incongruous: - not harmonious - inconsistentCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
precarious: dependent on circumstances beyond one's control
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- depending on the will or pleasure of another
- dependent on uncertain premises
- dubious
- having insufficient foundation (a precarious belief)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
esoteric: intended only for a particular group
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- limited to a small circle
- private
- confidential (an esoteric target)
- of rare interest (esoteric construction materials)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vexatious: distressing
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- full of stress
- full of disorder
- full of annoyance
- causing vexation
- annoying
- intended to vex
- intended to annoyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pecuniary: monetary
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- relating to money
- consisting of or measured in money
- requiring payment of money (e.g. a pecuniary offense)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
propitious: presenting favorable conditions
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- favorable
- being a good omen
- auspicious
- benevolentCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
chicanery: deception by trickery or sophistryCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
jocund: merry
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- full of high-spirited merriment
- marked by high spirits
- marked by lively mirthfulness
- of a humorous temperament
- showing high-spirited merriment
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
languish: to be or become feeble
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
intransitive verb
- to be or become feeble
- to be or become weak
- to be or become enervated
- to be or live in a state of depression
- to be or live in a state of decreasing vitality
- to lose strength or vigorCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
machination: a crafty action intended to accomplish a sinister
endCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
surcease: to desist from action
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
1. intransitive verb
- to desist from action
- to come to an end
- to cease
- to stop
2. transitive verb
- to put an end to
- to discontinue
3. noun
- cessation
- a temporary respite or end
- intermissionCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
chapfallen: cast down in spirit
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- dejected
- downhearted
- crestfallen
- depressedCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
heliolatry: worship of the sunCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wrangle: to dispute something angrily
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
1. intransitive verb
- to dispute angrily, noisily or peevishly
- to engage in argument or controversy
- to quarrel noisily or angrily
2. transitive verb
- to win or obtain by argument
- to herd livestock, especially horses
3. noun
- the act of wrangling
- an angry, noisy dispute or argumentCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
* Kindle Readers
bobo: drunk (Example: She's totally bobo; get her out of here before she barfs.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
torpid:
- numb; dormant; having lost the power of exertion, movement, or feeling
- lacking in energy; lacking in vigor; dull
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
declaim: to speak in an emotional and loud manner; to harangue; to orate
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ignoble:
- not noble; humble; of low origin; plebeian
- characterized by lowness; not noble in character
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
oneiric: pertaining to dreams; dreamy
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
doff:
- to take off or to remove as an article of clothing
- to tip or remove one's hat as in greeting
- to put aside; to discard; to rid oneself of
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
dolorous: causing, marked by, or expressing misery, sorrow, or grief; mournful
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cupidity:
- strong desire for wealth; greed; avarice
- strong desire
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ersatz: inferior substitute; inferior imitation (Example: I looked it over to show I was alert, not because I'd know an ersatz from the real thing. [Reference: NEUTRON STAR by Larry Niven])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
myrmidon:
- a loyal follower who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously
- (Capitalized) a member of the legendary Thessalian people who followed Achilles on the expedition against Troy
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
tact:
- acute sensitivity or aesthetic perception (Example: He could convert the play into a movie script with remarkable skill and tact.)
- ability to say or do the right thing without offending in dealing with others (Example: By the use of tact, I could calm my jealous girlfriend.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
dismal:
- dark and depressing; showing or causing gloom (Example: When the weather is very dismal my grandma stays in bed all day.)
- lacking merit; characterized by ineptitude (Example: Her dismal performance disappointed me last night.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
nascent: beginning to exist or having recently come into existence; coming into being
(Example: But there are other nascent technologies that are widely predicted to play a major part in moving the world from a dependence on oil, nuclear energy and coal. [Reference: "Out of thin air", The Guardian, October 31, 2001])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
affray: a tumultuous assault or quarrel; a brawl (Example: Mounted encounters by armored knights locked in desperate hand-to-hand combat, stabbing and wrestling in tavern brawls, deceits and brutalities in street affrays, balletic homicide on the dueling field - these were the martial arts of Renaissance Europe. [Reference: Sydney Anglo, The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
puerile:
- juvenile
- childish, silly (Example: Though Laura enjoys a good practical joke, she finds some of the gags pulled by her co-workers on April Fool’s Day to be merely puerile.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
zeitgeist: the spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time (Example: The best writers of that predawn era were originals who had the zeitgeist by the tail. [Reference: Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz: The First Century])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
stoic:
Noun:
- (Capitalized) a member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno holding that one should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity
-one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain, joy or grief
Adjective:
- of or pertaining to the Stoics; resembling the Stoics or their doctrines
- not affected by passion; being or appearing indifferent to pleasure or pain, joy or grief
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
indelible:
- that cannot be removed, erased, or washed away
- making marks that cannot easily be removed or erased
- incapable of being forgotten; memorable
(Example: In a sense, these years were like a blur of hunger, a time without roots or a sense of stability that made an indelible mark and colored his every move years later. [Reference: Marcos Bretón and José Luis Villegas, Away Games])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
limn:
- to depict by drawing or painting
- to portray in words; to describe
(Example: Oh, yes, I write, as I limn the familiar perfections of his profile, "you look very well." [Reference: Kimberly Elkins, "What Is Visible", The Atlantic, March 2003])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
verbiage:
- an overabundance of words; wordiness
- manner or style of expression; diction.
