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| dichotomy |
n. split; branching into two parts (especially contradictory ones) |
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melmmo Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:12 GMT |
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| diatribe |
n. bitter scolding; invective
During the lengthy diatribe delivered by his opponent, he remained calm and self-controlled |
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melmmo Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:12 GMT |
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| deterrent |
n. something that discourages; hindrance |
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melmmo Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:12 GMT |
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| desultory |
adj. aimless; haphazard; digressing at random
In prison Malcolm X set himself the task of reading straight through the dictionary; to him, reading was purposeful, not desultory |
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melmmo Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:12 GMT |
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| desiccate |
v. dry up
...how pioneers used to desiccate food in order to preserve it. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:58:31 GMT |
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| derivative |
adj. unoriginal; obtained from another source |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:58:31 GMT |
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| deride |
v. ridicule; make fun of
derisive adj. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:58:31 GMT |
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| denigrate |
v. blacken
All attempts to denigrate the character of our late President have failed... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:58:31 GMT |
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| delineate |
v. portray; depict; sketch
Using only a few descriptive phrases, Austen delineates the character of Mr. Collins so well that we can predict his every move.
delineation n. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| deference |
n. courteous regard for another's wish
In deference to the minister's request, please do not take photographs during the wedding |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| default |
n. failure to act
When the visiting team failed to show... they lost the game by default.
When Jack failed to make the payments on his Jaguar... he had defaulted on his debt |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| decorum |
n. propriety; orderliness and good taste in manners |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| daunt |
v. intimidate; frighten
"Mere words cannot daunt me" |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| craven |
adj. cowardly
Lillian's craven refusal to join the protest was criticized by her comrades... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| convoluted |
adj. coiled around; involved; intricate
His argument was so convoluted that few of us could follow it intelligently. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| converge |
v. approach; tend to meet; come together |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| conundrum |
n. riddle; difficult problem |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| contrite |
adj. penitent (feeling or showing sorrow or remorse)
Her contrite tears did not influence the judge when he imposed sentence
contrition n. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| contentious |
adj. quarrelsome |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| contention |
n. claim, thesis
contend v. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| connoisseur |
n. person competent to act as a judge of art, etc; a lover of an art |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| confound |
v. confuse; puzzle |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| condone |
v. overlook; forgive; give tacit approval; excuse |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| conciliatory |
adj. reconciling; soothing
She was still angry despite his conciliatory words |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| compliant |
adj. yielding; conforming to requirements |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| complaisant |
adj. trying to please; overly polite; obliging
Someone complaisant is not smug or complacent; he yields to others because he has an excessive need to please. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| compendium |
v. brief, comprehensive summary
this text can serve as a compendium of the tremendous amount of new material being developed in this field |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| commensurate |
adj. corresponding in extent, degree, amount, etc.; proportionate
...assigning nurses rank and responsibilities commensurate with their training and abilities |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| cogent |
adj. convincing
It was inevitable that David chose to go to Harvard; he had several cogent reasons for doing so... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| coda |
n. concluding section of a musical or literary composition; something that rounds out, summarizes, or concludes |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| coagulate |
v. thicken; congeal; clot |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| chicanery |
n. trickery; deception
Those sneaky lawyers misrepresented what occurred, made up all sorts of implausible alternative scenarios... and in general depended on chicanery to win the case. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| caustic |
adj. burning; sarcastically biting |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| catalyst |
n. agent that influences the pace of a chemical reaction while it remains unaffected and unchanged; person or thing that causes action. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| castigation |
n. punishment; severe criticism
Sensitive to even mild criticism, Woolf could not bear the castigation she found in certain reviews. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| capricious |
adj. unpredictable; fickle
The storm was capricious; it changed course constantly. Jill was capricious, too: she changed boyfriends almost as often as she changed clothes. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| cacophonous |
adj. discordant; inharmonious
orchestra tuning |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| buttress |