(Example: The sheer volume of verbiage he has expelled over eight years is enough to make John Updike look blocked. [Reference: Andrew Sullivan, "Sounds of Silence", New Republic, January 15, 2001])
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
febrile: pertaining to fever; feverish; caused by fever
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
foment: to rouse; to incite; to instigate
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
beholden: being under obligation; indebted
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gravid: pregnant; distended with eggs
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
bibelot: a small household ornament or decorative object that has no practical utility; trinket
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
edacious: voracious; gluttonous
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
hale: free from disease, infirmity, defect, or weakening conditions; sound; healthy
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
fetid: having a very offensive smell; stinking
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gloaming: twilight; dusk
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
bestow:
- to present as a gift; to present as an honor
- to put to use; to apply
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sobriquet: nickname; epithet; a descriptive name
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
taw:
- a large marble used for shooting in playing marbles
- a line from which the players shoot at marbles
- a square-dance partner
- the 23d letter of the Hebrew alphabet
- to shoot a marble
- to tan skins by a dry process; to make skins into leather by treating with alum, or salt
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wizened: dried up; withered; shriveled; shrunken (Example: The new CEO is a wizened old man.)
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
neologism:
- a new word or a new meaning for an established word or expression
- the use or creation of new words or new expressions
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lassitude:
- a state or feeling of being tired; fatigue
- a condition of weariness or debility; languor
- a condition of listlessness
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cosset:
- a pet lamb
- a small pet
- to treat as a pet; pamper
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cormorant:
- a greedy person
- a gluttonous person
- a rapacious person
- a genus of dark-colored web-footed water birds
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.adobe: a natural building material made from sand, clay, horse manure and water, with some kind of fibrous or organic material which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. Adobe is a Spanish word that is from Arabic al-ṭūb (the brick), from Coptic tōbe (brick), from Egyptian dbt.Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sorcerer: a person who practices sorcery; wizard (Example: The first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
bifurcate:
- to divide into two branches; to divide into two parts
- divided into two branches; divided into two partsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
laureates:
- a person who is the recipient of honor or recognition for achievement in literature, art, or science (Example: The Swedish Academy decides who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and announces the name of the chosen laureate.)
- to crown with a laurel wreath as a mark of honor, excellence, or achievementCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
limen: threshold (Example: A limen of a psychological response is called a liminal point.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
exiguous: excessively scanty; inadequate; little; small; meagerCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lucre: monetary gain; profit (Example: He is a director who makes movies almost entirely for lucre.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
emolument: the returns, wages or perquisites arising from office, employment, or labor; compensation; gainCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
repast:
- something taken as food; a meal
also:
- the act of taking food
- the time of taking foodCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
eschew: to avoid (as something wrong or distasteful especially on moral or practical grounds)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
chary:
- wary; discreetly cautious as hesitant and vigilant about risks and dangers
- discreetly cautious as slow to accept, or expend; not expending freely; sparingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
extempore: without preparation or premeditation; on the spur of the moment; in an extemporaneous manner (Example: He spoke extempore and wearied the audience.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
bombast: pompous or pretentious inflated speech or writingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
weenie:
- frankfurter; wiener
- penis (slang)
- nerd
- an insignificant, disliked man (slang)
- a weak and ineffectual man (slang)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
segue: a transition from one part to another without pause, as in musicCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
propound: to put forward for discussion or consideration; to set forth; to proposeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
brio: enthusiastic vigor; vivacity (Example: "She tells their story with brio and a mixture of sympathy and tart insight.” [Michiko Kakutani])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
superfluous: unnecessary; useless; more than what is wantedCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
dour: stern; obstinate; inflexibleCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
aberrant: deviating from the normal way; atypical; abnormalCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
stentorian: extremely loud (Example: Then a stentorian voice blared an all-points bulletin: "Calling the G-men! Calling all Americans to war on the underworld!" [Reference: Strobe Talbott, "Resisting the Gangbusters Option"])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
iota:
- the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet
- a bit; a jot; a very small quantity; a very small degreeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cadge:
- to obtain by begging; to sponge
- to begCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
insipid:
- lacking flavor or zest; tasteless
- not exciting; not interestingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
assiduous:
- constant and careful in attention or application; diligent (Example: John is an assiduous programmer who strove for perfection.)
- persistent; unceasing; (Example: The police did an assiduous research to find the murderer.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wanderlust:
an impulse to wander or travel (Example: The British installation artist Mike Nelson doesn’t just embrace such wanderlust. He also makes it a good reason to stay put. [Reference: The New York Times: Mike Nelson’s Trailer Trash])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
asperity: rigor; severity; harshness; roughness (Example: What Pope would say of Cibber nobody inquired, but in hope that Pope's asperity might betray his pain and lessen his dignity. [Reference: Lives of the English Poets: Prior, Congreve, Blackmore, Pope])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
mascot:
An icon, sign, person, animal, or object, adopted by a group, believed to bring good luck (Example: The ongoing search for a new mascot at the University of Mississippi has gained national attention. After students voted in favor of having a say in choosing the mascot, speculation ramped up that Ole Miss could end up with Star Wars character Admiral Ackbar as the mascot. [Reference: USNews.com]Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
interdisciplinary:
involving multiple academic, scientific, or artistic disciplines; involving multiple branches of learning (Example: Some schools allow you to construct your own major, perhaps in an interdisciplinary field. [Reference: USNews.com])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
traumatize
- to wound or injure (e.g. tissues) in a surgical operation, or by force or by thermal, chemical, etc. - to subject to psychological trauma by a childhood experience
- to impose a trauma; to subject to a traumaCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
overhaul:
- a major repair, renovation, or revision (Example: The sewing machine requires a overhaul to work properly again.)
- to examine thoroughly for needed repairs
- to dismantle to repair
- to repair, renovate, or revise
- to catch up with; to overtakeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
stymie:
- obstacle; obstruction
- in golf, the condition that exists when an opponent's ball lies in a direct line between the player's ball and the hole
- to present an obstacle in the way of; to block; to impede
- to hinder or obstruct as with a stymieCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
erudite:
- possessing or showing an extensive knowledge gained from reading
- learned
- scholarlyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
nomenclature:
A system or set of names, terms, or procedures used in a branch of science, art, or technology, e.g. the nomenclature of geomorphology.Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
verve:
spirit and enthusiasm in an artistic performanceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
deft:
dexterous; quick; skillful; adroitCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
scrum:
- a restart after an interruption in a rugby play
- throngCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
masthead:
- the top of a mast
- the printed matter in a blog, newspaper or periodical that gives the title and the ownership detail, etc.Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
agelast:
a mirthless person; a person who never laughsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
facade: (also façade)
- the front of a building; any face of a building facing a street, courtyard, etc.; any face of a building that has special architectural treatment
- a superficial, artificial, or false appearanceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
stratum: ( plural: strata)
- a layer of rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that makes it be distinguished from the other contiguous layers
- a horizontal layer or section of material in a set of contiguous layers
- a part of a series that presents a period or a stage of development or formationCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
baryon: the family of composite subatomic particles made of three quarksCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
joust:
- a fight with lances between two knights on horseback
- to fight on horseback as knights
- to engage in fight or competition as in a joustCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lambda:
- the eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet (Λ, λ)
- an uncharged hyperonCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
necropsy: autopsy (usually used for autopsy on animals)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vassal:
- in the Middle Ages: a feudal tenant; a person under protection of the feudal lord to whom she or he has vowed fealty and homage
- a person in a subordinate position
- a person in a subservient positionCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
fealty:
- the loyalty that people owe to their country; the loyalty that people owe to their sovereign
- the fidelity that vassals owe to their feudal lord
- the oath of fidelity or loyalty to country, sovereign, or feudal lord
- faithfulness; allegianceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
frolicsome:
full of gaiety; full of high-spirited fun; playful; sportive; rollickingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
disport:
- to amuse; to entertain
- amusement; diversionCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
laager:
- a defensive encampment protected by a circle of armored vehicles or wagons
- a defensive policy; a defensive position
- to camp in a defensive circle of armored vehicles or wagons
- to form (armoured vehicles or wagons) into a laager
- to park (armoured vehicles or wagons) in a laagerCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
Xanthippe (also: Xantippe) :
- Xanthippe was the wife of Socrates
- a scolding woman or wife; an ill-tempered woman or wife; a shrewish woman or wifeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
jollification: festivity; merrymaking; revelry; convivialityCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
roomette:
a small private room on a railroad sleeping car or in a railroad passenger trainCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
tootle:
- to toot gently, softly, repeatedly, or continuously on a flute or some musical instrument like that
- to drive, walk or move along in a leisurely manner; ambleCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
hag:
- an ugly, slatternly, wizened, evil-looking old woman; witch
- a kind of fairy or goddess, often found in folklore and children's tales, who is ugly, slatternly, wizened, or evil-lookingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
old-timer:
- a person who has been an employee, member, soldier or resident for a long time