v. support; prop up
Just as architects buttress the walls of cathedrals with flying buttresses, debaters buttress their arguments with facts |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| burnish |
v. make shiny by rubbing; polish |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| burgeon |
v. grow forth; send out buds
In the spring, the plants that burgeon are a promise of the beauty that is to come. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| boorish |
adj. rude, insensitive |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| bombastic |
adj. pompous; using inflated language
The orator spoke in such a bombastic manner that we longed to deflate him. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| bolster |
v. support; reinforce
The debaters amassed file boxes full of evidence to bolster their arguments. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| beneficent |
adj. kindly; doing good
The overgenerous philanthropist had to curb his beneficent impulses before he gave away all his money. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| belie |
v. contradict; give a false impression |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| banal |
adj. hackneyed; commonplace; trite; lacking originality |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| aver |
v. assert confidently or declare; as used in law, state formally as a fact. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| autonomous |
adj. self-governing |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| austere |
adj. forbiddingly stern; severely simple and unornamented |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| audacious |
adj. daring, bold |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| attenuate |
v. make thinner; weaken or lessen (in density, force, degree)
The long, dry spell attenuated the creek to the merest trickle. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| assuage |
v. ease or lessen (pain); satisfy (hunger); soothe (anger)
...Dick tried to assuage his heartache... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| assiduous |
adj. dilligent
...weeks of assiduous labor... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| ascetic |
adj. practicing self-denial; austere
...the strict ascetic life led by members of some monastic orders.
also n. asceticism |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| artless |
adj. without guile; open and honest
Red Riding Hood's artless comment, "Grandma, what big eyes you have!" indicates the child's innocent surprise at her "Grandmother's" changed appearance. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| arduous |
adj. hard, strenuous
Her arduous efforts had sapped her energy |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| approbation |
n. approval
Wanting her parents' regard, she looked fro some sign of their approbation. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| apprise |
v. inform
When NASA was apprised of the dangerous weather conditions... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| appease |
v. pacify or sooth; relieve
Tom and Jody tried to appease the crying baby... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| apathy |
n. lack of caring; indifference |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| antipathy |
n. aversion; dislike
Tom's extreme antipathy for disputes keeps him from getting into arguments... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| anomalous |
adj. abnormal; irregular
She was placed in the anomalous position of seeing to approve procedures that she despised. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| anarchy |
n. absence of governing body; state of disorder |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| analogous |
adj. comparable
She called our attention to the things that had been done in an analogous situation... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| anachronism |
n. something or someone misplaced in time |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| ameliorate |
v. improve
Many social workers have attempted to ameliorate the conditions of people living in the slums. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| ambivalence |
n. the state of having contradictory or conflicting emotional attitudes |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:11 GMT |
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| ambiguous |
adj. unclear or doubtful in meaning
His ambiguous instructions... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| amalgamate |
v. combine; unite in one body
The unions will attempt to amalgamate their groups... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| alleviate |
v. relieve |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| alacrity |
n. cheerful promptness; eagerness
Phil and Dave were raring to get off to the mountains; they packed up their ski gear and climbed into the van with alacrity. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| aggregate |
v. gather; accumulate
Before the Wall Street scandals, dealers in so-called junk bonds managed to aggregate great wealth... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| aesthetic |
adj. artistic; dealing with or capable of appreciating the beautiful |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| adulterate |
v. make impure by adding inferior or tainted substances
It is a crime to adulterate foods without informing the buyer... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| admonish |
v. warn; reprove
When her courtiers questioned her religious beliefs, Mary Stuart admonished them... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| abstemious |
adj. sparing in eating and drinking; temperate
Concerned whether her vegetarian son's abstemious diet... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| abscond |
v. depart secretly and hide
The teller who absconded with the bonds went uncaptured... |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| abeyance |
n. suspended action
The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| aberrant |
adj. abnormal or deviant
Given the aberrant nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity of the entire experiment. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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| abate |
v. subside or moderate
Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate. |
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melmmo Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:56:10 GMT |
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