- an old-fashioned person
- oldster
- veteranCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
expound:
- to set forth in detail; to state in detail
- to explain, interpret, clarify or defend by setting forth in careful and often elaborate detailCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
abstain:
to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from something regarded as improper or unhealthy (Example: He abstains from eating meat.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
remorse:
a gnawing distress for wrongdoing; compunction; self-reproachCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gore:
- a small usually triangular piece of land (as where two roads diverge)
- a triangular piece (as a triangular piece of fabric in clothes)
- to cut into a triangular form
- to pierce or wound with a horn, tusk, or knifeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sorgo:
a sorghum cultivated for the sweet juice in its stems (to make sugar and syrup)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
delve:
- to dig (with a spade)
- to make a careful investigation for information (Example: He delved into the book to understand the complex algorithms.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
shank:
- the part of leg between knee and ankle in human or other vertebrates
- a cut of meat from the upper or the lower part of the leg of animals
- a projection on the back of buttons by which they are sewn to fabricCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pellucid:
- allowing for the passage of light without diffusion; transparent (Example: The air was strangely still, the sky pellucid and speckled with stars except where the swelling clouds massed to the west. [Reference: Conan and the Emerald Lotus by John C. Hocking])
- easy to understand; clearCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
coeval:
of the same age or antiquity; contemporaryCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
affranchise:
to make or set free from obligation or serviceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
eremite:
a religious recluse; hermitCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
de jure:
- by right
- in accordance with the laws or the actions of the stateCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gregarious:
- tending or enjoying to be in crowds and socializing
- traveling or living in herds, flock, or crowd (as animals)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
brut:
- very dry
- a sweetness measure for dry sparkling winesCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ides:
originally referred to the day of the full moon; but then, in the ancient Roman calendar, refers to the 15th day of March, May, July, or October, or the 13th of the other monthsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
eddy:
- a current of water or air running contrary to the main current and with a circular motion; small whirlpool or whirlwind
- an unimportant contrary movement or trend
- a contrary current as of thought or policyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
mortification:
- the control of physical desires and bodily passions and appetites by self-denial, abstinence, fasting, etc.
- something causing shame, humiliation, etc. as it wounds one's pride or self-respect
- the sense of shame and humiliation due to something that wounds one's pride or self-respectCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
jovial: good-humored, hearty convivial, or genialCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
abba:
- father
- title of a bishop in some Arabic churchesCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
kame: an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and tillCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
scuttlebutt: rumour; gossipCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wordmonger
- a writer or speaker who uses words pretentiously
- a writer or speaker who uses words carelessly disregarding for meaningsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wean:
- to cause a child or a young animal to get accustomed gradually to food other than its mother's milk
- to detach gradually from a source of dependenceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
elide:
leave out; suppress; omit; ignore; to strike out, e.g. some word written; slur over, e.g. a vowel, syllable, etc. (Example: "Did you know that dragons elide riders' names?" [Reference: The Chronicles of Pern written by Anne McCaffrey])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
elide:
leave out; suppress; omit; ignore; to strike out, e.g. some word written; slur over, e.g. a vowel, syllable, etc. (Example: "Did you know that dragons elide riders' names?" [Reference: The Chronicles of Pern written by Anne McCaffrey])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ewe - a female sheep especially when matureCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
drudge:
- a person who does hard, menial, tedious, or unpleasant work
- to do hard, menial, tedious, or unpleasant work
- to force to do hard, menial, tedious, or unpleasant workCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sabotage:
- destruction of property or obstruction of normal operations in time of war
- destruction of an employer's equipments, tools and materials or hindering of production by discontented workersCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
hoodlum: a gangster; a thug; a ruffianCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
yowl:
- to utter a loud and long mournful cry of grief or distress; wail
- to complain with yowlsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
raver: a person who frequently speaks wildly and irrationallyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sempre: always; used in music directions as without varyingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
turmoil: a state of extreme commotion; tumultCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
oblivion: the state of forgetting or being forgotten (Example: "Oblivion is a kind of annihilation." [Reference: The Life Of Johnson book])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pooh bah: a pompous ostentatious official especially one that holds many offices and jobs but fulfills none of themCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
epigrammatic: relating to or resembling an epigram; where an epigram is a short, witty poem expressing a single thought or observation, as an example the following is an epigram by John Donne entitled as A Lame Beggar:
I am unable, yonder beggar cries,
To stand, or move; if he say true, he lies.Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
topsy-turvy:
- with the head downward; upside down; in a reversed condition
- in confusion or disorderCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
beleaguerment:
- surrounding with troops; besiege
- harassmentCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
algorithm:
- a step by step procedure to solve a problem
- a set of instructions for solving a problem on a computer in a finite number of stepsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lexicon: dictionary; a dictionary especially for of an ancient languageCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vex: disturb; annoy (Eample: "Vex not your mind on that," the prince answered, smiling. [Reference: The White Company book])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
maim: to deprive of a necessary part of the body; cripple (Example: I couldn't, didn't, couldn't believe that Ellis could maim - and effectively kill - a child's pony and three young racehorses. [Reference: Come To Grief book])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
womanizer:
- a man who philanders
- to be sexually promiscuous with women
- to make effeminateCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
duad: pair; couple; unit of two objectsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
downtrodden: figuratively oppressed; subjugated (Example: He is not a spokesman for the downtrodden, much less those who seek just solutions to real dilemmas [Reference: America and the War by Tony Judt])Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
oodles: - a great quantity; a great amount; lots; an unspecified large number (Example: I just met her this morning and I could already think of oodles of stuff that I wanted to tell her about.)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
foreknowlege: - prescience - awareness of something before its existence or occurrenceCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
looby: someone awkward and clumsyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
novemdecillion: The number equal to 1060; one with 60 zeros
foolhardy: heady, recklessCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
goo goo:
- loving (mostly used in the phrase: goo-goo eyes)
- an advocate of a political reform movementCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
umpirage: mediation by an umpire; the act of umpiring; refereeingCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vorticity:
- the state of a fluid in swirling or vortical motion
- a measure of vortical motionsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
quackery:
- charlatanism
- medical practice and advice based on observation and experience and ignoring scientific findingsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
mooch:
- ask for and get free as being a parasite
- someone who cadges and tries to get something freeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
ultramundane: being beyond the world or the limits of the universeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
almsgiving: something such as money, food, etc. given freely to relieve the poorCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lorn: desolate; forsakenCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
idiographic: relating to or concerned with concrete or unique
facts or eventsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cade: left by its mother and reared by hand (e.g. a cade lamb)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
zoolatry: animal worshipCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
baksheesh: munificence (baksheesh is originally a Persian word)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
kabbalah (variant of cabala):
- a medieval and modern system of Jewish theosophy, mysticism and thaumaturgy marked by belief in creation through emanation and a cipher method of interpreting Scripture
- a traditional esoteric matter
- esoteric doctrine or mysterious artCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
cabala:
- a medieval and modern system of Jewish theosophy, mysticism and thaumaturgy marked by belief in creation through emanation and a cipher method of interpreting Scripture
- a traditional esoteric matter
- esoteric doctrine or mysterious artCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
iconoclast:
- someone who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration
- someone who attacks settled beliefs or institutionsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
amulet: a small object worn to ward off evil, harm, or illness or to bring
good fortuneCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
balk: to refuse abruptly
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
noun
- a ridge of land left unplowed as a dividing line or through carelessness
- a hindrance
- a ridge between furrows
- a wooden beam or rafter
- failure of a player to complete a motion, especially an illegal motion of the pitcher
in baseball while in position
intransitive verb
- to refuse abruptly [is used with 'at'] (e.g. He balked at putting up the promised
money)
- to stop and refuse to proceed
- to commit a balk in sports
transitive verb
- to check or stop by or as if by an obstacleCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
artiodactyl: having an even number of toes on each foot (as
camel or pig)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
neuston: minute organisms that float in the surface film of waterCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vatic:
- of or related to a prophet or a prophecy
- propheticCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gelid: extremely cold, icyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
litany:
- a liturgical prayer consisting of a series of petitions recited by a leader alternating
with fixed responses by the congregation
- a repetitive or incantatory recitalCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
rorqual: any of a family of large baleen whales having the skin of
the throat marked with deep longitudinal furrowsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
endocarp: the inner, usually woody, layer of the pericarp of a
fruit, such as the stone of a cherry or peachCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pedantic:
- like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning
- being showy of one’s knowledge, often in a boring manner
- being finicky or picky with languageCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
euphemism: the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive
expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasantCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
derision:
- the use of ridicule or scorn to show contempt
- an object of ridicule or scornCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
doppelganger (Doppelgänger): the ghostly double of a living
personCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
subintelligitur:
- something that is implied even though not expressed
- something that is not stated but understoodCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
endemic: native to a particular region
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- constantly present in a particular region
- native to a particular country, nation, or region
noun
- an endemic organism
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pneuma: - soul - spiritCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
interdigitate: to become interlocked like the fingers of folded
handsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
nanocephalous: having abnormally small headCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
firmament: - the arch of the sky - the heavensCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
magniloquent: bombastic in style or expression
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- speaking by a bombastic style or manner
- characterized by a bombastic style or manner
- inflated in style or expression
- pompous in style or expressionCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
sapid: - having a strong pleasant flavor - pleasing to the mindCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
lumpen: one cut off from his/her normal socioeconomic class
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- relating to displaced people who have been cut off from the socioeconomic class
with which they would ordinarily be identified (e.g. lumpen intellectuals unable to
find jobs in their fields)
- plebeian
- stupid
- unthinking
noun
- a member of the uneducated lowest class of societyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
socioeconomic: relating to, or involving both economic and
social factorsCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
gadabout: one roaming about in search of amusement or social
activityCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
languor: mental or physical weariness or fatigue
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
noun
- mental or physical weariness or fatigue
- physical or mental laziness or weariness
- weakness or weariness of body or mind
- listless indolence
- indolence of one satiated by a luxury lifeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
obtrude: to impose oneself or one's idea on others without
request
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
transitive verb
- to impose oneself or one's idea without request
- to force oneself or one's idea without warrant or invitation
- to thrust out
intransitive verb
- to become unduly prominent
- to interfere unduly
- to intrudeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
exemplar: one that serves as a model or example
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
noun
- one that serves as a model or example
- a copy of a book or writing
- a model to be copied
- a model to be imitated
- a pattern to be copied
- a pattern to be imitated
- a typical or standard specimen
- an ideal model or typeCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
penchant: - a strong liking - a strong inclinationCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
incongruous: - not harmonious - inconsistentCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
precarious: dependent on circumstances beyond one's control
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- depending on the will or pleasure of another
- dependent on uncertain premises
- dubious
- having insufficient foundation (a precarious belief)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
esoteric: intended only for a particular group
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- limited to a small circle
- private
- confidential (an esoteric target)
- of rare interest (esoteric construction materials)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
vexatious: distressing
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- full of stress
- full of disorder
- full of annoyance
- causing vexation
- annoying
- intended to vex
- intended to annoyCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
pecuniary: monetary
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- relating to money
- consisting of or measured in money
- requiring payment of money (e.g. a pecuniary offense)Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
propitious: presenting favorable conditions
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- favorable
- being a good omen
- auspicious
- benevolentCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
chicanery: deception by trickery or sophistryCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
jocund: merry
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- full of high-spirited merriment
- marked by high spirits
- marked by lively mirthfulness
- of a humorous temperament
- showing high-spirited merriment
Copyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
languish: to be or become feeble
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
intransitive verb
- to be or become feeble
- to be or become weak
- to be or become enervated
- to be or live in a state of depression
- to be or live in a state of decreasing vitality
- to lose strength or vigorCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
machination: a crafty action intended to accomplish a sinister
endCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
surcease: to desist from action
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
1. intransitive verb
- to desist from action
- to come to an end
- to cease
- to stop
2. transitive verb
- to put an end to
- to discontinue
3. noun
- cessation
- a temporary respite or end
- intermissionCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
chapfallen: cast down in spirit
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
adjective
- dejected
- downhearted
- crestfallen
- depressedCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
heliolatry: worship of the sunCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
wrangle: to dispute something angrily
----------------------
Detailed Definition:
1. intransitive verb
- to dispute angrily, noisily or peevishly
- to engage in argument or controversy
- to quarrel noisily or angrily
2. transitive verb
- to win or obtain by argument
- to herd livestock, especially horses
3. noun
- the act of wrangling
- an angry, noisy dispute or argumentCopyright ©2010 Improve Your Vocabulary in Leisure Time! All rights reserved.
BIDDABLE
biddable:
- easily led or commanded; obedient
- capable of being bid
Example: But because they are sociable, biddable , obliging, stoic and generous, most are happy to join in. [Reference: Sue Montgomery, "The Nature of Horses", New Statesman , July 18, 1997]
- easily led or commanded; obedient
- capable of being bid
Example: But because they are sociable, biddable , obliging, stoic and generous, most are happy to join in. [Reference: Sue Montgomery, "The Nature of Horses", New Statesman , July 18, 1997]
FIAT
fiat:
- an arbitrary or authoritative command or order
- formal or official authorization or sanction
Example: Americans tend to squirm about the messiness of their two best-known trade agreements with Japan: the "voluntary limitations" that have restricted exports of Japanese cars to the United States since 1981, and the semiconductor agreement of 1986, which declared by fiat that foreign manufacturers should get 20 percent of semiconductor sales in Japan. [Reference: James Fallows, "Containing Japan", The Atlantic , May 1989]
- an arbitrary or authoritative command or order
- formal or official authorization or sanction
Example: Americans tend to squirm about the messiness of their two best-known trade agreements with Japan: the "voluntary limitations" that have restricted exports of Japanese cars to the United States since 1981, and the semiconductor agreement of 1986, which declared by fiat that foreign manufacturers should get 20 percent of semiconductor sales in Japan. [Reference: James Fallows, "Containing Japan", The Atlantic , May 1989]
UKASE
ukase:
- in imperial Russia, a published proclamation or order having the force of law
- any order or decree issued by an authority; an edict
Example: This new ukase , however, ignited bureaucratic warfare and spawned rival and conflicting rules and concepts, frittering away time and effort. [Reference: Richard B. Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire]
- in imperial Russia, a published proclamation or order having the force of law
- any order or decree issued by an authority; an edict
Example: This new ukase , however, ignited bureaucratic warfare and spawned rival and conflicting rules and concepts, frittering away time and effort. [Reference: Richard B. Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire]
GALUMPH
galumph: to move in a clumsy manner or with a heavy tread
Example: As their owners ride tandem bikes, fly kites or run on the beach the dogs galumph alongside their masters grinning, I love you even if you are incontinent. [Reference: Ken Foster, Dog Culture: Writers on the Character of Canines]
Example: As their owners ride tandem bikes, fly kites or run on the beach the dogs galumph alongside their masters grinning, I love you even if you are incontinent. [Reference: Ken Foster, Dog Culture: Writers on the Character of Canines]
Sunday, September 12, 2010
FRUCTUOUS
fructuous: fruitful (a fructuous land); productive
Example: Lagerfeld is talking about reducing his mighty Chanel shows to more intimate experiences. And this collection proved that such a fructuous collaboration with the couture hands deserves to be played out on a quieter note. [Reference: Suzy Menkes, "Chanel plays pipes, turning tiny tubes of tulle into couture", New York Times , July 1, 2008]
Example: Lagerfeld is talking about reducing his mighty Chanel shows to more intimate experiences. And this collection proved that such a fructuous collaboration with the couture hands deserves to be played out on a quieter note. [Reference: Suzy Menkes, "Chanel plays pipes, turning tiny tubes of tulle into couture", New York Times , July 1, 2008]
Saturday, September 11, 2010
AUTOCHTHONOUS
autochthonous:
- aboriginal; indigenous; native
- formed or originating in the place where found
Example: For cultures are not monoliths. They are fragmentary, patchworks of autochthonous and foreign elements. [Reference: Anthony Pagden, "Culture Wars", The New Republic , November 16, 1998]
- aboriginal; indigenous; native
- formed or originating in the place where found
Example: For cultures are not monoliths. They are fragmentary, patchworks of autochthonous and foreign elements. [Reference: Anthony Pagden, "Culture Wars", The New Republic , November 16, 1998]
URBANE
urbane: polished and smooth in manner; polite, refined, and elegant
Example: Taylor comes across as an intelligent man, suave and urbane , articulate and smooth as butter. [Reference: Bill Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full]
Example: Taylor comes across as an intelligent man, suave and urbane , articulate and smooth as butter. [Reference: Bill Berkeley, The Graves Are Not Yet Full]
COTERMINOUS
coterminous:
- having the same or coincident boundaries
- having the same scope, range of meaning, duration
Example: In a democracy the interests of the people are, or at least should be, coterminous with those of the state. [Reference: Ronald Steel, "The Domestic Core of Foreign Policy", The Atlantic , June 1995]
- having the same or coincident boundaries
- having the same scope, range of meaning, duration
Example: In a democracy the interests of the people are, or at least should be, coterminous with those of the state. [Reference: Ronald Steel, "The Domestic Core of Foreign Policy", The Atlantic , June 1995]
QUA
qua: in the capacity or character of; as
Example: Gossipmongers aren't obsessed with gossip qua gossip; they're grappling with the great issues of our day: Truth, Honor and Justice. [Reference: Robert Plunket, "Cyberscandal", New York Times , June 1, 1997]
Example: Gossipmongers aren't obsessed with gossip qua gossip; they're grappling with the great issues of our day: Truth, Honor and Justice. [Reference: Robert Plunket, "Cyberscandal", New York Times , June 1, 1997]
QUIXOTIC
quixotic:
- caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals
- capricious; impulsive; unpredictable
- caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals
- capricious; impulsive; unpredictable
SURLY
surly:
- ill-humored; churlish in manner or mood; sullen and gruff.
- menacing or threatening in appearance, as of weather conditions; ominous
Example: Maggie drank a little too much and got surly and made snide comments during the final toast. [Reference: John L'Heureux, Having Everything]
- ill-humored; churlish in manner or mood; sullen and gruff.
- menacing or threatening in appearance, as of weather conditions; ominous
Example: Maggie drank a little too much and got surly and made snide comments during the final toast. [Reference: John L'Heureux, Having Everything]
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
PLETHORA
plethora:
- an abnormal bodily condition characterized by an excessive amount of blood in the system
- excess; superabundance
Example: India's huge press corps, representing a plethora of papers and magazines, was something else new since my student days. [Reference: Abraham Verghese, "The Bandit King and the Movie Star", The Atlantic , February 2001]
On Amazon Kindle:
Improve Your General Knowledge in Leisure Time! [facebook] [blog] [kindle]
A climbing plant, best known for its fruit which is about the size of a coffee bean, it is an effective energy booster:
Guarana (pronounced /ˌɡwɑrəˈnɑː/, from the Portuguese guaraná [1])
The best energy drinks available in the market are those which use Guarana as an energy ingredient such as Rockstar Energy Drink, Monster Energy Drink and CRUNK Energy Drink.
Chemical composition of Guarana seeds [2]:
Vegetable fiber: 49.125 %
Reddish resin: 8.800 %
Starch: 8.350 %
Water: 7.650 %
Pectin, malic acid, mucilage, dextrin, salts: 7.470 %
Guarana-tannic acid: 5.902 %
Caffeine: 5.388 %
Yellowish steady oil: 2.950 %
Pyro-guarana acid: 2.750 %
Reddish colorant: 1.520 %
Amorphous substances: 0.606 %
Saponin: 0.060 %
References:
[1] Wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarana, 22 August 2010 (Access Date: September 7, 2010).
[2] Guarana.com: Facts (Access Date: September 7, 2010).
- an abnormal bodily condition characterized by an excessive amount of blood in the system
- excess; superabundance
Example: India's huge press corps, representing a plethora of papers and magazines, was something else new since my student days. [Reference: Abraham Verghese, "The Bandit King and the Movie Star", The Atlantic , February 2001]
On Amazon Kindle:
Improve Your General Knowledge in Leisure Time! [facebook] [blog] [kindle]
A climbing plant, best known for its fruit which is about the size of a coffee bean, it is an effective energy booster:
Guarana (pronounced /ˌɡwɑrəˈnɑː/, from the Portuguese guaraná [1])
The best energy drinks available in the market are those which use Guarana as an energy ingredient such as Rockstar Energy Drink, Monster Energy Drink and CRUNK Energy Drink.
Chemical composition of Guarana seeds [2]:
Vegetable fiber: 49.125 %
Reddish resin: 8.800 %
Starch: 8.350 %
Water: 7.650 %
Pectin, malic acid, mucilage, dextrin, salts: 7.470 %
Guarana-tannic acid: 5.902 %
Caffeine: 5.388 %
Yellowish steady oil: 2.950 %
Pyro-guarana acid: 2.750 %
Reddish colorant: 1.520 %
Amorphous substances: 0.606 %
Saponin: 0.060 %
References:
[1] Wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarana, 22 August 2010 (Access Date: September 7, 2010).
[2] Guarana.com: Facts (Access Date: September 7, 2010).
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